Unfurling the scrolls…
Unfurling the scrolls…
Cultural Library · 文化馆
Six hosts walk you through six worlds. A calendar of festivals marks the year. Each character carries a thousand-year story in its strokes. Wander.
The Six Hosts
HSK 1 · Lantern Gate
Confucius 孔子
551–479 BCE · founder of the Confucian school
学而时习之，不亦说乎
“To learn and practice in turn — is this not joy?”
HSK 2 · Jade Market
Fan Li 范蠡
6th century BCE · statesman turned master merchant
知足不辱
“To know enough is to be free of shame.”
HSK 3 · River Library
Sima Qian 司马迁
145–86 BCE · author of the Records of the Grand Historian
究天人之际，通古今之变
“To examine where heaven and humans meet, and trace the changes of past and present.”
HSK 4 · Bamboo Mountain
Li Bai 李白
701–762 · Tang-dynasty poet of moon and wine
举头望明月，低头思故乡
“I lift my head to the bright moon, lower it and think of home.”
HSK 5 · Scholar's Court
Wang Xizhi 王羲之
303–361 · the Sage of Calligraphy
永和九年，岁在癸丑
“In the ninth year of Yonghe, in the year of guichou… (from his Lantingji Xu preface)”
HSK 6 · Celestial Archive
Laozi 老子
6th century BCE · attributed author of the Dao De Jing
道可道，非常道
“The way that can be spoken is not the eternal way.”
The Cultural Year
Next: Dragon Boat Festival in 49 days
Chūn Jié
春节
The lunar new year — the largest Chinese holiday of the year. Families travel home, doors are decorated with red couplets, dumplings (饺子) are folded by hand. The night before is the loudest of the year; the morning after is the quietest.
年年有余
“May every year hold abundance.”
Yuán Xiāo Jié
元宵节
The fifteenth day of the new year, when the moon is full again. Children carry paper lanterns, and sweet rice-flour balls (汤圆) are eaten — round shapes for reunion. The end of Spring Festival.
Qīng Míng
清明节
Tomb-Sweeping Day — the day to visit ancestors, clean their graves, and offer food and incense. "Qing ming" itself means "clear and bright"; the air at this time is said to be particularly clean. Du Mu's poem about Qingming is among the most-memorized in Chinese literature.
清明时节雨纷纷
“At Qingming, the rain falls thick and steady.”
Duān Wǔ Jié
端午节
Honoring the poet-statesman Qu Yuan (屈原), who drowned himself in the Miluo River in 278 BCE. Villagers raced boats to retrieve his body and threw rice into the water to feed the fish. Today: dragon-boat races, sticky-rice dumplings (粽子) wrapped in bamboo leaves, and the smell of mugwort hung over doorways.
Qī Xī
七夕节
The Cowherd and the Weaver-Girl meet for one night across a bridge of magpies — the lovers' festival. Increasingly observed as Chinese Valentine's Day, but the older folk tradition has women looking up at the Milky Way and praying for skill at needlework.
Zhōng Qiū Jié
中秋节
The full moon of the eighth lunar month — the brightest moon of the year. Families gather, mooncakes (月饼) are sliced into wedges, and Li Bai's moon poem is recited at thousands of tables across China.
举头望明月，低头思故乡
“I lift my head to the bright moon, lower it and think of home.”
Chóng Yáng Jié
重阳节
The ninth day of the ninth lunar month — "yang" doubled, the most yang-positive day of the year. Tradition: climb a mountain, drink chrysanthemum wine, write poetry. Now also Senior Citizens' Day, honoring elders.
Dōng Zhì
冬至
The longest night of the year. In northern China, dumplings are eaten; in the south, sticky rice balls. The saying goes: "冬至大如年" — the winter solstice is as important as new year itself.
书法 · The Way of the Brush
Six characters drawn in their proper stroke order. Click any character to watch it form again. The order matters — a stroke out of place is recognized instantly by every Chinese reader, the way a misspelled word leaps off the page.
the way
beauty
heart-mind
bright
mountain
moon