Chinese Calligraphy

Hey, and once again it's Zoey. I'm back for, what do you know? Extra Credit! We're trying to get as many travel points as we can to make our journey through the last leg of the race. Today, you're gonna hear about Chinese Calligraphy. Calligraphy means "good writing". It's a form of a written language, but is considered more of an art. People who can produce calligraphy, called calligrapher, are highly valued people in China. There are a few different kinds of calligraphy. There's seal, official or clerical, regular, running of semi-cursive, and cursive. There are seven standard strokes, but many calligraphers belive there are possible up to 32! That's a lot! Multiple tools are used to create calligraphy, first of all, paper, and then ink. An inkstone is needed to grind the ink with water, so it can be painted on to the paper. Finally, and brush is used. The brush is generally made from animal hair tied on to the end of a bamboo reed. Chinese calligraphy has been a long time art, and is still used throughout China today!

I used these websites for information:

http://library.thinkquest.org/3614/drawing.htm

http://www.asiawind.com/art/callig/Default.htm

Sumo Wrestling

Hey, it's Zoey! I'm back again with another post, this time for extra credit! I'll be telling you all about the Japanese martial art called sumo wrestling. The object of the game is for a sumo wrestler, a.k.a. rikishi to force the opposite opponent out of the circlular ring, or to have them touch the ground with anything other than their feet. They often wear their hair in a small bun on the back of their head. Sumo wrestlers start training as young as they possibly can, and are given a specific diet that allows them to gain as much weight as possible, but also gain a lot of muscle. Although it takes a lot of time and practice to train for an event such as this, a sumo fight may take only a few seconds, because they may step out of the ring or touch the floor with something other than a foot. Because of their diets, most of them are extremely big! Were talking weights like 360 pounds!!! Next time you see a sumo wrestler, you better run!

These are 2 awesome websites that I used to find this information about sumo wrestling

http://www.jref.com/glossary/sumo.shtml

http://www.artelino.com/articles/japanese_sumo_wrestling.asp

NINJAS

While you read this I hope that you will learn some interesting facts about Ninjas you probably didn't know. Did you know that all Ninjas are mammals, Ninjas fight all the time and their purpose is to flip out and kill people. (kind of scary!) Here are some other interesting facts about Ninjas. Ninjas do not sleep and Ninjas make onions cry. Ninjas usually wear this costume on the right.

Ninja Weapons:

Metal Stars Throwing Knife's Spike Key chains Swords

Ninjas are Japanese warriors that are trained with assassination skills. Today most Ninjas live in Japan.

To find out more info about Ninjas click on the following links below that are listed.

Resources:http://www.realultimatepower.net/index4.htm, http://kidsninjutsu.com/ninja_funny_facts.htm, http://www.karatedepot.net/ninjitsu/, http://library.thinkquest.org/07aug/01819/.

- MiKoLiNa

Chinese Calendar

Hey! It's Maddie and I'm going to teach you about the Chinese Lunar Calendar! The Chinese Lunar Calendar was created in 2600BC by Emperor Huang Ti. Based off the cycles of the moon this lunar calendar is separeted into years. Although, unlike the calendar we use, the Chinese Lunar Calendar begins at a differnt date each year between late January and mid Febuary. This year just happens to be Jan. 26th, and is the year of the Ox. A complete cycle takes 60 years, and is made up of five cycles of 12 years each.
Each year in a tweleve year cycle is deticated to it's own animal. Legend tells that Lord Buddha called all animals to bid him fairwell before he departed from earth. It is said only twelve animals appeared, in appreciation he named a year after each animal. The order of years is in chronilogical order from the time each animal arrived to Lord Buddha. It is said the animals year you are born in has an affect on your personality.

Two Websites I used for this post are....

http://www.chinese.new-year.co.uk/calendar.htm

http://www.chinapage.com/newyear.html

Two Websites to check out are...

http://www.webexhibits.org/calendars/calendar-chinese.html http://www.math.nus.edu.sg/aslaksen/calendar/chinese.shtml

East Asian Food

Hey! East asian food is extremely delicious! It's full of spice and flavor. Traditionally, rice is a huge part of their cuisine. It has been made in China for over 10,000 years. Also, because some chinese are buddhists, vegetarinaism is practiced in some places throughout east asia. Tofu and soy products are common in China. For those who are not buddhist and eat meat, chicken and beef are common in their dishes. Most of the dishes in China are in bite sized pieces, so the traditional chopsticks can be used. One kind of bite sized food is sushi. Sushi is typically a small piece of fish with small vegetables surrounded in rice, and then rolled around in seaweed. It is served with soy sauce, wasabi, and a few slices of ginger to eat between pieces in order to refresh your taste for your next piece of sushi. There is another variety of sushi, that to us is a lot less appealing. It's made of rice, and then topped with a slice of raw fish. Chinese food has a different taste than many of us are used to. But beware, many chinese restaurants don't serve traditional chinese food. Much of it is chinese-american.

http://www.eatsushi.com/

http://www.cuisinenet.com/glossary/china.html

-Zoey

The Geography of China, Mongolia, Japan and Taiwan

Hi there! This week, we have learned a whole bundle of information about the geography of 4 countries in Asia. China, Mongolia, Japan and Taiwan. We have learned of many geographic features in these countries, like the Gobi Desert in Mongolia, Mt. Fuji in Japan, and the Yangtze River in China. The Gobi Desert is the 5th largest desert in the world, and is getting bigger as desertification blows sand around China. Mt. Fuji is really a volcano, and is more than 6,000 feet tall! Finally, the Yangtze River is a river that floods every year, causing the area around the river to have very fertile soil. In west China, the land consists of plateaus and mountains, while in the east, the land is a lot lower. Mongolia is mountainous in the north and west, but is a desert in the south. Most of Mongolia consists of Steppes. Lastly, Taiwan is dominated by mountains in the east, and flat rolling plains in west. Japan is a very mountainous, and lacks flat land. Eastern Asia has a great variety of geographic features, making it a very unique land. The region is a huge area, with many geographic wonders to explore!

The Gobi Desert

It's the Gobi desert-the largest desert in Asia, and the 5th largest desert in the world. It's 500,002 square miles, and mostly covered in rock, not sand. The Gobi desert isn't your average desert with sweltering heat and dry land. It's a cold desert, and it may even at some times have frost on the ground! Many fossils are found here. In fact, the first dinosaur eggs were discovered here. Many animals live in the Gobi, plants too. But unfortunately, desertification is threatening the environment around the desert. This is mostly caused by humans-for example, deforestation, overgrazing, and global warming. Although China tries to stop the spread of the desert, most attempts have failed. The Gobi desert is a big part of East Asia, and is an area rich in living things!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gobi_desert

-Zoey