Lantern Festival or Yuanxiao Jie is a traditional Chinese festival, which is fall on the 15th of the first month of the Chinese New Year. It is the last day of two week long Chinese New Year cerebration. People with their family will gather in the show place to enjoy the beautiful lanterns displayed by individuals or the local municipal. Kids will carry their own lanterns to participate in the showcase. Usually there is competition for the most beautiful lantern.

There was a beautiful bird flew down to the earth from the heaven. It was hunted by the village people. The Jade Emperor in Heaven was very anger, because the bird was his favorite one. He ordered to destroy the village and kill all people with a storm of fire on the 15th lunar day. The daughter of Jade Emperor heard of this act of vengeance, and warned the villagers to prepare for that. Everybody worried about it and no one had any idea to face the fact.

Luckily, a wise man past the village and made the suggestion that every house should hang red lanterns around the house, setup campfire on the street, explode the bamboo firecracker, made fireworks on 14th, 15th and 16th lunar days. In this way, Jade Emperor might think all village people die under fire and all the villagers can save their lives and properties.

On the night of 15th lunar day, the troop coming down from the heaven looked the village was ablaze and returned back to heaven to report the Jade Emperor. Satisfied with the result, the Jade Emperor decided not to burn down the village. From that day on, people celebrated the anniversary on 15th lunar day every year by carrying red lanterns on the streets and explode the firecracker and fireworks.

The lantern displays can be found in the town center square and temples. Usually. there is the lantern competition at the temple. Traditional lanterns are made by paper. They can make the lantern tuning around by the heat circulation from the candle inside. Today the light of the lantern is from the electricity. People like to design lantern using zodiac animals, historical figures, saint and gods of Taoism or Buddhism. Certainly, the current year’s animal symbol of the Chinese calendar is most popular subject. Using the computer tool today, they can design the lantern with different movements, the different colors of light and even using the laser light with special visual and sound effects.

Lantern Festival is also called. Yuan-Xiao Festival. This is because Chinese eat Yuan-Xiao on this day. This custom originated from the Eastern Jin Dynasty in the fourth century, then became popular during the Tang and Song Dynasty.

Yuan-Xiao just like Tang-Yuan . They are made of sweet rice flour into sticky glutinous balls. They can be filled in with sesame, red-bean or peanut butter paste. Usually, they are severed with sugar water. But some people still make salty Tang-Yuan.

The difference between Yuan-Xiao and Tang-Yuan is the way they are made and cooked. This is because that Chinese in different geographic area prepare the food in different way. Chinese call the one they eat on Winter Solstice Day is Tang-Yuan. The one they eat on the Lantern festival is called Yuan-Xiao.

There are two steps to starting skateboarding. Number one, get a board. Number two, ride it. If you know nothing about skateboards then you can use some of the articles on the site to help you out.

First you should get used to just riding the board. Being comfortable while pushing, standing, stopping, and turning are important skills to develop. You might not be sure which foot you should put in front while riding.

As a beginner, the chances are that the one you’ve got is pretty slow, with Abec ‘A’ bearings and a thick, heavy deck. Your deck won’t have much concave (meaning it won’t be very curved) but the good news is that this type of board is less likely to slip away from you so in fact is ideal to learn on.

Start pushing off up a shallow hill or on a level surface.Firstly, the skateboard tends to get away from them as they are pushing, because they tend to push from a position where their feet are level with each other or even with the pushing foot behind the front foot. Instead, you should imagine that pushing off is like walking – your pushing foot must step in front of the foot on the skateboard and then push back, just like taking normal steps. Your front foot should be just behind the front bolts.

When you’ve got some decent pace just practice gently leaning the skateboard to turn left and right. You don’t need to physically lean your body, but just put more of your weight into your heels or toes.

After a while try lifting the front wheels briefly as you lean to get a sharper turn. Do this by applying a bit more weight to the back tail until the front wheels are off the ground, then aim the nose a bit more towards whichever direction you are facing and put the front wheels back down again. Do this repeatedly while you turn to turn in as tight a circle as possible.

