Chinese Culture

China has a long history. That we know China has a long history largely owes to the fact that China was abundant in historians. There were spare-time historians like Confucius, who was the editor of Spring and Autumn, a book that recorded the history of the period which was then named after the book. There were also "official" historians, who held positions in the government, their primary duty being recording the history.

As early as 3400 years ago, when the only written records we can get were inscriptions on oracle bones, there were records of specialized historian officials. There were officials responsible for recording important events of the state, ones for recording the speech and deeds of the king, and ones for recording all the official documents. The division of labor was careful and clear that almost everything of importance in history were recorded in details.

Historians were highly respected in traditional China. They had their own authority that even kings and vassals were afraid of them in a certain way. In 548 BC, Cui Zhu killed his king and called himself the prime minister. The historian official at that time faithfully wrote, "Cui Zhu killed his king." Cui Zhu hated this and forced the historian to change it. When the historian refused, Cui Zhu killed him. The successor of the historian wrote the same words, and he was killed, too. The same thing happened to the third historian. When the fourth historian still wrote the same sentence, Cui Zhu felt so powerless. He realized that he could not kill all the righteous historians.

True historians are like that. They insist on writing the truth in spite of tyranny and brutality threatening them. When time has passed and the past tyrants are dead, we know the true history and the respectable historians. Kings were afraid because their power could only control the present while historians could influence the future.

China's history is long and successive. In over three millenniums, the historical record has seldom had more than one day's interruption. China's historical records are massive and comprehensive. Apart from the history books edited by the historian officials, there are voluminous history books by other scholars. The Twenty-Four Chronicles has more than 45 million words while other historical writings are countless. China's historical books are reliable. They were written with a strong sense of mission and responsibility, and they are well supported by today's archaeological discoveries. Thanks to those good historians.

Owing to the adjacent geographic position and the frequent cultural communications between ancient China and Korea, the Koreans have no less understanding of traditional Chinese culture than the Chinese. In history, Korea used to call itself "the small China", if they were not "part of China" then.

The first recorded regime in Korea, Gija Joseon, was founded by a member of the royal family of the Shang Dynasty (about 17 century BC to 11 century BC) of China. When the Shang Dynasty was replaced by the Zhou Dynasty (1066 BC - 256 BC), many Chinese fled to the Korean peninsula. Later, Gija Joseon paid obeisance and tribute to the Zhou Dynasty, officially acknowledging China as its mother country.

At the beginning of the Han Dynasty (200 BC - 220 AD), another Chinese man went to the Korean peninsula and took the place of the former king. His regime is called Wiman Joseon. This regime did last long. In 100 BC, the Chinese emperor of Han sent troops to Korea and ended the Wiman Joseon. Afterwards, the area was ruled by counties, in the same way as that in China proper.

The Han Dynasty was a glorious era in Chinese history. It was powerful in all aspects. Besides, it lasted for so long that it actually set up the foundation the Chinese nation. Even in today, the majority of Chinese people still call themselves the Han nationality. Taking into account this and the fact that Korea was part of China during this magnificent period, we can sense how important the influence China had upon Korea.

For the time afterward, China was often in the state of fission. As China was not united itself, Korea gradually became more independent. Thus said, Korea still paid tribute to the central government of China for most of the time. Korea was also protected by China. For example, when Japan invaded Korea in the 16th century, Korea turned to China, who was in the Ming Dynasty (1368 AD - 1683 AD), for help. After China defeated Japan for Korea, Korea was so grateful that two centuries after Ming was replaced by the Qing Dynasty, they still deemed Ming to be the true lord.

Korea was so close to China that almost every aspect of its culture has China's impact. Besides, it has been a bridge between China and Japan. As China has been on the wane in the modern times, both Korea and Japan have tried to remove China's brand. Korea seems to have gone to the extreme to claim originality for many Chinese cultural heritages, which has caused discontent in both China and Japan. The history and culture of these Asian countries are intervened. It might be better for all if they can face it.

UEFA Euro 2008 is going to open. Exciting time! By the way, I support the Germans.

As FIFA has acknowledged that the earliest form of football originated in China, let's see what football in ancient China was like.

In old China, the game was called "Cu Ju", while "Cu" means kick and "Ju" means a ball made of leather. At first, the ball-kicking game was a method of military training. Later, it gradually became a popular sport for ordinary people.

