Chinese Holiday

Ghost Festival

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The Ghost Festival is a traditional festival and holiday, which is celebrated by Chinese in many countries. In the Chinese calendar , the Ghost Festival is on the 15th night of the seventh lunar month.

In Chinese tradition, the fifteenth day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar is called Ghost Day and the seventh month in general is regarded as the Ghost Month , in which ghosts and s, including those of the deceased ancestors, come out from the . During the Qingming Festival the living descendants pay homage to their ancestors and on Ghost Day, the deceased visit the living.

On the thirteenth day the three realms of Heaven, Hell and the realm of the living are open and both Taoists and Buddhists would perform rituals to transmute and absolve the sufferings of the deceased. Intrinsic to the Ghost Month is ancestor worship, where traditionally the filial piety of descendants extends to their ancestors even after their deaths. Activities during the month would include preparing ritualistic food offerings, burning incense, and burning joss paper, a papier-mache form of material items such as clothes, gold and other fine goods for the visiting spirits of the ancestors. Elaborate meals would be served with empty seats for each of the deceased in the family treating the deceased as if they are still living. Ancestor worship is what distinguishes Qingming Festival from Ghost Festival because the former includes paying respects to all deceased, including the same and younger generations, while the latter only includes older generations. Other festivities may include, buying and releasing miniature paper boats and lanterns on water, which signifies giving directions to the lost ghosts and spirits of the ancestors and other deities.

The Ghost Festival shares some similarities with the predominantly Mexican observance of ''''. Due to theme of ghosts and spirits, the festival is sometimes also known as the Chinese Halloween, though many have debated the difference between the two.

Buddhist Ghost Festival: ''Ullambana''

Both Chinese Buddhists and Taoists claim that the Ghost Festival originated with their religion but its roots are probably in Chinese folk religion and antedates both religions . In the Tang Dynasty, the Buddhist festival ''Ullambana'' and the Ghost Festival were mixed and celebrated together.

Ullambana origin

The Buddha's joyful day

To Buddhists, the seventh lunar month is a month of joy. This is because the fifteenth day of the seventh month is often known as the Buddha's joyful day and the day of rejoice for monks. The origins of the Buddha's joyful day can be found in various scriptures. When the Buddha was alive, his disciples meditated in the forests of India during the rainy season of summer. Three months later, on the fifteen day of the seventh month, they would emerge from the forests to celebrate the completion of their meditation and report their progress to the Buddha. In the Ullambana Sutra, the Buddha instructs his disciple Maudgalyāyana on how to obtain liberation for his mother, who had been reborn into a lower realm, by making food offerings to the sangha on the fifteenth day of the seventh month. Because the number of monks who attained enlightenment during that period was high, the Buddha was very pleased.

Mahāmaudgalyāyana saves his mother from hell

The Buddhist origins of the festival can be traced back to a story that originally came from India, but later took on culturally Chinese overtones. In the ''Ullambana Sutra'', there is a descriptive account of a Buddhist monk named , originally a brahmin youth who later ordained, and later becoming one of the Buddha's chief disciples. Mahāmaudgalyāyana was also known for having clairvoyant powers, an uncommon trait amongst monks.

After he attained arhatship, he began to think deeply of his parents, and wondered what happened to them. He used his clairvoyance to see where they were reborn and found his father in the heavenly realms i.e the realm of the gods. However, his mother had been reborn in a lower realm, known as the Realm of . His mother took on the form of a hungry ghost – so called because it could not eat due to its highly thin & fragile throat in which no food could pass through, yet it was always hungry because it had a fat belly. His mother had been greedy with the money he left her. He had instructed her to kindly host any Buddhist monks that ever came her way, but instead she withheld her kindness and her money. It was for this reason she was reborn in the realm of hungry ghosts.

Mahāmaudgalyāyana eased his mother's suffering by receiving the instructions of feeding pretas from the . The Buddha instructed Mahāmaudgalyāyana to place pieces of food on a clean plate, reciting a mantra seven times, snap his fingers then tip the food on clean ground. By doing so, the preta's hunger was relieved and through these merits, his mother was reborn as a dog under the care of a noble family.

Mahāmaudgalyāyana also sought the Buddha's advice to help his mother gain a human birth. The Buddha established a day after the traditional summer retreat on which Mahāmaudgalyāyana was to offer food and robes to 500 bhikkhus. Through the merits created, Mahāmaudgalyāyana's mother finally gained a human birth.

Due to Confucian influence, the offering became directed towards ancestors rather than the Sangha and ancestor worship has replaced the simple ritual of relieving the hunger of pretas. However, most Buddhist temples still continue the ancient practice of donating to the Sangha as well as to perform rituals for the hungry ghosts.

A difference between the two festivals

Chinese Buddhists often say that there is a difference between Ullambana and the traditional Chinese ''Zhongyuan Jie'', usually saying people have mixed superstitions and delusional thoughts, rather than think that Ullambana is actually a time of happiness. This time of happiness is sometimes used as a reason for the festival to be called as the Chinese Halloween.

Japan: ''Chūgen''

Chūgen , also Ochūgen , is an annual event in Japan on July 15th when people give gifts to one's superiors and acquaintances. One of the three days that form the of Daoism, it is sometimes considered a Zassetsu in the Japanese calendar. Originally it was an annual event for giving gifts to the ancestral spirits.

O-bon

''O-bon'', or simply ''Bon'', is the Japanese version of the Ghost Festival. It has since been transformed over time into a family reunion holiday during which people from the big cities return to their home towns and visit and clean their ancestors' graves.

Traditionally including a dance festival, it has existed in Japan for more than 500 years. It is held from 13th of July to the 16th in the eastern part of Japan , and in August in the western part .

Vietnam: "Tết Trung Nguyên"

This festival is the chance for pardoning guilty ghosts which are homeless and not be taken care of. People worship ghosts and liberate animals, such as birds or fish.

Influenced by Buddhism, this holiday is also the ''Vu Lan'' festival，the Vietnamese transliteration for Ullambana. The festival is also considered Mother's Day. People with living mothers would be thankful, while people with dead mothers would pray for their souls.

Mid-Autumn Festival

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The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival, is a popular East Asian celebration of abundance and togetherness, dating back over 3,000 years to China's Zhou Dynasty. In Malaysia and Singapore, it is also sometimes referred to as the Lantern Festival or Mooncake Festival.

The Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month of the Chinese calendar , a date that parallels the Autumn Equinox of the solar calendar. This is the ideal time, when the moon is at its fullest and brightest, to celebrate the abundance of the summer's harvest. The traditional food of this festival is the mooncake, of which there are many different varieties.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the two most important holidays in the Chinese calendar , and is a legal holiday in several countries. Farmers celebrate the end of the summer harvesting season on this date. Traditionally, on this day, Chinese family members and friends will gather to admire the bright mid-autumn harvest moon, and eat moon cakes and pomeloes together. Accompanying the celebration, there are additional cultural or regional customs, such as:
* Eating moon cakes outside under the moon
* Putting pomelo rinds on one's head
* Carrying brightly lit lanterns
* Burning incense in reverence to deities including
* Planting Mid-Autumn trees
* Collecting dandelion leaves and distributing them evenly among family members
* Lighting lanterns on towers
* Fire Dragon Dances
Shops selling mooncakes, before the festival, often display pictures of floating to the moon.

Stories of the Mid-Autumn Festival

Houyi and Chang'e

While Westerners may talk about the "man in the moon", the Chinese talk about the "woman in the moon". The story of the fateful night when Chang'e was lifted up to the moon, familiar to most Chinese citizens, is a favorite subject of poets. Unlike many in other cultures who personify the moon, Chang'e lives in the moon. Tradition places Houyi and Chang'e around 2170 BC, in the reign of the legendary Emperor Yao, shortly after that of Huang Di.

There are so many variations and adaptations of the Chang'e legend that one can become overwhelmed and utterly confused. However, most legends about Chang'e in Chinese mythology involve some variation of the following elements: Houyi, the Archer; Chang'e, the mythical Moon Goddess of Immortality; an , either benevolent or malevolent; an elixir of life; and the Moon:

Houyi, the archer

There are at least 6 variations to this story where Houyi was an archer.

Version 1:
Houyi himself was an , while Chang'e was a beautiful young girl, working in the Jade Emperor's Palace as the attendant to the , just before her marriage. One day, Houyi aroused the jealousy of the other immortals, who then slandered him before the Jade Emperor. Houyi and his wife, Chang'e, were subsequently banished from heaven, and forced to live by hunting on earth. He became a famous archer.

Now at this time, there were 10 suns, in the form of Three-legged birds, residing in a mulberry tree in the eastern sea; each day one of the sun birds would be rostered to travel around the world on a carriage, driven by Xihe the 'mother' of the suns. One day, all 10 of the suns circled together, causing the earth to burn. Emperor Yao, the Emperor of China, commanded Houyi to shoot down all but one of the suns. Upon the completion of his task, the Emperor rewarded Houyi with a pill that granted eternal life, and advised him: "Make no haste to swallow this pill; first prepare yourself with prayer and fasting for a year". Houyi took the pill home and hid it under a rafter, while he began healing his spirit. While Houyi was healing his spirit, Houyi was summoned again by the emperor. Chang'e, noticing a white beam of light beckoning from the rafters, discovered the pill, which she swallowed. Immediately, she found that she could fly. At that moment, Houyi returned home, and, realizing what had happened, began to reprimand her. Chang'e flew out the window into the sky.

Version 2:
The story took place around 2170 BC. The earth had ten suns at that time. They burned the ground. No crops can grow so that people suffered of the infertile. Houyi sympathized to the human, so he decided to shoot down the sun but leave one to benefit the human. After he shot down the suns, he became the hero. He had a beautiful wife names Chang’e, they lived happily together. Houyi had a lot of apprentices; they followed him to learn hunting. One day, on Houyi’s way back home the immortals emperor gave Houyi a pill for granted eternal life as a reward to shot down the sun. He warned Houyi, “Make no haste to swallow the pill.” But Houyi loved Chang’e very much and did not want to leave her, so he gave the pill to Chang’e and let her store the pill in a safe place. Chang’e putted the pill in her jewelry box. But one of Houyi’s prentices Peng discovered this secret. He decided to steal the pill. One day Houyi and other apprentices went to the mountain. Peng pretended he was sick so that he can stay at home. When all the people went to the mountain but Chang’e stayed at home. He intruded in Chang’e’s room and forced her to give him the pill. Chang’e knew she cannot fight over Peng, so she swallowed the pill immediately. After she swallowed the pill, she felt herself was floating in the air and flying far and far away. She did not want to leave her husband, so she stopped at the moon which is closest to the earth. After Houyi knew what happened, he was very angry and painful. He looked up to the night and called Chang’e’s name. He discovered that inside the moon there is a lady’s shadow looks like Chang’e, so he ran and ran and tired to reach the moon. He failed due to the wind.

Version 3:
The earth once had ten suns circling over it, each taking turn to illuminate the earth. One day, however, all ten suns appeared together, scorching the earth with their heat. Houyi, a strong and tyrannical archer, saved the earth by shooting down nine of the suns. He eventually became King, but grew to become a despot.

One day, Houyi stole the elixir of life from a goddess. However, his beautiful wife, Chang'e, drank it in order to save the people from the her husband’s rule. After drinking it, she found herself floating, and flew to the moon. Houyi loved his divinely beautiful wife so much, he did not shoot down the moon.

Version 4:
Another version, however, had it that Chang'e and Houyi were immortals living in heaven. One day, the ten sons of the Jade Emperor transformed into ten suns, causing the earth to scorch. Having failed to order his sons to stop ruining the earth, the Jade Emperor summoned Houyi for help. Houyi, using his legendary archery skills, shot down nine of the sons, but spared one son to be the sun. The Jade Emperor was obviously displeased with Houyi’s solution to save the earth. As punishment, he banished Houyi and Chang'e to live as mere mortals on earth.

Seeing that Chang'e felt extremely miserable over her loss of immortality, Houyi decided to journey on a long, perilous quest to find the pill of immortality so that the couple could be immortals again. At the end of his quest, he met the Queen Mother of the West, who agreed to give him the pill, but warned him that each person would only need half a pill to regain immortality.

Houyi brought the pill home and stored it in a case. He warned Chang'e not to open the case, and then left home for a while. Like Pandora in Greek mythology, Chang'e became curious. She opened up the case and found the pill, just as Houyi was returning home. Nervous that Houyi would catch her, discovering the contents of the case, she accidentally swallowed the entire pill, and started to float into the sky because of the overdose. Although Houyi wanted to shoot her in order to prevent her from floating further, he could not bear to aim the arrow at her. Chang'e kept on floating until she landed on the moon.

While she became lonely on the moon without her husband, she did have company. A jade rabbit, who manufactured elixirs, also lived on the moon.

Version 5:
In a popular school version, Houyi was a lazy boy who did nothing but to practice his archery. He practiced day and night until he became the greatest archer in the world. One day, the ten suns all assembled around the earth. Their presence destroyed all vegetation, and hundreds of thousands were perishing.
The emperor, who was desperate, offered his crown to anyone who could shoot down the suns. Houyi answered his call. He shot down nine of the suns, and as he pulled his bow to shoot the last one, the emperor stopped him. Saying the earth must have one sun.
Houyi then became the emperor. He was pampered to the extent that he wanted to be emperor forever. He called his advisors to look for a way to make him immortal. His advisors found a way.
They found a recipe for the Pill of Immortality. It required 100 adolescent boys to be ground into a biscuit like a pill. Every night he was supposed to grind one boy. On the hundredth night, his wife Chang'e could not bear to watch her husband become the tyrannical dictator for eternity. She prayed to Xi Wang Mu for help. She stole the pill, with Houyi shooting arrows at her, and flew to the moon grabbing a rabbit to keep her company.So the Chinese say that if you look up at the moon to this day you can sometimes see a rabbit making moon cakes.

Version 6
A different version, is that Chang'e was a goddess. She fell in love with a farmer, Houyi, and he fell in love with her, not knowing she was from the heavens up above. Soon he had found out and the gods from heaven were furious of them because it was forbidden for a god or goddess to fall in love with a human. They had a child together but she still had to leave both her beloved husband and child behind during mid-autumn. She would represent the moon, he would represent as the sun and the child would represent as the stars. Taken pity over them, they are only allowed to see each other every mid-autumn.

Houyi, the builder

Houyi, a

The Hare - Jade Rabbit

According to tradition, the Jade Rabbit pounds medicine, together with the lady, Chang'e, for the gods. Others say that the Jade Rabbit is a shape, assumed by Chang'e herself. You may find that the dark areas to the top of the full moon may be construed as the figure of a rabbit. The animal's ears point to the upper right, while at the left are two large circular areas, representing its head and body.