The obvious way for a beginner is what’s known as a tailstop. This is where you grind the tail of the skateboard into the ground, letting the friction slow you down. It works pretty well, although it’s not very efficient if you’re going really fast. You will also wear away the tail of your skateboard – personally I don’t mind this, but you might, depending on how precious you are about the board. Put it this way – it will take a hell of a lot of tailstops to wear the board down entirely, by which point you almost certainly will want a different one anyway.

Even though it wears your board out, it is a useful ‘trick’ to learn because it’s a start towards practicing your balance. When you first do one, you’re going to need the confidence to stomp the back down quite firmly and then ride out the tailstop at an unfamiliar angle (with the nose in the air) until you come to a halt. While you are doing this, try turning at the same time as well. All these little things will add up and be very useful later on.

Who wants a cup of tea? It’s not just Britons, old ladies and laborers enjoying a cuppa any more, with the world’s most consumed drink after water getting a make-over and attracting younger, more discerning fans.

The Chinese have a saying:”‘Firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and tea”, They are the most important things in everyone’s life. If you notice that, you will find the tea is the seventh necessities to begin a day, Yes, we still can see the importance of tea in daily life.

Chinese tea culture not only expressing on drinking, but also in tasting.Tea drinking is for refreshment and tonic effect. but Tea tasting is a higher level drinking. it is not for satisfy one’s thirst, but a enjoying course.Tea tasting has cultural meaning. Tea and tea wares should match surrounding elements such as breeze, bright moon, pines, bamboo, plums and snow. All these show the ultimate goal of Chinese culture: the harmonious unity of human beings with nature.

Tea has also gained popularity in recent years due to a heightened awareness of its health benefits, with study after study praising it for helping to ward off diseases.

According to the United Kingdom Tea Council, an independent body set up to promote tea drinking, tea can help to reduce the risk of diabetes and heart disease while its high levels of antioxidants are also beneficial.

One of the latest studies, which emerged at the First International Congress on Abdominal Obesity, claimed tea could help slim the waistline. A recent Japanese study also found that elderly people who drink several cups of green tea a day are less likely to suffer from depression.

There is about half a month left before Chinese Spring Festival. Like the Christmas in the Western, Spring Festival is the most important festival in China. All of the people in China will go their home and have a reunion with their families. Reunion is the most important thing for Festival. No matter the distance they live, they will try to go home in that day.

Chuxi (New Year’s Eve) is the last evening of the twelfth lunar month. In Chinese, Chu literally means remove or change, and Xi means night. Thus Chuxi implies that the old year ends at this night, and the new one begins tomorrow.The reunion dinner, sacrificing to the ancestors, watching Spring Festival Party on CCTV , and staying up till 12 o’clock, are the major activity in Chuxi.

After the dinner, the whole family sit together, chatting and watching TV, and stay stay up late till the morning to guard the year. The houses are lit up brightly with lamps both outside and inside of the house.

On each New Year’s Eve, each family also sticks on their doors spring couplets and blow up firecrackers. Early in the morning of the 1st of the first lunar month they go to their relatives and friends’ to send their regards and congratulations.

The fireworks and the red color serve in order to drive away the year’s monster nian (in Chinese: year), for which according to a legend the Chinese once had immense fear and did conceal themselves in their flats in the evening until they found out, that the monster would come only one time during the year and that it feared noise and red color.

At the New Year’s Day during the morning, the Jiaozi, which were prepared in the evening before, are traditionally cooked. Afterwards, the family will gather in order to eat lunch together. However, nowadays, many families prefer going to a restaurant instead of spending New Year’s Day at home.

The Chinese spring festival traditionally ends with the Lantern Feast, which takes place on the 15th day of the New Year. The temples are decorated with lanterns at that day. Families go for a walk with self-made (or bought) lanterns holding in their hands and they eat the famous yuebing (moon cake), since there is a full moon at that day.

A family car needs to be adaptable, to accommodate an adult or teen driver; equipped with safety features to protect passengers of all ages and sizes; offer a range of flexibility to add cargo space when needed; and provide easy access to rear seats (for car seats or adults who may sit in back).

“Families come in all shapes and sizes,” says Kristin Varela, chief mother and senior editor at motherproof.com, which evaluates vehicles with children in mind. “And this is the up-and-coming sandwiched generation that is caring for aging parents and young children.”

With development of the auto industry,  the environment problems become a vital issue for people all over the world. So when you are enjoying the life brought by the auto, you  need to save the energy as possible as you can.

