DOCSLIB.ORG

061 1996 Jan-Mar

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

tssuE No. 6l - JANUARY- tr^ARCH1996 ChinaCouncil H Quarter$ +wIfr,ceT,t NORTHWESTREGIONAL CHINA COUNCTL PO BOX751 PORTIAND,OR972O7 (5031725-4567 US PostageStamp Commemorates Year of the Rat for the fourth straight yea4the US PostalService and the Yearof the Boar in 1995.Future stamp install- I will commemoratethe Lunar New Yearin Febru- mentsin the zodiacseries include the Yearof the Ox ary,1996,with the issuing (in1.997),Tiger (1998),Rab- of a Chinesezodiac stamp. The latestis the Yearof the Rat, one of the 12 zodiac symbols,featuring a spe- cially-designedmulticolor papercutrat and artistic Chinesescript characters reading "Yearof the Rat," againsta purple back- ground. First-day ribbon- cutting ceremonieswill be held on February8 in San Francisco'sChinatown Holi- day Inn. The PostalService issued the first Lunar New Year commemorative(Year of the Rooster)in 7993,circu- lating nearly 150million stampswhich were quickly Iff6rHrurumrtion-postal authoritiesde- snatched,rp by collectors . cided on the ChineseNew on both sidesof the Pacific. i year motif. TerranceCaffr ey, Postal i Planning a commemorative Servicestamp designpro- i stamp for the ChineseNew gram manageq,said the I Yearbegan nearly five roosterstamp brought in $5 million of revenuewith brisk salesin Asian-Ameri- gouP' ClarenceLee, Hawaii graphic artist, designed Various images canpopulated regions. In- the Lunar New Yearstampieries for US Posta"lService. were c_onsidered,including vestorsnote that the Chi- exploding fireworks, party nesezodiac stamp series hats with streamers,and a goesbeyond aestheticand sentimentalvalue, citing baby tugging at the beard of an old man. that its true value is diplomatic currency. In1992,the PostalService contacted Clarence Lee, a Following the roosterstamp, the PostalService is- Honolulu-basedgraphic artist,and offeredhim the suedthe Yearof the Dog commemorativeinl994 assignmentto designthe first of the Lunar New year stamps-Year of the Rooster.Choosing Lee was a presently working on the dragon stamp with three double plus for the PostalService, since he is a Chi- more zodiacsigns to go. Format of eachstamp is the neseAmerican and one of the foremostgraphic de- same/but colorsvary eachyear. And the price of signersin Hawaii. eachcommemorative depends on the costof a first- classstamp. ClarenceLee studied art at PomonaCollege and de- sign at YaleUniversity's Schoolof Art and Architec- Leewas alsoasked to designthe first joint issueof ture. He worked for a design group in New Yorlg postagestamps between the United Statesand China then joined IBM as a designer before returning to in1994.Both countriesfound common ground in de- Honolulu in 1965.One of his professorsat Yalewas picting endangeredspecies on the stampsand de- Bradbury Thompsory who was one of two original cided on cranes,the Chinesesymbol for peaceand chairsof the US CitizensPostal Commission and de- friendship.The stampsfeatured the American signerof some140 US stamps. whooping craneand the Chineseblack-necked crane,with Lee designing the stamps andZhao Leeconsidered various possibilitiesfor the rooster Gengzi,a Beijingnature artist, drawing the cranes. stamp, from generic,stylized roostersto Westernand Chineseioosters. He found a roosterwoodcut ftom "I fuel honoredto be the ChineseAmerican chosen the days of the American Revolutionand alsoa Chi- amongmany in the United Statesto designthe Lu- nesepapef cutout of a roosterwhich he brought nar New Yearstamp designs,"Lee said. "My small- back from China many yearsago. Lee submitted estjob (the sizeof a postagestamp) has gotten me sign designsof Western,Chinese, and stylized roost- the most notoriety." ersto the designproject coordinator who let"fly" To aspiringAsian artistsand designers,Lee offers with the Chineserooster. thesewords of wisdom: "Go into it becauseof your Chinesepapercuts date back centuriesago (TangDy- love for i! if you have an obsessionor passionfor art nasty,518-906 AD) in northern China where women and design,pursue it." learnedpaper cutting in childhood. The gaily decora- RichardKoe tive cutouts,usually in red, are usedwidely at festi- val times,especially during the ChineseNew Year Informationfor thisarticle raas compiled from Far East- celebration.Chinese call the cutouts "window flow- ern EconomicReaiew; AsianWeek; Honolulu Star Bulle- ers" and pastethem on the windows of their homes tin;.HonoluluAdaertiser; Paciftc Business Neuts, CA aswell as on presents.Subjects, not limited to flow- Magazine. ers,include dragons,gods, and ferociousanimals- anything symbolic of good fortune. In the meantime,Lee receivedrough samplesof Chi- nesecalligraphy denoting "Yearof the Rooster" which neededto be done artistically.Since he neither speaksnor writes Chinese,Lee consultedhis mothe4, who recommendedher