In this legend, three fairy sages transformed themselves into pitiful old men, and begged for food from a fox, a monkey, and a hare. The fox and the monkey both had food to give to the old men, but the hare, empty-handed, jumped into a blazing fire to offer his own flesh instead. The sages were so touched by the hare's sacrifice and act of kindness that they let him live in the Moon Palace, where he became the "Jade Rabbit".

Overthrow of Mongol rule

According to a widespread folk tale , the Mid-Autumn Festival commemorates an uprising in China against the Mongol rulers of the Yuan Dynasty in the 14th century. As group gatherings were banned, it was impossible to make plans for a rebellion.

In Vietnam, Mooncakes are typically square rather than round, though round ones do exist.
Besides the indigenous tale of the banyan tree, other legends are widely told including the story of the Moon Lady, and the story of the carp who wanted to become a dragon.

Dates

The moon festival will occur on these days in coming years:

* 2008: September 14
* 2009: October 3
* 2010: September 22
* 2011: September 12
* 2012: September 30
* 2013: September 19
* 2014: September 8
* 2015: September 27
* 2016: September 15
* 2017: October 4
* 2018: September 24

Double Ninth Festival

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The Double Ninth Festival , observed on the ninth day of the ninth month in the Chinese calendar , is a traditional Chinese holiday, mentioned in writing since before the East Han period .

According to the ''I Ching'', ''nine'' is the number; the ninth day of the ninth lunar month has too much '''' and is thus a potentially dangerous date. Hence, the day is also called "Double Yang Festival" . To protect against the danger, it is customary to climb a high mountain, drink chrysanthemum wine, and wear the ''zhuyu'' plant, . Also on this holiday, some Chinese also visit the graves of their ancestors to pay their respects.

In 1966, the Republic of China rededicated the holiday as "Senior Citizens' Day" , underscoring one custom as it is observed in China, where the festival is also an opportunity to care for and appreciate the elderly.

Double Ninth may have originated as a day to drive away danger, but like the Chinese New Year, over time it became a day of celebration. In contemporary times it is an occasion for hiking and chrysanthemum appreciation. Stores sell rice cakes inserted with mini colorful flags to represent ''zhuyu''. Most people drink chrysanthemum tea, while a few strict traditionalists drink homemade chrysanthemum wine. Children in school learn poems about chrysanthemums, and many localities host a chrysanthemum exhibit. Mountain climbing races are also popular; winners get to wear a wreath made of ''zhuyu''.

This is an often-quoted poem about the holiday:

"Double Ninth, Missing My Shandong Brothers" -

Original:

《》王維
:，
:。
:，
:

English:

:As a lonely stranger in the strange land,
:Every holiday the homesickness amplifies.
:Knowing that my brothers have reached the peak,
:All but one is present at the planting of ''zhuyu''.

Laba Festival

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Laba Festival

Dongzhi Festival

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The Dōngzhì Festival or Winter Solstice Festival is one of the most important festivals celebrated by the Chinese and other East Asians during the Dongzhi solar term on or around December 22 when sunshine is weakest and daylight shortest; ''i.e.'', on the first day of the Dongzhi solar term

The origins of this festival can be traced back to the philosophy of balance and harmony in the cosmos. After this celebration, there will be days with longer daylight hours and therefore an increase in positive energy flowing in. The philosophical significance of this is symbolized by the I Ching '''' .

Traditionally, the Dongzhi Festival is also a time for the family to get together. One activity that occurs during these get togethers is the making and eating of ''Tangyuan'' or balls of glutinuous rice, which symbolize reunion. ''Tangyuan'' are made of glutinuous rice flour and sometimes brightly coloured. Each family member receives at least one large ''Tang Yuan'' in addition to several small ones. The flour balls may be plain or stuffed. They are cooked in a sweet soup or savoury broth with both the ball and the soup/broth served in one bowl.

In northern China, people typically eat dumplings on Dongzhi. It is said to have originated from Zhang Zhongjing in the Han Dynasty. On one cold winter day, he saw the poor suffering from chilblains on their ears. Feeling sympathetic, he ordered his apprentices to make dumplings with lamb and other ingredients, and distribute them among the poor to keep them warm, to keep their ears from getting chilblains. Since the dumplings were shaped like ears, Zhang named the dish "qǜ hán jiāo ěr tāng" or dumpling soup that expels the cold. From that time on, it has been a tradition to eat dumplings on the day of Dongzhi.

Labour Day

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Labour Day is an holiday celebrated all over the world that resulted from efforts of the movement, to celebrate the economic and social achievements of workers. The majority of countries celebrate Labour Day on May 1, and it is popularly known as May Day and International Workers' Day.

The celebration of Labour Day has its origins in the eight hour day movement, which advocated eight hours for work, eight hours for recreation, and eight hours for rest.

Labour Days on the First of May

Most countries celebrate Labour Day on May 1, known as May Day and International Workers' Day. In Europe the day has older significance as a rural festival which is predominantly more important than that of the Labour Day movement. The holiday has become internationalised and several countries hold multi-day celebrations including parades, shows and other patriotic and labour-oriented events. However, in Northern Europe, Walpurgis Night is celebrated on the preceding night and this holiday merges with the Labour Day in some countries.

May 1 is a national holiday in Albania, Argentina, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia, Brazil, Bulgaria,Cameroon, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, Iceland, India, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Latvia, Lithuania, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mauritius, México, Norway, Pakistan, Paraguay, Peru, , the Philippines , Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Singapore, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Serbia, Sweden, Syria, Thailand,Turkey, Ukraine, Uruguay, Venezuela, Vietnam and Zimbabwe.

In Slovenia, Serbia, Russia and Ukraine, May 2 is also a national holiday.

In , while May 1 is a national holiday, it was renamed from Labour Day to simply "State Holiday" in 1990.

Albania

May 1 is a national holiday in Albania, commemorating the Workers' Movement. During Socialist Albania, the organized pompous parades on the main boulevard of Tirana. Since the collapse of communism, however, unions organize occasional peaceful protests.

Australia

Celebrating the Australian labour movement, the Labour Day public holiday is fixed by the various governments, and so varies considerably. It is the first Monday in October in the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales and South Australia. In both and Tasmania, it is the second Monday in March . In Western Australia, Labour Day is the first Monday in March. In both Queensland and the Northern Territory, it is the first Monday in May.

The Bahamas

Labour Day is celebrated on the first Friday in June, and is a public holiday.

Canada

Labour Day has been celebrated on the first Monday in September in Canada since the 1880s. The origins of Labour Day in Canada can be traced back to April 14, 1872 when a parade was staged in support of the Toronto Typographical Union's strike for a 58-hour work-week. The Toronto Trades Assembly called its 27 unions to demonstrate in support of the Typographical Union who had been on strike since March 25. As its name suggests, the day was used to celebrate the British Empire and England, complete with flag-raising ceremonies and the singing of patriotic songs.

In 1961, Jamaican Chief Minister Norman Washington Manley proposed the replacement of Empire Day with Labour Day, a celebration in commemoration of May 23, 1938, when Alexander Bustamante led a leading to Jamaican independence.

Until May 23, 1971, Labour Day was primarily a trade unions celebration with public rallies and marches..

The United States

Labor Day is a United States federal holiday that takes place on the first Monday of September.

National Day of the People's Republic of China

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The National Day of the People's Republic of China is October 1. It is a to celebrate its national day.

The PRC was founded on October 1, 1949 with a ceremony at Tiananmen Square. The Central People's Government passed the ''Resolution on the National Day of the People's Republic of China'' on December 2, 1949 and declared that October 1 is the National Day.

The National Day marks the start of one of the two in the PRC. However, there have been some recent over whether Golden Weeks should be kept.

The National Day is celebrated throughout mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau with a variety of government-organised festivities, including fireworks and concerts. Public places, such as Tiananmen Square in Beijing, are decorated in a festive theme. Portraits of revered leaders, such as Sun Yat-Sen, are publicly displayed.

When the anniversary is a multiple of five , large scale official celebrations may be held, including an inspection of troops on Tiananmen Square. More notable of these events included Deng Xiaoping's inspection in 1984 and Jiang Zemin's inspection in 1999.

Firework display

A firework display is usually held nationwide in all cities, including Hong Kong, where a firework display to celebrate the National Day of the People's Republic of China has been held since 1997 at Victoria Harbour in the evening.

Arbor Day

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Arbor Day is a holiday in which individuals and groups are encouraged to plant and care for trees. Arbor Day originated in Nebraska City, Nebraska, United States and is celebrated in several countries.

History

Arbor Day was established by J. Sterling Morton of Nebraska City, Nebraska in 1872.

J. Sterling Morton, father of Arbor Day, was born in Adams, N.Y.

J. Sterling Morton and his wife moved from Detroit, Michigan to the Nebraska Territory in 1854, where he was the editor of Nebraska's first newspaper. His influence as a journalist led to his involvement in politics, and he became a promoter of the settlement of Nebraska. The lack of trees, however, was an obstacle.

The Great Plains had been described as the ''"Great American Desert."'' The tallgrass prairie that covered much of Nebraska at that time could provide rich farmland, but without wood for building houses or for fuel to heat homes, few found it convenient to settle there. Even the allotment of free land by the Homestead Act failed to entice sufficient numbers of families to relocate to Nebraska.

first proposed Arbor Day as a tree planting holiday in 1872 at a meeting of the Nebraska State Board of Agriculture. On the first Arbor Day, April 10 1874, prizes were offered to counties and to individuals for properly planting the largest number of trees. It was claimed that more than 1 million trees were planted in Nebraska on that day.

April 22, Morton's birthday, was selected as the date for its permanent observance.

During the course of the 1870s, several other states passed legislation to observe Arbor Day. Schools began to adopt the tradition beginning in 1882. By 1894, Arbor Day was celebrated in each state of the United States.

Morton's home in Nebraska City, Arbor Lodge, is a state historical park, which includes an arboretum and extensive landscaped grounds. Adjacent to the public park, Morton's farm, now called Arbor Day Farm, is run by the National Arbor Day Foundation.

Observances

Algeria

The national tree planting day of Algeria is on October 25.

Australia

July 28 is National Tree Planting Day for schools throughout Australia and 30 July is National Tree Planting Day for the rest of the Nation. Many states have Arbor Day although only Victoria has Arbor Week,which was suggested by the late Premier Dick Hamer in the 80s. Arbor Day has been observed in Australia since 20 June 1889.

Belgium

International Day of Treeplanting is celebrated in Flanders on or around 21 March as a theme-day/educational-day/observance, not as public holidays. Tree planting is sometimes combined with awareness campaigns of the fight against cancer: ''Kom Op Tegen Kanker''.

China

China celebrates Arbor Day or Tree Planting Day as a public holiday on March 12. It commemorates the passing of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the Father of the Nation, in 1925.

Cambodia

National Tree Planting Day is on June 1.

Central African Republic

National Tree Planting Day is on July 22.

Egypt

Tree planting day, arbor day, is on January 15.

Germany

Arbor Day is on April 25. First celebration was in 1952.

Iran

National Tree Planting Day is on March 5.

Israel

Israel celebrates Tu Bishvat, the new year for trees, on the fifteenth day of the month of Shevat, which usually falls in January or February. Originally based on the date used to calculate the age of fruit trees for tithing as mandated in Leviticus 19:23-25, the holiday now is most often observed by planting trees, or raising money to plant trees.

Japan

Japan celebrates a similarly themed Greenery Day, held on April 29th. Although it has a similar theme to Arbor Day, its roots lay in celebration of the birthday of Hirohito.

Kenya

National Tree Planting Day is on April 21. Often people plant palm trees and coconut trees along the Pacific Coast that boarders the East coast of Kenya.

Lesotho

National Tree Planting Day is on March 21.

Republic of Macedonia

Macedonia celebrated Tree Day on March 12, 2008. It was declared an official non-working day, and over 2 million trees were planted. The holiday was declared in honor of reforestation following the devastating Macedonian wildfires of Summer 2007.

Malawi

National Tree Planting Day is on the 2nd Monday of December.

Namibia

It's first Arbor Day was celebrated on 2004-10-08.

Netherlands

Since conference and of the Food and Agriculture Organization's publication ''World Festival of Trees'', and a resolution of the United Nations in 1954: "The Conference, recognising the need of arousing mass consciousness of the aesthetic, physical and economic value of trees, recommends a World Festival of Trees to be celebrated annually in each member country on a date suited to local conditions"; it has been adopted by the Netherlands. In 1957 the National Committee Day of Planting Trees/Foundation of National Festival of Trees was created.

On or around 21 March or sometimes on or around 21 September , threequarters of city school-children and others plant trees.

In 2007 the 50th anniversary will be celebrated with special golden jubilee-activities.

New Zealand

New Zealand's first Arbor Day planting was in Greytown in the Wairarapa on 3 July 1890. The first official celebration took place in Wellington in August 1892, with the planting of pohutukawa and Norfolk pines along Thorndon Esplanade.

Born in 1855, Dr Leonard Cockayne worked extensively on native plants throughout New Zealand and wrote many notable botanical texts. Even as early as the 1920s he held a vision for school students of New Zealand to be involved in planting native trees and plants in their school grounds. This vision bore fruit and schools in New Zealand have long planted native trees on Arbor Day.

Since 1977 New Zealand has celebrated Arbor Day on June 5, which is also World Environment Day, prior to then Arbor Day, in New Zealand, was celebrated on August 4 - which is rather late in the year for tree planting in New Zealand hence the date change.

What the does for Arbor Day:
Many of DOC’s Arbor Day activities focus on ecological restoration projects using native plants to restore habitats that have been damaged or destroyed by humans or invasive pests and weeds. There are great restoration projects underway around New Zealand and many organisations including community groups, landowners, conservation organisations, iwi, volunteers, schools, local businesses, nurseries and councils are involved in them. These projects are part of a vision to protect and restore the indigenous biodiversity and create healthy habitats where native animals can live.

People's Republic of China

Arbor Day is on March 12 to commemorate the passing of , the Chinese revolutionary, in 1925. In 1981, the fourth session of the Fifth National People's Congress adopted the "Resolution on the unfolding of a nationwide voluntary tree-planting campaign". This resolution stipulated that every able-bodied citizen between the ages of 11 and 60 should plant three to five trees per year or do the equivalent amount of work in seedling, cultivation, tree tending or other services. Supporting documentation instructs all units to report population statistics to the local afforestation committees as the basis for workload allocation. Moreover, those failing to do their duty are expected to make up planting requirements, provide funds equivalent to the value of labour required or pay heavy fines. Therefore, the tree-planting campaign is actually compulsory, or at least obligatory . The "voluntary" in the title referred to the fact that the tree-planters would "volunteer" their labour.

