iChina Magazine 2009 Jan. Issue

iChina

January 2009

www.ichinamag.com

Eyeing China with My Angle

New Year's Special: Published by iChina Media Group & KF Publishing Company Group, U.S.A

CCTV Lunar New Year Show in Last 25 Years Chinese New Year Shopping V.S. Christmas Shopping "The Dinner" of the Year

PLUS: 15 Years, Those Memories about Salaries Full of Wonder - My Trip to China More Than A Stuffed Bun - Chinese Hamburgers Danxia Landform in China vs. the Grand Circle of the Southwest United States

Cover Story:

Wedding in Miao Village

The Letter from the editor

The time has come to say goodbye to 2008, and welcome a brand new start for us all. As United States President Elect Obama has said, "Change. Yes, we can," and we would like to see good changes for the world from the very beginning of the New Year. Although the shadow of financial crisis will follow us through 2009, we hope the future will not be quite so dark as the past. Everyone has his or her own different New Year's wishes, but we all share a similar wish for the New Year – happiness, love and peace.

The New Year comes a little later for Chinese people, as most Chinese choose to recognize the Lunar New Year as their chance for a fresh start. Chinese New Year (or Chinese Spring Festival) has been the most important traditional Chinese holiday for thousands of years. The festival traditionally begins on the first day of the first month in the Chinese lunar calendar, and ends on the 15th - a day called the Lantern Festival.

Chinese New Year's Eve is known as Chúxī. It literally means "Yearpass Eve." The lunisolar Chinese calendar determines the Chinese New Year's dates. The calendar is also used in countries that have adopted or have been influenced by Han culture (notably the Taiwanese, Korean, Japanese and Vietnamese cultures) and may have a common ancestry with the similar New Years festivals outside East Asia (such as Iran and, historically, the Bulgar lands).

There is an old Chinese saying that "the longing for faraway families grows greater on festival days." For those Chinese living in the US or in other places outside their hometowns, it is usually a time when they feel lonely and sad. Thanks to modern technology, the world is getting smaller and smaller. A phone call, an email, or a package delivery can all somehow relieve a bit of the sadness of being far away from home.

Whether you choose to celebrate the Western New Year or the Chinese New Year, 2009 is here (or almost here). Let us throw the unhappy past behind us and wish a happy New Year in 2009, together!

Editor: Stacy Liu January, 2009

iChina is published monthly by iChina Media Group and KF Publishing Company Group.

Editor in Chief April Zhang azhang@ichinamag.com Managing Editor May Ouyang mouyang@ichinamag.com Associate Editor Stacy Liu sliu@ichinamag.com Qinqin Schoser qqschoser@ichinamag.com Sharon Wilson swilson@ichinamag.com Elizabeth Steiner esteiner@ichinamag.com Assistant Editor Lihua Wu lwu@ichinamag.com Michael Smith msmith@ichinamag.com Copy Editor Rebecca Stout rebecca.stout@gmail.com Art Director Jiangling Wu jwu@ichinamag.com Photographer Jing Fu jfu@ichinamag.com ----------------------------------Marketing Director Xiaowen Bao xwbao@ichinamag.com

There are two ways of spreading light - to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it. ~Edith Wharton

Thanks to our volunteers!

Ming Zhang; Li Wang; Tianwei Li; Yong Chen; Haidong Liu; Hao Tang; Xiaosu Huang; Zhen Li; Heng Guo; Xin Guan; Dan Cheng; Li Yang; Qiangfang Du; Haining Du; Rui Min;Lu Cao; Jianjun He; Jing Shen; Yingying Chen; Shanfeng Chen; Jian Zhang; Wei Yang; Ying Zhang; Cliff Sze.

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02. We've Come A Long Way, but We Still Have Miles to Go 02. Time to Rejoice - and Reflect 05. What have Overseas Chinese Contributed to China in Past 30 Years?

ECONOMY 07. 15 Years, Those Memories about Salaries 08. Luxury Consumption Decreases 10. 6 Million for Hire

PEOPLE Cover Story

11. Full of Wonder - My Trip to China 14. My Chinese Wife

CULTURE 16. Wedding in Miao Village 20. CCTV Lunar New Year Show in Last 25 Years 24. Chinese New Year Shopping V.S. Christmas Shopping

FOOD 26. "The Dinner" of the Year 28. Let's Make Chinese Dumplings from Scratch!

29. More Than A Stuffed Bun - Chinese Hamburgers

ARTS 31. Chinese Pop Music Since the 1980s

TRAVEL 37. Let's Go Skiing!

39. Danxia Landform in China vs. the Grand Circle of the Southwest United States

LEISURE 42. The Essentials 43. Chinese Learning: Chinese New Year 44. Events 46. Monkey King Journey to the West 48. Interaction 49 Survey and Subscription Note: If you believe that your work has been reprinted in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, please contact iChina's Copyright Agent: copyright@ichinamag.com for more information.

INDEX

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January 2009

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We've Come A Long Way, but We Still Have Miles to Go

By Xinhua

B

orn in the early 1980s, Zhou knows little of the seclusion and shortages of products his parents still talk about. But he said: "I do remember meat was a luxury when I was a kid. We used to save the best stuff for guests or festivals."

Today, like many office workers his age, Zhou enjoys dining out with friends and singing at karaoke bars.

Thirty years ago, China's leaders launched an economic revolution, opening the door to freemarket reforms and foreign trade. Since then, China has undergone profound changes in all of its various areas of endeavor. Every society changes, but China's society has comparatively changed fast.

Time to Rejoice - and Reflect

From rags to riches Xu Shenqiu used to be a teacher in the Shandong province when China ushered in the reform and opening up policy. In the late 1980s he followed his friends into business, and within a few years he had amassed a fortune by running a department store in the Jilin province.

Now Xu, 54, and his wife are on a two-week trip to Antarctica.

"Perhaps this is my parents' unique way of celebrating 30 years of reform and opening up," said their daughter, Xu Yuan, 27, a student of journalism at Japan's Doshisha University.

"When my father started, he was just dreaming of a more exciting life. But he ended up with a much bigger fortune than he could have imagined," she said.

Journey ahead But there are people who still have to struggle for a living, despite the rapid economic growth, especially because of the global financial crisis that has dealt a significant blow to China's exporters and manufacturers.

Wang Gang, 22, had to return home to a rural area of the Henan province in October because the electronics firm he worked for in Shenzhen closed its doors.

Usually, he would have returned home during the Spring Festival loaded with gifts for his family. But this time, he was forced to return empty handed because his wages had been cut in half.

"My pay used to be at least twice what I made from farming. I even bought my father a motorbike last year."

In Wang's home county of Zhengyang, his six-member family grows crops on 0.7 acres of land. "Even if we plant gold, our income would at best be meager."

The wide income gap between the rich and the poor, and urban and rural residents, along with the a better builtin capability of withstanding financial risks and achieving sustainable development will continue to pose a challenge to the country in the coming years, said Liu Yunxian, a researcher with the Executive Leadership Academy in Shanghai's Pudong.

"In decades to come, there's a lot China needs to do to maintain fairness and social harmony, and to improve people's livelihood," he said. "Reform and opening up have brought China's 5,000-year-old civilization to a new height, but this is not the end."

By You Nuo

T

oday's celebrations marking the 30th anniversary of China's reform and opening up policies should have been euphoric for the country and the world, for the benefits to both are all too apparent.

Instead, amid the global economic gloom, any celebrations will be muted.

The decoupling theory has gone out the bedroom window as economies around the world find themselves in a tighter embrace than ever before.

So in China, there will be some inevitable grousing about how reform and opening up has not brought home the riches and ever-rising prosperity to all that was promised or expected.

A woman talks on her cell phone in front of a photo taken in the 1990s, showing a woman using an oldfashioned mobile device, and dated December 18, 2008.

The show features about 800 photos taken across the country during the past three decades, in an effort to highlight the major changes China has gone through since 1978.

This laid-off State enterprise worker would no doubt prefer the days of having a job and the perk of security for life. This Dongguan toy factory worker wonders whether the sacrifice of leaving home for a job thousands of miles away, only to find that his overseas boss decamped overnight, was worth it.

State-owned enterprises, brought to the altar of the

Xianyang workers were happy to get their jobs thousands of kilometers away in Dongguan.

FOCUS marketplace - some eagerly, some reluctantly - in ongoing market reforms will be carefully reevaluating their position. They are global market players seeking innovations, adequate levels of capital, the right technology and creative marketing strategies; yet there are calls all round for them not to lay off any more workers - indeed, to not even cut year-end bonuses.

N o doubt as top leaders gather t o d a y at the Great Hall of the People to mark the epochmaking day 30 years ago when the country decided on the reforms that would open up China to the world, there will be somber reflections along with a strong sense of achievement.

They will most likely stress the remarkable progress charted over the past 30 years; and as they set the agenda for the coming years, they will most likely point out that the need is for more reform, not less.

Yes, there have been birth pangs; and there will be growing pains. As Deng Xiaoping, the architect of the reforms, presciently said in 1993, we will encounter more problems while we develop than we would if we were in a state of underdevelopment.

But the phenomenal success of the reforms and policy of opening up is not even remotely in doubt - few who have seen the changes, either in China or overseas, have questioned its historic significance.

The statistical evidence is jaw-dropping.

Simply put, never before in history have the lives of so many millions been transformed in such a short period.

More compellingly, it is about people once helpless individuals starting up their own business, poor villages are becoming better-off as communities; sleepy towns are thriving in the modern manufacturing world and winning contracts worldwide.

Poverty, a legacy from the wars and social turmoil in most of the 20th century, has been effectively reduced, as

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national welfare programs such as health and education continue to be improved.

A modern market e c o n o m y, f o r a l l i t s inadequacies, has been providing an increase in choices and

opportunities for the world's largest working population.

In contrast, 30 years ago many people had questions and even quite serious doubts about policies of reform. Conflicting reports about China were printed side-by-side in the newspapers.

Now it would be instructive to recall some of the skeptical, if not cynical, comments that China once heard from overseas and compare them with reality.

Many of those comments are no longer heard. But at one time, they were being recycled at a high frequency.

Maybe they should not all be forgotten, as occasionally revisiting them may help people better appreciate the uniqueness of the Chinese reform experience.

In the early 1980s, when reform was being urged by Deng and his colleagues, one standard remark made by the new line of Chinese leadership was "neither donkey nor horse."

How could an economy which had, up to that day, only featured centralized planning and control, shift to incorporate market forces?

How could a society where nearly every wall on the street was painted with ideologicallycharged slogans allow individuals to dream of material incentives?

How could a people with more than 80 percent of Young ladies in early 80s their population still living in the countryside living rural lives not much different from 1,000 years earlier, pursue modernization?

By throwing together ideas borrowed from disparate

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systems, those people used to say, China could only become a strange combination of contradictions. There might even be a danger of the country continuing to be bogged down in endless internal conflicts.

On the surface, the commentators were certainly right. Through the initial decade or so, Chinese economists introduced a huge number of experimental projects based on inspiration from the former Yugoslavia, Hungary, Scandinavia, the United States, Japan, and the so-called "little tigers" of Asia - Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan.

Many of the experiments did not come to fruition and were merged with other experiments. Retrospectively speaking, it does not matter, actually, how they worked out - so long as they could meet one criterion most

There is no ready design, moreover, from abroad. But more and more, to transform a formerly rural society parts of the made-in-China wheel are with a vast population enjoying of the world's standard design. so much diversity, into an orderly, 'Adam Smith on steroids' competitive market system. In many Now we come to the new century. aspects, people have to go through With its newly earned importance many ups and downs together to form in global trade (along with all the a shared experience, and learn to work positive and negative reports about with each other. made-in-China goods), American The Chinese people had a deep politicians coined a new name for suspicion of the high-profile short cuts China - "Adam Smith on steroids." some used to reach a market economy, One interpretation of phrase is a like the Russian shock therapy. Guided clear acknowledgement that China is by their farmers' wisdom, they opted now a competitive economy - does for a seemingly go-slow strategy. anyone still remember how meager Reform was the goal, of course, but the nation's import and export volume they felt the goal should be pursued in was 30 years ago? It was, in dollar such a way as to benefit development. terms, less than three days of business Only development can convince a nowadays. In other words, China's people, as Deng famously told his foreign trade grew from a little audience during the last inspection more than $20 billion in 1978, to an tour of his life in 1992. estimated $2,720 billion in 2008.

B u t i n a In terms of GDP, the primary s e e m i n g l y g o - measurement of a country's economic slow decade, a fair m i g h t , C h i n a ' s 2 0 0 8 r e c o r d i s n u m b e r o f o n c e estimated at 27,078.8 billion yuan, bureaucratic State- more than 70 times the 1978 figure. owned enterprises There is another side, admittedly. were restructured, Concerns about quality, such as the with shares issued tainted milk that managed to get to the public over through the age-old quality inspection p u b l i c e x c h a n g e s system and harmed at least 290,000 in New York, Hong babies in this country, continue to Kong, London, and plague China.

Singapore, as well The Chinese do not shy away from as in Shanghai and the fact that in many corners of their China became the 14th member of the WTO in Dec,2001.

