Chinese Culture

People dressed in Hanfu (Chinese traditional clothing) are good subjects for painting, sculpture and other forms of art. Here are just some of the masterpieces.

Hanfu (Chinese traditional clothing) has a number of distinct characteristics. One of them is the front style. The picture below is a typical women's dress. There are two parts overlapping on the front. This is called "Jiao Ling" (Crossing Collar), which is a main feature of nearly all Asian costumes (influenced by China). The order of the two parts is quite important. From the wearer's point of view, the crossing is always on his/her right side, which is called "You Ren" (Right Front). Some ethnic groups in Asia have costumes almost identical to Hanfu, but they prefer to put the crossing on the left side. Therefore, the front style is an important symbol of group differentiation and culture identity. An easy way to recognize Hanfu is that the collar forms a "y" shape if you look at the dress from the front.

In the West, there is also a function about the order or direction of the collar: the left collar covering the right is for men's wear, while the right collar covering the left is for women's wear. It is interesting that the Chinese use collar to differentiate ethnic groups and the Europeans use it to make distinction between genders. So, judging by Hanfu's criteria, the Western men's wears are compliant to the "Right Front" rule, while the Western women's dress are certainly foreign.

Another major characteristic of Hanfu is that it usually does not have buttons. The famous "China buttons" seen on Qipao appeared very late in Chinese history. Hanfu is usually fastened by ribbons, only occasionally decorated by a few buttons. On the contrary, Qipao is especially fond of buttons. They tend to overuse buttons so much that they are sometimes  called "centipede costumes".

Hanfu usually has a waistband, on which various little decorations are hung, including Yu (jade) and Chinese knots. These hung decorations, together with the long ribbons and relatively wide sleeves, can sway as one walks. It is ideally to cover any imperfection and accentuate the bodily beauty of an East Asian woman.

Men's Hanfu is basically the same as women's, only more conservative in color and less various in fashion, just like today.

Hanfu's beauty makes it perfect for performances. For example, in the Beijing 2008 Olympics, most performers were dressed in Hanfu.

See more Hanfu pictures here.

Traditionally, Chinese people trace their clothing system back to the Yellow Emperor. It said in a book written three thousand years ago that "The Yellow Emperor drooped his clothes  and the world was well ruled". Obviously to them, garments are not only something to cover the body with, but also the embodiment of civilization. Clothing has evolved to be an essential part of the etiquette system. It is even used as the synonym of Chinese culture in some context. For instance, during the thousands of years when some part of China was seized by other people now and then and regained later, a man would be moved to tears if he saw Chinese costumes in occupied areas again: "Our culture is still there!"

Chinese clothing went through thousands of years in spite of the occasional interruption. The fashions were constantly changing, while the formal attires on ceremonies did not change much over the years, just like today. However, the last dynasty brought in big alteration: the Man people forbid Chinese people to wear their traditional outfits and forced them to put on the Man gowns-- Qipao. When the Man ruling was finally overthrown after three hundred years, the Chinese people did not go back to their traditional wears. In stead, they picked up the Western apparels.

As the Chinese people become more self-confident during recent years, they are interested in traditional dressing again. Some take the Man Qipao for the Chinese traditional clothing. However, the tradition of Qipao is only about three hundred years, and it was imposed upon the Chinese people by force. Then, there are people who want to renew the tradition before the three hundred years, the tradition of the three thousand years. They call the true Chinese traditional clothing "Hanfu". "Han" is the name for the majority of Chinese people, as opposed to other minor ethnic groups such as Man, and "fu" means clothing. Nonetheless, three centuries are long enough to alienate people from tradition. Some Chinese people consider Hanfu to be mere "ancient costumes", not traditional national dressing.

Similar things happen to other aspects of China's cultural life. The "modern" culture is Westernized, the "traditional" culture is of the Man origin, while the true traditional culture is deemed as "ancient". Again, clothing is a miniature of the whole picture of Chinese culture. Both clothing and Chinese culture as a whole are awaiting a renaissance.

