AuShi Chinese Center is one of the largest language training solutions provider in Dalian, China. It specializes in language training, culture training and educational tours.Now the company has nearly 100 employees and teachers and nearly 500 students.Dalian expats and the international companies that employed them are the main customers of Aushi. The satisfaction ratings is taking the lead in Dalian.

We have two teaching centers in Dalian, one in downtown, the other in Kaifaqu(Development zone).Both locations enjoy convenient transportation.

Downtown center:

Address：1701,Manhattan Building,No.101 Youhao Road,Dalian

Tel：+86(411) 8280 1339 84785990

FAX：+86(411) 8280 1339

Email： aushi@aushi.com.cn 　

Kaifaqu center:

Address：Room 1402,building 4,Yifeng Xiandaicheng,

Kaifaqu Tel：+86（411）87539479

Training Enquiries

Tel:82801339 84785990 E-mail：aushi@aushi.com.cn

        The Chinese people, in their drinking of tea, place much significance on the act of "savoring". "Savoring tea" is not only a way to discern good tea from mediocre tea, but also how people take delight in their reverie and in tea-drinking itself. Snatching a bit of leisure from a busy schedule, making a kettle of strong tea, securing a serene space, and serving and drinking tea by yourself can help banish fatigue and frustration, improve your thinking ability and inspire you with enthusiasm. You may also imbibe it slowly in small sips to appreciate the subtle allure of tea-drinking, until your spirits soar up and up into a sublime aesthetic realm. Buildings, gardens, ornaments and tea sets are the elements that form the ambience for savoring tea. A tranquil, refreshing, comfortable and neat locale is certainly desirable for drinking tea. Chinese gardens are well known in the world and beautiful Chinese landscapes are too numerous to count. Teahouses tucked away in gardens and nestled beside the natural beauty of mountains and rivers are enchanting places of repose for people to rest and recreate themselves.

        China is a country with a time-honored civilization and a land of ceremony and decorum. Whenever guests visit, it is necessary to make and serve tea to them. Before serving tea, you may ask them for their preferences as to what kind of tea they fancy and serve them the tea in the most appropriate teacups. In the course of serving tea, the host should take careful note of how much water is remaining in the cups and in the kettle. Usually, if the tea is made in a teacup, boiling water should be added after half of the cup has been consumed; and thus the cup is kept filled so that the tea retains the same bouquet and remains pleasantly warm throughout the entire course of tea-drinking. Snacks, sweets and other dishes may be served at tea time to complement the fragrance of the tea and to allay one's hunger.

        In the center of the vast Chinese nation lies the Mountain of Songshan, one of the country’s holiest spots and home to the Shaolin Monastery, the birthplace of kung fu.

　　The Buddhist monks of Shaolin were pacifists, who mastered a deadly art using kicks, weapons and well-placed punches. They were able to kill a man with the palm of a hand. These deadly skills are in line with their faith and spirituality, because Buddhists believe that, in order to follow the path of compassion, they must root out the heart of evil.

　　In AD 527 the religious teacher, Da Mo, traveled from India to Shaolin to spread the word of Buddha. He spent nine years living alone and meditating in a cave above the Shaolin temple. To keep his muscles healthy, he developed a series of movements and breathing exercises based on the movements of animals. These were to become the basis of kung fu.

　　When Da Mo returned to the Shaolin temple, he began to teach the monks these techniques, and his tool of meditation evolved into a tool of  combat. Kung fu was born.

　　As Shaolin’s reputation grew, more and more young novices traveled from all over China and attempted to join the order. They had their heads shaved as an external sign of inward purity, and they swore an oath of obedience to their masters. Their training was relentless. Their fists would become as hard as iron and their bodies almost impervious to pain. Training would leave its mark not just on the students but also on the temple itself, as over the centuries their pounding feet crushed the stones beneath them.

　　Kung fu, which in Chinese means “learned skill” or “great achievement,” has now given rise to more than 1,000 styles of martial arts. The Shaolin style is still probably the most famous of all.

　　Today, the temple welcomes millions of tourists a year and sells them a commercialized version of its history. But in the less visited temples of the Songshan hills, the original spirit of Shaolin lives on.

1.南(nán)翔(xiáng)小(xiǎo)笼(lóng)包(bāo)

2.三(sān)鲜(xiǎn)小(xiǎo)馄(hún)饨(tún)

3.油(yóu)豆(dòu)腐(fǔ)线(xiàn)粉(fěn)汤(tāng)

4.开(kāi)洋(yáng)葱(cōng)油(yóu)拌(bàn)面(miàn)

5.条(tiáo)头(tóu)糕(gāo)薄(bò)荷(hé)糕(gāo)

6.海(hǎi)棠(táng)糕(gāo)

7. 蟹(xiè)壳(qiào)黄(huáng)

8.擂(lèi)沙(shā)圆(yuán)

9.排(pái)骨(gǔ)年(nián)糕(gāo) 

Origin of the Dragon Boat Festival

Officially on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month is the Dragon Boat Festival, and also known as Double Fifth Day. While many stories regarding its origin abound, the most popular and widely accepted version regards Qu Yuan, a minister during the Warring States Period (475 - 221 BC).

Legend of the Dragon Boat Festival's Origin

Qu Yuan lived at the end of the Zhou Dynasty, which had fallen into a state of fragmentation and conflict. Qu Yuan served as minister to the Zhou Emperor, he was loved by the common people. He did much to fight against the rampant corruption that plagued the court-- thereby earning the envy and fear of other officials. Therefore, when he urged the emperor to avoid conflict with the QinKingdom, the officials pressured the Emperor to have him removed from service. In exile, he traveled, taught and wrote for several years. Hearing that the Zhou had been defeated by the Qin, he fell into despair and threw himself into the MiluoRiver.                                              

As he was so loved by the people, fishermen rushed out in long boats, beating drums to scare the fish away, and throwing zong zi into the water to feed braver fish so that they would not eat Qu Yuan's body.

