Paper Crafts

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. We should keep the exchange rate. Nike is very popular in the world, in china this brand is so expensive, but in USA I think it is cheaper than China. Use the same qualities money we can buy the better one in USA, I think I it is the export and import tax problem. In china the average citizen usually makes 1,000-2,000 yuan per month, sometimes these money is not enough to they live better, in China the price is most high. And they also pay for many things, the money not enough to pay for. So China’s economic needs to develop, only economic developing the citizen have good living.

7 Chinese Fairy Tales

Scott and Arthur

Fairy tales play an important role in China. Chinese fairy tales contain myths, fables and legends. Chinese myths explain how the world began and what ancient people did during their social lives. Usually myths are associated with legends which introduce many heroes in the ancient times, but you don’t know whether they are true. Fables are stories about the philosophy of life. There are so many famous characters in Chinese fairy tales. The Monkey King is one of the most popular characters in Chinese fairy tales. Not only children like, but adults also like him. He was born in rocks and he became a king of a mountain full of flowers and fruits because of his bravery and intelligence. However, he broke the law of the sky and was put into a prison under the mountain. Several years later, a monk passed the mountain by chance, heard his crying and saved him. In order to thank the monk who was going to travel to the west, the Monkey King promised to protect the monk. The travel to the west was full of danger, and when they reached certain places, they would meet some devils and ghosts. But they went straight though journey because the Monkey King was very smart and had the high skill of kongfu. That is why a tremendous number of people love him. In addition to the Monkey King, Mulan is another popular character in the Chinese fairy tales. It was even made into the movie which is popular all over the world. Mulan was a woman who pretended to be a man; she replaced his father to serve in the army. It was so difficult for her to live with men in the troop, but she was clever and she knew how to avoid being explored herself. Finally, she became a great general in the army against Xiongnu, another ethnic group in ancient China. In China there is an old saying “the old should read the battle of three countries and the young need read the travel to the west.” Therefore, different fairy tales are suitable for different levels of audience. I like reading some fables because I can learn about how to be a good person and how to deal with relationship. Fairy tales have a significant effect in China. You can see that parents teach some common sense with some fairy tales and teacher will suggest to students to read some famous fairy tales. Sometimes a new movie which will be shown is based on an old fantastic fairy tale. It is a very good idea to use famous characters in advertisements when the new products come into the market. The influence of the fairy tales is everywhere. I hope young children should pay more attention to the old Chinese fairy tales because these things are our culture, which makes you know who you are, although so many foreign fashionable things import into China.

8 9 Chinese Family

Betty and June

How to Support the Family

In Chinese family, wives and husband are equal partners, they both go out to work to support their family. Living expenses (food, clothes, shoes, etc.) are very cheap so they only use a few parts of their money for daily use. Chinese families use most part of their incomes for their children’s education. And the other most important payment is house. The houses in China are very expensive, so most families buy houses by loan. They may use 30% or more of their incomes to pay for the loan. Different kinds of families have different ways to earn money. Farmers’ families earn money by growing rice, wheat, vegetable, and fruit but the incomes aren’t very much. The farmers in China usually are very poor. Most of Chinese families are ordinary families, the couples may work as doctor, worker. And so on. Sometimes the incomes are only enough for the daily use (food, shoes, clothes, and the loan of the house and car). So there are few Chinese families have extra money to travel or do something else in holidays like American families. How to Share the Housework

In Chinese families, women do more housework, such as cooking, washing, and cleaning, etc.. But now, men share same house. Housework isn’t women’s responsibility now. When children get older, their parents will ask them to do some housework, clean his/her bedroom, wash his/her clothes, and also learn how to cook. Children in Chinese families

In China, a family is only allowed one child. In the city, a family usually has one child or twins. But, outside the city families may have two or more children, because farmers’ families all like there and they need more people to work. Now, in China, if a family has only a child, the government will give the parents a tax break. Under those conditions, a family can also have two or more children, such as if the child is disabled or a special ethnic group families may have two or more children. But now, more and more couples would like only one child or none, because the fees to keep children are very expensive. The Relationship Between Parents and Children

In Chinese families, the children should call parents baba and mama. We cannot call them their names directly. Respect and obedience are the most important things in Chinese families; usually children can’t give their own suggestions. Fathers always serious to their children, because father usually the leaders in a family and children are always afraid of him. Sometimes

10 parents spank children when they make mistakes, such as ﬁghting, getting a low record, breaking family rules, etc. But all parents give their children unconditional love and care. They use most of their money to give children the best conditions to study and live, only a little for themselves. Sometimes they buy cheap clothes, but better ones for their children, such as Nike (it is expensive in China). Now, more and more parents treat children as friends, they’ll think of children’s suggestions and hobbies. Chinese parents are no longer doing everything for their children. They teach children and let them do everything by themselves. How Parents Inﬂuence Their Children’s Lives

Parents are the basic teachers of their children. They teach children their values and also inﬂuence children’s personality. In china, parents often arrange children’s marriage, but it is better than before now. Most parents put education record in ﬁrst place, and they let children study many extra classes, such as piano and drawing, over children’s ability and genius. So in China, children like American ways of education and more and more schools and parents use American ways to teach children.

11 Chinese Fashion

Michelle and Sara

Fashion is just popular clothes and traditional clothes. Because China is developing, now many people like popular clothes. Our grandmother likes old traditional, but our mother just likes business clothes. Now China is famou sfor making Louis Vuitton, Prada and Christian Dior, which are sold all over the word. These clothes are very expensive. Many Chinese models wear fashion clothes. Many business men or business women go to work wearing business clothes, because business clothes are very ofﬁcial. Sport clothes give people a sunshine feel, and they are easy to move in. Sport clothes are very comfortable, there are many clothes. Many people like sport clothes; many people think sport clothes are very beautiful or special. On special days, for example spring festival, and birthdays, we will wear new clothes, because in China spring festival and birthdays stand for a new year. A new year stand for a new beginning. So many people must wear new clothes and fashion clothes. Different people wear different clothes. So a ﬁfteen to forty year old person likes fashion clothes, but a forty to eighty year old person likes traditional clothes. Each era is different.

12 Chinese Food and Chopsticks

Tim and Peter

China is an ancient country which has 5 thousands years of history. Chinese food is the most important part of Chinese culture. Confucius once said: “eating is the utmost important part of life.” Chinese food has many different kinds of tastes, which are always very delicious. Lots of foreign people like to eat it very much and Chinese food is popular all over the world. China is one of the biggest countries in the world, so there are many different tastes between north, south and southwest. People in north China like to eat noodles. The most famous food of north China is Beijing food especially Beijing duck. Which also very popular in all of China. Many foreign people like to eat it when they travel to China. People in south China like to eat rice, especially chicken fried rice. Seafood, pork, chicken and vegetables are the most important ingredients, which they blend together and cook. People usually mix rice with some sauce. People in the southwestern province of China like to eat spicy foods. They prepare meals with chili peppers which are grown there. The famous food is the “gongbao” chicken. If you like a spicy taste, you can try it. Most Chinese meals are cooked with meat and vegetables, so foods contain fewer calories. But Chinese food always needs more time to prepare. The meal has very good shape, very good taste and smells great. So this is a main characteristic of Chinese food, and it’s an important reason why many people like to eat Chinese foods. Chopsticks are a part of Chinese food culture, although chopsticks can’t be eaten. But Chinese people use them to eat everything except soup when we eat meals. Chopsticks are called “kuaizi” in Chinese, and we have been using them for more than 3000 years. The fable of chopsticks during the Yao and Shun time was a ﬂood ran rampant, shun is the king order Dayu govern the ﬂood. Day and night and ominous evil water fought against. Dayu is the fabled hero who had no time to rest. Once, Dayu rode the ship to an island and when he was hungry, he put up a ceramic pan with boiling meat. It was so hot that he couldn’t touch it. Dayu was not willing to wait for the meat to become cold, and he wanted to grab it and eat it, so he broke off two branches from the tree and used them to clamp the meat from the hot soup. To save time, Dayu always used a branch to clamp the meat from hot oil and water. So the chopsticks were invented, and today people always use chopsticks to eat food. In ancient China, chopsticks were made from bone and jade, subsequent copper and iron chopsticks were to come. People usually sent chopsticks to the people who wanted to get married, because chopsticks sound like “get a son soon” pronounced in Chinese.

13 14 China's Most Important Festival—The Spring Festival

Allan and Tracy

China has so many colorful festivals; all of them come from some beautiful myths. The first and the most important is the spring festival, just like Christmas is the most important in the west. There is a special calendar in China - Chinese Lunar Calendar. The Chinese Lunar Calendar is a different calendar from the International calendar that is used now. It's basically dependent on the movement of the moon. In the Lunar Calendar, a normal year has 12 lunar months. In order to make up to 365.24 days, an extra month is added during the leap year which is like adding 1 day per leap year to the international calendar. So the spring festival is the first day in Chinese Lunar Calendar. That's why it is so important for Chinese people. Another interesting thing is the animal representation. There are 12 animals for every year, and each year has its own animal. The animals are the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, chicken, dog and pig. The year 2007 is a pig year and the next year will be a rat year. On the spring festival, every family reunites and celebrates together. They might play poker or Majong which is a traditional Chinese game. Then they prepare for the big dinner, which is more luxurious than a usual night's. At that time, they chat about their daily lives. At 8:00, the largest program on TV will be shown on CCTV 1, which most Chinese watch. Then the biggest dinner will be complete. The whole family eats together while talking and laughing. When the midnight comes, you can see there are fireworks exploding fully in the sky; you can't even hear anyone's voice. Every family goes out and lets off their own fire-crackers. With the New Year bell ringing, everyone shouts "guo nian hao"to each other. It means that both you will be happy this year. Then the grandparents will send new year money which is called "hong bao"to their grandchildren. It's the highest point of the spring festival. At last, everyone eats new year dumpling together and enjoys the end of the spring festival. It’s really Chinese traditional festival; really Chinese style. It shows the Chinese people’s kind hearts that enjoy their lives.

15 16 Geography of China

Alex and Min

China is the forth biggest country in the world. China is on the Easter Asia, bordering the East China Sea, Korea Bay, Yellow Sea, and South China Sea, between North Korea and Vietnam. The area total is 9,596,960 sq km. It may be 230 times to IL. China’s population is about 1,313,973,713. So in six people has one people is Chinese. China has the highest mountain in the world. It calls Himalayas. It is the ridge of the world. It is about 8848 m high, and it still grows higher now. There are Poyang, Dongting, Taihu, Hongze and Chaohu maior lakes in the country. They are freshwater lakes, and saltwater lakes such as Qinghai, Nam Co and Siling Co. The largest saltwater lake is Qinghai lake, It is in northeast Qinghai Province, and area of 4,583 sq km. The largest lake is Qinghail lake, the lowest lake is Aydingkol Lake in the China. The Yangtze, 6,300 km long, is the largest river in China, and third largest in the world. The yellow River is the second largest river in China with length of 5,464 km. The Yellow River vally was one of the birthplaces of ancient Chinese civilization. And other major rivers are Haihe, Huaihe, Heilong River, Pearl River and Qiantang. The beautiful island is Hainan. The rich city is Hongkong. The business city is Shanghai. Also there are some natural disasters in China. Typhoons strike Chinamore frequently than any other country. Typhoons is no the same to Tornados. Typhoons can continue for 2-15 days. Darning that time it always crazy rain and wind. China locates between the two largest seismic belts. The two belts no good friends, so they always ﬁght. Because of the ﬁght the earthquakes happen. Also China has many products such as oil, coal mine, metal mine, irrigation works and forest.

17 Chinese Greeting Manner

David and Jack

China has more than 2000 years of culture, so in China people use many different kinds of greeting to others. A long time ago the manner in which Chinese greeted each other was different from nowadays. In that time when friends met each other on the street, people often cupped one hand in the other and placed them before the chest as a salute. This was also used as a daily greeting. But nowadays people often only use it in the Spring Festival. Another time it was used was when a lower rank. Some examples of this were when a worker met his boss or a son to his father. Nowadays people often shake hands at their ﬁrst meeting. It seems like it is an American greeting, but it is a Chinese greeting. In this time people say "ni hao" means "nice to meet you" and introduce themselves. People often wave one hand as we daily greeting between friends, classmates or someone you already know. These are some Chinese daily greetings such as in the morning people say "zao shang hao" means "good morning"; in the night say "wan an" means "good night"; when you meet you friends you can say "hao a" means "what's up"; if you have to go you can say "zaijian" means "goodbye". If you went to introduce your friend to someone you know in the Chinese way, it is just likes American manner.

18 Chinese Martial Arts

Ruby

Chinese martial arts have thousands of years of history and describe the enormous variety of martial arts styles originating in China. Martial arts includes Tai chi, which is a Chinese form of physical exercise using a series of very slow and deliberate balletic body movements. Kungfu is a well-know Chinese term often used by speakers of the English language to refer to Chinese martial arts. Its original meaning is somewhat different, referring to one’s expertise in any skill, not necessarily martial arts. In ancient times, people were proud of their well-developed physical skills. Kungfu is very useful and significant to people. When people wanted to travel someplace, it could protect them from being hurt and it also helped them eat. The soul of the martial art is to increase a person’s inner quality; fighting was not the purpose. It involves other deep knowledge, like philosophy, moral concepts, psychology, and patriotism and so on. If we get it, everyone’s character is improved and our country would be strong. I practice Wushu, which is a formal branch of study in the performance arts by the Chinese. It has very different definitions which both describe not only the separate categories of martial arts study that they embody, but exist as blanket Chinese terms not always referencing martial arts. Kungfu alludes to any individually cultivated skill. Wushu is a more precise term that refers to martial activities in general, and has also performance of adapted Chinese bare –handed and weapons forms. Its emphasis is on combat to performance, and it is practiced for its method of achieving health, self-defense skills, mental discipline, recreational pursuit and competition. I learned Wushu when I was seven years old. I have been practicing it for six years. First I did basics which include stretching and stances. Then when I did them very well, the coach asked me to take part in the matches. These styles are primarily aimed at exhibition and competition. Now international Wushu competitions are most often used compulsory routines, which high-level competitions in China most often used as individual routines. However, Wushu World Games decided to opt for individual routines in international competition with difficult movements added for additional point bonuses. I like Wushu and I think in the future it will be very popular in the world. Also it will join in the Olympics Games in 2016.

19 20 Chinese Musical Instruments

Mars

Traditional Chinese musical instrument are famous in world. Toda let me describe all kinds of Chinese instruments and the history of Chinese instruments. We can classify the Chinese instrument. We can use Eight Sounds to classify the different Chinese instrument. The eight categories are: silk, bamboo, wood, stone, metal, clay, gourd and hide. Chinese musical theory is different than European musical theory. We can use old Chinese word to describe different music notes. Between Chinese music theory and European theory their have different numbers of musical notes. European musical note are more than Chinese musical note.

21 Chinese Painting and Brushing

Sophie and Sunny

Chinese painting and brushing are very famous in the world. First, thereare many different kinds of painting and brushing. Painting are divided into oil painting, gouache painting, sketch painting, acrylic painting and pastel painting. Chinese traditional paintings have water color painting and ink painting. The most famous Chinese painting show bamboo, plum blossoms, orchids and chrysanthemums. The brushings have seal script, clerical script, regular script, cursive script and drafting script. Second, they use four tools for painting and brushing: rice paper, a brushing pen, ink, and inkstone. Third, there are many student studying painting and brushing. They study on weekends and on vacations because people are still interested in it. This traditional art will continue into the future. Chinese brushing and painting will be more and more famous in the world.

22 Chinese Paper Crafts—History and Development

Patty and Stephanie

Chinese paper crafts are a part of traditional culture. They have a very long history. They began around 49~73 BC, when papers was first invented. Now, a simple flower from Xinjiang province is the earliest Chinese paper crafts we can find. But, we do not know the person who made it, because it is too old. Also, paper crafts have any myths. It said that when the weather is the coldest in winter, a griffin called "Xi" would appear in the country to harm the houses, fields and children. So people pasted the red paper crafts outside, maybe on the door or the window to ward off the griffin. The red paper also could ward off evil spirits and bring luck to welcome the new year. Chinese paper crafts often appear with celebrations, but they have many different uses. When people get married, their house will be full of the paper crafts, they are put on the windows, walls, tables, wardrobes and so on. When someone dies, his relatives put the paper on his shoes and clothes to express their grief, but now this situation only happens in the country. At the end of the spring festival, there is another holiday named "YuanXiaoJie", many children decorate Chinese lanterns with paper crafts and then go to play. Now, many people make the paper crafts as gifts for friends in the city. Every kind of shapes has its own meaning. The pictures of kids mean hope, pictures of people's situation mean the wonderful life, pictures of the Peking opera mean national culture. The Chinese words "Fu," "Xi" mean happiness and lucky. Animals and plants mean peacefulness and nature's beauty, for example, butterfly, panda, bamboo and flower. Even some myths and stories can be used in the paper crafts, like one of famous ancient Chinese novels "Xi You Ji." But now, the Chinese paper crafts have more uses. People in the country continue to use them and they can make many of them to have another income. Gradually, this became a business. Someone puts his paper crafts on Internet to sell, so more and more people know the Chinese paper crafts. Chinese paper crafts represent Chinese traditional culture, they also show Chinese wisdom and diligent. I believe they will be more and more popular around the world.

23 Chinese School System

Melissa and Maggie

In China, school has a stable schedule like any other country. School always starts September 1st and end at the mid of January, then will start sagain at March 1st and end at the mid of July. Besides that, we also have to go to school at the same time every day. It is about seven o'clock. Primary school students can leave school early like four o'clock, but middle and high school students cannot leave school until six o'clock, some even stay until eight or nine o'clock. This is a long time to stay at school in China. In China, there are many different kinds of schools. First Chinese students need go to primary school for six years and then they should go to the middle school and high school, they are both three years. After graduating from high school, they have two choices. One of these is to go to a technical secondary school, the other one is enter a junior college. America has many subjects in school and so does China.In our country, different levels of school have different subjects.In high school, there are about twelve programs. They are math, English, Chinese, geography, history, politics, biology, physics, chemistry, PE, music and art. But, in a lower level school students may only have to study six or eight subjects. In the universities, students can also choose their major and subjects by themselves like American students. In China, we have many different exams. In middle school and high school the exam schedule includes monthly tests, midterm exams, and a ﬁnal exam. At the end of high school you have to take a special exam to enter a higher education. Also, there are serious rules of examination. In each exam, there are facilitators all the time. When taking the exam, students should do everything by themselves just like students in America. In China all of the schools have their own rules.It's very important for a school's development. First, students must wear a uniform. Second, students' hairstyle must correspond to the school's requirements. Also there are rules for behavior such as walking on the right side in the hallway. If students disobey the rules, they will get some disciplinary actions, such as a warning, then it will be written in your permanent record, and lastly you will be kicked out. But, if you do well in the whole term, you will get recognition. China has two main holidays. They are summer holiday and winter holiday. Both of these last about forty days. Besides these long holidays, they also have short trips and activities. They have fall trip, spring trip, and spring festival party. Each school may also have its own activities.

24 25 The Chinese Government System & Leaders

Sam and Steve

The Chinese government has many levels and each has its own function. The highest control organization is the National People’s Congress (NPC). It is the most powerful branch. Their main function is to process the most important things, such as amending the constitution, voting for the Chairman of the Republic and The Standing Committee (TSC). Every five years they have a meeting to accomplish these things. This organization is relatively new compared to China’s long history; it has only met seventeen times in last eighty-five years. The NPC is like the U.S Congress. The second government level is the Chairman. According to the constitution, the Chairman of People’s Republic of China (PRC), has no power to make law. He does not decide anything for himself; everything he wants to do must be approved by for National People’s Congress Standing Committee, the NPCSC, which has for 9-11 members. They amend daily works. The Chairman is one of them. He can preside over the meeting, but he just has one vote. Actually, the Chairman is like the Chairman of the Board. The NPCSC is like the board of directors for the entire country. The Chairman is the symbol of the Republic. His main function has two parts: One is for internal affairs, which means the inside things including showing which decision that the NPC should choose, publicizing the law, appointing and removing other ministers etc. The second part is foreign affairs such as meeting other countries’ leaders. The Chairman is similar to the President of the Untied States. Now our leader is Wen Jiabao The third level of government is made up of four departments. They are the Sate Council (TSC), The Military Commission of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (MCCCCPC), also called the Central Military Commission (CMC); The Highest People’s Court (HPC); and the Highest People’s Procuratorate (HPP). TSC’s function is to process the daily works for government. It has many departments to process things. It is a very important part of the Chinese government. The TSC is the same as the Council of Ministers or in the U.S., the Cabinet. In China we have only one Military Commission, the CMC. Its function is to control all armed power in China; including armed forces, reservist, armed police and posse man, which is like the U.S. National Guard. The CMC is like the Ministry of National Defense. The last is the HPC and HPP. I put them together because their functions are similar. They are the entire highest law enforcement agency. The only one different is the HHP, which is just for officers. The HPP is the highest supervisor and its main mission is for corruption control. It processes the prisoners of state and the HPC processes the public cases. The fourth level is the local government systems; they have the same organizations as the central government. The function is same for the center the difference they just control their

26 own part. For the government we must talk about leaders. In china, there are three most famous leaders: Chair man Mao Zedong Chair man Deng Xiaoping and Premier Zhou Nelai. Mao Zedong was born in December 26, 1893 and died in September 9, 1976. He led the Communist Party of China to ﬁght against the Japanese during World War 2. After World War 2 he led the Communist Party of China and won the Chinese Civil War. He built China. In China, Mao is like George Washington, because he helped led China to independence from Japan, and he was our ﬁrst Chairman. Deng Xiao Ping was born in August 22, 1904 and died in February 19, 1997. He was a Leader of in the Communist Party of China. He help Mao a lot during World War 2 and The Chinese Civil War, After the Chinese Civil War he made China open to trade with other countries. And he also formed a program called “one country two systems” that made Hong Kong and Macao came back China. This program allowed the two colonies to keep their social system and government system when the came back to China. This program is the biggest contribution he made to China. Zhou Enlai was born in August third 1898 and died in January 8, 1976. He was a leader in the Communist Party of China. He was a leader during World War 2 and the Chinese Civil War. After the Chinese Civil War he became chancellor of China under Mao. He was a Good assistant to Mao and a good ambassador. In the 1970s he let China in establishing Trade with Japan. He welcomed US President Nixon to China in February 1972. After that America and China have more international trade. The current leader of China is Hu Jin tao. He became the Chairman of China in 2005. All of these are Chinese government systems and leaders I think these are the main part of the Chinese government system and their functions. Also these are our main leaders they the great.