It was curious that the early form of Chinese ancient Cu Ju was very similar to the modern football, but as it developed, it went on a different way. In the Han Dynasty (200 BC - 220 AD), a two-team match was the major form of Cu Ju game. The match was held on a special playground surrounded with short fences. Each of the two teams had a goal and twelve players on the field. The team that got more goals in a given time was the winner.

In the Tang Dynasty (618 AD -907 AD), there were still two teams competing on the field, but there was only one goal in the middle of the field now. The goal was about 20 feet high, with a hole two feet wide in the upper part of it. Which team kicked more balls cross the hole would win the game.

Playing with the ball with no fixed goal or field or team has always been valuable supplement to the game. However, it gradually became the major form of Cu Ju in China after the Yuan Dynasty (1271 AD - 1368 AD). The intense competitive match slowly faded out of scene while the ballet-performance-like form took the upper hand little by little. By that time, the players were mainly young women dressed in gorgeous gowns. There were many special patterns in ball-playing and all of the patterns had beautiful names. The game had developed into more an entertainment than a sport.

Painter: Du Dong in the Ming Dynasty (1368 AD - 1683 AD).

The first enthusiastic fan of football in the world
Xiang Chu in the Han Dynasty (202 BC - 220 AD) was ill. The doctor told him not to get too tired. However, Xiang Chu was so enthusiastic about football that he went out to play football in spite of the doctor's advice. In the end, he died of blooding omitting.

The first aerated football in the world
In the Tang Dynasty (618 AD -907 AD), the Chinese managed to make better footballs. They used eight pieces of leather instead of the previous two pieces to sew the ball, thus making it more round in shape. Besides, instead of putting feathers in the ball, they used an animal's bladder and aerated it. Such a ball was much lighter than before, so there was more room to develop new skills and ways of playing.

The first football star in the world
Gao Qiu in the Song Dynasty (960 AD - 1297 AD) was famous for his football skills. In fact, his name, Qiu, means "ball" in Chinese, so there is a justifiable doubt that Qiu was actually not his original name, but his nickname. Gao Qiu was so good at football that even the emperor was attracted. With the emperor of favor, Gao Qiu eventually became the prime minister of China.

The first football club in the world
Again in the Song Dynasty (960 AD - 1297 AD), the football players formed their own union, called "With Cloud Society" (meaning they could kick the ball as high as the clouds) or "The Round Society" (because the ball was round in shape). The aim of the union was to organize football tournaments and increase the publicity and promotion of the game.

China has a vast land with various climatic and geographical conditions. It is inevitable that natural calamities occur from time to time in Chinese history. But the natural calamities are not the worst thing--man-made disasters are more dreadful.

If you do not understand what I mean, consider what if these happen in calamity-stricken areas: the price of food and water is 50 times higher than usual; no journalist is allowed except the "official" ones; no leak of information on any possible aftershocks; officials are busy having meetings at a faraway safe place, remotely controlling the rescue work; people from all over the world donate to help, but nobody knows how the funds are used.

I am not saying this is the current situation in China. What I am saying is that in traditional China, people were very clear about the relationship between natural calamities and man-made disasters. In uneventful times, government should do as little to intervene common people's life as possible, while in time of urgency, government should mobilize immediately to help victims. No action, or action in improper time and improper way, would lead to terrible tragedies. If this is the case, it would be passing the buck to still call it a natural calamity, as the loss is rather man-made.

In traditional China, if natural calamities occur too frequently, the emperor would announce an "Imperial Edict of Self-Accusation", blaming himself for not reigning the country properly. As for people that suffered from the calamities, the Imperial Edict of Self-Accusation would make them feel better. It also showed the emperor's will to do his best. Consider, the emperor, who seems to have supreme secular power in his country in today's people's eyes, announced an edict to reproach himself. This was a big deal.

In traditional China, the emperor was restricted in many ways. This Imperial Edict of Self-Accusation could be a useful way, too. For example, in 944, the Huazhou area (in central China) was severely flooded. Many men were sent to rebuild the dike. After that, the emperor at that time wanted to build a monument to celebrate the "victory" over the flood. Irony as it may sound, this actually happens quite often in today's China. However, the emperor 1000 years ago was stopped by one of his ministers. He said, "The people are suffering. There is nothing to celebrate. On the contrary, your majesty should announce an Imperial Edict of Self-Accusation to appease people." The emperor followed his admonishment. Will the leadership in China today ever take such an advice? I doubt it.

