1.
Tet Offensive
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It was a campaign of surprise attacks against military and civilian command and control centers throughout South Vietnam. The name of the offensive comes from the Tết holiday, the Vietnamese New Year, the North Vietnamese launched a wave of attacks in the late night hours of 30 January in the I and II Corps Tactical Zones of South Vietnam. This early attack did not lead to defensive measures. The offensive was the largest military operation conducted by either side up to point in the war. During the Battle of Huế, intense fighting lasted for a month, during their occupation, the North Vietnamese executed thousands of people in the Massacre at Huế. Around the US combat base at Khe Sanh fighting continued for two more months. S, public support for the war declined and the U. S. sought negotiations to end the war. The term Tet offensive usually refers to the January–February 1968 offensive, there was a discrepancy, however, between MACV and the Central Intelligence Agencys order of battle estimates concerning the strength of Viet Cong guerrilla forces within South Vietnam. The MACV Combined Intelligence Center, on the hand, maintained that the number could be no more than 300,000. The agency responded that such a notion was ridiculous, since the militias were responsible for half of the casualties inflicted on U. S. forces. With the groups deadlocked, George Carver, CIA deputy director for Vietnamese affairs, was asked to mediate the dispute, George Allen, Carvers deputy, laid responsibility for the agencys capitulation at the feet of Richard Helms, the director of the CIA. He believed that it was a political problem, contravening the policy interest of the administration. During the second half of 1967 the administration had become alarmed by criticism and this trend was fueled not by a belief that the struggle was not worthwhile, but by mounting casualty figures, rising taxes, and the feeling that there was no end to the war in sight. A poll taken in November indicated that 55 percent wanted a war policy. But now that were there, lets win – or get out, under the leadership of National Security Advisor Walt W. Rostow, the news media then was inundated by a wave of effusive optimism. Every statistical indicator of progress, from kill ratios and body counts to village pacification, was fed to the press and we are beginning to win this struggle asserted Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey on NBCs Today show in mid-November. Upon their arrival, the two men bolstered the administrations claims of success, General Bruce Palmer, Jr. one of Westmorelands three Field Force commanders, claimed that the Viet Cong has been defeated and that He cant get food and he cant recruit. He has been forced to change his strategy from trying to control the people on the coast to trying to survive in the mountains, Westmoreland was even more emphatic in his assertions. At an address at the National Press Club on 21 November he reported that, as of the end of 1967, the communists were unable to mount a major offensive
2.
Vietnamese people
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The Vietnamese people or the Kinh people, are an ethnic group originating from present-day northern Vietnam and southern China. They are the majority group of Vietnam, comprising 86% of the population at the 1999 census. The earliest recorded name for the ancient Vietnamese people appears as Lạc, the word Việt is shortened from Bách Việt, a name used in ancient times. Written history knows the ancient Vietnamese people first simply as the Lạc or Lạc Việt, archaeological evidence of the Đông Sơn culture suggests that Bronze Age Vietnamese people were among the first to practice agriculture. DNA research shows that Vietnamese people are the oldest population in Southeast Asia, the Vietnamese show a close genetic relationship with other East Asians with the exception of seven unique markers. The Genographic Project by the National Geographic Society shows that the Vietnamese are intermediate between East and Southeast Asians, during another recent study the test subjects specifically showed more genetic variants in common with the Chinese than with the Japanese. The anonymous subjects of the study belong to the Vietnamese ethnic group, according to legend, the first Vietnamese descended from the dragon lord Lạc Long Quân and the female heavenly angel Âu Cơ. They married and had one hundred eggs, from which hatched one hundred children and their eldest son ruled as the Hùng king. Archaeologists follow a path of stone tools from the Late Pleistocene across Java, Malaysia, Thailand and these stone tools are thought to be the first human tools used in Southeast Asia. Archaeologists believe that at time the Himalayas, a chain of mountains in northern Burma and China. During the Last Glacial Maximum, ocean levels dropped significantly and this resulted in the exposure of the shallow areas surrounding the coasts and islands of Southeast Asia - today known as the Sunda Shelf. It is generally thought that the exposed Sunda Shelf looked like a giant salt plain, later, when the glaciers melted, the Sunda Shelf again disappeared under water. Because it is a shallow body of water, it has always provided a safe area for traders and travelers in small boats to pass safely without the threat of high or choppy seas. In this way, the geography of the area has had a lot to do with the way in which cultures developed. As the map indicates, outside the Sunda Shelf are deep ocean basins which were not often crossed until heavier and wider Chinese vessels could traverse these deep and sometimes dangerous seas. As the glaciers melted and the seas near these coasts rose, traders and other travelers who wanted to migrate to areas, or perhaps to proselytize religion. For the next 4,000 years, until 8000 BCE, people moved across the mainland of Southeast Asia towards the Tonkin Delta. Eventually, the descendants of these migratory peoples entered the Neolithic Age, remains of these people and the Hoabinhian culture have been found in the Hòa Bình Caves along the Red River and in the Tonkin Delta
3.
