Chinese Culture Never Ends

China is surround by the North Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean, and it is vast in territory and has an enormous population which includes 56 ethnic groups. China has the most extensive civilization which influence the every generation of the Chinese. Chinese culture has so many aspect that I don’t have the ability to describe them all in such short essay, so I chose the three facets I most familiar with to talk about. The first aspect is Chinese food which is the lure that people can’t resist, the second is the beautiful Chinese music which has its own unique charm, and the last one is Chinese festivals which also have the great power in shaping the Chinese culture.
When talking about China, the Chinese diet is probably the first thing that comes to people’s mind. Chinese cuisine focuses on the balanced nutrition and flavor and also the diversification. Firstly, Chinese food is almost all cooked food and emphasize on the vegetable and meat served. It’s hard to find a Chinese dish that has only vegetables or only meat. That shows the golden mean—“Zhongyong” 中庸, as Liang (2014) mentioned “to seek the appropriate degree between the two poles.” Secondly, the Chinese dishes are known for their complicated recipes, which shows the persistence of the Chinese fascination of delicious food and the pursuit of the high living quality. Thirdly, Chinese food has Eight Great Cuisines which is on behalf of regional difference—the western and eastern, the southern and the northern. In China, every area has its own specialties, for instance, Hot-dry noodles in Wuhan, the Beijing Roast Duck in Beijing, and the stretched noodles in Lanzhou. Each dish is the credit of the local people’s wisdom and their unique culture.
And the second element is the Chinese music. China has the longstanding tradition of musical education, and has created many different branches. In the early stage, music always come with poetries, and this was treated as an essential condition of a gentleman. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Chinese music created a new style, which is known as Beijing Opera. And with the western culture being introduced into China, Chinese has quickly absorbed and formed its own color. For example, The Moon Over a Fountain is affected by the western classical music but abounded with Chinese cultural flavor, and Chinese pop music is a kind music which affected by the western pop music, and of course it has its own characteristics. In Chinese pop music story, a name should be known, Teresa. During July 24 to August 31, in 2009, China's network of cultural part launched the "New China's most influential cultural figures" online election to celebrate the 60 anniversary of New China, and Teresa was voted to be the first of the top 60 in music area.
The third character is Chinese festivals, which are most based on legends and celebrated based on the lunar calendar. Some Chinese festivals are meant to celebrate the agricultural activities and some of those are chosen from the 24 solar terms. For instance, the Spring Festival originally was on the Beginning of Spring which is the first solar term. In the early days, people took the Beginning of Spring as the new start of a year because from that day on, everything seems to upgrade and a mild spring is coming, a cold winter is gone. And when talking about the festivals about legends, we have to mention the Mid-autumn Festival which is based on an old love story. People may know that the Chinese eat mooncake on that day but some individuals perhaps don’t know the story of the Mid-autumn Festival. There is an old love story about Chang er and Hou Yi, a happy couple, but Chang er accidently ate the elixir when fighting with an evildoer and then Chang er lived on the Moon, and could not get together with Hou Yi anymore. People wanted to commemorate Chang er and hope she can bless the ordinaries, so each year on the 15th of the eighth month, when the moon is at its fullest and brightest, people look at the moon and try to see in it the image of the beautiful maiden.
The profound Chinese culture, is colorful, all-inclusive and shown in every corner of the Chinese daily life. The three fields—the varied and amazing Chinese food, the graceful Chinese music and the traditional Chinese festival are the outcome of ancient sages who created the basic framework of Chinese culture, and the wisdom of every generation. Chinese civilization has always given prominence to unremitting self-improvement, reform, and innovation. I am really proud that I am the one of the descendants of the dragon, and I hope to be the part of the strength to revive the great Chinese culture.

References:
Liu Xiaojing (2009). Preliminary Evaluation of the most influential cultural figures revealed.
Retrieved from http://superchanblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/prelpreliminary-evaluation-of-most.html
Liang (2014). Golden Mean Means ZhongYong. Retrieved from

http://chinesepromoter.kinja.com/golden-mean-means-zhongyong-1563230104