标签中国下的文章

中国江苏省南通市幼儿园学生在画布上绘画的鸟瞰图 Aerial view of kindergarteners drawing on a canvas in Nantong, in the Jiangsu province of China (© Xu Hui/VCG via Getty Images)

A day to celebrate teachers

Today is World Teachers' Day. The UN created this day back in 1994 to draw attention to the vital role that teachers play in providing kids like these a quality education. The observation also highlights the obstacles that teachers face every day, particularly in challenging times like these.

Despite the massive disruptions to classrooms around the world because of the coronavirus pandemic, teachers everywhere have continued to work hard every day to encourage young people to learn and grow, and to think about the world around us. So, when these kindergartners are finished drawing, our hope is that they let their teachers know how appreciated they are! And we hope you can do something special for the teachers in your lives today, too.

庆祝教师节

今天是世界教师节。联合国早在1994年就设立了这一天，以提请人们注意教师在为这些孩子提供优质教育方面所起的重要作用。这项观察还突出了教师每天面临的障碍，特别是在这样一个充满挑战的时代。

尽管冠状病毒大流行对世界各地的教室造成了巨大的破坏，但各地的教师每天都在继续努力工作，鼓励年轻人学习和成长，并思考我们周围的世界。所以，当这些幼儿园的孩子们完成绘画时，我们希望他们能让他们的老师知道他们是多么的感激他们！我们也希望你们能在今天的生活中为老师们做些特别的事情。

中国【国庆快乐】（ © GettyImages ）

武侯祠内红墙和竹林掩映下的小巷，中国成都 Alley with red walls and bamboo grove in Wuhou Temple, Chengdu, Sichuan province, China (© Eastimages/Getty Images)

A path into history

When it comes to tourist destinations, the Wuhou Temple in the city of Chengdu, China, must be among the world's oldest. It's been attracting visitors for nearly 1,800 years and remains one of the most popular attractions in all of China. Located in Sichuan province, this temple complex was constructed to honor two principal members of the Shu Han state (221-263) of China's early Three Kingdoms period. And although the founder of Shu Han, Liu Be, is honored with his own temple and shrine here, the real headliner is one of China's most important historical figures, Zhuge Liang, who is remembered as a great wit, scholar, astronomer, statesman, and military strategist. In fact, the name Wuhou itself derives from the Chinese title 'Marquis of Wu,' which was an honorary title given to Zhuge Liang while he served.

The Wuhou Temple complex is about 37,000 square meters in size, and is graced by winding, peaceful paths lined by trees. It contains not only the temples devoted to Liu Be and Zuge Liang, but also a famous garden, a mausoleum, and important cultural relics like the Tablet of Triple success.

通往历史的道路

说到旅游目的地，中国成都市的武侯祠肯定是世界上最古老的寺庙之一。近1800年来，这里一直吸引着游客，至今仍是中国最受欢迎的景点之一。这座寺庙位于四川省，是为了纪念中国早期三国时期蜀汉（221-263）的两位主要成员而修建的。尽管蜀汉的创始人刘备在这里拥有自己的庙宇和神龛，但真正的头条人物是中国最重要的历史人物之一，诸葛亮，他被认为是一位伟大的才智、学者、天文学家、政治家和军事家。事实上，武侯这个名字本身就源于中国的“武侯”头衔，这是诸葛亮任职期间授予他的荣誉称号。

武侯祠建筑面积约3.7万平方米，蜿蜒宁静的小径两旁绿树成荫。这里不仅有刘备、诸葛亮的庙宇，还有一座著名的园林、一座陵墓，以及三重功碑等重要文物。

挂在锦里街上的红灯笼，中国成都 Red lanterns hanging in Jinli Street, Chengdu, China (© Philippe LEJEANVRE/Getty Images)

Lighting the way to a new year

The Lantern Festival marks the final day of Lunar (aka Chinese) New Year celebrations, which began this year on February 12 when we ushered in the Year of the Ox. Traditionally, the day of the festival is filled with dancing, firecrackers, children's games, and food—including tangyuan, a desert made from balls of rice flour and generally loaded with sweet fillings. After sundown, celebrants gather to light or observe lanterns like the ones we see here in Chengdu, China.

清晨结了霜的树林，中国四姑娘山 Early morning frost on trees in Mount Siguniang National Park in Sichuan Province, China (© Robert Harding World Imagery/Offset by Shutterstock)

Four Sisters, thousands of trees

You'll find this wintery, sylvan scene on the slopes of Mount Siguniang, the tallest summit of the Qionglai Mountains in Western China. Its name, which translates as 'Four Sisters Mountain,' is inspired by the local Tibetan legend behind its four distinct peaks. According to the story, four sisters saved their people using a magic mirror to turn themselves into the mountain to imprison the devil. The tallest peak, peak of 'the youngest sister,' stands at 20,500 feet and is an extremely challenging climb– it's rarely attempted and wasn't summitted until 1981. The surrounding park includes three valleys flanking the mountain and is part of the Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In addition to giant pandas, the sanctuary is home to the red panda, the snow leopard, the clouded leopard, and between 5,000 and 6,000 species of plants.