Lion dance
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Lion dance is a form of traditional dance in Chinese culture and other Asian countries in which performers mimic a lions movements in a lion costume. The lion dance is performed during the Chinese New Year and other Chinese traditional, cultural. It may also be performed at important occasions such as business opening events, special celebrations or wedding ceremonies, the Chinese lion dance is sometimes mistakenly referred to as dragon dance. An easy way to tell the difference is that a lion is normally operated by just two dancers, while a dragon is longer and needs many people, also, in a lion dance, the performers faces are only seen occasionally, since they are inside the lion. In a dragon dance, the faces can be easily seen since the dragon is held on poles. Chinese lion dance fundamental movements can be found in most Chinese martial arts, there are two main forms of the Chinese lion dance, the Northern Lion and the Southern Lion. Versions of the dance are also found in Japan, Korea, Tibet. Another form of lion dance exists in Indonesian culture, but it may be of a different tradition and may be referred to as Singa Barong. However, lion is not native to China, and the Lion Dance therefore has been suggested to have originated outside of China from countries such as India or Persia, and introduced via Cental Asia. According to ethnomusicologist Laurence Picken, the Chinese word for lion itself, shi, there were different versions of the dance in the Tang Dynasty. In a later account, the 5 lions were described as each over 3 metres tall and each had 12 lion lads, by the eighth century, this lion dance had reached Japan. During the Song Dynasty the lion dance was performed in festivals. The Southern Lion is a development in the south of China originating in the Guangdong province. However it is likely that the Southern Lion of Guangzhou is an adaptation of the Northern Lion to local myths and characteristics, the two main types of lion dance in China are the Northern and Southern Lions. Other ethnic minorities groups in China may also have their own lion dances, Chinese lion dances usually involve two dancers but may also be performed by one. The larger lions manipulated by two persons may be referred to as lions, and those manipulated by one person little lions. The performances may also be divided into civil and martial styles. The civil style emphasizes the character and mimics and behaviour of the lion, while the style is focused on acrobatics
4.
Dragon dance
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Dragon dance is a form of traditional dance and performance in Chinese culture. Like the lion dance it is most often seen in festive celebrations, the dance is performed by a team of dancers who manipulate a long flexible figure of a dragon using poles positioned at regular intervals along the length of the dragon. The dance team simulates the movements of this river spirit in a sinuous. The dragon dance is performed during Chinese New Year. Chinese dragons are a symbol of China, and they are believed to bring luck to people, therefore the longer the dragon in the dance. The dragons are believed to possess qualities that great power, dignity, fertility, wisdom. The appearance of a dragon is both fearsome and bold but it has a benevolent disposition, and it was an emblem to represent imperial authority, the movements in a performance traditionally symbolize historical roles of dragons demonstrating power and dignity. During the Han Dynasty, different forms of the dance were described in ancient texts. The number of dragons, their length and colour, as well as the performers may vary according to the time of year, the dragon acts of the Han Dynasty were also mentioned in the Tang and Song Dynasty. Such dragon lanterns may also be carried and paraded by performers in the street during the Lantern festival at nighttime, a form of dragon dance from Tongliang County, which originated as snake totem worship, began during the Ming Dynasty and became popular in the Qing Dynasty. The number of different dragon dances has been put at over 700, the dragon is a long serpentine body formed of a number of sections on poles, with a dragon head and a tail. The dragon is assembled by joining the series of hoops on each section and attaching the ornamental head, the size and length of a dragon depends on the human power available, financial power, materials, skills and size of the field. A small organization cannot afford to run a very long dragon because it requires considerable power, great expenses. The normal length and size of the body recommended for the dragon is 34 metres and is divided into 9 major sections, the distance of each minor section is 35 cm apart, therefore, the body has 81 rings. Many may also be up to 15 sections long, and some dragons are as long as 46 sections. Sun Loong in Bendigo, Australia was, at the time it was made in 1970, much longer dragons have been created for one-off events. The world record for the longest dragon is 5,605 metres, historically the dragon dance may be performed in a variety of ways with different types and colors of dragon. Green is sometimes selected as a color of the dragon
5.
Veneration of the dead
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The veneration of the dead, including ones ancestors, is based on love and respect for the deceased. In some cultures, it is related to beliefs that the dead have a continued existence, the social or non-religious function of ancestor veneration is to cultivate kinship values, such as filial piety, family loyalty, and continuity of the family lineage. Ancestor veneration occurs in societies with every degree of social, political, and technological complexity, ancestor reverence is not the same as the worship of a deity or deities. In some Afro-diasporic cultures, ancestors are seen as being able to intercede on behalf of the living, as spirits who were once human themselves, they are seen as being better able to understand human needs than would a divine being. In other cultures, the purpose of ancestor veneration is not to ask for favors, some cultures believe that their ancestors actually need to be provided for by their descendants, and their practices include offerings of food and other provisions. Others do not believe that the ancestors are even aware of what their descendants do for them, most cultures who practice ancestor veneration do not call it ancestor worship. In English, the word usually refers to the reverent love. However, in cultures, this act of worship does not confer any belief that the departed ancestors have become some kind of deity. Rather, the act is a way to respect, honor, in this regard, many cultures and religions have similar practices. Some may visit the graves of their parents or other ancestors, leave flowers and pray to them in order to honor and remember them, however, this would not be considered as worshipping them since the term worship shows no such meaning. This is consistent with the meaning of the veneration in English. Although there is no accepted theory concerning the origins of ancestor veneration. Although some historians claim that ancient Egyptian society was a “death cult” because of its tombs and mummification rituals. The philosophy that “this world is but a vale of tears” and this was not to say that they were unacquainted with the harshness of life, rather, their ethos included a sense of continuity between this life and the next. Tombs were housing in the Hereafter and so they were constructed and decorated. Mummification was a way to preserve the corpse so the ka of the deceased could return to receive offerings of the things s/he enjoyed while alive, if mummification was not affordable, a “ka-statue” in the likeness of the deceased was carved for this purpose. The Blessed Dead were collectively called the akhu, or “shining ones” and they were described as “shining as gold in the belly of Nut and were indeed depicted as golden stars on the roofs of many tombs and temples. If the heart was in balance with the Feather of Maat, at this point only was the ka deemed worthy to be venerated by the living through rites and offerings
6.
