The Chinese National Day is the anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. Celebrations usually take the form of parties in amusement parks by day and fire-works and grand TV ensembles during the evening. Employees enjoy two paid days-off. It is also a good occasion for many people to take a short excursion to enjoy the beauty of the golden Fall.

Jun 11, 2009 - Jun 13, 2009

Bollywood fans unite! The International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) is coming to China. Arriving on the dawn of its tenth year celebrations in Macau, this year the IIFA promises to be bigger and better than ever before with a whole set of surprises lined up for the Weekend. Conceptualized and promoted across the world by Wizcraft International Entertainment Pvt. Ltd., the VIDEOCON IIFA weekend is the most respected South Asian film academy the IIFA Awards are the main part of it. With a viewership of almost 600 million worldwide, the IIFAs are among the world's most-watched annual entertainment events. More than 500 luminaries from the Indian film industry will travel to the region for this spectacular event along with some of the world's best-known international celebrities. The event will be broadcast globally by STAR TV to reach nearly 500 million viewers in 110 countries.

"Uncertain Future" forum in series 3rd edition - SPACE

Jul 11th, 2pm - 6pm

Starts Jul 11th , ends Jul 11th

Beijing Come and Go Center for Art (Conference hall), N46, Fangjia Hutong, Dongcheng District, Beijing, China [entrance at the North of Beixinqiao crossroads, West side of Yong He Gong Street (The Lama Temple)]

Contact

Juliette YUAN

+ 86 135 0128 3957

yidaatwork@gmail.com

groups.google.com/group/uncertainfuture

"Uncertain Future, about New Media Art • Games" is an educational art project, based on a series of forums, which takes the development of new media art in China as its research target.

The project encompasses monthly lectures to be held between April 2009 and December 2009. Each lecture will be presented by guest lecturers coming from different fields such as contemporary art, music, dance, architecture, engineering and science. The project is envisioned as an experimental field where the audience's exposure to the lecturers will enable them to further their own inquiry into the uncertain future of new media art.

"Space" in July will provide information related to contemporary architecture development in China, interpreting the theme of "Space" from three aspects: architectural space, virtual space and social space in contemporary society in China. The interactivity between new media art and contemporary architecture is the main topic in our discussion.

Speakers and topics

1) James Wei Ke (NY, Seoul / Studio Chiasmus) Topic: A Scaffold of Space + Time

2) Hajime Narukawa (Tokyo, Hongkong / AuthaGraph) Topic: AuthaGraph and Global representation

3) Liang Jingyu (Beijing / Approach Architecture Studio) Topic: Architecture Design for Public Sphere

4) Neville Mars (Beijing / DCF foundation) Topic: Speculative Spaces

Organizer: Beijing Come and Go Center for Art, Beijing Oriental Foundation for Art Co-Organizer: AREA in China Supported by: Interior Design China, Frame in China

The Chinese Moon Festival is on the 15th of the 8th lunar month. It's also known as the Mid-autumn Festival. Chinese culture is deeply imbedded in traditional festivals. Just like Christmas and Thanksgiving in the West, the Moon Festival is one of the most important traditional events for the Chinese.

The Moon Festival is full of legendary stories. Legend says that Chang Er flew to the moon, where she has lived ever since. You might see her dancing on the moon during the Moon Festival. The Moon Festival is also an occasion for family reunions. When the full moon rises, families get together to watch the full moon, eat moon cakes, and sing moon poems. With the full moon, the legend, the family and the poems, you can't help thinking that this is really a perfect world. That is why the Chinese are so fond of the Moon Festival.

The Moon Festival is also a romantic one. A perfect night for the festival is if it is a quiet night without a silk of cloud and with a little mild breeze from the sea. Lovers spend such a romatic night together tasting the delicious moon cake with some wine while watching the full moon. Even for a couple who can't be together, they can still enjoy the night by watching the moon at the same time so it seems that they are together at that hour. A great number of poetry has been devoted to this romantic festival. Hope the Moon Festival will bring you happiness.

The moon cake is the food for the Moon Festival. The Chinese eat the moon cake at night with the full moon in the sky. Here are a few pictures of the typical moon cake.

The solar eclipse will take place on July 22, 2009, in China, which will be a longest total eclipse of the sun that will occur in the twenty-first century.

