A country without culture like a tree without roots

I still remember that when I was a child, my parents kept telling me the four great inventions of China. It was these inventions that represented the highest standard of ancient Chinese productivity and unique culture. Sadly, things have been changing in the last decade. Nowadays, pupils tend to use portable digital devices to read whether novels or magazines instead of real book. They don’t care about how tough the invention of paper is or who is the inventor. That change gradually becomes the shell for the continuity of long-lived Chinese culture.

This is just a miniature of contemporary China. New generations are losing their ancestors’ treasures. If a country can be regarded as a big tree, then the culture is the roots of this tree from which the stems and branches grow. The roots nurture the whole tree during its growing period. Now, as the tree grows up, people cut the roots off. That’s sarcastic. “Hu tong”, ”Quadrangle courtyard” etc. have faded out from my memory and my son or daughter may only know it from Wikipedia without seeing the real entities. Tracing our roots may be not an easy job, but it is worth to do; so I appeal that juniors have the obligation to be taught about our culture.

A country without culture can never called a complete country just like a tree without roots cannot called a complete tree. Tracing our roots to conserve our culture is not a voluntary, but a responsibility that everyone who lives in this tree should take.

tracing the root

When I was in China, I did not spend too much time thinking about my root. Now, I am in Singapore, and I start to realise my root exist in a remote town, in China. Maybe only in some particular case will people find the importance of their roots.

People far away from home will often think about their roots. When people deal with homesick, they may find where is their real roots. When I stayed home, I seldom read the current news. Now, when I chat with my friends, I always ask them what has happened in my hometown. I sometimes do not get anything new, but this is becoming a habit. A few months age, my seniors celebrated the Chinese New Year with my schoolmates and me. At the end of that day, we sang "Chinese in my heart", and most of us burst into tears. These like that happen frequently in my daily life. I think I will never find the love for my root if I do not go abroad.

Old people tend to pay more attention to their roots. In my country, old people will try to come back to their hometown. They fight for their careers for most of their lives, and they want to have a rest at the place where they are born. Some sick old men will give up curing by the hospital. They would rather die in their home rather than stay in hospital. At the end of life, they want a sense of belonging. 
 Sometimes, people do not have a strong feeling to trace the root. In some cases,however, people will find the feeling hidden deep in mind. People far away from home or the old people will care more about their roots and give them their deep love.

Where are the roots?

Every year, my family will go into a small village, which is in big mountains, on Tomb Sweeping Day. The village is the place where my ancestors lived.

Last year, we went there as usual. When I was kowtowing to my grandfather, my father told me some words that really impressed me. “Maybe this is your last time to come here. Next year you are in a university now. Your elder sisters and brothers have already grown up and gone away, and now it is you. You need to remember that these mountains should never be forgotten. Your ancestors are all here, and your roots are here.” I knew what my father was worried about. With years going by, they become older and older. Then no one will come in the mountains anymore, for children are all far away from home. There is a great chance that we will forget this place after many years. 

I feel sad that this is unavoidable to some degree. This is like a formula of life that children grow up, and then go away. My father spent his childhood in the mountains, and he can tell me everything that happened then. They are all his precious memories. My father really loves these mountains, but he still went away because he must take responsibilities for my mother’s and my life.

I usually think that when something becomes better, something else may become worse. People are pursuing better lives, but along the way, people usually leave behind their roots which are deep in somewhere far away.

A Turning Point

I can clearly remember an important turning point during the preparation period of the college entrance exam. At that time, when only about a hundred days were left before the ultimate exam, I still could not got ideal grades though I thought I had tried my best. After a practice exam in which I was disappointed by my grades again, my class teacher had a talk with me. He pointed out that the only reason why I failed to get good grades was that I did not do as much exercise as other students did. He told me how much contents my classmates would averagely cover every day, and I reluctantly accepted the truth that I did not do enough exercise compared to them. Then I started to ponder how I managed my time. I realized that a habit of managing time was deeply rooted in my mind since I began my student life; I usually play first before doing homework. When I was in primary school, everyday when I returned home after school, I would put aside my school bags and began to watch cartoons or play with my brother until my parents returned home. Sometimes if my parents came back late, I would find that the time left at that evening was not enough for finishing homework. Hence, through my primary school's life I often failed to finish my homework. Also, back to the preparation period for college entrance exam, I still kept this time-wasting habit that I would play different kinds of sports every afternoon until my high school's compulsory study time began in the evening. Though I studied very attentively during the study time, I did not learn as much as others did every day. While I were enjoying myself in basketball courts, my classmates were absorbing mass knowledge at the same time! Since that conversation with my class teacher, I decided to give up my sports time and devoted it to study. I did made notable progress after that.

Tracing our roots

Tracing our roots

If we are trees, “tracing our roots” simply means we go along our root deep into ground, and maybe we can find something fantastic if we are lucky enough. But there “our” means our human beings and “roots” is where we come from and something about our ancestors. Then how about talking the development of how life was evolved from the Ancient Ocean to modern times?