Philippines

Arbor Day in the Philippines has been institutionalized to be observed every June 25 throughout the nation by planting trees and ornamental plants and other forms of relevant activities. The necessity to promote a healthier ecosystem for the people through the rehabilitation and regreening of the environment was stressed in Proclamation No. 643 that amended Proclamation No. 396 of June 2, 2003. Proclamation No. 396 enjoined the "active participation of all government agencies, including government-owned and controlled corporations, private sector, schools, civil society groups and the citizenry in tree planting activity and declaring June 25, 2003 as ."

Portugal

Arbor Day is celebrated on March 21. It's not a national holiday but instead schools nationwide celebrate this day with environment-related activities, namely tree planting.

South Africa

Arbor Day was celebrated from 1983 until 1999 in South Africa, when the national government extended it to , which lasts from 1-7 September. , one common and one rare, are highlighted to increase public awareness of indigenous trees, while various "greening" activities are undertaken by schools, businesses and other organizations.

South Korea

Arbor Day was a in South Korea on April 5 until 2005. The day is still celebrated, though. On non-leap years, the day coincides with Hansik.

Sri Lanka

National Tree Planting Day is on October 15.

Tanzania

National Tree Planting Day is on January 1.

Taiwan

Arbor Day was once a public holiday in the Republic of China on March 12. It commemorated the passing of , the Father of the Republic of China, in 1925.

Uganda

National Tree Planting Day is on March 24.

United States

The national holiday is celebrated every year on the last Friday in April; it is a civic holiday in Nebraska. Each state celebrates its own state holiday. The customary observance is to plant a tree. On the first Arbor Day 1 million trees were planted.

Venezuela

Venezuela recognizes "Día del Arbol" on the last Sunday of May.

Arbor Day in popular culture

*The U.S. Acres episode Fortune Kooky takes place on Arbor Day.
*In an episode of Viva La Bam, Bam Margera celebrate Arbor Day by creating a casino in a tree.

Communist Party of China

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The Communist Party of China , also known as the Chinese Communist Party , is the founding and of the People's Republic of China and the world's largest political party. Its paramount position as the supreme political authority in is guaranteed by and realized through control of all state apparatus. The Communist Party of China was founded in 1921, and came to rule all of mainland China after defeating its rival the Kuomintang in the Chinese Civil War. The party's 70 million members, constitute 5.5% of the total population of mainland China.

Organization

The party's organizational structure was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution and rebuilt afterwards by Deng Xiaoping, who subsequently initiated "Socialism with Chinese characteristics" and brought all state apparatuses back under the control of the CPC.

Theoretically, the party's highest body is the National Congress of the Communist Party of China, which meets at least once every five years. The primary organization of power in the Communist Party which are listed in the include:

*, which includes:
** The , which currently consists of nine members; see for a complete list.
** The , consisting of 24 full members and one alternate; see for a complete list.
** The , the principal administrative mechanism of the CPC, headed by the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China;
** The ;
* The , which is directly under the National Congress and on the same level with the Central Committee, charged with rooting out and malfeasance among party cadres.

Other central organizations include:
* General Office;
* ;
*
* International Liaison Department; and
* Department
In addition, there are numerous commissions and leading groups, the most important of which are:

*
* Work Committee for Organs under the Central Committee
* Work Committee for Central Government Organs
* Central Financial and Economic Leading Group
* Central Leading Group for Rural Work
* Central Leading Group for Party Building
* Central Foreign Affairs Leading Group
* Central Taiwan Affairs Leading Group
* Commission for Protection of Party Secrets
* Leading Group for State Security
* Party History Research Centre
* Party Research Center
*

Every five years, the Communist Party of China holds a National Congress. The latest happened on October 15, 2007. Formally, the Congress serves two functions: to approve changes to the Party constitution regarding policy and to elect a , about 300 strong. The Central Committee in turn elects the . In practice, positions within the Central Committee and Politburo are determined before a Party Congress, and the main purpose of the Congress is to announce the party policies and vision for the direction of China in the following few years.

The party's central focus of power is the Politburo Standing Committee. The process for selecting Standing Committee members, as well as Politburo members, occurs behind the scenes in a process parallel to the National Congress. The new power structure is announced obliquely through the positioning of portraits in the ''People's Daily'', the official newspaper of the Party. The number of Standing Committee members varies and has tended to increase over time. The Committee was expanded to nine at the 16th Party National Congress in 2002.

There are two other key organs of political power in the People's Republic of China: the formal government and the People's Liberation Army.

There are, in addition to decision-making roles, advisory committees, including the People's Political Consultative Conference. During the 1980s and 1990s there was a Central Advisory Commission established by Deng Xiaoping which consisted of senior retired leaders, but with their passing this has been abolished.

Internal or external groupings

Political scientists have identified two groupings within the Communist Party
leading to a structure which has been called "one party, two ". The first is the "elitist coalition" or ''Shanghai clique'' which contains mainly officials who have risen from the more prosperous provinces. The second is the "populist coalition" or "Youth League faction" which consists mainly of officials who have risen from the rural interior, through the Communist Youth League. The interaction between these two factions is largely complementary with each faction possessing a particular expertise and both committed to the continued rule of the Communist Party and not allowing intra-party factional politics threaten party unity. It has been noted that party and government positions have been assigned to create a very careful balance between these two groupings.

Within his "one party, two factions" model, Li Chen has noted that one should avoid labeling these two groupings with simplistic ideological labels, and that these two groupings do not act in a zero-sum, winner take all fashion. Neither group has the ability or will to dominate the other completely.

History

As Revolutionary Party

ideas started to spread widely in China after the 1919 May Fourth Movement. In June 1920, Comintern agent Gregory Voitinsky was sent to China, and met Li Dazhao and other reformers. He financed the founding of the Socialist Youth Corps. The Communist Party of China was initially founded by Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao in the of Shanghai in 1921 as a study society and an informal network. There were informal groups in China in 1920, and also overseas, but the official beginning was the 1st Congress held in Shanghai and attended by 53 men in July 1921, when the formal and unified name ''Zhōngguó Gòngchǎn Dǎng'' was adopted and all other names of communist groups were dropped. The key players were Li Dazhao, Chen Duxiu, Chen Gongbo, Tan Pingshan, Zhang Guotao, He Mengxiong, Lou Zhanglong and Deng Zhongxia. Mao Zedong was present at the first congress as one of two delegates from a Hunan communist group. Other attendees included Dong Biwu, Li Hanjun, Li Da, Chen Tanqiu, Liu Renjing, Zhou Fohai, He Shuheng, Deng Enming, and two representatives from the Comintern, one of them being Henk Sneevliet . Notably absent at this early point were future leaders Li Lisan, Zhou Enlai and Qu Qiubai.

In August 1922, Sneevliet/Maring called a surprise special plenum of the central committee and proposed that party members join the Kuomintang on the grounds that it was easier to transform the Nationalist Party from the inside than to duplicate its success. According to Chen Duxiu, Li Dazhao, Cai Heshen and Gao Yuhan opposed the motion, whereupon Maring invoked the authority of the Comintern and forced the CCP to accept his decision.
Under the guidance of the Comintern, the party was reorganized along Leninist lines in 1923, in preparation for the . However, the nascent party was not held in high regard: Karl Radek, one of the five founding leaders of the Comintern, said in November 1922 that the CCP did not enjoy a high reputation in Moscow. Moreover, it was divided into two camps, led by Deng Zhongxia and Li Dazhao on the more moderate "bourgeois, national revolution" model and Zhang Guotao, Lou Zhanglong, He Mengxiong and Chen Duxio on the strongly anti-imperialism side.

The role of the Comintern cannot be overstated. Mikhail Markovich Borodin negotiated with Sun Yat-sen and Wang Jingwei the 1923 KMT reorganization and the CCP’s incorporation into the newly expanded party. Borodin and General Vasilii Blyukher worked with Chiang Kai-shek to found the Whampoa Military Academy. And, it was the CCP’s reliance on the leadership of the Comintern that was the first indication that the 1923-27 First United Front was fragile.

Membership

The party was small at first, but grew intermittently through the 1920s. Twelve voting delegates were seated at the 1st National Party Congress in 1921, as well as at the 2nd , when they represented 195 party members. By 1923, the 420 members were represented by 30 delegates. The 1925 4th Congress had 20 delegates representing 994 members; then real growth kicked in. The 5th Congress comprised 80 voting delegates representing 57,967 members.

It was at the 1928 6th Congress that the now-famliar ‘full’ and ‘alternate’ structure originated, with 84 and 34 delegates, respectively. Membership was estimated at 40,000. In 1945, the 7th Congress had 547 full and 208 alternate delegates representing 1.21 million members, a ratio of one representative per 1,600 members as compared to 1:725 in 1927.

After the Party defeated the Nationalists, participation at National Party Congresses became much less representative. Each of the 1026 full and 107 alternate members represented 9,470 party members at the 1956 8th Congress. Subsequent congresses held the number of participants down despite membership growing to more than 60 million by 2000.

End of the 1st United Front

In 1927, just before final success of the revolution CPC and Kuomingtang were split, and the CPC was massacred with more than four in five members being killed. The only major section of the party which survived was the section built around Mao Zedong, which established Soviet Republic of China in some remote areas within China through peasant riots. After a number of military campaigns from KMT army, the CPC had to give up their bases and started the Long March to search for a new base. During Long March, the party leadership re-examine its policy and blamed their failure on the CPC military leader , a sent by Comintern. After they resettled in Yan’an, the native Communists, such as Mao Zedong and Zhu De gained power, and the CPC became less dependent on the Comintern and Soviet Union. The Western world first got a clear view of the Communist Party of China through Edgar Snow's Red Star Over China.

During the Second Sino-Japanese war, the CPC and KMT were temporarily in alliance to fight their common enemy. The Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army became army group belonging to the national army, and the Soviet Republic of China changed into a special administration region. However, essentially the army and the region controlled by CPC remained independent from the KMT’s government. In eight years, the CPC controlled armed forces grew from ten thousand to one million.

After 1945, the civil war resumed and despite initial gains by the Kuomintang, it was defeated and forced to flee to off-shore islands, the biggest among which is Taiwan. The Kuomintang's defeat marked the onset of the Chinese Revolution whence Mao Zedong proclaimed the People's Republic of China in Beijing on October 1, 1949.

As Ruling Party

The CPC's ideologies have significantly evolved since its founding. Mao's revolution that founded the PRC was nominally based on Marxism-Leninism with a rural focus based on China's social situations at the time. During the 1960s and 1970s, the CPC experienced a significant with the Communist Party of the Soviet Union under Nikita Khrushchev and their allies. Since then Mao's peasant revolutionary vision and so-called "continued revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat" stipulated that class enemies continued to exist even though the socialist revolution seemed to be complete, giving way to the ''Cultural Revolution''. This fusion of ideas became known officially as "", or Maoism outside of China. It represented a powerful branch of communism that existed in opposition to the Soviet Union's "Marxist revisionism".

Following the death of Mao Zedong in 1976, however, the CPC under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping moved towards ''Socialism with Chinese characteristics'' and instituted Chinese economic reform. In reversing some of Mao's "extreme-leftist" policies, Deng argued that a socialist country and the market economy model were not mutually exclusive. While asserting the political power of the Party itself, the change in policy generated significant economic growth. The ideology itself, however, came into conflict on both sides of the spectrum with Maoists as well as progressive liberals, culminating with other social factors to cause the 1989 Tiananmen Square Protests. Deng's vision for economic success and a new socialist market model became entrenched in the Party constitution in 1997 as ''Deng Xiaoping Theory''.

The "third generation" of leadership under Jiang Zemin, Zhu Rongji, and associates largely continued Deng's progressive economic vision while overseeing the re-emergence of Chinese nationalism in the 1990s. Nationalist sentiment has seemingly also evolved to become informally the part of the Party's guiding doctrine. As part of Jiang's nominal legacy, the CPC ratified the ''Three Represents'' into the 2003 revision of the Party Constitution as a "guiding ideology", encouraging the Party to represent "advanced productive forces, the progressive course of China's culture, and the fundamental interests of the people." There are various interpretations of the ''Three Represents''. Most notably, the theory has legitimized the entry of private business owners and quasi-"bourgeoisie" elements into the party.

The insistent road of focusing almost exclusively on economic growth has led to a . The CPC's "fourth generation" of leadership under Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao, after taking power in 2003, attempted reversing such a trend by bringing forth an integrated ideology that tackled both social and economic concerns. This new ideology was known as the creation of a Harmonious Society using the Scientific Development Concept.

The degree of power the Party had on the state has gradually decreased as economic liberalizations progressed. The evolution of CPC ideology has gone through a number of defining changes that it no longer bears much resemblance to its founding principles. Some believe that the large amount of economic liberalization starting from the late 1970s to present, indicates that the CPC has transitioned to endorse economic neoliberalism. The CPC's current policies are fiercely rejected as by most communists, especially anti-revisionists, and by adherents of the Chinese New Left from within the PRC.

The Communist Party of China comprises a single-party state form of government; however, there are parties other than the CPC within China, which report to the and do not act as opposition or independent parties. Since the 1980s, as its commitment to ideology has appeared to wane, the party has begun to increasingly invoke Chinese nationalism as a legitimizing principle as opposed to the socialist construction for which the party was originally created. The change from socialism to nationalism has pleased the CPC's former enemy, the Kuomintang , which has warmed its relations with the CPC since 2003.

Viewpoints: criticism and support

There are a variety of opinions about the Communist Party of China, and opinions about the CPC often create unexpected political alliances and divisions. Trotskyists argue that the party was doomed to its present character, that of petty-bourgeois nationalism, because of the near-annihilation of the workers' movement in the KMT betrayal of 1927, which was made possible by 's order that the Communists disarm and surrender. This slaughter forced the tiny surviving Party to switch from a workers' union- to peasant guerrilla-based organization, and seek aid of the most heterodox sources, from "patriotic capitalists" to the dreaded KMT itself, with which it openly sought a coalition government even into early 1949. Chinese Trotskyists from Chen Duxiu onward have called for a political revolution against what they see as an opportunist, capitalist leadership of the CPC. Opinions about the CPC also create very strong divisions among groups normally ideologically united such as in the United States.

Many of the unexpected opinions about the CPC result from its rare combination of attributes as a party formally based on Marxism which has overseen a dynamic market economy, yet maintains an authoritarian political system.

Supporters of the International Tibet Independence Movement, the , Falun Gong, a spiritual group, Taiwan independence, s in the United States and Japan, international human rights groups, proponents of civil liberties and freedom of expression, advocates of democracy, , along with many democratic and anti-authoritarian forces in those same countries, are among the groups which have opposed the CPC government because it is said to be a repressive single-party state regime.

Some of the opponents of the Party within the Chinese democracy movement have tended not to argue that a strong Chinese state is inherently bad, but rather that the Communist leadership is corrupt. The Chinese New Left, meanwhile, is a current within China that seeks to "revert China to the socialist road" – i.e., to return China to the days after Mao Zedong but before the reforms of Deng Xiaoping and his successors.