四姐妹，千树

在中国西部邛崃山脉最高的山峰——四姑娘山的山坡上，你会发现这个冬天的森林景象。它的名字被翻译成“四姑娘山”，灵感来自四座不同山峰背后的藏族传说。根据故事，四姐妹救了他们的人用一面魔镜把自己变成山里囚禁魔鬼。最高的山峰“小妹妹”的山峰高达20500英尺，是一次极具挑战性的攀登——很少有人尝试，直到1981年才达到顶峰。周围的公园包括山两侧的三个山谷，是联合国教科文组织世界遗产四川大熊猫保护区的一部分。除大熊猫外，该保护区还拥有小熊猫，雪豹，云豹和5000至6,000种植物。

马蹄寺风景区内的马蹄寺和石窟，中国甘肃省 The Mati Si (Horse's Hoof Temple) and grottoes of Mati Si Scenic Area, Gansu province, China (© Ana Flašker/Alamy)

A cliff-hanging complex of temples

Feast your eyes on the colorful Mati Si (Horse's Hoof Temple) and its cliffside complex of sandstone grottoes and wooden pavilions. To understand the mythical origin of the Horse's Hoof Temple, you have to squint your eyes a bit. Then you might be able to see the hoof marks left by a frightened longma, the fabled winged dragon horse that purportedly landed here thousands of years ago. What you can't see is the claustrophobic network of tunnels connecting the seven floors and seven grottoes to the Mati Si pagoda, which itself is 200 feet high and holds hundreds of Buddha statues.

Mati Si lies within the grasslands of China's Gansu province along the Hexi Corridor of what was once China's Northern Silk Road. There's no bus service to the temple so you'll have to grab a taxi or, like the mythical dragon horse that left its imprint here, hoof it.

Water colors

The Salt Lake in Yuncheng, China, has such a high salinity, it's sometimes called China's Dead Sea. But unlike the Dead Sea in the Middle East, Yuncheng's Salt Lake supports abundant microscopic life: algae and other microorganisms that have a high tolerance for the salt. In autumn, the lake temperature is high enough to spark algae blooms, bringing a variety of intense colors to the lake water.

Stranger still, during the cold, dry winter, the lake level drops, causing some of the sodium content in the water to form mirabilite rime—spiky, ice crystal-like mineral formations that make the lake shore and shallow surfaces look like an ice-covered landscape from science fiction.

玄武湖公园的金色银杏叶，中国南京 Golden ginkgo leaves at Xuanwu Lake Park in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China (© SIPA Asia/ZUMA Wire/Alamy)

A tree of many memories

As autumn takes hold in China, a blanket of fan-shaped golden leaves—like this one at Xuanwu Lake Park in Nanjing—becomes a familiar sight. And it's been that way for longer than anyone can remember, thanks to a native tree with a lineage going back eons, the ginkgo.

Even though most medical experts say it's no special boon to the brain, maybe Ginkgo biloba is touted as a memory enhancer for a reason—after all, many Chinese ginkgoes are known to be at least 1,400 years old. The order they belong to, Ginkgoales, is 270 million years old—meaning the sole remaining member species, Ginkgo biloba, survived the extinction event that killed the dinosaurs. Ginkgo biloba originated in China, but has been cultivated all over the world for centuries as a food source, medicinal plant, and splendid symbol of resilience.

Tall, taller, tallest

Piercing the clouds above Shanghai as we celebrate National Skyscraper Day, each of these three supertall spires could be seen as a freeze-frame of China's swift economic growth in the past couple of decades. Jin Mao Tower (right, 1,380 feet) was China's tallest building from 1999 until the Shanghai World Financial Center (left, 1,614 feet) opened in 2007 and took the title. Shanghai Tower (center, 2,139 feet) topped out in 2013, besting the SWFC and becoming the second-tallest skyscraper in the world (behind Dubai's Burj Khalifa).

朝圣者将风马旗扔向甘登寺上方的空中为新年祈福，中国西藏 Pilgrims throwing wind horses into the air above Ganden Monastery for the New Year in Tibet, China (© Ian Cumming/plainpicture)

Wind horses carry wishes for a new year

For the first day of Losar, or the Tibetan New Year, we're paying a visit to these Buddhist pilgrims at the Ganden Monastery in Lhasa, Tibet. Losar is celebrated for 15 days, but most events occur in the first three days. They include wishing family members a prosperous year, praying at monasteries or temples, exchanging gifts, burning incense, chanting, wrestling, horse racing, and more. Celebrations for the new year end with Chotrul Duchen, or the Butter Lamp Festival. The pilgrims in today's image are releasing prayer flags called 'wind horses' or lungtas, a ritual they perform during Losar and during the rest of the year as well. Upon releasing the prayer flags, the pilgrims ask the mountain deity to 'increase their fortune like the galloping of a horse and expand their prosperity like the boiling over of milk.'

星空迷