Wednesday, 8 July 2009

Hi everyone,

I know I have been talking about film Chi Bi ‘Red Cliff’ for a while, and I promised I will let you know the background of this film.
However, I struggled to tell you the story!
It’s not easy, as the story happened in a chaotic time—the Three Kingdom Period in Chinese history. It is about 220-280 AD. Not long after one of the greatest dynasties in Chinese history, Han, lost control of its country.
As it involved in 3 kingdoms, I found a map on Wikipedia which will give you some ideas where these 3 kingdoms were and why battle of Red Cliff was decisive for them.







The three kingdoms were Wèi , Shǔ , and . Wèi in the north, led by Prime Minister Cao Cao; Shǔ in the south west, led by warlord Liu Bei; and in the south east, led by warlord Sun Quan.



The Han emperor was under Cao Cao’s control, and he used the rebels, Liu and Sun, as an excuse to persuade the Han emperor to send him to south and regain control of these areas. Cao’s got numerical superior forces of army, so Liu and Sun allied together and successfully frustrated Cao Cao's effort to conquer the land south of the Yangtze River and reunite the territory of the Eastern Han Dynasty.



This is a decisive battle to ensure the survival of Liu and Sun’s power in south, and it gave them control of the Yangtze area. This battle also provided a line of defence that was the basis for the later creation of the two southern kingdoms of Shǔ and .



This is the basic story background. If you would like to know more detail information. Please check links below.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Kingdoms
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Red_Cliffs

Three kingdoms period is one of the most chaotic time in Chinese history. The official record is called the Records of Three Kingdoms (三国志 Sānguó Zhì).
However the Romance of the Three Kingdoms (三国演义 sānguó yǎnyì), written by Luo Guanzhong in the 14th century, is more popular for most of the Chinese people. It is a Chinese historical novel based upon events in the turbulent years near the end of the Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms era of China, starting in 169 and ending with the reunification of the land in 280. It is also one of the 4 greatest novels in China’s history.



In director John Woo’s interview, he said this film will use primarily the historical record Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms (or Romance of the Three Kingdoms) as a blueprint for the Battle of Red Cliffs, rather than the historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. This means the film is less exaggerated.



As most Chinese people know the stories of the Three Kingdoms, John Woo didn’t give much explanation of the background of the battle. And that means most westerners simply get lost and don’t know what is going on when watching it in cinema.



As the battle involved with 3 kingdoms, and it’s all about strategies they used in battle, friendships, and their ambitions, this film has got hundreds of roles with hundreds of Chinese names to remember. And believe in me, I am a Chinese, but I find it difficult to remember all the names and their positions in this film. That is another reason why most people cannot follow up the plot.



Another reason some people can’t understand this film is it is a 280 minutes film but has been cut into 148 minutes when released outside Asia. I was lucky that I watched part of the film when I was back in Taiwan for holiday this March and I found out some parts missing when I went to watch it again in cinema here. Some of the scenes are quite important and play as important bridges to link other scenes.



Translation is always a problem in Chinese films. I don’t mean the translation is not good, I meant some traditional concepts simply don’t have equivalent translations. It’s happening again and again in Chinese films. They always give near translation but not the message behind the words.



To the film itself, more introduction and details can be found on Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Cliff_(film)
The plot below is from Wikipedia and it’s the ‘full version’ plot. If you watch ‘Red Cliff’ here, you will notice lots of the scenes are missing.







Part 1
In the summer of AD 208 during the Eastern Han Dynasty, the imperial army led by Chancellor (or Prime Minister) Cao Cao embarks on a campaign to eliminate the southern warlords Sun Quan and Liu Bei in the name of eliminating rebels, with the reluctant approval of the Emperor. Cao Cao's mighty army swiftly conquers the southern province of Jingzhou and the Battle of Changban is ignited when Cao Cao's cavalry unit starts attacking the civilians who are on an exodus led by Liu Bei.


