Yin Yang 阴阳

The dual concepts of yin and yang – or the single concept Yin-Yang – originate in ancient Chinese philosophy and metaphysics, which describe two primal opposing but complementary principles or cosmic forces said to be found in all non-static objects and processes in the universe. The concept is the cornerstone for Taoism and traditional Chinese medicine.
Yin (Chinese: 陰 or 阴; Pinyin: yīn; literally "shady place, north slope, south bank (river); cloudy, overcast") is the dark element: it is passive, dark, feminine, downward-seeking, and corresponds to the night.

Yang (陽 or 阳; yáng; "sunny place, south slope, north bank (river); sunshine") is the bright element: it is active, light, masculine, upward-seeking and corresponds to the daytime.
Yin is often symbolized by water or earth, while yang is symbolized by fire or wind.
Yin (the receptive, feminine, dark, passive force) and yang (the creative, masculine, bright, active force) are descriptions of complementary opposites rather than absolutes. Any yin/yang dichotomy can be viewed from another perspective. All forces in nature can be seen as having yin and yang states, and the two are in movement rather than held in absolute stasis.

Longsheng

The Dragon's Backbone Rice Terraces, covering an area of 66 square kilometers, these rice terraces were first built in the Yuan dynasty and completed in the Qing dynasty by Zhuang people, making them over 700 years old. The terraced fields are built along the mountain slopes winding from the riverside right up to the peaks, reaching elevations of up to 885m. The views from the tops of these peaks are just superb. While an hour or two is all that is needed to see the designated viewpoints, longer hikes are certainly well worth the effort.

Another interesting design element that can be added onto the product!

National Emblem

The National Emblem of the PRC features Tiananmen Gate beneath the five shining stars, encircled by ears of grain and with a cogwheel at the bottom. The ears of grain, stars, Tiananmen and cogwheel are gold; the field within the circle is red, as are the ribbons festooning the bottom of the circle. These two colors traditionally represent auspiciousness and happiness.

Tiananmen symbolizes the unyielding spirit of the Chinese people in their fight against imperialism and feudalism; the cogwheel and ears of grain represent the working class and the peasantry respectively; the five stars stand for the great unity of the Chinese people under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

Farmers are regarded one of the most important peoples in China as they grow crops and rice to feed the nation. In respect of the working class cog whell and grain are used on the emblem, and I might look at ways to incorporate such shapes into my design. Stars represents Unity of chinese people, that too might be incorporated into my design.

China's Flag

The National Flag of the PRC is a red rectangle emblazoned with five stars. The proportion of its length and height is 3 to 2. The upper left of the face of the Flag is studded with five yellow five-pointed stars. One of the stars is bigger than the others, with its circumcircle's diameter being three-tenth of the height of the Flag, and is placed in the left; the four other stars is smaller, with their circumcircle's diameter being one-tenth of the height of the Flag, encircling the big star on its right in the shape of an arch.
The red of the flag symbolizes revolution; the stars are yellow so that they will stand out brightly against the red ground. The larger star represents the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the four smaller ones, the Chinese people. This expresses the great unity of the Chinese people under the leadership of the CPC.

For more information visit: http://www.chinaculture.org/gb/en_aboutchina/2003-09/24/content_22294.htm

Using Mirrors or Screens

Too large a doorway will allow Chi to escape from your home. If this is a problem for you it can be easily counteracted by placing a wind chime outside the door. This will also discourage Sha (negative energy) from entering your home. Too small a doorway will not allow enough Chi to enter the home, but placing a mirror on either side of the door or on a wall opposite the door will help to fix the problem.

If the back door can be seen from the front door, Chi can flow straight through your home without circulating. Placing a large potted plant or a screen in between the two will break up the straight lines and help to deflect Chi.

For more information visit: http://www.fengshui-emporium.com/what's%20feng-shui.htm

Enhance Wealth and Prosperity

Do you know where your financial "power spots" are? The contemporary methods of feng shui associate prosperity issues with the back left corner of any space. Stand at your front door facing into the house; your wealth area is at the back of the house on the left-hand side. There's also a wealth area within each room: facing in from the doorway, it's the corner area in the back of the room on the left-hand side. Where are the wealth areas within your office, living room, kitchen, and bedroom? Now that you've identified your money power spots, here are some quick and easy ways to apply feng shui to these spaces:

Enhance your power spots with symbols of prosperity, such as a bowl of coins (add your loose change to it every day), a "lucky bamboo" plant, or anything that symbolizes success and prosperity to you. There are lots of Chinese luck symbols available, but you don't have to use them unless you want to. A picture of your dream house, or a model of that luxury car you long for, is an effective money symbol because it has personal meaning for you.

Chi Flow

Chi is invisible like air and necessary like air and is a combination from oxygen (Yang) and universal energy (Yin). Normally we have six senses. One of them is "smelling". With our nose we check the quality of air and react. For the Chi we just have the 7th sense, the intuition. Some people feel more or less. Some people feel whether they are at any moment at their sweet spot or not. Some few feel the bad energy frequencies on some places and know when they have to leave from there.

If the corridor is straight and narrow, the Chi flows fast. If the door is wide, the Chi flows slow, as the water flows in wide and narrow rivers. The faster the Chi flows the worse it is for the prosperity of that place. Therefore big and wide entrance halls at hotels are very prosperous. If there is a window opposite the door, the Chi leaves immediately and the house has less Chi and less prosperous.

