Rogers Chinese Lantern Festival

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About Rogers Chinese Lantern Festival

This group is to celebrate the Chinese Lantern Festival held every summer at Ontario Place.

This year (2007) the Chinese Lantern Festival at Ontario Place begins July 19, and runs to October 7.

February 15, 2007 – The Lantern Festival
The Lantern Festival in China falls on the 15th day of the first lunar month, which marks the end of the Chinese New Year celebrations. On the night of the first full moon, cities and villages are illuminated by beautifully decorated and intricately crafted lanterns hung from houses, shops and temples and carried by children as they walk along the streets. Today, streets on which the Lantern Festival is held are not only lit by the traditional lanterns, but also by brilliantly crafted floats and highly complex light shows. The lanterns are traditionally made of paper or silk and are painted all sorts of designs or famous scenes from Chinese history. Based on its success last year, the Rogers Chinese Lantern Festival at Ontario Place is returning with all new more spectacular lanterns which reflect three influential dynasties in Chinese history, the East-West exchange of the Silk Road, and many other aspects of Chinese culture.

The Three Dynasties

The Qin Dynasty (221-206 BCE): After conquering six rival states, the highly centralized bureaucracy of the dynasty transformed the isolated State of Qin into a powerful empire, unifying China for the first time. Led by Qin Shihuang (259-210 BCE), the First Emperor, Qin established the first rough national boundaries, common legal code, written language, currency, weights and measures, and standardized administration system that existed for the next two millennia. Emperor Qin sent hundreds of thousands of people to join various defensive walls together and expand them into an elaborate fortification system currently known as the Great Wall. Emperor Qin also built himself an immense tomb accompanied by a terracotta army to protect him and to reflect the glory and dignity of his empire long after his death.

The Tang Dynasty (618-907): The Tang Dynasty is the high point in Chinese civilization and the golden age of economic development, social stability, arts and literature, and cosmopolitan culture. Many influences from India, Central Asia and elsewhere were brought into the empire via the Silk Road. China traded silk, porcelain, tea and other luxury goods for many new technologies, cultural practices, and contemporary items from abroad. Many foreign merchants settled in China. Buddhism, which originated in India around the time of Confucius (551-479 BCE), continued to flourish during Tang times and became a permanent part of Chinese culture. Block printing made the written word available to much larger numbers of readers. Many Chinese expatriates like to think of themselves as “the people of Tang” and call Chinatowns around the world “The Town of the Tang People” in Chinese (Tangren Jie).

The Song Dynasty (960-1279): The Song Dynasty was another period of prosperity and innovations in arts and technologies. Bianjing, (today’s Kaifeng) capital of the Northern Song (960-1127) was the largest city in the world, spreading across more than 20km. The “Riverside Scene at the Qingming (Clear and Bright) Festival” of Song times depicts the busy activities of the people of all walks of life on both sides of the city river in Bianjing. Hangzhou, capital of the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279), is among the best known cities where streets abounded and shops flourished. Italian explorer Marco Polo (1254-1324) was amazed to see vast amounts of commercial activities, markets, transports, and busy river and canal traffic. During this time, gunpowder was used for military rockets and sea trade was helped by the widespread adoption of the compass. The invention of movable-type printing greatly increased the mass production of printed materials, including paper money.

The Terracotta Warriors
In 1974, local farmers drilling a well to the east of Xi’an (Chang’an in ancient times), Shaanxi Province, discovered about 6,000 life-size terracotta soldiers, along with horses and chariots. Each clay soldier’s face differs from those around him, and his hands appear to have held a weapon. The warriors parade in battle formation according to Qin Dynasty directives on the art of warfare. The vaults, with more than 7000 figures found by the late 1970s, are only partially excavated and make up only one part of the tomb of the First Emperor which is located at Mount Lishan, 1.5 km away. The Emperor’s tomb itself is yet to be excavated as technology advances. Construction of this mausoleum began in 246 BCE when he ascended the throne of the Qin kingdom at age 13, and is believed to have taken 700,000 workers and craftsmen 38 years to complete. Chinese history records that the First Emperor was buried with great amounts of treasure and objects of craftsmanship, as well as a replica to scale of the universe.
 
The Silk Road
East and West first met over 2000 years ago on the Silk Road, which refers to the ancient trade routes connecting China, Central and Western Asia, and the Mediterranean countries. On this road, using different routes by land and sea, many things travelled into and out of China. Silk from China became popular everywhere, reaching as far as Rome. Of course, trade does not happen in isolation. As tea, gems, ivory, cotton and spices were exchanged, along with silk, so were arts, religions, astronomy, agriculture and other items of knowledge. The Silk Road was one of the most significant channels of civilizations in world history.

