Welcome to the 9th (December 21, 2009) edition of China Carnival. Before going into posts, I wish everyone a merry Christmas and happy new year!

We have 8 posts (new record high~ applauds) today. Fangfang, a new “China” blogger at chinasundae.com contributes two, one about some opinions on Han Buddhism and another about some travel tips. Our old friends Zhu, Chris, Katie and Richard continue to present their posts about Beijing, Martial arts, travel tips, and spirituality, respectively.

Owning a house is now symbolized as an essential part of so-called “American Dream”. You might want to ask what the Chinese version of housing dream looks like? The answer is siheyuan (四合院，Si-he-yuan)

Siheyuan is a common style of Han Chinese housing, dated to Zhou Dynasty (1,100 – 256B.C.). It generally composes of enclosed square yard surrounded with houses on four or three sides.