1 . Harvest Festivals Around the World

The harvest season falls at different times of the year depending upon region, climate, and crop, but festivals celebrating its arrival are held the world over. The following list highlights four particular harvest festivals.

Rice Harvest Festival in Indonesia (May 1-June 30)

The Rice Harvest Festival that is held in Bali, Indonesia, is a feature of the island’s Hindu culture. The harvest time, which follows the New Year by about one month, is dedicated to the rice goddess and is a time of joyous celebration. Sculptures of the goddess are placed in the fields in thanks, towns are decorated with colored flags, and special bull races are held.

Yam Festival in Ghana (August or September)

The Ewe people of Ghana in Africa celebrate the end of the rainy season and the first appearance of yams, a staple crop. The duration and exact days of the celebration vary according to place, in hopes of driving away hunger in the coming year. People gather and hold huge feasts and activities such as dances and parades.

Sukkoth in Israel (September-October)

Sukkoth, the “Feast of Booths (棚子),” is held shortly after the High Holy Days of the New Year celebration. Special booths are constructed to recall the period of the Exodus, recorded in the local religion, when their ancestors lived in booths in the desert before entering the Promised Land.

Pongal in India (January)

The four-day festival of Pongal is a celebration of the rice harvest period. Held after the winter solstice (冬至), it celebrates the return of longer days of life-giving sunlight. Pongal is similar to other festivals held in South and Southeast Asia, but its name comes from a local word meaning “to boil” and is also the name given to a rice dish that is prepared during this time.

2 . On the bustling streets of Sydney, Australia, Dong Min, a young Chinese woman, dressed in elegant Chinese traditional clothing — hanfu, gracefully holds a dizi, the bamboo flute of China, fascinating passersby with the melodies of traditional Chinese music.

Dong Min, a talented musician was born in 1990. Seeing a female performer playing the bamboo flute on TV fired her interest in this Chinese traditional instrument at the age of 8. Soon her interest blossomed into talent. At the age of 10, winning a provincial-level Chinese musical instrument competition earned her one of only four spots for further studies in Beijing. After graduating from Minzu University of China with a major in Chinese bamboo flute in 2015, she enrolled at the University of New South Wales in Australia to study cultural leadership where she initiated street performances, featuring Chinese traditional instruments. One year later, she formed a band and founded the Sydney Meya Institute of Chinese Music to teach various Chinese traditional instruments to more people.

Apart from street performances and her institution, Dong also offers online dizi lessons to a global audience and organizes online exchange concerts for her students worldwide. “Our students range from 4-year-olds to 80-year-olds, reflecting the timeless appeal of Chinese music across generations,” Dong said.

Her effort paid off eventually. Her performances grew in popularity. Many audiences traveled all the way from cities like Melbourne and Brisbane to Sydney just to attend her performances.” Many music schools now offer courses on Chinese instruments. I hope to create a platform for music enthusiasts to connect and cultivate friendships through their shared love for music. Thus, we can not only raise awareness of Chinese traditional music in Australia but also share the richness of Chinese culture through music with the international audience.” Dong Min said.

3 . Dragons, a famous imaginary beast born from fantasy, are often present in stories in the west and east. In both cultures, dragons are generally recognized as massive creatures capable of flight. They have great power and are often associated with magical abilities. However, due to their different cultural roots and images, there exist significant differences in the way dragons are regarded in the west and east, particularly in China.

Chinese dragons most resemble snakes, and have four claws and no wings. They often have features of other animals, including carp, tigers, and eagles. In the contrast, Western dragons look like huge lizards with big claws and large bat-like wings, and are often shown with spines or rough scales.

In traditional Chinese culture, a dragon is a symbol of luck, power and high status. They can cause weather changes and bring rainfall to the fields to ensure rich harvests. They are considered divine (神圣的) creatures, which hold an important position as the head of the four spirits. Therefore, to symbolize their power, ancient Chinese emperors decorated their clothes with dragon patterns. These clothes are known as dragon robes. Many Chinese view the dragon as a national symbol, proudly referring to themselves as “descendants of the dragon”. In the west, however, a dragon symbolizes an evil creature that spreads violence and terror throughout the land. They are believed to be transformed by the devil, with the ability to breathe fire or spit poison. Many western tales show dragons being defeated and killed to protect people from danger.

Today, dragons continue to evolve, exceeding traditional boundaries and finding new significance in global culture. They are no longer associated with evil or good, but rather as complex characters with their own unique personalities and motivations. For example, Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon begins as a dangerous dragon but evolves into a misunderstood being with love and compassion. This challenges the idea of dragons as naturally evil, presenting them as complex beings with emotions and motivations.

4 . With a few hours until curtain call, a quiet but noticeable energy fills the backstage dressing room of the famous Sunbeam Theatre, known as “Hong Kong’s Grand Palace for Cantonese Opera” Tonight, it’s the annual Rose family performance.

Some of the performers are eating takeout boxes of food, sure to sustain them through the bows-long show ahead. Others are getting a head start on their make-up. A few are being helped into their colorful costumes by eager assistants.

But there is something unexpectedly unusual about this particular performance that becomes obvious as soon as the curtains rise some of the people on stage aren’t Chinese.

Mike Brady, who comes from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, stands on stage in full costume. But he has never seen a Cantonese Opera, let alone been in one. As a background character, he has no spoken lines.

This unlikely actor owes his first performance to Lyle Rose, a fellow American who stands next to him in a similar costume. When it comes to performing, Lyle, a native New Yorker who now lives in Hong Kong, is not as green of a performer as Mike; in fact, he is the mastermind behind tonight’s show.