During the battle, Liu Bei's followers, including his sworn brothers Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, give an excellent display of their legendary combat skills by managing to hold off the enemy while buying time for the civilians to retreat. The warrior Zhao Yun fights bravely to rescue his lord Liu Bei's entrapped family but only succeeded in rescuing Liu's infant son.


Following the battle, Liu Bei's chief advisor Zhuge Liang sets forth on a diplomatic mission to Wu to form an alliance between Liu Bei and Sun Quan to deal with Cao Cao's invasion. Sun Quan was initially in the midst of a dilemma of whether to surrender or resist, but his decision to resist Cao Cao hardens after Zhuge Liang's clever persuasion and a subsequent tiger hunt with his Grand Viceroy Zhou Yu and his sister Sun Shangxiang. Meanwhile, naval commanders Cai Mao and Zhang Yun from Jingzhou pledge allegiance to Cao Cao and were received warmly by Cao, who placed them in command of his navy.


After the hasty formation of the alliance, the forces of Liu Bei and Sun Quan call for a meeting to formulate a plan to counter Cao Cao's army, which is advancing slowly towards Red Cliff at godspeed from both land and water. The battle then begins with Sun Shangxiang leading a light cavalry unit to lure Cao Cao's vanguard army into the Eight Trigrams Formation laid down by the allied forces.


Cao Cao's vanguard army is utterly defeated by the allies but Cao Cao shows no disappointment and proceeds to lead his main army to the riverbank directly opposite the allies' main camp where they laid camp. While the allies throw a banquet to celebrate their victory, Zhuge Liang thinks of a plan to send Sun Shangxiang to infiltrate Cao Cao's camp and serve as a spy for them. The duo maintain contact by sending messages via a pigeon. The film ends with Zhou Yu lighting his miniaturised battleships on a map based on the battle formation, signifying his plans for defeating Cao Cao's navy.




Part 2
Sun Shangxiang has infiltrated Cao Cao's camp and she has been secretly noting details and sending them via a pigeon to Zhuge Liang. Meanwhile, Cao Cao's army is seized with a plague of typhoid fever which kills a number of his troops. Cao Cao cunningly orders the corpses to be sent to the allies' camp, hoping to pass the plague on to his enemies. The allied army's morale is affected when some unsuspecting soldiers let the plague in, and eventually a disheartened Liu Bei leaves with his forces while Zhuge Liang stays behind to assist the Wu forces.

Cao Cao hears that the alliance had collapsed and is overjoyed. At the same time, his naval commanders Cai Mao and Zhang Yun propose a new tactic of interlocking the battleships together with iron beams to minimize rocking when sailing on the river and reduce the chances of the troops falling seasick.


Subsequently, Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang make plans on how to eliminate Cao Cao's naval commanders Cai Mao and Zhang Yun, and produce 100,000 arrows respectively. They agreed that whoever fails to complete his mission will be punished by execution under military law. Zhuge Liang's ingenious strategy of borrowing of arrows with straw boats brought in over 100,000 arrows from the enemy and aroused Cao Cao's suspicions about the loyalty of Cai and Zhang towards him.

On the other hand, Cao Cao sends Jiang Gan to persuade Zhou Yu to surrender, but Zhou Yu tricks Jiang Gan instead, into believing that Cai Mao and Zhang Yun are planning to assassinate their lord Cao Cao. Both Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu's respective plans complement each other when Cao Cao is convinced, despite earlier having doubts about Jiang Gan's report, that Cai and Zhang were indeed planning to assassinate him by deliberately 'donating' arrows to the enemy. Cai and Zhang are executed and Cao Cao realised his folly afterwards but it was too late.

In the Wu camp, Sun Shangxiang returns from Cao Cao's camp with a map of the enemy formation. Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang decide to attack Cao Cao's navy with fire after knowing that there is a special climatic condition known only to Wu's forces, that the South-East Wind (to their advantage) would blow sometime soon.

As the Wu forces made preparations for the fire attack, Huang Gai proposes to Zhou Yu the Self-Torture Ruse to increase their chances of success, but Zhou Yu does not heed it. Before the battle, the forces of Wu have a final moment together, feasting on glutinous rice balls to celebrate the Winter Festival.

