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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