Long before, the warm ancient ocean had pregnanted with a cell, which is the real “ancestor” of all organisms. … There will not be a stop even we keep talking for several days without rest, because history is too long and complicated and I do not think many people interested in it. The fairy tales, however, are more interesting. One example is that in western culture God made Adam and Eve, who were the first two people in the world. Another one is that Nvwa (a goddess in Chinese mythology) created humans with mud in Chinese culture. But we Chinese usually say we are descendants of Empire Yan and Empire Huang or Dragon. Myth is people created when they had no idea about where were humans came from. Nevertheless, after Darwin’s “the origin of species” published, people accepted the truth that we were evolved from gorillas.

It took a long time for gorillas to be forced by environment to climb down from trees and learn walking until they evolved to humans. At the beginning, the ancient humans, our ancestors, lead a rough life. When they entered the Old Stone Age, however, they opened the civilization of human beings; in other words, they knew how to make and use simple tools, such as in Xi’an Banpo and Hemudu.

The history we human beings tracing our roots is a way to perceive ourselves, and through tracing our roots, we will be grateful to our ancestors because the languages, behaviors, customs we inherited from them are a great amount of wealth.

A gift to all Chinese

As I know,
now, in Singapore, local Chinese students learn history about Singapore, but
they learn little about Chinese history. Even some Chinese students from China do
not know about Chinese history. Actually, Chinese history is a gift for all Chinese
people.
From history,
we can learn a lot. On the one hand, some events that happened in the history
reflected how people thought and how things developed. They can help us avoid
mistakes in advance and deduce results. On the other hand, there were many
great persons in the history who had unique method to solve problems. These are
also what we can imitate and improve ourselves. It is pride for us to talk about
history with others, because china has a long history, especially tell others
stories happened in history. As a Chinese, in my view, it is our duty to know
what happened in the past, because it is a part of culture and tradition to
pass on.
In sum,
although history is something seems boring, in which way I think, it is essential
for us to learn history. Now there are many books, or novels about history. Also
some movies and TV dramas are created about history. I think it is an
interesting way to know history by them. We can choose ones which near the true
history and enjoy them. In a word, we need to know and learn from our own history,
as a gift to all Chinese.

Most important personal quality in my family

One reason that I am proud of being a Chinese is that China has a colorful and rich history. Tracing back to thousands years ago, the personal quality was treated seriously and was considered a important part of the old society. Some of those moral thoughts still exist and many people today. In my family, the most important personal quality is respecting and caring elders.

My parents always tell me that I should respect elders and give a hand to them; never argue with them because they have more life experiences than me. Although they may be wrong sometimes, I should try my best to understand them, respect them and love them. Their greatest wish is to get care and attention from their children. But when I was young, I could hardly understand my parents' words. There was one thing that made a big impression on me and taught me the meaning of respecting and helping elders. Once when my parents and I was on our way to another town to visit my grandparents, my father saw an old woman who was carrying a big batch of firewood walking along the road. While I was thinking it was a long way to the nearest village, my father stopped the car and asked the old woman if she minded we giving her a ride. In fact, she was frightened of us; she might think we were robbers or some bad people. But after she saw a child inside, that was me, she get into the car and we sent her home. We got grateful thanks from her and I thought she might remember us in the rest of her life. After this case, I understand some of my parents' words. What elders need is very simple; their children's care and respect is enough.

My family education teach me to be respectful of elders and I will try my best to understand them and do as mush as my parents do to help them.

My reflections of Chinese concept of space

  As what I have learnt today, different cultures influence people’s concept of space. To illustrate, in U.S. culture, people highly value their privacy. In contrast, in Arab culture, people prefer to stay with family members rather than be alone with their “privacy” only. As I am from China, you may wonder how people’s concept of space in China is. Here are some of my reflections of Chinese concept of space.

  First, Chinese think highly of family relationships. Most people will live with their parents and other family members until their twenties or even later. Consequently, there are usually more generations and also more people in big families than those in U.S. Thus, the place in their houses is more public, compared with that in small families. Many family members have to share the limited place, which makes them not care about their own space and privacy much.

  Second, Chinese parents are used to controlling their children’s lives, though some of which have already been adults. Some of parents even give themselves the power to enter their children’s room to see what they are doing, whether they are study or not. As what we have seen, teenagers are not given much private place in China.

  In conclusion, most Chinese do not value their own space much and some of them are not given this right to have much private space.

Religion in China

This Monday, our tutor asked us Chinese students what religion do we believe in. We all answered we are free thinkers. When the tutor asked the reason, none of us could give a specific explanation. I have searched on google about how foreigners think of the religion of Chinese. I found that most foreigners think we do believe in religion. I felt strange, so I began to think about the reasons why we cannot know ourselves better than foreigners. The following is what I have thought of.

I think most Chinese believe in many religions and they usually do not focus on one religion. As a result, they make themselves confused, and they even do not think they have believed something. For example, most Chinese believe in mixed Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. Temples are often located in some places of interest, and they are "must-see" attractions. Adults, especially old people, like to visit such places to pray for their children, even though they have to pay much money to buy the joss sticks and candles. As for Confucianism and Taoism, students learn them from primary school until college. They are traditional thinkings in China. Chinese government uses them to typically represent Chinese culture and promote our culture overseas. We students are accustomed to these thinkings, and some even have got tired of them. We do not regard them as religions, but actually they are and we do believe in them more or less. Some thoughts have already been rooted in our deep hearts. We may expose some religious thoughts unintentionally through our behavior.

As I have explained, most Chinese indeed believe in some religions to a certain degree. However, every religion is believed only a little, and most Chinese are not crazy about a specific religion. Therefore, we always think we do not believe in any religion at all. In fact, we have cheated ourselves.

