Tomb Sweeping Day – 清明节 (Qīng Míng Jiē)

Tomb Sweeping Day’s Chinese name, 清明节 (Qīng Míng Jiē), literally means “clear bright festival”. Clear and bright refer to the arrival of spring. However, Tomb Sweeping Day is also known as Cold Food Day 寒食节 (hán shí jiē). Why? Read on to find out. 清明节 (Qīng Míng Jiē) is celebrated on April 5th, 2010 . [...]

Traditional Chinese New Year Foods

Traditional Chinese New Year Foods Besides a time for vacation, sales, and a much less populated/much more comfortable Beijing, Chinese New Year 春节 is also a time for FOOD! If you have (good) local friends, look forward to feasts with their families that may include Chicken, duck, fish – traditionally eaten at celebrations because in [...]

Where to get Christmas decorations in Beijing

If you’re still looking for Christmas decorations 装饰品 (zhuāng shì pǐn), you can find almost anything you need at Golden Five Stars 金五星 (jīn wǔ xīng). It’s a huge indoor market that has everything and anything from plastic forks to pingpong balls to fabric by the meter to office supplies to bedding to long cow-shaped [...]

The Mid-Autumn Festival

The Mid-Autumn Festival（中秋节）zhōnɡ qiū jié, also known as the Moon Festival, , is a popular harvest festival celebrated by Chinese people. It is held on the 15th day of the eighth month （(八月十五) in the Chinese calendar. The eighth month is also called zhònɡ qiū (仲秋), so 中秋节 also called 仲秋节. The Mid-Autumn Festival is the [...]