Red envelope
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Outside of China, similar customs exist across parts of South East Asia and many other countries with a sizable ethnic Chinese population. In 2014, the Chinese mobile app WeChat popularized the distribution of red envelopes via mobile payments over the Internet, red envelopes are gifts presented at social and family gatherings such as weddings or holidays such as Chinese New Year. The red color of the envelope symbolizes good luck and is a symbol to ward off evil spirits, the act of requesting red packets is normally called tao hongbao or yao lishi, and in the south of China, lai see. Red envelopes are usually given out by married couples to single people, regardless of age, or by older to younger ones during holidays and festivals. The amount of money contained in the envelope usually ends with a digit, in accordance with Chinese beliefs. The exception being the number 9 as it pronounciation of nine is homophonus to the long and is the largest digit. Still in some regions of China and in its diaspora community, at weddings, the amount offered is usually intended to cover the cost of the attendees as well as signify goodwill to the newlyweds. During the Chinese New Year, in Southern China, red envelopes are typically given by the married to the unmarried, students and future students in the sciences are typically rewarded handsomely. The amount of money is usually notes to avoid heavy coins and it is traditional to put brand new notes inside red envelopes and also to avoid opening the envelopes in front of the relatives out of courtesy. Red packets are also used to deliver payment for service to lion dance performers, religious practitioners, teachers. Adoption of WeChat Pay saw an increase following the launch. Analysts estimated that over 100 billion digital red envelopes would be sent over the New Year holiday in 2017, in China, during the Qin Dynasty, the elderly would thread coins with a red string. The money was referred to as money warding off evil spirits and was believed to protect the person of younger generation from sickness, red envelopes continue to be referred to by such names today. There are several legends as to how the red envelope came to be, one story depicts a village where a demon was terrorizing the people at night, in most cases children were the victims. The belief was that the demon was touching the childrens heads while they were asleep, as the theory continued to linger within the village, a worried couple decided to protect their new born child by praying to their god for protection. In return, their god sent eight fairies to protect the new born child from the demon, in order to trick the demon, the fairies disguised themselves as eight coins and were placed under the childs pillow at night to protect the child. At night the demon supposedly approached to touch the child on the head when the eight coins began to shine so bright that it prohibited the demon to see, frightened from what had just happened, the demon ran away in terror. After hearing this story, the villagers began spreading the word, at first the red envelopes were only given to children during the Spring Festival, but as time progress they were given to anyone
7.
Rooster (zodiac)
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The Rooster is one of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. The Year of the Rooster is represented by the Earthly Branch character 酉, the name is also translated into English as Cock or Chicken. Rooster is the only bird included in the Chinese zodiac, however, the Chinese term is more generic, as it applies to barnyard fowl of either sex. In the Tibetan zodiac and the Nepalese Gurung zodiac, the more generic bird is in place instead of the Rooster
8.
Pig (zodiac)
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The Pig is the twelfth and the last sign of the Earthly Branches. In the continuous Sexagenary cycle, every twelfth year corresponds to Hai, there are five types of Pigs, named after the Chinese elements. In order, they are, Metal, Water, Wood, Fire, in the Japanese zodiac and Tibetan zodiac, the Pig is replaced by the boar. In the Dai zodiac, the Pig is replaced by the elephant, in the Gurung zodiac, the Pig is replaced by the deer. According to the myths, the Pig was the last to arrive when the Jade Emperor called for the great meeting, other sources said that Buddha called for a great meeting when he was about to leave the earth. Legend has it that just as the emperor was about to call it a day, the term lazy Pig is due here as the Pig got hungry during the race, promptly stopped for a feast then fell asleep. After the nap, the Pig continued the race and was named the 12th, other sources say that given his very stout form, he was just too slow a swimmer, and thus he could not do anything against the other animals. The natural element of the Pig is water, thus it is commonly associated with emotions and intuitions. Yet, given that along with the elements, the animal zodiac also follows a cycle, however, the Pig is yin, and this only the negative aspects of the elements can be attached to them, thus only 5 kinds of Pigs are found in the zodiac. Thus, a person born on 9 February 1899 still belongs to the preceding zodiac while those born on 31 January 1900 already belongs to the following zodiac, aside from being assigned a year, the Pig is also assigned to govern a month in the Lunar Calendar. As the Lunar month begins on Spring, the Pig is assigned to the 10th month and this lunar month corresponds to the Gregorian calendar as beginning from 7 November and ending at 6 December. The first half of the month is called 立冬, literally, it means the start of winter. It begins when the Sun reaches the longitude of 225°. It more often refers in particular to the day when the Sun is exactly at the longitude of 225°. In the Gregorian calendar, it begins around 7 November. The second half of the month is called 小雪, literally, the time of the Little Snow. It begins when the Sun reaches the longitude of 240°. It more often refers in particular to the day when the Sun is exactly at the longitude of 240°
9.
Chinese New Year
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Chinese New Year, also known as the Spring Festival in modern Mainland China, is an important Chinese festival celebrated at the turn of the traditional lunisolar Chinese calendar. Celebrations traditionally run from the preceding the first day, to the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first calendar month. The first day of the New Year falls on the new moon between 21 January and 20 February, in 2017, the first day of the Chinese New Year was on Saturday,28 January, initiating the year of the Rooster. The New Year festival is centuries old and gains significance because of several myths, traditionally, the festival was a time to honor deities as well as ancestors. Chinese New Year is considered a holiday for the Chinese and has had influence on the lunar new year celebrations of its geographic neighbors. Within China, regional customs and traditions concerning the celebration of the Chinese New Year vary widely, often, the evening preceding Chinese New Years Day is an occasion for Chinese families to gather for the annual reunion dinner. It is also traditional for every family to clean the house, in order to sweep away any ill-fortune. Windows and doors are decorated with red color paper-cuts and couplets with popular themes of fortune or happiness, wealth. Other activities include lighting firecrackers and giving money in red paper envelopes, in about one third of the Mainland population, or 500 million Northerners, dumplings feature prominently in the meals celebrating the festival. It is one of the worlds most prominent and celebrated festivals, the lunisolar Chinese calendar determines the date of Chinese New Year. In the Gregorian calendar, Chinese Lunar New Year begins at the new moon that falls between 21 January and 20 February, the median date of Chinese New Years Day is lichun on 4 or 5 February, the solar term next to Dahan. In the Chinese calendar, winter solstice must occur in the 11th month, to determine whether a year has an intercalary month, one only needs to check whether Chinese New Year is within the month of January. The Gregorian Calendar dates for Chinese New Year from 1912 to 2101 are below, along with the years presiding animal zodiac, the traditional Chinese calendar follows a Metonic cycle, and returns to the same date in Gregorian calendar roughly. The names of the Earthly Branches have no English counterparts and are not the Chinese translations of the animals, alongside the 12-year cycle of the animal zodiac there is a 10-year cycle of heavenly stems. Each of the ten heavenly stems is associated with one of the five elements of Chinese astrology, namely, Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, the elements are rotated every two years while a yin and yang association alternates every year. The elements are distinguished, Yang Wood, Yin Wood, Yang Fire, Yin Fire. These produce a cycle that repeats every 60 years. For example, the year of the Yang Fire Rat occurred in 1936, many people inaccurately calculate their Chinese birth-year by converting it from their Gregorian birth-year
10.
Korean New Year
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Korean New Year is the first day of the Korean lunar calendar. It is one of the most significant traditional Korean holidays, the celebration lasts three days, the day before Korean New Year day, Korean New Year day itself, and the day after Korean New Year day. Seollal generally refers to Eumnyeok Seollal, also known as Gujeong, Seollal may also refer to Yangnyeok Seollal, also known as Shinjeong. Korean New Year generally falls on the day of the new moon after winter solstice. In such a case, the New Year falls on the day of the new moon after the solstice. Korean New Year is generally the day as Chinese New Year except when new moon occurs between 15,00 UTC and 16,00 UTC. In such case, new moon happens on the day in Korea compared to China. In the Joseon Dynasty, all the government officials gathered in the Five Grand Palaces to make New Years greetings, Korean New Year is typically a family holiday. The Korean New Year is also known as Seollal, the three-day holiday is used by many to return to their hometowns to visit their parents and other relatives, where they perform an ancestral ritual called charye. The three days are the day of, the day before, and the after, in 2016,36 million South Koreans reportedly would be traveling to visit their families during the Korean New Year. Koreans not only travel within the country, but around the world, many Koreans travel from overseas to visit their families for this annual holiday. Since it is one of the few times families may be able to get together and catch up on one anothers lives, it is considered respectful, often, the family members first visit the elders, and this includes the grandparents and the parents. It is also considered respectful for people to visit their mothers-, including travel expense, preparation for this holiday is very costly. Gifts are usually given to members and new clothes are worn during the holiday. Traditional food is prepared for family members coming to visit for the holiday. Due to the demand, food prices are inflated during the month of Seollal. As a result, some people have chosen to forgo some traditions because they have become too expensive and these families prepare a modest ancestral rite only with necessary foods for Seollal. The government has started taking certain measures to stabilize and support ordinary peoples livelihood for Seollal holiday period
11.
