Chinese Culture, Editor's Pick

The Secret to the Greatest Joy

The ancients left this saying to future generations: “The greatest joy is to do good.” The following story shows how those who do good will prosper, while those who act selfishly will fall. According to Qian Yong, the author of the Qing Dynasty’s The Garden of Daoism, doing good deeds is like accumulating wealth that ...

David Jirard

The Taoists hold that doing good deeds accumulates wealth

Retribution for Abusing Mother-in-Law

Retribution is a divine law. It was the summer of 1960. There was an ordinary family living in Daguan village in China. A man and his wife lived with their two children, a little boy of eight and a daughter who was eleven years old. Their grandmother lived with them too. She was their father’s ...

Emma Lu

Bamboo in a courtyard of Suzhou Museum.

Medical Sage Li Shizhen

Li Shizhen was a great medical practitioner who lived during the Ming Dynasty. He is famous for the Compendium of Materia Medica, the most comprehensive volume ever written in the history of traditional Chinese medicine. He is known as the “Sage of Medicine” and became famous due to his extraordinary medical skill. There are even stories of Li ...

Max Lu

One of ancient China's most famous medicine practitioners, Li Shizhen(1518-1593, author of 'Compendium of Materia Medica.'

Be Polite and Learn to Say ‘I’m Sorry’

Manners are an extremely important part of any culture, especially when you are a visiting tourist and foreigner. It’s always good to know a few basic phrases so you can be polite. As a foreigner, you stick out like a sore thumb in any given social situation, and unfortunately likely to draw a lot of ...

Emma Lu

Two men and a woman studying a graph.

Traditional Chinese Family Rules of Etiquette

Since ancient times, China has been known as a “nation of etiquette.” With customary codes and rules, families from ancient times to the present have handed down, via word of mouth, these tried and true family rules of etiquette. These are not only a matter of etiquette, but they also reflect a person’s upbringing, which ...

Emma Lu

Three generations of a Chinese family.

Stay Alert to Mysterious Warnings of a Pending Catastrophe

A pending catastrophe can come at any time without warning. A long time ago in a village called Gaojiazhuang, men worked the farms and women engaged in spinning and weaving. The villagers lived a comfortable and well-off life. One day, a man dressed in rags came to the village carrying two bamboo baskets full of earth on a shoulder pole. He went ...

Michael Segarty

Famous ancient Shanxi Village of Jianchuan, Yunnan, China. Photo to illustrate a story of a ragged soil-seller who's actions warned villagers of a catastrophe and told them virtue and tolerance could save people.

A Monk Suffered Retribution After Using Buddha Dharma to Make Money

Even a monk can suffer retribution. During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, there was a monk called Yan Tong in Northern Qi. Although he was a monk, he was unable to achieve the Four Great Emptiness, and in the end, he did not really want to practice. In fact, Yan Tong loved money as though ...

Emma Lu

A statue of a golden buddha.

7 Icons of Traditional Chinese Culture

Chinese culture is over 5,000 years old and has impacted the entire world in many different ways. 7 icons of traditional Chinese culture 1. The spirit of the tea ceremony Chinese tea, such as Xi Hu Long Jing (West Lake Dragon Well) and Yunnan Pu’er, have long been world-famous due to their superior color and flavor. ...

Billy Shyu

Clay teapot and cups sit on a wooden tray on top of a table next to the scenic waterways in Xitang, one of China's watertowns.

Celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival in Hong Kong

Originally a harvest ritual, the Mid-Autumn Festival has been celebrated since the early Shang Dynasty (1600-1046 BCE). In the past, Chinese families would make offerings of wine and mooncakes to the heavens, expressing gratitude for the year’s harvest. The Mid-Autumn Festival is also known as the Chinese Moon Festival and the Autumn Lantern Festival is celebrated ...

Emma Lu

Sky on the morning of the Mid-Autumn Festival.