To buy a fuel-efficient car is a good choice.When it comes to fuel economy, it should be a concern for anyone buying a family car since gas prices have topped $4 a gallon. However, safety features are at the top of consumers’ considerations, according to a study by Ford Motor Company . Ford found that nearly 70% of car buyers are interested in side air bags, and 65% are interested in electronic stability control.

But since fuel prices can’t be ignored entirely, Consumer Reports says a combined mpg of 17 to 20 or higher is a good target for a family ride. Keep in mind, however, the larger the family–and, hence, the family car–the lower the fuel economy is likely to be. That’s not to say, however, that automakers don’t do their best to build larger cars that don’t guzzle gas.

Recently, a movie called Avatar is very popular all over the world.With its incredibly stunning visuals and compelling story line, James Cameron’s “Avatar” is memorable and meaningful. It’s so much more than a film that looks cool with a 3-D treatment.

 Avatar was extraordinary only because of its special effects. So congratulations should go to the geniuses at Weta Digital, the company responsible for producing them over the course of two years. Instead, last night the Golden Globes judges named Cameron “Best Director” and – mind-bogglingly – Avatar the “Best Drama”.

It’s a environmental parable, in other words, and a clumsy one at that. I’ve written at length about Avatar’s patronising and racist subtext: how the blue-skinned Na’vi, a pastiche of this planet’s “ethnic” races, are utterly powerless without the help of a principled white man. And how I was disgusted that the Na’vi – like the Africans in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness – demonstrate a “triumphant bestiality”. (Cameron is so obviously 2009’s worst lefty.)

What I have yet to hit home, however, is Avatar’s overall failure as a film. But you know what? The Vatican newspaper already has that spot on . It’s “bland”, a reviewer wrote in L’Osservatore Romano last week. “It has a great deal of enchanting, stunning technology, but few genuine or human emotions. Its significance is in its visual impact rather than in the story, and in its messages, despite the fact that they are hardly new.”

Finally, the review lays into Cameron who, “concentrating on the creation of the fantasy world of Pandora, chooses a bland approach. He tells the story without any profound exploration.”

Christmas Eve

Though the Christmas day sourced from the Western, it  is widely popular with the young all over the world. Such as me.I am a Chinese,  I like the Chinese festival, such as the Spring Festive. But the Chrismas is another festival I liked. The two are very different to me.When it come to Spring Festive, I miss my families very much. In China, The Spring festival stands for the reunion of a families. when the spring comes, every one will go home to meet others no matter how long the way to home. While the Chrismas let me happy like a Child. The music, the Father Chrismas, the Cart etc.

The Chrismas Eve is coming, forget all of the annoyance and unhappiness. Let’s enjoy the moment of happiness.You can do:

Prepare a special Christmas Eve meal. If Christmas dinner means ham or turkey, perhaps you can make a warm pot of chili. Or cook traditional foods from your culture on Christmas Eve, whether it’s Italian, Polish or Korean.

Host a Christmas Eve party that gathers your friends for an evening of food, laughter and good memories.

Get the children involved. Make a Gingerbread House or cookies for Santa. Allow the kids to track Santa’s progress by radar on the Internet. After leaving cookies and milk for Santa, read “A Visit from St. Nicholas” and tuck in the kids for a special Christmas Eve night.

Wish others a Merry Christmas. You don’t have to worry that you will offend them. If they want to wish you a Happy Hanukkah, in response, thank them and wish them the same. Wishing others a Merry Christmas helps spread the cheer.

Give to others. Whether to your family and friends, or to others less fortunate, spend some time this Christmas in giving. We give in remembrance of the gifts of the Magi to the Savior, but at the very heart of it all, recall that we are to give because He first gave to us.

This is the second day of Climate Conference in Copenhagen. It is essential for the worlds climate and the Danish government and UNFCCC is putting hard effort in making the meeting in Copenhagen a success ending up with a Copenhagen Protocol to prevent global warming and climate changes.

As a part of the globle, I think we have the duty to protect our unique and common home, the globle. What do we need to do in our lives? I think a healthy life style and habite will be a useful and effective method. Such as saving the water, electricity, gas and so on.

Energy

Waste