Granny Liu
Granny Liu ( zh, t=劉姥姥, p=Liú Lǎolāo) is a character in the 18th century Chinese novel '' Dream of the Red Chamber''. She is an elderly country rustic and a distant relative of Lady Wang through "joining families" and marriage (i.e. they are not related by blood). Granny Liu's son-in-law's grandfather was adopted by Lady Wang's father, hence the Jia clan became related to her son-in-law's family. Granny Liu was entrusted with the task of calling on Lady Wang by her son-in-law Gou'er. Granny Liu visits the Rongguo Mansion on two occasions during the novel with her young grandson Ban'er. Each time, they provide a sharp contrast to the Jia family members. Nevertheless, she is respected by everyone for her age, hale physique and forthright nature, providing much comic relief, even for the Dowager. Each time, she also takes home many valuable gifts of clothing, money, food, family remedies, and livestock. In Cheng-Gao ending of the novel, Granny Liu visits Wang Xifeng before ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Chinese Language
Chinese ( or ) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and List of ethnic groups in China, many minority ethnic groups in China, as well as by various communities of the Chinese diaspora. Approximately 1.39 billion people, or 17% of the global population, speak a variety of Chinese as their first language. Chinese languages form the Sinitic languages, Sinitic branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. The spoken varieties of Chinese are usually considered by native speakers to be dialects of a single language. However, their lack of mutual intelligibility means they are sometimes considered to be separate languages in a Language family, family. Investigation of the historical relationships among the varieties of Chinese is ongoing. Currently, most classifications posit 7 to 13 main regional groups based on phonetic developments from Middle Chinese, of which the most spoken by far is Mandarin Chinese, Mandarin with 66%, or around 800&nb ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Dream Of The Red Chamber
''Dream of the Red Chamber'' or ''The Story of the Stone'' is an 18th-century Chinese novel authored by Cao Xueqin, considered to be one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. It is known for its psychological scope and its observation of the worldview, aesthetics, lifestyles, and social relations of High Qing China. The intricate strands of its plot depict the rise and decline of a family much like Cao's own and, by extension, of the dynasty itself. Cao depicts the power of the father over the family, but the novel is intended to be a memorial to the women he knew in his youth: friends, relatives and servants. At a more profound level, the author explores religious and philosophical questions, and the writing style includes echoes of the plays and novels of the late Ming, as well as poetry from earlier periods. Cao apparently began composing it in the 1740s and worked on it until his death in 1763 or 1764. Copies of his uncompleted manuscript circulated ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lady Wang
Lady Wang (王夫人) is a character in the classic Chinese 18th century novel ''Dream of the Red Chamber''. She is the wife of Jia Zheng, and mother of Jia Zhu (dead at the start of the novel), Jia Yuanchun and Jia Baoyu. She is the elder sister of Aunt Xue and hence the maternal aunt to Xue Baochai and Xue Pan. She is on the surface a kind lady and a devout Buddhist, who delegates authority to her niece Wang Xifeng in the everyday running of the Rongguo household. However, she is prone to malicious rumors, and can act with cruelty towards maids she thinks are seducing her son. Lady Wang is one of the culprits resulting in the death of Baoyu's maid Qingwen Manchu ( ) is a critically endangered language, endangered Tungusic language native to the historical region of Manchuria in Northeast China. As the traditional native language of the Manchu people, Manchus, it was one of the official language .... When the character Jia Xichun shaves her head to join a nunnery, Lady ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Wang Xifeng
Wang Xifeng (, rendered Phoenix in Chi-chen Wang's translation) is one of the principal characters in the classic 18th-century Chinese language, Chinese novel ''Dream of the Red Chamber''. She came from one of the Four Great Families, the Wangs (the other three are Jia, Shi, and Xue), and is known for her wit and intelligence, her vivacious manner, her great beauty, her multiple-faced personality, and her fierce sense of fidelity. Her family had great faith in her and raised her like a boy; in fact, the name “Xifeng” was considered masculine in her era. This accounts for her self-assuredness and straightforward ways, characteristics that do not quite fit with the traditional female role at the time. Relations Xifeng is a niece of Lady Wang and is married to Jia Lian, the eldest grandchild of Grandmother Jia (hence, she is related to Jia Baoyu, Baoyu by blood and by marriage). As such she plays a significant role in the day-to-day running of the Rongguo household; in fact, she ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Simplified Chinese
Simplification, Simplify, or Simplified may refer to: Mathematics Simplification is the process of replacing a mathematical expression by an equivalent one that is simpler (usually shorter), according to a well-founded ordering. Examples include: * Simplification of algebraic expressions, in computer algebra * Simplification of boolean expressions i.e. logic optimization * Simplification by conjunction elimination in inference in logic yields a simpler, but generally non-equivalent formula * Simplification of fractions Science * Approximations simplify a more detailed or difficult to use process or model Linguistics * Simplification of Chinese characters * Simplified English (other) * Text simplification Music * ''Simplify'', a 1999 album by Ryan Shupe & the RubberBand * Simplified (band), a 2002 rock band from Charlotte, North Carolina * ''Simplified'' (album), a 2005 album by Simply Red * "Simplify", a 2008 song by Sanguine * "Simplify", a 2018 song by Yo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Traditional Chinese
A tradition is a system of beliefs or behaviors (folk custom) passed down within a group of people or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or impractical but socially meaningful clothes (like court dress, lawyers' wigs or military officers' spurs), but the idea has also been applied to social norms and behaviors such as greetings, etc. Traditions can persist and evolve for thousands of years— the word ''tradition'' itself derives from the Latin word ''tradere'' literally meaning to transmit, to hand over, to give for safekeeping. While it is reportedly assumed that traditions have an ancient history, many traditions have been invented on purpose, whether it be political or cultural, over short periods of time. Various academic disciplines also use the word in a variety of ways. The phrase "according to tradition" or "by tradition" usually means that wh ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Pinyin
Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means 'Han Chinese, Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin'' literally means 'spelled sounds'. Pinyin is the official romanization system used in China, Singapore, Taiwan, and by the United Nations. Its use has become common when transliterating Standard Chinese mostly regardless of region, though it is less ubiquitous in Taiwan. It is used to teach Standard Chinese, normally written with Chinese characters, to students in mainland China and Singapore. Pinyin is also used by various Chinese input method, input methods on computers and to lexicographic ordering, categorize entries in some Chinese dictionaries. In pinyin, each Chinese syllable is spelled in terms of an optional initial (linguistics), initial and a final (linguistics), final, each of which is represented by one or more letters. Initi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |