Food plays an important role in Chinese culture. To the Chinese, food is not only for eating but also a symbol for good things, such as reunion, good luck, wealth, etc. Some of them even can only be eaten during special occasions. Here are the symbolic meanings for some foods:

* Bean curd – wealth, happiness
* Spring roll – wealth
* Mooncake – togetherness, reunion
* Yuanxiao – reunion
* Eggs – fertility
* Egg Rolls – wealth
* Fish served whole – prosperity
* Cashew nuts – gold, money
* Noodles – longevity
* Dumplings – wealth，prosperity
* Nian Gao – gaining improvement in each coming year
* Oranges – wealth, luck
* Chicken – happiness, sometimes symbolize the dragon and phoenix.
* Duck – fidelity
* Peanuts – a long life
* Peaches – longevity
* Pineapple – wealth, excellent fortune, gambling luck
* Grapes – wealth, abundance, fertility, family harmony
* Apple – peace, wisdom
* Pomelo – abundance, prosperity, having children
* Seeds (lotus, watermelon, etc.) – fertility, many descendants

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Compass, a simple instrument of finding the direction, was one of the four great inventions in ancient China.

The history of compass can date back to the period of Warring States (475BC~221BC). During that time, working people used an instrument called Sinan to find their way. It consisted of two parts, a metal spoon which was made of loadstone and a square bronze plate with markings for different positions. Due to the earth’s magnetic field, the handle of the spoon always point to the south. It was believed as the earliest form of compass. During the period of Northern Song Dynasty (960~1127), another kind of compass south-pointing fish appeared and was used for military purpose.

Later, people discovered the directivity of the magnetite. Then the magnetized needles were used to point directions instead of the spoon-shaped loadstone. Finally, the compass came into being. According to records, it was used in navigation during the Northern Song Dynasty (960 A.D. – 1127 A.D.)

As a useful tool in ancient China, compass was also one of the most important inventions for the whole world. Nowadays, it is still used for different purposes, such as measuring, traveling, mining, astronomy, etc.

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Chinese medicine is the unique traditional medicine in China. It possesses great advantages of disease prevention and health care but almost completely free of side effects. All the raw materials of the medicine are comprised of herbal, animal, mineral, some chemical substance and biological substance.

It has a long history of thousands of years in China. According to the ancient documents, the earliest work on Chinese medicine in the world is Sheng Nong’s Herbal Classic, which consists of over 300 kinds of herbs used for medication. The most famous book Compendium of Materia Medica, covering as many as 1892 kinds of herb medicines, was born during the period of Ming Dynasty (1368~1644).

The doctors of Chinese medicine believe that there are two kinds of energy that flow within our body, called Yin and Yang. In order to keep healthy, the human body needs to maintain balanced Yin and Yang. People will get sick and even die without the balance of Yin and Yang. Chinese medicine has the ability of restoring the balance of Yin and Yang.

In ancient China, the doctors of traditional Chinese medicine always diagnose the patients by four basic methods, namely observation, auscultation and olfaction, interrogation and palpation.

Observation: observing the appearance to know the patient’s condition;
Auscultation and olfaction: collecting messages via hearing the sound and smiling the odor;
Interrogation: asking the patient to know his symptoms, previous treatments, etc; Palpation: feeling one’s pulse.

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Jia Xichun is one of the Twelve Beauties of Jinling (refers to the twelve excellent ladies) in the book of The Dream of Red Mansions. Jia Xichun the second youngest of the Twelve Beauties. She is a cold-hearted beauty and always treat others indifferently.

Jia Xichun is the sister of Jia Zhen and the daughter of Jia Jing. Her mother died early when she was very young and she was brought up by Lady Wang at the Rongguo Mansion.

She was religious and also a gifted painter. However, due to her personality, she did not have many friends and only got on well with some monks and nuns, such as Miaoyu.

From the start to the end of the book, she cared only herself. When Ruhua, her maidservant, was found doing something wrong, she said she did not have any relations with Ruhua and even asked Wang to punish her maidservant freely.

She witnessed not only the decline of the family of Jia, but also the unfortunate fate of her sisters. Therefore, she had no wants or desires for her own life. She could not find a way out for her rest life and finally she became a nun to evade reality. Most people believe that her personalities are driven by the society at that time. Living under the major political terror, she did all the things to protect herself. That is another kind of tragedy. And her name also suggests the tragedy of her life.

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The history of Yueyang Tower can date back to the period of Three Kingdoms (220~280). It is said that the tower was originally used for military purpose. Lu Su, the famous military commander of the period of Eastern Han Dynasty (25~220), had used it as an inspection tower to train his soldiers. Thousands of years, it has been a popular tourist destination and there left many articles and poems about the tower in history. The most famous one “Notes on Yueyang Tower” was written by Fan Zhongyan, an outstanding scholar in North Song Dynasty (960~1127). This article makes the tower even more famous.

Yueyang Tower was built in the Qing Dynasty (1636~1911). It not only possesses unique structure with three floors, four pillars, flying eaves but also owns helmet roof. This kind of top structure is unparalleled in the history of ancient Chinese architecture.

There spread a legend about the tower. The legend goes that, an official asked carpenter Li to design a wonderful tower in a month. When Li was worried about it, suddenly, a white-haired old man appeared and gave him some pieces of wood and then disappeared with a blast of wind. With those pieces of wood, Li finally designed a majestic tower model. That was the model for Yueyang Tower.

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