Meanwhile, Zhou Yu's wife Xiao Qiao heads towards Cao Cao's camp alone secretly, in hope of persuading Cao Cao to give up his ambitious plans but she fails and decides to distract him instead to buy time for the Wu forces.

The battle begins when the South-East Wind starts blowing in the middle of the night and the Wu forces launch their full-scale attack on Cao Cao's navy. On the other hand, Liu Bei's forces, which had apparently left the alliance, start attacking Cao Cao's forts on land. By dawn, Cao Cao's entire navy has been destroyed.

The allied forces launch another offensive on Cao Cao's ground army, stationed in his forts, and succeeded in breaking through using testudo formation despite suffering heavy casualties. Although Cao Cao is besieged in his main camp, he manages to holds Zhou Yu hostage after catching him off guard together with Cao Hong. Xiahou Jun appears as well holding Xiao Qiao hostage and causes the allied forces to hesitate. In the nick of time, Zhao Yun manages to reverse the situation by rescuing Xiao Qiao with a surprise attack and put Cao Cao at the mercy of the allied forces instead. Eventually, the allied forces decide to spare Cao Cao's life and tell him never to return before leaving for home. In the final scenes, Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang are seen having a final conversation before Zhuge Liang walks away into the far distance with the newborn foal Mengmeng.

Finally, I finish what I think I should say for ‘Red Cliff’!

Personally I think ‘Battle of Red Cliff’ is not an easy subject to talk about, and John Woo is brave to pick up this subject and make it into a film. As it is one of the most familiar and favourite stories in Romance of the Three Kingdoms, lots of Chinese people criticized this film. But I think it is still worth watching. Now as you understand the background of the story, you will be able to enjoy this film more, at least more than most of the westerners in cinema.
Enjoy the film, and wish all of you a nice weekend!

Cindy

Tuesday, 23 June 2009

China's Capitalist Revolution

Hello everyone,

Here is another programme on BBC iPlayer to share with you.
This programme is talking about China's capitalist revolution under Deng Xiao Ping's period.

Talking about Deng, most people's first impression is Tiananmen massacre in 1989.
But not many people know it is Deng who brought China to the Western world.
Deng's open door policy made China and Chinese people rich.
And I have to say, yes, Deng solved the poverty and famine problem that Chinese people suffered for centuries.
There are always too many people in China, and it's always a big problem to feed the whole population.
(That is why Chinese people say Food is people's god 民以食为天 Min yi shi wei tian)
Deng's privatization of land, open small business, and setting up special economic zones for foreign investors totally changed China's modern history.

This programme will give you more details of what Deng had done, and also provides the background of Tiananmen protest in 1989.

I personally find it very informative and get to know Deng more through this programme.
It also tells you briefly why and in what situation American government decided to break up the relationship with Republic of China in Taiwan and turned it's head to People's Republic of China in Mianland China.

Here is the link
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00lfcz6/Chinas_Capitalist_Revolution

Hope you enjoy it.


Cindy

Monday, 23 February 2009

BBC iPlayer Taipei 101 + film Fire Under the Snow

Hi everyone
It’s Cindy again.

I have been quiet for a while because I am preparing all the gifts carrying back home for my sister’s wedding!
It seems that her wedding is still ages to come but the fact is it’s coming in 2 weeks time!
And I am NOT ready yet… not even pull out my suitcase!
Ah… that’s what I need to do this weekend…

One Chinese proverb says “One never goes to the temple for no reason无事不登三宝殿, Pin-Yin: wu shi bu deng san bao dian ”. That’s why I try not to bother you all without a reason!
Here I have some information to share and think some of you might be interested in it.

BBC iPlayer have a programme talking about Taipei 101, the highest building in the world, and I watched it last night.
Thought the engineering part of the building was quite amazing, and I didn’t realize the building structure features even though I was working next to Taipei 101 building for 2 years!