The entire Rose family is on stage. Mike himself is actually a new addition to the group: his daughter recently married Lyle’s younger son.

Cantonese Opera is a family affair for Lyle. Every year, Lyle, his wife, Cynthia Hu-Rose, a Hong Konger, and two sons put on a performance to raise money for local charities. But their true purpose for doing it is simply to introduce people to it. Though Cantonese Opera remains an important part of Hong Kong culture, it has to compete with many other forms of entertainment for the attention of younger generations, who associate n with their grandparents. “We love Cantonese Opera,” Lyle said. “We want people of all ages to come and watch.”

5 . It was May 1945 when what would become one of America’s most common home-cooking techniques first entered the English vocabulary. In her cookbook, How to Cook and Eat in Chinese, 55-year-old Chinese immigrant Chao Yang Buwei described a process common in China, wherein cooks would cut meat and vegetables into small pieces and then tumble (翻) them rapidly together over heat. “The Chinese term for the technique, ch’ao, cannot be accurately translated into English,” Chao decided, “We shall call it ‘stir-fry’ for short.” The term has since taken on a life of its own. Nowadays, stir-frying isn’t just a method — “stir-fry” has become its own category of recipe.

Chao came to cooking unexpectedly. She moved to America with her husband in 1921 after her husband, the famed linguist Chao Yuenren, was offered a job at Harvard. Bored at home and only able to speak a little English, she turned to cooking dishes that reminded her of China. She eventually agreed when a friend earnestly persuaded her to write a cookbook, which was then translated by Chao’s daughter and polished up by her linguist husband.

Her cookbook succeeded, going into multiple printings by 1945. English-language Chinese cookbooks had been published as far back as 1911 in America, but Chao’s was the first that refused to Westernize Chinese cooking. “I’ll show you how to cook crab dishes with real crabs,” Chao told readers in a passage where she forbade them from-using sea crabs in place of the freshwater variety. Using the former, she reasoned, would result in “a caricature (夸张的描述) of the Chinese dish.” During Chao’s era, it might have been easier for foreign cooks in America to please the American taste with substitutions. She wore her Chinese heritage with pride. She didn’t follow suit.

Chao pioneered a new cooking method in America. Unwilling to compromise, she was a true visionary. Sadly, her death in 1981 didn’t make headlines despite her contributions to American food culture. Shortly thereafter even her name ended up falling through pop culture’s cracks.

“What is your favorite Chinese dish?” Ask any foreigner this question, and most answers you get must be Kung Pao chicken! But how much do you know this foreigner’s favorite Chinese dish?

What is the meaning of Kung Pao? We need to look at the four Chinese words. ”gong“ means ”palace”; “bǎo” means guard “(保卫)”; “jī” means chicken; “dīng” means small pieces. If we put them together, it can be understood as “palace guards” chicken pieces“.

But where did the name come from? We need to talk about Ding Baozhen-the man who gave us Kung Pao chicken. Ding was a governor of Sichuan during Qing Dynasty. When Ding was a child, be fell into a river. He could not swim, but a family passing by saved him and brought him home. At their home, they served Ding a delicious chicken dish(the earliest Kung Pao chicken). Ding loved it very much and always remembered it. Years later, when Ding became a rich and powerful man, he invited that family to his house. The family cooked him the same dish and Ding soon made this dish popular all over Sichuan. In the late 1800s, Ding was given the title of ”gōng bǎo“(the person who guards the palace). Soon, people started calling him Ding Gongbao, and giving his favorite dish a name after him-Gongbao chicken. The English name Kung Pao sounds just the same as Chinese.

This dish appears on the menus almost everywhere in the world. Different countries and even cities in China have different ways to cook it. ▲ You have to ask some old cooks in Sichuan. They think three things-dried Sichuan peppers, sugar and vinegar—are the key to the most traditional Kung Pao chicken. The Sichuan pepper is the most important one. It is hard to buy it for many people outside Sichuan. That is probably why they cannot get the best taste.

Next time, when you are eating Kung Pao chicken with others, you can tell them many fun facts about this dish!

9 . 24 Solar Terms: 8 things you may not know about Frost’s Descent

The traditional Chinese lunar calendar divides the year into 24 solar terms. Frost’s Descent (霜降), the 18th solar term of the year, begins this year on Oct 23 and ends on Nov 6.     1    , during which time the weather becomes much colder than before and frost begins to appear. Here are four things you should know about Frost’s Descent.

Frosty autumn

    2    . During Frost’s Descent, frost begins to appear. But in the lower reaches of the Yellow River region, frost first appears in late October or early November. As Frost’s Descent comes, the world is filled with the atmosphere of late autumn.

Eating fruit

Eating persimmons during Frost’s Descent can help people resist the cold and protect their bones. In the countryside, people believe that their lips will crack if they don’t eat persimmons during this period. The apple is one kind of recommended fruit during Frost’s Descent. Apples can moisten the lungs, quench one’s thirst and help one’s digestion.    3    . It can promote the secretion of body liquids, clear away heat and reduce sputum.

Eating duck

It’s a custom to eat duck on the first day of Frost’s Descent in south Fujian province. There is a saying in Fujian which goes, “Even nourishing all year is not as good as nourishing the human body on the first day of Frost’s Descent.”    4    .

    5    

People in areas such as Daxin county in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region celebrate the first day of Frost’s Descent. In the Frost’s Descent Festival, the Zhuang people offer sacrifices, dance and sing folk songs. With a history of more than 360 years, the festival is to commemorate Cen Yuyin, a heroine in battles against foreign aggression.