Suzhou embroidery, Hunan embroidery, Sichuan embroidery and Guangdong embroidery are the four most famous in China. Suzhou embroidery has a long history. It has been excavated in Auspicious Tower and Mount Tiger Tower made in Northern Song in Five dynasties. The embroidery was made in rather professional ways, which is believed to be the earliest by now. It is recorded that suzhou embroidery was very prosperous and the art reached perfection after Song dynasty. Each family bred silkworms, made embroidery. There appeared embroidery thread lanes, brocade mills, embroidery flower streets, etc., in the city. That proved the prosperity of suzhou embroidery. Some lived by embroidering. Daughters in rich families were engaged in it as a way of killing time and molding their experiment. That’s how “popular embroidery”, “boudoir embroidery” and “palace embroidery” came into being. Suzhou embroidery in Qing dynasty reached its culmination. Suzhou was called the “market of embroidery”, famous both at home and abroad. There were various ways of knitting and they were applied widely. Mountains, rivers, lakes, pavilions, flowers and birds, characters were all embroidered. Suzhou embroidery was largely needed in the palace. Therefore wonderful and magnificent embroidery sprang up.
At the end of Qin dynasty and the beginning of Ming dynasty, Songtao, an expert at embroidery, renovated the traditional way of knitting. Flowers and birds, characters embroidered in new ways, or endowed with new meaning were very characteristic. The image of Lina, the queen of Italy absorbed the theory of chiaroscuro. Close attention was paid to the vividness of the images. Such embroidery was called “art embroidery” or “emulation embroidery”. Songtao combined the previous art and his own experience, classified the way of knitting into 18 varieties, as recorded by Zhangsui in a book. Thus the way of knitting was systematized. Her own embroidery won several awards for the country in International Fair.
The pieces of embroidery on characters, animals and flowers, mountains and water are for appreciation. They can also be made into pictures, book marks, a set of hanging scrolls, etc. There are also the varieties of embroidery: single-side embroidery, double-side embroidery of different colors. Double-side embroidery, the specific style of suzhou embroidery can be appreciated from both sides. Pictures look exactly the same and wonderful on both sides. Special ways are used in knitting instead of knotting. There the end of silk threads are invisible. It is knitted in the right angle without piercing the other side. Both sides will present the same excellent effect. The Nangjing Bridge, Xiangjun, the peony, the cat, the goldfish are the masterpieces in double-side embroidery.
Shanghai. Shanghai. Shanghai. Shanghai is on the lips of everyone who is looking to experience the newly revamped Paris of the East. The city has always had a vibrant cultural scene, with cinemas showing the latest Chinese films and Hollywood blockbusters, and theatres featuring opera, dance, drama, acrobatics and puppets. I have yet to find a mime performance but I’m sure it’s waiting to be discovered. For many events it’s worth either booking at the relevant venue in advance (try to have your requirements written out in Chinese) or if you’re feeling extra lucky, try turning up on the night of the performance.
The most notable venue is the grand, new multi-purpose theatre in the Shanghai Centre on Nanjing Xi Lu, which hosts international concerts, ballet, opera and acrobatics. For Beijing Opera, there’s an additional venue on Fuzhou Lu (south side) just opposite Renmin Park, while the nightly acrobatics performances can be found at Lyceum Theatre, home of that mainstay of colonial life, the British Amateur Dramatic Society. The nightly acrobatics show 
by the famous Shanghai Acrobatics Troupe is well worth watching. Part circus, all fun and laughs it includes tumbling, juggling, Chinese clowns, magic and animal acts. Some of these skills – sword swallowing, fire eating and the amazing balancing acts – were developed as long ago as the Han dynasty. Others have taken on a trashier look featuring motorbikes, spectacular kitchy costumes and even a giant panda driving a car. (He has a bad habit of speeding and not watching the road.)
There are plenty of cinemas in Shanghai, some of them dating back to the pre-1949 days when things were “on a need to know” basis. All foreign films are dubbed into Chinese. (I had the good fortune of catching Spiderman and was amazed at how good his Mandarin was.) For those interested in English language films, Malone’s bar (part of a Canadian chain) has a weekly film night on Wednesdays, and the British Council also shows films from time to time.
For a more upscale dining and lounging experience, Xin Tian Di is the place to see and be seen. Once a meeting place for the Mao Zedong’s Communist Party, it has now become a celebration of fine food, nightlife and flashy consumer goods – practically everything Mao and his party opposed. The outlets range from a Vidal Sassoon salon to the requisite Starbucks. There are flashy French and Italian restaurants, La Maison and Va Bene, plus nightclubs like Star East, a sort of Planet Hong Kong theme club launched by Jacky Chan and other Cantonese stars. Design is what makes Xin Tian Di so attractive, inside and out. Each of the two to three-story buildings looks unique, reflecting the exquisitely-preserved twists and turns of an evolving neighborhood, over the decades. Interiors are equally eye-catching; some of Shanghai’s best artists and designers worked overtime on each shop and restaurant, determined to dazzle each other.