friend Bun Lau, a sidewalk Chinesecalligrapher in Honolulu's Chinatown. SPECIALEVENTS SinceBun Lau didn't speakEnglish, Lee's mother madethe contactand arrangementsat a local street Third ThursdayChina Lunches corner.The result was beautiful Chinesecalligraphy for the roosterstamp. January1,8, February L5, March2l FormosaHarbor Pleasedwith the outcomeof the Yearof the Rooster SW2nd andThylor stamp,the PostalService commissioned Lee to de- 12:30-1:30PM sign the Year of the Dog stamp in'1.993and Yearof never know the Boar in1994.Then camethe contractfor Leeto Vo, who you'll meet or what the I topic designthe remainder of the 12-stampseries. He is of conversationwill be at the Third Thurs- day China Lunch. A variety of China Council mem- China Council Quarterly Portland, Oregon97207 beis sharea family-style lunch and makebusiness Publishedby theNorthwest (503)725-4567 contactsand new friends.The costis about $5.50, RegionalChina Council. [email protected] and thereis alwaysplenty of tasty food in this bus- P.O.Box 751 Editor: RichardKoe 506 S.W.Mifl, Suite275 Publishedquarterly. tling, friendly Chineserestaurant. 2 ChinaCouncil Quarterly A Lazayer'sObserztations on Doing meditationemploys a powerful visualizationcou- Businessin China pled with whole brain techniquesto developthe body and both hemispheresof the brairy therebyena- falkw ChrisHelmer and Ning Fu, of Miller NashWiener bling the practitioner's ability to participate effec- flagerI Carlsen tively and freely in altered state activity. ChinaBusiness Network Lunch Wednesday,January 3 Noon-1:30PM A Gourmet ChineseMeal MarcoPoIo Garden A China Council Fundraiser 1.9NW sth, aenue Cost:$15, members; $20, non-members Fridny,January 26 Reseraationsbylanuary 2 andinformation: 7254567. 6:30PM no-hostbar: 7 PM dinner MandarinCoae,1.1.1. SWColumbia Th" ChinaBusiness Networkof the Northwest Validatedparking aboue the restaurant I China Council invites you to its Wednesday,Janu- ReseruationsbyJ anuary 17 : 7254567 ary 3, lunch seminarfeaturing guestspeakers Chris $30 Helmer and Ning Fu. Ms. Helmer and Ms. Fu will dis- cusstheir observationsfrom a November trip to Fujian lziiking off an occasionalseries of Chinesemeals Provinceand other parts of China. They will share J Veaturing chefsand restaurantsin the Portland howbusiness activity in Fujian Provinceis asfrenzied metropolitanarea, Mandarin Cove'sMingyu Chen has asever. China's recentlyadopted GuaranteeLaW prepareda specialmenu for the China Council to high- which provides a structurefor the registrationand en- light his talent in preparing Northern China cuisine. forcementof security interests,has spurred new invest- Chef Chen,who is originally from Thiwan and has ment and attractednew foreign interest. spent10 yearsin the United States,will presenta meal featuringshark fin soup and Peking duck. faiji and Qigong WeekendWorkshops Comejoin us for an excellentmeal and a chanceto with Master Wen-mei Yu socializewith other China Council members. The January19-21 meal will start with appetizers,including fried ReedCollege,Gym2 prawns and wrapped chicken.Other coursesinclude Tbregister and for information:231-1999 sharkfin soup,Peking duck, GeneralTso's chicken, mandarin scallopswith vegetables,green beans with 4.. with Heart,Reed College, and the Northwest shrimp, and sesamebeef. For dessert,we will be L/China Councilpresent Master Wen-mei Yu, a top servedlichee over ice. instructor of internal martial and healing arts in China teachingseveral workshops: Wu Style Push Hands Mandarin Cove'smanaget TsuiJen, is from a long (Friday,January 19,&10 PM; $55),Liangong: Health lineageof chefs,counting among his ancestorsthe Exercisefrom China (Friday,January 79, ffi PM and cheffor Marco Polo. Saturday,January 20,9-11AM; $75),Buddhist Chi This promisesto be a fun Kung (Saturday,January 20,'J,-5 PM and Sunday,Janu- evening. ary21.,9AM-s PM; $150),and Wild GooseChi Kung Review (Monday,January ?2,7-9 PM; $35). China BusinessNetwork Lunch Master Yu has been teaching intemal martial and heal- ing artsfor over 30 yearsand hastrained with someof Speakerand topic to beannounced China'stop masters.She has devotedherlife to the Wednesday,February 7 Noon-l:30 PM study of the healingmethods and practiceof taiji (tai MarcoPolo Garden chi) and qigong (chi kung). Shespeaks excellent English. 19NW sth Aaenue Cost:$1-5, members; $20, non-members Buddhist chi kung is one of the famousShaolin Tem- Reseraationsby February5 andinformation:725- tFaa ple's oldestinternal energysystems. Wei-tuo is the lJO/ " "guarded god of Buddhism" and.Wei-tuo (or Bud- dhist) Chi Kung combinesbreathing, meditation and f ach month, the China Council invites speakers movementto harnesslife energyto combatdisease, l-with expertisein China trade or in cultural as- tensiorystress,
Recommended publications
  • Chinese Zodiac Hidden Secrets to Discover Future

