TRINITY GESE 4

YUXUAN JINCHEN

CHINESE TRADITIONS

SOME FACTS ABOUT CHINA

China is a country in Asia and its capital city is Beijing. China has a lot of rivers. The Yangtze and
the Yellow Rivers are the most important. The tallest mountain on Earth, Mount Everest, is on the
border of China and Nepal. There are many important monuments in China. The Great Wall of
China is the largest man-made structure in the world. Maybe you saw it in a movie, for example in
the Disney movie, Mulan.
Chinese names usually have a meaning chosen by the family, to reflect something about the person.
Also, the last name comes first, usually followed by two syllables that make up the first name.
Ancient China was a land of invention. For centuries, China was way ahead of most other countries
in science and technology, astronomy, and math. The Chinese invented paper, the magnetic
compass, printing, porcelain, silk, and gunpowder, among other things.
The lucky number in China is the number eight and for that reason the Olympic Games were
celebrated in 2008 there.

DRAGONS

I love reading about dragons and I also like watching movies about them!! They are so amazing!!!
In China dragons are seen as symbols of power and good luck. Long ago the emperor was seen as
the son of the dragon and no one in China could have anything with pictures of the
emperor. Chinese dragons live at the bottom of seas, rivers, lakes, or anywhere with water. They
don't have wings but they can "fly" into the sky.
Chinese people do a lot of activities related to dragons. The dragon dance is performed at
many celebrations, for example the Chinese New Year. Generally, there is a long dragon that is built
using hoops made of bamboo covered with shiny cloth, and held by dancers.

THE CHINESE HOROSCOPE

The origins of the Chinese Zodiac go back a few thousand years. According to the myths, a long
time ago, the emperor decided to call together all of the animals on Earth. But only twelve came:
the rat, the ox, the tiger, the rabbit, the dragon, the snake, the horse, the goat, the monkey, the
rooster, the dog and the pig.

As a reward, he assigned each of these animals a year on the cycle affirming that children born in a
specific year would acquire the personality traits of the animal assigned to that year.
For example if you are a rat like me, you are more ambitious and adventurous than other animals in
the horoscope. 2017 is the year of the Rooster. It started on January 28th of this year.
MY CHINESE SCHOOL

My name is Yuxuan and I am eight years old. My parents were both born in China. They moved
here about 10 years ago. I have two sisters. Lequi is the oldest one. She is 10 years old. Zi Xuan is
the youngest. She is six years old and she is in the first grade. The three of us go to a Chinese school
once a week, on Saturdays. Ive been learning Chinese since I was 6 years old, but we mostly speak
Chinese at home so I get practice then too. I speak Spanish during the day, at school and when I go
with my family to shops or museums. I am also learning English at school on weekdays. Chinese
class is 3 hours long on Saturday mornings. My teacher has got glasses. He is a very good teacher.
He speaks both Spanish and Chinese in class, to better explain things to us. We learn to read and
write in Chinese, as well as to speak and listen. Sometimes we go on field trips, to see movies in
Chinese or to visit cultural or historical places in Madrid. There are 19 students in the class Im in.
Ive got a few friends in class. We help each other with classwork and to study for exams. We have
a break from school in July, and then we are going to start classes again in August. This summer my
family is going to visit China for 6 weeks! We will visit my grandparents in Pekn.

QUESTIONS

Have you ever been to China?

Have you ever tried Chinese food? Whats your favorite?
Do you know what animal you are in the Chinese horoscope?