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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Three-inch golden lotus refers to the ‘ideal’ length (three inches long) of a perfect foot of young girls and women in ancient China. Bound feet are regarded as “lotus”.

The history of foot binding can date back to the period of Sui Dynasty (581~618). In Song Dynasty (960~1279), it was quite popular and widely spread. At that time, it is generally believed the little feet were the most beautiful. Women also viewed foot binding as a kind of virtue. However, in order to get the three-inch long foot, they had to bear the sharp pain.

Based on the size, bound feet can be divided into different grades of “lotus”. Ferrous lotus is the feet of more than four inches. Four-inch feet are called silver lotus. Three-inch golden lotus refers to three-inch feet, which was regarded as the most beautiful feet at that time.

In ancient times, girls began to bind their feet at the age of five or six. They were often forced to bind feet by the mother or the grandmother. Ignoring the crying of their daughter or granddaughter, they usually used the long cloth to bind the toes to the arch. The binding even involved breaking the arch of the foot.

The custom of foot binding not only reflects the unique aesthetic standards of ancient China, but also represents that at that time, men are more superior to women. Therefore, women had no choice but to conform to meet some ideal image of what a man preferred.

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There spread an interesting legend about the origin of Lu Ban Lock. The legend goes that, Lu Ban wanted to test whether his son was clever or not. He made a detachable toy with six strips of wood and asked his son to separate it and then put these strips of wood back together. After a whole night work, his son succeeded in doing that. The toy was called Lu Ban Lock by later generations. However, it is just a legend. In fact, the lock first originated from the tenon structure in ancient Chinese architecture.

Lu Ban Lock consists of six rectangular rods with slot within and is divided into three pairs of rods, with each pair perpendicular to the other two pairs. The rods intersect with each other but they are also interlocked so they are not easy to put back together. The lock can be made of wood, bamboo, ivory, brass, etc.

There are different kinds of Lu Ban Locks. Most of them are easy to separate and difficult to put together. When assembling, you should observe and think carefully to learn its internal structure.

In ancient times, the lock was popular for a period of time. Nowadays, it gradually won recognition from more and more people again due to its advantages in relaxing, developing brainpower, etc.

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The Game of Go, called “Weiqi” in Chinese, is known as one of the Four Arts of the Chinese Scholar.

It has a long history of more than 3,000 years in China. It was said that the Game of Go had been invented by Yao (the ancient China legendary emperor). According to the ancient documents, the game became popular during the period of Spring and Autumn Warring States (770BC- 221BC). Since the Tang Dynasty (618～907), it gradually participated in the cultural exchanges between China and other parts of the world.

Go was regarded as one of the most challenging and intellectually stimulating board games in ancient China. Therefore, it was quite popular among people from all walks of life, especially the scholars and the nobles. People believed that it could cultivate their moral character, edify the moral consciousness, code of conduct, aesthetical interests, the way of thinking, etc.

This strategic board game is played by two people who alternately place black and white pieces on the vacant intersections of a grid of 19×19 lines. The rule of the Game of Go is simple, but it is really hard to master the essence. However, it still widely loved by people from all parts of the world, especially people from China, Japan, Korea, etc.

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Cricket fighting has a long history in China which can date back to the Tang dynasty (618 – 907A.D.). During the Song dynasty (960 – 1279A.D.), it became a popular form of entertainment. Later, it continued to flourish in Ming and Qing Dynasties (1616-1911).

In order to win, ancient Chinese would feed their crickets with controlled diets to keep them in fighting shape. There were even books taught how to find better crickets, how to diagnose various diseases of crickets.

Yard grass stalks were used to stimulate the crickets to fight. Generally speaking, the whole battle would last only a few minutes. However, for some powerful ones, the fighting would last about half an hour.

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