This June I had the chance to meet one of Fengyang’s best traditional Chinese phoenix painting masters. He showed me his work, and explained the most important aspects of phoenix paintings to me. I even got to try on my …
Art
Spring in China: Top 10 Flowers in Anhui Bozhou (Photo Essay)
Spring is certainly my favorite time in China. The winter here in Bozhou is long, cold, and hits hard. There is no heating and temperature inside and outside are the same. So by the time March rolls around and you …
Chinese Cross-stitch 十字绣: It’s not just for old people, you know?
“Cross-stitch is a popular form of counted-thread embroidery in which X-shaped stitches in a tiled, raster-like pattern are used to form a picture. Cross-stitch is often executed on easily countable evenweave fabric called aida cloth. (Wikipedia.com)”
Cross stitch is one …
Cross-stitched shoe insoles 十字绣鞋垫: Make your shoes look better from the inside than from the outside
Because I am really into the cross-stitch art, last year my aunty (大姨) introduced me to another embroidery art which seems to be very popular in Niuji village where my in-laws live.
I have seen some Chinese insoles stitched with …
The Tiger-Head Shoes 虎头鞋: A protective charm for Chinese baby boys
There are a lot of different embroidery arts in China; silk embroidery, embroidery on clothes, handkerchiefs, and all kinds of different styles. There are ethnic minorities like the Dong, Miao and Qiang who have their own style. No matter what …
Chinese Folk Art: Wang Binghua, one of the last traditional Paper Cutting 剪纸 masters in China
Who knew it just takes one scissor and some paper to create amazing art? I have seen a lot of Chinese paper cutting pieces. Sold in different shops to tourists, hung on windows and walls in small Chinese villages, printed …
Do we really need New Year’s Resolutions?
I know what you are thinking: Not another article about New Year’s resolutions, red lines, goals, targets and achievements. It is four days into 2015, and the internet sphere is swarming with posts about all our good intentions, goals and …
Top 20 Best Moments 2014
The past few months have been very difficult. Now that there are just a few more hours left of 2014, it got me thinking: Was this year really so bad? Is this feeling of failure and having not achieved what …
The Day I changed my Chinese Parents-in-law
Change can be reciprocal. In my case, I have changed a lot since I first entered China.
Sometimes I am amazed on how much I have adapted over the past years. I have been willingly following the Chinese expression 入乡随俗 …
一、二、三:茄子! One, two, three: Smile!
We have this stereotypical thinking that all Asians love to take pictures, all the time, everywhere, of food, of buildings, of people. Well, it’s true, but I wouldn’t say that is strictly reserved for Asians… We all do it. Me …
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