Ninth of the Ninth 重陽 Double Brightness

The 28th of October 2017 is the Ninth Day of the Ninth Month in the traditional lunar calendar 農曆九月初九. It marks the Double Ninth or Double Brightness Festival 重陽節. The Double Ninth, which follows shortly after the Harvest or Mid Autumn Festival 中秋節, is a celebration of the autumn, a season of late bounty, seasonal change, lingering beauty and finality.… Read

The Ayes Have It

On 1 April 1969, delegates to the Ninth Congress of the Chinese Communist Party convened in the Great Hall of the People on the western flank of Tiananmen Square. The hall was one of the Ten Grand Edifices 十大建築 hastily constructed to celebrate the first decade of the People’s Republic of China in 1959.… Read

The Same Fair Moon

千里共嬋娟 The Fifteenth Day of the Eighth Month of the lunar calendar, a day that in 2017 falls on the 4th of October, marks the Mid-Autumn Festival 中秋節. A major public holiday in the People’s Republic since 2008, it is also known as 團圓節, the Festival of Reunions, a celebration of unity, togetherness, familial harmony and even conjugal felicity.… Read

1 October 2017 — The Best China

The 1st of October marks the founding in 1949 of the People’s Republic of China. Addressing a mass rally in the heart of Beijing on that day, the Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party Mao Zedong announced the establishment of a Central People’s Government.… Read

The Battle Behind the Front

Members of The Layabouts Lodge 二流堂 are among The Ancestors of China Heritage. The Lodge — a loose-knit group of artists, writers and translators, bons vivants all — was active in wartime Chungking.… Read

Other People’s Thoughts, V

Other People’s Thoughts is a section of the China Heritage site featured in our Journal. It is inspired by a compilation of quotations made by Simon Leys (Pierre Ryckmans), one of our Ancestors.… Read