    Chinese Zodiac Hidden Secrets to Discover Future

    Chinese Zodiac Hidden secrets to discover future 24 MARCH 2020, IGOR MICUNOVIC Chinese zodiac What Is Chinese Astrology? Chinese astrology and constellations were mostly used for divination. Chinese astrology is perhaps the oldest known horoscope system in the world. Ancient writings have been dated as far as the written records of China itself, many of which have been well-preserved and can be found in the monasteries in China, and all across South-East Asia. Chinese astrology is based on astronomy and traditional calendars. Using information gathered from the time and date of your birth, a Chinese astrologer is then able to draw up a map of your karma and life and advise you accordingly. When you receive a Chinese Astrology reading you are thus benefiting from a tradition that is thousands of years old. Chinese astrology is the divination of the future from the Chinese calendar, which is based on astronomy, and ancient Chinese philosophy. In ancient China, the astrologers primarily served the emperor and his court and were responsible for the stability, well-being and the health of the population. The roots of the Chinese astrological system are planted deeply in the classical philosophies of Kongzi 孔⼦(Confucius) and Laozi ⽼⼦(Lao Tse). Ancient astrologers could correctly predict when tides, seasons, the proper time to plant and harvest crops, to avoid or make wars. According to Chinese Astrology, a person's destiny can be determined by the position of the major planets, along with the positions of the Sun, Moon and comets and the person's time of birth and Zodiac Sign.
  • Lesson Title: Celebrating the Chinese New Year Country: China Class

    Lesson Title: Celebrating the Chinese New Year Country: China Class

    Lesson Title: Celebrating the Chinese New Year Country: China Class: Geography; art Grade level(s): 2nd Grade Goals and Objectives The student will be able to: Locate China on a map and on a globe. Learn respect and appreciation of another culture. Compare how the New Year is celebrated in United States and China. Name the 12 animals of the Chinese Zodiac. Create a paper wall chart featuring the animals of the Chinese Zodiac. Tell the story of the order of the animal years in the Chinese Zodiac. Time required/class periods needed: 5 30+ minute classes Primary source bibliography: Maps, globes General Information Site: http://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/chinese-zodiac/ Other resources used: http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/places/find/china/ http://www.dltk-holidays.com/china/pquilt.asp http://www.dltk-holidays.com/t_template.asp?t=http://www.dltk-holidays.com/china/imag... http://www.dltk-holidays.com/china/chinese_zodiac.htm Coloring pages of animals of Chinese Zodiac http://www.nickjr.com/printables/chinese-zodiac- coloring-pages.jhtml The Story of the Chinese Zodiac retold by Monica Chang (in English and Chinese) (Yuan-Liou Publishing Co. Ltd) Chinese New Year by David F. Marx Chinese Zodiac Birthday Calculator and Animal Trait Guide http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/social_customs/zodiac/ Required materials/supplies: Venn diagram, maps, globes, markers, crayons, scissors, glue, pictures of Zodiac animals, folk tale about zodiac animals, paper, printer Vocabulary: China: A large country located on the continent of Asia. Continent: A large landmass. Chinese New Year: A holiday whose date is determined by the Lunar calendar.
  • 151016 CB China Power of Retailing 2015 CN.Docx

