10 Days of Starvation?!

The ancient Chinese had many weird rituals and customs during weddings, and usually i can see the meaning behind it, for they made sense somewhat. However, this one particular ritual really made me felt bad for the bride; she couldn't eat during the final 10 days of her wedding festivities. That's TEN days of starvation?! The most weird part is that there is no specified reason for doing this, some people believed it was was done to make the bride sadder for leaving her natal family, to make the bride more yielding to her husband's family, or to make the bride appear more pure. Whatever the case, I think this is completely absurd, and unnecessary. They are hurting the bride's digestive system, which could affect the potential risks of a miscarriage and other baby-related issues, since they prized it as the most vital anyway. On a side curiosity, wouldn't they be scared if she fainted in her fragile state from hunger and nervousness, that would be bad luck for them. Already, her feet is binded and only the length of 7 cm, how could she have the strength to totter in them from 10 days of starvation? I swear, these people can be so ignorant long ago.

Karma

The Chinese believed in the whole idea of karma, where one's actions and the effects of these actions will effect them in their next life, or had effected them in their previous life. This is a superstition, but may people, especially religious and piety people during the old times, believed in it. Thus, many people tried to be on the best behavior they could be in, especially the poor class that wanted to be reborn into a higher rank. The rich people weren't as keen about what actions they took, for many were corrupted and did bad deeds, because they could "pay it off" to pardoners in the temples. Sometimes when a person is born with a defect, people might said the person must have did something terrible in their previous life to be punished so cruelly by karma. Everyone wants to be granted access to a good afterlife and reincarnation, and I believe due to this goal, society was a better place, since people did more good deeds.

Yin and Yang

The Yin and Yang is a symbol too common in Chinese culture for me not to mention it. The Chinese people are all about balance, and thus, the idea of yin and yang. The concept of yin and yang (or earth and heaven) describes two opposing and, at the same time, complementary and completing aspects of any one phenomenon, or comparison of any two phenomena. Yin stands for "shady place, north slope, southern river; cloudy, overcast", and possesses the qualities of passiveness, darkness, femininity, negativeness, downward-seeking, consuming and corresponding to the night. Yang, on the other hand, means "sunny place, southern slope, northern river, and sunshine", and represents qualities of activeness, light, masculinity, positiveness, upward-seeking, producing and corresponds to the daytime. Thus, the world cannot just have good or bad, but a combination of both to even out the energy of the world, and to create a healthy balance.

Death, a Common and Unpredictable Occurence

Death rate were high during before the 20th century, especially in countries where poverty raved. In the story, a young girl was stung by a bee, and died within a matter of 5 minutes. Nowadays, a first aid kit could have immediately at least subdue the poison from spreading, however, back in the 1900s of rural China, people could only stand by and watch and call for help, only to be dead when help does arrive. This showed how death was almost too common in the daily lives of people; one moment a girl could be in her front yard embroidering dowries for her upcoming marriage, and the next moment, she's dead. I just felt the unfairness of earning a living back then, with people working in the fields from dawn to dusk, in the extremes of the weather, the malnutrition, the stress, and the children they had to take care of; but all this hard work can be so easily taken away by one little accident. Life is too short and unfair.

Feng Shui

"Feng Shui is an ancient art and science developed over 3,000 years ago in China. It is a complex body of knowledge that reveals the ways to balance the energies of the environment to assure health, wealth and good fortune for people inhabiting it.

"Feng" means "wind" and "shui" means "water" (pronounced fung-shway). In Chinese culture gentle wind and clear water have always been associated with good harvest and good health, thus "good feng shui" came to mean good livelihood and fortune, while "bad feng shui" came to mean hardship and misfortune.

Feng Shui is based on the Taoist vision and understanding of nature, particularly on the idea that the land is alive and filled with energy." (quoted from here)

People use the idea of feng shui to decorate their homes, in order to bring balance and goodness to their homes.