Taiji (Tai Chi) is a very important concept in Chinese traditional culture. There has been much writing on it ever since it first appeared three thousand years ago. The Taiji sign is like this:

To help remember, people say that there are two fishes in the sigh: the white fish with the black eye, and the black fish with the white eye. The two fishes chase each other, forming an endless loop. There are many explanations on why the sign is like this, yet all agree that it stands for the Way things are. The curve between them is especially fascinating. Why is there a curve instead of a straight line or a broken line? Is there any sensible reasons besides aesthetics?

Abstract as it may seem, there are vivid demonstrations of Taiji in our everyday life. Here is an example.

As we all know, on the spring equinox, the length of day and night is equal. After the spring equinox, the daylight grows longer each day in the Northern Hemisphere, until the summer solstice. The summer solstice is the day when daylight time is the longest during the year. After the summer solstice, the daylight grows shorter each day in the Northern Hemisphere. After it reaches the autumnal equinox, the point when the length of day and night is equally again, the daylight keep growing shorter each day until the winter solstice. After the winter solstice, the daylight grows longer again until the spring equinox, and begins the next circle.

If we track the length of every day and draw a diagram, what will it look like?

From the US Naval Observatory Astronomical Applications Department site, we can get the time of sunrises and sunsets for any place. Let us just take New York City for instance. (The data is in Eastern Standard Time. Daylight saving time is not applied.) From the time of sunrise and sunset, we can calculate the exact length of daylight of everyday in the year. Keep the figures in a row, and in Excel or other spreadsheet editor, choose "bar chart". Here is what we get:

Do you find the edge line of the bars quite familiar? If not, let us put a circle on it and dim out the rest part. See? The line is not as smooth, for precision reasons, but the shape is just the same as the Taiji sign. We can actually keep approximating the perfect curve if we can get more samples.

This is just one of the countless examples of the great Way. The ingenuity of the ancient Chinese people is really amazing.

The Five Elements explanation is only the first level of the "Wu Xing" theory. In Chinese, "Wu" means "five" and "Xing" means "move" or "moving". Wu Xing is not merely the five concrete materials, but rather five kinds of motion. The Five Motions system is the abstraction of all motions in the nature and the demonstration of the Way.

Let us take the seasons for example.

Spring is a season of vitality. Plants grow and stretch out their roots and branches in all directions. The Five Motions theory uses "Wood" to refer to this kind of outspreading motion. It uses "Wood" first because "Wood" means plants, which have a natural inclination to stretch out. Then in philosophical context "Wood" does not refer to plants any more, but rather refers to the outward motion.

In summer, everything is growing up. Plants have grown their roots in spring and now they focus on growing twigs and leaves. There is an upward tension in this, and the Five Motions theory uses the word "Fire" to refer to it. The reason is obvious: fire, or burning hot air, always goes upwards. So, if someone think summer is hot like fire so Fire is connected with summer, it is not totally wrong but is quite superfluous. "Fire" actually refers to the upward motion.

Autumn is the harvest time. Plants produce fruits with energy stored in. Animals eat a lot and stock up fat in their bodies for the coming winter. There is an inward motion, and the word "Metal" is used to refer to it.

When the cold winter comes, animals hide in caves and hibernate. Plants hide their roots underground and let the parts above the ground wither. There is a downward motion, and the Five Motions theory uses "Water" to refer to it since water always flows downwards.

You may have noticed that there are only four seasons while we have Five Motions. What is the other one? Ancient Chinese argue that there is another season between the end of summer and the beginning of autumn, which is called "the long summer". During "the long summer", the weather is not as hot as in summer, nor is it as cool as in autumn. It is still and stable. This relatively even motion is signified by "Earth".

Thus, the supportive relations of the Five Motions are not as simple as "burn wood and you get fire". Rather, Wood, the outward motion (e.g. the stretching of roots and branches in spring) lays the foundation for Fire, the upward motion (e.g. the growing of twigs and leaves in summer). Metal, the inward motion (e.g. storing energy in autumn) makes it possible for Water, the downward motion (e.g. hiding in winter). The rest may be deduced by analogy.

The relations of the Five Motions are shown in the table below.

Speaking of Chinese traditional clothing, one might immediately think of Qipao, or Cheongsam. Some people even call it "the China Dress". However, the history of the dress is only a few hundred years (compared to China's thousands of years of civilization). It is not even native to China in the strict sense.

Traditional Qipao is the costume of the Man ethnic group of China. When the Man conquered China and founded the Qing Dynasty in the 17th century, they forbid people to wear their traditional clothes and ordered everyone to put on the Man costume, namely, the Qipao. "Qi" in "Qipao" is another name for the Man people. At that time, both men and women wore such gowns and the gowns were very big and wide.

The Qing Dynasty ended in the 1910s, but Chinese people did not seize the chance and went back to their original clothing, because Western influence began to prevail in China. People quickly adopted the Western way of dressing, tailoring and aesthetics. When they mix the Western way with the Man costumes, they created the modern Qipao, which appeared in Shanghai in the 1920s and reached climax in the 1930s and was soon imitated by women all over China.

The modern Qipao is much slimmer than the traditional one so that the female's curve is emphasized. There are high side vents on the dress so that part of the thighs can be seen. The sleeves are tailored in the Western way and they are completely removed in some cases. The traditional features remain in the front, the collar and cottons. Such a gown is very similar to the Western dress, so it can be easily appreciated by Westerners.

Men's Qipao also underwent some changes. Gradually, "Qipao" refers to the women's dress only and "Cheongsam" refers to the men's gown.

Magua, or riding jacket, is also the costume of the Man ethnic group. Actually, it can be viewed as a short version of traditional Qipao. Today people change its front style (but keep the collar and the buttons) and call it "Tang suit", which is a really misleading name, since it has nothing to do with the Tang Dynasty (618-907).

The Vietnam costume Ao Dai is apparently influenced by Qipao. A major difference is that people wear long trousers under it -- people do not wear long trousers under Qipao -- so the Vietnam costume has more side vents and the vents are higher. Besides, they usually keep the sleeves.

To sum up, the main features of Qipao is the front, the collar and the buttons. These features have not changed much during the years. The traditional Qipao has a history of less than four hundred years while the modern Qipao only appeared in the last century. Qipao is the mixture of the cultures of the Man ethnic group and the West. It is not representative of the thousands of years of Chinese culture of clothing. Then what is? Hanfu.

Guqin is one of the oldest Chinese musical instrument. Actually, "gu" in Chinese means "old" and "qin" means "musical instrument". Guqin has a history of more than three thousand years. Confucius himself was especially fond of guqin. He often played guqin and sung a song of poetry accordingly. In the thousands of years that followed, guqin became a must-know of Chinese educated people. Its high-brow style makes it not only a musical instrument, but also a symbol of cultivation and an embodiment of Chinese philosophy.

Guqin is a little similar to zither in appearance. It has seven strings. When you play it, you put it on the table and touch the strings with fingers. Guqin has three distinct tone colors. The open string notes are deep and long-lasting, like sound of the Earth. The pressed notes (plucking the strings with the right hand while pressing the strings with the left hand) are soft and mellow, like the human singing. The harmonics (touching the strings without pressing hard) are airy and ethereal, like music of the Heaven. The harmony of Heaven, Earth and human is the upmost perfection pursued by the Chinese traditional culture.

Apart from the cultural aesthetics, there is a big difference between guqin and Western musical instruments. Western musical instruments, such as piano and violin, are usually played in front of a hall of audience. A loud volume is preferred. However, guqin is rather played to oneself, or at most to a few best friends. What the guqin player wants is not magnitude of sound, but a understanding heart, or, in Chinese terms, someone who "knows my music".

The "know-my-music" person is hard to find. One may need to spend his/her entire life to look for such a person. The guqinist Boya in the Zhou Dynasty (1066 BC - 256 BC) once found his "know-my-music", Ziqi. When Ziqi died young, Boya said, "Ziqi is gone; I can play to none." He broke his guqin and never played again.

In the heart of Chinese people, tiger is a powerful and lucky symbol that can protect people from evil. People use tiger patterns to decorate their life. Such decorations are especially common in children's things, for children are relatively more vulnerable, they need tiger's protection more than other. Besides, people hope their children to grow up as strong and smart like the tiger.

Tiger-head hats and tiger-head shoes are two examples of the many children products decorated with tiger patterns. They are both useful and decorative, loaded with love and hope. Usually they are made of cloth, with complicated sowing methods such as embroidery, color painting and collage.