    151016 CB China Power of Retailing 2015 CN.Docx

    China Power of Retailing 2015 China Power of Retailing 2015 1 Foreword 2015 has witnessed the recovery of a global economy and the gradual stabilization of a real economy in China. While the Eurozone economy continues to improve, the differentiation among its economies remains noticeable. “Abeconomics” throws Japan into deep recession. The United States of America, as the only exception, enters the trajectory of a strong recovery and the US dollar has appreciated sharply against other major world currencies. Its well-anticipated rise in interest rate in the fourth quarter forebodes an accelerated devaluation of currencies in most emerging economies. As a result, the pressure on devaluating RMB is mounting. With a slowed growth rate, the Chinese economy has arrived at the stage of new normal. The YoY growth for the first half of the year lingers around 7%, hindered by the deceleration of the three engines that used to propel GDP growth – a sluggish export, a slow growth in investment and a domestic consumption that continues to fall behind expectation. Although the growth rate of the total retail of consumer goods has dropped, it has far outpaced the domestic industrial growth. With the consumer confidence seeing constant improvement that will further free up consumption potential, consumption is expected to continue pulling the economy in the future. A continued fall in oil prices has offset the inflationary pressure, curbing the inflation at a lower level to make room for executing a lax monetary policy. To further boost investment and consumption, and reduce enterprise financing costs, the government has gradually redirected its macro economy from “stabilize growth and adjust structure” to “ensure growth,” making the lowering of interest rate and reserve ratio possible in the second half of the year.
  • Deduce the Verve of Chinese Zodiac Culture by Brief Esthetics Jing HU

    Deduce the Verve of Chinese Zodiac Culture by Brief Esthetics Jing HU

    2017 International Conference on Modern Education and Information Technology (MEIT 2017) ISBN: 978-1-60595-468-4 Deduce the Verve of Chinese Zodiac Culture by Brief Esthetics Jing HU School of Arts and Communications, Wuhan Polytechnic University, Wuhan, Hubei, China [email protected] Keywords: Chinese Zodiac Culture; Brief Esthetics; Design Abstract. Chinese zodiac is an original folk culture in China, and it has a profound effect. In vision style, the pure animal totem evolves into a diverse and polymorphic performance style. Nowadays, the design trend that is to be contracted, returns essence. The form of the Chinese zodiac culture is also quietly changing, presenting a new aesthetic style in a contracted form. Introduction Zodiac is a unique folk culture in China, and it originated from the ancestor's natural worship. Compared to nature, people seem tiny or even negligible, so they seek for gods' asylum. The so called "all things have spirit", "beings are all God", in fact are people's beliefs when they personify the animal’s and plants in nature which become the object of worship and awe.[1] Zodiac in the twelve kinds of animals: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, pig naturally become a symbol of the gods. And then gradually applied to the annals of the law, and the twelve Earthly Branches: rat charm, ox patient, tiger sensitive, rabbit articulate, dragon healthy snake deep, horse popular, goat elegant, monkey clever, pooster deep thinkers, dog loyalty, and pig chivalrous corresponding. The zodiac comes from the needs of survival, and later penetrates into all areas of life.
  • Supplement to Tarot As a Counseling Language