China had the earliest records about the solar eclipse up to more than 1000 B.C. In ancient, Chinese people thought the solar eclipse as a horrible thing, it also meant unlucky in other civilization.

We shouldn't look it directly, we can use special tools to protect our eyes, such as two or three pieces of scrap film, solar eclipse glasses and so on, and we can also look it under the tree's shadow.

This time, China will be the best country to observe the eclipse, and Hangzhou, Jiaxing and Shanghai are the best observation sites, especially Anji of Zhejiang province, according to scientists, where the eclipse will last for more than 5 minutes.

Source: chinadaily.com

As one of the leading building energy saving industry exhibitions in China, the objective of the fair is to accelerate the utilization of building energy saving and renewable energy products, and to raise awareness of the companies in China and other countries. The fair will exhibit a wide variety of products ranging from Energy-saving & Insulation Materials, Mortar construction products, Additives and equipment, Green and energy-saving lighting products, Water-saving technologies and equipment, Energy Statistical monitoring and Energy saving buildings, and Green Projects.

Source: chinasourcingblog.org

Venue: Qingdao International Conference Center
Date: 16 - 18 Jul 09
Organizer: Construction Science and Technology

Development Promotion Center
Tel: +86 532 8079 1023

The 15th day of the eighth month of the Chinese lunar calendar is celebrated by Chinese around the world as the Mid-Autumn Festival or 中秋节 (Zhong Qiu Jie). The holiday always coincides with a bright full autumn moon.

Like many Chinese holidays, food plays a prominent role. On this day, Chinese will eat nian gao or glutenous rice cakes and mooncake, made up of bean paste or lotus-seed paste packed inside a pastry layer. There is sometimes even a salted duck egg inside.

Many Chinese will admit that they don't really like eating mooncake, but like the fruitcake at Christmas, giving the gift of mooncake seems to be a case of tradition beating out taste.

The Fable of the Woman in the Moon:
The holiday is all about tradition. And like so many festivals, it begins with a fable. The story has many, many versions, but the one I was taught as a child goes like this:

In ancient China, there wasn't just one sun in the sky. There were ten. The ten suns burned so bright that no crops would grow and the people began to starve. In this time of crisis one man, rose to the challenge. The archer Hou Yi was well known for his skill with a bow and arrow. With support from his wife Chang'e, he shot down the suns, one by one. Just as he was about to shoot down the last one, his wife stopped him. The people and plants still need light to prosper, she said.

People across the land were so happy that their suffering had ended and they crowned Ho Yi their king. At first, Ho Yi was a very good king, ruling fairly and with heart. But he soon became despotic, killing without cause and ruling tyrannically, to the dismay of Chang'e.

Hou Yi's ultimate fear was death and he became obsessed with immortality. So he sought out a witch doctor, who provided him with a pill that would allow him to live forever. When Hou Yi's wife, Chang'e found out about his plan, she knew she had to stop him.

At night, as Hou Yi slept, she crept to the place where the king had hidden the pill. Just then, her husband awoke and demanded to know what she was doing. Without a thought, Chang'e swallowed the pill and suddenly began to fly up into the twilight, until she reached the full moon. And that is where she remains today.

If you look closely at the autumn full moon, you will see her there, a pure and shining example of personal sacrifice for a greater purpose.

Some Truth Behind the Tale:
It's an old tale, depictions of Hou Yi shooting down the suns has been found on Han Dynasty (206 BCE - 9 CE) tomb murals. The story is both a parable about the dangers of gaining power and the heroism of sacrifice. But Dartmouth College professor Sarah Allan believes it may be based in some reality.

In her 1991 book The Shape of the Turtle: Myth, Art and Cosmos in Early China Allan posits that the myth of the ten suns was a strong beliefs of the Shang Dynasty (1600 BCE - 1046 BCE).

Allan hypothesizes that the Shang Kingdom's ruling group was organized in a totemic relationship with these ten suns. The myth became synonymous with their rule. When the Shang fell to the Zhou Dynasty (1046 BCE - 771 BCE), which believed in one single sun, the archer myth of Hou Yi was used to illustrate an end to Shang rule.

It's a fascinating hypothesis. And great food for thought as we watch the Mid-Autumn full moon fade away.

Source: chineseculture.about.com