Personal space

Today we learned “Edward Hall and the Concept of Space” in class. I think Edward Hall’s view of personal space is interesting, so after class, I searched more information about personal space on the Internet. The notion of personal space was introduced by Edward Hall. In his book, The Hidden Dimension (1966), he describes the subjective dimensions that surround each person and the physical distances they try to keep from other people, according to subtle cultural rules.

The definition of personal space is the region surrounding people which they regard as psychologically theirs. I think everyone wants a space that only belongs to him or her. In modern society, most people value their personal space very much. If their personal space is intruded by others, they may be uncomfortable, anxious, or angry. Sometimes, however, it is difficult to maintain personal space, especially in crowded places. For example, in a crowded train, elevator, or street, some people regard physical contact with strangers as a disturbance, but it is unavoidable.

In China, personal space is not valued as important as that in Western countries. In general, people tend to be close to each other when standing in a queue in China. I think people’s attitude towards personal space is influenced by their culture to some degree. Chinese admire harmony, so I guess they may stand closely to show their friendliness.

How much is the space I really need?

Under the today's topic ,we disscussed about the space we should have. It reminded me of a song of Stefanie Sun--'A Perfect Day', in which she said one of her dreams is owning a big house with big French windows. I have been thinking for a long time about how much space I really need. Big houses are usually popular. Most people want to buy a house as big as they can afford. Houses nowadays are no longer a place to live in. In contrast, they have become the symbol of status and wealth. Is a big house really better than a small one? No one can give me a definite answer.

A wide room makes me feel relaxed, because I can have as much space as I want. A narrow room makes me feel uncomfortable with the feeling of hard to breathe. But a wide room can also make me feel scared if nobody else is in the room. Many of my friends share the same feeling. One of my friends went to the new MRT station on the Circle Line the other day. When he arrived at there, it was so new that no one got off at that station. He was the only one in that big station. Although he had so much space, he felt very uncomfortable and left there soon. A small room sometimes, however, can make me feel cozy. When I visit a museum which covers a big land, the general impression is magnificent. The moment I stand in the big hall, I can only admire the excellent work of architects. But when I go to a small personal museum, although it is crowded of collection, I feel cozy and usually moved by the effort the collector made.

Both of big rooms and small room has their advantages and disadvantages. As for me, I have dreamed of owning a big castle in an island as a Comte before. It is the place where novelty things usually take place. Living in such a big house is really an honor. But in the evening, it is scaring to live in a big and empty room. Compared with it, I prefer to live in a small house with family, as long as it has enough room for every family member to live in. I enjoy the feeling of warmth in a relatively small house.

Falling leaves settle on their roots

   This week our topic is about tracing our roots. This topic makes me think of a Chinese film that I watched several years ago. The name of that film is “Falling leaves settle on their roots”.    

   It is a comedic but meaningful film, which starred a famous Chinese comedian Zhao Benshan. In this film, he starred as a peasant, Lao Zhao who left hometown and worked in Shen Zhen to earn his living. However, during his time working there, his one co-workers and villager, Lao Liu died because of the constructional accident. Because of the Chinese tradition that getting back to hometown after death, Lao Zhao promised to Lao Liu’s families to send his body back to his hometown. On his way home, he met people of different society classes--thieves, robbers, tourists, nurses and so on. After going through all the difficulties, he sent the body back only to find that it had become a reservoir.

   His encounters reflected the underside of the society to some extent. Because of its comedy color, the whole film is full of laughter. However, the thesis behind it deserves our thinking. Why a poor peasant can keep his promise to send back his coworker’s body even though he met so many obstacles? His resolve and honesty are precious characteristics that many people in today’s society have lost. At the end of the film, Lao Zhao finally arrived at the hometown, but his hometown had already become a reservoir. Hometown was where Lao Liu and his roots lay in, so without the hometown where is their roots? That is what the author wants us to think about. Who are we? Where do we belong to? Where are our roots?

  The most precious point of this film is just the deep self-reflection for those people who have forgotten their origin, their roots.  Whether you have watched this film before, spend some time meditating where are your roots?

Chiromancy

Today, we have learnt about Feng shui. Most of people think Feng shui is a superstition. However, nowadays, Feng shui has become more scientific, and some school has started to teach Feng shui. As another Chinese ancient culture, chiromancy also begins to show some scientific ideas.

In the past, Chiromancy is a collection of ancient Chinese traditions intended to predict people’s fortunes by lines on the palm. It does not have any scientific explanations, but today, Chiromancy, which becomes a tool to tell people their physical condition, has a scientific theory.
When people are in their mother’s body, they will grip their fist, if the air is enough. Otherwise, they may release their hand, and the line in their palm will be light. Most of people, who do not breathe enough air in that time, have a weak body. From their palm, people can know if they are born healthy.

In addition, some acquired disease also can be found through Chiromancy. People have six main veins inside the palm. These veins are associated with people’s organs, and many diseases have something with organs. If people were computers, the palm would be a monitor. It can show unique color and texture, which represents that a certain organ has some problems.

Of course, Chiromancy still contains some superstitions, but in the aspect of medicine, it has some authenticities. I think as medicine is developing, more and more questions about Chiromancy will be solved, and people can know their body better.

