Month: January 2011

Temple of Heaven

We had a wonderful time at the Temple of Heaven. It was beautiful to see. It was surrounded by a huge park, where there were activities like practising with swords even in the extreme cold of that day. There are speakers that play the relaxing music that you hear in the video. Again I would love to return here at leisure and sketch or read a book.

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According to http://www.china-family-adventure.com/temple-of-heaven.html

The Temple of Heaven in Beijing is one of the largest park complexes in the city. It was completed during the Ming Dynasty. The Emperor would come and pray for a good harvest and worship heaven here.

The Emperor would visit this temple three times every year:

  • on the first month of the lunar year to pray for the beginning of a good harvest season
  • during the summer solstice to pray to the gods for rain
  • during the winter solstice to thank them for a good harvest

Blue is the color of Heaven. Red is an Imperial color. This temple is 38 meters high and the wooden pillars support the ceiling without nails or cement. Truly amazing.

In the Emperor’s time, people believed that the earth was square and the heaven and skies were circular. Based on this, the main building is designed in a circular concept to resemble their idea of heaven.

Music in Beijing No.2 Experimental Primary School

The music in Beijing No.2 Experimental Primary School was taught by specialist music teachers. All the music teachers can sing amazingly and the children learn songs from Chinese Opera. There were many grand pianos throughout the school. Children also had instrument lessons either during school time or after school. At the beginning of every lesson there is a two minute show and a couple of children are chosen to show their talents. Have a look at the video of one boys performance.

The children practice vocal exercises before they sing.

A beautiful heartfelt song, I wish I understood what it was about…

The Forbidden City

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Pao Pao, Mr Hunter, Mr Sun and I visited the Forbidden City on an extremely cold day. My cheeks were completely numb with cold and the Forbidden City is huge and mostly outdoors. It is a very spectacular place that has beautiful painted buildings and even in the cold was very busy. We met a family from a province in China who wanted to take a picture with me.We rubbed the golden pot for luck. We saw some amazing clocks in the museum that were given to China as gifts from different countries, there were many from England.

We rushed through the many courtyards due to the cold and I would like to return to the Forbidden City when the weather is better and spend some time sketching the beautiful patterns on the buildings.

Look out for the map of the Forbidden City that will be on display around school shortly.

According to http://www.wisegeek.com

The Forbidden City is not actually a city at all, but the Imperial Palace complex in Beijing from which the Chinese emperors ruled their empire for centuries. It was called the Forbidden City because it was forbidden for commoners or even uninvited nobility to enter its sacred precincts.

The largest royal complex in the world, it was constructed over a fourteen year period, from 1407 to 1420, during the Ming Dynasty. It was the home and center of government for 24 emperors of China through the end of the Ming Dynasty and the entirety of the Qing (Ch’ing) Dynasty, until the overthrow of Imperial Rule in the early part of the Twentieth Century.

Mandarin teacher training in Year 4

The children in Year 4 are getting ready for the Chinese New Year celebrations by becoming the Mandarin language teachers for the day. The children will be sharing their knowledge across the school by teaching the basic greetings and numbers.

Here are some children from 4OQ doing some teacher training in Year 2. They created all their own resources and created their own chant!

Mandarin numbers to 10 Chant;