Shenzhen. land, there may have been growth concisely summarized by Deng: In the meantime, large numbers in money or in numbers, but much "poverty is not socialism." of privately-held small enterprises, less growth in terms of benefits to Or at least, socialism allows for including technology startups, sprang customers and workers. no poverty. So all the efforts, and not up along the coast. Small enterprises In 2003, it was amid the public just the economists' experiments, but in manufacturing and the service health crisis of SARS (severe acute all of the villages, all of the factories, industries have become a hotbed of respiratory syndrome) that the central and all citizens' attempts to seek the new urban jobs, redirecting former government first raised the principle kind of mix and remix of economic rural labor forces into the cities. of "people first." inspirations that they felt comfortable Whenever with worked to bring China the f e a s i b l e , success it enjoys today. international norms 'Re-inventing the wheel' and practices were In the mid-1990s, the reforms a l s o i m p o r t e d , looked precarious. Citizens were and not in small disgruntled about the rampant official measure. In 2001, corruption (though far from eradicated accession to the now), fake merchandise, and painfully W T O p r o v i d e d slow progress of State-owned C h i n a w i t h a n enterprises. Why not, some critics important window said, transplant a ready system from a of learning. mature market economy? Why must To u s e t h e we try to re-invent the wheel? metaphor again, China 1985-2005 Historic GDP Comparison of China versus several european countries.

However, society is not a machine. didn't buy a whole wheel

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his hometown, Xingyang City. Subsequently, between 1984 and 1986, 22 overseas Chinese donated 56 automobiles to Zhengzhou, the capital city of the Henan Province. In addition to vehicles, overseas Chinese have also donated nylon cloth, fertilizer, chemical fibers, medical equipment, motorcycles, refrigerators, and agricultural machines.

"Scarce items," including televisions, washing machines, sewing machines, and radios reached some families when the overseas Chinese returned to their hometowns. These goods directly changed the daily lives of ordinary Chinese people at the time.

One dollar hotel SARS,2003

People should be the motivation behind all governmental development. That is why more resources (though they never seem enough) are being committed to mass social security programs such as rural medical care and schools, aid for low-income citizens and the jobless, and environmental protections and emissions controls.

Laws are being enacted and amended to better protect citizens' economic rights, most recently in farmers' landuse rights and in their autonomous cooperatives.

Much of the 4 trillion yuan stimulus package that Beijing has designed to cope with the global financial crisis features the removal of costly and energy-consuming projects. Most such projects, as public infrastructure projects, clearly emphasize the development of higher quality lives in both urban and rural settings.

Along with the arrival of scarce items, personal exchanges with other countries also increased. In the summer of 1978, the National Tourism Administration asked for help from Liao Chengzhi, the director of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council, telling him that the Beijing Hotel was fully booked and some foreign guests had no place to stay. (At that time, very few hotels were available to accommodate foreigners in Beijing.)

What have Overseas Chinese Contributed to China in Past 30 Years?

By Wang Qian

Overseas Chinese provide "scarce items" to their hometowns At the start of the reform and opening-up policies 30 years ago, China faced a great scarcity of materials. Public transport was far less developed than it is today. Even a bicycle was not something that every household could afford, far less a car.

At the time, overseas Chinese citizens were among the first to respond actively to the call for opening up. Many overseas Chinese and their compatriots from Hong Kong and Macao returned to their hometowns. In order to solve the problem of transportation, many chose to donate their automobiles to their hometowns. In the Henan Province, Hong Kong compatriot Tan Xianguo donated three vans to

In June of 1980, Liao Chengzhi (middle of front row) cut the ribbon at the founding ceremony of the Beijing Jianguo Hotel.

Liao Chengzhi then introduced a relative - overseas Chinese Chen Xuanyuan - to the Administration.

Following the negotiations, each side agreed to invest US$10 million in building a new hotel, and Chen Xuanyuan would transfer his 49 percent shareholding to the Chinese side at a cost of one US dollar, after the hotel had operated for ten years.

On March 29, 1982, the construction of the first hotel with joint funds from overseas Chinese and mainland Chinese - the Beijing Jianguo Hotel - was completed.

Ever since, hotels funded jointly by overseas Chinese and foreign funds have flourished in China. Those who visit China no longer need to worry about accommodations.

During the past 30 years, the investment range of

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overseas Chinese has developed from labor-intensive to capital or technology-intensive industries, and has expanded from the hometowns of overseas Chinese to the coastal areas, from the coastal areas to inland, and from the east to central and western China, eventually leading to an all around opening-up of China. Overseas Chinese businessmen and their enterprises have made an enormous contribution to the expansion of "Made in China" products throughout the world.

Nowadays, investing in China has become a trend for overseas Chinese. Li Guixiong, head of the Thailand Chinese Youth Chamber of Commerce quoted statistics from the Chamber that indicate that over 80 percent of young overseas Chinese businessmen in Thailand have returned to their motherland to invest.

Although the statistics are incomplete, enterprises founded by overseas Chinese and compatriots from Hong Kong and Macao account for around 70 percent of the total of overseas-funded enterprises in China.

Overseas Chinese created the concept of "San Lai Yi Bu" trade As foreign trade developed in China following the reform and opening-up policies, "San Lai Yi Bu" came to stand for four types of transnational trade: the processing of materials supplied by overseas clients, the assembly of equipment supplied by overseas clients, the production of goods based on samples provided by overseas clients, and compensation transactions.

Jiang Ling, Vice-Mayor of Dongguan City in the Guangdong Province, suggests that the idea of "San Lai Yi Bu" was proposed by overseas Chinese. "At a time when we lacked funds, technology, markets, and industries, overseas Chinese suggested that we make use of comparatively cheap and abundant land and labor resources to attract overseas industries and capital.

With inspiration and help from overseas Chinese, the first "San Lai Yi Bu" enterprise in China was set up in Dongguan City. From this base, the city has steadily developed into an international manufacturing base.

Dongguan City also benefited from exchanges with overseas Chinese in developing the city's culture and improving the environment. The Dongguan mode is no longer exceptional - the approach has also been seen in Shanghai, Fujian Province, and other places where many overseas Chinese originate.

Lv Weixiong, Director of the Guangdong Foreign Affairs and Overseas Chinese Affairs Committee, who served as the Vice-Mayor of Zhongshan City for seven years, recalled this period and said that the advanced ideas brought by overseas Chinese played a significant role in the development of China's reform and opening-up. From city planning to the renovation of public toilets and trash bins, Zhongshan City's progress is closely connected with new concepts brought in by overseas Chinese.

Donations have become a habit In the 1980s and 90s, if people visited towns inhabited by returned overseas Chinese and relatives of overseas Chinese, they noticed that the best buildings were mostly schools funded by donations.

Many older generations of overseas Chinese were firm in their belief that "we can't let the children suffer the pains we had," and that it was a duty to "provide the best possible education for the children." As a result, the majority of donations from overseas Chinese have gone into education.

In the Guangdong Province alone, there are nearly 18,000 middle and primary schools established by donations from overseas Chinese in the past 20 years. The three universities of Shantou, Wuyi, and Jiaying were also set up through donations from overseas Chinese.

At the very beginning, funds usually went to aging relatives and friends. Gradually, with the return of more and more overseas Chinese, donating to their hometowns has become a habit for many overseas Chinese.

In 1981, Brazilian Chinese Qiao Songming, originally from Xingyang City of China's Henan Province, set up a primary and middle school for his village. He also set up scholarship awards for diligent students. Later he invested 200,000 yuan (US$29,263) to start a chicken farm, together with his fellow villagers.

In addition to education, overseas Chinese have also helped to repair bridges, construct roads, set up hospitals, and provide welfare houses. According to the statistics, over the past 30 years overseas Chinese and compatriots from Hong Kong and Macao have donated 70 billion yuan to public services on the Chinese mainland. Over all, more than 600 overseas Chinese have donated over 10 million yuan to the Chinese mainland.

On October 11, 2008, 88-year-old American Chinese Wu Zhongliang (middle) visits a middle school funded by his donation to Neijiang City of the Sichuan Province.

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15 Years, Those Memories about Salaries Written by Xiao Yi (肖易)/Translated by Stacy Liu Numbers can always show or prove something in a concrete and objective way. In this article, author Xiao Yi (肖易) reviews her pay stubs for the past 15 years. Without a word in print, we can see how Deng Xiaoping's Reform and Open Policy of the past 30 years has affected an ordinary person's life.

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included. I cannot even imagine how I could live on such little money back then. Apparently I did a fairly good job because I can still remember saving

time still a part of the UK) and other countries came to China for the "Gold Rush." More and more people like me got lucky with opportunities

One of my pay stubs of 1990

some of the 135.5 Yuan every month, after all the necessities were purchased.

Of course back then there was no brand name shopping, and no movie theaters or karaoke bars to spend money on.

Those luxuries were for millionaires, for those who had both the money and the time to go out for some fun.

Ordinary people like me seemed to be fine with working and staying at home to watch our 17-inch Panda (Brand) televisions.

In 1992, I was hired by a jointventure advertising business. While the open policy in China was becoming more and more prevalent, many investors from Hong Kong (at that

Pay stub of Oct,2003

to work for those companies, earning a higher rate of pay and getting a better view of what was going on outside of mainland China. I got my first company credit card at that time, from the Bank of China. To me, it was more like a fun card. The company put part of my salary in Hong Kong dollars on the card every month, and I would withdraw them to go out for a nice meal, or to use for other fun activities like watching a movie or buying myself a nice dress.

It is ironic that I got a much higher monthly pay (600-700 CNY/month) at that time, but didn't manage to save a single Yuan.

The next company did not keep me too long, even though I received my first surprising commission there. It was a small advertising c o m p a n y, a n d besides the basic salary, we received commissions based on our performance. One of my commercial proposals was accepted and

ECONOMY

ooking back at my career over the past 15 years, I see I have changed jobs no less than 10 times.

Some I left after only a month or two.

Some, on the other hand, I kept for quite a bit longer, and one for almost 10 years. Each place has left me with memories, both good and bad. To recount them all would take too long.

However, one thing I will share today, the thing I remember most clearly, is the change in my salary over those 15 years.

I took all my pay stubs out yesterday, for no particular reason, just as sometimes I like to look back at all my old pictures to see how time flies and how much I have changed.

One of my earliest pay stubs pulled me back 15 years to when I got my first job, in a less-than-famous museum in Beijing, where I helped with various exhibitions. You would not believe the number on my first pay stub! In 1990, my monthly salary was 135.5 Yuan (CNY) with all the possible compensations and the basic payment

8 carried out by a client. On the day the commercial was made, my boss gave me an envelope with some cash and said, "Well-done! Here is your commission." At the time I was in a rush to get back home, so with a brief expression of gratefulness and excitement, I grabbed a cab and ran home without even opening the envelope. Eventually I did open it in front of my husband. I counted the cash inside again and again - 6000 Yuan in total! I could not believe my eyes and had to double check if I had got the right envelope.

The company I stayed with the longest was an international IT company. I spent almost ten years there in different departments and positions. At the end of 1996, I was hired there with a low probationary salary – 1500 Yuan per month. The salary went up to 2400 Yuan as soon as I was hired on as a full time employee. The salary rate

fluctuated according to personal performance, position level, and so on. There was a really complicated formula to decide everyone's salary each month. At the end of the year, the company gave away bonuses – sometimes as high as 3 months salary.

Can you imagine that my salary has increased by 57 times during the past 15 years? From a fresh college graduate to a professional manager; from being single to married; from a daughter to a mother; from taking a bus to driving my own car; from staying in the dorm to owning a house... It's just like a dream, a nice dream created by the 30-year reform and open policy guided by Deng Xiaoping.

Luxury Consumption Decreases ECONOMY

By Quan Xiaoshu & Cao Xiaofan

cartier boutique opens in beijing

Z

hang Yu, owner of a consignment store for luxury goods, hopes that his business stays as strong as it has been despite the global economic downturn.

It's been a busy time for Zhang, who started "Milan Stop" in Hangzhou City, 186 miles south of Shanghai, seven months ago. A surge of visitors who want to resell their luxury products have been coming into the store since October.

"Business has actually gotten better since the financial crisis," he said. At least it has in terms of the amount of items for sale.

"Before that, people usually came with only one or two items, but now they bring five or six, or even up to ten items, for commission sale."

Their eagerness to sell means that Zhang has more inventory to offer and more opportunities to profit from the price differences. Resellers also benefit because they get ten percent of the item's sale price.

"Usually we don't ask any questions, but sometimes customers tell us anyway. Some women said they get less money from their husbands due to a business downturn, so they're selling their luxury collections for pocket money,"

he said.

The black shelves in the 323-square-foot "Milan Stop," the city's first second-hand luxury store, are packed with Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Chanel, Prada and Christian Dior purses. They look almost brand new, and each is wrapped with a protective covering. High end watches and jewelry are displayed in the middle of the room.

A classic, limited-edition LV trunk is the store's rarest treasure. "The owner, from Hong Kong, lost money in copper and the construction materials business. Pinched for cash, he began to resell some shelved luxury items. He also left his Bentley and Rolls Royce with a pawnshop," Zhang said.

