Chinese Movie "Hero" Review

In google.cn, there are 59,000,000 hits when search with the key words "Hero Review"."Read on the Wiki".
Here are some parts of the critiques from the web, I didn't edit.

Hero is the masterpiece. It employs unparalleled visual splendor to show why men must make war to secure the peace and how warriors may find their true destiny as lovers. Time

Swooningly beautiful, furious and thrilling, Zhang Yimou's Hero is an action movie for the ages. Chicago Tribune

Led by director Zhang Yimou and dazzling cinematographer Christopher Doyle, the unseen Hero production team has made what just might be the most artistically sophisticated, most formally beautiful martial arts film the genre has seen. Los Angeles Times

Hero is an epic, evocative of another epoch and of landscapes beyond time. It's overwhelming. And yet I miss the animating anger of Zhang's early masterworks, in which penniless young lovers were oppressed by impotent old men.L A Weekly

In the end, the spectacular martial-arts epic seems to signify nothing much more than its own beauty, as brilliant and ephemeral as a fireworks display.
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)

Generally, west critics are focused on the visual effect created by colors, costumes and cinematagraphy. But I goes more to this one.

Much of your ability to appreciate the finer points of Zhang Yimou's “Hero” depends on your knowledge of Chinese culture and history. This doesn't mean those of us completely unaware of the country's monumental struggle to unite itself under one kingdom, or the zenish notion of swordsmanship as an art form rather than a martial prowess, can't also appreciate the film. There's plenty to like about “Hero”, but unfortunately for anyone who has seen any number of Hong Kong swordplay film (or even Ang Lee's “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”), there's nothing new here.

I have to say that the success of this blockbuster is much more depended on its pilot and characters portrayed in it rather than the picturresqueness. It shown care to the world we're living, on which war goes on endless; one part or another of the world seems have to fight for some reason unknown.

Note:In the movie, Qin Shi Huang (Emperor Qin), got the meaning of culture things. He said:" it is troblesome that nineteen different sayings just for one word-sword-and couldn't understood by each other," and want to unified them all. This is where I want to draw my idea from. The world now is just global village, and none of us want to bring about war. Understanding about each other is more essential than that of any other kinds of exchange. To do this, we should begin with the culture.
See difination of Hero on wikipedia.org or the Chinese version of it on baike.baidu.com
Read More...

Spring Festival vs. Christmas, Commons and Differences

The western customs are so different with that of our Chinese! In this article, I will try to talk about the commons as well as differences of how the two people celebrate their most important festival.

When that day is coming, the people from both side of the world are about to go home to be with their family members. A family reunion or get-together is so indispensable, especially in China, for the people who were apart from the family a whole year or many years because of working afar. They both treat that day most important day in a year that meant to be a day for entertaining themselves, presents are bought for families, friends and relatives, a big even a sumptuous meal is served for it. Neither the Chinese people nor the westerners have to work that day, for that is a day of holiday.

There also some difference between the way how Chinese celebrate the Spring Festival and the westerners do with the Christmas. In China, the adults often give the children a Hong Bao (red pack) with “lucky money” inside during Spring Festival, which promised luck for the coming year. We post a couplet and Men Shen (portraits of Guarding God) on the door to omen a good future and protect ourselves from evil, visit friends and relatives to have a homely talk and share our happiness and stories with each other. In west, a postcard often is sent to friends, a gift instead of lucky money is given to children. They have turkey and roast while we have Jiaozi.

From what I mentioned above, there are many common as well as difference about the way people celebrating the holiday.

Give me some advices to perfect this post, will you? All you have to do is to leave a message below!
Read More...

Cao and his dream of the red mansions

    Today I am going to introduce you the greatest novelist in Chinese literature history, Cao Xueqin, also known as Tsao Hsueh Chin , who lived in the Qing (ching) dynasty (1715–1763). He is the author of A Dream of the Red Mansions (or Story of the Stone; A Dream of the Red Chambers), which is considered China's greatest novel.
    After his wealthy and prominent family fell victim to an imperial purge in 1728, Cao's father managed to avoid enslavement and resettled them in Beijing. There Cao, poverty-stricken, worked on his semiautobiographical novel, which remained unfinished at his death. Edited and completed by Gao E (1740–1815), it is a masterful chronicle of  decline of four distinguished family, focusing on a triangular romance among the three main characters (Jia Baoyu, Lin Daiyu and Xue Baochai). The witty narrative, rich in naturalistic detail, emphasizes metaphysical themes of transience and the risks of passionate desire.
    The four great houses of Jia, Shi, Wang and Xue described in this novel were typical basic political units of feudal society. Such families were linked with the court above and the local officials below to form a network of control with the feudal autocratic state power as its center.
    This book has translated into dozens of languages worldwide and adapted for films and TV serials in China, and also in China, even a specialized study was established focusing on this book called Redology(the study of A Dream of the Red Mansions).

Read More...