chinese new year, cui tu, filial piety, han yu, lu you, lunar new year, poetry, song poetry, spring, tang poetry, wang anshi, william blake, year of the tiger

Celebrate Chinese New Year With These 5 Ancient Poems

However you plan on celebrating the Chinese New Year, don’t forget to take some time to reflect within, and if you are like me, you might like to spend some time reading some ancient poems on the topic. This Lunar Year in the Chinese Zodiac is the Year of the Tiger. The tiger represents courage, ...

Jessica Kneipp

Yellow Chinese dragon.

Life Lessons From Nature

“And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul.” — John Muir Ah, nature’s wisdom. It’s a balm for the spirit and an education for the soul. It has nurtured a wealth of poetry and literature, inspired some of the most treasured works of art, and moved musicians to create ...

Tatiana Denning

Buddha statue in a garden.

Nature Welcomes Us to Spring With Bright Yellow Wattle Flowers

Walking by the Yarra River in Warrandyte, I noticed how amazingly the bright yellow wattle flowers stood out, like sparkling yellow lights glowing in the trees. Wattle is Australia’s national flower. The colors of this flower are green and golden yellow. When I see it, it always ignites my patriotic heart for my country. September ...

Trisha Haddock

Yellow wattle flowers are small ball like flowers growing in a cluster on a stem of a tree.

Qingming Festival: Chinese Honor Ancestors and Spring

The Qingming Festival is also known as the Tomb-Sweeping Day or the Pure Brightness Festival. It falls on April 4, 5, and 6 in the Western calendar. The number “four” is a homophone for the word “death” in Chinese. So double numbers (such as the date 4/4) are usually not considered auspicious. However, April 4 is ...

Jessica Kneipp

The Tang style poem of Qinming by Du Mu.

Bringing Wellness to the Body: Spring Hacks

Winter is over. Now is the season of spring — the season of rebirth and renewal. It is the perfect time to do some cleansing of the body, mind, and soul. And what better way to do it than to take inspiration from the 5,000-year-old traditional Chinese medicine (TCM)? Chinese medicine and philosophy state that ...

Raven Montmorency

Spring flowers blooming.

Chinese Traditional Medicine: Taking Care of Health During the Spring

According to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), every change in the universe and human body occurs in five stages that are linked with a specific season as well as organs in the body. Spring is seen as the beginning of a new cycle of life and a time for rejuvenation. It is represented by the wood ...

Emma Lu

A bluebird in spring.