The rich around the world are being squeezed by the economic crisis. Consulting firm Bain & Co. predicts the luxury goods industry will likely enter a recession in 2009.

A study released by Bain in October indicated that the industry, which has not yet experienced the full effects of the global meltdown, will see a relatively modest growth rate of 3% in 2008, as compared with the 9% growth it enjoyed in 2006, and 6.5% growth in 2007.

However, the study also indicated an increase in spending by high net worth consumers in new, emerging markets including China, Russia, India and Brazil, that over the next five years should range from 20% to 35%, which should help build improve this picture in the long run.

Many luxury goods and service providers hope that China's market will save them during this crisis, which is why industry leaders are stepping up their marketing in this area.

Men's luxury goods retailer Alfred Dunhill and Swiss watch maker Vacheron Constantin opened new stores in Shanghai in mid-October, while French jeweler Cartier hosted a polo match in Zhejiang Province, an area that neighbors Shanghai, entertaining its guests with a champagne lunch.

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But Sun Yimin, a marketing expert at Shanghai's Fudan University, believes the world slowdown will affect luxury sales in China.

China is more connected to the world than it has been in the past, and it too is feeling the global chill, with doubledigit economic growth falling to 9% in the third quarter.

A growing number of factory closures and increasing unemployment are further curbing the previous growth momentum.

The super-wealthy, whom Sun depicts as the pillar consumers of luxury goods in China, have seen their fortunes shrink due to losses in stocks and other investments. "They won't splurge like before," Sun said.

According to the US publication Forbes, the number of billionaires in China this year was just 24, as compared to the 66 reported in 2007. "The combined net worth of the 400 richest [people in China] dropped to 173 billion US dollars, from 288 billion US dollars," reported the magazine in late October.

Young office workers are another growing but vulnerable group of consumers of luxury goods in China.

Sun calls them "margin consumers," who might scrimp for months to buy an LV handbag, but immediately stop buying when times are tight. Rising living costs, lower incomes, and even the risk of job losses will cut their consumption, Sun said.

Daisy, 29, from Chengdu, the capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, had to curb her enthusiasm

The second-hand store for luxury goods has more inventory due to the financial crisis.

ECONOMY

NE-TIGER is coming to China

for Chanel, after the foreign-funded company she works for cut her salary by 25% in October.

"I know the company's R&D progress, marketing and sales have all been affected by the financial crisis, but to cut salaries is really annoying. I can no longer buy whatever I like because I have to consider the mortgage, meals, transportation and phone bills first," she said.

Daisy is thinking of reselling some of her ten luxury handbags to pay for visits to her hairdresser and a trip to her hometown. She isn't sure her job will be there after her involuntary vacation.

Likewise, prospects are unclear for Zhang Yu and his "Milan Stop."

"Though more have come to sell us their luxury collections, not as many are willing to buy," said Chen Jiapin, a sales assistant.

"Two sales assistants from a Hermes store near the West Lake came in. They had developed a craving for luxury after serving well-heeled customers," Chen said. "They looked at the bags, but they didn't buy. They said their own store's sales were down so drastically that they had to be more careful."

Chen said most visitors these days are window shoppers.

Some analysts have suggested that consumption taxes on luxury products be cut to spur sales. The government has announced measures, including a 4-trillion-yuan stimulus package, to boost domestic demand and to maintain economic growth.

Previous predictions by the Ministry of Commerce said that China would surpass Japan and the United States to take the lead in luxury spending by 2014, comprising an estimated 23% of the world sales market. The country is now the third largest luxury goods consumer, with a market of 8 billion US dollars last year.

"It's hard to say what 2009 will be like," said Huang Bingjun, who takes online orders for imported luxury products. So far, his business hasn't been hard hit - actually,

10 it saw orders jump 20% to 30% since October, as the rising yuan made European luxury brands cheaper.

Huang, who opened xiaobuyer.com about two years ago, has planned a two-week trip to Europe during the postChristmas sales season. "I will look for classic items and base my purchases on customer orders. Small businessmen like me have no experience with financial turmoil and we must remain cautious."

ECONOMY

6 Million for Hire

Job Fair in Xiamen University

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lot of people ask me if China is affected by the economic downturn. Well, the answer is a very definite YES. China is no longer isolated. Opening its doors to foreign trade has helped it develop rapidly, but it has also meant that it is now affected more than ever by the global economy. The double-digit GDP growth of the last few years will not be repeated this year or the next.

Many companies have already cut the levels of their local and foreign staff.

Many expatriate staff members have been sent back home. Many of those who stay are having their compensation packages trimmed. Vacant taxis have been surprisingly easy to find on the streets. The newly opened Hyatt on the Bund has shut down half of its 600-plus rooms, and is struggling to pay its 90 million RMB per quarter rent (that's one million RMB a day).

So next year, as 6 million students graduate, competition for jobs is going to be tougher than ever. I'm not sure some of you understand just how significant a number 6 million is. More than the entire population of Denmark or Finland will suddenly be looking for jobs that don't exist.

What's my point? Well, it's a simple one. Why is it still so bloody hard to

By Wohai

find decent staff? We just interviewed a candidate two weeks ago. Good references - lots of experience. But during the interview he answered his cell phone - not once or twice, but three times! And did he say "sorry, I'm busy right now, I'll call you in 1 hour?"

Of course not! He went ahead with three separate three to six minute long conversations (I timed them). And this wasn't just an one person interview my colleague and my director were also there. So despite his experience and his qualifications, I told my director that we should keep looking.

Especially for multi-national companies, interviews have their own unwritten "rules." If you break one of them unconsciously, even a tiny one, then the hiring committee will probably say "next please!"

We have millions of candidates now, so we don't worry.

As an experienced HR person who has worked for a big corporation for years, I really hope there will be some sort of professional interviewing classes for fresh graduates in the near future. The competition for next year is going to be bloody and cruel, so let's all get prepared!

Job fair in Shenzhen, Guangdong

11 About the author: Marjorie Black began teaching in the Business School of San Juan College, NM, in 1969. After 17 years she left t h e c l a s s ro o m to become the Executive Assistant to t h e P re s i d e n t .

Officially retiring after 32 years at San Juan College, she re t u r n e d a s a consultant for two more years and then became the Director of Encore, the Senior College at San Juan College.

PEOPLE

Our travel group at the Gray Goose Pagoda

By Marjorie Black "Far away places with strange-sounding names, far away over the sea‌." Those words from an old song kept going through my mind as our San Juan College group ventured forth on our first Encore-sponsored international excursion. Encore is a new program at the college which focuses on classes, social activities and volunteer service. Prior to the trip, the members of our traveling group had taken two college classes on the history, language and culture of China, so we had a bit of background for our journey. But we were in for many surprises and new experiences during our trip.

The trip was coordinated through TraveLearn, a travel program that emphasizes learning through international experiences. Our guide, Zhu Li, met us at the airport in Beijing, and was an excellent advocate for our group as we traveled throughout China. I had been to Hong Kong and made a brief visit to another city in China many years ago, but I was not expecting the great changes I saw. On my first visit, there were hundreds of bicycles and a few tractors being driven on the highway. Now,

in the cities of Beijing and Shanghai, shiny new cars are everywhere. We took several airplanes to various cities during the trip, and I was impressed with the modern airports as well with planes taking off (always on the exact time scheduled for departure). We also always had our luggage delivered to us after every flight in China‌that is, until we got back to the States!

Another wonder was the magnetic-levitation train in Shanghai, which took us to the airport in seven minutes at jet speed.

Education was a major focus of the trip.

We had special lectures from professors and visited the Xidian University in Xian where we met with students and toured their campus. I was impressed with the degree programs offered through the University, including 18 doctoral programs, 45 masters programs and 39 undergraduate programs.

There are over 30,000 students enrolled, including over 6,600 postgraduate students. The examinations required for entry into higher education in China are quite extensive, and only the highest qualified students are able to attend college.

They said that once their major field of study was determined, they were not able to change their course. This differs from higher education in

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One of the lectures in Beijing was presented by a representative of the China Population Information and Research Center, and focused on China's "one child" policy. With the preference of the family for a son, many little girls have been put up for adoption. We visited with six couples in the hotel who had adopted darling baby girls. My own daughter and her husband have submitted an application to adopt a baby from China, but it has taken almost three years of waiting. They are still looking forward to having Mary Hayes and me in the rickshaw at the Hutong the baby arrive next year.

Riding in a rickshaw, we visited one of the homes in the Hutong province to see government and was able to stay in her 200 year-old home how people live there. A lady who had worked for the welcomed us. These areas are slowly being razed to make way for new multi-story complexes. This must be sad for those who live there.

This is also the case along the Yangtze River, where the rising waters are slowly immersing entire villages. The people are being relocated to high-rise apartments where the accommodations are more modern. However, they are losing their history and their way of life, experienced by so many generations of their ancestors in their small villages.

The trip on the Yangtze was filled with wonders and beauty. The waters will rise 176 meters above the original level by 2009, and will cover much of the beautiful mountainsides. We visited the Three Gorges Dam on the very last day of construction and marveled at its magnitude. Our boat went through the five huge locks along with six big coal barges and another river cruise boat, all in the same lock. This was one of the few places we saw any military personnel. The dam will provide much-needed electricity but, more importantly, it will keep the river from creating devastating flooding. The pollution of the waters along with the air pollution in China will continue to be problems that will need to be addressed in the future.

The boat trip on the Yangtze provided special memories.

In addition to the scenery, we enjoyed entertainment provided by the crew members. One evening, they served us little hamburgers as a special "American" treat, although we really enjoyed the Chinese cuisine. Two of the Chinese men on the boat got into a fistfight as a result of an insult received. We avoided anything like that.

The highlight of the trip for me was seeing the 8,000 terracotta warriors in Xian. What an amazing sight! The government has built huge buildings that protect the site and enable visitors to experience the vast expanse of the Cute little girl at the Summer Palace

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Our guide, ZhuLi, invited us to her apartment.

area.

Our guide invited us to visit her new apartment in one of the high rise buildings. I was interested to learn that an apartment is usually purchased with only the walls of the rooms in place. The owners must complete the spaces with floors, appliances, fixtures etc.

The dazzling city of Shanghai was spectacular. I counted six construction sites from one observation window in the hotel.

It is in contrast to the beautiful classic gardens of Suzhou, built in the Ming Dynasty. The beautiful Shanghai Museum emphasized to us that China has an incredibly ancient culture, with artifacts dating back to 3100BC. It is difficult to grasp the many centuries that have unfolded to create that civilization, especially when the United States is only 200 years old.

On our last day in China, we were asked to meet another tour guide in his restaurant at the hotel, but the receptionist was not willing to allow us in.

"Your restaurant is on the top floor!" She told us. We had to call our guide who convinced the lady to admit us to the

lower-floor restaurant, where we met the gentleman. He was escorting 41 people through China, and while we were eating, a man came to him and requested a wheel chair for one of his group who had just broken her leg!

What a trip the guide must have had.

The cities in China are glitzy and it is obvious that the economy is bourgeoning. All the hotels we stayed

in were four and five-star hotels.

We dined in elegant surroundings, often in private dining rooms, swam in marble pools and enjoyed being among the elite. The streets were clean and flowers bedecked the parks.

The food was delicious, interesting and plentiful. We attended special dinners, entertaining shows and reveled in the wonderful Chinese massages. From the purchase of post cards to silk comforters and rugs, we did our part to encourage the growth of the Chinese economy. For many people in China, life is still hard and every day is a struggle, but it is obvious that China has accepted the philosophy of Deng Xiaoping who said, "It is glorious to be rich!"

International travel is one of the best ways to learn. It makes us, the travelers, appreciate the difference in the cultures of the world, as well as our own culture. When we watched the incredible Opening Ceremonies of the 2008 Olympics, we were glad to have had a glimpse of the "Bird's nest." We can appreciate all that has gone into enabling China to become an amazing country in our global family.

In Suzhou, we enjoyed the lovely Gardens

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I

My Chinese Wife

first met my Chinese wife on the internet, via Yahoo messenger. It was not really an auspicious start, because at the time she not only already had a boyfriend, but kept deleting me from her "friends" list because of misunderstandings between us. These were the first signs of communication issues faced between people with different native tongues. Fortunately I persisted, and convinced her that her reasons for deleting me were mere errors of language, and not signs of a bigger underlying problem.

Things progressed rapidly, and after a while I began planning my trip to China. I had been invited to her sister's wedding in their hometown.

This sounded fascinating to me, a real Chinese traditional wedding in a small country area. It was just the sort of experience I was looking forward to ever since my first holiday to China only a year earlier. It was the possibility of experiencing cultural differences and new experiences that drew me towards China in the first place, and this was a visit that I was looking forward to a great deal. Of course, by this stage I was convinced that there was a deep love between us, so I was following my heart and taking a chance to find out for sure.

Finally, the day of our first meeting in person was here.

It took place at the relatively small airport in Guiyang, the capital city of the beautiful Guizhou province and an area infrequently visited by westerners. This is a great shame, considering the amazing place I soon found it to be. She was there as I exited airport customs, one of the last people off the plane (which surely caused her to think that I would be a no-show). But there we were, together finally, after what seemed like an eternity of communicating daily via the web and telephone.