Some Wedding Traditions

The wedding traditions during 18th and 19th centuries were a very interesting ceremony. Red is the main and dominant color, there is endless bowing, there are palanquins to carry the new bride, there is a feast to be served, firecrackers to be lighted, and gifts to be given. Yet two practices i find very interesting is the shoes the bride-to-be has to make as a welcome gift to her in-laws, and the "pouring of the water" when a leave leaves to go to her husband's home in a palanquin. The shoes represented how well a girl was at embroidery and demonstrated her ability at chores , however I don't understand how its shoes and not, like, clothing or something: especially since the chinese has a superstitious idea of never giving shoes to someone, since this will eventually foreshadow them to be your enemies. And as for the "throwing out of the water", its suppose to represent and prove the pureness and cleanliness of the bride-to-be, or her virginity. This is a weird way to express such private concerns, but nonetheless, I feel it interesting.

The Eight Chinese Characters

"The ancient Chinese devised a method of reading the life of a person from his birth year, month, day, and hour. This information is displayed in the form of four columns each consisting of two characters. Each column is called a Pillar. The four pillars together will contain eight characters. This method of Life Reading is called "The Four Pillars of Destiny" or simply "The Eight Characters".

Ancient Chinese used the combinations of two sets of words to denote time. A year is represented by two words. So is a month, a day or an hour.

The first set of words is the set of the "Ten Heavenly Stems". They are the yin and yang components of the Five Elements: Yang Wood, Yin Wood, Yang Fire, Yin Fire , Yang Earth, Yin Earth, Yang Metal, Yin Metal, Yang Water, Yin Water.

The second set of words is the set of the "Twelve Earthly Branches". They are more popularly represented by the twelve animals of the Zodiac: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig. "

(From astro-fengshui.com)

These characters were extremely important in determining a person's marriage and friendship in the case of "laotongs". These eight characters were matched at birth, and before making destined decisions, they would be paired up with other people to see if they made a good match, such as a person's future husband/wife. i think this is a very interesting way of fortune- telling.

Losing Face

There is a common saying in chinese about "losing face", a synechdoche representing one's pride and dignity; embarrassment and disappointment. A person's "face" in Chinese society represented authority and power, and to "lose" it would cause great embarrassment, especially if it is made known to the public. Every man has "face", form the poor to the rich, and every man wants to maintain and keep his "face" in the best conditions. For example, a proud father might tell his son to not make him lose face when he sends him off to the army to become a soldier, his father is eventually telling his son to not bring shame onto him. I find this saying very interesting, and very creative way in expressing embarrassment. It also showed how much the Chinese people valued pride more than anything else, even over death.

What's In a Name?

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet." - Shakespeare

Shakespeare may have believed that a name was just an artificial and meaningless convention, something to refer to someone as. However, the chinese did not share this same belief; instead, a name was chosen and constructed very carefully for a newborn child. This name would make the child grow up to encompass and reflect the meaning of the name, to help the child develop and assimilate this hope, and to create the foundation of who this child could be. For example, in the novel, Snowflower meant snowflake, and this would bring connotations of purity, gentleness, beauty, simplicity, and uniqueness. Beautiful Moon brought ideas of beauty, value, eternalness, brightness, high- achiever, and completeness. I think a name is a very important aspect of a person too, for I don't think we are more or less like "objects"; we are each special and different, with no one else in the world the same as one another. Thus, I believe a well-though- of name indeed does make an impact on how the person will be.

A Beautiful Passage

"Snowflower had the true independent streak of the horse sign, only her horse had wings that carried her far above the earth, while mine had a plodding nature."

I really like passage, and it struck me as very interesting, since it has to do with the chinese zodiac. The zodiac has 12 signs, or rather, animals: rat, snake, ox, rooster, boar, hare, dog, tiger, dragon, monkey, lamb, and horse. The horse is recognized as an independent and free spirited person, and in this passage, two totally juxtaposing personalities can be seen. The horse with the wings reminds me of Pegasus, Hercules' horse. Here, one can assume the freedom and adventure and speed and independence of a god-like creature. On the other hand, the plodding horse is more of a tamed and domesticated animal who is obedient and never goes beyond its border. Indeed, descriptions like these are used to describe some people's personalities, of what type of horse or animal they may be. I find this very interesting.

Click here for a link to learn more about the chinese zodiac and find out what you are!

How Much Are You Worth?

Marriage was not about love during 19th century China, instead, it was about money. Every girl was basically "sold" off by their family into their husband's family. Besides, practically all the girl's marriages were arranged by her parents and matchmakers, thus it was usually the highest "bidder" that won the marriage. A girl had to possess so many great qualities, along with beauty, and suffering pain of bounded feet, to attain a suitable marriage. I just feel that this was so unfair, a girl is practically not even treated as human, but an object, a thing with little value that can be easily bought, and sold. A girl was born and raised solely to be bargained and controlled and used by her future "master", her husband, her in-laws, and eventually her own son. If she was fortunate to bore sons, her value in other's eyes may increase, but what difference does that make from being a baby machine? Is that something to be proud of? I just sympathize with these women, they never know the feeling of love, only monetary deals.

Chinese Poem

Recently, i have been discovering so many things about my own culture, and i am just so fascinated by it. One of my current obsessions is chinese poetry, but not just ANY contemporary poem, but some great classics by very well- known poets. Here is an example of one by Li Bai, a very famous poet of the Tang Dynasty, called "Long Yearning". Li Bai was the equivalent of a Shakespeare in our standards. Anyone knows that once something is translated, it loses its original powerful meaning, however, one can still feel the words in the poem as if it were alive, and see it happening; this was the power of Li Bai's writing.

Long yearning,
To be in Chang'an.
The grasshoppers weave their autumn song by the golden railing of the well;
Frost coalesces on my bamboo mat, changing its colour with cold.
My lonely lamp is not bright, I’d like to end these thoughts;
I roll back the hanging, gaze at the moon, and long sigh in vain.
The beautiful person's like a flower beyond the edge of the clouds.
Above is the black night of heaven's height;
Below is the green water billowing on.
The sky is long, the road is far, bitter flies my spirit;
The spirit I dream can't get through, the mountain pass is hard.
Long yearning,
Breaks my heart.

Laotong, or "same old"

Everyone knows what's a best friend: that one person you can share anything with, the one person you sometimes trust and rely on more than your own family, the one person that will always be there for you, the one person you will do anything for, the one person you will stay forever connected to; this is a best friend, and people don't come by a genuine one quite too often in a lifetime. It is an experience you cannot define until you met that one person, someone as important, or even more vital than the love of your life. In China, the equivalent would be called a "laotong", meaning "same olds", and through the connotations of old, like growing old together through thick and thin, constituting the idea of eternalness and friendship link and same, like two united as one, the similarities shared, one can see the connection of the idea of BBFs in the chinese use of "laotong".

Nu Shu, Women's Secret Form of Writing

As i've mentioned before, women during the ancient times did write. However, to prevent men from discovering this, a secret form of writing was created by women, and this was called "nu shu". In men's writing, the characters appear bold and precise, each character defined as it is. Nu shu, on the other hand, appears soft, fine, and dainty, the characters resembling mosquito legs. Unlike men's writing, a nu shu character does not represent a specific word. Instead, the characters are phonetic in character, like homonyms. As a result, one character can represent every spoken word with that same sound, for example, pair-pear-pare. Context clues and the surrounding characters is what distinguishes the actual meaning. Usually, this form of writing also has a rhythm to it when recited, making it more unique and secretive.

Women Wrote Too!

Many people would have believed that writing was an art and form of literature created by men and reserved strictly for men, however, the world world had been wrong; women had been writing as early as men, and many of their work were either published under a pseudonym, or stolen and made known by other men. Women during this era had no place in society, every male in their life dominated them, from their father, to their husband, and eventually her own son; thus, they never exposed the truth, for pride and recognition were shameful to a women, being obedient was the only good attribute. However, the whole women idea of women actually writing and composing great works of literature did struck me as a big surprise, since it had never occurred to me that such a thing would happen. Yet, now that i think about it, the whole thing indeed does make sense. Women, by nature, are more soft and detailed and notice the pretty aspects of things in life, which would have enabled them to write lovely and deep poems. Who knew how many of the well- known and classic poems of the chinese history could actually had been written by women?!