    Supplement to Tarot As a Counseling Language

    Supplement to Tarot as a Counseling Language Excerpted Introduction from Yijing Hexagram Names and Core Meanings Yìjīng guàmíng hé zhōngyì © Bradford Hatcher, 2011 and Relevant Excerpts from The Book of Changes: Word by Word © Bradford Hatcher, 2009 Volume 1, pp. 444-449, “Introduction to Scales” Volume 2, pp. 4-7, “Correlative Thought” Volume 2, pp. 8-11, “Gua Ming, The Hexagram Names” Volume 2, pp. 22-23, “Ban Xiang, the Half-Images” The complete books available as free downloads at http://www.hermetica.info Excerpt from Yijing Hexagram Names and Core Meanings 易經卦名和中義 Yìjīng guàmíng hé zhōngyì © Bradford Hatcher, 2011 Introduction The Yi tells us that a good Cauldron needs a good handle, that a good Well needs a long enough rope and a bucket that doesn't leak. In both cases, these symbols are most useful when they are accessible, when they can be grasped, when you can get a grip, and when you can retrieve what you need from the ground or the fire. The Gua Ming or Hexagram Name is the first and most obvious way to get a grip on the coherent sets of ideas that each of the Hexagrams represents. It is therefore to our advantage to clear up some of the great confusion that has grown up around them. It might be useful to introduce this within an outline of the five main areas or branches of Yixue or Yi Studies, with the most time spent on the second, Core Meanings, of which Gua Ming is a subset. This is also an opportunity to lay groundwork and offer some context and concepts for a broader grasp of the subject.
  • Chinese Folk Art, Festivals, and Symbolism in Everyday Life

    Chinese Folk Art, Festivals, and Symbolism in Everyday Life

    Chinese Folk Art, Festivals, and Symbolism in Everyday Life PHOEBE A. HEARST MUSEUM OF ANTHROPOLOGY Written and Designed by Nicole Mullen with contributions by Ching-chih Lin, PhD candidate, History Department, UC Berkeley. Additional contributors: Elisa Ho, Leslie Kwang, Jill Girard. Funded by the Berkeley East Asia National Resource Center through its Title VI grant from the U.S. Department of Education. Special thanks to Ching-chih Lin, for his extraordinary contributions to this teaching guide and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in San Francisco for its generous print and electronic media contributions. Editor: Ira Jacknis Copyright © 2005. Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology and the Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. 103 Kroeber Hall. #3712, Berkeley CA 94720 Cover image: papercut, lion dance performance, 9–15927c All images with captions followed by catalog numbers in this guide are from the collections of the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology. All PAHMA objects from Beijing and Nanking are from the museum's Ilse Martin Fang Chinese Folklore Collection. The collection was assembled primarily in Beijing between 1941 and 1946, while Ms. Fang was a postdoctoral fellow at the Deutschland Institute working in folklore and women's studies. PHOEBE A. HEARST MUSEUM OF ANTHROPOLOGY CHINA The People’s Republic of China is the third largest country in the world, after Russia and Canada. It is slightly larger than the United States and includes Hong Kong and Macau. China is located in East Asia. The capital city is Beijing, which is in the northeast part of the country.
  • CLV Chinese Language Lessons Sen Lin Hu Chinese Language Camp Lessons for the Classroom

    CLV Chinese Language Lessons Sen Lin Hu Chinese Language Camp Lessons for the Classroom

    CLV Chinese Language Lessons Sen Lin Hu Chinese Language Camp Lessons For the Classroom Date: Class: Chinese Language Level: Novice High Grade High School Day in 1 Minutes 70 Unit Geography of China: How is my experience in China influenced by where I am? Unit Theme and Question: STAGE 1: What will learners be able to do with what they know by the end of this lesson? DO KNOW What are the learning targets for this lesson? What vocabulary, grammatical structures, language chunks, cultural knowledge, and content information do learners need to accomplish the lesson can-do? Learners will be able to: • Vocabulary: 沙漠， 高原， 高山， 小山， 河流， 森林， • Compare the shape of China to a rooster. 草原， 大海， 耕地（农田），公鸡 • Recognize and name 9 main geographical features of China: • Culture： Geographical location of landforms in China desert, mountains, hills, ocean, grassland, farmland, plateau, • Radicals: 木，艹， 水 forest, river. • Sentence structures: 在 中国（direction）有 ——。 • Locate these geographical features on a map of China • Identify 3 radicals in characters related to geography 在中国西北有沙漠和高原。 • Form sentences describing the locations of landforms (In China’s northwest there is desert, and high plateau.) STAGE 2: How will learners demonstrate what they can do with what they know by the end of the lesson? What will learners do (learning tasks/activities/formative assessments) to demonstrate they can meet the lesson can-do? Learners will: • select from multiple possibilities which animal is represented in the shape of China • name 9 landforms found in China, match
  • Chinese Zodiac Animals Trail #Cnysunderland2021