It's amazing how quickly you can tell that your love for a person is real, a truth we both discovered over the next month of my visit. The wedding was, putting it mildly, bigger than any I had been to before, as any wedding dinner with around 1,000 guests was bound to be. Getting to spend time with a family that made me feel completely welcome and right at home, despite being unable to communicate directly with me, was one of the happiest things I've ever experienced. A visit to the famous Huangguoshu waterfall, as well as some other lesser known tourist locations, then back to Shenzhen where my new love was living with her sister, rounded out the most exciting holiday I have ever been on.

Of course, by the end of this short visit we had already begun talking about marriage, including the difficulties that

By Charles Anderson

marriage would entail. Getting married seemed the easy part, especially with the full support of her family. She was even convinced that I had bribed her father into convincing her to marry me, because she couldn't understand why he was so keen to see us wed. Issues of marriage, the documentation required, along with considering how we could be together permanently were all now fully on our hearts and in our minds.

The preparations were made with me back home and her in China, with many conflicting stories around what was required and how it should be done. We decided to marry in Guiyang on my next visit, only a few months after my first visit, so the preparations quickly were under way. We would worry about how to be together after we were husband and wife.

After many visits and phone calls to the relevant authorities by us both, trying to find the easiest way to bring together two people from opposite sides of the world, and with my departure date to China rapidly approaching, it finally seemed like it was going to happen.

Upon my arrival in China, visits were made to the consulate office in Guangzhou for the necessary official stamp on the necessary documents. Then it was off to Guiyang to have her documents sighned, stamped and approved by the endless officials, before finally everything was in order and ready for us to make our visit to the marriage office. Much to our disappointment, on our first attempt at the office came when it was closed, seemingly much earlier than every other office in the building. We were advised to come back the next day, and earlier in the day to ensure we would be able to get the process done.

The next day came, we presented our documents, and after a few words from the official to me in Chinese (of course, and for which I was advised to just say yes to nod

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my head in approval), we were married. We returned to Shenzhen, where my parents were waiting. They had visited Hong Kong and then Shenzhen, so they could meet their new daughter-in-law in person. Finally, though, I had to leave again. Then we knew the hard work would begin.

We had to find a way to be together permanently.

After many more months apart, punctuated only by a few quick visits back to China to be together as much as possible, we arranged all of the necessary paperwork and

finally were able to make the visit to Shanghai to submit the immigration application in person.

We were extremely fortunate to encounter a very helpful consular official who was able to interview us immediately, a process which can often take weeks or months in itself.

For us it was done in a few hours. To our great relief and satisfaction, he advised us that while the process itself can take 6 to 9 months, he could see no reason why we would not be successful. He could tell we were very much in love.

Back home I headed, hoping it would not take forever and fearing we would get a negative result. Expecting a wait of up to 6 to 9 months for an answer, our lives changed again for the better when only a month after submitting the application, we were advised to send her passport to the consulate so the visa could be granted. A happier time is hard to imagine, as the feared long wait did not eventuate. We could finally be together.

We've now been married over 3 years, and while there are obvious cultural, social and lifestyle differences in each of our backgrounds, it is easy to see that true love can overcome any of these obstacles. I believe it is these differences and contrasts that make us a stronger partnership over all. I love the fact that my wife is Chinese, and look forward to teaching our own children about how the two contrasting cultures, when mixed together, can be a wonderful thing to experience.

My Chinese Wife – The first essay competition sponsored by iChina With the trend of globalization and the 30-year practice of open-up policy in China, the prevalence of cross-cultural relationships has increased dramatically. What are the real obstacles for men from western countries to marry a Chinese woman? What are the special stories that can be written down and shared with others? As to this interesting cultural topic, iChina is now calling for your contributions of special stories.

Submissions will be accepted from now until March 31, 2009. Entries should focus on the theme of My Chinese Wife - the good times and bad times in your inter-cultural relationships. Submissions should be no longer than 1000 words, and inclusions of photos are encouraged..

Exceptional submissions will be featured in iChina from January to April 2009. In May, winners will be announced with one first prize, as well as two second, and three third place winners. The first prize winner will enjoy a free trip to China with his spouse. The second and third prize winners will also get some amazing gifts. We are waiting for your contributions.

Please email your submission to: sliu@ichinamag.com For more information please visit http://www.ichinamag.com (All submissions become the property of iChina. Award selections are final and are at the sole discretion of iChina.)

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Wedding in Miao Village

CULTURE

Editor's Note: China has a colorful cultural background with 56 different ethnic nationalities living in the country. Han is the major ethnic group but the other 55 minor ethnicities contribute to the Chinese culture as well. In this issue, iChina will take you on a trip into some of these minor nationalities to admire the wonderful traditions, beautiful costumes and different lifestyles.

In this issue, the photographer ( Shao Kenan) will take us to a Miao wedding. The Miao ethnic minority has a population of 8,940,116, which is larger than most of the minority groups in China. After a long history of immigration, today they live mainly in Guizhou, Yunnan, Hunan, Hubei, and Hainan Provinces and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. They are divided into several branches, such as the Black Hmong, White Hmong, Striped Hmong, etc. The Miao language, which belongs to the MiaoYao group of the Sino-Tibetan phylum, has developed into three dialects: the dialect of the western Hunan Province, the one of the eastern Guizhou Province, and the one of ChuanQianDian (Sichuan, Guizhou and Yunnan). Due to time spent living with the Han and other people, they can also speak the Chinese, Dong and Zhuang languages. They have been writing their own Miao language, based on Latin, since 1956.

By Shao Kenan Pic1: The word usually spreads early when there is a wedding in a Miao village. The bride's home hosts a so-called "flowing feast," which is a feast held for people who come and eat for a whole day.

The families and relatives living far away, and the people in the village come to the feast, which runs from noon untill the dark of night. Of course, you can't come with nothing. Usually people bring 20 yuan.

Close friends will bring 100 yuan. I paid 100 yuan, which made me one of the closest friends to the family. At 10:00 am, May 21, 2008, when I was on my way to the feast, lots of people followed me down the mountain, carrying their presents. That was almost a mile away from the bride's house.

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Pic2&3: A man in charge of collecting the gift money was waiting, but the bride would not show up. The relatives brought towels, blankets, pots, etc. for wedding presents. Others paid 20 yuan and waited for the feast.

The family encounter seemed really happy.

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3 Pic4&5. The whole village smelled delicious because of the fresh pork cooked in the pots.

"Try my cooking later," a man told me confidently. He was the uncle of the bride, and a carpenter.

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Pic6: Most of the guests that day were women and children.

Pic7: Men enjoyed drinking and drinking games.

The white plastic container was filled with drink. They drank from big bowls, one bowl at a time. Everybody could drink a lot.

Pic8: Come on, people! With 20 yuan you can join the feast which is supplied with fresh chicken, pork, vegetables and rice.

It was such a food festival that you could eat as much as you could. The food was endless. You could take a break and go back to eat again. But if you are a man, you had better join in the drinking because it looks like only the women and children keep eating.

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Pic9&10: The bride was all dressed up when I got to her house. Miao brides don't use make-up.

A little shyness, a little expectation, and the beautiful bride was waiting for her moment. I was her wedding photographer. She received my photos two months after the wedding.

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Pic 11&12: The father of the bride was smoking with mixed feelings, both sadness and happiness.

I tried to understand his feelings, but I couldn't really read him.

14 Pic 13,14: The bride's escorting team left the house.

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19 The bride had five brothers and three sisters. She was the third daughter. When I arrived at their house, they were still preparing.

I had breakfast at their house. Every other guest was welcomed for breakfast too. After breakfast, the boys carried the dowry away first. Then the married sisters of the bride began putting their traditional costumes on, each with a comb in their hair. The unmarried sisters would still dress casually. The combs in their hair are a signal showing the world if they are married or not.

When a Miao family marries off their daughter, the parents don't show up at the wedding. Someone else represents them. For this wedding, they didn't have any possessions like cars, or any music.

The two families lived close by one another, so they just walked by foot to visit one another. People had to climb onto the mountain to get to the feast, but because of a little rain, the road was muddy.

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15 Pic 15: The groom was pushed towards the bride. He still looked to be very shy.

Pic 16: I made the new couple pose for this picture. The groom was too shy, so I had to put his arm around the bride's shoulders.

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Pic 17: The men in the bride's escort team began drinking right after they settled down. When the bowl was emptied, someone would fill it up again, and this was repeated until you surrendered.

Pic 18: The women were standing opposite the men. What a beautiful view!

Another huge feast was about to start. I really couldn't drink any more, so I had to sneak away‌.

CULTURE

The people who represented the bride's parents led the team, followed by two unmarried girls. Then there was the bride, her sisters and her relatives. Men were absolutely needed because when they arrived at the groom's house, another big drinking feast was waiting for them. Lucky for this bride, her father had eight siblings. There were a lot of people to accompany the bride to her future home. This groom was not that rich, which was why he didn't get married until he was 26 years old. In Miao tradition, the marriage age for men is usually 20, and for women, 19. Marriage would generally cost the groom's family around 20 to 30 thousand yuan, which is a small fortune for a family.

The parents usually begin saving wedding money for the boys years ahead of when it is needed. The rain could have been one of the reasons that the guests for the groom's house feast seemed fewer than the bride's.

The groom's house was surrounded by bamboo mats which functioned as the walls. There was a small TV set in the house. There were also some wood boards alongside the wall which people used for benches. The people accompanying the bride began drinking right after they sat on the boards. I took some pictures but didn't really want to burden their feast, even though I paid 100 yuan for my share.

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CCTV Lunar New Year Show in Last 25 Years

By Wang Nanfang Translated and Edited by Qinqin Schoser

CULTURE

The CCTV Lunar New Year Show (also known as the CCTV Chinese New Year's Gala) is arguably the premier mainland Chinese television event of the year. It is an evening gala of drama, dance, and song, which is broadcast on the eve of the Chinese New Year, live on CCTV1, and by satellite on CCTV-4 and CCTV-9.

Because it is viewed by an estimated 700 million people on New Year's Eve every year, the CCTV Lunar New Year Show has become a cultural phenomenon, beginning in the early 1990s in mainland China, and since then has become a necessity of New Year's n i g h t s . ( s o u rc e w w w. wikipedia.org) 1983—the First Show Without Advertising It was in 1983 that the first CCTV Lunar New Year Show (also known as the CCTV Chinese New Year's Gala) came to people without any advertising before it. The idea was randomly picked for the celebration of Chinese Lunar New Year. Cross-talk* comedians Ma Ji and Jiang Kun, pantomime performer Wang Jingyu, and movie actress Liu Xiaoqing hosted the show, since there were very few professional and experienced hosts or hostesses in CCTV at that time.

The first singer who performed on the show was Li Guyi, with the song "Love for Hometown." She almost missed this chance because this song was once thought to have content that might "corrupt" people's spirits. With the overwhelming requests made by many audience members

and final approval from the leaders, the decision was made at the last minute to approve the song for the show, and a staffer had to hurry home by bicycle to fetch the tape.

→ Li Guyi, the first singer who perfomed on the 1983 show.

1984 - A Milestone You cannot discount

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1985 - Moon on the 15th The success of the first show left audiences with higher

↑ (* Cross-talk: similar expectations for the next year, but disappointment to a stand-up show but a l w a y s c o m e s w i t h performed by 2 or more such expectations. comedians carrying Lacking fresh ideas and on a dialogue between incorporating too many them, usually satirical or commercials, the show in exaggerating.)

1985 brought in over 200 critical letters from the audience within one day of the broadcast.

The song "Moon on the 15th," performed by Dong Wenhua and Liu Peide, is still considered one of the few bright points of that night. The song expressed how a soldier on the frontier and his wife at home were thinking of each other, and showing support for each other. In the Chinese Lunar Calendar, it is always a full moon on the night of the 15th. People tend to miss families on the full moon night, since their families can see the same moon, even thousands of miles away.

1986 - Peach blossoms In 1986, Chen Peisi and Zhu Shimao brought the audience a new witty skit entitled "Lamb on Sticks."

(Barbecued lamb or beef on sticks is a very popular snack you can find sold on the street.) They told a hilarious story about a chase between a street-market officer and an illegal vendor. The vivid acting not only brought the Lunar Year Show lots of laughter, but also inspired all the street vendors selling lamb on sticks to copy the actor's outfit to increase their business.

Jiang Dawei, one of the most famous singers in China, regularly touched people's hearts through his songs. His song "Where the Peachblossoms Are Blooming" was a top hit in the following year, thanks to the influence of the Show.

1987 - Fei Xiang Lighting the Torch There were a lot of good shows this year. � The finale: a night to remember was played on every curtain call.

CULTURE

the 1984 show when talking about the history of the Lunar Year Show. It was definitely a milestone and still is considered one of the best shows in the series. The performances put on that night were excellent, but this entertainment concept was brand new to an audience who rarely had access to any entertainment. That fact alone made that year's show a milestone.

