Chinese Government Paper Crafts Brushing Musical Instruments Greetings Fairy Tales and Dragons School System Food and Chopsticks Martial Arts Holidays Musical Instruments Geography Fashion Calendar Modern Music Economics Family Painting Table of Contents Article Students Page Chinese Calendar Rocky and Andy 3 Modern Chinese Music Miki and Rose 4-6 Chinese Economics Cobe and Cindy 7 Chinese Fairy Tales Scott and Arthur 8-9 Chinese Family Betty and June 10 Fashion Michelle and Sara 11 Chinese Food and Chopsticks Tim and Peter 12-13 Chinese Holidays Allan and Tracy 14-15 Geography of China Alex and Min 16 Chinese Greeting Manner David and Jack 17 Chinese Martial Arts Ruby 18-19 Chinese Musical Instruments Mars 20 Chinese Painting and Brushing Sophie and Sunny 21 Chinese Paper Crafts Stephanie and Patty 22 Chinese School System Melissa and Maggie 23 Government System and Leaders Sam and Steve 24-25 2 Chinese Calendar Rocky and Andy Chinese culture has its own calendar. In China, every year of one's birth has one animal. Overall, there are twelve kinds of animal in twelve years cycle. They are mouse, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. Every animal has its own meaning. There are some Chinese calendar rules. The months are lunar months. In Chinese calendar, a day begins at 11 p.m. Each year has twelve regular months. Every second or third year has an intercalary month. Intercalary month may come after any regular month. It has the same number as the preceding regular month, but is designated intercalary. The times of the astronomical new moons are determined in the Chinese time zone by the Purple Mountain Observatory using modern astronomical equations. Chinese the most important festival is different from American's. In China, spring festival is the most important festival. In America, Christmas day is the most important. In spring festival, Chinese make dumplings with all the members of family and watching the spring festival evening party on TV. Chinese calendar is different from American calendar. 3 Modern Chinese Music Miki and Rose Chinese modern music has a tendency to be quite similar to Western music today, but it still has special elements to influence world music. In China, the most popular modern music is pop music. We can hear it everywhere and all the time. It is necessary thing in Chinese people’s daily lives. But R&B is not as widely popular as it is in America. Rock music in China has its new style and combines Chinese musical instruments with techniques of Western-style rock and roll. The most special music is called modern folk music and it is very famous in the world. Also, the Modern Opera is a symbol that represents Chinese music. The Male Singers Jay Chou is a World Music Award-winning musician, singer and producer. He combines Chinese and Western music styles to produce songs with classical music background that fuse R&B, rock, and pop music. His lyrics touch on various controversial issues; for example, domestic violence in “Dad I am Back”; eco-awareness in “Rice Fields”, the devastation of war in “Wounds that end the War”, and reminds listeners to honor their mothers in “Listen to Your Mother”. His music has gained recognition throughout Asia, such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, and in overseas Chinese communities. He is also an actor who played some movies, the most famous one is Curse of the Golden Flower. Most his fans are young people. Andy Lau is a Hong Kong pop star and a movie actor. The Chinese media refer to Andy Lau, Jacky Chung Aaron Kwok and Leon Lai as the Canto pop Four Heavenly Kings. He is one of the most successful Chinese music celebrities. His songs are symbols for Chinese modern music for a long time. Cui Jian “The Father of Chinese Rock”. In 1980s when most Chinese had little knowledge of rock music, Cui Jian, born in August 1961 in Beijing and known as father of China’s rock music, presented his two rock songs to rock fans across China: Rock on the New March, and Restart. In the early 1980’s he began his first rock band. He has continued to explore new musical styles with each album he produces. By far, his compositions are the most complex on the scene, and most recently have a strong Jazz flavor. The Female Singers Song zuying is the most famous folk singer in China. She is a major figure in Chinese music since the early 1990s. Many people say that Song is popular not only because she sings very well but also because she is very beautiful. And she has done well in promoting the traditional music of China. In October 2006, she stages her solo concert at U.S. Kennedy Performing Arts Center. The 2,400 