English Words Describing Chinese Culture

I. Traditional Festival Vocabulary

拜年 pay a new year call 爆竹 firecracker 鞭炮 a string of small fire crackers 大扫除 year-end household 灯谜 lantern riddles temple fair年画 new year's picture 掛年画 ?family reunion dinner on lunar new year 守岁 to stay awake all night 年糕 glutinous the first day of the first lunar month 八宝饭 eight-treasure rice pudding 對联 poetic couplets 贴春联 to put up antithetical couplets 贴春联 to put up window paper-cuts 压岁钱 money 压岁錢 money

二、民俗词汇

轿子 sedans windmills pinwheel acrobatics magic magic rattlesnake drum shaking drum bamboo flute shadow puppet sugar-molded courtyard homes stilt walk martial arts rickshaw palace arts rickshaw palace lantern finger-guessing game story-telling monologue story-telling time-honored comic cross talk