In the comic cross-talk, the famous comedian Ma Ji set up a scene where he was selling cigarettes of an imagined brand name of "Universe." It impressed the audience so much that a tobacco company actually registered the brand "Universe." The most unforgettable *witty skit was entitled Eating Noodles and performed

by Chen Peisi and Zhu Shimao. Chen was forced to eat noodles, bowl after bowl. Nobody even knew anything about the witty skit performer before that night. This show offered a bright future to all the witty skit performers, and as a result many tasted success overnight. (*Witty skit: a funny but short comedy performed on stage.)

With Sun-Yan-San's uniform and a pair of glasses, Zhang Mingmin's appearance was far from impressive.

But his song "My Chinese Heart" swept through China, carried by his deep and powerful voice. This song not only raised the level of patriotism in the audience, but also brought all the Chinese living all over the world together.

The pop-style songs from Taiwan and Hong Kong had been considered decadent and corruptive. Not after this song, Zhang Mingmin, who was an amateur singer at that time, became a highly respected super star in China. He was also the first singer from Hong Kong to perform in CCTV Lunar Year Show.

The theme of the Lunar Year Show has always been one of reunion and good memories. Therefore, the song "A Night to Remember," written by Qiao Yu and Wang Ming, quickly became the theme song for the ending of every Lunar Year Show since the song became popular.

CULTURE

22 The comic cross-talk "I am most useful" was comprised of comedians playing the eyes, ears, nose and mouth, debating about who is the most useful part of the human body.

"By the mouth of a tiger," another comic cross-talk by Jiang Kun and Tang Jiezhong, told a funny story of a single young man who fell into a tiger's cave at the zoo and was finally rescued by a beautiful girl.

No one, though, could compare with Fei Xiang that year. A half Chinese, tall and handsome man, this singer received most of the attention from the audience with songs like "Clouds in My Hometown" and "Winter Fire." His songs stayed popular throughout the following years, and he still has many fans. His singing and dancing style became textbook for a lot of young Chinese pop singers at that time. His song "Winter Fire" lit the torch for the future of Chinese pop music.

It was said that Fei Xiang was a nobody when he recorded his album with Guangzhou Pacific Audio & Video Co., but the CCTV Lunar Year Show helped him to sell 1.6 million records. You could see signs in front of stores saying "Fei Xiang in stock" or "Fei Xiang out of stock" everywhere.

1988 - Not Just Missing You In this show, the comic crosstalks didn't impress people as they usually did. Niu Qun was one of the most famous comedians and stars of the time, but he didn't enjoy the fame that he has today. However, his exaggerated tone mimicking the Chinese bureaucracy and his "leaders, colon!" remark was quoted by everyone for a long time after the show.

Mao Amin sang her song "Missing You," whose lyrics read: "Where are you from, my friend? You are like a butterfly landing on my window." Her beautiful voice was just like a sweet butterfly landing on the audience's hearts. That was the most glorious moment in her career. She became a big star after this show, but shortly after she was engulfed in an income tax scandal that mixed with her personal love life, and so on. Things

didn't turn out well for her. But even today, she is still considered by many people to be the most elegant star in the mainland.

1989 - the Mother of the Hero / Love of Dedication The witty skit "A Day of the Mother of the Hero" in the Lunar Year Show of 1989 was very funny.

The director Hou (played by Hou Yao Wen) had a perfect plan for his documentary about Mama Zhao (played by Zhao Lirong) who had a hero son. At least Director Hou thought it was perfect, because everything in it would be heroic.

But Mama Zhao never followed instructions. She could not pretend to be what the director asked her to be, and she couldn't help but act like who she was in real life. Zhao Lirong has

The audience

begun a new stage in her career since then. At that time she was performing for the Ping Opera* and had never had a leading role in her life, but after this Lunar Year Show, she became the most popular comedian in China. She acted in more well known witty skits later, and people began calling her Lao (old) Lai (become) Qiao (beautiful), implying that her popularity came at an older age than in most other stars. (*Ping Opera: a traditional opera, popular in some areas in northern China. The acting style is similar to that of the Peking opera.)

"Love of Dedication," sung by Wei Wei, was a hit and can still be heard everywhere in China. It was originally performed for a sick girl in another show. But in the Lunar Year Show it was sung for a young maid

whose employer paid all her medical treatments and took care of her when the maid was diagnosed with a serious disease. No matter how it was performed, it always brought tears to people's eyes.

1990 - Blind Date for Zhao Ben Shan The witty skit "Blind Date" gave the witty skit performer Zhao Benshan an express ride to the top of the list of people's favorites. Since then, he has always been one of the most anticipated stars of the Lunar Year Shows.

1991 - All About Comedians As usual, the most impressive parts of the 1991 Lunar Year Show were the witty skits. Among those, the best was "Hand in Hand," performed by Huang Hong and Song Dandan. Low quality glue glued a man and a woman's hands together, but it let loose right when the man really wanted to keep "stuck" to this pretty girl. The two comedians were considered golden partners after several top-ranked skits. Their names have been glued together since then.

The sensational 50-episode television series Aspiration was a top-rated TV show during this year.

1992-A More Open Atmosphere This was the year that officials allowed more input from the audience, both positive and negative. In her performance, Zhao Lirong showed all of China what the Tango is - to tango, you feel your way and go. She left the audience laughing for the whole year.

In 1992, the most influential TV guide paper, China Telepaper, began a vote for the audience, allowing them to choose the best performance in every Lunar Year Show. 240 thousand votes were cast the first year.

1993 - A Ride to Fame Singer Mao Ning, from Guangzhou, found his fame right after he sang the song "Wave Still" on the Lunar Year Show of 1993. Pop singers discovered that you couldn't be called

23 studios in Shanghai and Xi'an were set up to make this big show even better.

1997 - Hong Kong Return In 1997, China was about to reclaim authority in Hong Kong, and the return of Hong Kong naturally became a big topic for this year's New Year show. Many famous singers were willing to perform to express their excitement. The audience was reasonably satisfied with this year's show, especially with all the shinning stars on stage.

Zhao Lirong, the most popular comedian in China.

1995 - A Real Show The director of 1995 show suggested a "five-one project," including one good song, one good comic crosstalk, one good witty skit, one new face and one good structure. Though only part of the project was done well, the biggest change for this year was that there was no more lip-synching. This turned out to be the first truly live show.

In the witty skit, Mama Zhao (Zhao Lirong) was looking for a music producer for her traditional Ping Opera album. The MTV director Gong (played by Gong Hanlin) didn't care what her music was, and just added fashion elements to her package, turning traditional opera into rap music. This was a sarcastic depiction of show business.

The comedic partners Niu Qun and Feng Gong flattered the female audience as much as they could, and of course made them mad in funny ways. But the female audience bought it all quite well. The hostess Ni Ping even took a role in their comic show.

1996 - Here is Mama Zhao Mama Zhao went to find a waitressing job in a restaurant in this New Year show. She found out about the nasty tricks of the restaurant owner Gong, and even found a clever way to report him to the authority. The performance "Adventure at a New Job" made everybody laugh.

The Lunar Year Show of 1996 developed a new form.

Beyond the 1000sqm CCTV studio in Beijing, two other

1999 - Tell It Like It Is Nobody could imagine that without talented lyrics or music, the song "Visiting Home More Often" would become one of the top hits for the next year. It was not the music itself that touched people, but the idea of "returning."

One of the first successful talk shows, "Tell It Like It Is" was well-accepted by the audience. It was very easy to see why the Show tried to get the talk show host Cui Yongyuan on stage. The witty skit "Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow," performed by Cui Yongyuan and the two famous comedians Zhao Benshan and Song Dandan, was also highly rated by the audience.

2000 - Vest Factory Wants to "Sue" Zhao Benshan Guo Donglin earned his reputation by playing a number of different musical instruments in his witty skit "Old Music, New Lyrics," with Feng Gong.

In the witty skit "Hourly Paid Worker," Zhao Benshan hired Song Dandan to chat with him, but finally had to sweat to tell jokes to make Song happy. The funny line in this skit is "don't think you are not a turtle just because you took your vest off," which lead to a low sale of vests the next year. The manufacturers began blaming Zhao Benshan for speaking against vests.

2001-2008 Can't Remember Too Much With expectations getting higher and higher, the Lunar Year Show became a harder and harder task for CCTV. The audience understood, but they have begun expecting less from the Show because in the last 8 years they didn't feel important like in the years before. Maybe the most unforgettable moment was the "Golden Triangle for the Lunar Year Show," performed by Zhao Benshan, Fan Wei and Gao Xiumin. Their witty skits still brought laughter to the Chinese people. Even with some scandals left over from 2004, we are all very aware that there will be some changes in the coming years, but hopeful that we can all still be happy.

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famous until you performed on the Lunar Year Show. This brought a lot of young people from Guangzhou to Beijing to chase after their musical dream.

1994 – A Witty Skit Makes "Great Sense" In the witty skit "Playing Card," two passengers (played

by Huang Hong and Hou Yuewen) got bored waiting for the train. They wanted to play cards, but the only cards they had were business cards from their contacts. So a unique card-playing game was started – supervisor won staff, manager won supervisor, boss won manager, but nobody could win against pretty female secretaries. The vivid acting and the storyline was a big hit creating a social phenomenon that year. The audience laughed hard, and also realized that a funny short play could make great sense.

1998 - Theme Song, Top Hit Usually the theme songs for all the Lunar Year shows (except the ending song which is played every year at the end of the show) are quickly forgotten by people after the show. But this was not the case with the theme song of 1998. "Meet in 1998," performed by the top female singers from the mainland and Hong Kong, Na Ying and Faye Wang, made to the top of the pop list for a long time after the show.

24

Chinese New Year Shopping vs.

Christmas Shopping

By Lianma Photo by Kano, Fu Jin, Breath ↑ A traditional shopping fair for the new year

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ike Christmas shopping in the United States, Chinese New Year shopping is the peak shopping time of the whole year. Well, here we have the first similarity—all the merchants try to get consumers to spend

Decorations are always on the shopping list, regardless of if they are for Christmas or for Chinese New Year.

Christmas trees and ornaments are necessary for Western families, but for the Chinese, New Year's couplets (chun lian) and New Year's pictures are the favorite. New Year's couplets are placed on doors to show a happy, hopeful, uplifting message about a better year to come. New Year's pictures will usually show animals of that year, scenes of celebration, or other things that imply good luck for the next year. In some parts of the country, papers cut for the windows are New Year's traditions as well.

Neither Christmas nor Chinese New Year can be called successful without a big feast. So food shopping is certainly another similarity. Traditions may vary in different areas of

↑ The decoration vendors in a shopping fair

more money than they'd like. The month before Chinese New Year, all the Chinese malls are decorated with traditional lanterns, New Year's pictures, flowers, lights, and so on. Brisk New Year's songs are played repeatedly

← ↑ People are shopping for the decorations ↓ Blooming plants are popular at this time.

to lift the holiday spirit.

Crowds offer the second similarity between Chinese New Year shopping and Christmas shopping. With such a large population, it might be even harder to get a taxi or find a parking space in China at this time.

25 be a luxury for families. Nowadays, with living conditions increasing, kids don't care about new clothes like their parents used to. Another Chinese tradition is to pay New Year's visits to their relatives and friends. Presents are usually cakes, wines and red sack money for the kids.

Unlike westerners, Chinese don't like to open presents the moment they receive them. Also, a clock is a big no-no for a gift idea for Chinese, because it implies the wishing of bad things to happen to the recipient.

In some areas of China, people will have all kinds of New Year's shopping fairs. The most typical one is

→ ↓ ↑ Many people do their new year shopping in the supermarket instead of New year's shopping fairs now.

the temple fair. The fair will be held around a temple. In old times temples were the center of religious festivals, but now there is almost no religious sense to the temple

China, but most families like to prepare plenty of pork, beef, chicken, and fish for the New Year's meal. Families also buy a lot of candies and nuts to serve their New Year's visitors.

Westerners spend most of their Christmas money on presents, so gift shopping is almost the most important preparation for Christmas.

In China, kids get "red sack money" for the new year, which is a lucky sign for the next year for the children. But most mothers will buy new clothes for their children to wear on the first day of the new year. It used to mean a lot to children because new clothes used to

←↑ Foods are the most important things for the new year, especially dry mushroom and preserved ham.

fairs. Vendors from everywhere sell New Year's goods, especially traditional decorations. People enjoy shopping, snacks, scenery and sometimes art shows, opera shows, and other forms of entertainment as well.

No matter what people buy, no matter what traditions people follow, Christmas in the West and Chinese New Year in China both give people a chance to reunite, to be with family, and to be happy. And of course, it is a moneyspending season. Whether it is Christmas Eve or Chinese New Year's eve, nothing can be more important than to see a big family sitting together and enjoying a meal. The next morning everything seems well worth it when you see the smiles on kids' faces, knowing that we are all ready for another bright year. ↑ a temple fair

26

By Tina Ye

FOOD

"The Dinner" of the Year

J

ust like Christmas to Americans, Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) is the most important holiday to Chinese. The dinner on New Year's Eve (nian ye fan) is the biggest family reunion dinner, where members of the family, near and far away, get together for the celebration. Everybody has his/her favorite dishes and memorable stories of the dinner, and all their experiences make the holiday fun and colorful.