Tracing our roots

After seeing the theme “tracing our roots” this week, a question came into my mind. Roots? Where was your roots? Where was my roots? China? Beijing? NUS? As far as I am concerned, it is a complex problem, rather than a question, because it is hard for me to feel a solid sense of belonging; sometimes I am even confused about what I should pursue in the future here. After thingking about this for a long time, I found three main problems, which our SM3 students may have, related to this severe problem.

First of all, one of the most inevitable problems is homesickness. Singapore is a multi-racial and multi-culture country and we can find various kinds of food and products here, but I think that we are still likely to miss the food cooked by our parents in China; we miss our friends’ “happy face,” so we might easily get homesick. Secondly, generally speaking, most Singaporeans are kind to us. I deeply enjoyed the activities held by MOE and my host family; they are precious experiences for me. Maybe we can adapt to the lifestyle here because of these interesting activities, but we are still foreigners; it is difficult for us to find our identities and get a sense of belonging. Finally, another difficult issue might arise among us international students. After finishing our bond in Singapore, we will be around thirty years old. A friend once asked me, “Do you think thirty years old is too old for you to live with your family?” Now I can confidently answer—As for me; no. From my parents' perspective, however, the answer is absolutely YES. I do not think it is realistic to bring our parents here when we are only thirty years old, and I miss my parents very much, so it is a big problem for me.

In summary, maybe it is too serious to think of these questions now, but I think that we Chinese students will face these issues in the future. The next time my friends ask me “what will you choose after graduation?”, I think maybe I will give them my answer—I extremely love Singapore, but I also love Beijing and China; I miss my parents and brothers there. In addition, I will always cherish my maxim—where there is a will, there is a way. Though there might be many obstacles in the future, I believe we can smoothly deal with them and enjoy our life in Singapore after five years’ study in NUS.

Winter, my best season

Many people from south have the cold impression on winter in north. Actually, it is not so cold that I can not bear it. Although I hate coldness, winter is my best season. Winter, especially snow, leaves me good memories. One is about my father. My father is a civil engineer and was very busy when I was very young. He usually worked in another city. But in winter, because of the cold weather, my father had a month holiday. During this time, he often took me to the park have fun. When it snowed, he made snowman with me. We really had a great time. Therefore, I always dreamed of snowing in early age. Another memory is about my classmates in high school. I studied in a boarding school and in winter when it snowed, we had to clear up the snow on the track. On the Christmas night of my Senior Three, my class got an extremely good result in the month exam. All of us were so excited that we decided to celebrate this important time. In coincidence, it snowed heavily outside. That meant we would go out instead of sitting in the classroom to study till ten. We ran out and threw snow balls to others. Even one of my classmates was buried with snow. We had great fun that night. These are the main reason why I like winter, especially snow. In addition, another subordinate reason is that I do not need to bring an umbrella, which is inconvenient.

My Taste On Basketball

     My taste on basketball changed when I was in senior high school. Originally, I felt painful playing basketball. I was tall, thin, easy to get tired, and my body was inflexible. My body condition decide that basketball, a sport need both strength and stamina, is not that suitable for me. When I was in junior high school, however, I still tried this hard sport because nearly all of my classmates play basketball after class. I was miserable in the basketball court. I cannot pass and shoot the ball accurately, withstand the strong guys to make rebound, and keep active after a couple of minutes. Gradually, I felt increasingly bad about basketball, so when I entered senior high school, where basketball was not as popular as it was in my junior high school, I gave it up.
      I thought I would never touch a basketball again until one day when I witnessed a last second shoot in basketball court. That happened in a basketball match between two classes in my high school. The magic guy complete three successful shoot during the last minute of the game, which eventually reverse the result of the game. His delicate technic, inevitable faith and great calmness excited me. I can't help picking basketball up again. Although I still struggled in the court, a strong will to become an awesome basketball player like that guy urged me to carry on. As I trained hard and gradually became skilled, I found my taste towards basketball had changed;I had fell in love with it. I gained a great sense of achievement when I managed to put the ball into the basket. I also felt content when I found myself getting stronger because of playing basketball.
     I hated basketball at the beginning but fell in love with it at last. This inspires me that even if sometimes we feel bad about a stuff, our attitudes may change in the future. Now playing basketball has become a part of my life.

My Reflection on Chinese and Western Modern Music

I like listening to music. The classical music in the West and in China, such as symphony and Beijing Opera, both have their own specifics, and both of them were once popular. However, nowadays, they are not as popular as modern music, such as pop, rock and blue, especially for the young people. Modern music in the West varies from modern music in China in forms of the content (I don’t refer to the language), and the variety.

When it comes to content, the popular themes of the two kinds of music are different. Lots of the Chinese modern music use love as their theme, and a little of them care about other respects of life, while Western modern music cares various realms of personal life and the society, such as politics and religion. As for the variety, most of the Chinese modern music are Blue, R&B, Rap or Rock. Some artists also combine Chinese traditional music and modern music very well, and this kind of music called Zhongguofeng was popular with lots of people. In the west, there appears to be more kinds of music such as punk, jazz and heavy metal. And there are lots of branches under each kind of music, which make the Western modern music much more various than Chinese modern music.