Japanese New Year
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The Japanese New Year is an annual festival with its own customs. Since 1873, the official Japanese New Year has been celebrated according to the Gregorian calendar, on January 1 of each year, New Years Day. However, the celebration of the traditional Japanese New Year is still marked on the day as the contemporary Chinese, Korean. Prior to the Meiji period, the date of the Japanese New Year was based on the Chinese lunar calendar, as are the contemporary Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese New Years. However, in 1873, five years after the Meiji Restoration, Japan adopted the Gregorian calendar, Japanese people eat a selection of dishes during the New Year celebration called osechi-ryōri, typically shortened to osechi. There are many variations of osechi, and some foods eaten in one region are not eaten in other places on New Years Day, another popular dish is ozōni, a soup with mochi rice cake and other ingredients that differ based on various regions of Japan. Today, sashimi and sushi are often eaten, as well as non-Japanese foods, to let the overworked stomach rest, seven-herb rice soup is prepared on the seventh day of January, a day known as jinjitsu. Another custom is to create and eat rice cakes, boiled sticky rice is put into a wooden bucket-like container usu and patted with water by one person while another person hits it with a large wooden mallet. Mashing the rice, it forms a sticky white dumpling and this is made before New Years Day and eaten during the beginning of January. Mochi is made into a New Years decoration called kagami mochi, the name daidai is supposed to be auspicious since it means several generations. A major attraction is The Watched Night bell, in Tokyo, Japanese believe that the ringing of bells can rid their sins during the previous year. The bell is rung 107 times on 31st and once past midnight and it is also very common to eat buckwheat noodles called toshikoshi soba on the New Years Eve. The end of December and the beginning of January are the busiest times for the Japanese post offices, the Japanese have a custom of sending New Years Day postcards to their friends and relatives, similar to the Western custom of sending Christmas cards. Their original purpose was to give your faraway friends and relatives tidings of yourself, in other words, this custom existed for people to tell others whom they did not often meet that they were alive and well. Japanese people send these postcards so that they arrive on 1 January, the post office guarantees to deliver the greeting postcards on 1 January if they are posted within a time limit, from mid-December to near the end of the month and are marked with the word nengajō. To deliver these cards on time, the post office usually hires students part-time to help deliver the letters and it is customary not to send these postcards when one has had a death in the family during the year. In this case, a member sends a simple postcard called mochū hagaki to inform friends and relatives they should not send New Years cards. People get their nengajō from many sources, most of these have the Chinese zodiac sign of the New Year as their design, or conventional greetings, or both
12.
Tsagaan Sar
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The Mongolian Lunar New Year, commonly known as Tsagaan Sar, is the first day of the year according to the Mongolian lunisolar calendar. The festival of the Lunar New Year is celebrated by the Mongols along with the people of the Arctic, the White Moon festival is celebrated on the first through third days of the first lunar month. Tsagaan Sar is one of the most important Mongolian holidays, the customs of Tsagaan Sar is much different depending on the region. In Mongolia around the New Year for example, families burn candles at the altar symbolizing Buddhist enlightenment, also people greet each other with holiday-specific greetings such as Амар байна уу. meaning Are you living peacefully. Mongols also visit friends and family on this day and exchange gifts, a typical Mongol family will meet in the home dwelling of the eldest in the family. Many people will be dressed in full garment of national Mongol costumes, when greeting their elders during the White Moon festival, Mongols perform the zolgokh greeting, grasping them by their elbows to show support for them. The eldest receives greetings from each member of the family except for his/her spouse, during the greeting ceremony, family members hold long, typically blue, silk cloths called a khadag. After the ceremony, the family eats sheeps tail, mutton, rice with curds, dairy products. It is also typical to drink airag and exchange gifts, the day before Tsagaan Sar is called Bituun, the name of the lunar phase of a new or dark moon. The lunar phases are Bituun, Shined, Tergel, and Huuchid, on the Bituun day, people thoroughly clean around home, herders also clean the livestock barns and shades, to meet the New Year fresh. In the evening, families gather together—usually immediate family, in contrast to the large feast gatherings of White Moon day — and see out the old year eating dairy products, traditionally, Mongolians settle all issues and repay all debts from the old year by this day. Depending on the region, the food is much different, the Mongol calendar in the Tegus Buyantu system is a lunisolar calendar. The Tegus Buyantu astrology was developed by Mongol high priest Luvsandanzanjantsan, Tsagaan Sar is celebrated on the first through third days of the first lunar month
13.
Losar
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Losar is a festival in Tibetan Buddhism. The holiday is celebrated on various dates depending on location and tradition, the holiday is a new years festival, celebrated on the first day of the lunisolar Tibetan calendar, which corresponds to a date in February or March in the Gregorian calendar. The variation of the festival in Nepal is called Lhochhar and is observed about eight weeks earlier than the Tibetan Losar, Losar predates the arrival of Buddhism in Tibet and has its roots in a winter incense-burning custom of the Bon religion. During the reign of the ninth Tibetan king, Pude Gungyal, on the first day of Losar, a beverage called changkol is made from chhaang. The second day of Losar is known as Kings Losar, Losar is traditionally preceded by the five-day practice of Vajrakilaya. Originally, ancient celebrations of Losar occurred solely on the winter solstice, after the Dalai Lama was exiled, many monasteries were dissolved during the Cultural Revolution. Since that time, Tibetan Buddhism practice in Tibet has been somewhat restored, debts are settled, quarrels are resolved, new clothes are acquired, and special foods such as kapse are made. A favorite drink is chang which is served warm, because the words sheeps head and beginning of the year sound similar in Tibetan, it is customary to fashion a sheeps head from colored butter as a decoration. Another traditional decoration that symbolizes a good harvest is the phyemar and this bucket is filled with zanba and barley seeds, then decorated with barley ears and colored butter. Losar customs in Bhutan are similar to, but distinct from, traditional foods consumed on the occasion include sugarcane and green bananas, which are considered auspicious. In Bhutan, picnicking, dancing, singing, dart-playing, archery, and the giving of offerings are all traditions
14.
