Chinese Class - Fujian Province

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Fujian Province

Geography

Fujian Province on the southeastern coast faces Taiwan Province across the Taiwan Straits. It is situated 115'50"-120'47" east longitude and 23'30"-28'19" north latitude with an area of more than 120,000 square kilometers. Mountains and hills make up the vast majority of Fujian's territory, while
only narrow strips of the east seaside are plains. Fujian has a zigzag coastline of 2,120 kilometers dotted with 1,202 offshore islands, with a fishing area of 136,000 square kilometers. Most of its rivers empty into the sea separately.

Climate

Fujian has a sub-tropical climate, warm and humid, with no distinctive difference between seasons. It has a mean annual temperature of 17oC-21oC, and a mean annual precipitation of 1,200-2,200 mm. Typhoons occur frequently from May to November.

Administrative Division and Population

It is divided into 9 prefecture-level cities, 14 county-level cities and 46 counties, with a population of 34.71 million by 2000.

Food

Min Cuisine (Fujian Cuisine) is one of the Eight Great Cuisines in China, emphasizing seafood, river fish, and shrimp. The most characteristic aspect of Fujian Cuisine is that its dishes are served in soup.

Culture

Pear Orchard Opera, Puppet Show, etc.

Special Local Products

The main traditional specialties are the Oolong Tea, orange of Zhangzhou, longan of Jinjiang, lacquer ware of Fuzhou, porcelain of Dehua, stone carving of Shoushan and woodcarving of Quanzhou.

Brief Introduction

Fujian Province (Min for short) is located on the southeast coast of China, with Fuzhou as the provincial capital. Fujian is also the home of many overseas Chinese.

Fujian has well-developed agriculture, forestry and fishery. Its mild, humid, subtropical and marine climate is especially conducive to crop production. Sugarcane, peanuts, tea, tobacco, rubber, jute and bluish dogbane are Fujian's major cash crops. Orange, longan, lichi, pineapple, loquat and
banana are the six famous fruits of Fujian. Its industries of building materials, forest, light industry, electronics, chemical, machinery, and papermaking occupy important places in the country.

Fujian is blessed with a rich history, famous historical sites and beautiful natural landscapes, making it a unique tourist attraction. Its numerous tourist attractions include mountains, rivers and well-known cities. Quanzhou, one of China's famous historic and cultural ancient cities, is a human
and scenic spot approved by the UNESCO; Xiamen, known as the "Garden on the Sea", is a picturesque special economic zone; Wuyi Mountain, inscribed on the World Heritage List, is famous for its peaks and Wuyi tea; the Kaiyuan Temple in Quanzhou, the Yongquan Temple in Fuzhou, the Guanghua Temple in
Putian and the Nanshan Temple in Zhangzhou are the four famous grand ancient temples in Fujian. In addition, there are historical relics left behind by Zhu Xi and Zheng Chenggong.

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HSK - Controversy Escalates on Yuanmingyuan Rebuilding

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Controversy Escalates on Yuanmingyuan Rebuilding




Controversies escalated as the Yuanmingyuan project rebuilding was launched. The project, advocated by Xu Wenrong, is to include investment of 200,000,000 RMB to rebuild Yuanmingyuan in Hengdian, Zhejiang Province, and is expected to finish in 5 years and open to the public in 2013.












Covering an area of 6165 acre, the “New Yuanmingyuan” consists of three gardens, Yuanmingyuan, Changchunyuan, and Wanchunyuan. The project will be reconstructed in accordance with the historic Yuanmingyuan that was burned down by Anglo-French Forces 146 years ago. As reported, the land area is
even larger than the Imperial Palace, and the water area is identical with the Summer Palace.












The project is being executed by an economic league from Hengdian. It will use 600,000,000 RMB for architectural design and decoration, and another 14000,000,000 of investment will be used for collection and replication of cultural relics in the New Yuanmingyuan.

There are mainly two viewpoints on the rebuilding. In the objectors’ opinions, Yuanmingyuan is a reminder of the shameful memory of the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911); it should be maintained as ruins. On the other side, some people think that rebuilding it would be a sign of China’s
prosperity, and the new Yuanmingyuan could contrast with the old one. It is also important for adolescents who are gradually forgetting this shameful history.





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Learn Mandarin online - Lao She

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Library>Culture ABC>Drama>People







Lao She



Lao She(1899-1966) was born of Manchu descent inBeijing. His father, who was a guard soldier, died in a street battle during the Boxer uprising. Fatherless since early childhood, Lao She worked his way through Peking Teacher's College. After graduation he supported himself and his mother through a
series of teaching and administrative post. He served as a principal of an elementary school at the age of 17, and later he was a district supervisor. Lao She spent the years from 1924 to 1929 in London, where he taught Chinese at the School of Oriental and African Studies. By reading among others
the novels of Charles Dickens, Lao She improved his English, and decided to start his fist novel.

In 1931 Lao She returned to China and continued to write and teach in various universities. Partly modeled on Fielding's Tom Jones, Lao She turned to humor. He reversed his early individualist theme and stressed the futility of the individual's struggle against society as a whole. In Rickshaw Boy
Lao She traced the degrading and ruin of a industrious Peking rickshaw puller, who finally dies on a snowy night.

The outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) radically altered Lao She's views. Between the years 1937 and 1945 he wrote a number of plays, worked as a propagandist, and headed the All-China Anti-Japanese Writers Federation.

Between the years 1946 and 1949 Lao She lived in the United States on a cultural grant at the invitation of the Department of State. When the People's Republic was established in 1949, Lao She returned to China.

He was a member of the Cultural and Educational Committee in the Government Administration Council, a deputy to theNational People's Congress, a member of the Standing Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, vice-chairman of the All-Cina Federation of Literature and
Art and vice-chairman of the Union of Chinese Writers as well as chairman of the Beijing Federation of Literature and Art. He was named a "People's Artist" and a "Great Master of Language".

Lao She died in 1966, in the times of the Cultural Revolution. His last novel was The Drum Singers (1952), which was published only in English. Since the fall of Jiang Qing, guiding hand of the Cultural Revolution, in 1971, Lao She's works has been republished.

Among Lao She's most frequently performed plays isTeahouse, which was written in 1957. The events are set in the Beijing teahouse of Wang Lifa during three different periods: 1898 under the empire, the 1910s under the warlords and around 1945 after World War Two. Towards the end, Wang and his
friends confess the failure of their lives. The teahouse is requisitioned as a club and Wang is offered a job as doorman -- however, he has already hanged himself -- The Beijing People's Art Theatre performed the play in 1980 in West Germany and France.











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