27 Chen Xiaofang, housewife in Yuci, Shanxi Province

food as one the most important things they can provide to their families.

Fortunately, I was born in the fastdeveloping era, and we can afford big dinners like this, and have all of our family members get together to share the laugh and happiness. I am the only kid in my family, and I love hanging out with my cousins during the New Year holidays. We still greet the New Year in the old-fashioned way by lighting firecrackers at 12 o'clock sharp."

Li Jun, graduate student in St. Louis, Missouri

"I haven't spent Spring Festival with my family since I came to the U.S. three years ago, as the festival always falls on a school day. But here with a lot of Chinese friends, I celebrate the New Year every year. We have our own variety show – similar to the Spring Festival Show on China Central Television (CCTV) but on a smaller and amateur level. And we have New Year's Eve dinner together.

We always do potlucks, where we can have a bite of various dishes. Last year we made dumplings, a traditional food for New Year's Eve in northern China. I was from South, and I had never made dumplings at home. So I learned a great deal about making dumplings from scratch, like making the dough, mixing the fillings, and so forth. Although I am no expert, I had a lot of fun. We may celebrate the upcoming New Year the same way as last year - eating dumplings, drinking Coca-Cola and watching the CCTV Spring Festival Show on the Internet.

We choose a not-so- traditional way, but share the same happiness of embracing the New Year."

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"I am a housewife, and I cook at least once everyday, except for the Spring Festival. The Spring Festival is all about family, and my husband and I always leave for my parents' or parents-in-law's home on New Year's Eve (we take turns, i.e. my parents' home this year and in-law's next) and stay there for around a week. I know, it sounds confusing, but we have no problem handling two family reunion dinners each year. This year, we will go to my parents-in-law's home first, and then my parents'. All the relatives of my in-law's will get together on New Year's Eve, from all over the country. Since I am not the best cook in the family, I always choose to do the dishes rather than cook for the whole family. My mother-in-law plays the leading role in the family reunion dinner, and she prepares over ten dishes for about twenty people.

I love the meatballs and sour and spicy soup best. My mother-in-law usually starts the preparation one week or two before date of the dinner, and my sisters-in-law and me help her on grocery shopping in advance.

Nowadays, a lot of families opt for reunion dinners (tuan yuan fan) at local restaurants, but we still stick on the old tradition. In our eyes, it is the warm and peaceful atmosphere at home that really matters, and it is irreplaceable. I am going to take some culinary classes, and I hope my mother-in-law can take a rest next time."

Qian Kun, high school student in Kunming, Yunnan Province "New Year's Eve marks the beginning of a series of family dinners in our big family. My grandpa lives with my parents and me, and the New Year's Eve dinner is always held at our home. My uncles, aunts, cousins, and nephews all live in Kunming, so we have never had any problem getting the whole family together.

The dinner is very sumptuous and traditionally includes fish, smoked sausage, chicken soup, Eight Treasure rice pudding (ba bao fan), and a lot more. I am not exactly sure why there's so much meat on the dinner table. It may have something to do with the great famine in the 60s when my parents were still babies. My grandpa told us that his children (i.e., my dad and his brothers and sisters) were lucky enough to survive, and he always wanted to provide better food (e.g., meat) for them. Most people of my parents' generation have the same emotional experience and consider

28

Let's Make Chinese Dumplings from Scratch!

by aChinesefood.com

T

FOOD

he corresponding Chinese characters for dumplings (Jiaozi) is a reference to the arrival of the Chinese New Year at midnight. According to the Chinese calendar, "Tiangan Dizhi" (Heavenly stems and Earthly branches) is used to designate the time in accordance to the Chinese zodiac.

"Jiao" in Chinese means "join," while "zi" is a reference to the first and eleventh hour (branch) of Dizhi - where midnight is situated.

Chinese dumplings typically consist of ground meat and/or vegetable wrapped in thinly rolled pieces of dough (dumpling skins). Dumpling is a main course for New Year Eve dinner in Northern China, and making dumplings (bao jiaozi) is a family tradition for a lot of families. Today, we will experience the tradition by making dumplings from scratch! Yes, you can always buy ready-to-use dumpling skins at any Chinese or Asian grocery store, New Year with delicious dumplings!

but today, let's greet the homemade pork-cabbage Ingredients (for 60 pieces): Jiaozi dough: 3 cups all-purpose flour up to 1 1/4 cups cold water 1/4 teaspoon salt Filling: 1 cup ground pork 1 TB soy sauce 1 teaspoon salt 1 TB Chinese rice wine 1 egg 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper 3 TB sesame oil 1/2 green onion, finely minced 1 1/2 cups finely shredded Napa cabbage 2 slices fresh ginger, finely minced 1 clove garlic, peeled and finely minced Steps: 1.Place flour in bowl. Add a little salt and water slowly. Slowly stir in the cold water, adding as much as is necessary to form a smooth dough. Don't add more water than is necessary. Knead the dough into a smooth ball. Cover the dough with damp cloth, and let it rest for at least 20 minutes.

2. While the dough is resting, prepare the filling ingredients. Add the soy sauce, salt, rice wine, egg, and white pepper to the meat, stirring in only one direction, and mix well.

3. Remove the dough to lightly floured board, knead again until it forms a smooth ball. Divide the dough into 60 pieces. Flatten each piece with hand and roll it into a round thin pancake (about 2.5-inch diameter, and the center should be thicker than edges).

4.Place one teaspoonful of filling in center. Wet the edges of the dumpling with water. Fold the dough over the filling into a half moon shape and pinch the edges to seal. Continue with the remainder of the dumplings.

5.To cook, bring about 10 cups of water to a boil. Add 1/3 the dumplings (20 pieces), giving them a gentle stir to prevent them from sticking together. Bring the water to a boil, and add 1/2 cup of cold water. Cover and repeat. When the dumplings come to a boil for a third time, they are ready. Drain and remove.

6. You can make your own secret dipping sauce, and enjoy the dumplings!

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FOOD

W

hat do you have for breakfast? A hamburger, muffin, donut, pancake, hot dog, cereal, or hash browns? Have you ever tried the Chinese version - like a Chinese hamburger, Chinese muffin, or Chinese donuts, just to name a few? Don't get me wrong. We are not talking about McDonald's Egg Mcmuffins or Aunt Anne's chocolate donuts in China, but local collections of hearty breakfasts instead. Starting in this January issue, we'll take you on a breakfast journey through out China - from Beijng to Nanning, from noodles to soup - to explore some popular foods on the Chinese breakfast table.

If you think I am crazy for being so passionate for breakfast, I'll tell you that my passion grows for a reason. When I was a young child, my parents always asked me to eat a big breakfast. They believed that the first meal would start a new day fresh, and I agree. They always tried to cook different things every day so that I would not get tired of having the same dish. As far as I can remember, they could fix eggs i n a t least five ways, so I had non-repeating egg dishes Monday

More Than A Stuffed Bun -Chinese Hamburgers

By Tracy Gao Photo by Kano, Fu Jin through Friday. Even though neither of my parents were cooks, they both showed me how important and delicious a breakfast could be.

I am not going to plug in any scientific numbers to prove the significance of breakfast, but I do want to share with you some awesome food you may try out if you have a chance to visit China. Let's start off with Chinese hamburgers.

Typically, a hamburger is made of a sliced hamburger bun, a cooked ground meat patty, cheese, and veggies, and served with various condiments. Chinese hamburgers are made of similar ingredients, but in different ways. When you add the ingredients of innovation and localization, you end up with hundreds of derivatives.

30 Shao Bing (baked flatbread) – Northern and Midwest China Shao Bing is a baked, layered flatbread with sesame seeds on top, which usually comes in two flavors: savoury or sweet. They are freshly

FOOD

baked in a hollow oven, and always crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. They are a perfect bite in the mornings or in cold weather.

R o u J i a M o ( h a m b u r g e r ) – We s t e r n a n d Northwestern China (e.g., Xi'an, Shanxi Province) At the G-NO. 2 Sha Zhou Food Square Dunhuang Central of Xinjiang, it is claimed, "the Chinese hamburger is the original hamburger, dating back to the days of Marco Polo and the

Silk Road." So is the Rou Jia Mo, literally translated as meat in a sliced bun, a forerunner of the hamburger? No matter what, I think the Rou Jia Mo is just like the Chinese-version of a hamburger, a sliced, muffin-like biscuit stuffed with seasoned ground meat, chopped bell peppers (mild, not extremely hot chilis) and cilantro sprigs. The five-flavored meat, combined with fresh-cut peppers and parsley, will definitely wake you up in the morning.

Xian Bing (stuffed hamburger dumplings) – Northern and Northeastern China (e.g., Jinan, Shandong Province) Xian Bing is like round-shaped, oversized dumplings (in the way it is made), stuffed w i t h seasoned ground meat and vegetables ( e . g . , pork and cabbages, or eggs and chives), hermetically sealed in a toothsome wrapper, then baked or pan fried until crispy. As the meat cooks inside, it gets basted in its own juices, intensifying the flavor of the filling. Try it with the dipping sauce to coat each delicious bite.

Guan Cai Ban (coffin-shaped bread) – Taiwan One of the famous Taiwan snacks, Guan Cai Ban, is a thick piece of Western style bread without the core,

which is filled with a prepared stuffing of fish, meat or vegetables.

After being stuffed with fillings, it is slowly fried in oil until it turns golden. Like Xian Bing, Guan Cai Ban is crispy on the outside, yet juicy and tender on the inside.

Guo Kui (baked bun with fillings or fried, flavored bread) – Southwestern China (e.g., Chengdu, Sichuan Province) There are primarily two types of Guo Kui. The one with fillings is more like a hamburger. The baked bun is usually made of flour. It is relatively thin and big, and the bun is not completely sliced into two separate halves. Thus, Guo Kui can hold more fillings than Rou Jia Mo or Xian Bing does. With regards to fillings, you can put almost anything you might want, such as spicy beef, stewed pork, a veggie mix, or a sweet treat. You may add condiments on top of the stuffing, as well.

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By Zhaojun Jin rom barren fields to a land of plenty, looking back upon the past 30 years China has undergone great changes in cultural life. These changes are reflected in the country's pop music. The development of mainland pop music serves as a witness to these changing times.

On October 24, 2008, an event called "A Selection of Popular Songs for the 30th anniversary of China's reform and opening up" was held in Shenzhen. Many well-known figures in mainland pop music like Li Guyi, Na Ying, and Sun Nan enthusiastically took part in this grand gathering.

While attending this grand party of pop, Song Ke, a wellknown mainland musician sighed, "I never dreamed that Chinese pop music would be mentioned in such a formal occasion when I was young."

With the implementation of reform and opening up, Chinese pop music appeared. "Mainland pop musicians had something of an inferiority complex for many years,"

said Jin Zhaojun, a music critic.

"However, we can now proudly say that pop music is mainstream music."

The 30 songs that were selected mostly reflect a theme of different times. When these 30 songs were sung in Shenzhen Stadium, the audience was taken on a trip through the different eras of the past 30 years.

Teresa Teng

Teresa Teng's songs awake the mainland pop music

In the early 80s, it could be said that pop music didn't exist on the mainland. However, the situation changed when Taiwanese diva Teresa Teng's mellow love songs attracted mainlanders' attention in 1978, the beginning of the reform and opening up era.

Tapes of Teresa Teng's voice were first brought to the mainland by sailors or overseas engineers.

Although at the time her songs were considered "Bourgeois Music" and were not allowed to be broadcast on radio or television, they were still popular throughout the country. People listened to her songs over and over again any way they could, for example by recording her voice with tape recorders.

Beautiful songs like On the Other Side of The Water, Small Town Story, I Only Care About You, and Goodbye, My Love, gradually worked their way into the consciousness of a people who at the time were deprived of contemporary music.

After the Cultural Revolution

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32 (1966-76), young people's craze for new music launched an unstoppable trend for pop, which went against the mainstream opinions of the time.

Songwriting entered a period of mainly lyric style. Songs from Hong Kong and Taiwanese singers like Teresa Teng, Bobby Liu and Tam Roman were favored by the mainland audience.

A few mainland musicians who were influenced by Teresa Teng began to create catchy pop songs despite some interference from the authorities. The tunes were widely appreciated and opened the minds of the public to the idea that music could express more than a simple melody.

Singer Li Guyi was among the first to challenge tradition. She sang a song called Nostalgia, which was both widely praised and heavily criticized. Nostalgia was treated as a "bourgeois" song and banned for a long period of time. Then came 1983, when the CCTV Spring Festival Show was held, responding to audience

requests.

At the party, Li Guyi again sang the banned song in front of the whole nation. From then Singer Li Guyi on, Nostalgia was considered the first true work in the history of mainland pop music.

Gu Jianfen, a famous composer, produced a song entitled The Youth

Friends Gather Around and brought this song to universities, high schools, and even kindergartens in Beijing and Shanghai. A citizen remembered that when this song was sung in the Working People's Cultural Palace, it generated great excitement. People applauded this new type of music that they had never before heard.