I think there are three reasons for the differences between the two. First, the atmosphere of China is relatively conservative. Most people are not as open-minded as people in Western countries, and there are also some political factors. This conservative atmosphere makes the theme of the music be restricted, and some themes are forbidden. I don’t mean the atmosphere itself is wrong, but it does no good to the development of the music. However, there also appears to be lots of unique and popular singers, such as Cui Jian (The father of Chinese rock music). The second reason is the education. In China, people don’t learn art or music as an apart of their school education. So the talented people may not be found when they were young. Also in this condition, people are not aware of the function and importance of the music for people and society. Thirdly, China missed the rapid-developing period of rock music of the last century. At that time, rock music was popular and developed into different branches in America, while in China the Cultural Revolution was happening.

There are also some other factors causing Chinese modern music and West modern music to be different. But none of them makes one better than another. It depends on the taste of the listener. Although Chinese modern music has a long way to go, there are still lots of good songs. On the other hand, Chinese modern music needs to be more various, closer to the personal and social life. I hope Chinese modern music can develop better and better in terms of quality and quantity, and have its own features in the future.

My Preference Of Spicy Food

I cannot live without chili everyday! I started to eat spicy food when I was a young girl, because my parents like spicy food too. There must be a course with chili, otherwise I do not want to eat at all. I remember once I found there in no chili in any courses, so I refused to eat, protested to my dad and cried. Chili is really good food; it is abundant of vitamin C. And I want clarify that chili is not the cause of pimple, but I can tell you that if people tend to have pimple, even if they quit chili,they will still have pimple. Therefore chili is cute and innocent; for girls, chili can benefit your skins. For boys, eating chili can make a good impression on girls from Chongqing and Chengdu where are a lot of beauties. 

The reason why I like spicy food is its variety. Next I will introduce you some delicious spicy food!

Chongqing noodles is one of the most popular food in Chongqing. When I first came to Singapore, I was desperate that why I have only a little chili in my bowl, why the chili is not spicy. Because I was already fell in love with Chongqing noodles!

Tips :if you cannot bear very spicy food, please ask to lessen chili, or buy drinks first. If you have some noodle soup splash in you eye, please do not panic, I know it is hurt, but it will not damage your eyes.

Spicy degree: *****

Chongqing hotpot: it is a historical food, but not homemade in recent years,because is require a lots of spices and ingredients, so we usually go to a restaurant for hotpot. In winter, it will warm you up. In summer, it will make you sweat.

Tips:if you feel hot and very spicy, you can put some vinegar in your bowl with sesame oil.

Spicy degree:****

Effects of prference

If there are two things for you to choose from, which one will you choose? I think you will choose the one which you like better. This week’s theme is taste and preference, so today I want to talk about effects that preference has on our daily life.

First, it can make you become too subjective. I cannot repudiate that all people have their preference on choosing things. Of course, someone first choice is his or her favourite thing. Owing to this reason, people cannot pay attention to other choices, which makes trouble. For example, you need to buy a text book. You may choose the book written by your favoutite writer. However, there may be some better books, but you are not interested in. As a result, you make a bad choice without realizing it.

Second, preference may do harm to others. I think you all have your own preference on who can be you friend. That is to say, if you meet someone you are not interested in, you may have a prejudice on him or her. In our daily life, it actually happens. For instance, in a class, when something bad happens, teachers will be suspect ones who are considered as bad gays. In this way can teachers do harm to their heart. Maybe they want to correct, but no one believe in them.

So in summary, too much preference can have a side effect on our daily life.

Hip Hop Culture

“YoYo? What’s up, man?” You may see a man with a du-rag (a kind of kerchief), a bling bling necklace, loose clothes and sneakers walking swingingly and saying such words in a movie or music video. This is a typical dress-up for a man who likes hip hop. Nowadays, hip hop is popular all over the world, and it is also my favorite pop culture.
First, I want to introduce the history of hip hop. Hip hop is originated in African-American community during the 1970s in Brooklyn, Manhattan of the United States. In this poor area, the black people had no money, no job and had nothing to do, so they just danced, sang, played basketball on the street. Because of their music talent, bodily flexibility and creative inspiration, they developed this unique culture. The original purpose of hip hop was to release black people’s dissatisfaction to the inequality of the society and the discrimination of Caucasian, so hip hop was a culture belonging to the lower classes. Along with the social progress, now the spirit of hip hop is to express the true emotion of people and pursue the fairness and freedom. Hip hop is no longer a culture only for blacks, but a global culture popular in many countries.
Hip hop culture has four main parts which are DJing, MCing, Graffiti and B-boying. DJing means that a DJ uses two turntables at the same time and creates a unique sound by combining two separate songs into one song with some magical methods. MCing means that a person says some rhyming lyrics with a strong accompaniment. This quick and impromptu singing is also called rap. The great rappers I know are Dr. Dre, LL Cool J, 50 Cent, Jay-Z and Eminem, Graffiti is writing or drawings scribbled or sprayed illicitly on a wall or other surface in a public place. Graffiti can express a person’s idea or thoughts visually. B-boying is a popular style of street dance, which has powerful moves and difficult skills like standing upside down by one hand or head. Besides these four main parts, there are many other derivatives, such as beatbox, BMX, skateboard, clothes and so on.
Hip hop is playing a significant role in providing a platform for the youth to express their ideas. I like it because it can give me a feeling of free and energetic.

