Top 10 cultural experiences in China
Nowadays, more and more travelers wish to add some folk cultural experience on the way of travel. This purpose not only makes their journey more colorful but also has a deeper understanding of the destination and the people living here. China, a country with 5,000 years of history and 56 nationalities, there are many cultural experiences of choice, for example, some foodie tours, watch a drama, learn martial arts, or visit local families to experience its long history, splendid culture, and profound civilization. Here we have listed the top 10 cultural experiences for reference, travelers can choose to add one or more into the tour itinerary to make your China tour more memorable.
1. Visiting a traditional grocery market
China's food culture is a profound Chinese culture with a long history. A museum is definitely the quickest way to learn China's history, however, if you want to understand Chinese people's daily lives together with their food culture, the best way is to visit their grocery market. It is also called the Farmer's market or Vegetable market. Such a market exists in any city and town in China, where vegetables, fruits, aquatic products, seafood, eggs, all kinds of meat, rice, oil, soy products, cooked food, condiments, and other agricultural products are sold here. China is rich in land and resources, cities with different latitudes and longitudes sell slightly different fruits and vegetables in different seasons.
You will find that there are many people in the grocery market who pursue the pleasure of life, love food, and love life. China’s grocery market wants to spread a concept that in the high-speed urbanized life state, people still can cook and enjoy life with family and friends leisurely. Its purpose is to convey a concept that is a mixed urban and rural lifestyle.
2. Joining a cooking class
Chinese food is known to all the world, dumplings, Mapo Tofu, Kung Pao Chicken, etc. are very popular around the world. Spending a half-day to join a cooking class to learn a famous Chinese dish for your family or friends became a very popular activity during the travelers' China trip.
Dumplings are traditional Chinese food, which is filled with meat and vegetables and wrapped by flour. The wrapped dumplings can be used to make steamed dumplings, fried dumplings, or soup dumplings. Almost every family can make dumplings, travelers can experience the dumpling class for about 2-4 hours in any city of China, to learn more about the historical origins, allusions, legends, and production methods of dumplings.
Sichuan cuisine has a great influence in China and even the world, enjoying the reputation of "Great dishes from China, great flavors from Sichuan". Learning to cook the famous Sichuan cuisine Kung Pao Chicken or Mapo Tofu is a great add-on during your Sichuan tour, in addition to seeing the lovely grand pandas.
3. Visiting Night markets
Chinese night markets have appeared in many big cities in the late Tang Dynasty. Most things in the night market are very ordinary, you will not find brand-name goods or exquisite antiques. Snacks are another attractive part of the night market. In different places' night markets, vendors will provide a variety of local snacks or fast food. Many people said that the night market is the best place to present authentic local flavors. The night market in China is always lively and extraordinary: the lights are bright, people are crowded. Sitting at simple tables, blowing the night breeze, drinking beer, this is a happy time for most people.
Ther night markets are available in most cities like Kaifeng, Beijing, Nanjing, Shanghai, Xi'an, Chengdu, Dunhuang, etc. If you plan to travel through these cities, taking a night or two to visit the local night markets can be a great plus to tour China.
4. Tea picking & making and tea ceremony
China is the birthplace of tea. The discovery and use of tea by the Chinese are said to have started in the Shennong Era, at least 4,700 years ago. For thousands of years, China has not only accumulated a large amount of material culture about tea planting and production but also accumulated a wealth of tea-related spiritual culture.
For travelers who desire to learn more about tea culture, tea picking is an ideal option. The main varieties of Chinese tea are green tea, black tea, oolong tea, white tea, yellow tea, and black tea. There are tea plantations in Chengdu, Huangshan, Hangzhou, and other cities, as well as Fujian, Henan, and Yunnan provinces. The tea gardens also present their tea making process, in some cities, travelers can even experience how to make the tea from the tea leaves.
The tea ceremony is the core of China's tea culture, with a set of processes including tea making, tea enjoying, tea smelling, tea-drinking, and tea tasting. It's a must-see during your tea-picking program.
5. Learning Kung Fu
How much do you like Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan, and how crazy are you to admire Kung Fu? Kung Fu, also known as Chinese Kungfu and Chinese traditional martial arts, which is the embodiment of Chinese traditional culture and unique in the world.
Shaolin Kung Fu is one of the famous schools of martial arts in China, with a long history and profound influence, which plays an important role in traditional Chinese martial arts. It originated from the ancient Songshan Shaolin Temple, which is also the birthplace of the ancestral court of Chinese Buddhism Zen. Zen is the spiritual essence of martial arts. By entering martial arts from Zen, you can reach the highest state of martial arts - Zen.
Shaolin Temple is the best place to learn Kung Fu, the academy offering training classes from a few hours, few days, few months to few years. Every trainer should follow the temple's schedule and rules, which is a constraint and helps you to learn more about martial arts and Zen Buddhism.