World, a song recorded by Western superstars for African famine victims – wrote and recorded a classic charity song Let the World Be Filled With Love, and then held an unprecedented all-star charity concert. At the concert, while Northwest Wind began to emerge, Cui Jian declared that his time had arrived.

Cui Jian, honored as the "godfather" of the Chinese mainland's rock 'n' roll, sang his all-time classic

From 1986 - original mainland music starts to find its way

The younger generation started to look for new forms of expression in the mid to late-80s. Groups of young musicians started to produce and perform pop music. This was the first golden era of mainland pop music, which saw the emergence of various genres.

According to the renowned music critic Hao Fang, it seemed that everything developed in a rush in the 10 years after Cultural Revolution. This too-rapid development brought new worries and some sense of loss to that generation, which had to rebuild its values.

At this time, Law Dai Yau came onto the scene.

His songs like Days of My Past and Story About Life, reflecting people's desires and confusion in the process of growing up, and passing judgment on various values, attracted particular interest.

A huge gathering of pop stars also took place in 1986.

Mainland singers – inspired by We Are The

Cui Jian's album Nothing To My Name

Nothing to My Name, shamelessly declaring the true feelings of his generation and, in the process, declaring the birth of mainland rock music.

Since then the popularity of rock music in China has spread rapidly.

"For me it is OK to make nothing of what you sing, because your voice

Law Dai Yau

33 alone can make me feel good."

Such was a frequent sentiment articulated by people of the time. "This is what is behind our passion for rock music."

A group of excellent rock singers appeared around this time, such as the Tangchao Band, the Black Panther Band, He Yong and Zhang Chu. Several classic rock songs, such as Rock on New Route of Long March, Back to Tang Dynasty in Dream, Sister and God Bless Those Who Have Enough to Eat achieved overnight success.

Mainland pop music enjoys a first peak in the late 80s

Pop singer Dave Wong

strong beat and extremely aggressive bass lines that are distinctly different from Hong Kong cantopop and Taiwanese mandopop.

In 1986 a special concert was held in Beijing, at which 100 mainland pop singers sang. It was the first time that mainland singers appeared together on such a large scale. From this concert, a Chinese folk combo called Xin Tian You blasted Northwest Wind across the whole of China.

Northwest Wi n d s h o u l d be considered as an example of the first peak of original mainland music.

"Northwest Wind threw up large numbers of mainland songwriters and singers of original music," said Su Yue, a wellknown musician.

Pop singer Yang Yuying

influential event in the development of mainland pop music. Another Try, Love Is Free, and Turn Around all played in this show, and all attracted great interest. The singers of these songs, performers such as Dave Wong, Tom Chang and Keung Hang, all became popular idols on the mainland.

In 1990, the 11th Asian Games were held in Beijing. Its theme song entitled Spirit of Asia, sung by Liu Huan, brought this period of mainland

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To challenge the dominance of Hong Kong and Taiwanese pop music, mainland singers combined aggressive rock with traditional folk songs, to widespread success.

Northwest Wind (Chinese pinyin: xibeifeng) was the representative influence of this period.

Northwest Wind is an example of a style of music which emerged on the popular music scene from the northwest regions of China, specifically from the Shanxi, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces. The genre has an upbeat Western tempo with a

Pop singer Liu Huan

The emergence of outstanding Chinese films and soap operas also played an important role in the creation of Northwest Wind's popularity.

In 1988, theme songs from two Chinese soap operas, Snow City and Plainclothes Police brought overnight fame to pop singer Liu Huan. Shortly afterwards, a film directed by Zhang Yimou, Red Sorghum, was shown to the public. Its theme song entitled Girl, Just Go Ahead brought Northwest Wind to its peak.

In the face of competition from Hong Kong and Taiwanese pop music, this style of music later evolved into Chinese rock.

It was during this period that large numbers of singers from Hong Kong and Taiwan also started to hit the mainland, and their wave of popularity lasted for almost 10 years.

In 1989, CCTV broadcast a documentary called Tide – Songs from Taiwan, an

34 pop music to its conclusion.

Liu was chos en to sing the Olympic theme song entitled You & Me with Sarah Brightman in 2008, due to his success at the Asian Games.

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Guangdong leads the way; campus ballads flourish in the 90s

Guangdong pop music, which has been an engine of the mainland music industry since its early days, hit a new high in the early 1990s as industry pioneers from the Southern province adopted the new technique of signing and promoting artists.

Pop singer Yang Yuying was a typical example. In 1992, she recorded her first album and achieved great success. Her album sales set a new record for mainland singers, peaking at more than 1 million copies.

Yang Yuying's success Pop singer Chen Ming initiated the phenomenon whereby mainland popular entrepreneurs themselves

began to create pop idols. A dozen singers were turned into stars under the successful commercial management of their record

All the Flowers Gone will forever remain in the memory of that generation.

However, as campus ballads were full of sadness, this kind of music

struggled for companies, mainstream and dissolved popularity and a system under largely occupied a which stars from side-stage Hong Kong along side Well known figure in campus ballad Ye Bei and Taiwan had more popular dominated the styles of music market for years. music.

Chen Ming's Loneliness In the late 1990s, the mainland Makes Me So Beautiful, pop music scene again hit the Allen Lin's Love Bird jackpot with front-line singers like and Chen Lin's Your Na Ying, Liu Huan, Tian Zhen and Tenderness I Never Sun Nan, most of whom started Know were the classics their careers in Beijing, ruling the of the day. music charts and awards ceremonies, Throughout this with quality production teams in the period, new themes, near background. These individuals new angles and became the superstars of mainland new styles of music pop music of the day. emerged on the At the same time, more and mainland. Influenced more music charts and awards under

by Taiwan's campus different titles were being launched ballads, songwriters by local radio and TV stations, in an and singers in Beijing effort to take "a piece of the action" began the "Neo-Ballad from this profitable industry.

Movement," bringing this music genre to its peak and creating some remarkable Chinese pop classics.

Pop music becomes Through the medium of the "McDonald's" after 2000 campus ballad, Lao Lang, Shen Qing, Ye Bei and Pu Shu became very popular in this era.

The songs they sang, like My Dear Deskmate, Youth and Where Have

35

The range of pop styles expanded during this period.

Xue Cun delivered his song All Northeast People Are Lei Feng (a moral character) direct to his audience, through the Internet, without using any commercial operation, record company, or media support, and as a result became an overnight

Pop singer Faye Wong

sensation. However, he was soon elbowed aside as new types of music drew the public's attention.

In relative terms, only a few truly impressive or memorable songs have been penned since the year 2000. Pop music seems to have become a form of fast-

Contestants of reality TV singing contest Super Girls in 2005.

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Pop singer Jay Chou

food. One day people would be fascinated by the beautiful songs of Faye Wong and Na Ying, and the next day Jay Chou would be the latest dish.

In 2004, Super Girls, a talent contest like American Idol, but for young Chinese female singers, organized by Hunan Satellite Te l e v i s i o n , caught the attention of a national, and even an international audience. It ran from 2004 to 2006 and became one of the most popular entertainment shows in the country.

Despite Super Girls' huge popularity and success, the show provoked a lively debate throughout the whole country. It was heavily criticized by Liu Zhongde, exminister of culture, who described the show as "poisoning youth." Its supporters, on the other hand, claimed that the success of Super Girls transcended mere entertainment and, in fact, reflected a new democratic aspiration.

A fan of Super Girls, replying to the question of why he liked the show, answered simply: "No particular reason, I just like it, and it's popular."

Perhaps pop music now no longer exists, and only popularity remains.

36

Let's Go Skiing!

by Kano CRIenglish.com

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ired of the same old ski trips? Wanna try some new resorts? From Harbin to Lijiang, from Zhangjiakou to Chengdu, there are a number of premium ski resorts in China. Grab your gear and let's go skiing in this winter wonderland!

Yabuli, Nr. Harbin, Heilongjiang Province – the best ski resort in China

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ocated 121 miles north of Harbin, the provincial capital, and covering an area of about 90 square miles, Yabuli is China 's largest ski area, home to the best facilities, and the Chinese Olympic Ski team.

As China 's premier ski resort, Yabuli has a number of quality down hill and cross-country trails, ranging from runs for new skiers to highly challenging runs, some of which are comparable to those in North America and Switzerland. Yabuli also has the longest tobaggan run in the world.

The resort is not only famous as a ski resort in China, but it is also renowned for its scenic beauty.

Windmill Village has comfortable hotel rooms and villas.

It was granted National Park status in 1993.

Top Elevation: 4,122' Lifts: 9 Trails: 11 Skiable Annual snowfall: 300" Snowboards: Yes Telephone: 86-451-3455088 Email: info@yabuliski.com Website: www.yabuliski.com Getting there: Flight to Harbin, then a 2-hour drive west, or 1-hour by train. The resort also picks up from downtown Harbin hotels. Or take the train from Mudanjiang.

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ith huge artificial snowmaking systems to accompany the unique natural snowfall, Wanlong Ski Resort was the first ski resort opened in China, boasting the longest ski season and the best snow quality. Located in Zhangjiakou, less than a 4-hour

Wanlong Ski Resort, Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province - a training resort for more than 150 domestic and foreign professional athletes drive from Beijing, this area sees over 1000 skiers each weekend. In terms of facilities for the resort, Wanlong is equipped with several snow-making machines, snowpressing machines, and snowfield motorcycles imported from Canada and Japan, in order to guarantee the best operating environment. Brand new, top quality Salomon ski gear, snowboards, and ski suits are available in the ski rental shop.

Wanlong has 4 chairs: one double chair that goes to mid-mountain with one main trail back down, and a terrain park side trail. This wide beginning/intermediate slope is the primary teaching area. A manmade mogul field on top adds some interest for advanced skiers, and a Nastar-like side run is open to anyone, at any time. The top of this lift connects with a brand new quad chair and a seasoned double chair to the top of the mountain (6890 feet).

A new 3-star hotel, Shuanglong Hotel, offers 100 rooms and a wide selection of both Chinese and Western food.

Top Elevation: 6,890' Lifts: 4 Trails: 19 Snowboards: Yes Telephone: 86- 313-4618888 or 4785111 Email: wlski@wlski.com Website: http://www.wlski.com/english/eindex.html Getting there: Fly to Beijing, then a 4-hour drive. Or take the train from Beijing to Zhangjiakou.

37 Xiling Ski Resort, Chengdu, Sichuan Province - China's best alpine ski resort

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Jade Dragon Mountain, Lijiang, Yunnan – an adventure for experienced off-piste skiers

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ost of the skiing here is off piste, and you'll need to bring your own gear, as well as some form of ski instructor ID if you have one. The snow, however, is powdery - unusual in China where most of the snow falls in the more frigid areas north of Beijing - but there is a lack of marked trails, and we'd strongly recommend that you are an experienced off-piste skier before tackling these mountains. The altitude here is about 111,483 feet.

There are no trails, and the snow is part icy and part snow, at an angle of about 25 degrees, often waist deep, but leading (after about 15 minutes) to a valley of more powdered snow, which in turn leads to a forest trail. It's about a full 40-minute descent for experienced skiers.

Note: it is high here, so you may experience a little Altitude Mountain Sickness (AMS) and shortness of breath. Oxygen bottles are sold in the kiosk at the top.

Lijiang is a popular destination for both domestic and foreign tourists, and can be reached by plane from Kunming, the provincial capital of Yunnan. Sited in the Himalayan foothills half way to Tibet, the historical town has kept its traditional Naxi low-rise dwellings.

There are plenty of cheap backpacker accommodations in town, and taxis or buses will take you to the Jade Dragon Mountain. This is do-it-yourself, a real adventure for experienced skiers. Good luck, and have fun!

TRAVEL

iling Snow Mountain Ski Resort is the largest and best-equipped alpine ski resort in China.

The resort is located at the Xiling Scenic Area and boasts charming natural scenery, pleasurable weather conditions, easy accessibility, and a variety of skirelated entertainment programs.

Skiers love Xiling's pure, natural, and unspoiled snow, and the scenery in the snow-blanketed forest.

The advanced snowmaking system, the high elevation of around 7,218 - 7,875 feet above sea level, and the low temperature has resulted in deep snows of over 24 inches. Views of the vast snow-covered forest, undulating in the countryside, are renowned as the "oriental Alps" in terms of scale of spectacle.

Xiling's seven international-standard trails beckon ski-lovers and challenge even hardcore skiers. More than 20 entertainment parks have been built for travelers to enjoy their time at Xiling, offering other snow related activities, such as snowmobiles, sleighs, a hot air balloon, and paragliding.

At the foothills of Xiling Mountain sits the Maple Hotel and Huashuiwan Hot Spring Resort. After a tiring ski trip, this resort is perfect for just relaxing in the natural hot springs surrounded by the snowy mountains, and indulging yourself in the vacation paradise!

Top Elevation: 7,880' Lifts: 9 Trails: 10 Snowboards: Yes Telephone: 86-28- 66956099/66956111/66956333 Website: http://www.xiling.cn/en/ Getting there: Tourist buses from Chengdu to the ski resort take around 2.5 hours

TRAVEL

38 Views Alike:

The Grand Staircase in the southwestern United States.