Click the link for Richard Hammond's Engineering Connections, Series 1 - 2. Super Skyscraper - Taipei 101

In fact, for local people who work next to this tourist site, all you want to do everyday is trying to avoid all the ‘annoying’ tourists and get into office on time!

This programme provides some science supports and let you know how this building can still stand firm after all the tropical hurricanes, known as typhoon, and earthquakes hit the island.

Looking at the street scene in Taipei, I really feel home sick now even it’s just 2 weeks to go back!


The second thing I want to share with you is a film+event at Watershed cinema!

There will be a film on Sun 15th March talking about a Tibetan Buddhist monk who was arrested by the Chinese communist army in 1959. He spent 33 years in prison for the “crimes” of demonstrating peacefully and refusing to falsely denounce his teacher as an Indian spy.

Fire Under the Snow is directed by Makoto Sasa, and there will be an introduction before and Q&A time after the film.

I really want to go to see this film but I will be in Taiwan when the film is on!
It is a shame! I will have to miss it…
Just wonder if anyone is interested in this film and would like to tell me what’s in the film?

Finally, I am on Facebook now!
I also post these links and information on my Facebook.
If you are interested in looking at my Facebook, please feel free to do it.
However, I am a bit cautious about Facebook friends as I don’t feel comfortable been looked by strangers!
So please let me know who you are before adding me as a friend.
Thanks!

It not long for my holidays! Can’t wait for it.
My sister told me it’s just like summer over there now… 25 degree in average…
How nice!

I will take lots of photos and save them properly this time!
Will let you know what we do in a wedding.
This will be a very interesting subject to talk about.

Hope all of you are doing well.
I will see some of you before I go, and please feel free to email me if there is anything you would like to share with me.

If you wish not to receive my Chinese talk email, please let me know so I can take you off my email list.

Wish all of you have a nice week and wonderful weekend!

Cindy

Monday, 9 February 2009

元宵节快乐 Yuan Xiao Jie Kuai Le! Happy Lantern Festival!

Hi everyone, it’s Cindy’s Chinese talk time again.

Today is the fifteen day of the first month in lunar calendar, which is known as ‘Yuan Xiao Jie
元宵节’ the Lantern Festival.

It is the last day we celebrate Chinese New Year, and in this day, the traditional food we have is
called ‘Yuan Xiao’, also known as ‘Tang Yuan汤圆.

Tang Yuan as you can guess th
e meanings from the individual characters, it is something round , like ball shape, and in soup.

I
t is the glutinous rice ball in sugary syrup.


The glutinous rice ball is made of glutinous rice, often stuffed with sweet filling such as red bean paste, sesame paste, nuts and rose paste.

You can also find glutinous rice ball stuffed with mince meat and cooked in savoury soup with vegetables as well.

It all depends on where you are from and people from different places prefer different
ways of cooking rice balls for sure.


Besides eating rice balls, Lantern Festival is also the time to display all various shapes of lanterns.


It was one of my favorite festivals when I was
a little girl.
W
e were allowed to choose our own lanterns and bring them out to play (and show off) with friends.

Of course these lanterns all ended up broken somehow as children simply don’t know how to look after their stuffs well!

(I remember that one of my ‘traditional style’ lanterns was burnt by candles…)


photo from Liberty Times

Nowadays city councils hold special celebration on Lantern Festival by displaying hundreds of various lanterns.
Some displays will take miles and city council has to divert traffic so pedestrians can enjoy the lovely night
out with families and friends.

In ancient time, Lantern Festival was
considered a romantic day. Lots of young people, especial young ladies, were allowed go out with friends to see lanterns and they might have the chance to meet some handsome guys they fancied.
So in some places, people consider Lantern Festival as important as
Chinese Valentines Day.


I just had my rice balls as dessert after dinner.

I very much enjoyed them.

After today, all the Chinese New Year celebration will finish.

It’s time to be back to normal life!

Hope you all enjoy this day and are not bothered by the snowy, icy, cold and damp weather too much!


