Hanban Videos

Kung-fu refers to Chinese marshal arts, which originated from people’s needs of self-defense, hunting, and military techniques in ancient China and developed into various branches over the Chinese history. Chinese calligraphy, or brush calligraphy, is an artistic way of writing Chinese characters with ink and a brush. Numerous styles and schools of calligraphy arose and were refined over thousands of years. This video cleverly presents Chinese physical arts and spiritual arts in a seamlessly combined demonstration.

This video presents a brief animated introduction of three ancient Chinese thinkers:

Confucius (551-479 BC)

Chuang-tzu (369-286 BC)

Lao-tzu (600-500 BC)

Beijing Opera was developed in northern China and has a history of about 200 years. It could be played both on open-air stages and in indoor theaters. The opera combines singing, acrobatic skills, a band, facial masks, and colorful costumes to tell legendary stories that happened in the Chinese history. The actors and actresses have to go through a long-term training to be professionals.  

China's cities have experienced tremendous changes. This video briefly demonstrates the changes from 1930s to the present in five cities in China: Beijing, Guangzhou, Lhasa, Shanghai, and Wuhan. 

Chinese paper-cut is an art of handicrafts to express people’s feelings and wishes. Skilled people can use scissors to cut various designs out of paper to express different themes of daily life.  Paper-cuts are often used to decorate the house during important events or festivals, such as weddings or the Chinese New Year.