6. Taichi Class learning
Tai Chi is a type of Chinese martial art. It has been integrated into the lives of ordinary Chinese people. Many senior people will practice Tai Chi in the park or at home every day. Therefore, it is easier to learn Tai Chi than Shaolin Kung Fu. You can take the traditional Tai Chi class in many cities in China. For travelers who take the Yangtze River cruise, they will learn Tai Chi class every morning on the ship.
Many people say that play Taichi is too reserved and introverted, but its style of boxing is continuous, soft and firm, urgent and slow, rushing and flowing, to achieve the purpose of cultivating people's character, edifying the sentiment, strengthening health and prolongs. In general, play Tai Chi is to improve physical fitness, adapt to changes in the objective environment and enhance the body's immunity, so as to achieve the purpose of disease prevention, treatment, fitness, and self-defense.
7. Watching the cultural shows
Chinese opera is a comprehensive stage art style with a long history. It is mainly composed of three different art forms: folk song and dance, rap, and burlesque originated from the original song and dance. A major feature of Chinese opera is the integration of traditional Chinese martial arts, so you will find "Kung Fu" in many performances. According to statistics, there are about 360 types of opera in various ethnic regions in China.
If you are traveling in Beijing, you can watch a Peking Opera performance known as "Chinese National Opera, one of the three national quintessences". It tends to be a combination of the real and the imaginary, which breaks through the limitation of stage space and time to the greatest extent. When you are in panda’s hometown Chengdu, you can watch the Sichuan Opera. Face-changing is one of the special effects of Sichuan opera, which is used to reveal the inner and emotional changes of the characters in the drama. If you travel to Shanghai, you can choose to watch a Burlesque show. Burlesque is playing a comic storyline in laughter, reveals dramatic contradictions and conflicts in laughter, and shows the character in laughter. If you are traveling in Guilin/Yangshuo, the performance " Impression Liu Sanjie" should not be missed. It is a large-scale Guilin landscape live performance and also the world's largest landscape live theater.
8. Learning Chinese traditional calligraphy or painting
Chinese Calligraphy is a unique artistic expression of the beauty of characters in China and surrounding countries and regions that have been deeply influenced by Chinese culture. Calligraphy was first written in pictures, but after thousands of years of development, it evolved into today's writing characters. Because the ancestors invented writing with a brush pen, calligraphy came into being. Now more and more westerners like to use Chinese characters as their tattoos. Taking a Chinese traditional calligraphy class, not only to make you experience this unique culture and art but also understanding the emotions and power of these writing words.
Chinese painting and Chinese calligraphy are always tied together because many painters use Chinese calligraphy to write poems or their names, year, and time on the paintings. It is mainly a traditional Chinese painting form that uses brush pens, soft pens or fingers, and uses Chinese painting colors and ink to paint on silk or rice paper. With the assistance and guidance of a Chinese painting teacher, you can create a painting of the landscape you saw during your travels in China using traditional Chinese painting tools.
9. Playing Mahjong
Mahjong is a game invented by ancient Chinese. Nowadays, it is daily entertainment for ordinary people, just like playing poker or billiards. Compared with other forms of dominoes or poker, Mahjong's rules are the most complicated and interesting. Its basic playing method is simple and easy to learn, but there are many changes. Each city in China has different mahjong playing methods and rules, but the principles of winning are basically the same.
Mahjong is very popular in the vast urban and rural areas of China, and its popularity involves all classes and fields of society. Some people talk about business when playing mahjong, some discuss current affairs and news when playing mahjong, and more people will chat and gossip about their life. While learning mahjong, you may also play mahjong with the local folks. You can get an in-depth understanding of the real-life state of the Chinese people and know more about the cultures and customs.
10. Paying a visit to local family
If you will have a chance to visit the local family during the trip and talk to them about your stories, it must be the best part of your tour to China.
Beijing is dotted with over 7,000 hutongs of different sizes, each with a legend. After arriving in Beijing, most tourists will visit Hutong. Visiting one local family who is living in Hutong is a highlight during your Hutong trip. Listen to them talk about the history of old Beijing and the interesting things in their ordinary lives.
As the "Roof of the World", Tibet's highlights are not only the magnificent natural scenery but also its religious culture and humanistic customs. When you tour in Tibet, pay a visit to a local Tibetan family and interacting with them is the best way to learn their customs. Even if you don't speak the same language, you can feel the splendid culture of the Tibetan people on this snowy plateau through the furnishings of their homes, the tea they offer you, and their friendly and pure smiles.
If you will travel to Guizhou, Yunnan, or other minority areas, visiting a local family is highly recommended. Whether it is their appearance, clothing, language, furniture, tools, living habits, etc., you have never seen or understood them before. This part of travel allows you to understand the whole world more intuitively and in-depth. Travel teaches us to not only be humble and honest with everyone you meet, but also accept and respect different races, faiths, and cultures.