Photos from the opening of the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, on Friday night. The ceremony was held in an amphitheatre-like setting – facing the Pearl River with the Guangzhou TV Tower at sight – instead of the usual stadium-mode. Splendid stuff which could rival the Beijing Olympics. Image by Xinhuanet [Cn]…
Chinese Events
Falconry Festival, Xinjiang, China
The 2nd Falconry Festival was held on March 21st at a village in Akqi County, Xinjiang, China. Hundred of falcon tamers, mainly Kyrgyz people, performed various demonstrations during the event.
Falconry (hunting with eagles/falcons) has a long history in the region; Kyrgyz nomads have been hunting with golden eagles for thousand of years. The eagles are known as Berkut in local language, and the activity is called Berkutchi.
You can check out a video which I posted earlier, of neighbouring Kazakh people doing the hunt.
Chinese New Year, fireworks, kids
A photo taken on the 2nd day of Chinese New Year 2009, of my niece and nephew playing with fireworks. Kids are always the most joyous people during CNY…
Today (Feb 9) officially marks the end of CNY 2009; CNY is traditionally celebrated from New Year’s Eve to the 15th day on the New Year, each day with its own significance.
Chinese these days don’t have the luxury to celebrate the entire festival though; most people would have resumed their daily (working) routine by the 5th day of CNY, and waited until the last day (the Lantern Festival) for some final celebrations.
Happy Chinese New Year once more… best wishes to everyone.
Tomato war in Dongguan, China
The Chinese folks in Dongguan city, Guangdong province, were trying to emulate the famous Spanish La Tomatina festival by creating a tomato festival of their own.
The festival was organised by Dongguan Tourism Bureau. An estimated 10,000 crowd took part in the food fight at Dongguan’s South China Mall on Sunday (Oct 19), with 15 tonnes of softened fresh tomatoes being used for the ‘war’.
The tomato battle has drawn quite some criticism online though; lots of Chinese netizens are critical about the food wastage, while some are questioning the logic to mimic a western festival when their own culture is not being fully promoted.
Dragon Boat Festival, zongzi, bakchang
The Dragon Boat Festival (Duanwu Festival) is celebrated by the Chinese on the fifth day of the fifth month on the Chinese calendar (June 8 this year).
The festival is celebrated to commemorate ancient poet Qu Yuan, who jumped into a river and killed himself after his country was conquered by the other.
Locals who admired his patriotism fed rice dumplings to the fishes in the river which he committed suicide so that the fish would not disturb his body… some others also rode on boats and beating on drums to scare away the fishes for the same purpose.