There are many folk tales about tiger-head hats and shoes. One of them is like this:

Once upon a time, there lived a good fisherman who was always happy to help people. One day, an old passenger was impressed by his kindness and gave him a painting that depicted a beautiful woman sowing a pair of tiger-head shoes. The fisherman like the painting very much, so he put it in front of his bed.

One night, the beautiful woman walked out of the painting. She got married with the fisherman and lived happily together. A year later, they had a son, and they named the baby "Little Tiger".

Bad things always happen. A villain heard of the magical painting and seized it away. But no matter how he coaxed, the beautiful woman remained in the painting.

The boy "Little Tiger" cried for his mother. An old man told him that he could find his mother if he wore a pair of tiger-head shoes. The boy followed the advice and ran to the villain's place. The villain head tried to stop the boy and attacked viciously. Suddenly, the boy's tiger-head shoes turned into real tigers. The tigers ate the villain and rescued the woman and her son.

From then on, people began to make tiger-head shoes for children, hoping that they can protect children and family.

Bean curd (doufu) and bean milk (doujiang) are very popular delicacies in China. Many people drink a bowl of bean milk as their everyday breakfast while bean curd is a welcomed dish on both casual meals and regular banquets.

These tasty bean products are full of nutriments. They contain protein that usually exists only in meat, as well as microelements such as calcium, iron and phosphorus, to name a few. They are a very food nutrition supplier to people who do not have easy access to meat or milk, which was not unusual in old China.

On the other hand, bean sprouts are good supplement to vegetable. When Western sailors in the Great Era of Navigation were suffering from septicemia, Chinese sailors were free from such worries, because they brought beans with them and grew bean sprouts on the ship. So the bean products seem like meat and vegetable in one. Amazing food, isn't it?

Bean curd and bean milk was invented about 2000 years ago, in the Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD). The inventor was a member of the royal family and he was made King of the Huainan region. The Huainan King was extremely fond of culture, literature, invention, and the like. He even wrote a book called Huainan Zi, in which he recorded many of his discoveries, and these bean products were among them.

Put beans in water until they are soaked. Then grind. Filter it and the liquid is bean milk. The remains are bean dregs, which can be used to feed domestic animals. If you put a little plaster or bittern in the bean milk, it solidifies -- and becomes bean curd. After that, people usually wrap the fresh bean curd with cloth and wring out some water for better flavor. If you wring way much water out, it becomes dried bean curd, which has a different taste but is equally delicious. There are so many ways of serving bean curd that I cannot list all of them here.

Bean curd and bean milk was brought to Japan by the famous monk Jianzhen (687 - 763). Today, Japanese bean curd profession still deem Jianzhen as their patriarch and are still proud of the true Huainan bean curd. These bean products were introduced into Korea around that period, too. However, some Koreans do not think so.

Sahmyook Foods, a bean milk producer in South Korea, was found to have put such words on the package of their products: "Korean families have been making bean milk for centuries. Korea is the origin place of bean milk." When Chinese people showed discontent, the Koreans said that it was only for sales promotion, not academic.

To this, the Chinese could only react with humor: at the time when bean milk was invented, Korea was actually part of China, so they do have reasons to claim originality for bean milk!

The medals at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games are very special.

Usually, the medals are made of gold, silver and copper respectively. But this time in Beijing, they add something more to the medals -- something very Chinese, Yu (the more common but imprecise translation is "jade").

Yu stands for virtue in Chinese culture. In spite of this, such a combination of metal and Yu might still seem a little abrupt for Westerners. However, it look very natural for Chinese people for a number of reasons.

First, the round shape helps a lot. As a very important ceremonial item in ancient China, Yu was made into various shapes. The round shape was among of the most common ones. The perhaps most famous piece of Yu in China, He's Yu, was in such a round shape. Medals are also in a round shape, so they look so familiar for the Chinese.

Second, the combination of gold and Yu is quite common in Chinese culture. The old Imperial Seal of China was made of a piece of Yu inlaid with gold.

The gold, silver and bronze medals will carry the same design, with a finer white Yu in the gold medal, a slightly darker shade in the silver medal, and a green jade in the bronze medal.

Gold is precious. Yu is even more precious. It is a positive aggressiveness in a gentle way. If you win a medal at the Beijing Olympics, treasure it good.