[MUSIC] Good afternoon everybody. Today, we're going to talk about traditional Chinese festivals. Traditional festivals of the Chinese people are a great treasure of our civilization and a valuable part of our cultural heritage. Some of the festivals express love and hatred of the ancient Chinese people. Some are summarization of their experience of life and work. Some have associations with some historical personages and events, or legends or folklore. Some have preserved a rich part of the nation's tradition and cultural legacy. Therefore, Chinese traditional festivals are one of the main avenues to the understanding of Chinese culture. In the Mulan, five thousand years history of China, many festivals have gradually reshaped in the country. The origins of the Chinese traditional festivals can be traced back to the Shang Dynasty and Zhou Dynasty. As it's well-known, China is a country who is predominantly agricultural society. In older times, a good year meant not only a good life for the people throughout the year, but also the strengthening of the rule of the emperor. So every year at the beginning of spring, people would hold a ceremony in celebration of the beginning of the spring plow. Which sometimes the emperor would provide the offer in person and apply several firewalls after the ceremony. In the following months, these would have be taken to offer sacrifices to heaven and Earth, and deities of rain, wind etc. To pray for a good harvest, hence, agriculture and activities surround it, exerted a great influence upon China's festivals. In addition, the formation and development of a Chinese traditional festivals are closely associated with different social customs of the country. According to their origins and development, China's traditional festivals fall roughly into three categories: agriculture ritual festivals, religious ritual festivals, and social festivals. These three kinds of festivals infiltrated and influenced one another in the course of history and gradually planted to form China's festivals today. According to the contents of the activity, Chinese festivals can be divided into five types: agricultural, sacrificial, commemorative, recreational and celebration festivals. Agricultural festivals such as the beginning of the spring, the summer solstice and so on are mainly concerned with farming, forestry, fishing and hunting activity. Sacrificial festivals such as the Pure Brightness, The Mid Autum, The Kitchen God are derived from agricultural and religious sacrificing days of which people offer sacrifices to Gods, their ancestors or deceased relatives to pray for protection against evil ghosts and the disasters. Commemorative festivals are festivals when people commemorated their national heroes. Recreational festivals are you get to spend this singing, the dancing and other recreational activities. Of which song or cult festivals of some minority nationalities are examples. Celebration festivals are the main festivals of the country. Typical of which is the spring festival on which people celebrate a bumper harvest. And to congratulate on each other's fortune, good health, and happiness. Since China is so big a country with a territory of nine ponds, six mini square kilometers and 56 nationalities, some of the festivals in China are national, some are regional, and some are observed only by a certain nationalities. At the present, some official festivals such as the New Year's day, May Day, and the National Day are also observed in China. But today, I will reintroduce to you China's four most important traditional festivals namely the Spring festival, the Chin Ning festival, The Dragon Boat festival and the Mid-autumn festival. [MUSIC]