The princess in my heart

Every girl has a dream of being a princess. In my heart, there is a most beautiful princess. She is my favourite actress: Anne Hathaway. Though she is not as beautiful as Audrey Hepburn and not as famous as Marilyn Monroe, she is the best actress in my heart. At the first sight I saw her in the movie The Princess Diaries, I thought，yes, that was the kind of girl I liked and I wanted to be. Her bright big eyes, radiant smile and noble temperament gave a deep impression. In this movie, I did not see a actress acting as a princess, but a real princess showing me a story of herself. And to some extent, Hathaway and Mia Thermopolis, the princess in this movie, had some common points. Both of them were ordinary girls at first, and became famous in a short time. Hathaway was born in Brooklyn, New York City. Her father is a lawyer, and her mother is an actress who inspired Hathaway to follow in her footsteps. When she was 19 years old, she became famous through her outstanding performance in the movie The Princess Diaries.Many critics praised Hathaway's performance, with a BBC critic noting that "Hathaway shines in the title role and generates great chemistry." Besides this big success, she also performed well in the movie The Devil Wears Prada, One Day and many other movies. One of my favourite movies is Becoming Jane. It tells the life experience about the English writer Jane Austen. In this movie, I saw another side of Hathaway: She is not only a lovely and optimistic princess, but also a thoughtful woman. But no matter what kind of character she acts, she will always be the princess in my heart.

My favorite author

Sanmao is my favorite author. She is a confident, outgoing and unbending women. One of her most famous books is "tales of the sahara". Although Sanmao has passed away, many people, such as myself, still prefer to read her books than other's. The interesting content of her articles and her natural way of writing impresssed me a lot.

I like to read her articles because of her interesting content. She had a unique view of the world when she was only a child. One day, her Chinese teacher told the class to write about their dreams. Instead of a doctor, a teacher or an architect, she wrote that she wanted to pick rubbish when she grew up. She said that if she did so, she could keep finding valuable things from what the others viewed as rubbish, and every day would be like an adventure. I think maybe she did the same thing when she became an adult. She travelled around the world and found interesting experiences from daily life.Most of people may think their lives boring, but she tried to find valuable memories. She has this ability to find interesting ideas in common or even "useless" things. 

Most of Sanmao's articles are easy to understand. She writes about her personal experince and shows her opinions through the stories. Reades can learn about forgiveness, tolerance and politeness from her meaningful articles. Nowadays, it seems popular for authors to use complex plots and gaudy langauage. An increasing number of authors spends little time thinking and reading. They just keep writing to maintain popularity among readers and they use beautiful words to cover poor content. Ultimately, readers will feel bored with such books and these kinds of books can never have a long-lasting influence. 
Sanman is my favourite Chinese writer. She wrote about the attractive life of common people and her way of telling stories is kind and simple. Perhapes that is the reason for her enduring popularity.

Yang Rou Pao Mo

Yang Rou Pao Mo

At the first sight of “Tastes and Preferences”, delicious foods come to my mind immediately, especially the food in my hometown, Shaanxi. I would like to introduce one of the most famous foods, Yang Rou Pao Mo, which I like very much.

From the name Yang Rou Pao Mo, it is clear that the main materials are mutton and Mo. To be more specific, Mo is Guo Kui, which is one of the eight strangest things in Shaanxi, and it is delicious as well. Tear the Mo and cut the mutton into little pieces, then put them together with vermicelli into water and boil them until it is mature. Then the tasty Yang Rou Pao Mo is done, but do not be hurry to have it although it smells luscious. It will taste better if you eat it with Sweet and Sour Garlic and you will feel it is the most delicious food you ever have tasted. What is more, there is also preparing special chili sauce for people who are fond of chili.

Now I have drooled when I imaging the taste of Yang Rou Pao Mo. But everyone has his own appetite; someone may be allergic to mutton and does not like Yang Rou Pao Mo at the first time. But just like durian, people will fall in love with it at last after try having it for many times.

Hope you can enjoy the tasty Shaanxi food, Yang Rou Pao Mo.

Melbourne：a city I want to travel to

As St. Augustine said, “The world is a book and those who do not travel read one page.” I am a person who wants to travel all over the world in the future and to enjoy the scenery in different places. Melbourne is the city I want to travel to most. As the second biggest city in Australia, Melbourne is prosperous and populous.

The first reason why I feel like visiting Melbourne is because it is often referred to as the “cultural capital in Australia.” Melbourne is the birthplace of cultural institutions, such as Australia film, Australia television, and Australia dance styles. Melbourne is an international cultural centre with a long history. It is the second city after Edinburgh to be named a UNESCO City of Literature. Many of the old buildings are classical and splendid, such as Victoria Arts Centre, Rialto Tower, and St. Paul’s Cathedral.

The second reason is that the natural scenery in Melbourne is extremely beautiful. There is an abundance of parks and gardens in Melbourne, and the Fitzroy Garden is one of the most famous. I prefer the scenery in the countryside of Melbourne. It feels like that everything is pure and peaceful there: the blue sky, the write cloud, the verdant grass, and many kinds of animals. The first time I saw a photo of koala, I felt it was so cute that I would go and see a real one in the future anyhow.

Melbourne has many other features that will attract visitors. I hope, one day in the future, I will stand in the countryside of Melbourne and play with a koala happily. I am looking forward to the day’s coming.