For more information visit: http://www.fengshui-center.ch/FSE1/qi_flow.htm

So why Blinds and Technologies? You may ask!

From the Secondary Research that the Designers and myself have done from the start of the project, a theme began to emerge from the images that was collated. Most if not all apartment shots which has a Window insight either had the curtains drawn or the view was just shocking. Because of the way most of the apartments are raised, every window that you look out is towards another building, with a view of your neighbours kitchen, toilet, living room, Air Condition units, Railings...everything but beautiful, calming views.

This led to further secondary and primary research into chinese people's living habits and lifestyles.

Way of Life

Today, the way of life in China is not different at all from anywhere else in the world due to Western influence. You can see in China today modern apartment complexes and towering high-rise buildings as well as modern style homes. Clothing in China is very similar to that of the Western cultures now.

However, tradition still lingers in all Chinese households and societies all over the world. In older neighborhoods, rural mud and straw houses can still be seen, and in rural areas the traditional way of life are still very alive. And although the way of life now is very modernized, traditional values of family importance and reputation still is felt by all families.

For more information visit: http://library.advanced.org/20443/way_of_life.html

$$$ Income 收入

The chinese words for income is 收入

Tremendous changes have taken place in the life of the Chinese people in the past 50 years, especially in the past two decades. People's income has been constantly on the rise, and personal properties have steadily increased. Houses and apartments, cars, computers, stocks and traveling abroad have become the main contents of people's daily investments or consumption. In 2000, the GDP per capita exceeded US $800, calculated according to the current exchange rate.
The past 20 years have witnessed the Chinese economy developing at the fastest speed, and the people's income increasing by the largest margin. According to statistics, between 1978 and 2001 the net income per rural resident increased from 134 to 2,366 yuan, at the average annual growth rate of 7.3 percent in real terms; and the disposable income per urban resident increased from 343 to 6,860 yuan, at an average annual growth rate of 6.4 percent in real terms.

For more information visit: http://www.chinaculture.org/gb/en_aboutchina/2003-09/24/content_23834.htm

Chinese Family 家

Family is the cell of the society, and archons of past dynasties all paid great attention to the stability of families, which affected the stability of the society and the regime of the archon as well.

The Chinese for "family" is Jia 家, which generally means the basic family group, those who are related by blood, marriage, or adoption, living and managing their finances together. In a Jia, the males are all agnatic kin (i.e., blood relations). Sons live in their father's house with their wives, who have been brought in from outside the family. As soon as daughters come of age, they are married out, that is, they join another Jia. They are members of their parents' Jia only as long as they are unmarried. During the wedding ritual, daughters officially sever their ties to their father's patriline, and are pledged to serve their new family, including its ancestors. Males are permanent members of the family they were born into; females, however, are expected to eventually leave their natal family. Women, therefore, are only assured a place in a patriline -- that of their husband, not their father -- when they give birth to a son.

For more information visit: http://www.chinaculture.org/gb/en_aboutchina/2003-09/24/content_23819.htm

Chinese Culture

Red Packet for Chinese New Year

A Red Packet (Red Envelope) is simply a red envelope with money in it, often decorated with lucky symbols, which symbolizes luck and wealth. It is called Hong Bao in Chinese.
Occasions for Red PacketsTraditionally red packets are handed out to younger generation by their parents, grand parents, relatives, and even close neighbors and friends during Chinese New Year. They are also popular gifts for weddings and birthdays. Nowadays giving red packets as a bonus at the year-end by employers becomes popular.

Chinese Lantern Festival

The Lantern Festival or Yuanxiao Jie is a traditional Chinese festival, which is on the 15th of the first month of the Chinese New Year. The festival marks the end of the celebrations of the Chinese New Year.
Chinese started to celebrate the Lantern Festival from the Han Dynasty (206 BC - 221 AD). Like most other Chinese festivals, there is also a story behind the Festival. It is also believed that the festival has Taoist origins

Chinese New Year

The Spring Festival is the grandest festival for the Chinese. The Spring Festival is also called "Nian", but who knows the term, Nian, was once the name of a furious monster that lived on human beings in the ancient time. How the Festival has some relationship with the monster lies in a story about the origin and development of the Spring Festival.

For more information on chinese culture:

http://chineseculture.about.com/od/culturesociety/Chinese_Culture_and_Society.htm

Chinese Mythology

Chinese mythology is a collection of cultural history, folktales, and religions that have been passed down in oral or written form. There are several aspects to Chinese mythology, including creation myths and legends and myths concerning the founding of Chinese culture and the Chinese state. Like many mythologies, some people believe it to be at least in part a factual recording of history.
Historians have conjectured that the Chinese mythology began in 12th century B.C.. The myths and the legends were passed down in oral format for over a thousand years, before being written down in early books such as Shui Jing Zhu and Shan Hai Jing. Other myths continued to be passed down through oral traditions such as theatre and song, before being recorded in the form of novels such as Fengshen Yanyi.

For more information check out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_mythology

Group Research

Our group research shows how China wants to portray itself to the world. Beautiful architectures, colourful gardens and clear blue sky. This is China's Brand Identity.

Map of China 中国