Chinese fortune-telling "8 Characters" （生辰八字）

The Four Pillars of Destiny is an important component of Chinese fortune telling. The 'four pillars' refers to the year, month, day and hour pillars of a birthday and birth hour in Chinese solar calendar. It is also known as the 'eight characters of birth time', the Chinese term ”八字“ which means "eight characters" is represented by four pairs of characters respectively saying the year, month, day and hour of a birth time. Two characters in each pair are made up of one character from the Heavenly Stems （天干）and one from the Earthly Branches （地支）. 

Traditionally match-makers would ask for "8 characters" of the marriageable girl & boy, have them evaluated to see whether these two make a good match. If it turns out that they do not match, very likely the marriage arrangement would fail under opposition of parents of both.

 Above picture shows the 12 two-hour periods into which the day was traditionally divided, each 2-hours is called Shichen (时辰), and each being given the name of one of the 12 Earthly Branches. This is the hour info in the "8 Characters".

It has only eight characters, but the relation of the eight characters is very complicated. According to the four pillars' representation theory, year pillar represents ancestors and parents; month pillar represents brothers and sisters; day stem represents oneself; day branch represent spouse; hour pillar represents offspring. In addition, the heavenly stems have their own characteristics which are related to the Five Elements (五行). The missing element in a baby's 'eight characters of birth time' will be usually added into its name as an action of compensation. Among the ten heavenly stems, there are compatible and opposite relations. While among the earthly branches, the relations are more complex, combination, clash, restriction, harm, etc. Abundant relationships may have accurate explanation on the luck of one self or relatives.

The four arts(四艺,琴棋书画)

The four arts (四艺,琴棋书画), or the four arts of the Chinese scholar, were the four main academic and artistic accomplishments required of the aristocratic ancient Chinese scholar-gentleman caste. They are qin (the guqin, a stringed instrument. 琴), qi (the strategy game of Go, 棋), shu (Chinese calligraphy 书) and hua (Chinese painting画). It was also the accomplishments required of girls from respectable families.

Traditionally in China, a well-educated, or learned person should possess comprehensive skills or qualities, e.g. artistic, academic and socializing ones. Officials, politicians, princes and emperors are all educated to possess such "self-cultivation", and it did turn out that most of the prominent figures in history were quite versatile.

Confucius' idea of "education"

For Confucius, a good student respects and learns from the words and deeds of his teacher, and a good teacher is someone older who is familiar with the ways of the past and the practices of antiquity (Analects 7.22). Confucius emphasized the need to find balance between formal study and intuitive self-reflection (Analects 2.15). When teaching he is never cited in theAnalects as lecturing at length about any subject, but instead challenges his students to discover the truth through by direct questions, citing passages from the classics, and using analogies (Analects 7.8). He sometimes required his students to demonstrate their understanding of subjects by making intuitive conceptual leaps before accepting their understanding and discussing those subjects at greater levels of depth. (Analects3.8) 

This is a painting depicting Conficius and his students in the class.

His primary goal in educating his students was to produce ethically well-cultivated men who would carry themselves with gravity, speak correctly, and demonstrate consummate integrity in all things (Analects 12.11; see also 13.3). He was willing to teach anyone regardless of social class, as long as they were sincere, eager, and tireless to learn (Analects 7.7; 15.38). He is traditionally credited with teaching three thousand students, though only seventy are said to have mastered what he taught. He taught practical skills, but regarded moral self-cultivation as his most important subject. 

Taoist Idea of "Emptiness" or "Nothingness"（无为）

Use of Emptiness, a variation of Taoist idea "Power of nothingness". Emptiness can mean having no fixed preconceptions, preferences, intentions, or agenda, but in so doing many things sort themselves out. As written in Tao Te Ching, "We put thirty spokes together and call it a wheel; But it is on the space where there is nothing that the usefulness of the wheel depends. We turn clay to make a vessel; But it is on the space where there is nothing that the usefulness of the vessel depends. We pierce doors and windows to make a house; It is on these spaces where there is nothing that the usefulness of the house depends. Therefore just as we take advantage of what is, we should recognize the usefulness of what is not."

From a ruler's point of view, it is a laissez-faire approach:

So a wise leader may say:

"I practice inaction, and the people look after themselves."

But from the Sage it is so hard at any price to get a single word

That when his task is accomplished, his work done,

Throughout the country every one says: "It happened of its own accord". (chap. 17, tr. Waley)

Chinese Landscape painting 中国山水画

Chinese landscape painting was regarded as the highest form of Chinese painting, it focuses on depicting mountains, rivers, valleys, forests etc, often with a bird-eye view to diminish the subject matter as some miniature. With Taoist idea of "unity of heaven and man", traditionally well-educated Chinese people find great enjoyment in appreciating and depicting landscape.

The time from the Five Dynasties period to the Northern Song period (907–1127) is known as the "Great age of Chinese landscape". In the north, artists such as Jing Hao, Li Cheng, Fan Kuan, and Guo Xi painted pictures of towering mountains, using strong black lines, ink wash, and sharp, dotted brushstrokes to suggest rough stone. In the south, Dong Yuan, Juran, and other artists painted the rolling hills and rivers of their native countryside in peaceful scenes done with softer, rubbed brushwork. These two kinds of scenes and techniques became the classical styles of Chinese landscape painting.

Insects Awaken(solar term)惊蛰

Insects Awaken "Jing Zhe" or "惊蛰" is the 3rd of the 24 solar terms (節氣) in the traditional Chinese calendars. In this year it falls on Mar 5th. It begins when the Sun reaches the celestial longitude of 345° and ends when it reaches the longitude of 360°. The word means the awakening of hibernating insects.Traditional Chinese folklore says that during Jingzhe, thunderstorms will wake up the hibernating insects, which implies that the weather is getting warmer.

The term remindes people the spread of a variety of diseases and insects, weeds in the field which affects the cultivation, people need to start the pest control and weeding works.

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