My Sense of Place China

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My Sense of Place- China
By Laurel Zheng
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Why China?

I have chosen China as my village because it
is a big part of my life and also because Im
full Chinese. You may think that Im obsessed
with my culture and ethnicity but Im a normal
teenage girl like everyone else well almost
normal at least I live in Makiki and enjoy
spending time with my family, friends and you! I
enjoy going to church, playing volleyball,
softball, shopping and hanging out with my
friends or just relaxing by myself. I chose to
write about China because I know a lot about its
culture since I went there this past summer so I
would like to share more about it with you.
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Location, Location, Location!

• If you look on a map, you can find Beijing, the
  capitol of China at approximately 550 North
  latitude and 250 East longitude. When my family
  and I went we passed over a lot of countries,
  China is south of Russia and Mongolia and East of
  Pakistan and Nepal.

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Oh, the wonders youll see!

• Human Characteristics
• Heres a famous one we got to visit the Great
  Wall. It took over 2,000 years to finish it! It
  was also made to protect the Chinese from
  invaders during wars and battles.

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One month, millions of sights!

• Another human characteristic we visited was the
  Forbidden City. It was made for the emperor and
  all his descendants. Located at the center of
  Beijing, it is found in Tiananmen Square.

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Gods Creations

• Natural Characteristics
• The Yellow River is the second longest river in
  China and is named for its muddiness which
  gives it a yellowish color

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So much to see, so little time

• Our family took a tour in Guilin because a lot of
  amazing natural characteristic can be found all
  over there. Mountains on the riverbanks like the
  Water and Moon at Elephant Hill looks like an
  elephant drinking water. The round open space
  between the elephant trunk and its body is called
  Water-Moon Cave. We also went to see many cool
  rock caves.

The rock caves in Guilin are one of the main
tourist attractions.
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How We Got Around

• China is a HUGE country and we had many new and
  different ways of getting around, here are just a
  few
• Walking
• Cars and Vans
• Buses
• Taxis

• Bicycles
• Tricycles
• Ferries
• Trains
• Mopeds

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People we met and the Friendships we made

• While we were in China, I got to meet a lot of
  relatives that I didnt know existed. We were
  really lucky because our cousins are usually VERY
  busy, but when we went, they were lucky enough to
  get off of work/ school. Talking about them
  makes me start to miss them, but we try to keep
  in touch through E-mail.

• Although many people think that Chinese people
  are all the same, theyre not- Chinese people
  have a lot of different dialects that make them
  as different as Caucasians are to Hawaiians.

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Beliefs that spread throughout the world

• In Chinese culture, Yin and Yang represent two
  opposite in nature. Yin represents the feminine
  or negative nature of things and yang stands for
  the masculine or positive side.

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Learned Customs

• Chinese also like to be very polite and well
  mannered. Dont I act like it? Haha China is
  known as a state of etiquette and ceremonies.
  Many proverbs have been passed down from
  generation to generation to remind us to be
  etiquette.
• Chinese used to cup one hand in the other in
  front of the chest as a salute. This tradition
  been around for more than 2000 years but is
  hardly used nowadays.

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Manners, Laurel, Manners

• My mom has good manners because its polite to
  introduce strangers to each other during a
  conversation. She introduced me to a lot of
  people. When chatting with a man, topics like
  current events, sports, stock market or jobs are
  considered well-mannered. Like the Western
  customs, you should never ask a woman private
  questions.

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Tell me a story please

• In China, theres a very famous folk tale
  called Yi Shot Down Nine Suns. The legend says
  that thousands of years ago during the Yao
  dynasty, there were ten suns in the sky. The heat
  from the suns destroyed all the peoples crops and
  trees. The people suffered a lot from starvation
  and many people died of hunger. At the same time,
  a lot of monsters and vicious birds were
  attacking the villages so the Emperor called Yi,
  a master in archery to save the people.

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• The legend ends with Yi, who managed to kill
  all the monsters and vicious birds and shot down
  nine suns to save the people. One of the suns
  were left for serving people ever since. The
  whole country praised Yi for his heroic deeds and
  admired him very much.

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Beliefs

• Another belief that the Chinese have is very
  well known the Zodiac of course! (I dont
  believe in the zodiac though, because Im a
  Christian) In the Zodiac, there are 12 animals,
  one for every year.

Tiger
Boar
Dragon
Snake
Rabbit
Rooster
Monkey
Dog
Ox
Ram
Mouse
Horse
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Yum, Yum, to my Tum-tum

• Who doesnt love Chinese food? Chinese food is
  very distinct from other cultures. There are
  many different flavors to Chinese food, spicy,
  sweet, sour, sweet and sour and the list goes
  on I went to sooooo much different restruants, I
  LOVED it!

• Steamed Chicken
• Shrimp
• Dumplings
• Fried noodles
• Egg/Custard tarts
• Jai (veggie mix for Monks)

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I wouldve never known

• Although it may not seem like a food, tea is
  also considered a delicacy in China. This past
  summer, I visited China and learned more about
  its values in tea. Tea is poured to every
  visitor during special occasions, it symbolizes
  respect especially for elders. Chinese foods
  have influenced my life because I practically eat
  it everyday! Ive also started learning how to
  make some of my own.

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Conclusion

• China is a huge part of my life. Ive learned
  to speak Chinese ever since I was a little girl.
  Learning Chinese has helped me to better
  communicate with my parents and other relatives,
  since they dont speak much English. I also
  learned a lot about Chinas culture while I was
  in China, so now I can appreciate and participate
  in Chinese holidays and customs that I wouldnt
  have understood about before.