Chinese idioms are unique expressions in Chinese, mostly composed of four Chinese characters. Despite the extreme conciseness and fixed format, they usually convey/express profound meanings visually. These idioms, largely derived from ancient Chinese literary works, are usually related to certain myths, legends or historical events. It will be difficult to understand/grasp the exact meaning without knowing the source of an idiom. Therefore, learning idioms can help people understand Chinese traditional culture better. Idioms are widely used in daily conversations and literary works. Proper use of idioms can make one’s language more expressive and communication more effective.
Kun Opera is dated back to the late Yuan and early Ming dynasty (600 years ago) in the city of Kunshan, Jiangsu Province and is one of the oldest forms of Chinese opera which has had a considerable influence to the domain. The rhythm is controlled by drum and plank in Kun Opera. The main instruments are Chinese bamboo flute and San-Hsien (a three-stringed plucked instrument) etc. Its singing rhyme follows Zhongzhou rhyme (the rhyme of verse of Chinese opera in Central China). Northern Kun Opera is based on phonetics in mid-china and Southern Kun Opera is based on Hongwu Zhengyun (phonological system of Tang and Song Dynasty which is similar with Suzhou dialect). The vocal voice of Kun Opera is beautiful and mild, the spoken parts are elegant and the performance is delicate. In 2001, Kun Opera was classified as "Representative of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity" by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Woodblock printing is a great invention of the ancient Chinese people after their long-term practice and study. In Sui Dynasty (about 600 A.D.), people got the inspiration from seals and invented the earliest woodblock printing in human history. Woodblock printing has the title of "Living Fossil" in printing history. The origin of woodblock printing in China is Yangzhou, which is the only city in China that keeps a full set of old woodblock printing process. China pays great attention to the protection of intangible cultural heritage. On May 20, 2006, the woodblock printing process was classified in the first batch of State-level Intangible Cultural Heritage List after the approval of China’s State Council. On June 5, 2007, Chen Yishi from Yangzhou of Jiangsu Province was determined by Ministry of Culture as the representative inheritor of the cultural heritage project and was classified in the list including 226 representative inheritors of the first batch of State-level Intangible Cultural Heritage Projects.