元宵节
中国元宵节在农历新年的正月十五，标志着中国农历新年庆祝的结束。元宵节之夜，中国的各个城市和乡村，无论是普通人家还是商店、寺庙，都会张灯结彩，孩子们也会提着各式各样的灯笼到街上去玩。时至今日，在元宵之夜装点大街小巷的不仅是传统的灯饰，还有很多工艺精美的彩车以及纷繁复杂的各式灯展。按照传统，这些彩灯均用纸或丝绸制成，并绘上各种中国传统图案或取材于中国历史的著名场景。基于去年元宵灯会的成功，今年的Rogers Chinese Lantern Festival at将重归Ontario Place。这些精美绝伦的新彩灯将反映三个对中国历史影响深远的王朝、实现东西方文明交流的“丝绸之路”以及中国传统文化的其他侧面。

三个王朝

秦朝 (公元前221-206年)：成功征服六个诸侯列强，并实现第一次统一之后，秦国由一个原本孤立的诸侯国一跃成为中国历史上第一个中央集权的帝国。在其第一代帝王即秦始皇 (公元前259-210年) 的统治下，秦朝第一次划定了中国的大致疆界；制定了统一的法律和书面语；统一了货币和度量衡；并规范了之后沿用两千多年的行政管理体系。秦始皇还派驻成千上万的劳役将零散的防御城墙修筑联结起来，并将其扩展成为庞大的防御系统，即我们今天所谓的长城。他还为自己修筑了一个巨大的皇陵，皇陵中安置了众多用来保护他的兵马俑，以便在他死后反映其帝国的光辉和尊贵。

唐朝 (公元618-907年)：唐朝是中国古代文明的顶点，也是中国历史中经济发展、社会稳定、文学艺术以及国际大都会文化的黄金时期。许多来自印度、中亚和世界其他地区的影响均通过丝绸之路进入大唐帝国。中国用丝绸、瓷器、茶叶以及其他一些奢侈品从外国换来各种新的技术、文化实践及先进物品。有很多外国商人也在此时进驻中国。于孔子 (公元前551-479年) 时代起源于印度的佛教不仅在唐朝发扬光大，也永久性地成为了中国文化的一部分。唐朝的雕板印刷术还让更多的读者接触到文字。那些移居海外的人也喜欢把自己看成是“唐朝的后人”，以至于中文也把世界各地的中国城称为“唐人街”。


宋朝 (公元960-1279年)：宋朝也是中国历史上艺术和科技高度繁荣和创新的一个朝代。北宋王朝 (960-1127) 的首都汴京 (今日的开封) 曾经是世界上最大的城市，地理跨度超过二十公里。宋朝的“清明上河图”描绘出汴京城内河两岸人们起居生活的繁忙景象。杭州是南宋 (1127-1279) 王朝的首都，以大量的街道和商业的繁荣闻名于世。其众多的商业活动、市场、交通和繁忙的河运以及运河航运也让意大利探险家马可·波罗 (1254-1324) 惊叹不已。在这个时期，火药被用于军事火炮的制造中，而世界海上贸易也因指南针的广泛使用而受益。活字印刷术的发明也极大提高了包括纸币在内的印刷品的产量。

兵马俑
1974年，一位当地农民在陕西省西安市 (古称长安) 以东某地挖井时，发现了约六千尊真人大小、栩栩如生的陶制士兵、战马和战车，即所谓的兵马俑。每一个兵马俑的面貌都各不相同，手上像是握有武器。兵马俑的列队依照的是秦朝兵书里的战事编队方式。在二十世纪七十年代晚期就已发现七千多个兵马俑的陵墓只有部分得以发掘，而这个陵墓也只是离骊山一点五公里远的秦始皇陵的一部分。整个皇陵的挖掘还有待于技术的进步。该皇陵的兴建始于公元前246年，当时十三岁的嬴政刚刚当上秦国国君。人们相信，七十多万劳工和工匠耗时三十八年才完成了整个皇陵的修建。根据中国史书记载，秦始皇陵中埋藏着大量的珍宝和工艺品，以及一座天体测量仪的复制品。

丝绸之路
连接中国、中西亚地区和地中海国家的那条古代贸易通道素有“丝绸之路”之美誉。两千多年前，东方与西方在这里首次相遇。在这条道路上，很多东西都通过陆地交通或海洋运输等多种方式进入或输出中国。后来在世界各地流行的中国丝绸那时就已经远达罗马。当然，贸易不可能孤立发展。与丝绸一起进行交流的还有茶叶、宝石、象牙、棉花和香料，以及艺术、宗教、天文和农业等其他知识领域里的东西。在世界历史上，丝绸之路是最重要的文明渠道之一。

http://www.chineselanternfestival.ca/