2. Highlights of Chinese Civilization and Local Culture 中国地方文化英语导读 00041010 School of Foreign Languages Suzhou University

3. 第九章 民俗及民间艺术 （ Folk Customs ）  1 、教学内容  主要了解中国春节、端午节等主要节日，剪纸、对联与中国 结等民间文化艺术以及婚礼等习俗。  讲授内容：  (1). 中国传统历法的形成及制定  (2). 中国传统节日（春节、元宵、清明、端午、中秋、重阳 等）的介绍及相关习俗  (3). 中国传统民间艺术概况：对联、剪纸、中国结、舞狮等  (4). 中国民俗介绍：婚庆习俗、 12 生肖、姓名含义等  2 、教学要点  重点掌握中国春节、端午节等主要节日的起源及庆祝活动， 了解剪纸、对联与中国结等民间文化艺术以及婚礼等习俗。

4. Ⅰ.The Origin of Festivals 1. What is traditional Chinese calendric system? Or nongli? Or the Agricultural calendar? 2. What is the Gregorian calendar?

5. The ancient Chinese calendric system  a combination of the solar system and the lunar system  nongli, the agricultural calendar  a month -- a complete moon change cycle  a year-- a solar year  a leap month

6.  four seasons a year, 72 houa (a day consists of 12 double hours (shichen); five days make up a hou), 360 days.  24 jieqi : 24 seasonal periods indicating the obvious changes of weather when they come around, three hou make up a jieqi )  12 months; three months make up a season, and four seasons make up a year

7. 雨水 -Rain Water - 2008 年 2 月 19 日, 星期二 14:49:04 惊蛰 - Waking of Insects - 2008 年 3 月 5 日, 星期三 12:58:06 春分 -Spring Equinox - 2008 年 3 月 20 日, 星期四 13:47:46 清明 - Pure Brightness - 2008 年 4 月 4 日, 星期五 17:45:02 谷雨 - Grain Rain - 2008 年 4 月 20 日, 星期天 00:50:28 立夏 - Beginning of Summer - 2008 年 5 月 5 日, 星期一 11:02:32 小满 -Grain Full - 2008 年 5 月 21 日, 星期三 00:00:16 芒种 -Grain in Ear - 2008 年 6 月 5 日, 星期四 15:11:12 夏至 - Summer Solstice - 2008 年 6 月 21 日, 星期六 07:59:02 小暑 - Slight Heat - 2008 年 7 月 7 日, 星期一 01:26:35 大暑 - Great Heat - 2008 年 7 月 22 日, 星期二 18:54:33 立秋 -Beginning of Autumn - 2008 年 8 月 7 日, 星期四 11:15:49 处暑 - Limit of Heat - 2008 年 8 月 23 日, 星期六 02:01:48 白露 - white Dew - 2008 年 9 月 7 日, 星期天 14:13:39 秋分 -Autumnal Equinox - 2008 年 9 月 22 日, 星期一 23:44:04 寒露 - Cold Dew - 2008 年 10 月 8 日, 星期三 05:56:08 霜降 - Descent of Frost - 2008 年 10 月 23 日, 星期四 09:08:13 立冬 - Beginning of Winter - 2008 年 11 月 7 日, 星期五 09:10:01 小雪 - Slight Snow - 2008 年 11 月 22 日, 星期六 06:43:46 大雪 -Great Snow - 2008 年 12 月 7 日, 星期天 02:01:39 冬至 - Winter Solstice - 2008 年 12 月 21 日, 星期天 20:03:05 小寒 - Slight Cold - 2009 年 1 月 5 日, 星期一 13:13:27 大寒 - Great Cold - 2009 年 1 月 20 日, 星期二 06:39:40 立春 - Beginning of Spring - 2009 年 2 月 4 日, 星期三 00:49:14

8. About the four seasons  The first three months make up spring, the next three summer, the following three autumn, and the last three winter. Each season is subdivided into three equally long periods, namely early (meng), middle (zhong) and late (ji). For instance, early spring refers to the first month, middle spring the second month, and late spring the third month.

9. The first eight jieqi  closely related to agricultural activities  the Beginning of Spring, the Spring Equinox, the Beginning of Summer, the Summer Solstice, the Beginning of Autumn, the Autumn Equinox, the Beginning of Winter and the Winter Solstice  During the Qin Dynasty, all 24 jieqi were defined

10. How festivals come into being  Whenever two jieqi meet, a festival comes.  some jieqi-related festivals have evolved into traditional festivals

11. nian (year)  The Chinese ideograph nian (year) shows a person carrying ripe crop. The cycle of planting, growing and harvesting approximately equals the length of a year  the leap month  “Chinese year” is 364 days.  The first day and the fifteenth day of some months have become important festivals.

12. The Spring Festival  After the 1911 Revolution, the first day of the lunar month was defined as the Spring Festival.  The Mid-Autumn Festival: the 15th of the eighth lunar month, popular during the Tang and the Song dynasties.  the fourth or fifth day of April: China’s Tomb Sweeping Day

13. Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches  ten Heavenly Stems: jia, yi, bing, ding, wu, ji, geng, xin, ren, gui;( 甲、乙、丙、丁、戊、 己、庚、辛、壬、癸 )  twelve Earthly Branches: zi, chou, yin, mou, chen, si, wu, wei, shen, you, xu, hai( 子、丑、寅、卯、辰、巳、午、未、申、酉、戍、亥 ).

