Month: April 2022

This is how the smallest province of the People's Republic of China is generally defined. It is also the largest (33,210 km2) of its islands. Like a drop escaped from the end of the continent, it plunges into the South China Sea southwest of Hong Kong, off the coast of...

EXHIBITION "Women carry half the sky on their shoulders" This quote from Chairman Mao was conveyed in the 1970s by posters showing them smiling, looking towards a bright future. Where were they in reality as the opening to capitalism (“Getting rich is glorious!”) began to transform their country into an...

Changsha at the table! We knew it was the capital of Hunan province, but we did not know that renowned chefs awarded it, in 2017, the much envied title of Gastronomic Capital of International Rank! In fact, it was in Changsha that Hunan cuisine was born, reputed to be one...

LONG JING, CHINA'S MOST FAMOUS GREEN TEA! A legend says that in the 5th century, at the end of the Tianmu mountain range, where the village of Long Jing is currently located, the inhabitants found stone in the shape of a dragon while drilling a well. This discovery astonished the...

Chinese green tea and its practice In China, the diversity of green teas is phenomenal, even disconcerting. Centuries of cultivation have made it possible to diversify its aromatic palette. From the bitterness of small twisted leaves to the sweet scent of exceptional leaves, green tea comes in more than a...

The capital of the province of Hunan, in the south of central China, is a large modern city  like Shanghai but which is very attached to its particularity. It covers 554 km2 in the north of the province, 50 km from the second largest freshwater lake in China, the famous...

Tea pickings : great Joy after little stress  (I)  When the first signs of spring heralded a rebirth in the plantations, great excitement  is perceptible among tea producers. Because, when the tea plants wake up, invigorated by the new season, their new shoots are bursting with aromatic substances.  For the...

With the exception of a few anecdotes preserved by tradition, and whose historical foundation is far from certain, the life of Zhuang Zi is practically unknown to us.  We only know that he lived in the principality of Song ( in Henan now ) around 285 BC, at the end...

The late Qing Belgian diplomat A large, wealthy Belgian industrialist with his own castle, mayor of a city, passionate collector of Chinese art, Raoul Warocqué (1870-1917) led the last diplomatic mission to Imperial China in 1910! He had been received by Emperor Guangxu's brother, the Prince of Chun, a year...

Looking over the history of Chinese literature which has experienced several millenniums, we can see that Tang poetry, Song « ci » (verses of the Song dynasty) and Yuan « qu" (a collective name for zaju and sanqu of the Yuan dynasty) are like 3 radiant pearls, sparkling in the temple of Chinese...