My reflections on our generation

  First of all, I have to clarify that “our generation” here means the people who were born from 1990 to 1995 in China. There are many Chinese holding a negative attitude towards us. They say we are naughty, cold-blooded, impulsive and some other bad characteristics. In contrast, I have my own opinion about our generation.

  First, although many people depict us as cold-blooded and irresponsible children according to little evidence, I believe we are a warm-hearted generation. The earthquake in Wenchuan is unforgettable for every Chinese. In this disaster, however, there were many teenagers from 16 to 18 participating the disaster relief. For instance, Ma Tianzhi was an ordinary high school student in Changsha. After the earthquake, he decided to quit the college entrance examination to go to Wenchuan and take part in the disaster relief. It is known to all Chinese how important this examination is to a high school student, but to save and support the refugees, he gave up it with no hesitation. I think it is proof that we are responsible for the whole society and we are not as cold-blooded as what some people said.

  Second, I think creativity is our greatest advantage. Only if there is creativity can a technic get improved. It is the same with people. Only if a person has a creative mind can he improves and becomes successful. For example, Lee Kaifu, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, all of them have a sense of creativity and they become successful finally. Therefore, we will become better and better since we have this unique advantage.

  To sum up, I disagree with some subjective people who said negative things about us and as we have seen, our generation’s future will be promising!

My Understanding of Rules and Freedom

As human beings, we all have our human rights in the modern world. We need human rights to attain freedom and equality. However, the world is never absolutely free and equal. Sometimes we may find we are not as free as we can imagine. For example, we are not allowed to drink and eat in the classroom, and we are not allowed to chat or sleep during a lecture. When I asked the reason for restricting my freedom since I were young, the answer was always the rules. On the one hand, it seems that the rule is a barrier that prevents us from being totally free. But on the other hand, the rule is also a barrier that prevents our human rights from being violated. In other words, freedom needs a boundary, in order to keep everyone equal, and it is the rule that defines the boundary. To understand the importance of the rules, I have two points of views.

My first view is that we need rules to keep a balance between freedom and equality. Rules are necessary to keep a group (e.g. a class, a company or a country) working normally and effectively. If we don’t have rules, there will be more conflicts, quarrels and even battles in the world than now. For example, if we don’t have rules in class, everyone can chat or sleep as he or she wants, then the teachers will be in fury, the atmosphere of the classroom will consist of jokes, arguments and words uttered in one’s sleep. Without rules, the group in the classroom will be a mess.

My second view is that we have to obey the rules because we chose to obey them. For instance, we chose to apply for a university before we enter it. When we made our choice, we already know that there would be rules in the campus. Once we have made our choice and got into the university, a relation between school and students are established, which means we have to give up some so-called “freedom” in exchange for the educational resources. To that extent, rules work like a promise that we made when we chose to do so.

Though we should keep on pursuing freedom, we should have a proper understanding of the importance of rules, and make efforts to keep the balance between the two.

Developing World, Developing Preference

Different times make different generations. One day, I watched a TV show of a famous cross talk performer Zhou Libo. He talked about the preference of pose of different generations when taking photos. The 1960s generation prefer to stand straight like a soldier when they are taking photos. The 1970s generation prefer to cross their arms before chest. That pose means confidence. The 80s generation like to make the gesture of “V”, which means victory. As for people (mostly teens) from the 90s, they are fond of blowing their mouth to make the face plump, because autodyne(taking photos of oneself) is popular, and having plump face is a way to be cute.

I think it is really an interesting but typical description. The delicate preference of pose shows characteristics of different generations as well as the development of the World, especially China. During the 1960s, the economy of China is still stagnating and China is not very open to the world. People born during that time are still much conserved. As time goes on, China becomes more and more open, the same goes for people’s mind. The trend in western countries began to influence the preference of the Chinese. So people want to show their characteristics such as confidence and victory. In modern times, science is rapidly developing and technology is rapidly updating. The Internet connects the world and modern products have been used to take photos. Girls want to show themselves to others on the Internet, so they take photos by themselves and make them cuter to attract more people.

The world never stops developing, so the preference of people will keep on changing. What things will be in 10 years? No one can predict. But the world will be better and better!

Tastes Are Not Only Tastes

          There are many different kinds of flavors in people's life. From my experience, each of them gives me a different feeling.
       Sweet, which is my favourite taste, makes me feel warm and cosy. It makes me think of something happy and joyful, because sweet is usually related to candies and cakes, which always give me a comfortable imagination. The next flavor is sour, and the typical food is lemon. I like to drink lemon juice in summer time, for the sour makes me cool and gives me a sense of refreshment. At the same time, I will think of swimming and ice. Then I want to talk about spicy. According to my friends' appetites, I figured out that almost every one likes spicy food, such as barbecue and hot pot. Spicy is a very popular flavor. After tasting spicy delicacies, I often feel hot and kind of energetic. The spicy flavor can excite me to some degree. Maybe the least popular taste is bitter, which really makes me feel bad. But sometimes sweet follows bitter, such as drinking coffee. Coffee tastes bitter first, then it becomes sweet in my mouth. Just like people's lives, go through the sorrow, and people can find happiness.
       There are so many wonderful flavors in people's lives. Maybe they can used not only to describe food, but also to interpret people's experiences in life. Because of all there flavors, people's lives are avoided to be tasteless. Every flavor gives people a different mood, as a result, we can enjoy our lives under different mood and  our life can sure be colourful.

