大学英语作文--中国三个节日.doc

Dao Ying He

Prof. John Gill

ENG 101

Classification Revision

The main Chinese traditional festivals

Different countries have different festivals. China is deemed to be a

mysterious country for its cultures. Generally, the main Chinese traditional

festivals are the Spring Festival, the Dragon Boat Festival and the Mid-autumn Festival. No matter how busy people will be with work or study,

they still find time to celebrate those important holidays. The Chinese

believe that the traditional festivals are not only festivals, but also are a

time for people to rest.

Different from the western New Year, the Chinese New Year, starting on

the first day of the spring festival, it is based on its lunar calendar. This

festival usually lasts for a week or more from its beginning on the first day

of the first month. However, some places in china celebrate the Spring

Festival during the whole month. There is no doubt that the Chinese New

Year is the most jubilant and jolly festival among all festivals in Chinese

culture. Like Christmas to the westerner, Chinese people also get together

with each other and then cook the best special food like a delicious rice

cake called the New Year Cake to share. One interesting custom is that the

elderly give lucky to children in a red envelope. At this time, the happiest

people must be the children even though some of whom are too young to

understand what money is about and how to use it. Maybe they just feel

happy because everyone is immersed in the delightful atmosphere. Four months later on the lunar calendar, another significant festival

called the Dragon Boat Festival takes place. In fact, this festival is in order to

commemorate an ancient Chinese poet—Qu yuan. Qu yuan is the first well

known great poet in China; he has been called the father of Chinese poetry

and has become, in some way, a national culture hero. In history, Qu yuan

was an idealist of his kingdom, he always gave a lot of his own political

ideas to the king precisely and also offended the others unconsciously.

Therefore some of other fellow ministers slandered and intrigued against

him. In consequence Qu yuan lost the king’s favor and was dismissed from

the government. Before long, his kingdom was invaded by another

kingdom—Qing because his king never pays attention to his opinions.

When the capital of his Kingdom was plundered and ruined by the enemy,

Qu yuan had been already an old man of over sixty. Unfortunately, the

ruins capital was the last hope of his life eventually he jumped into the river,

committing suicide. People missed him and were afraid that he would be

eaten by the fish. For this reason, they threw a great number of roll rice

into the river from the Dragon Boat because they guessed the Dragon can

scare the fish and let them just eat the roll rice. Nowadays, people called

this rolls rice Zongzi (Chinese) or Dragon boat dumpling. Dragon boat

dumpling, pyramidal leaf-wrapped packages filled with glutinous rice,

meats, beans, salted egg yolks, and also peanuts or other exciting things

and so on. Every time the Dragon Boat Festival comes, people are willing to

enjoy this food and tell their children about the story. The historical activity

has been celebrated for more than 1000 years so that this festival is as

important just as the other two festivals. The month is the subject of many poems. One of the famous myths is

about the moon. In ancient China, a myth described that there was a fairy

living in the moon with a rabbit. She was punished and forced to stay there

forever because she fell in love with a human being, breaking the rules of

the heavenly world and never been seen by the human. With this story,

people like to gather together outside or sitting on a balcony to share moon

cakes with the others, and they watch the moon, meanwhile they sing

songs or read poems. This day, people call it the Mid-autumn festival, which

has the most beautiful and also the full moon in a year appeared. The Mid-autumn festival is like the Spring Festival and the Dragon Boat Festival as

well. People around the world may be some are too busy to have leisure

time, but on this day, even if they are busy, they rest from their work and

join the celebration.

Every country in the world has Chinese people. They celebrate these

traditional festivals wherever they reside. These festivals are warm and

happy and they are still popular today. What is more, China has a long

history of these festivals, they provide people everywhere opportunities to

explore and discover China’s culture and tradition.