14. Some other Chinese festivals  Some Chinese festivals have evolved from this designation,  E.g. May 5th has become the Dragon Boat Festival  July 7th and September 9th

15. Another factor related to the forming of traditional Chinese festivals  people’s spiritual demand  hold memorial ceremonies, offering sacrifices to heaven and their ancestors.  asking for blessings and praying for protection against disasters

16. Ⅱ.China’s Tomb Sweeping Day Rains fall heavily as Qingming comes, and passers-by with lowered spirits go. “ 清明时节雨纷纷，路上行人欲断魂。 ” --- Tang Dynasty writer Du Mu

17.  a traditional day for the Chinese people to show respect for their ancestors

18. What do people do on this occasion? It is a time for remembering loved ones who have departed. On that day, Chinese visit their family graves to tend to any underbrush that has grown. Weeds are pulled, and dirt swept away, and the family will set out offerings of food and spirit money. With the passing of time, nowadays many people go to clean the surroundings of the tombs of their ancestors or relatives, burn incense and candles, and present flowers, fruit and some other sacrifice to their dearly departed in the cemetery.

19. Foods offered on Tomb Sweeping Day The foods offered on Tomb Sweeping Day vary by region. E.g.  In Taiwan, the most common dishes are the distinctive ‘grave cakes’ and jun ping  In mainland China, green glutinous rice balls

20. 苏州人清明节吃青 团子的由来 : 相传青因子是用雀麦草汁和入糯 米，一起舂合，使糯米浸入草汁 成泥，变为碧翠色。以此用来包 入豆沙或枣泥，蒸熟即成。明郎 瑛《七修类稿》中曾记载： “ 古 人寒食，采桐杨叶，染饭青色以 祭，资阳气也。今变而为青白团 子，乃此义也。 ” 另外还有个传 说跟大禹治水有关。他用疏导之 法，使三江通流入海，太湖水位 下降，水患得以平息，为种植冬 小麦创造了条件。相传苏州有位 年青的后生，清明节时正是冬小 麦返青的时候，他与大家商量用 麦叶汁水和糯米粉做成了青团子， 将青团子供在大禹治水墓碑前， 以士不忘大禹治水之恩。相沿成 习俗。

21. various forms of celebrating around the country  In Xi‘an and Baoji cities, Shanxi Province, tens of thousands of people attended two separate public memorial ceremonies( 公祭 ) to commemorate Yandi and Huangdi, two legendary founders of the Chinese nation.

22. 2005 公祭轩辕黄帝典礼

23. 人们清明祭拜图

25. Huangd i Shennong tasting herbs South-pointing chariot compass Royal palace constructing Silkworm raising and weaving Ship building Cangjie making Chinese scripts

26. In Shanxi Province  over 30,000 people including many overseas Chinese visited Hongdong County, North China, to look for their ancestral roots.

27. In Shanghai  tens of thousands of people, including many students and outside visitors, pay tribute to martyrs who died in wars against foreign invasions and the Kuomintang regime.

28. In Chongqing  a southwestern municipality, local people hold a special memorial service, to remember those who had donated their bodies for medical research. All the donors' names are to be carved on the memorial stones.

29. New Trends  Many Chinese, especially young people, show their respects to the dead in new ways, such as planting trees or placing flowers in front of tomb stones instead of burning incense.  Some people pay tribute online as many "virtual memorials" have been set up in recent years.

30. Do you know a legend related to this tradition? Key words : the Spring and Autumn Period, Jie Zhitui followed, Chong’er, the prince and later king of the Jin state the Mian Mountain, the 106th day after the Winter Solstice cold food and no fire

31. How the Tomb Sweeping Day comes into being  This is how hanshi, the Cold Food Day, came into being. Due to the fact that Cold Food Day and Pure Brightness often fall on the same day, the two are combined to form a comprehensive folk festival, during which time people go and sweep their ancestors’ tombs.

32. My Questions -1 Why Tomb Sweeping Day has been added to the lists of China’s legal holidays as the national intangible cultural heritages?

33. My Questions -2  What do people traditionally do during the comprehensive folk festival?  Sweep their ancestors’ tombs? What else?  Swing? Go for an outing? Ancient Chinese football game? Plant trees? Fly kites? Transplant Willows?

34. Why a challenging task? 1. Children are afraid of talking about death; or they have no idea of what tomb sweeping day is. 2. Parents choose to evade the ghost day with some kind of sad color; 3. The School authorities feel it a challenging to celebrate the day in a much healthy way among young students.

35. Some unhealthy phenomena  Some use government cars in traveling to sweep the tombs of their family members.  some businessmen for selling funeral goods such as paper products of mistresses, cars, houses and cell phones to burn in front of tomb stones.  Some living magnates built expensive groves for their heaven life  ….

36. Your Creative Ideas… How can we change ‘the ghost day’ into a ‘ren jie’ with rich cultural connotations? How can we revitalize it into a ‘Thanksgiving Day’ of Chinese-style? What kind of public benefits activities can we initiate?

37. Assignment  观看《中国民间艺术》相关剧集，以及英文 纪录片《中国文化艺术之春节》  思考并介绍某一中国传统节日及其习俗，讨 论清明等传统节日的休假制度对传承中国传 统文化的意义