The Grand Staircase refers to an immense sequence of sedimentary rock layers that stretch south from Bryce Canyon National Park through Zion National Park, and into the Grand Canyon. In the 1870s, geologist Clarence Dutton first conceptualized this region as a huge stairway ascending out of the bottom of the Grand Canyon northward, with the cliff edge of each layer forming giant steps.

Danxia Landform in China vs. the Grand Circle of the Southwest United States

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By Kano Photo by Kano (Pictures from the States), Xiangsheng Chang (Zhangye Danxia's Pictures) Have you thought of the Earth as presenting similar views to us at difference places? From this issue, our editor Kano will bring you travel from around China and show you how the demiurge creates the resemblance between China and the the States.

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The Shape of the Danxia Landform of China Fluvial process The role of the fluvial process is demonstrated in its down-cutting and lateral erosion; at the same time, flowing water constantly carries away the decomposed materials on the slope surface to facilitate wreathing; the lateral erosion of flowing water will often give rise to the formation of horizontal caverns at lower foot slopes, leaving the rock above to hang overhead, thus providing the possibility for gravitational collapses to occur.

Weathering Weathering constantly destroys the slope surface of the exposed red beds. In a sleep escarpment, especially where the flowing water process weakens, and in some slopes that

are vertical or inclined inward, where fluvial process is basically absent, various weathering processes are manifested very distinctly.

Function of Gravity Gravity plays a vital role in the development of Danxia landforms because the most characteristic geometric element of the Danxia landform, i.e., the escarpment slope, is often formed by an avalanche.

Gravity processes often occur when a valley slope caves in locally, through down-cutting or the lateral erosion of the flowing water. The overhanging rock blocks formed in the cavedin part may collapse along primary joints or stress release joints. Furthermore, when the weathering on the escarpment slope deepens, the overhanging rock masses may lose their balance and collapse along various fracture planes. The tops of caves and natural bridges, etc., may also collapse due to weathering.

TRAVEL

any of you have been impressed by the spectacular view of the Grand Canyon or gasped in admiration after a rewarding hike to the Delicate Arch; or maybe an afternoon in Sedona is your best tranquil retreat, or you'd prefer a night camping in the Canyon Lands park. While looking at the prominent cliffs of Zion or the hoodoos in Bryce Canyon, have you ever thought that those fabulous scenes can also be found in China?

The landscapes we are introducing here are very similar to the Grand Staircase of the Grand Circle in the States, and are named the Danxia Landform.

The Danxia Landform is a unique type of petrographic geomorphology; it can be defined as follows "a landform consisting of a red bed, characterized by steep cliffs."

Danxia landforms are widely distributed throughout China. According to researchers, 650 Danxia landform locations are known to exist in subtropical humid regions, temperate humid regions, semi-humid regions, semiarid regions, arid regions, and subnival regions in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Because of the regional difference of the various geographic environments in China, Danxia landforms differ to a certain degree, from place to place.

The exogenic force prevailing in different climatic zones and the environmental variations that took place in recent geologic times both affect, to different degrees, the development process of Danxia landforms, as well as the inheritance and evolution of its other features.

40

TRAVEL

Danxia Landform of China

the Grand Circle of the Southwest United States

41

Zhangye Danxia landforms

imposing and magnificent sight. You will be deeply attracted to its spectacular landscape, changeable colors, and peculiar patterns.

How to get there

By Air: Beijing to Lanzhou: 2 hours and 10 minutes

By Train: Beijing to Lanzhou: Train No. T75(18:28-13:51)/ T76(19:22-15:52) Lanzhou to Zhangye: Train No. N851(20:50-04:24)/ N852(23:24-07:04) Beijing to Zhangye: Train No. T69(18:44-19:57)/T70(10:2813:38) Best time to go: June to September.

TRAVEL

The ZhangYe Danxia landforms are concentrated predominantly in the Linze and Sunan counties in the Gansu Province. With a total area of about 410 square kilometers, including 40 square kilometers of multi-colored hills, Zhangye Danxia is both the largest and the most typical of China's arid area Danxia landforms.

Different kinds of landscapes make the Zhangye Danxia Landform unique. There one can admire the widespread distribution of Danxia cliffs, stone walls, stone pillars, peaks, river terraces, eroded caves, the stratum surface, the table mountain terrain, and crumbling cliffs.

The Zhangye Danxia Landform has formed very colorful mountains, which seem to rise and fall like waves; with rock strata of different colors mixed in graceful disarray, it is an

42

The essentials Concert: Blessing 2009 - The Concert of Wienner Strauss Capelle

LEISURE

Singer: Monika Mosser Ballet: Vladimir Snizek, Erika Kovacova Conductor: Michael Tomaschek The “Wiener Johann Strauss Capelle”, with their fabulous performance, will help us welcome in the New Year at Shanghai Concert Hall from 2008/12/31 to 2009/1/2.

In keeping with the tradition of the Straus Dynasty, the five concerts offered will be a combination of various elements. You may enjoy the jubilation of the New Year from the cheerful waltzes, connotations in the music from fascinating operas, and classic Austrian customs from the splendid ballet. Celebrated soprano Monika Mosser and ballet dancers Erika Kovacova and Vladimir Snizek will undoubtedly bring audiences surprises and happiness.

Tickets are on sale now at (8621) 62172426, 62173055, or at: http://www.culture.sh.cn/english/product.asp?id=5593 Time: 2008/12/31 19:30 22:30 2009/1/1 14:00 19:30 2009/1/2 14:00 Ticket Price (RMB): 980, 680, 480, 380, 280, 180 Yuan

Movie: If You Are The One 非诚勿扰 Popular Mainland filmmaker Feng Xiaogang is back on the scene with the New Year blockbuster called If You Are The One, an entertaining romantic comedy that tells a tale of Qin Fen (Ge You) and Liang Xiaoxiao (Hsu Chi). Qin Fen is a talented but not-so-popular single man, who becomes a millionaire over night for an unparalleled invention. With million-dollar asset, he sets off on the romantic journey pursuing true love. Along the way, he experiences a series of disasters and meets many women who approach to him out of different purposes. He is not into any of them until he meets Liang Xiaoxiao. However, Liang Xiaoxiao is in love with someone else. How can Qin Fen win his true love? We will know the answer on December 22, when the movie is set to hit the big screen. The movie mirrors pieces of the big events and incidents in the year 2008, and dispenses uplifting messages about love, hope, and harmony, marking the end of 2008 and a new beginning of 2009.

Book: Wolf Totem by Jiang Rong

Penned by Lu Jiamin, under the pseudonym Jiang Rong, Wolf Totem is a semiautobiographical work about the experiences of a bookish Beijing student during an 11year sojourn in Inner Mongolia during the Cultural Revolution. Over the course of its 524 pages, Wolf Totem touches on everything from the practical difficulties of domesticating a wolf club in a society that treats wild wolves as divine, to ancient Mongolian military tactics, to why nomads are better than farmers at building democratic societies (the last bit perhaps slightly ridiculous to anyone with more than a passing acquaintance with the evolution of Western democratic institutions). Despite the multiplicity of leitmotifs, Wolf Totem’s most sustained, most passionate, most elegantly-argued and most universally relevant theme deals with the delicate ecological balance that society upsets when it combines an agricultural lifestyle’s demands for comfort and predictability with industrialized modes of production. Howard Goldblatt’s translation is the first rendering of Wolf Totem in another language, and for the most part, it’s excellent. As a translation should, it slides quietly into the background.

春节 Chinese New Year

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About Chinese New Year 关于春节

Chinese New Year is the most important holiday for the Chinese, and traditionally begins on the first day of the first lunar month in the Chinese calendar. According to tales and legends, Chinese New Year started with fight against a mythical beast called the Nian, or "Year" in Chinese.

Nian would come on the first day of the New Year to devour livestock, crops, and even villagers, especially children. To protect themselves, the villagers would put food in front of their doors at the beginning of every year. They believed that after the Nian ate the food they prepared, it wouldn't attack any more people. Once, people saw that the Nian was scared away by a little child wearing red. They then understood that the Nian was afraid of the color red. After that, every time the New Year was about to come, the villagers would hang red lanterns and spring scrolls on their windows and doors. People also used firecrackers to frighten the Nian, and from then on the Nian never came back to the village. It was eventually converted by Hongjunlaozu, a Taoist in the old time, and it became his mount. The 2009 Chinese New Year falls on January 26, 2009, which is the year of the Ox.

LEISURE

Dialogue 对话 A: jīn nián chūn jié nǐ men zěn me ɡuò ？ A: 今 年 春 节 你 们 怎 么 过 ？ A: What's your plan for the Spring Festival (Chinese New Year)?

B: wǒ men chú xī wǎn shɑnɡ quán jiā yì qǐ chī tuán yuán fàn ， cí jiù suì 。 B: 我 们 除 夕 晚 上 全 家 一 起 吃 团 圆 饭 ， 辞 旧 岁 。 B: We will have a family reunion dinner on the New Year Eve, bidding farewell to the old year.

A: wǒ men yě yí yànɡ 。 A: 我 们 也 一 样 。 A: So do we.

A: yí miàn kàn chūn jié wǎn huì yí miàn chī fàn ， hái zi men hái huì qù fànɡ yān huā 。 A: 一 面 看 春 节 晚 会 一 面 吃 饭 ， 孩 子 们 还 会 去 放 烟 花 。 A: We always watch the Spring Festival Show as we eat, and the children will light firecrackers.

B: zhù nǐ men quán jiā xīn nián kuài lè ， wàn shì rú yì ！ B: 祝 你 们 全 家 新 年 快 乐 ， 万 事 如 意 ！ B: Wish you and your family a happy New Year, and hope everything goes your way.

A: xiè xiè ！ yě zhù nǐ men niú nián xínɡ dà yùn ！ A: 谢 谢 ！ 也 祝 你 们 牛 年 行 大 运 ！ A: Thank you! May you succeed at whatever you try in the Year of Ox. Key words 关键词 Spring Festival: 春节 (chūn jié) New Year Eve: 除夕 (chú xī) Family reunion dinner: 团圆饭(tuán yuán fàn) Fireworks: 烟花(yān huā) Year of Ox: 牛年(niú nián)

44

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LEISURE

he Golden Horse Awards, modeled after the Academy Awards and other major film festivals worldwide and held annually in Taiwan, are generally thought to be the most prestigious for Chinese-language films outside the PRC, or the Chinese version of the Academy Awards.

1. Director Ang Lee and actress Hsu Chi (R) 2. Actor Eric Tsang (C), his daughter Bowie Tsang (L) and television host Lin Zi-jiao 3. Taiwan model and actress Lin Chi-ling 4. Japanese actress Chie Tanaka 3 2 5. Hong Kong actor Julian Cheung (R) and actress Sandrine Pinna 1 6. Director Wei Te-sheng (5th L) and the cast of Cape No. 7 (L-R) Johnny C.J. Lin, Ying Wei-min, Chie Tanaka, Van Fan, Joanne Yang, 6 Ma Nien-hsien and Ming Hsiung pose on the 4 5 red carpet.

7 7. Director Pang Ho-cheung (L) and singer Eason Chan (R)

Golden Horses Awards

45

he 45th Golden Horse Award concluded in Taichung on Saturday night, December 6th 2008, with Cape No. 7 clinching 5 awards out of the 10 nominated and The Warlords clinching 4 major awards out of the 12 nominated. Both movies, Cape No. 7 and The Warlords, astounded the media with the massive amount of nominations and were highly anticipated to clinch at least 2 major awards.

1

2

3

1. Best feature film: The Warlords 2. Best Director Peter Ho-Sun Chan and his wife.

4 7 6 3. Cape No. 7 4. After Party 5 5. Best Leading Actor Zhang Han-yu ( i n Assembly) 6. Best Actress Prudence Liew (in The Women For Sale) 7. Lifetime Achievement Award Chang Feng

LEISURE

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LEISURE

46

About Monkey King Journey to the West (or Monkey) is a fictional account during the 7th century of a monk who had gone to India to obtain Buddhist religious texts. The monk's three disciples (Monkey, Pig, and Sandy), together with a dragon prince who acts as the horse mount escorted him through 81 disasters and finally achieved their goals.

About Paul Guo (also known as Peng Guo, online) Paul was born in China in 1984. At a young age, he began drawing after being inspired by Lianhuanhua (classic Chinese picture books), and Manga (Japanese comics). To pursue his goal of being an illustrator, he attended Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and obtained a bachelor degree in illustration in May 2008. He's currently a freelance illustrator, and he will further sharpen his creative illustration skills by

47

LEISURE

enrolling into the Computer Graphic Design graduate program at RIT, starting in March 2009.

Paul started his own webcomic, San: Three Kingdoms Comic (http://san.pengguo.com) in his last high school year (2003). San is a parody comic based on the Chinese historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms - one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature - and KOEI's Dynasty Warriors series video games. To contribute to the iChina magazine, Paul begins drawing a new comic series Monkey King, a parody of another one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature - Journey to the West (also known as Monkey in the Western countries).

48 GIFT SAMPLES

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