Another school of thought argues that the worst of the abuses took place decades ago, and that the current leadership is not only unconnected with them, but were actually victims of that era. They have also argued that while the modern Communist Party may be flawed, it is comparatively better than previous regimes, with respect to improving the general standard of living, than any other government that has governed China in the past century and can be put in more favorable light against most governments of the developing nations. However, farmers and other rural people have been marginalized, and national influence have been greatly reduced, as a result, the CPC has recently taken sweeping measures to regain support from the countryside, to limited success.

In addition, some scholars contend that China has never operated under a decentralized democratic regime in its several thousand years of history, and therefore it can be argued that the structure present, albeit not up to western moral standards, is the best possible option when compared to its alternatives. A sudden transition to democracy, they contend, would result in the economic and political upheaval that occurred in the Soviet Union in the 1990s, and that by focusing on economic growth, China is setting the stage for a more gradual but more sustainable transition to a more liberal system. This group sees Mainland China as being similar to Spain in the 1960s, and South Korea and Taiwan during the 1970s.

As with the first group, this school of thought brings together some unlikely political allies. Not only do most intellectuals within the Chinese government follow this school of thinking, but it is also the common belief held amongst pro-free trade liberals in the West.

Many observers from both within and outside of China have argued that the CCP has taken gradual steps towards democracy and transparency, hence arguing that it is best to give it time and room to evolve into a better government rather than forcing an abrupt change. However, other observers question whether these steps are genuine efforts towards democratic reform or disingenous measures by the CCP to retain power.

Many current party officials are the sons and daughters of prominent Party officials. These young, powerful individuals are referred to as the "Crown Prince Party", or "Princelings", and their rise to power has been criticized as a form of nepotism or cronyism.

Current leadership

The Members of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China are:
#Hu Jintao: President of the People's Republic of China, General Secretary of the CPC, Chairman of the .
#Wu Bangguo: Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress
#Wen Jiabao: of the State Council of the People's Republic of China
#Jia Qinglin: Chairman of the People's Political Consultative Conference
#Li Changchun: "Propaganda Chief"
#Xi Jinping: Vice President of the People's Republic of China, top-ranked member of
#Li Keqiang: Executive Vice Premier
#He Guoqiang: Head of Central Commission for Discipline Inspection
#Zhou Yongkang: Head of

Members of the Politburo of the CPC Central committee:

Wang Lequan, Wang Zhaoguo, Hui Liangyu, , Liu Yunshan, Li Changchun, Wu Yi, Wu Bangguo, Wu Guanzheng, Zhang Lichang, Zhang Dejiang, Luo Gan, Zhou Yongkang, Hu Jintao, Yu Zhengsheng, He Guoqiang, Jia Qinglin, Guo Boxiong, Cao Gangchuan, Zeng Qinghong, Zeng Peiyan, Wen Jiabao.

Alternate member of the Politburo of the CPC Central Committee:

Members of Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee: Zeng Qinghong, Liu Yunshan, Zhou Yongkang, He Guoqiang, , Xu Caihou, .

List of leaders of the Communist Party of China

Between 1921 and 1943 the Communist Party of China was headed by the :

* Chen Duxiu, General Secretary 1921–1922 and 1925–1927
* Qu Qiubai, General Secretary 1927–1928
* Xiang Zhongfa, General Secretary 1928–1931
* Li Lisan, acting General Secretary 1929–1930
* Wang Ming, acting General Secretary 1931
* Bo Gu, a.k.a. Qin Bangxian, acting General Secretary 1932–1935
* Zhang Wentian a.k.a. Luo Fu, acting General Secretary 1935–1943

In 1943 the position of Chairman of the Communist Party of China was created.

* Mao Zedong, Chairman 1943–1976
* Hua Guofeng, Chairman 1976–1981
* Hu Yaobang, Chairman 1981–1982, also General Secretary

In 1982, the post of Chairman was abolished, and the General Secretary, at this time held by the same man as the post of Chairman, once again became the supreme office of the Party.

* Hu Yaobang, General Secretary 1980–1987
* Zhao Ziyang, General Secretary 1987–1989
* Jiang Zemin, General Secretary 1989–2002
* Hu Jintao, General Secretary since 2002

Maritime Day

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Maritime Days are holidays typically established to recognize accomplishments in the maritime field.

Chinese New Year

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Chinese New Year is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. It is sometimes called the Lunar New Year, especially by people outside China. The festival traditionally begins on the first day of the first lunar month in the Chinese calendar and ends on the 15th; this day is called Lantern Festival. Chinese New Year's Eve is known as ''Chúxī'' . It literally means "Year-pass Eve".

Celebrated in areas with large populations of , Chinese New Year is considered a major holiday for the Chinese and has had a strong influence on the new year celebrations of its geographic neighbours, as well as cultures with whom the Chinese have had extensive interaction. These include Koreans, Mongolians, Nepalese, Bhutanese, , and formerly the before 1873. In Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and other countries with significant Chinese populations, Chinese New Year is also celebrated, largely by overseas Chinese, but it is not part of the traditional culture of these countries. In Canada, although Chinese New Year is not an official holiday, many ethnic Chinese hold large celebrations and Canada Post issues New Year's themed stamps in domestic and international rates.

Although the Chinese calendar traditionally did not use continuously numbered years, its years are now often numbered from the reign of Huangdi outside China. But at least three different years numbered 1 are now used by various writers, causing the year beginning in 2008 to be 4706, 4705, or 4645.

New Year dates

The Chinese calendar determines Chinese New Year dates. The calendar is also used in countries that have adopted or have been influenced by culture and may have a common ancestry with the similar New Years festivals outside East Asia .

In the Gregorian calendar, Chinese New Year falls on different dates each year, a date between January 21 and February 20. This means that the holiday usually falls on the second new moon after the . In traditional Chinese Culture, lichun is a solar term marking the start of spring, which occurs about February 4.

The dates for Chinese New Year from 1996 to 2019 are at the right, along with the year's presiding animal zodiac and its earthly branch. The names of the earthly branches have no English counterparts and are ''not'' the Chinese translations of the animals. Alongside the 12-year cycle of the animal zodiac there is a 10-year cycle of heavenly stems. Each of the ten heavenly stems is associated with one of the five elements of Chinese astrology, namely: , , , , and . The elements are rotated every two years while a yin and yang association alternates every year. The elements are thus distinguished: Yang Wood, Yin Wood, Yang Fire, Yin Fire, etc. These produce a combined cycle that repeats every 60 years. For example, the year of the Yang Fire Rat occurred in 1936 and in 1996, 60 years apart.

Many confuse their Chinese birth-year with their Gregorian birth-year. As the Chinese New Year starts in late January to mid-February, the Chinese year dates from January 1 until that day in the new Gregorian year remain unchanged from the previous Gregorian year. For example, the 1989 year of the snake began on February 6, 1989. The year 1990 is considered by some people to be the year of the horse. However, the 1989 year of the snake officially ended on January 26, 1990. This means that anyone born from January 1 to January 25, 1990 was actually born in the year of the snake rather than the year of the horse.

Many online Chinese Sign calculators do not account for the non-alignment of the two calendars, incorrectly using Gregorian-calendar years rather than official Chinese New Year dates.

History

It is unclear when the beginning of the year was celebrated before the Qin Dynasty. Traditionally, the year was said to have begun with month 1 during the Xia Dynasty, month 12 during the Shang Dynasty, and month 11 during the Zhou Dynasty. However, records show that the Zhou Dynasty began its year with month 1. months, used to keep the lunar calendar synchronized with the sun, were added after month 12 during both the Shang Dynasty and the Zhou Dynasty . The first Emperor of China Qin Shi Huang changed the beginning of the year to month 10 in 221 BC, also changing the location of the intercalary month to after month 9. Whether the New Year was ''celebrated'' at the beginning of month 10, of month 1, or both is unknown. In 104 BC, of the Han Dynasty established month 1 as the beginning of the year, where it remains.
This year the Chinese New Year will be on Thursday, February 7, 2008.

Mythology

According to tales and legends, the beginning of Chinese New Years started with the fight against a mythical beast called the Nian or "Year" in Chinese. It would come and devour villagers. The villagers asked for the help of a great lion spirit, which came and attacked, then wounding Nian, which drove it away. The following year the lion was protecting the Emperor's palace so the people were left defenseless. To adapt to this, the people created a statue resembling the dragon using bamboo and cloth. This was enough to scare away Nian, creating the tradition of using the lion spirit costumes to show an important symbol of this celebration.

Public holiday

Chinese New Year is observed as a public holiday in a number of countries and territories where a sizable Chinese population resides. Since Chinese New Year falls on different dates on the Gregorian calendar every year on different days of the week, some of these governments opt to shift working days in order to accommodate a longer public holiday. Also like many other countries in the world, a statutory holiday is added on the following work day when the New Year falls on a weekend.

It is also important to understand that informal celebrations, which may span a period of several weeks before and after the official holidays, are the time when many businesses operate in 'holiday mode', and generally aren't the time for making decisions or business negotiations.

Chunyun

The period around Chinese New Year is also the time of , when migrant workers in China, as well as overseas Chinese around the world travel home to have reunion dinners with their families on Chinese New Year's eve. More interurban trips are taken in mainland China in this 40-day period than the total population of China. This period is called Chunyun

Festivities

The Chinese New Year celebrations are marked by visits to kin, relatives and friends, a practice known as "new-year visits" It is known as "chì kǒu" , meaning that it is easy to get into arguments. It is suggested that the cause could be the fried food and visiting during the first two days of the New Year celebration.

2) Families who had an immediate kin deceased in the past 3 years will not go house-visiting as a form of respect to the dead. The third day of the New Year is allocated to grave-visiting instead. Some people conclude it is inauspicious to do any house visiting at all.

Fifth day of the new year

In northern China, people eat on the morning of ''Po Wu'' . This is also the birthday of the Chinese god of wealth. In Taiwan, businesses traditionally re-open on this day, accompanied by firecrackers.

Seventh day of the new year

The seventh day, traditionally known as ''renri'' 人日, the common man's birthday, the day when everyone grows one year older.

It is the day when tossed raw fish salad, yusheng, is eaten. This is a custom primarily among the overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia, such as Malaysia and Singapore. People get together to toss the colourful salad and make wishes for continued wealth and prosperity.

For many Chinese Buddhists, this is another day to avoid meat.

Ninth day of the new year

The ninth day of the New Year is a day for Chinese to offer prayers to the Jade Emperor of Heaven in the Taoist Pantheon. The ninth day is traditionally the birthday of the Jade Emperor.

This day is especially important to and . Come midnight of the eighth day of the new year, Hokkiens will offer thanks giving prayers to the Emperor of Heaven. Offerings will include sugarcane as it was the sugarcane that had protected the Hokkiens from certain extermination generations ago. Tea is served as a customary protocol for paying respect to an honored person.

Fifteenth day of the new year

The fifteenth day of the new year is celebrated as Yuánxiāo jié , otherwise known as Chap Goh Mei in Fujian dialect. Rice dumplings''Tangyuan'' , a sweet glutinous rice ball brewed in a soup, is eaten this day. Candles are lit outside houses as a way to guide wayward spirits home. This day is celebrated as the Lantern Festival, and families walk the street carrying lighted lanterns.

This day often marks the end of the Chinese New Year festivities.

New year cuisine

Reunion dinner

A reunion dinner is held on New Year's Eve where members of the family, near and far away, get together for the celebration. The venue will usually be in or near the home of the most senior member of the family. The New Year's Eve dinner is very sumptuous and traditionally includes chicken and fish. In some areas, fish is included, but not eaten completely , as the Chinese phrase "may there be ''surpluses'' every year" sounds the same as "may there be ''fish'' every year."

In mainland China, many families will banter whilst watching the CCTV New Year's Gala in the hours before midnight.

Red packets for the immediate family are sometimes distributed during the reunion dinner. These packets often contain money in certain numbers that reflect good luck and honorability. Several foods are consumed to usher in wealth, happiness, and good fortune. Several of the names are homophones for words that also mean good things.

Food items

New Year practices

Red packets

Traditionally, Red envelopes or red packets ; (: 'hóng bāo' ; : 'ang pow' ; Hakka: 'fung bao'; are passed out during the Chinese New Year's celebrations, from married couples or the elderly to unmarried juniors. It is common for adults to give red packets to children. Red packets are also known as 壓歲錢/压岁钱 during this period.

Red envelopes always contain money, usually varying from a couple of dollars to several hundred. The amount of money in the red packets should be of even numbers, as odd numbers are associated with cash given during funerals . Since the number 4 is , because the word for four is a homophone for death, money in the red envelopes never adds up to $4. However, the number 8 is considered lucky , and $8 is commonly found in the red envelopes. Sometimes chocolate coins are found in the red packets.

Odd and even numbers are determined by the first digit, rather than the last. Thirty and fifty, for example, are odd numbers, and are thus appropriate as funeral cash gifts. However, it is common and quite acceptable to have cash gifts in a red packet using a single bank note – with ten or fifty bills used frequently.

The act of requesting for red packets is normally called : 討紅包, 要利是. :逗利是. A married person would not turn down such request as it would mean that he or she would be "out of luck" in the new year . While this practice is common in South China, in the North people just give cash without any cover to their sons and daughters, nephews and nieces, and children of their relatives and friends. Unlike the South, it is common for people give 50 RMB or 100 RMB or even more, odd or even numbers are not taken into consideration anymore.

New Year markets

Markets or village fairs are set up as the New Year is approaching.These usually open-air markets feature new year related products such as flowers, toys, clothing, and even fireworks. It is convenient for people to buy gifts for their new year visits as well as their home decoration. In some places, the practice of shopping for the perfect is not dissimilar to the Western tradition of buying a Christmas tree.

Fireworks

Bamboo stems filled with gunpowder that were burnt to create small explosions were once used in ancient China to drive away evil spirits. In modern times, this method has eventually evolved into the use of firecrackers during the festive season. Firecrackers are usually strung on a long fused string so it can be hung down. Each firecracker is rolled up in red papers, as red is auspicious, with gunpowders in its core. Once ignited, the firecracker lets out a loud popping noise and as they are usually strung together by the hundreds, the firecrackers are known for its deafening explosions that it is thought to scare away evil spirits. See also above. The burning of firecrackers also signifies a joyful time of year and has become an integral aspect of Chinese New Year celebrations.

Firecracker ban

The use of firecrackers, although a traditional part of celebration, has over the years witnessed many unfortunate outcomes. There have been reported incidents every year of users of fireworks being blinded, losing body parts, or suffering other grievous injuries, especially during festive seasons. Hence, governments and authorities eventually enacted laws completely banning the use of firecrackers privately, primarily because of safety issues.