Of the three major beverages of the world– tea, coffee and cocoa– tea is consumed by the largest number of people and China is the homeland of tea. It is believed that China has tea-shrubs as early as five to six thousand years ago! It’s around this same time that Starbucks came into existence (just kidding or am I?). Tea from China, along with her silk and porcelain, began to be known the world over more than a thousand years ago and has since always been an important Chinese export. At present more than forty countries in the world grow tea with Asian countries producing 90% of the world’s total output. So when the English clamor for “tea” time, most likely it’s tea from Asia. Sorry ol’ chap.
All tea trees in other countries have their origin directly or indirectly in China. In fact, the word for tea leaves or tea as a drink in many countries are derivatives from the Chinese character “cha.” The Russians call it “cha’i”, which sounds like “chaye” (tea leaves) as it is pronounced in northern China. Even, the Japanese character for tea is written exactly the same as it is in Chinese, though pronounced with a slight difference. The habit of tea drinking spread to Japan in the 6th century, but it was not introduced to Europe and America till the 17th and 18th centuries. Now the number of tea drinkers in the world is still growing. Cup of tea?
1 ) Green tea: Green tea is the variety, which keeps the original colour of the tea leaves without fermentation during processing. This category consists mainly of Longjing tea of Zhejiang Province, Maofeng of Huangshan Mountain in Anhui Province and Biluochun produced in Jiangsu.
2 ) Black tea: Black tea, known as “red tea” (hong cha) in China, is the category which is fermented before baking; it is a later variety developed on the basis of the green tea. The best brands of black tea are Qihong of Anhui , Dianhong of Yunnan, Suhong of Jiangsu, Chuanhong of Sichuan and Huhong of Hunan.
3 ) Oolong tea: This represents a variety half way between the green and the black teas, being made after partial fermentation. It is a specialty from the provinces on China’s southeast coast: Fujian, Guangdong and Taiwan.
4 ) Compressed tea: This is the kind of tea, which is compressed and hardened into a certain shape. It is good for transport and storage and is mainly supplied to the ethnic minorities living in the border areas of the country. As compressed tea is black in colour in its commercial form, so it is also known in China as “black tea”. Most of the compressed tea is in the form of bricks and is, therefore, called “brick tea”, though it is sometimes also in the form of cakes and bowls. This tea is mainly produced in Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan and Yunnan provinces.
5 ) Scented tea: This kind of tea is made by mixing fragrant flowers in the tea leaves in the course of processing. The flowers commonly used are jasmine and magnolia among others. Jasmine tea is a well-known favorite with the northerners of China and is my personal favorite as well.
Tea has been one of the daily necessities in China since anyone can remember. Many people like to have their tea on hot summer afternoons to counter the heat and bring on an instant feeling of cool and relaxation. This is why tea-houses are everywhere in towns and market villages in Southern China and provide the perfect backdrop for the locals to meet and chat over a cup of tea. Medically, the tea leaf contains a number of chemicals that includes tannic acid and a bit of caffeine. Teas that are mixed with aromatics help to break down meat and fat, promoting digestion. Many of the ethnic minorities in China whose diet consists primarily of meat have a special saying, “Rather go without salt for three days than without tea for a single day.” Soon fast food diners everywhere will be heard saying, “Quarter pounder with hot tea, please.”
Feng Shui, which literally means wind and water, is an ancient Chinese art and science that is a blend of architecture, interior design, Chinese mathematics and old fashioned common sense. Feng Shui reveals methods of improving your relationship with the environment around you as well as aspects of intelligence, relationships, and movement. While Western Horoscopes might be fun and offer you a glimpse into your monthly love life, Feng Shui is an essential part of your daily life like eating, sleeping, and breathing. It is a way of life.
Today, Feng Shui is commonly found in restaurants, private homes, shop houses, and corporate offices. Whether it’s the placement of a tall green plant or the particular angle of a desk, Feng Shui at work is not obvious to the untrained eye.
(Yin & Yang)
The Feng Shui Compass or “Lou Pan” is an indispensable tool for geomancers in charting “Chi” energy and directional influences. Without it, Feng Shui is not truly Feng Shui and one is only practicing design and personal preference. While Martha Stewart may have excellent design sense, Feng Shui is the true Chinese science that can explain why a house’s layout creates a calming effect or how to remedy a room that feels unsettling.
