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Ni hao from CHINA

Emails from the children in Lilian's class

We are in Class 2, Grade 5. There are sixty-six children in our class. Most of us like reading, watching TV, chatting with our families and friends, shopping, and traveling. We learn Chinese, Maths, English, Sports, Art, Science & Technology, and many other things. We have a reading class and another three classes every morning. The classes begin at 8 am and end at 11:20 am. Then we go home for lunch and a rest.

We must go back to school for another three classes from 2:30 pm to 4:55 pm. We have to do some homework in the evening. We are used to go to learn some extracurricular lessons or take part in extracurricular activities on Saturday, just as playing piano, singing, dancing, Chinese traditional painting, Chinese traditional calligraphy and many other things. We have a little spare time when the school is opened. How about you?

China is a beautiful country. It looks like a rooster. Beijing is the most famous place. It has the Great Wall, the Summer Palace, Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven and so on. Others are the gardens in Suzhou City Jiangsu Province, the West Lake in Hangzhou City Zhejiang Province, the Huang Mountain in Anhui Province, Terracotta Warriors and Horses in Shanxi Province, Tibet and Sinjiang.

The national emblem of the PRC features Tiananmen Gate beneath the five shining stars, encircled by ears of grain and with a cogwheel at the bottom. The ears of grain, stars, Tiananmen and cogwheel are gold; the field within the circle is red, as are the ribbons festooning the bottom of the circle. These two colors traditionaly represent auspiciousness and happiness. Tiananmen symbolizes the unyielding spirit of the Chinese people in their fight against imperialism and feudalism; the cogwheel and ears of grain represent the working class and the peasantry, respectively; the five stars, as above, stand for the great unity of the Chinese people under the leadership of the CPC.

The national flag of the PRC is a red rectangle emblazoned with five stars. The red of the flag symbolizes revolution; the stars are yellow so that they will stand out brightly against the red ground. The larger star represents the CPC and the four smaller ones, the Chinese people. This expresses the great unity of the Chinese people under the leadership of the CPC.

The national anthem was written in 1935, with lyrics by the noted poet Tian Han and music by the famous composer Nie Er. The lyrics are as follows:

Arise, ye who refuse to be slaves;
With our very flesh and blood
Let us build our new Great Wall!
The peoples of China are at their most critical time,
Everybody must roar defiance.
Arise! Arise! Arise!
Millions of hearts with one mind,
Brave the enemy's gunfire,
March on!
Brave the enemy's gunfire,
March on! March on! March on, on!

This song, originally named "March of the Volunteers", was the theme song of the film, Sons and Daughters in a Time of Storm. The film tells the story of those who went to the front to fight the Japanese invaders in northeast China in the 1930s, when the fate of the nation was hanging in the balance. Moving and powerful, the March of the Volunteers gave voice to the Chinese people's determination to sacrifice themselves for national liberation, expressing China's admirable tradition of courage, resolution and unity in fighting foreign aggression.

It was for this reason that the CPPCC on September 27, 1949 decided to adopt the song as the provisional national anthem of the PRC, and the NPC on December 4, 1982 officially decided to adopt the song as the national anthem of the PRC.

Good luck to you, our friends.

(On 1 October 1949 Mao Tse-tung declared the formation of the People's Republic of China. This became the sole legal government of China).

Ni hao from CHINA

Email from the children in Lilian's class

We want to tell you something about the special snacks of our festivals. The most famous one is jiaozi. The history of jiaozi can be counted back to ancient times. During the Spring Festival making jiaozi has become the custom almost for all the Chinese, it started in the Ming Dynasty, about 500 to 600 years ago. The reason was quite simple. The shape of jiaozi looks like the gold or silver ingot used as money in ancient China. As the Spring Festival marks the beginning of a new year, people like to eat jiaozi to bless themselves for good fortune in the new year. Although time has changed, the tradition has remained still. The fun of eating jiaozi lies not only in the delicacy itself but also in the process of preparing for it: everybody, the host and guests together, would roll up their sleeves and wrap the pancake to cover the fillings. They would talk and laugh at the same time.

The Yuanxiao/Tangyuan is the festival food of Lantern Festival. It's the dumpling made from glutinous rice flour and stuffed with sweet fillings. Tangyuan is also served on all auspicious occasions like wedding, birthday, anniversary as it symbolized Tuanyuan (reunion) and Yuanmun (perfect) in China.

Zongzi is the festival food of Dragon Boat Festival. Two thousand years ago, a loyal scholar who named QuYuan jumped into the Miluo River in the 5th day of the fifth lunar month because his country was defeated. People were steering boats to rescue him on the river and offering rice to protect his body so it wouldn't be eaten by fish. In order to prevent the dragon from stealing them, the Zongzi consisted of bamboo tubes filled with glutinous rice. The custom of eating Zongzi and dragon-boat racing comes down to us because people wanted to remember his loyalty. There are many different kinds of Zongzi, each with its own particular flavor, shape, and type of leaf for wrapping. Zongzi is normally four-sided with pointed, rounded ends, or in pyramid shapes. Sometimes it is in the shape of a cone or cylinder. The glutinous rice mixture is wrapped in leaves of palm or bamboo. Bamboo leaf Zongzi is a specialty of South China.

The Mid Autumn Festival is one of the most important festivals in China. (Mooncakes are eaten). Chinese ancestors believed that the seventh, eighth, and ninth lunar months belong to autumn. So the Mid Autumn Festival falls on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month. Mid Autumn Festival celebrations can be counted back for more than 2,000 years. In old times, Chinese emperors prayed to Heaven for a good year. The 15th day of the second lunar month morning was chosen to worship the sun and the evening of the 15th day of the eighth lunar month was chosen to hold a ceremony in praise of the moon. (2003)

Emails about the School Traffic Team

Our city, Shaoguan is in the north part of Guangdong, South China. Shaoguan City School Little Traffic Team aims to foster awareness of road safety.

We are the school children from Shaoguan City, China. We are from different schools. We are the members of our city School Traffic Team, we participate in the training in after-school activities. Our city traffic station officers usually organize our team to patrol in our city Train Station and on the main streets. The busiest places. Besides patrol, we also offer the volunteer service in our communities. To make our city clean, we need to do the cleaning in our city street corners. We also help the senior citizens who need help from us. Do you have a school traffic team? We want to learn how you serve your community in your spare time.

Emails from NingBo JangDong School

My English name is Lisa. China is a very beautiful country. Did you come China? Welcome to China. Our China has many big cities. Our town Ning Bo is a big city, too. ... What do you do on Saturdays? I read books, watch TV, play the piano and do my homework on Saturdays. Oh! I have math class on Saturdays.

My English name is Betty. I’m in NingBo JangDong Center School. I’m in Class One, Grade Five. My favorite day is Friday. We have English, Chinese and Math. My favorite food is hot-dog. Because it’s tasty. My favorite teacher is Miss Bao. She is our English teacher. She is tall and kind. I am studying Cambridge Young Learners English.

Emails from Anne's class

At school we learn Maths, Art, English, Music and other lessons. Anne is our English teacher. We like English very much.

In China, our capital is Beijing. It is a big and beautiful city. On our New Year, we all eat dumplings and lots of delicious food, and wear most beautiful clothes. We like China, and you?

Do you know paper was invented in China, it was invented by Cai Lun nearly two thousand years ago. Printing was invented in China too. It was invented by Bi Sheng in 1043. That was nearly one thousand years ago. Compasses and gun powder were also invented in China.


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We would like to thank the Chinese Tourist Office for the photo of the Forbidden City ©. Thanks also to Terry Wright for the photo of the flag on Page One.
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