If you wish not to receive my Chinese talk emails, please let me know.

I will take you off my email list.

Best Regards

Cindy

Monday, 19 January 2009

Chinese New Year celebration in Bristol!

Zao shang hao!
Morning!

It's Cindy again.
How was everyone's weekend?
Weather was miserable, but hope you had a good time.

I just got some information of Chinese New Year celebration in Bristol last weekend!
Yes, besides Bath, Bristol has some activities going on as well.




http://www.bristol.ac.uk/cms/cpe/picturingchina
The Year of the Ox celebrations
11 am - 4 pm, Sunday 25 January

Bristol University and Bristol's City Museum andArt Gallery invite you to wolcome the year of the OX.
There will be some more activites that suit families as well.
They include:
Lion Dance performances (11:30am and 3pm) in the Great Hall Kungfu demonstrationsMandarin lessons (anyone wants to go for a free lesson?!)musical performances Chinese chess and calligraphy As well as a range of stalls from the University of Bristol, and from a variety of Bristol’s Chinese businesses and communities.
Time: Sunday 25, 11am-4pmVenue: Bristol's City Museum & Art Gallery and the Wills Memorial Building, University of Bristol, Queen's Road

There are 2 China-themed exhibitions: Picturing China 1870-1950 and China: Journey to the East.


China: Journey to the East is opening on 24th of Jan.
Please see their website above for more details.

Also there will be lion dance performing on 24th Jan in Cabot Circus.
http://www.bristol.gov.uk/ccm/content/Leisure-Culture/Museums-Galleries/coming-soon-chinajourney-to-the-east-.en

These activies sounds very exciting!
And it's all free to go.
If you have time, please go for a look.
You will definitely find out more about how Chinese people celebrate New Year, and the atmosphere must be great!
You might bump into me with my camera on my hand!
I am very excited for the New Year celebration now!
Can't wait for the coming weekend!
Hope you will enjoy them as well.

Zhu nimen xinnian kuaile!
Wish you all a happy New Year!

Cindy Shih

PS, If you wish not to receive my Chinese talk email, please let me know.
I will take you off the email list.




Monday, 12 January 2009

Happy New Year! Xinnian Kuai le!

Da jia hao! Xinnian Kuai le!
Hello everyone! Happy New Year!



It’s Cindy here.



I had been hibernating since the weather was so cold!
I am a southerner and it will take me quite a long time to get used to winter in the UK for sure!
Hope all of you had a nice Christmas and New Year.



It is miserable January now, but there is still something to look forward to.
Yes, as some of you might know already, that is Chinese New Year!

Chinese New Year Day will fall on 26th Jan this year.
And the coming year is OX year.
That’s talk about Chinese New Year and zodiacal horoscopes later.
This email is about some events of celebrating the coming New Year.



The Museum of East Asian Art in Bath is holding some special events for Chinese New Year.
Please check the link below for more details
http://www.meaa.org.uk/events.htm

There will be New Year Door Decorations making on 24th Jan, Lunar New Year Extravaganza on 25th Jan, Lunar New Year Tour on 30th Jan, Chinese Knot making on 31st Jan, and Zodiac Animal Workshop on 1st Feb.
All of them sound very interesting for me!

I am thinking going to the Lunar New Year Extravaganza on 25th Jan, and following a reunion meal in the evening.
Chinese New Year’s Eve is just like Christmas time in the UK.
It’s for families to gather together for a nice meal and catch up.
As all my families are in the other side of the world, I would like to have a meal with my students in Bristol.

If you are free to join me on 25th Jan, please let me know so I can book a table soon.
I haven’t decided which restaurant to go yet, so if you have any good venues to recommend, please let me know.
I will introduce you more customs about Chinese New Year later on.

The Museum of East Asian Art in Bath also holds Mahjong Club!
If you are interested in this ancient, entertaining and fun Chinese game, please give it a try!
I personally just learnt how to play the game, and I very much enjoy it!
As I don’t drive and Bath is a bit distant from me, otherwise I will go for sure.