Post 80s generation

In China, we have the post 80s, 90s, 00s generations. Three or four years ago, there was a fierce debate among people on the post 80s generation. Their preferences are quite different from their parents. People cannot tell whether this generation can take over the responsibility from their parents or not. In my opinion, they did a good job.
Some opponents say that the post 80s generation has two main drawbacks. The first one is that they prefer to get all they want without sharing. Due to the one-child policy, one family could only have one child, so they parents excessively cared about their living condition, health and education, as a result, people tended to think that they would grow selfish, arrogant and dependent. The second one is that they prefer to get more money by any means. They were born just after the reform and opening-up policy, they witness the rapid development of China, they didn’t want to follow the poor lives as their parents; they prefer to leading a life with Starbuck, Nike and Apple. Therefore, they acquired for more money.
But from some facts, we can see a totally different post 80s generation. They prefer to devote themselves into volunteering. During the Wenchuan earthquake, we can see that the most of volunteers were the post 80s generation. They set up websites to call for help, they donated their blood and they managed to collect money. They did all they can to help the people in Wenchuan. Also, they played an important part in the 2008 Olympic Games. Usually, they took the most tough work as well as great responsibility.
From these facts, what I saw is a generation which is confident, responsible, and ready to help others. We should acknowledge the post 80s’ contributions to the whole society.

Show your respect to others’ preference

     Everyone in the world is different, so they may have different taste and preference in various fields, such as music, films and so on. My own favorite group is a Korean male group named TVXQ. 

     It is a famous Korean group in Asia, which debuted in 2003.This group consists of five handsome boy, Xiah, Mickey, Hero, Max and Uknow. Their fans are called Cassiopeia, the name of a constellation, because the positions of T,V,X,Q this four letters in the keyboard look like the shape of Cassiopeia. This group has an 800,000member fan club, which has been recorded by the Guinness World Records. They are famous for their beautiful harmony and powerful dance. It is just their handsome performance that made me interested in Kpop dance and I began to learn it. However, what attract me most are not their handsome appearances, beautiful voices or the powerful dance but their pursuit of their dreams. They try to do the best to realize their dreams. As the first Korean group coming to Japan, they met many difficulties. They couldn’t communicate in Japanese, and in Japan no one knew about  them at that  time even though they were famous in their own country. Everything was like when they were not famous, so they had to do everything from the starting point. They even attended the opening celebration performance of  small shops. Anyway, through their hard work they made it. Now they are the most popular K-pop group in Japan. 

     I admit that I am proud of them, but this is not all that I want to say. During these years when I am keen on Kpop and TVXQ, I find that some people have prejudice about people who adore other countries’ culture. They even show their contempt publicly on the Internet, such as insult the fans or spread bad rumors about those idols. I cannot understand why they do this. In my opinion, people’s love of a culture or an idol has nothing to do with politics or something like that. It is incorrect to say that someone is disloyal to his or her own country just because he or she likes other countries’ culture. That is ridiculous. What I like or dislike is just my own choice, my taste and my preference. It is impossible to make people in the world all love someone, but please show your respect to others’ preference at least if you cannot really agree with them.

Just being yourself

Different people have different preference. However, some people like to oblige others to change their preference, and some other people might believe others’ words and change their opinions easily.

I think there is no need to push everybody to have the same hobbies. We are able to share different information, because of the different preference. For example, some people like Chinese movies and some other people like American movies. When they meet each other, they could know more about movies and they might be more interested in movies. If everybody has the same hobbies, there might be fewer products, so the world may be boring.

People also should think twice before they decide to change their opinions. I still remember the plot in “Friends” that Phoebe, who is one of the heroines, said to Ross, who wants to persuade her to believe the evolution, “Are you telling me that you are so unbelievably arrogant that you can’t admit that there is a teeny, tiny possibility that you could be wrong about this?” Ross replied: “There might be a teeny, tiny possibility.” “I cannot believe you caved,” phoebe said, “you just abandoned your whole belief system. How are you going to face yourself?” It is just for fun, but we can learn something from it. We don’t need to quit our opinions for others. The most important thing is that you can face yourself.

Maybe just being yourself, not obliging others, not being affected by others easily, is a good life style.

Are you “in”?

Are you still wearing T-shirt with blue jeans everyday? If your answer is “Yes”, then you are already “out”.

Fashion leaders today prefer to choose the bright-colored and oddly designed clothes, which can represent their rebellious characteristic. They wear clothes of several exaggerative colors mixed together to draw public’s attention. For example, the blend of red and green, which seen as a taboo in traditional chromatics, can be one of “in” cultures today. Another typical example is the popularity of shabby jean (the jean with holes on it). These “worm-eaten” jeans sometimes can cost much more than a normal one.

People’s pursuit of “in” never stops. It is noticeable that superstars play an important role in spreading the “in” culture. Once a movie star wears a special cloth or trouser in a movie, it can lead a new fad few days later. People are willing to spend thousands of money in their clothes to imitate their idol.

Whether you accept this kind of culture or not, in fact teenagers are influenced by it unconsciously. As my personal opinion, trying to live as an “in” man/woman is not a bad thing, but we are not expected to blindly spend our money just to show we are “in”.