In the past few months, we’ve heard from many of you out there regarding our website and our offerings. Most of them were congratulatory, and it made us feel really good about what we’ve been able to accompolish in the short time since we launched our business. The feedbacks have also been very positive, and the products are well received acrossed the board.

To further our goal to provide high quality educational material that are also relavent to our customer, we’ve added some new items to our website. The biggest change is that we now have a Simplified Chinese section, for those of you who wish to teach your children simplified version of the written language. We realize this is a continued debate within the Chinese community, and proponents of both have made convincing arguments. I think adding this catagory really helps us to round up the needs of our customers. We are also fortunate enough to find high quality paperbacks in both Simplifed Chinese and English, such as Harold and the Purple Crayon, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, Little Pip and the Rainbow Wish. So be sure to check out these and many other titles, your children will love to read or hear these stories!

In addition, we’ve added some great note cards, for Chinese New Year or anytime you want to send a note to that special someone. These beautiful greeting cards are created by artists who mostly reside in Tianjin, China, about 60 miles east of Beijing on the Bohai Bay.  Most of the artists never received formal art training.  Their paintings reflect their daily lives, everyday events, festival, and traditional Chinese culture.

We hope you enjoy these new additions to our product offerings, and please continue to email us with your feedback. We know we can do even better with your input. Happy New Year!

Chinese New Year is one of my favorite holidays.  It is a major holiday for the Chinese, and we spend days to prepare, and days to celebrate.

I am sure there are many stories about Chinese New Year, but I started telling my kids about this fable when Chopsticks asked me about Chinese  New Year at the age of 2.  My parents used to tell me this story when I was little too.  I hope you like my version, and please do tell, and share your version with me.

A long time ago, a beast called Nien (年, nián) had a very large mouth that could swallow many things and people in one bite.  Nian always live in deep sea, but it would come out every New Year to attack food and animals.  Nien would eat up all the food, and even people in the village.  Everyone would be really scared and would hide until after New Year.  As years go by, the villagers discovered that Nien is scared of a few things.  Nien is scared of the color red.  Ever since that discovery, everyone would put something red all over the house to scare Nien away.  People would put red paper all over on the doors and windows; villagers would dress in red; red lanterns would be hung all around the houses.  Then some people also accidentally discovered that Nien was afraid of loud noises, and therefore, firecrackers were used to frighten Nien away.  The villagers were so happy, as they saved themselves from this beast, and Nien had never come back ever since then.

We still carry these traditions nowadays for Chinese New Year.  For example, we would put red banners around the house with good luck writings; everyone would wear something red; and of course, the fire crackers too.  My children definitely love hearing these stories, because now everything that we do for Chinese New Year makes sense to them.  I hope you can pass this or other versions onto your children too!

Red Envelope – 紅包 – hóng bāo

紅包 is the quintessential item for any Chinese New Year celebration. 紅包 is a small little red envelope, decorated with good luck Chinese characters or symbols. It is used to place money and given out to kids. Traditionally, married adults will give 紅包 to all the kids that great them on the New Year. There are many differnt kinds of red envelopes these days, so you can really have a lot of fun picking out the best one. This design is cute for the kids and a little more contempary, it also has the tiger, so perfect for the new year.

Well, I promised I didn’t go out of my way to find these cupcakes, I think they found me!  These cupcakes were made by Celebrate With a Cake, the only catch is that this company is based in Malaysia.  However, I thought these are such great ideas though, especially if you are thinking about a Chinese New Year party.  Who will say no to these beautifully decorated cupcakes?  I think I will be printing these pictures out and see if my local bakery can do copy them!

In keeping with our theme for this week, Chinese New Year is only about 6 weeks again, and this year, it will be the Year of the Tiger.  People born in the year of Tiger is said to be completely honest about how they feel and expect the same of you. They will be  On the other hand, they seek approval from peers and family. Generally, because of their charming personalities Tigers are well liked. Often, failing at a given task or being unproductive in his personal or professional life can cause a Tiger to experience a depression. Criticism from loved ones can also generate this type of Tiger reaction. Still, like all felines, Tigers always land on their feet, ready for their next act in life, pursuing it with unyielding energy and hunting it infallibly.

To get ready for the New Year, why not get these adorable tiger slippers for your kids? They are cute and cozy. Slippers are also a Chinese tradition.

Like I promised, the holidays aren’t over until Chinese New Year.  If there’s something you had wanted to resolve by the end of year, give yourself a little break, and extend it till Chinese New Year’s eve.  My goal this year is that I desperately need to shred about 15 lbs.  I’ve had a very “satisfying” holiday!  However, I will have to at least share this eye candy with you.  I found these Chinese New Year cupcakes from Cupcakes Take the Cake blog, and it made me feel so much better when I found out that one of their founders is a personal trainer!!

Enjoy!!