Chinese Culture
Zoom – Monday 9:30 am – 11:10 am
March 11, 18, 25 April 1, 8, 15, 22, 29
This is an opportunity to learn about Chinese culture from the comfort of your home with two instructors. Wang Wei will teach the class from China and Gary will be local here in Connecticut.
Each week we cover different aspects and perspectives of Chinese culture.
- Week 1: Traditional Festivals, e.g., Chinese New Year, Lantern Festival, Qingming Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-autumn Festival, the Chinese Calendar and Chinese Zodiac
- Week 2: Hanzi (Chinese Characters) – we remove some of the mystery from Chinese characters, e.g., how many characters are there? Some common characters, Chengyu (idioms)
- Week 3: Dynasties – an overview of Chinese history
- Week 4: Chinese Architecture – definition, history, characteristics, styles
- Week 5: Chinese Literature – Traditional, Modern, Poetry
- Week 6: Traditional Chinese Medicine – Description, history, principles, techniques
- Week 7: Ethnic Groups – Han people, 55 ethnic minorities, cultures, geographic locations
- Week 8: Chinese Cuisine – Regional differences, different types of cuisine, differences from the American version of Chinese Cuisine
Gary Bischoff is a retired electronics engineer, business owner and former adjunct professor at SUNY New Paltz. Gary has an MS in Electronics Engineering and Computer Science. Gary has visited China 18 times, and speaks Chinese at an intermediate level. He speaks regularly with colleagues in China about everyday life, government and politics, food, culture and, of course, Chinese and English language. Gary studied Chinese at several schools in China.
Wang Wei graduated from Nanjing Normal University majoring in English. She lives in Nanjing China with her husband. Ms. Wang worked for 20 years in auto sales and service. She presently works for the China Classification Society Certification Company as an auditor. Her work involves visiting various companies, collecting evidence and comparing it to auditing criteria. She follows news and current events.