    Chinese Zodiac Animals Trail #Cnysunderland2021

    Chinese Zodiac Animals Trail #CNYSunderland2021 Find out amazing facts about the 12 animals of the Chinese Zodiac and try some fun animal actions. 12th February 2021 is the start of the Year of the Ox, but how were the animals chosen and in which order do they follow each other? Find out more….. How did the years get their names? A long time ago in China, the gods decided that they wanted to name the years after animals. They chose twelve animals – dragon, tiger, horse, snake, pig, cockerel, rat, rabbit, goat, dog, ox and monkey. All of these wanted the first year to be named after them as they all thought themselves to be the most important. Can you imagine the noise when they were arguing? They made so much noise that they woke up the gods. After listening to all their arguments the gods decided to settle the matter by holding a race across a wide river. The years would be named according to the order in which the animals finished the race. The animals were very excited. They all believed that they would win – although the pig wasn’t quite so sure. During the race there were many changes in position, with different animals taking the lead. As they approached the river bank ox was in the lead with rat a very close second. Rat was determined to win but he was getting very tired. He had to think quickly. He managed to catch the ox’s tail and from there he climbed onto his back. Ox could see that he was winning but just as he was about to touch the bank, rat jumped over his head and landed on dry land.
  • The Chinese Zodiac

    The Chinese Zodiac

    Innovating Culture through THE CHINESE ZODIAC BY DAN LUO SUPERVISORY COMMITTEE MARIA ROGAL Chair BriAN SlAWSON Member KATERIE GLADDYS Member A PROJECT IN LIEU OF THESIS PRESENTED TO THE COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF FINE ARTS UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2012 Innovating Culture through THE CHINESE ZODIAC By Dan Luo COPYRIGHT DAN LUO Acknowledgements 03 With all the support, encouragement, and advise, I am truly grateful to all my committee: Professor Maria Rogal, Professor Brian Slawson, and Professor Katerie Gladdys. To Maria, you sharp thoughts and eyes helped me get on the correct path and develop better solutions theoretically and practically. I really appreciate that you saved me from some unreasonable solutions of this project. Without you, I could not make the 12X12 store happen. Thank you so much for your honesty, the suggestions, advice and support. You are a great mentor to work with and learn from. I learned so many things from you, especially, how to conduct the design research and how to shape, refine and sharp concepts. To Brian, thank you so much for all the resources and your seminar. I love how you gave us space to work on the topic that we are interested in. For all these 3 years, I learned so many designers’ work and cutting-edge design thinking from you. You inspired me so much in many different ways. Without you and your seminar, the 144 hybrid symbols will not be created smoothly. To Katerie, thank you so much for giving many critical comments and unique suggestions on my work and push the work to be more reasonable and more attractive to the audiences.
  • Sino-Lithuanian Relations in 2020: Shedding the Masks?

    Sino-Lithuanian Relations in 2020: Shedding the Masks?