Culture of Vietnam
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The culture of Vietnam is one of the oldest in Southeast Asia, with the ancient Bronze age Đông Sơn culture being widely considered one of its most important progenitors. Due to a millennium of Chinese rule, Vietnam was heavily influenced by Chinese culture in terms of politics, government, Confucian social and moral ethics, Vietnam is considered to be part of the East Asian cultural sphere. During the French colonial period, Vietnamese culture absorbed various influences from the Europeans, including the spread of Catholicism and the adoption of the Latin alphabet. Prior to this, Vietnamese had used both Chinese characters and a script called Chữ nôm which was based on Chinese but included newly invented characters meant to represent native Vietnamese words. In the socialist era, the life of Vietnam has been deeply influenced by government-controlled media. For many decades, foreign influences were shunned and emphasis placed on appreciating and sharing the culture of communist nations such as the Soviet Union, China, Cuba. Since the 1990s, Vietnam has seen a greater re-exposure to Asian, European and American culture, important symbols present in Vietnamese culture include dragons, turtles, lotuses and bamboo. In terms of levels of organization, the two most important units are làng and nước. The Vietnamese usually say that làng goes hand in hand with nước, intermediate organizational units are quận, xã and tỉnh Kinship plays an important role in Vietnam. Unlike Western cultures emphasis on individualism, Eastern culture values the roles of family, comparing with Eastern cultures, Chinese culture values family over clan while Vietnamese culture values clan over family. Each clan has a patriarch, clan altar, and death commemorations attended by the whole clan, most inhabitants are related by blood. That fact is still seen in names such as Đặng Xá, Châu Xá, Lê Xá. In the Western highlands the tradition of families in a clan residing in a longhouse is still popular. In the majority of rural Vietnam today, one can see three or four generations living under one roof. The traditional Vietnamese wedding is one of the most important of traditional Vietnamese occasions, in the past, both men and women were expected to be married at young ages. Marriages were generally arranged by the parents and extended family, with the children having limited say in the matter, in modern Vietnam, this has changed as people freely choose their own marriage partners. Generally there are two ceremonies, Lễ Đám Hỏi, Some time before the wedding, the groom and his family visit the bride. The quantity of boxes must be an odd number, the presents include areca nuts, betel leaves, tea, cake, fruits, wine, other various delicacies and money
15.
Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary
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Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary are words and morphemes of the Vietnamese language borrowed from Chinese. They comprise about a third of the Vietnamese lexicon, and may account for as much as 60% of the used in formal texts. Together with Sino-Korean and Sino-Japanese vocabularies, Sino-Vietnamese has been used in the reconstruction of the categories of Middle Chinese. Samuel Martin grouped the three together as Sino-xenic, as a result of a thousand years of Chinese control, and a further thousand years of strong Chinese influence, two main layers of Chinese vocabulary have been borrowed into Vietnamese. These layers were first systematically studied by Wang Li, Middle Chinese and Vietnamese are of analytic type, with almost all morphemes monosyllabic and lacking inflection. The phonological structure of their syllables is also similar, the Old Sino-Vietnamese layer was introduced after the Chinese conquest of the kingdom of Nanyue, including the northern part of Vietnam, in 111 BC. The influence of the Chinese language was felt during the Eastern Han period, due to increased Chinese immigration. This layer consists of roughly 400 words, which have fully assimilated and are treated by Vietnamese speakers as native words. The much more extensive Sino-Vietnamese proper was introduced with Chinese rhyme dictionaries such as the Qieyun in the late Tang dynasty, Vietnamese scholars used a systematic rendering of Middle Chinese within the phonology of Vietnamese to derive consistent pronunciations for the entire Chinese lexicon. Around 3,000 words entered Vietnamese over this period, most scholars now follow André-Georges Haudricourt in assigning these words to the Old Sino-Vietnamese layer. Until the early 20th century, Literary Chinese was the language of administration and scholarship, not only in China, as contact with the West grew, Western works were translated into Chinese and read by the literati. In order to translate words for new concepts scholars in these countries coined new compounds formed from Chinese morphemes, the local readings of these compounds were readily adopted into local vernaculars, including Vietnamese. Often, multiple compounds for the concept were in circulation for some time before a winner emerged. A fairly large amount of Sino-Vietnamese have meanings that differ significantly from their usage in other Sinitic vocabularies, for example, bác sĩ is widely used with the meaning physician, while it means doctor or Ph. D. Interestingly, club became 俱樂部 kurabu in Japan, was borrowed to China, then to Vietnam, is read as câu lạc bộ, and abbreviated CLB, which can be an abbreviation for club. Some Sino-Vietnamese words are entirely invented by the Vietnamese and are not used in Chinese, such as linh mục for pastor, or giả kim thuật, others are no longer used in modern Chinese or have other meanings. Because Sino-Vietnamese provides a Vietnamese form for almost all Chinese characters, for example, the name of the Chinese leader Xi Jinping consists of the Chinese characters 習近平. Applying a Sino-Vietnamese reading to each character in turn yields a Vietnamese name Tập Cận Bình, Western names, approximated in Chinese, were further garbled in Vietnamese pronunciations
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Lunisolar calendar
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A lunisolar calendar is a calendar in many cultures whose date indicates both the moon phase and the time of the solar year. As with all calendars which divide the year into months there is a requirement that the year have a whole number of months. In this case ordinary years consist of twelve months but every second or third year is an embolismic year, also, some of the ancient pre-Islamic calendars in south Arabia followed a lunisolar system. The Chinese, Coligny and Hebrew lunisolar calendars track more or less the tropical year whereas the Buddhist, therefore, the first three give an idea of the seasons whereas the last two give an idea of the position among the constellations of the full moon. The Tibetan calendar was influenced by both the Chinese and Hindu calendars, the Germanic peoples also used a lunisolar calendar before their conversion to Christianity. The Metonic cycle, used in the Hebrew calendar and the Julian and Gregorian ecclesiastical calendars, the classic Metonic cycle can be reproduced by assigning an initial epact value of 1 to the last year of the cycle and incrementing by 11 each year. Between the last year of one cycle and the first year of the next the increment is 12 and this adjustment, the saltus lunae, causes the epacts to repeat every 19 years. When the epact goes above 29 an intercalary month is added and 30 is subtracted, the intercalary years are numbers 3,6,8,11,14,17 and 19. Both the Hebrew calendar and the Julian calendar use this sequence, the Buddhist and Hebrew calendars restrict the leap month to a single month of the year, the number of common months between leap months is, therefore, usually 36, but occasionally only 24 months. An alternative way of dealing with the fact that a year does not contain an integer number of months is by including uncounted time in the year that does not belong to any month. Some Coast Salish peoples used a calendar of this kind, for instance, the Chehalis began their count of lunar months from the arrival of spawning chinook salmon, and counted 10 months, leaving an uncounted period until the next chinook salmon run. The Gregorian calendar has a calendar, which is used to determine the date of Easter. The rules are in the Computus, Hebrew calendar Jain calendar Hindu calendar Computus Easter rule for Julian and Gregorian calendars. Lunisolar calendar year 2014 Lunisolar Calendar Calendar studies Model of lunisolar calendar based on observation of the sun and moon position
17.
