Archive for March 22nd, 2010

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China Travel – Jinggang Mountain

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

Jinggang Mountain lies in the middle of Luoxiao Mountain on the border between Hunan Province and Jiangxi Province. It is a great mountain with most peaks over 1,000 meters above sea level. The area surrounding the mountain extends to some 250 kilometers.

High peaks and thick forests contribute to make the mountain quite steepy. In the autumn of 1927, Chinese Red Army led by Mao Zedong and Zhu De established the first countryside revolution base of the Chinese Communist Party in this place. Therefore, Jinggang Mountain is also known as the Cradle of Revolution. There are over 30 revolutionary relics preserved in the mountain and 10 of them are under national key protection.

Jinggang Mountain is rich in natural resources with a forest coverage rate of 64%. More than 3,800 different plants grow here, including over 30 rare tree species and over 20 rare animal species. Owing to its rich resource of animals, a nature reserve of 16.6 square kilometers was established here by the state in 1981. The mountain was selected as one of the key national scenic spots in 1982.

Major scenic spots in the mountain include Ci Plateau, the highest peak, Penholder Mountain, Huangyangjie, Dragon Pool, Tongmu Hill, Xiangzhou, and Xiankou.

(Source: chinaculture.org)

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Chinese Culture – Rock Paintings in Helan Mountains(2)

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

Archeological research in recent years has found that rock paintings are dispersed throughout the northern and southern parts of the Helan Mountains, mainly in the Shulin Entrance, Heishi Hill, Chaqi Entrance, Helan Entrance, Huihui Gorge, etc. In the hinterland of the Helan Mountains alone that stretches over more than 200 km from south to north, over 20 rock paintings were discovered.

Rock paintings in the Helan Mountains include portraits, totems, geniality signs, and scenes of hunting, grazing, war and dance. There is something genuinely uninhibited and unaffected about them.

Rock Paintings at Helan Entrance

Rock paintings at the Helan Entrance are representative pieces of rock paintings in the Helan Mountains, with 2,194 rock paintings recording the life and production of China’s northern nomadic people. These paintings have been deemed as a cultural treasure for researching the history of Chinese culture, religion and primitive art.

The Helan Entrance is located in Jinshan Village of Helan County in the middle of the Helan Mountains, and is more than 50 km away from the City of Yinchuan. With its steep cliffs, the Helan Entrance is located 1,448 meters above sea level.

Featuring quiet and beautiful scenery, overlapping ridges and peaks, and loquacious mountain springs , the Helan Entrance boasts many rock paintings that span over 600 meters.

Among the rock paintings at the Helan Entrance, human faces are most prevalent, followed by images of oxen, horses, donkeys, birds, wolves and other animals.

The human rock paintings appear simple yet bizarre — some with horns on their heads, some with feathers and others wearing either pointed or rounded hats. As for the female images, some have headdresses, while others wear their hair in a bob, looking elegant and beautiful, and suggesting that the pursuit for beauty dates back thousands of years.

（Source: chinaculture.org）

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Learn Chinese Podcast – Moo shu pork

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

Moo shu pork Moo shu porkMoo shu pork (also spelled moo shi pork or mu xu pork) is a dish of northern Chinese origin, possibly originally from Shandong.

In its traditional Chinese version, moo shu pork consists of sliced or shredded pork chop meat and scrambled eggs, stir fried in sesame and/or peanut oil together with thinly sliced wood ear mushrooms (black fungus) and day lily buds. Thinly sliced bamboo shoots may also be used. The dish is seasoned with minced ginger and garlic, scallions, soy sauce, and rice cooking wine (usually huangjiu).

Moo shu pork is served with a small dish of hoisin sauce and several (generally four) warm, steamed, thin, white tortilla-like wrappers made of flour, called “moo shu pancakes” (Chinese: 木须饼, pinyin: mù xū bǐng)。The moo shu pork is then wrapped in the moo shu pancakes, which are eaten by hand in the manner of a soft taco. The diner typically wraps his or her own pancakes, although waiters in Chinese restaurants are often willing to perform this function as a courtesy to diners who are unable to do so. First, a small amount of hoisin sauce is spread onto the pancake, then a spoonful or two of moo shu pork is placed in the center of the pancake. The bottom of the pancake is folded up slightly (to prevent the contents from falling out), and the pancake is either folded or wrapped from left to right, in the manner of a soft taco. Unlike the practice in wrapping a burrito, the top is usually not folded over, as the pancake is generally eaten immediately and thus there is no danger of the food falling out of the top, which is the part which is eaten first. Because the dish often contains a great deal of liquid, care must be taken that the pancake does not become soaked through and break during rolling or eating.

(Source: culture.chinese.cn)

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