* Mainland China – most urban cities in mainland China does not ban firecracker. Government allow people play any kind of firecracker in the cities in the first three days of the traditional New Year. On those days, it is a tradition that people compete with each other by playing firecrackers.
* Hong Kong – Fireworks are banned for security reasons – some speculate a connection between firework use and the . However, the government would put on a fireworks display in Victoria Harbour on the second day of the Chinese New Year for the public. Similar displays are also held in many other cities in and outside China.

* Singapore – a partial ban on firecrackers was imposed in March 1970 after a fire killed six people and injured 68. This was extended to a total ban in August 1972, after an explosion that killed two people and an attack on two police officers attempting to stop a group from letting off firecrackers in February 1972. However, in 2003, the allowed firecrackers to be set off during the festive season. At the Chinese New Year light-up in , at the stroke of midnight on the first day of the Lunar New Year, firecrackers are set off under controlled conditions by the Singapore Tourism Board. Other occasions where firecrackers are allowed to be set off are determined by the or other government organizations. However, they are not allowed to be commercially sold.

* Malaysia – firecrackers are banned for the similar reasons as in Singapore. However, many Malaysians manage to smuggle them from Thailand to meet their private needs.

* Indonesia – Firecrackers and fireworks are forbidden in public during the Chinese New Year, especially in areas with significant non-Chinese population in order to avoid any conflict between the two. However, there were some exceptions. The usage of firecrackers is legal in some metropolitan areas such as Jakarta and Medan, where the degree of racial and cultural tolerance is higher.

* United States – For 2007, New York City lifted its decade-old ban on firecrackers, allowing a display of 300,000 firecrackers to be set off in 's . regularly lights firecrackers every New Years Eve, mostly at Taoist and Buddhist temples and benevolent association shrines. The San Francisco Chinese New Year Parade, the largest outside China, is accompanied by numerous firecrackers, both officially sanctioned and illicit.

* Australia – Australia does not permit the use of fireworks at all, except when used by a licensed pyrotechnician. These rules also require a permit to be sought from local government, as well as any relevant local bodies such as maritime or aviation authorities and hospitals, schools, et cetera, within a certain range.

Clothing

Clothing mainly featuring the colour red is commonly worn throughout the Chinese New Year because it is believed that red will scare away evil spirits and bad fortune. In addition, people typically wear new clothes from head to toe to symbolize a new beginning in the new year.

Shou Sui

守岁 occurs when members of the family gather around throughout the night after the reunion dinner and reminisce about the year that has passed while welcoming the year that has arrived. Some believe that children who ''Shou Sui'' will increase the longevity of the parents.

一夜连双岁，五更分二年 means that the night of New Year's eve is a night that links two years. 五更 is the time that separates the two years.

Symbolism

During these 15 days of the Chinese New Year one will see superstitious or traditional cultural beliefs with meanings which can be puzzling in the eyes of those who do not celebrate this occasion. There is a customary reason that explains why everything, not just limited to decorations, are centered on the colour red. At times, gold is the accompanying colour for reasons that are already obvious. One best and common example is the red diamond-shaped posters with the 福 , or "auspiciousness" which are displayed around the house and on doors. This sign is usually seen hanging upside down, since the Chinese word 倒 , or "upside down", sounds similar as 到 , or "arrive". Therefore, it symbolizes the arrival of luck, happiness, and prosperity.

Flowers

The following are popular floral decorations for the New Year and are available at new year markets.

:

Icons and ornamentals

Superstitions during the New Year period

The following is a list of beliefs that vary according to dialect groups / individuals.

Good luck

*Opening windows and/or doors is considered to bring in the good luck of the new year.
*Switching on the lights for the night is considered good luck to 'scare away' ghosts and spirits of misfortune that may compromise the luck and fortune of the new year.
*Sweets are eaten to ensure the consumer a "sweet" year.
*It is important to have the house completely clean from top to bottom before New Year's Day for good luck in the coming year.
*Some believe that what happens on the first day of the new year reflects the rest of the year to come. Asians will often gamble at the beginning of the year, hoping to get luck and prosperity.
*Wearing a new pair of slippers that is bought before the new year, because it means to step on the people who gossip about you.
*The night before the new year, bathe yourself in pomelo leaves and some say that you will be healthy for the rest of the new year.

Bad luck

* Buying a pair of shoes is considered bad luck amongst some Chinese. The word "shoes" is a homophone for the word for "rough" in , or "evil" in .
*Getting a hair-cut in the first lunar month puts a curse on maternal uncles. Therefore, people get a hair-cut before the New Year's Eve.
*Washing your hair is also considered to be washing away one's own luck
*Sweeping the floor is usually forbidden on the first day, as it will sweep away the good fortune and luck for the new year.
*Talking about death is inappropriate for the first few days of Chinese New Year, as it is considered inauspicious as well.
*Buying books is bad luck because the word for "book" is a homonym to the word "lose".
*Avoid clothes in black and white, as black is a symbol of bad luck, and white is a traditional funeral colour.

New Year parades

Origins

In 1849, with the discovery of gold and the ensuing California Gold Rush, over 50,000 people had come to to seek their fortune or just a better way of life. Among those were many Chinese, who had come to work in the gold mines and on the railroad. By the 1860’s, the Chinese were eager to share their culture with those who were unfamiliar with it. They chose to showcase their culture by using a favorite American tradition – the Parade. Nothing like it had ever been done in their native China. They invited a variety of other groups from the city to participate, and they marched down what today are Grant Avenue and Kearny Street carrying colourful flags, banners, lanterns, and drums and firecrackers to drive away evil spirits.

Today

Today, Chinese New Year parades are annual traditions across North America in cities with significant Chinese populations. Among the cities with such parades are San Francisco, , New York City, Auckland, New Zealand and Vancouver, British Columbia. However, even smaller cities that are historically connected to Chinese immigration, such as Butte, Montana, have recently hosted parades.

Greetings

The Chinese New Year is often accompanied by loud, enthusiastic greetings, often referred to as 吉祥話 , or loosely translated as ''auspicious words or phrases''. Some of the most common examples may include:

''Happy New Year''

; Hokkien : ; : San nin faai lok. A more contemporary greeting reflective of western influences, it literally translates from the greeting "Happy new year" more common in the west. But in northern parts of China, traditionally people say instead of , to differentiate it from the international new year. And 過年好 can be used from the first day to the fifth day of Chinese new year.

''Congratulations and be prosperous''

; : Keong hee huat chye ; : Kung Hei Fat Choi; Hakka: Kung hei fat choi, which loosely translates to "Congratulations and be prosperous". Often mistakenly assumed to be synonymous with "Happy new year", its usage dates back several centuries. While the first two words of this phrase had a much longer historical significance , the last two words were added later as ideas of capitalism and consumerism became more significant in Chinese societies around the world. The saying is now commonly heard in speaking communities for greetings during Chinese New Year in parts of the world where there is a sizable Chinese-speaking community, including overseas Chinese communities that have been resident for several generations, relatively recent immigrants from Greater China, and those who are transit migrants .

Other greetings

Numerous other greetings exist, some of which may be exclaimed out loud to no one in particular in specific situations. For example, as breaking objects during the new year is considered inauspicious, one may then say 歲歲平安 immediately, which means everlasting peace year after year. 歲 is homophonous with 碎 , in demonstration of the Chinese love for wordplay in auspicious phrases. Similarly, 年年有餘 , a wish for surpluses and bountiful harvests every year, plays on the word yú to also refer to 魚 , making it a catch phrase for fish-based Chinese new year dishes and for paintings or graphics of fish that are hung on walls or presented as gifts.

These greetings or phrases may also be used just before children receive their red packets, when gifts are exchanged, when visiting temples, or even when tossing the shredded ingredients of yusheng particularly popular in Malaysia and Singapore.

Irreverent children may jokingly use the phrase , roughly translated as "Congratulations and be prosperous, now give me a red envelope."

Back in the 1970s, children in Hong Kong used the saying: 恭喜發財,利是逗來,伍毫嫌少,壹蚊唔愛 , roughly translated as, "Congratulations and be prosperous, now give me a red envelope, fifty cents is too little, don't want a dollar either." It basically meant that they disliked small change – coins which were called "hard substance" . Instead, they wanted "soft substance" , which was either a ten dollar or a twenty dollar bill.

=General

Lantern Festival

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The Lantern Festival or , also known as the Shang Yuan Festival is a festival celebrated on the fifteenth day of the first month in the lunar year in the Chinese calendar. It is not to be confused with the Mid-Autumn Festival, which is also sometimes known as the "Lantern Festival" in locations such as Singapore, and Malaysia. During the Lantern Festival, children go out at night to temples carrying rabbit-shaped lanterns and solve riddles on the lanterns . It officially ends Chinese New year.

In ancient times, the lanterns were fairly simple, for only the emperor and noblemen had large ornate ones; in modern times, lanterns have been embellished with many complex designs. For example, lanterns are now often made in shapes of animals.

The Lantern Festival is also known as the ''Little New Year'' since it marks the end of the series of celebrations starting from the Chinese New Year. Koreans celebrate this festival as the Daeboreum.

History

The 15th day of the 1st lunar month is the Chinese Lantern Festival because the first lunar month is called yuan-month and in the ancient times people called night Xiao. The 15th day is the first night to see a full moon. So the day is also called Yuan Xiao Festival in China. According to the Chinese tradition, at the very beginning of a new year, when there is a bright full moon hanging in the sky, there should be thousands of colorful lanterns hung out for people to appreciate. At this time, people will try to solve the puzzles on the lanterns and eat yuanxiao and get all their families united in the joyful atmosphere.

Earliest Origins

There are many different beliefs about the origin of the Lantern Festival. But one thing for sure is that it had something to do with celebrating and cultivating positive relationship between people, families, nature and the higher beings they believed were responsible for bringing/returning the light each year.

One legend tells us that it was a time to worship Taiyi, the God of Heaven in ancient times. The belief was that the God of Heaven controlled the destiny of the human world. He had sixteen dragons at his back and call and he decided when to inflict drought,storms, famine or pestilence upon human beings. Beginning with Qinshihuang, the first emperor to unite the country, all subsequent emperors ordered splendid ceremonies each year. The emperor would ask Taiyi to bring favorable weather and good health to him and his people. Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty directed special attention to this event. In 104 BC, he proclaimed it one of the most important celebrations and the ceremony would last throughout the night.

Another legend associates the Lantern Festival with Taoism. Tianguan is the Taoist god responsible for good fortune. His birthday falls on the 15th day of the first lunar month. It is said that Tianguan likes all types of entertainment. So followers prepare various kinds of activities during which they pray for good fortune.

Young people were chaperoned in the streets in hopes of finding love. Matchmakers acted busily in hopes of pairing couples. The brightest lanterns were symbolic of good luck and hope. As time has progressed, however, the festival no longer has such implications nowadays.

Those who do not carry lanterns often enjoy watching informal lantern parades. In addition to eating ''tangyuan'' , another popular activity at this festival is guessing lantern riddles , which often contain messages of good fortune, family reunion, abundant harvest, prosperity and love.

6th century and beyond

Until the Sui Dynasty in the sixth century, Emperor Yangdi invited envoys from other countries to China to see the colorful lighted lanterns and enjoy the gala performances.

By the beginning of the Tang Dynasty in the seventh century, the lantern displays would last three days. The emperor also lifted the curfew, allowing the people to enjoy the festive lanterns day and night. It is not difficult to find Chinese poems which describe this happy scene.

In the Song Dynasty, the festival was celebrated for five days and the activities began to spread to many of the big cities in China. Colorful glass and even jade were used to make lanterns, with figures from folk tales painted on the lanterns.

However, the largest Lantern Festival celebration took place in the early part of the 15th century. The festivities continued for ten days. Emperor Chengzu had the downtown area set aside as a center for displaying the lanterns. Even today, there is a place in Beijing called Dengshikou. In Chinese, Deng means lantern and Shi is market. The area became a market where lanterns were sold during the day. In the evening, the local people would go there to see the beautiful lighted lanterns on display.

Today, the displaying of lanterns is still a big event on the 15th day of the first lunar month throughout China. People enjoy the brightly lit night. Chengdu in Southwest China's Sichuan Province, for example, holds a lantern fair each year in the Cultural Park. During the Lantern Festival,the park is literally an ocean of lanterns! Many new designs attract countless visitors. The most eye-catching lantern is the Dragon Pole. This is a lantern in the shape of a golden dragon, spiraling up a 27-meter-high pole, spewing fireworks from its mouth.

Vietnam: "Tết Thượng Nguyên"

In Vietnam, this festival is named "Tết Thượng Nguyên" or "Tết Nguyên Tiêu".

Zhonghe Festival

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Zhonghe Festival , also known as the Blue Dragon Festival, is a traditional festival held on the second day of the second month of the Chinese calendar. The festival is a reflection of the ancient agrarian Chinese culture. In the tradition of Chinese culture, dragon is believed to be the king of all insects and at same time, it is also believed to be in charge of bringing rains, and both of these are important factors in ancient agricultural society. It is called "Dragon rising its head" because the dragon was traditionally regarded in China as the deity in charge of rain, an important factor in ancient agriculture. It is sometimes also simply called "2 Month 2", for short.

Zhonghe Festival is celebrated around the time of Jingzhe, one of the 24 solar terms . The phrase Jing Zhe has the meaning of awakening of the hibernated . Jing is startling, and Zhe is hibernated . This is the time during which the hibernated insects begun to wake up at the beginning of early spring, which is often accompanied by the arrival of the first rains, meaning the weather is getting warm. Zhonghe Festival is an important worship ritual of wishing for good harvest in the coming months. In addition to paying the respect to Dragon King, respect to Tu Di Gong was often paid together as well, and wishes are often made at the temples for Tu Di Gong. Another ancient practice to celebrate Zhonghe Festival was to get rid of insect pests in homes via fumigation by burning various herbs with recognized insect repellent effects.

Today, Zhonghe Festival is celebrated in various ways, most of which are still identical to those practiced in the ancient times, including eating Chinese "fajitas" and noodles. Perfume bags filled with the powder of grinded fragrant herbs are made to be carried by women and kids for good fortunes, though they are not used as insect repellent in ancient times anymore. Another ancient celebration still practiced today is that Zhonghe Festival is the first day of the Taihao temple fair that lasts until March 3 of the lunar calendar. Taihao temple fair is a celebration of ancestral deities Fuxi and Nüwa and Zhonghe Festival marking the beginning of this celebration.

There were ancient traditions of celebrating Zhonghe Festival that is no longer practiced, including:
* Women should not practice sewing because needles would puncture the eyes of dragon.
* Plant ashes were spread around the house, and then inside the house, finally around the earthen jug, symbolizing inviting the dragon to provide enough rain for good harvests.