 The Modern Dragon Boat Festival

People commemorate Qu Yuan through Dragon Boat Races, and also eat zong zi at the festival.

Dragon Boat

Races are the most exciting part of the festival, drawing crowds of spectators. Annual races take place all over China, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and other overseas Chinese communities. 

Zong Zi

The traditional food for the Dragon Boat Festival, Zong zi is a glutinous rice ball, with a filling, wrapped in corn leaves. The fillings can be egg, beans, dates, fruits, sweet potato, walnuts, mushrooms, meat, or a combination of them. They are generally steamed.

Ay Taso                  

Dragon Boat Festival, the fifth lunar moon, has more significance than just the story of Chu Yuan. Many Chinese consider this time of year an especially dangerous time when extra efforts must be made to protect their family from illness. Families will hang various herbs, called Ay Tsao, on their door for protection. The drinking of realgar wine is thought to remove poisons from the body.

Sachet

On Dragon Boat Festival, parents also need to dress their children up with a perfume pouch. They first sew little bags with colorful silk cloth, then fill the bags with perfumes or herbal medicines, and finally string them with silk threads. The perfume pouch will be hung around the neck or tied to the front of a garment as an ornament. They are said to be able to ward off evil. .

The 15th dayof the 1st lunar month is the Chinese Lantern Festival because the first lunar month is called yuan-month and in the ancient times people called night Xiao. The 15th day is the first night to see a full moon. So the day is also called Yuan Xiao Festival in China.

    According to the Chinese tradition, at the very beginning of a new year, when there is a bright full moon hanging in the sky, there should be thousands of colorful lanterns hung out for people to appreciate. At this time, people will try to solve the puzzles on the lanterns and eat yuanxiao (glutinous rice ball) and get all their families united in the joyful atmosphere.

History

   Until the Sui Dynasty in the sixth century, Emperor Yangdi invited envoys from other countries to China to see the colorful lighted lanterns and enjoy the gala performances.By the beginning of the Tang Dynasty in the seventh century, the lantern displays would last three days. The emperor also lifted the curfew（宵禁令）, allowing the people to enjoy the festive lanterns day and night. It is not difficult to find Chinese poems which describe this happy scene.In the Song Dynasty, the festival was celebrated for five days and the activities began to spread to many of the big cities in China. Colorful glass and even jade were used to make lanterns, with figures from folk tales painted on the lanterns.

Today, the displaying of lanterns is still a big event on the 15th day of the first lunar month throughout China. People enjoy the brightly lit night. Chengdu in Southwest China's Sichuan Province, for example, holds a lantern fair each year in the Cultural Park. During the Lantern Festival, the park is literally an ocean of lanterns! Many new designs attract countless visitors. The most eye-catching lantern is the Dragon Pole. This is a lantern in the shape of a golden dragon, spiraling up a 27-meter -high pole, spewing fireworks from its mouth. It is quite an impressive sight!

Origin

    There are many different beliefs about the origin of the Lantern Festival. But one thing for sure is that it had something to do with religious worship.

   One legend tells us that it was a time to worship Taiyi, the God of Heaven in ancient times. The belief was that the God of Heaven controlled the destiny of the human world. He had sixteen dragons at his beck and call and he decided when to inflict drought, storms, famine or pestilence（瘟疫）upon human beings. Beginning with Qinshihuang, the first emperor to unite the country, all subsequent emperors ordered splendid ceremonies each year. The emperor would ask Taiyi to bring favorable weather and good health to him and his people. Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty directed special attention to this event. In 104 BC, he proclaimed it one of the most important celebrations and the ceremony would last throughout the night.

    Another legend associates the Lantern Festival with Taoism. Tianguan is the Taoist god responsible for good fortune. His birthday falls on the 15th day of the first lunar month. It is said that Tianguan likes all types of entertainment. So followers prepare various kinds of activities during which they pray for good fortune.

Yuanxiao

    Besides entertainment and beautiful lanterns, another important part of the Lantern Festival, or Yuanxiao Festival is eating small dumpling balls made of glutinous rice flour. We call these balls Yuanxiao or Tangyuan. Obviously, they get the name from the festival itself. It is said that the custom of eating Yuanxiao originated during the Eastern Jin Dynasty in the fourth centuty, then became popular during the Tang and Song periods.

     The fillings inside the dumplings or Yuanxiao are either sweet or salty. Sweet fillings are made of sugar, Walnuts（胡桃）, sesame, osmanthus flowers（桂花）, rose petals, sweetened tangerine peel, bean paste, or jujube paste（枣泥）. A single ingredient or any combination can be used as the filling . The salty variety is filled with minced meat, vegetables or a mixture.

    The way to make Yuanxiao also varies between northern and southern China. The usual method followed in southern provinces is to shape the dough of rice flour into balls, make a hole, insert the filling, then close the hole and smooth out the dumpling by rolling it between your hands. In North China, sweet or nonmeat stuffing is the usual ingredient. The fillings are pressed into hardened cores, dipped lightly in water and rolled in a flat basket containing dry glutinous rice flour. A layer of the flour sticks to the filling, which is then again dipped in water and rolled a second time in the rice flour. And so it goes, like rolling a snowball, until the dumpling is the desired size.