Please reply me if you want to join my trip to Bath on 25th Jan and the meal in the evening.
You are welcome to bring friends who are interested in Chinese talks or simply want to enjoy Chinese meals.
Look forward seeing you soon.

If you wish not to receive my Chinese Talk email, please let me know.
I will take you off my email list.

Xiexie

Cindy

Thursday, 23 October 2008

Nov newsletter-Shaolin Kung Fu is coming!

Hi everyone!
It's Cindy again.

I have been a bit quiet recently because I am so engrossed into reading Chines fictions.
What I am reading now is 'Dream of red chamber', one of the greatest fiction in Chinese history.
It's a story based on Jia Clan and through their eyes and stories, you can have a peep at the old traditional Chinese society.
I love this book, so I am on my second run of reading it.
I found more details that I missed when I first read it.
Also it was produced into TV series in 1987.
And yes, I just finished watching them on internet not long ago.
Very highly recommended if your Chinese level is good enough to watch Chinese TV.

Also I am sharing good news with 'Kung Fu fans' who live near Bristol!
As many people know Shaolin Kun Fu is very famous in the world, the good news is they are coming to perform in Bristol Hippodrome on 1st of Nov.

You can see more details about their performance by clicking the links below
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/article4943171.ece
http://www.shaolinwheeloflife.com/
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=sjmJY-Dg4sU&feature=related

The clip on youtube looks amazing...
Unfortunately, I won't be in Bristol in the first week of Nov.
I will have to give it a miss...

If you are interested in Kung Fu, or looking for some different entertainment during half term, this will be a good choice.

Enjoy it, and please let me know how amazing they are.
Look forward hearing from you.


Regards

Cindy

PS, if you wish not to receive my culture talk email, please let me know. So I can take you off my email list. Thank you.

Monday, 6 October 2008

some clips of 'Ashes of Time' for you before you get in cinema.

Nimen hao!

It's Cindy.

Here are some clips of 'Ashes of Time' on utube.

If you are interested in this film, but can't make it from 10th of Oct to 14th of Oct, you can still have rough ideas about it.

As some people request the clips with English subtitle and Mandarin pronunciation, I found these clips that might suit your needs.

(so, you can hear some Chinese when watching the film... or even recognize the characters!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4m4iVPXCJo

This clip is very clear and with reasonable length.

It is in Chinese Mandarin with traditional character subtitle.

Some versions of ‘Ashes of Time ‘ is in Cantonese, as director Wong is from Hong Kong and many actors and actress, I would say most of them, are from HK.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmjOEcAm8kY

This one is the official film trailer in HK.

Let me remind you that this film was made in 1994, so please don’t compare it with martial art films which were made recently.

Director Wang didn’t use much computer effects in ‘Ashes of Time’.


If you are interested in watching more clips, type in 'Ashes of Time' on utube, you will find more.

Basically, this is not a film talking about martial art only.

It talks about emotions of these main characters in the film.

Some choose to blind themselves when facing their true love; some have too many true loves and at the end, they have to forget everything to keep lives going; some can't let go, so they trap themselves, and live in hopelessness for the rest of their lives.

I haven't watched this film yet, but luckily Wang's fans put the dialogues on the internet so I have some ideas already before I get in cinema.


I will go to see the film on weekend as I am normally busy during weekdays.

So I might go either on Saturday 11th of Oct or Sunday 12th of Oct afternoon.

If this time is good for you, you are more than welcome to join me.


Also, if you would like to talk about this film, please feel free to drop me emails.


Zhu hao

Cindy



Wednesday, 1 October 2008

Film - Ashes of Time Redux



Hello everyone!
Can’t believe it’s October already!
Time flies by so quick, and finally the deadly busy (for me) September is over!
As I have more time now, I just can’t wait to share the film information with you all.

Some of you might hear of the famous director, Wong Kar-Wai who is from Hong Kang.
His film « Ashes of Time Redux 东邪西毒» will be on at Watershed from Fri Oct 10 to Tue Oct 14.