Shangsi Festival

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Shangsi Festival

Qingming Festival

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The Qingming Festival , meaning Clear and Bright Festival, is a on the 104th day after the , usually occurring around April 5 of the Gregorian calendar . Every leap year, Qing Ming is on April 4. Astronomically, it is also a solar term . In solar terms, the Qingming festival is on the 1st day of the 5th solar term, which is also named Qingming. Its name denotes a time for people to go outside and enjoy the greenery of springtime , and also to tend to the graves of departed ones. It is an official public holiday in the People's Republic of China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. Prior to 2008, the holiday was not official in the People's Republic of China since the Communist Party of China classified it as superstition. It was officially celebrated as a public holiday for the first time on April 4, 2008.

The transcription of the term Qingming may appear in a number of different forms, some of which are:
*''Qingming''
*''Qing Ming''
*''Qing Ming Jie''
*''Ching Ming''
*''Ching Ming Chieh''

Introduction

The holiday is also known by a number of other names in the English language:
* All Souls Day
* Clear Brightness Festival
* Festival for Tending Graves
* Grave Sweeping Day
* Chinese Memorial Day
* Tomb Sweeping Day
* Spring Remembrance

Tomb Sweeping Day and Clear Brightness Festival are the most common English translations of Qingming Festival. Tomb Sweeping Day is used in several English language newspapers published in the Republic of China.

For the Chinese, it is a day to remember and s at grave sites. Young and old pray before the ancestors, sweep the tombs and offer food, tea, wine, chopsticks, paper accessories, and/or libation to the ancestors. The rites are very important to most Chinese and especially farmers. Some people carry willow branches with them on Qingming, or put willow branches on their gates and/or front doors. They think that willow branches help ward off the evil ghosts that wander on Qingming. Also on Qingming, people go on family outings, start the spring plowing, sing, dance, and Qingming is a time where young couples start courting. Another popular thing to do is fly kites .

The April Fifth Movement and the Tiananmen Incident were major events on Qingming that took place in the history of the People's Republic of China. When Premier Zhou Enlai died in 1976, thousands visited him during the festival to pay respect. In the Republic of China, April 4th coincides with the passing of Chiang Kai-shek and the date is designated as a .

On a note, the overseas Chinese communities in Southeast Asian nations such as Singapore and Malaysia also practice this custom. However the practice is in decline in these regions.

, the day before Qingming, was created by of the during the Spring and Autumn Period when he accidentally killed his personal friend and servant Jie Zhitui and his mother in a fireblaze in the hope of making him return to him . On Hanshi, people were not allowed to use fires to heat up food, thus nicknaming it the Cold Food Festival. Eventually, 300 years ago, the Hanshi "celebration" was combined with the Qingming festival, but later abandoned by most people.

Qingming itself was created by the in 732. It is said that because the wealthy held too many expensive, elaborate ancestor-worshipping ceremonies, in a needed effort to lower this expense, Emperor Xuanzong declared that respects could be formally paid at ancestor's graves only on Qingming.

Qingming in Chinese Tea Culture

The Qingming festival holiday has a lot of significance in Chinese Tea culture since this specific day divides the fresh green teas by their picking dates. Green teas made from leaves picked before this date are given the prestigious 'pre-qingming' or 'mingqian' designation which commands a much higher price tag. These teas are prized for having much lighter and subtler aromas than those picked after the festival .

Qingming in painting

The famous ''Qingming scroll'' by Zhang Zeduan is an ancient Chinese painting which portrays the scene of Kaifeng city, the capital of Song Dynasty during Qingming period.

Qingming in literature

Qingming was frequently mentioned in Chinese literature. Among these, the most famous one is probably Du Mu's poem :

; English translation:

A drizzling rain falls like tears on the Mourning Day;
The mourner's heart is breaking on his way.
Where can a winehouse be found to drown his sadness?
A cowherd points to Xing Hua village in the distance.

*Note:

In the epic poem ''The Tale of Kieu'', Qingming is also mentioned as the occasion where the protagonist Kieu meets a ghost of a dead old lady. The lines describing the sceneries during this festival remain some of the most well-known lines in Vietnamese literature:

Ngày xuân con én đưa thoi
Thiều quang chín chục đã ngoài sáu mươi
Cỏ non xanh tận chân trời
Cành lê trắng điểm một vài bông hoa
Thanh Minh trong tiết tháng ba
Lễ là Tảo mộ, hội là Đạp thanh
Gần xa nô nức yến oanh
Chị em sắm sửa bộ hành chơi xuân

English translation:

Swift swallows and spring days were shuttling by
of ninety radiant ones three score had fled.
Young grass spread all its green to heaven's rim;
some blossoms marked pear branches with white dots.
Now came the Feast of Light in the third month
with graveyard rites and junkets on the green.
As merry pilgrims flocked from near and far,
the sisters and their brother went for a stroll.

Dragon boat

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A dragon boat or "dragonboat" is a very long and narrow boat now used in the team paddling of ''dragon boat racing'' which originated in China in pre-Christian times. While competition has taken place annually for more than 20 centuries as part of folk ritual, it emerged in modern times as an international "sport" in Hong Kong in 1976. Like running, horse racing and marksmanship, the racing of dragon boats is among mankind's oldest organized competitions.

For competition events, dragon boats are generally rigged with decorative Chinese dragon heads and tails. At other times the decorative regalia is usually removed, although the drum often remains aboard for training purposes. In some areas of China, the boats are raced without dragon adornments.

Dragon boat races are traditionally held as part of the annual Duanwu Jie festival observance in China. 19th century European observers of the racing ritual, not understanding the significance of Duan Wu, referred to the spectacle as a "dragon boat festival" (literally, "long zhou jie". The date of "duan wu" is reckoned annually according to the solar-lunar calendrical system . Duan Wu is observed and celebrated in many areas of east Asia with significant populations of ethnic Chinese living there e.g. Singapore, Malaysia, Greater China . The date is referred to as the "double fifth" since Duan Wu is reckoned as the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, which often falls on the Gregorian calendar month of June, but also rarely May or July.

In December of 2007, the Chinese government added Duan Wu, Qing Ming and Mid-Autumn festivals to the schedule of national holidays observed in the People's Republic of China.

The crew of the dragon boat

The standard crew complement of a contemporary dragon boat is around 22, comprising 20 paddlers in pairs facing toward the bow of the boat, 1 drummer or caller at the bow facing toward the paddlers, and 1 steerer or tiller at the rear of the boat, although for races it is common to have just 18 paddlers. Dragon boats vary in length and crew size will vary accordingly, from small dragon boats with 10 paddlers, up to the massive traditional boats which have upwards of 50 paddlers, plus drummer and steerer.

The drummer and drumming

The drummer or callers may be considered the "heartbeat" of the dragon boat, and leads the crew throughout a race with the rhythmic beating of a drum to indicate the timing and frequency of paddling strokes The caller may issue commands to the crew through a combination of hand signals and voice calls, and also generally exhorts the crew to perform at their peak. A caller/drummer is mandatory during racing events, but if he or she is not present during training, it is typical for the steerer to direct the crew.

Good callers should be able to synchronize the drumming cadence with the strokes of the leading pair of paddlers, rather than the other way around. As a tail wind, head wind or cross wind, may affect the amount of power needed to move the boat at hull speed throughout a race, a caller should also be aware of the relative position of the dragon boat to other boats, and to the finish line, in order to correctly issue commands to the crew as to when to best surge ahead, when to hold steady and when to peak for the finish. An expert level caller will be able to gauge the power of the boat and the paddlers through the sensation of acceleration, deceleration, and inefficiencies which are transmitted through the hull .

Traditional dragonboats with 40 to 50 paddlers are so long that the drum is positioned amidships so that all paddlers can hear it amidst the noise of heated competition. However, for the smaller dragon boats of 20 paddlers which are most often used in competitive sporting events, the drum is located just aft of the dragon headed prow.

Some crews may also feature a gong striker who strikes a ceremonial gong mounted aboard the dragon boat. A gong striker may sometimes be used as an alternative to a drummer.

The paddlers, paddle and paddling

The paddlers sit facing forwards , and use a specific type of paddle which is not rigged to the racing watercraft in any way. Therefore, Dragon boaters are paddlers not rowers or Oarsmen/Women. Nor are they "canoeists" since canoes and dragon boats are distinctly different paddle craft, just as canoes and kayaks and inflatable whitewater rafts are distinctly different types of paddle craft.

The paddle now accepted by the world racing federation has a standardized, fixed blade surface area and distinctive shape derived from the paddle shapes characteristic of the Zhu Jiang delta region of Guangdong Province, China, close to where Hongkong is situated. The PS202 pattern blade has straight flared edges and circular arced shoulders based geometrically on an equilateral triangle shape positioned between the blade face and the neck of the shaft.

The leading pair of paddlers, called "pacers," "strokers," or "timers," set the pace for the team. It is critical that all paddlers are synchronized. Each paddler should synchronize with the stroker or pacer on the opposite side of the boat, that is, if you paddle starboard side you would take your syncronicity off of the port side stroker. The direction of the dragon boat is set by the helm, rather than by the paddlers while actually racing, however for docking and other maneuvers, the paddlers may paddle out of synch according to the commands given by the drummer or helm. The two lead strokers are responsible for synchronizing their strokes together with one another.

There are several components to a dragon boat stroke cycle:

- 1a. The "reach and catch" begins the cycle and is preceded by a setup torso rotation; the blade angle of attack appears from the side to be raked aft, however this is an optical illusion since the boat is advancing forward. Inserting the blade perpendicular to the water amounts to ineffective "lily dipping" wherein the blade moves backwards in the water past the paddler's hips simply because the boat is advancing forward.

- 1b. The associated upper arm "drive" the instant the blade face is fully immersed and which is the key to powerful acceleration of the boat and the beginning of the pull; if the drive begins before the blade face is fully immersed, there is a significant decrease in stroke efficiency; this drive is initiated by an explosive de-rotation of the torso.

- 2. The associated, powerful "pull" stage sustains the forward momentum of the boat that was initiated by the "drive" impulse; paddlers are often coached to "pull the boat towards the paddle" however a bit of both is occurring .

- 3. The "release" in which the blade is instantaneously drawn upwards while it is even with NOT BEHIND the hips of the paddler; because the boat is moving forward, the optical illusion from outside the boat makes the blade seem like it is being withdrawn at an angle that is raked forward. The release coincides with the setup rotation or recoil of the torso.

- 4. The "recovery" is the final stage of the stroke and consists of the rotation of the torso with the ACTIVE forward repositioning of the blade thrust forward into the optimal catch. By decreasing the time it takes between the release and the catch, the percentage of time in the cycle when the boat is decelerating is minimized; therefore it is possible to perform a greater number of catches and pulls over a given race distance. The reduction in swing time is achieved through active rather than relaxed repositioning of the blade forward and by reducing the weight of the paddle.

A key aspect is for the blade and shaft to be outboard and as vertical as possible in orientation. This means that the paddler has to lean part of his or her body outboard in order to maintain optimal paddle attitude. It this is properly executed at the catch, then the gravitational weight of the paddler "falling" on and driving the blade will generate an enormous impulse power that is not otherwise achievable, similar to a "high brace" type of paddle technique used in whitewater kayaking and sea kayaking.

If paddlers are not synchronized to the two lead strokers, for example if a pair of paddlers takes their cue from the pair of paddlers sitting immediately in front of them, then each successive pair of blades hits the water a fraction of a second behind the blade just in front of them. Consequently, the stroke and back paddlers are out of synch or phase, similar to a domino effect or cascade / card deck riffle. So to an onshore observer, this effect resembles the movement of a many-legged caterpillar or centipede. A coach may therefore have to work with a team to minimize this "caterpillaring" effect. During a race it can be difficult for novice crews to stay in sync within their own boat as the sounds of other drums can be distracting or disrupting.

Very experienced paddlers sense the response of the boat to the application of their blades and the associated surging forward acceleration or deceleration during a prolonged recovery phase through the water via their kinesthetic sense as they sit braced into the boat sitting on the benches of the boat, and will continually adjust or tune their reach and catch of their blade tips in accordance with the power required to maintain continual acceleration of the hull through the water at any given moment

The steerer

The steerer, known also as the helmsman, steersman, or sweep controls the dragon boat with a sweep oar rigged at the rear of the boat, generally on the side and off centre, which is used both for ruddering as well as for sweeping the stern sidewards. The word "starboard" is Scandinavian in origin and refers to the wooden board for steer, that is, the sweep oar. On some sailboats, an arm attached to a rudder is used to control the rudder and is known as a "tiller". Dragon boaters in Portland OR USA first used Taiwanese dragon boats fitted with sweep oars for steering that were mounted over the centre line or keel line of the boat, rather than of to the side and off centre. They referred to these centre-mounted sweep oars as "tillers" and the people who manned them also as "tillermen". However, the sweep oars are used for both ruddering and sweeping wherein the blade can come out of the water for an out of water recover UNLIKE A RUDDER to which a tiller control arm is secured. The term "tiller" is therefore misapplied. Likewise, "coxswain" and "cox" are terms originally used in the British navy to refer to the person in charge of a small boat and this person was not necessarily the helmsman or person at the helm steering the boat. This term was then transferred to the person in a sport rowing shell who called the stroke. On a dragon boat, it is the drummer who calls the stroke, though if there is no drummer aboard, the task can be transferred to the helm. Some crews, particularly those from outside Asia, trivialize the role of the drummer, but both traditional and international competition officials call for an active role by the drummer, not decorative. So coxswain is not a really appropriate term, just as tiller is not. In Canadian war canoe racing, the steerer is in charge of the boat and is referred to as a coxswain.

The responses of the boat to the sweep oar are opposite to the direction of the oar grip - if the steerer pulls the oar grip right, or into the boat where the sweep is mounted on the port quarter , then the boat will turn left, and if it is pushed out, or left, the boat turns right. During a race, an experienced steerer in a well balanced boat will be able to steer the dragon boat with hardly any helm, that is with the sweep oar out of the water or with only minimal blade area immersed so as to minimize drag.

The steerer must constantly be aware of the boat's surroundings. Since the steerer is the only person in the boat who is able to con the boat looking forward he or she has the obligation to override the caller at any time during the race if the safety of the crew is threatened in any way such as an impending collision with another boat or a fixed or floating obstruction in the water.

The international standard racing rules call for each boat to steer down the centre of her respective lane and to not ride the bow wave of a boat in an adjacent lane by coming along side close aboard to take advantage of the bow wave induced surface current. Wash riding is considered to be cheating under international competition regulations and is subject to sanction by on water referees or course umpires.

