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A visit to morning market before Spring Festival |
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Decorating doors with couplets is traditional on Spring Festival 春节, (chūnjié) what we call Chinese New Year. A traditional Spring Festival eve dinner starts in the afternoon and ends at midnight. |
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During Spring Festival it was traditional for temples to hold fairs. The tradition continues but usually the fairs, called 庙会 miàohuì, are held in parks. This is the miaohui at Ditan 地坛 Dìtán (Deetan) - a park that once was the Temple of Earth. |
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Spring Festival fairs are held all over the country and there are several in Beijing. This is the miàohuì at Longtan Lake Park 龙潭湖公园 -Lóngtánhú Gōngyuán or Dragon Pool Park. It is more neighborly, primarily serving people on the east side of Beijing. |
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Lantern Festival 元宵节 Yuánxiāojié or 灯节 Deng Jie occurs on the fifteenth day of the Chinese New Year. 2008 was a year when fireworks prevailed. |
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Cherry Blossoms, Yu Yuan Tan Park 玉渊潭公园 |
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Shepherd's Field Children's Village is an orphanage to the east of Beijing in Tianjin. |
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Rural villages in China are undergoing change, although not as dramatic as seen in major cities, the changes have brought increased convenience and some comfort. Two villages near the Great Wall were visited. This is the first and includes a visit to a farmyard. |
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The second Great Wall village is actually abandonned. The people built a new village down the road. At some point it becomes more work to maintain the old buildings than to build anew. This cycle is constant. |
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Grinding corn the traditional way. |
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Beijing 2008 Olympics 北京奥运会 changed the face of Beijing for a year. Pictures of the water cube, bird's nest, Beijing University of Technology Gymnasium, and the Olympic Green. The badminton women's final is also shown in detail. |
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One of the popular sports in China is playing with the Chinese yo-yo 抖空竹 dǒukōngzhú. Sometimes called the diabolo, it was imported to Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries and became very popular in the 1800s. |
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Zongzi 粽子are a traditional treat made for the Dragon Boat Festival and the memory of Qu Yuan 屈原.
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The Beijing Zoo 北京动物园 has been a center for research, education, and relaxation for over a hundred years. It is an island of peace in a chaotic city.
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Modern Culture in Beijing 
