A.A.P.I. Heritage Month: Day 3- My Neighbor Totoro & Spotlight: China
🧧Good Evening Friends!🧧
How is everyone doing this evening? We are back tonight with another A.A.P.I. Celebration Day and tonight we are focusing on the country of China! With more than 1 billion people the People’s Republic of China is one of the most populated countries on the planet! In today’s packet of games and puzzles you will discover that although China is one unified nation under communist rule, each of the many provinces is drastically different. But before we launch into Chinese culture let’s pause and take a look at today’s movie of the day.
🐼Asian Movie of the Day: My Neighbor Totoro🐼
🌳This acclaimed animated tale by director Hayao Miyazaki follows schoolgirl Satsuke and her younger sister, Mei, as they settle into an old country house with their father and wait for their mother to recover from an illness in an area hospital. As the sisters explore their new home, they encounter and befriend playful spirits in their house and the nearby forest, most notably the massive cuddly creature known as Totoro. 🌳
Available to Stream on HBO Max!
🐼Today’s Movie Themed Printable: My Neighbor Totoro Trivia Quiz!🐼
And now let’s dive into today’s spotlight country of the day…. CHINA!
🏮All Aboard and Welcome to the People’s Republic of China🏮
🥮Step 1: Pick up your Chinese packet of games and puzzles by clicking on the image below🥮
🥮Step 2: Curl up as you watch this Chinese New Year’s clip from “Ni Hao Kai-Lan”🥮
📖 Step 3: Now let’s listen to the famous Chinese story, “The Legend of Chang’e” which inspired the movie, “Over the Moon”📖
Do you ever wonder what it’s like to live in China? Let’s take a look and find out!
🧸Step 4: Watch this street interview and see what the people in China think about living in their country. 🧸
🎼Step 5: Now we will examine the fine arts in Chinese culture. Music, dance, and athletics are a huge part of the nation. Like many countries around the world, China has it’s own talent show “China’s Got Talent” that features acts of all kinds. Take a look at these kids doing adorable basketball tricks! 🎼
How amazing was that?! In Chinese, you can say, “wa” which is the same things as saying, “Wow!”. 🙂
🎼Now let’s look at Chinese music. First, we will examine more traditional music. In this next video the woman is playing the traditional Chinese guzheng while the man is playing a drum. I hope you love this video as much as I do! 🎼
🎼Now we will look at more modern music. This next song is by Chinese pop artist Xiao Feng Feng and is called, “Learn to Meow”. It’s an adorable song that always taps into my little side and I hope it resonates with you too! 🐱
And now let’s focus on…. dance!
🌺In this first video a group of Chinese dancers from an academy in Atlanta, GA. perform the traditional fan dance from China. It’s amazing how they can make their fans look like…. a flower!! 🌺
🕺Next, morning aerobics are a large part of Chinese culture. At a school in Shanxi province, a school principal wanted to encourage kids to get off of their devices and exercise more. So, he taught them all how to shuffle! Check out their moves! 🕺
Lastly, let’s end our Chinese tour with a quote from Totoro that will surely make you swoon!
Alright my friends, that’s it from me for this post. I hope you all enjoyed it. Have a beautiful night and I will see you back here for the next topic!
Much love,
~Penny x
very interesting. Never realized or thought about the many different regions of China. thanks for pointing that out love the Chinese dance and of course “Learn to Meow”
Hehe you’re so welcome! I’m so glad you loved it Sindee! 🙂 I loved the traditional fan dancers too. If yo ever get to see Shen Yun as they tour around the U.S. I highly recommend it. They are amazing and do traditional Chinese folk dancing. x