Cultural Confidence

◎策劃：彭向梅

主題概述：中國文化博大精深，河南文化源遠流長，本期我們邀請了四位“文化代言人”介紹中國文化。內容有古老的漢字、河南的文化標記、河南博物院展出的賈湖骨笛，當然還有特別流行的《唐宮夜宴》。

I Am a Chinese Cultural Ambassador我是一名中國文化宣傳大使

◎鄭州楓楊外國語學校 張宸碩

指導教師：趙 付

活動視角 語篇類型介紹漢字 記敘文

Hello, everyone! My name is Simon. Today I want to talk about the origin and spirit of Han characters.

First, the origin. As you may know, Han characters originated from drawings. The earliest ones were drawings of the things people saw, whose total number is about 50,000 to 60,000. It is, of course, quite impossible to form so many characters by way of drawing. So with the development of civilization, Han characters underwent a very long course of development. Jiaguwen inscriptions on bones or tortoise shells of the Shang Dynasty is the earliest example we have of mature Han characters. Then the forms evolved through Dazhuan of Xizhou, Xiaozhuan of the Qin Dynasty, Lishu of the Han Dynasty, Kaishu of the Tang Dynasty. It sounds a little complicated and amazing, right? Tracing the origin, I find one character I like most, that is “Long”. In form, we can still find the image of a dragon: the left part is its head, while “立” is its horns and “月” is its mouth, and the right part is its body.

Next, is there a spirit hidden behind? The dragon does not exist. However, it can be truly called the “No.1 Totem” in China. In Chinese mythology, the dragon is a monster that plays an important role in agriculture, so people worship it. When the form of character “Long” becomesJinwenandZhuanshu, it becomes the symbol of power of emperors. And that’s why the emperor’s clothes always have the image of “Long”, while ordinary people could not use them. Nowadays, we are known as the “descendants of the dragon”. So we can see from ancient China till now that “Long” is a symbol of China.

In conclusion, Han characters are a cultural treasure in China, both from the formation and the spirit. Therefore, we bear the responsibility to study it, spread it and sustain it. Thus, more and more people will know China better and better in the future.

Henan’s Traditional Culture河南的傳統文化

◎鄭州外國語學校 張雨晴

指導教師：趙 付

活動視角 語篇類型文化標記 說明文

Henan Province, the birthplace of Chinese civilization, has a long history. This has created a profound cultural heritage of Henan Province. Here I’ll talk about several important examples of Henan’s traditional culture.

When it comes to Anyang, I cannot avoid mentioning its typical unearthed oracle bone inscriptions (甲骨文). It’s a kind of characters written on tortoise shells or animal bones. The ancient people would inscribe what they have divined concerning disease or wars on the tortoise shells. That’s why it was named oracle bone inscriptions.

Shaolin temple is located at Dengfeng county. It’s the birthplace of Buddhism’s Chan Sect (禪宗) in China as well as the cradle of China’s Shaolin Wushu. It was founded in the 20th year of the Taihe reign of the Northern Wei Dynasty.

Longmen Grottoes (龍門石窟) in Luoyang, built from 494 of the Northern Wei Dynasty, is a famous Buddhist shrine.

In one word, there is countless excellent traditional culture in Henan Province. Chinese culture is extensive and profound, we should actively carry it forward.

One Exhibit in Henan Museum河南博物院的展品——骨笛

◎鄭州外國語學校 羅鑫鈺

指導教師:趙 付

活動視角 語篇類型表演 記敘文

China has a history of more than five thousand years. Along with the river of time, we can find that our ancestors have left us prosperous culture. From my perspective, the bone flute (骨笛) at Jiahu ruins (賈湖遺址) is a significant gem.

The bone flute has 7 apertures, and it’s the earliest wind instrument (管樂器). In ancient times, people used it to pray for rain, “communicate” with the god, or just entertain. Especially, the chieftain could establish prestige and repulse other tribes when playing it. Engaged in textual research, the flute has been broken into three sections. Instead of throwing it away, its owner repaired it with great care. Thus, the flute bears the sincere love for music of ancient people. Although they lived in an arduous circumstances, they never stopped enjoying their life. Now, the flute is exhibited in Henan museum. There’s a program of playing the bone flute to relive the history.

No matter how time flies, those cultural relics are always the treasure of times. Living against such cultural background, we Chinese are supposed to firm cultural confidence and take the responsibility to protect and spread our traditional culture.

Tang Gong Ye Yan《唐宮夜宴》

◎鄭州外國語學校 陳雪源

指導教師:趙 付

活動視角 語篇類型表演 報道

Nowadays, Henan Satellite TV station has shown many famous and beautiful programs about Henan’s traditional culture. Each of them has drawn a lot of attention because of its vast cultural heritages. So today I want to introduce one of the most famous programs to show just one part of Henan’s elegant culture.

I intend to recommend a dancing program calledTang Gong Ye Yanwhich has attracted amounts of people both homeland and abroad. This program, when translated into English, is called the Banquet of Tang Palace. The reason why it belongs to Henan’s traditional culture is that the city of Luoyang was once the capital city of the Tang Dynasty. The program shows that some cute maiden musicians dressed in Tang costumes come across the museum of Henan Province and go through some paintings drawn by artists in Tang Dynasty with lovely actions. While they are going through classic places and works, the audiences are enjoying the beautiful and ancient culture as well. As far as I am concerned, the most appealing point is that it uses a fresher way than a program host’s just talking about the culture to introduce Henan’s traditional culture.

All in all, the program calledTang Gong Ye Yanis just a shining part of all programs and there are still many other special things about Henan’s cultural heritages. If you are interested, you can choose some different ways to understand it, and then you will encounter a whole new “world”.