Taiwanese finish line flags and flag pullers

A Song Dynasty silk painting depicts an imperial dragon boat competition in the ancient Chinese capital of Kaifung. It shows dragon boats, referee boats, racing lanes, spectators, streamers, flags and banners and race officials. Since there were no "photofinish cameras" at the time, close races were adjudicated by a panel of judges who observed which crew was the first to pull, grasp or grab a flag that rested on a buoy positioned at the finish line for each racing lane. There was nothing to "catch" since nothing was "thrown". Photographic enlargements of Song Dynasty dragonboat races are mounted floor to ceiling in the "Golden Ocean" Chinese seafood restaurant in Vancouver Canada, for example . These historical Song illustrations inspired some dragon boat race organizers in Taipei Taiwan to replicate flag pulling finish line markers in their annual races, the only place in Asia where this particular, and peculiar form of racing apparatus can be found. Thus arrangement gave rise to an additional crew position, that of the flag puller. The flag puller rides aboard near the decorated dragon head, out of the way of the drummer. As the boat nears the finish line flag float, the flag puller extends his or her arm outboard to grab the flag from the lane float to signal attainment of the finish line. The steerer has to accurately steer to boat within arms reach of the flag mount, yet not crash into it. The flag puller must not miss pulling the flag, otherwise the boat's finish is disqualified.
The incongruous English term "flag catcher" seems to have been perpetrated and perpetuated by American Dragon Boat Association racers based in the state of Iowa, since the Chinese character doesn't translate to "catcher" but rather "puller" or "grabber".

Dragon boats versus canoes and rowboats

Although a dragon boat is not actually a type of canoe, they are both paddle-craft rather than rowing-craft, and crew members rather than "row". Dragon boat paddlers sit, crouch or stand facing forward in the direction of travel, ie. facing the prow of the boat, similar to crews in other paddling craft, whereas rowers sit facing backwards. Furthermore, the oars and sweeps manned by rowers are connected to their shells, whereas dragon boat paddles are freely held. People who paddle dragon boats may also be involved with or War Canoe racing due to some similarities in training regimes and sporting ethos. But all are different, distinctive sports, with Outrigging and Dragonboating having significant cultural, ceremonial and religious aspects inherent to competition, aspects which are absent in canoe and kayak racing.

Canoes are derived from hollowed out tree trunks ; or from birch and other deciduous tree bark shells stretched over wooden frames. Traditional wooden dragon boats, however, derive from rafts of three lashed-together logs which have been hollowed out and are like bamboo rafts consisting of lashed, hollow bamboo stalks which can still be seen in China today. It is the three large, lashed, rafted logs of old that give the Hongkong style of dragon boats its characteristic hull form cross section underwater seen today, which is like a "W". The keel is higher than the two outboard chines formed by the rail planks, so a kind of tunnel effect running down the centreline of the boat is present due to this construction and design. The traditional wooden boats are wide and heavy, typically weighing in at approximately 1,750 pounds, and the detachable head and tail removable parts of the boat. As the sport of dragon boating has increased in popularity and spread to countries outside of Asia, many countries have switched to using the fiberglass dragon boats, which are significantly lighter, and usually also have separate, detachable pieces for the dragon head and tail.

In 2006, the executive committee of the GAISF General Association of International Sport Federations accepted the application of the International Dragon Boat Federation as being the sole world sporting federation that organizes and recognizes the majority of the world's dragon boat crews from 60+ countries. In the 2007 GAISF Congress convened in Beijing, the majority of the membership of the GAISF voted to ratify the decision of the executive committee in recognizing the IDBF as representing a paddle sport that is separate from other paddle sports such as kayaking, canoeing and outrigger canoeing. IDBF being elected into membership of the GAISF by the majority of the world's sport federations already in membership of the GAISF paves the way for the IDBF to seek membership in the IOC separate from the world federation for canoe racing. IDBF's membership application had been previously blocked by the GAISF member representing canoe and kayak racing, an international sporting association that originated early in the 20th century, following the development of canoe sport in the late 19th century and which claimed to automatically control the boat races which existed for more than a thousand years prior, despite not having organized any competitions or promoted the activity until only very recently and some 15 years AFTER the international modern sport was already being organized and promoted by dragon boat specialists with the assistance of the rowing fraternity.

History and culture of dragon boat racing

The use of dragon boats for racing and dragons are believed by modern scholars, sinologists and anthropologists to have originated in southern central China more than 2,500 years ago, along the banks of such iconic rivers as the Chang Jiang, also known as . Dragon boat racing as the basis for annual water rituals and festival celebrations, and for the traditional veneration of the Asian dragon water deity, has been practiced continuously since this period. The celebration is an important part of ancient agricultural Chinese society, celebrating the summer harvest. ''They first used a "dragon boat" to save a local scholar from drowning in the river and went to save his life. They now honour this feat on the 5/5 every year .''

The Heavenly or Celestial Dragon

The dragon plays the most venerated role within the Chinese mythological tradition. For example, of the 12 animals of the Chinese Zodiac the only mythical creature is the dragon. The rest are not mythical Dragons are traditionally believed to be the rulers of rivers and seas and dominate the clouds and the rains of heaven. There are earth dragons, mountain dragons and sky or celestial dragons in Chinese tradition.

It is believed sacrifices, sometimes human, were involved in the earliest boat racing rituals. During these ancient times, violent clashes between the crew members of the competing boats involved throwing stones and striking each other with bamboo stalks. Originally, paddlers or even an entire team falling into the water could receive no assistance from the onlookers as their misfortune was considered to be the will of the Dragon Deity which could not be interfered with. Those boaters who drowned were thought to have been sacrificed. That Qu Yuan sacrificed himself in protest through drowning speaks to this early notion.

Dragon boat racing traditionally coincides with the ''5th day of the 5th '' . The Summer Solstice occurs around June 21 and is the reason why Chinese refer to their festival as "Duan Wu". Both the sun and the dragon are considered to be male. The sun and the dragon are at their most potent during this time of the year, so cause for observing this through ritual celebrations such as dragon boat racing. It is also the time of farming year when rice seedlings must be transplanted in their paddy fields, for wet rice cultivation to take place.

This season is also associated with pestilence and disease, so is considered as a period of evil due to the high summer temperatures which can lead to rot and putrification in primitive societies lacking modern refrigeration and sanitation facilities. One custom involves cutting shapes of the ''five poisonous or venomous animals'' out of red paper, so as to ward off these evils. The paper snakes, centipedes, scorpions, lizards and toads - those that supposedly lured "evil spirits" - where sometimes placed in the mouths of the carved wooden dragons.

Venerating the Dragon deity was meant to avert misfortune and calamity and encourage rainfall which is needed for the fertility of the crops and thus for the prosperity of an agrarian way of life. Celestial dragons were the controllers of the rain, the Monsoon winds and the clouds. The Emperor was "The Dragon" or the "Son of Heaven", and Chinese people refer to themselves as "dragons" because of its spirit of strength and vitality. Unlike the dragons in European mythology which are considered to be evil and demonic, Asian dragons are regarded as wholesome and beneficent, and thus worthy of veneration, not slaying.

Another ritual called ''Awakening of the Dragon'' involves a Daoist priest dotting the bulging eyes of the carved dragon head attached to the boat, in the sense of ending its slumber and re-energizing its spirit or ''qi'' . At festivals
today, a VIP can be invited to step forward to touch the eyes on a dragon boat head with a brush dipped in red paint in order to reanimate the creature's bold spirit for hearty racing.

Qu Yuan

The other main legend concerns the poignant of a famous Chinese poet named Qu Yuan, also known as Ch'u Yuen. It is said that he lived in the pre-imperial ''Warring States'' period . During this time the area today known as central China was divided into seven main states or kingdoms battling among themselves for supremacy with unprecedented heights of . This was at the conclusion of the Zhou Dynasty period, which is regarded as China's classical age during which Kongzi lived. Also, the author Sunzi is said to have written his famous classic on military strategy ''The Art of War'' during this era.

Qu Yuan is popularly regarded as a in one of the Warring State governments, the southern state of Chu , a champion of political loyalty and integrity, and eager to maintain the Chu state's autonomy and hegemony. Formerly, it was believed that the Chu fell under the influence of other corrupt, jealous ministers who slandered Qu Yuan as 'a sting in flesh', and therefore the fooled king banished Qu, his most loyal counsellor.

In Qu's exile, so goes the legend, he supposedly produced some of the greatest early poetry in Chinese literature expressing his fervent love for his state and his deepest concern for its future. The collection of odes are known as the ''Chuci'' or "Songs of the South ". His most well known verses are the rhapsodic ''Li Sao'' or "Lament" and the fantastic ''Tien Wen'' or "Heavenly Questions".

In the year 278 B.C., upon learning of the upcoming devastation of his state from invasion by a neighbouring Warring State , Qu is said to have waded into the Miluo river in today's Hunan Province holding a great rock in order to commit ritual suicide as a form of protest against the corruption of the era. The Qin or Chin kingdom eventually conquered all of the other states and unified them into the first Chinese empire. The word China derives from Chin.

The common people, upon learning of his suicide, rushed out on the water in their fishing boats to the middle of the river and tried desperatedly to save Qu Yuan. They beat drums and splashed the water with their paddles in order to keep the fish and evil spirits from his body. Later on, they scattered rice into the water to prevent him from suffering hunger. Another belief is that the people scattered rice to feed the fish, in order to prevent the fishes from devouring the poet's body.

However, late one night, the spirit of Qu Yuan appeared before his friends and told them that the rice meant for him was being intercepted by a huge river dragon. He asked his friends to wrap their rice into three-cornered silk packages to ward off the dragon. This has been a traditional food ever since known as zongzi or sticky rice wrapped in leaves, although they are wrapped in leaves instead of silk. In commemoration of Qu Yuan it is said, people hold dragon boat races annually on the day of his death.

Today, dragon boat festivals continue to be celebrated around the world with dragon boat racing, although such events are still culturally associated with the traditional Chinese Tuen Ng Festival in Hong Kong or Duan Wu festival in south central mainland China .

Dragon boat racing as a modern sport

Modern dragon boat racing is organised at an international level by the International Dragon Boat Federation . The IDBF, a Member of the General Association of International Sports Federations recognises two types of Dragon Boat Racing activities, namely Sport racing, as practised by IDBF member organisations; and Festival racing, which are the more traditional and informal types of races, organised around the world, where racing rules vary from event to event.

* Sport racing distances are normally over 200 m or 250 m, 500 m, 1000 m and 2000 m, with formal Rules of Racing.

* A festival race is typically a sprint event of several hundred metres, with 500 metres being a standard distance in many international festival races.

There are also some very long endurance events, such as the Three Gorges Dam Rally along the Yangtze River near Yichang, Hubei province, China, which covers up to 100 kilometres and the Ord River marathon in Australia which covers over 50 kilometers

Popularity

Due to the long history of dragon boat racing in China, participants in cultural and racing events there number some 20 million people . Over the past 25 years, and especially since the formation of the IDBF and its Continental Federations for Asia and Europe , the sport of dragon boating has gradually spread beyond Asia to Europe, North America, Australia and Africa, becoming a popular international sport with a growing number of participants.

The Hong Kong Tourism Bureau helped move dragon boat racing into the modern era by organizing the first international races back in 1976 and eventually by facilitating the donation of teak dragon boats to countries around the world, starting in 1980 when three boats were sent to London England, for the Chinese Festival on the River Thames. The following year two HK style boats were also sent to Germany.

Notable Canadian Dragonboat Experience:

In 1986, 6 boats were donated to the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada for use at Expo 86, the world exposition on transportation, during Hongkong Day celebrations on central False Creek in early July. The Chinese Cultural Centre Dragon Boat Association was therefore formed to put on the first races in Canada to use authentic dragon boats as the Chinese community's centennial project. . Mason Hung of the HKTA and currently IDBF Senior Vice President travelled to Vancouver in 1985 to advise the CCC DBA on organizing the inaugural competition, as he had been instrumental in developing the HK International DB Races throughout the 1980s. In 1996 the first IDBF Club Crew World Championships was convened in Vancouver, on the 10th anniversary of the introduction of dragon boat racing to Canada. In 2006, Toronto Canada hosted the 5th Club Crew Worlds on the 20th anniversary of dragonboating in Canada.

But even as early as 1945, Canada was hit with "dragon fever". The Vancouver Sun newspaper dated October 10, 1945 contains a story and picture of a dragon adorned plaque presented to the Mayor of Vancouver by representatives of the republican government of China immediately following cessation of hostilities of World War II in the Pacific. The news story explains that because Vancouver was the North American gateway to Asia, it would be the ideal city to host the first dragon boat race outside of China. The festival was compared to the Mardi Gras of New Orleans. Since 1946 was to be the Diamond Jubilee of the city, it was suggested that a dragon boat festival be convened to mark the occasion. However, this would have to wait until the city's 100th anniversary in 1986 and the world exposition.

In 1992, the Governor of HK Chris Patton presented a teak dragonboat to Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney as a way to mark the close cultural, social and business relations between HK and Canada. This craft is now part of the permanent collection of the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Hull Quebec. Canada reciprocated by presenting a carved red cedar totem pole crafted by British Columbia First Nations members. This symbol of friendship is displayed in a park in HK. So two hand crafted wooden cultural icons were exchanged between these two Asia Pacific nations.

Vancouver dragon boat experts were invited by the Hongkong High Commission to produce a dragon and dragonboat racing cultural celebration at the XIV Commonwealth Games in 1995 in Victoria BC as a way to mark the official farewell of HK from the Commonwealth of Nations, since the territory was to be repatriated to Chinese rule in 1997.

Today, dragon boat racing is among the fastest growing of team water sports, with tens of thousands of participants in various organizations and clubs in over 60 countries - 62 of which are IDBF members . The sport is recognized for the camaraderie, strength and endurance fostered amongst participants, and it has also become a very popular corporate and charitable sport.

In Europe, the largest dragon boat festival is held in Malmo, Sweden, where over 200 crews — 4000 participants — take part in the Malmo Festival which lasts over a week. In the UK on Bewl Water in Kent, the Bewl Water Dragon Boat Festival now involves around 1,200 competitors annually and in 2006 raised £165,000.

Several of the largest dragon boat events outside Asia include Rio Tinto Dragon Boat Festival Vancouver, British Columbia, the GWN Dragon Boat Championship Toronto, Ontario, Toronto International Dragon Boat Festival Toronto, Ontario, the Ottawa Dragon Boat Race Festival Ottawa, Ontario, the Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival in New York Queens, New York, and the Portland Rose Festival Dragon Boat Race Portland, Oregon. The three Canadian festivals feature ~180 teams and the New York festival features ~120 teams; all are held on weekends around the June Summer Solstice in accordance with traditional Chinese dragon boat traditions. The Philadelphia International Dragon Boat Festival has held its festival the first Saturday in October for the last six years and in 2007 hosted 136 teams, making it the largest one day Dragon Boat event to be held in North America. Portland, Oregon hosts several dragon boat races annually including the largest Taiwan style races in North America with over 100 teams and two full days of racing in front of 100,000 spectators at Portland's Rose Festival.