It is the only martial art film Wong made.
The story is based on Cha’s novel, and the background is set in ancient China.
More details please click the links as the film was launched in 1994 already.
The re-launch caused crowds in cinema in China and Hong Kong as the film is consider as a masterpiece and director Wong’s finest one.

We are lucky that the film will be on at Watershed soon.
I am thinking going to see the film.
Is there anyone who is interested in martial art film wants to join me?

Regards
Cindy

Ps, if you wish not to receive my ‘Chinese chat’ email, please let me know.
I will exclude you from my email list.
Thanks

Friday, 12 September 2008

Happy Moon Festival!




















Hi everyone


It’s Cindy.

It seems that we didn’t have a great summer this year again and as everyone can feel the temperature drop, autumn is on its way.


There is a very important traditional festival we celebrate since 3,000 years ago falling on the coming Sunday. That is Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as Moon Festival.


The Mid-Autumn Festival, 中秋节, Zhōng Qiū Jié, falls on the 15th day of the eight months in Chinese calendar. It is believed that the origin of the celebration is related to moon worship. It is the ideal time, when the moon is full and bright and the weather is still warm, to celebrate the abundance of the summer’s harvest.













In Moon festival, we eat moon cakes which look like meat pie but contain no meat!

You can find moon cakes in Chinese shops in the UK now. It has got pastry outside and various fillings inside. The traditional fillings including duck yolks, nuts, dates dry fruits, ham etc. Nowadays, people don’t like traditional flavours as much because the ingredients are normally very rich. So moon cakes fillings have improved healthier and more with modern taste. You can easily find fillings in flavours such like pineapple, red bean and green paste, coffee, strawberry, chocolate and even ice-cream in shops. (Well, I mean shops over the other side of the world, not in the UK…)



















Mid-Autumn Festival is a national holiday in China. And there is a romantic story behind this special festival. There are a few versions of the story. Here I share the version I was told since I was a little girl with you.

The story is about the archer Houyi and his beautiful wife Chang’e.


The earth once had ten suns taking turns to illuminate the earth. They worked very well and nothing turned out wrong. However, one day, ten suns decided to do their duties together. Ten suns appeared together, scorching the earth and boiling out all the water. People suffered from the heat and their crops died.


Houyi, a young, strong, and tyrannical archer decided to shoot down the suns to save people’s lives. He shot down the suns one by one until the last one remained on the sky. He became a hero and eventually he became King.


One day, he went out hunting. On his way back, he saw the goddess, Queen Mother of the West. He stole the elixir from the goddess and wanted to become immortal. After his wife, Chang’e, knew his plan, she stole the elixir from him and swallowed it to stop her husband’s evil plan. After swallowed the elixir, she was floating and flew to the moon. It is said that Chang’e lives in the cold and lonely palace on the moon with a rabbit. Houyi lost his elixir and died eventually. Before he died, he could only look at the shadow of the moon and think of his wife.



Nowadays, Mid-Autumn Festival becomes a family reunion occasion. Families comes back home from everywhere in the world, gather together and have meals and moon cakes. In Taiwan, it is very popular that having BBQ in Moon Festival. It is very nice to have families around, having BBQ, drinking cold beer, having moon cakes as dessert, and look at the full and bright moon in the sky.


Unfortunately, it’s been raining in the UK recently, but I am still hoping the weather will turn out better on weekend. So we can have a chance to enjoy the full moon. Even though you are in somewhere different from your families, all of you are still under the same full moon.


Wish all of you a very happy weekend and moon festival.


If you do not want to receive my email, please let me know.

I will take you off my list.


Many thanks.


Cindy


Extending reading:

http://www.chinavoc.com/festivals/Midautumn.htm

http://www.china.org.cn/english/features/Festivals/78311.htm

http://www.chinaculture.org/gb/en_chinaway/node_414.htm

http://www.sinica.edu.tw/tit/festivals/0995_MidAutumn.html