CHINESE CULTURE VS JAPANESE CULTURE

Chinese culture and Japanese culture look like the same , but actually, they aren’t the same. First of all, Chinese is a tonal language while Japanese tends to be more monotone. The other difference is their foods. For example, chinese foods vary by region ,but tend to have stronger

flavors. On the other side, Japanese cuisine is known for its more subtle tastes. Japanese cuisine use a lot of fish stock(dashi), kelp, miso, soy sauce, sake and rice vinegar and their famous foods include sushi, tempura and ramen while Chinese cuisine generally favors soy sauce, rice wine and ginger and their famous foods include Peking duck, chow mein, char siu(BBQ pork) and yumcha/dim sum. Another thing is Chinese holidays and Japanese holidays and how they're celebrated. While Chinese people celebrate Lunar New Year, Japanese people don’t celebrate Lunar New Year. Rather, they celebrate the Western New Year according to the Gregorian calendar. The way they're celebrated is similar, but different. In both, there's a large emphasis on visiting with family and cleaning before the New Year, but the Chinese New Year tends to be celebrated very differently, with firecrackers and red things everywhere. The other one is names. Chinese names usually only have one syllable, but Japanese names usually have about three syllables, and end in a vowel (similar to Italian names). For example, Chinese names include Ma, Lú while Japanese names are generally include Yuzuki, Kazuyuki. Lastly, Chinese people can often be seen talking loudly at public places. On the other hand, In Japan, talking or laughing loudly in public places is considered as discourteous. They even keep their phones muted during travelling.

SOURCES: http://theydiffer.com/difference-between-chinese-and-japanese-culture/

http://www.wikihow.com/Distinguish-Between-Japanese-and-Chinese-Cultures

HISTORY AND FEATURES OF TOWER BRIDGE

Tower Bridge is a combined  bascule and suspension  bridge in London. It is a iconic symbol of London. The construction started in 1886 and took 8 years. It has become 122 years from past to now. 432 construction workers employed. The bridge was officially opened on 30 June 1894 by the Prince of Wales and ,his wife, the Princess of Wales. It is the one of the Trust’s bridges not to connect the City of London directly to the Southwark Bank , as its northern landfall is in Tower Hamlets. The bridge consist of two bridge towers which was tied together at the upper level by two horizontal walkways . The bridge is 800 feet (240 metres) in length with two towers each 213 feet (65 metres) high, built on piers. The main bridge deck carries two lanes of road traffic between two low-level pedestrian walkways across both suspension spans and the opening bascule section of the bridge, with the walkways separated from the roadway by fences. The roadway passes through each of the two towers, whereas the low-level walkways pass around the outside of the towers. The bridge's present colour scheme dates from 1977, when it was painted red, white and blue for Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee. The bridge deck is freely accessible to both vehicles and pedestrians.

SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_Bridge

TOAST SKAGEN

Toast skagen is one of Swedish traditional foods. It was named for a fishing port at the northern tip of Denmark. It is typically served as a starter at Swedish dinner parties. This traditional food is an elegant combination of shrimp and other intredigents like mayonnaise on a small piece of sautéd bread. It was created by Tore Wretman who is the popular Swedish restaurateur. He embraced Swedish culinary traditions during the deaces immediately after World War II, more than anyone else. At a time when home cooking was starting to fade away and was replaced by foreign fast food, he also elevated classic Swedish foods into fancy restaurant repertoire, lending the new status.

INTREDIGENTS: (FOUR SERVINGS)

·       4 slices of white bread

·       320 g(11 oz) peeled shripms (prawns)      

·       4 tbs mayonnaise

·       1 tbs Dijon mustard

·       150 g(5 oz) whitefish roe

·       50 g(2 oz) fresh dill

·       1 lemon

·       Butter

       PREPARATİON:

First of all, cut off the crusts of the bread   slices. Secondly, sauté the bread in a little butter until it turns golden Brown on both sides. Thirdly, place on paper towels and if the shrimps are large, cut them into small pieces. Then, save four sprigs off dill for garnishes. Chop finely the rest of the dill and mix them with the shrimps, mayonnaise and mustard. After that, apportion the mixture on the slices of sautéd bread. Then, shape the whitefish roe like eggs and place on top of each toast. Garnish each with a sprig off dill and serve with a slice of lemon.

SOURCES: http://www.toastskagen.com/

SCENES FACTS FROM THE LORD OF THE RINGS

There are 10 scene facts about The Lord of Rings.

1)   As the Orcs have black blood, the inside of their mouths should be black as well. To achieve this, The orc actors had to swill a liquorice-based mouthwash prior to each of their scenes.

2)   When Bilbo dropped the ring before leaving Hobitton, the floor was magnetic to prevent the ring from bouncing. This was done to demonstrate the importance and weight of the ring.

3)   While they are filming, Viggo Mortensen, called Aragorn in the film, got into character during a conversation. So, Peter Jackson referred to him as Aragorn for over half an hour without realizing it.

4)   Hobbitton was made a year ago before production began to make it. It looks like that it was natural, lived-in place and they used real vegetable patches.

  5)The original cut was four hours and thirty minutes long.

)  6) When the trailer was released on the Internet on 7 April 2001, it was downloaded 1.6 million times in the first 24 hours.

   7) The Battle of Helm’s Deep featured hundreds of spears made of cardboard tubes so that none of the charging horses would be injured.

8)   The bodies lying underwater in the Dead Marshes were made of silicone.

9)   When Frodo and Sam are in Osgiliath, Sam says, 'By rights, we shouldn’t even be here.’This was nod to the devition the screenplay had taken from the book’s storyline. In the book, Sam and Frodo never passed through Osgiliath at all.

10) The Lord of the Rings trilogy became the most nominated film series in Academy Award history with 30 nominations, surpassing both the Godfather trilogy and the Star Wars franchise.

SOURCES: http://thechive.com/2015/05/18/behind-the-scenes-facts-from-the-lord-of-the-rings-35-photos/

DO YOU KNOW PROBOSCİS MONKEY?

The proboscis monkey or long-nosed monkey is a reddish-brown arboreal Old World monkey. It is endemic to the southeast Asia island of Bornea and also can be found on all three nations that divide the island: Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia. Males have a head-body length of 66 to 76.2 cm and typically weigh 16 to 22.5 kg while females measure 53.3 to 62 cm  in head-and-body length and weigh 7 to 12 kg. The proboscis monkey has a long coat and the fur on the back is bright orange, reddish brown, yellowish brown or

brick-red. They also have long nose. The face is orange-pink. They co-exist with the Bornean orangutan. Proboscis monkeys also generally live in groups composed of one adult male, some adult females and their offspring.They are seasonal eater. The proboscis monkey eats primarily fruit and leaves. Furthermore, they eat flowers, seeds and insects to a lesser extent.

SOURCES:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proboscis_monkey