Further evidencing dragon boating's continuing rise in popularity is the 1st Annual Orlando International Dragon Boat Festival at Walt Disney World Resort slated for October 2008. The event marks the first time for dragon boat racing to be presented in the context of a major world class amusement park and family entertainment/tourism industry property and suggests that dragon boat racing will continue to expand and innovate in directions that canoe and kayak racing will never attain.

European competition is just as varied with many national bodies aligned to the European Federation and IDBF, running competitions attended by many crews during the summer season. The EDBF European Dragon Boat League runs throughout the summer and typically a League Race is held every month in a different Country.

The British National League and UK national championships are run by the . The championship is the culmination of a season following the National League series of eight races held between May and September. There is additionally a very active charity circuit operating on a more ad hoc basis throughout Europe.

But to put things into their proper perspective, it should be noted that China claims 20 million plus dragon boat adherents while a recent "small" festival in China featured a mere 500 crews !

Organizations, Recognition & Popular Culture

The established International Federations for dragon boat sport are the International Dragon Boat Federation and its Continental Federations, the European Dragon Boat Federation and the Asian Dragon Boat Federation .

The IDBF is the recognised World Governing Body of Dragon Boat Sport and a Member of the GAISF which is part of the Olympic Movement. In being accepted for GAISF Membership, the GAISF Council have ruled that Dragon Boating and Canoeing are separate sports with their own historical and cultural backgrounds and identities.

The ICF has had a limited interest in Dragon Boat Sport since 2005, organising an annual Dragon Boat Championship only for the small number of its Member Canoe Federations, approx 10, with an interest in Dragon Boating. Therefore the IDBF classifies ICF Dragon Boating as 'Closed Competition'. Indeed, at the time when the IDBF was being founded in the late 1980s, the then-president of the ICF Sergio Orsi wished the federation organizers well in developing dragon boat racing as a separate entity.

The vast majority of financial and human capital to originate, develop, promote and sustain dragon boat racing on an international level is based within the dragonboat festival community, as pioneered by the mother of all dragon boat festivals, the HK IDBR. The most significant technical assistance in the early development years came mainly from the sport of rowing, and in the case of a couple of countries from the sport of canoeing.

IDBF member associations or federations have been established in 62 countries or territories, since 1991 as well as many others and there are a further 15 other Countries known to the IDBF, with a developing interest in Dragon Boating.

The IDBF, whilst a Member of the GAISF, is not presently an Olympic Federation of the International Olympic Committee but will be applying for this status when it has the 75 Member Countries or Territories that meet the criteria needed for IOC recognition and inclusion in an Olympic Games. Some National Olympic Committees have already accepted Dragon boat national organization for national membership and the Olympic Council of Asia recognises the Asian Dragon Boat Federation as the IDBF Continental Federation with responsibility for Dragon Boat Sport in Asia.

In China, the origin of Dragon Boating, there is a clear position that Dragon Boat Sport is not a canoe sport, a position supported by the Chinese Olympic Committee; the GAISF Council and the Olympic Council of Asia . Dragon Boating, under the ADBF is now included in the East Asian Games; the South East Asian games, the Asian Beach Games and from 2010 the Asian Games.

In December of 2007, China added Duan Wu Jie to her schedule of official national annual holidays.

Over the past 5 decades, a number of countries have issued postage stamps commemorating Qu Yuan and dragon boat competitions in New Zealand , Canada , China and Hongkong SAR, among others.

'Celebrity' dragonboaters include HRH Prince William, who raced dragon boat while a student at Eton.

The Scouting movement has a "dragon boating badge".

Dragonboating and Olympic torch relays...

The first observed use of a dragon boat for the Olympic torch relay was for the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. During the Sydney stage a Local Dragonboat club in Sydney, "" carried a torchbearer & Olympian along a section of the Parramatta River towards the Sydney Olympic Complex. For the full story refer to the DSA's document/download section .

During 2008 Summer Olympics torch relay, a dragon boat carried the torchbearer in the section on Shing Mun River, Shatin, Hong Kong . This had been never tried before in the history of torch relays. One day later , the torch was again conveyed by dragon boat in the section of the relay of Lago Sai Van , Macau.

Racing events

The IDBF has organised World Nations Dragon Boat Racing Championships for Representative National or Territorial teams every two years since 1995. In between world championship years, IDBF Club Crew World Championships are held for the world's top club-based crews.

In 2005 the IDBF introduced a Corporate and Community World Championships designed for crews that normally race in Festival Races and aimed at the 'weekend warrior' type of competitor and not the elite International standard or serious Club Crew competitor.

In 2006 under the patronage of the IDBF, the 1st World Championships for Breast Cancer Survivors - the 'Pink Paddlers' were held in Singapore. The 2nd BCS World Championships will be held in Miami, Florida, USA in July 2009, in conjunction with the World Corcom Championships

took place at the , just off scenic Marilyn Bell Park in Toronto's west end. Spectators and dragon boat fans from across North America – and the world – came out to spend the day on Toronto's beautiful waterfront and cheer on their favourite Dragon Boat crews. Over 2000 competitors took part and the event generated over 2 million dollars Canadian for the local economy.

Both the ADBF and EDBF also hold National Team Championships on alternate years to the IDBF WDBRC and the EDBF have held Club Crew Championships since 1992.

International 'festival' dragon boat races

The oldest International Festival Races are those held in Hong Kong annually. The HKIR have been held since 1976 and are acknowledged as starting the modern era of the dragon boat sport.

The biggest dragon boat festival racing events outside of Asia are in Europe, particularly in Malm&, Sweden and in the USA and Canada. Ottawa, Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal each host races featuring more than 180 25-person crews. These races take place over two days in mid-to-late June in correspondence with the 5th Day of the 5th Month custom.

International governing organisations

*
*
*

National governing organisations

* Australia
* Canada
* Czech Republic
* Hong Kong
* Italy
* New Zealand
* Philippines
* Singapore
* United Kingdom
* United States

International dragon boat clubs

* Adelaide, South Australia -->
* Sydney, New South Wales -->
* Singapore -->
* Toronto, Canada -->
* California, United States -->

Duanwu Festival

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The Duanwu Festival or Tuen Ng Festival is a traditional and statutory holiday. It is a public holiday in mainland China and Taiwan, where it is called the "Duanwu Jie" and a public holiday in Hong Kong and Macau, where it is called the "Tuen Ng Jit". In it is also referred to as "Dragon Boat Festival", after one of the traditional activities for the holiday.

The Duanwu Festival occurs on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese calendar, giving rise to the alternative name of Double Fifth . In 2008, this falls on 8 June. The focus of the celebrations includes eating ''zongzi'', which are large rice wraps, drinking realgar wine, and racing dragon boats.

The Duanwu Festival has also been celebrated in other East Asian nations. For their equivalent or related celebrations, such as Kodomo no hi in Japan, in Korea, T& in Vietnam.

Etymology

In it is referred to as "Dragon Boat Festival", after one of the traditional activities for the holiday. This name has no equivalent in Chinese. Its literal translation in Chinese could refer to any dragon boating competition.

A more accurate literal translation of "Duanwu" in English might be "Solar Maximus Festival".

The etymology and significance of the two terms used to refer to the festival "duan wu" and "duan yang" have to be properly understood in order to appreciate the true significance of this annual festival; namely the summer solstice or longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. The character yang means sun, while wu refers to the sun at the meridian or its high point in the sky of the day . Shangwu and Xiawu correspond to A.M. and P.M. . Zhongwu is noon or twelve o'clock mid-day. Duan carries the meanings of extremity, upright and proper.

Date

Whereas the actual summer solstice is determined according to Gregorian calendar reckoning , duanwu is reckoned in accordance with calendars based on lunar months consisting of 29 or 30 days. So, like Christian Easter, duan wu - the fifth day of the fifth moon or double fifth - drifts from year to year on the western calendar. Leap months are inserted periodically to keep the "year" based on 12 or 13 lunar months of 29 or 30 days in synchrony with the "year" based on 12 months of 28 - 31 days.

The sun is considered to be at its most powerful around the time of summer solstice when the daylight in the northern hemisphere is the longest. Yang , like long , is considered to be male, whereas yue , like feng huang , is considered to be female. Summer solstice is male whereas winter solstice is female. So it is natural to venerate the male dragon at the time that the sun is at its maximal strength, that is, at duan wu. This gender-related aspects corresponds to the fact that in Japan, the Double Fifth was traditionally referred to as "boys day", although this was changed to "children's day" around 50 years ago.

The very familiar Yin-Yang Taiji symbol similarly reflects the traditional Chinese world view of the duality of forces and are part of Traditional Chinese Medicine theory. The use of herbs and plants, realgar wine, mugwort, etc. to ward off evils during the height of the summer heat around the time of dragon boat races and duan wu reflects TCM concepts as well, which are founded on Daoist traditions of "alchemy".

History and Romance

Origins

The Duanwu Festival is believed to have originated in ancient Northern Chinese Regions. There are a number of theories about its origins. Today, the most commonly accepted version relates to the death of poet Qu Yuan in 278 BC despite a number of competing theories.

Qu Yuan

The best-known traditional story holds that the festival commemorates the death of poet Qu Yuan of the ancient state of , in the Warring States Period of the Zhou Dynasty. A descendant of the Chu royal house, Qu served in high offices. However, when the king decided to ally with the increasingly powerful , Qu was banished for opposing the alliance. Qu Yuan was accused of treason. In 2008, Duanwu was celebrated in mainland China as a public holiday for the first time.

Activities

Three of the most widespread activities for the Duanwu Festival are eating ''zongzi'', an angular rice ball wrapped in reed or bamboo leaves; drinking realgar wine, and racing dragon boats.

Other common activities include hanging up icons of Zhong Kui , hanging up mugwort and calamus, taking long walks, and wearing perfumed medicine bags. Other traditional activities including a game of making an egg stand at noon, and writing . All of these activities, together with the drinking of realgar wine, are designed to ward off disease or evil.

Bathing and Basking Festival

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Bathing and Basking Festival

Qi Xi

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Qi Xi , also known as Magpie Festival, falls on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month on the Chinese calendar; thus its name. It also inspired Tanabata in Japan, Chilseok in Korea, and That Tich in Vietnam. It is sometimes called Chinese Valentine's Day in recent years.

Young girls traditionally demonstrate their domestic arts, especially melon carving, on this day and make wishes for a good husband. It is also known by the following names:
* The Festival to Plead for Skills
* The Seventh Sister's Birthday
* The Night of Skills

In 2008, this festival falls on August 7.

The story of Cowherd and Weaver Girl

In late summer, the stars Altair and Vega are high in the night sky, and the Chinese tell the following love , of which there are many variations:

A young cowherd named Niulang happens across seven fairy sisters bathing in a lake. Encouraged by his mischievous companion the ox, he steals their clothes and waits to see what will happen. The fairy sisters elect the youngest and most beautiful sister Zhinü to retrieve their clothing. She does so, but since Niulang has seen her naked, she must agree to his request for marriage. She proves to be a wonderful wife, and Niulang a good husband. They lived happily and had two children. But the Goddess of Heaven finds out that a mere mortal has married one of the fairy girls and is furious. Down on Earth, Niulang is very upset learning that his wife is gone. Suddenly, his cow begins to talk telling him that if he kills him and puts on his hide, he will be able to go up to Heaven to find his wife. With tears flowing, he killed the cow, put on the skin and carrying his two children with him and off he went to Heaven to find Zhinü. The Goddess found out he had come and was very angry. Taking out her hairpin, the Goddess scratches a wide river in the sky to separate the two lovers forever .

Zhinü must sit forever on one side of the river, sadly weaving on her loom, while Niulang watches her from afar and takes care of their two children .

But once a year all the magpies in the world take pity on them and fly up into heaven to form a bridge over the star Deneb in the Cygnus constellation so the lovers may be together for a single night, the seventh night of the seventh moon.

It is said that if it rains on the night of Qi Xi, they are the tears of Niulang and Zhinü crying at the misery of their life.

See also:

As an interesting note, Barry Hughart's fantasy tale "Bridge of Birds"
is loosely based upon this celestial story, though the two figures are switched here. The girl is forced to remain on earth, and her male paramour in heaven. She is a peasant girl, and he shepherds the stars.

Variations of the story

*It was also said that the Goddess of Heaven out of pity decided to let them unite once on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month. She was touched by their love for each other.
*It is the Emperor of Heaven, or his father , who keeps the lovers separate and he does so in order that they focus on their work instead of romance.
*The star Deneb is a fairy who acts as a chaperon when the lovers meet on the magpie bridge.
*Rather than once a year, there was another version where the lovers were allowed once a month.
*It is also a Chinese myth that sometime during the night of Qi Xi the two stars Altair and Vega will actually unite on the same side of the Milky Way.

Traditions

On Qi Xi, a festoon is placed in the yard and the single or newly married women in the household make an offering to Niulang and Zhinü consisting of fruit, flowers, tea, and facial powder . After finishing the offering, half of the facial powder is thrown on the roof and the other half divided among the young women. It is believed by doing this the women are bound in beauty with Zhinü.

Another tradition is for young girls to throw a sewing needle into a bowl full of water on the night of Qi Xi as a test of embroidery skills. If the needle floats on top of the water instead of sinking, it is believed to be an indication of the girl's being a skilled embroideress.

Schedule

The seventh day of the seventh lunar month of the lunisolar calendar in the coming years.
#2008-08-07
#2009-08-26
#2010-08-16
#2011-08-06
#2012-08-23
#2013-08-13
#2014-08-02
#2015-08-20
#2016-08-09
#2017-08-28
#2018-08-17
#2019-08-07
#2020-08-25

Other romantic days in Chinese culture

Two other days have, or had, romantic associations in China: Valentine's Day on February 14th, borrowed from the West, and , on which an unmarried girl was traditionally permitted to appear in public unescorted and thus be seen by eligible bachelors. The latter no longer has such implications nowadays, however.

Vietnam: "Ngày mưa Ngâu"

In Vietnam, this day is called "Ngày mưa ngâu" . The tale is about a pair of lovers: Ngưu Lang, who is the Jade Emperor's buffalo man and an outstanding bamboo fluter, and Chức Nữ, who is responsible for fabric weaving. They were too passionate for each other to do their work well. Because of this lost productivity, the Jade Emperor became angry and decided that they must live on opposite sides of sông Ngân . But after that, the Jade Emperor felt sorry for them and permitted that they can meet each other once a year on the 7th day of the 7th month on the lunar year.

However, they cannot cross the Milky Way. To fix this, the Jade Emperor ordered crows and Racquet-tailed treepie to build a bridge across the Milky Way. From then on, the bridge has the name cầu Ô Thước .

Every year, when they meet each other, they cry and cry and cry. Their tears fall down from the sky and make a special kind of rain on this day: "mưa ngâu" . This is why the people call them ông Ngâu and bà Ngâu .