二月二，龙抬头；三月三，生轩辕。
Yellow Emperor’s Birthday
Party
21
Aril 2007
The
first day of the first lunar month is,
naturally, Chinese New Year’s Day. One
month later on the second day of the second
lunar month, the Dragon - for some mysterious
reasons - raises its head. The next comes the
third day of the third lunar month, and that
is the magnificent birthday of Yellow
Emperor,
the common ancestor of all Han Chinese and
the founding father of the Chinese nation.
The
site of the grand birthday party
This
year’s lunar March 3 falls on Thursday, 19
April. On that day the biggest birthday party
ever seen in Chinese history, according to
the official media, was held at the emperor’s
birthplace in Henan
province. Yellow Emperor attended the
party in person in the form of an over 100
metre tall granite sculpture, along with his
inseparable and indispensable business
partner, Red
Emperor.
The two monarchs appear to be remarkably
close to each other, in fact, they share a
same body and seat, which sets an inspiring
example of how colleagues can work together
harmoniously and be best mates all seasons.
With
a never-failing cool expression, the Yellow
Emperor received the birthday wishes from his
3000 direct and not so direct descendents,
and watched his townsmen, the Shaolin monks,
entertaining his guests with their renowned
kicks and punches. Red Emperor also watched
the whole performance, from the beginning to
the end, with an equally unfailing cool look
in his face.
One
of the highlights of the party is 999 people
(the biggest yang number), who wear
outfits that bore the characters of common
Chinese surnames (One Hundred Household
Surnames百家姓), bowing deep to the
birthday star. When they did so, an ocean of
surname flooded the field, paying a tribute
to the one who is said to have initiated all
the Chinese surnames.
Historically,
Han Chinese had used as many as 22,000
surnames, but today there are only 3500 left,
with 130 most commonly used being shared
among ninety percent of Chinese population.
Of 130, about 100 have an original root in
Henan.
According
to the latest study, the most popular
surnames at present are Wang (王), Li (李) and Zhang (张) - one in every five Chinese
belong to these three super clans. The next
in sequence are Liu (刘)、Chen (陈)、Yang (杨)、Huang (黄)、Zhao (赵)、Wu (吴) and Zhou
(周).
The
surnames are not geographically distributed
evenly though, with Wang (王) being the most used in the
north, Chen (陈) having the strongest
presence in the southern tip, especially
Guangdong and Fujian, and Li (李) rules the regions along the
Yangtze River delta.
City Heart Beat Heard
Again
26 Aril 2007
The sound of city heart beat
fallen silent for a hundred years has
reverberated in the ancient capital Xian
where First Emperor Qin's underground palace
and his terra-cotta warriors reside.
The
warrors arrived on the bell tower to
make the city’s heart beat heard.
Since 22
April, giant bronze bell boomed out 24 at 9
am, 12 pm, 3 pm and 6 pm each day.
The tradition can be traced back
to the age when Monk Tang – Monkey King’s
alleged Buddhist master - departed for his
journey to India for a spiritual treasure
hunt a thousand years ago.
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