seats for the show were sold out at the Kennedy Center. During the more 4 than one hour concert, Song sang sixteen traditional Chinese folk songs including "Beautiful Jasmine Flower", "Spice Sister", "Beautiful Life" and "Love for my China". She also sang an English song. This year, she has been nominated by Grammy Awards. Though it is a pity that the nominated Chinese folk singer Song Zuying hasn’t won the award, we think Chinese people should be proud of her. Li Yuchun is a Chinese pop singer. She became famous from “Super Girl” 2005 in China Hunan TV. That program just like American-Idol singing contest, but for girls only. From American Idol, American people can easily understand why the Super-Girl competition can be popular and what makes Li Yuchun became famous in one night. Li Yuchun attracted a lot of attention from the commercial world. She has signed deals with some big company, such like Amoi Electronics, Swatch, Coca-Cola, Crest, and Hewlett Packard to promote their products or activities. Li Yuchun made the cover of Time Magazine Asia special issue, October 2005, named as one of "Asia's Heroes". Coco lee, she is not only a singer star but also a Dance-pop star who has also recorded albums in English. Her voice is being compared to Mariah Carey and Regine Velasquez especially on her album "Just no other Way". Her singing skilled is very high and she did not just singing, she also brings Western attention the beauty of Eastern music and culture. She is an exquisite and sexy lady who in a red dress and has a beautiful long hair. In 2002, CoCo was the featured performer at a Houston Rockets NBA game. She became the first Chinese singer to ever perform the US National Anthem at a major global sporting event. Her song Before I Fall In Love was included in the soundtrack of the movie Runaway Bride. She was invited by Andrew Lloyd Webber to perform Phantom of the Opera in China. Also, Walt Disney Pictures hired her to sing the title song and be the voice of the heroine Fa Mulan in the Mandarin Chinese version of Mulan. She recorded the song "Reflections", which she also sang at the 2005 opening of the Hong Kong Disneyland A "Reflections" Chinese music video was also filmed. While the Christina Aguilera is widely known, CoCo sang an English version together with Christina. She may be a new voice in the American market, but she has already very famous in Asia. American people may love her song and her refreshing looks. There also many groups in China, the famous one called Twelve Girls in a Band. They are twelve beautiful young women who graduated from top music Academies University in China. Their music includes 1500 years tradition Chinese music and makes them in modern styles. By playing modern arrangements on traditional Chinese instruments, they have created sometime new and unique in world music. Their records across Asia and sold very well. Twelve Girls in a Band emerges as the most successful act on the international stage. The band's album in Japan remained at the top of the charts for 30 weeks. Their live concert tickets sold out in 10 minutes. Their U.S. debut "Eastern Energy" was on August 17, 2004, that was the first tour in American. On this promotional tour, they performed seven concerts (Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco, Minneapolis, Chicago, Atlanta and Honolulu) and were greeted by American 5 audiences with strong enthusiasm. Chinese modern music contains many things, more than just music. It also includes current culture and new lifestyles. If you are interested in it, you will know more about China and Chinese culture. We hope people will pay more attention to Chinese modern music and give more space for it to develop. 6 Chinese Economics Cindy & Cobe China is a developing country and it is a social democratic country. Economics’ develop is very important in China, and economic is one of important element in China. Export and import representone economic element. The World Trade origination and China’s Export and Imports Fair is China economic show. In Trade Fair, it is sells products small things made by hand, example: arts products, produce cotton, silk cloth and fashion clothing. Many promotions movie on the Internet. There is export and import Fair is (http://www.cantonair. org./cn/en/infelwebcast/index4.htm) it tells us a lot of about me export and import Fair. On the hand, name of china money is “yuan”, it is different exchange rate from other country Example, it is different from USA. From now on, theexchange rate is $1=7.73 yuan, many countries want China to increase the exchange rate, but it is not good for our imports and exports.