    KONSTANTINAS ANDRIJAUSKAS SINO-LITHUANIAN RELATIONS IN 2020: SHEDDING THE MASKS? EASTERN EUROPE STUDIES CENTRE INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE, VILNIUS UNIVERSITY Vilnius, Lithuania 30 November 2020 2 SINO-LITHUANIAN RELATIONS IN 2020: SHEDDING THE MASKS? © VU IIRPS photo Konstantinas Andrijauskas – Associate Professor of Asian Studies and International Politics at Vil- nius University (Lithuania); formerly a senior visit- ing scholar at China’s Fudan (Shanghai, 2011) and Zhejiang (Hangzhou, 2013) universities as well as Columbia University (New York City, U.S., 2017, Fulbright Scholar Program); author of two Lithua- nian-language books on contemporary relations between China, Russia and India (2016) and com- parative history of pre-modern non-European civili- zations (2018, co-authorship). SINO-LITHUANIAN RELATIONS IN 2020: SHEDDING THE MASKS? 3 Introduction As of the end of 2020, for obvious and rather gloomy reasons the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has actually increased its topi- cal relevance in the world, as well as in Lithuania, in comparison with the previous year which itself already seems to be a distant memory. When the present author’s introductory analytical study of China’s growing presence in the largest, southernmost Baltic state, which focused particularly on the unprecedented downgrade in its relationship with Beijing in 2019,1 was published in mid-February 2020, a deliberate choice was made to postpone the discussion of then-emerging global health crisis. The current publication is there- fore somewhat predetermined by the first one, and should be in- terpreted as its – hopefully – consistent continuation with some unavoidable overlap between them both. The World Health Organization (WHO) belatedly declared the COV- ID-19 outbreak as a ‘Public Health Emergency of International Con- cern’ on 30 January, as the travel-intensive Chinese New Year hol- idays had already made an impact on the rest of the planet.
  • THE SYMBOLOGY of the ROOSTER by Maria Manuela D'oliveira Martins Director of Museu Do Oriente Several Symbologies Are Given To

    THE SYMBOLOGY of the ROOSTER by Maria Manuela D'oliveira Martins Director of Museu Do Oriente Several Symbologies Are Given To

    THE SYMBOLOGY OF THE ROOSTER By Maria Manuela d’Oliveira Martins Director of Museu do Oriente Several symbologies are given to the rooster in the Western and Eastern cultures. In all of them, it is universally connected to the cult of the sun because its chant announces sunrise. But the rooster becomes more relevant in China, either for its physical characteristics and grandness or its behaviour, which convey five virtues: the civil virtue, represented by the comb, confering the look of a mandarin; the military virtue, because of the spur, symbol of bravery; courage, shown by its behaviour in fights (in countries where cockfights are allowed); kindness, for sharing food with the hens; trust, for the assurance which announces daylight everyday. In this country the rooster is the tenth animal of the Chinese zodiac along with the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, dog and pig. In 2017 the year of the monkey will end and the year of the rooster will begin. Roosters in China are not eaten or killed. They are considered protectors against demons. Having a painting of a red rooster at home means protection against fire. Placing a white rooster in a coffin keeps the dead away from demons. In Chinese mythology, the rooster also means honesty, for its accuracy in marking time, and masculine strength. Cockfights, known in China since the 1st millennium B.C., became a very popular sport in the south, even though they were forbidden. Its chant symbolizes fullfilment and fame. The Chinese word ‘rooster comb’ (guan) is homophonous to ‘guan’ meaning official.
  • Zodiac Animal Masks

    Zodiac Animal Masks

    LUNAR NEW YEAR ZODIAC ANIMAL MASKS INTRODUCTION ESTIMATED TIME The Year of the Ox falls on February 12 this year. 15–20 minutes The festival is celebrated in East Asia and Southeast Asia and is also known as Chun Jié (traditional Chinese: 春節; simplified Chinese:春节 ), or the Spring MATERIALS NEEDED Festival, as it marks the arrival of the season on the lunisolar calendar. • Chart (on the next page) to find your birth year and corresponding zodiac animal The Chinese Zodiac, known as 生肖, is based on a • Zodiac animal mask templates twelve-year cycle. Each year in that cycle is correlated to an animal sign. These signs are the rat, ox, tiger, • Printer rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, • Colored pencils, markers, crayons, and/or pens and pig. It is calculated according to the Chinese Lunar • Scissors calendar. It is believed that a person’s zodiac animal offers insights about their personality, and the events • Hole punch in his or her life may be correlated to the supposed • String influence of the person’s particular position in the twelve-year zodiac cycle. Use the directions below to teach your little ones STEPS how to create their own paper zodiac animal mask to 1. Using the Chinese zodiac chart on the next page, celebrate the Year of the Ox! find your birth year and correlating zodiac animal. 2. Print out the mask template of your zodiac animal. 3. Color your mask, cut it out, and use a hole punch and string to make it wearable. CHINESE ZODIAC CHART LUNAR NEW YEAR CHINESE ZODIAC YEAR OF THE RAT YEAR OF THE OX YEAR OF THE TIGER 1972 • 1984 • 1996 • 2008 1973 • 1985 • 1997 • 2009 1974 • 1986 • 1998 • 2010 Rat people are very popular.