Vietnam
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Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. With an estimated 92.7 million inhabitants as of 2016, it is the worlds 14th-most-populous country, and its capital city has been Hanoi since the reunification of North and South Vietnam in 1976, with Ho Chi Minh City as a historical city as well. The northern part of Vietnam was part of Imperial China for over a millennium, an independent Vietnamese state was formed in 939, following a Vietnamese victory in the Battle of Bạch Đằng River. Following a Japanese occupation in the 1940s, the Vietnamese fought French rule in the First Indochina War, thereafter, Vietnam was divided politically into two rival states, North Vietnam, and South Vietnam. Conflict between the two sides intensified in what is known as the Vietnam War, the war ended with a North Vietnamese victory in 1975. Vietnam was then unified under a communist government but remained impoverished, in 1986, the government initiated a series of economic and political reforms which began Vietnams path towards integration into the world economy. By 2000, it had established relations with all nations. Since 2000, Vietnams economic growth rate has been among the highest in the world and its successful economic reforms resulted in its joining the World Trade Organization in 2007. It is also a member of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation and the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, Vietnam remains one of the worlds four remaining one-party socialist states officially espousing communism. The name Việt Nam is a variation of Nam Việt, a name that can be traced back to the Triệu Dynasty of the 2nd century BC. The word Việt originated as a form of Bách Việt. The form Vietnam is first recorded in the 16th-century oracular poem Sấm Trạng Trình, the name has also been found on 12 steles carved in the 16th and 17th centuries, including one at Bao Lam Pagoda in Haiphong that dates to 1558. Then, as recorded, rewarded Yuenan/Vietnam as their nations name, to also show that they are below the region of Baiyue/Bach Viet. Between 1804 and 1813, the name was used officially by Emperor Gia Long and it was revived in the early 20th century by Phan Bội Châus History of the Loss of Vietnam, and later by the Vietnamese Nationalist Party. The country was usually called Annam until 1945, when both the government in Huế and the Viet Minh government in Hanoi adopted Việt Nam. Archaeological excavations have revealed the existence of humans in what is now Vietnam as early as the Paleolithic age, Homo erectus fossils dating to around 500,000 BC have been found in caves in Lạng Sơn and Nghệ An provinces in northern Vietnam. The oldest Homo sapiens fossils from mainland Southeast Asia are of Middle Pleistocene provenance, teeth attributed to Homo sapiens from the Late Pleistocene have also been found at Dong Can, and from the Early Holocene at Mai Da Dieu, Lang Gao and Lang Cuom. The Hồng Bàng dynasty of the Hùng kings is considered the first Vietnamese state, in 257 BC, the last Hùng king was defeated by Thục Phán, who consolidated the Lạc Việt and Âu Việt tribes to form the Âu Lạc, proclaiming himself An Dương Vương
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China
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China, officially the Peoples Republic of China, is a unitary sovereign state in East Asia and the worlds most populous country, with a population of over 1.381 billion. The state is governed by the Communist Party of China and its capital is Beijing, the countrys major urban areas include Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Tianjin and Hong Kong. China is a power and a major regional power within Asia. Chinas landscape is vast and diverse, ranging from forest steppes, the Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir and Tian Shan mountain ranges separate China from much of South and Central Asia. The Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, the third and sixth longest in the world, respectively, Chinas coastline along the Pacific Ocean is 14,500 kilometers long and is bounded by the Bohai, Yellow, East China and South China seas. China emerged as one of the worlds earliest civilizations in the basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. For millennia, Chinas political system was based on hereditary monarchies known as dynasties, in 1912, the Republic of China replaced the last dynasty and ruled the Chinese mainland until 1949, when it was defeated by the communist Peoples Liberation Army in the Chinese Civil War. The Communist Party established the Peoples Republic of China in Beijing on 1 October 1949, both the ROC and PRC continue to claim to be the legitimate government of all China, though the latter has more recognition in the world and controls more territory. China had the largest economy in the world for much of the last two years, during which it has seen cycles of prosperity and decline. Since the introduction of reforms in 1978, China has become one of the worlds fastest-growing major economies. As of 2016, it is the worlds second-largest economy by nominal GDP, China is also the worlds largest exporter and second-largest importer of goods. China is a nuclear weapons state and has the worlds largest standing army. The PRC is a member of the United Nations, as it replaced the ROC as a permanent member of the U. N. Security Council in 1971. China is also a member of numerous formal and informal multilateral organizations, including the WTO, APEC, BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the BCIM, the English name China is first attested in Richard Edens 1555 translation of the 1516 journal of the Portuguese explorer Duarte Barbosa. The demonym, that is, the name for the people, Portuguese China is thought to derive from Persian Chīn, and perhaps ultimately from Sanskrit Cīna. Cīna was first used in early Hindu scripture, including the Mahābhārata, there are, however, other suggestions for the derivation of China. The official name of the state is the Peoples Republic of China. The shorter form is China Zhōngguó, from zhōng and guó and it was then applied to the area around Luoyi during the Eastern Zhou and then to Chinas Central Plain before being used as an occasional synonym for the state under the Qing
19.
New moon
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In astronomy, new moon is the first phase of the Moon, when it orbits not seen from the Earth, the moment when the Moon and the Sun have the same ecliptical longitude. The Moon is not visible at this time except when it is seen in silhouette during a solar eclipse when it is illuminated by earthshine, see the article on phases of the Moon for further details. A lunation or synodic month is the time from one new moon to the next. In the J2000.0 epoch, the length of a lunation is 29.530588 days. However, the length of any one month can vary from 29.26 to 29.80 days due to the perturbing effects of the Suns gravity on the Moons eccentric orbit. In a lunar calendar, each corresponds to a lunation. Each lunar cycle can be assigned a unique Lunation Number to identify it, the length of a lunation is about 29.53 days. Its precise duration is linked to many phenomena in nature, such as the variation between spring and neap tides, an approximate formula to compute the mean moments of new moon for successive months is, d =5.597661 +29. For all new moons between 1601 and 2401, the difference is 0.592 days = 14h13m in either direction. The duration of a lunation varies in this period between 29.272 and 29.833 days, i. e. −0. 259d = 6h12m shorter, or +0. 302d = 7h15m longer than average. This range is smaller than the difference between mean and true conjunction, because during one lunation the periodic terms cannot all change to their maximum opposite value, see the article on the full moon cycle for a fairly simple method to compute the moment of new moon more accurately. These are now outdated, Chapront et al. published improved parameters, quadratic term, In ELP2000–85, D has a quadratic term of −5. 8681T2, expressed in lunations N, this yields a correction of +87. 403×10–12N2 days to the time of conjunction. The term includes a contribution of 0. 5×. The most current estimate from Lunar Laser Ranging for the acceleration is, therefore, the new quadratic term of D is = -6. 8498T2. Indeed, the polynomial provided by Chapront et alii provides the same value and this translates to a correction of +14. 622×10−12N2 days to the time of conjunction, the quadratic term now is, +102. 026×10−12N2 days. For UT, analysis of historical observations shows that ΔT has an increase of +31 s/cy2. Converted to days and lunations, the correction from ET to UT becomes, the theoretical tidal contribution to ΔT is about +42 s/cy2 the smaller observed value is thought to be mostly due to changes in the shape of the Earth. Because the discrepancy is not fully explained, uncertainty of our prediction of UT may be as large as the difference between these values,11 s/cy2
20.
Nuclear family
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A nuclear family, elementary family or conjugal family is a family group consisting of two parents and their children. It is in contrast to a single-parent family, to the extended family. Nuclear families typically center on a couple, the nuclear family may have any number of children. Family structures of a couple and their children were present in Western Europe and New England in the 17th century, influenced by church. With the emergence of proto-industrialization and early capitalism, the family became a financially viable social unit. The term nuclear family first appeared in the twentieth century. Little is known about how parental behavior and identification processes work, historians have found that nuclear families have been a primary arrangement in England since the 13th century. In England multi-generational households were uncommon because young adults would save money to move out. Sociologist Brigitte Berger argued, the nuclear family had to be flexible and mobile as it searched for opportunity and property. Forced to rely on their own ingenuity, its members also needed to plan for the future and develop bourgeois habits of work, berge also mentions that this could be one of the reasons why the Industrial Revolution begun in England, and other Northwest European countries. As a fertility factor, single family households generally have a higher number of children than co-operative living arrangements according to studies from both the Western world and India. There have been studies done that shows a difference in the number of children wanted per household according to where they live, families that live in rural areas wanted to have more kids than families in urban areas. A study done in Japan between October 2011 and February 2012 further researched the affect of are of residence on mean desired number of children. Researchers of the came to the conclusion that the women living in rural areas with larger families were more likely to want more children. Merriam-Webster dates the term back to 1947, while the Oxford English Dictionary has a reference to the term from 1925, in its most common usage, the term nuclear family refers to a household consisting of a father, a mother and their children all in one household dwelling. George Murdock, an observer of families, offered a description, The family is a social group characterized by common residence. It contains adults of both sexes, at least two of whom maintain a socially approved sexual relationship, and one or more children, own or adopted, of the sexually cohabiting adults. Many individuals are part of two families in their lives, the family of origin in which they are offspring