In the Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD) of China, earthquakes took place quite frequently. According to historical records, there were 26 large earthquakes between the year 92 and 125. In order to better detect earthquakes, Zhang Heng, a great scientist in ancient China, invented the world's first seismograph in 132 AD.

According to historical records, Zhang's seismograph was made of copper in the shape of a wine-jar. Inside the device was the core mechanism part. Eight Chinese Long (dragon) surrounded it in the eight directions: east, south, west, north, southeast, northeast, southwest and northwest. Eight toads acted as the support of the device. There was a copper ball in every of the eight Chinese Long's mouth. If an earthquake took place somewhere, the Chinese Long in that direction would open its mouth and drop the ball, which would fall into the mouth of the toad under it, making a loud noise to notify people.

After the making of Zhang's seismograph, there was no earthquake for two years. In the year 134, the mechanism of the seismograph suddenly launched and a ball was dropped into the toad's mouth. However, the people there could not feel or find anything signifying an earthquake, so they began to doubt that the machine is not precise. Several days later, a messenger from a thousand miles away arrived, reporting that there was indeed an earthquake at that time. Thus, successfully detecting the earthquake happening a thousand miles away, Zhang's seismograph proved its accuracy and sensitivity.

After the time of Zhang Heng, a few scholars wrote about the mechanism and application of the seismograph, together with its schematic diagram. However, their writings were all lost after the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907). Today's researchers have to speculate about the mechanism. Among the many hypotheses about Zhang's seismograph, two are the most popular. One was raised by Wang Zhenduo in 1951, the other by Feng Rui in 2005. [reference (in Chinese)]

Why can Zhang's seismograph detect earthquakes? Modern science has explanations. The earth has two kinds of vibration, seismic wave and the non-seismic wave. The non-seismic waves are usually longitudinal while the seismic waves are usually full of transversal energy. Some devices, such as a pendant lamp, have little reaction to longitudinal waves but are very sensitive to transversal waves. So, observing the pendant lamp is a very handy and reliable way to detect earthquakes. According to researchers, this probably is the basic mechanism used in Zhang's seismograph.

Though Zhao State managed to keep He's Yu (the historically famous piece of jade) for a while, it could not stop Qin's trend of becoming stronger and stronger. Qin finally defeated all the other states and united the whole China. Naturally, it got the precious Yu at last.

No longer content with being called the king, the king of Qin began to call himself emperor. He ordered have an Imperial Seal of China carved out of the He's Yu, which later became the symbol of the throne.

The Qin Dynasty did not last long. It was overthrown only a few decades after its foundation. When the Han Dynasty was established, the Imperial Seal was also passed on. About two centuries later, when a usurper threatened the empress mother and the infant emperor to hand out the Imperial Seal, the empress mother threw the Seal at the usurper, hurting his forehead as well as breaking a corner of the Seal. After the usurper was beaten down, the Seal was mended, the lost corner patched with gold. From then on, it was known as the "Gold Embedded Yu Seal".

When the Han Empire was broken up in the 3rd century, the royal family threw the Imperial Seal into a well in the palace to keep others from finding it. However, if was found without much difficulty. Vassals fought for the Seal. Everyone that got it thought he could be the emperor.
The fought continued along with Chinese history. At the ending of dynasties, the Imperial Seal was often endangered. Nevertheless, it would somehow reappear in the new dynasties. Some people believe that the so-called Imperial Seal appearing in the later dynasties were fake. Today, the Seal that is said to be the one made out of the He's Yu is kept in the Taiwan Island of China.

After the discovery of He's Yu (a precious jade as commonly translated), it had been untracked in history for several centuries until its sudden reappearance in the Zhao State during the Warring States Period (475 BC - 221 BC).

Among the warring states, Qin State was the most powerful one. Having heard of the famous Yu, the king of Qin sent a message to Zhao State, saying that he would like to give Zhao 15 cities in exchange for the Yu. The king and ministers of Zhao feared that Qin was hoaxing: if they gave Qin the Yu, Qin would not give them the cities; if they refused to give the Yu, Qin would get angry and attach them.

At this time of dilemma, a minister came out and proposed that Lin Xiangru, one of his retainers, was able to do this job. After Lin was summoned to the court, he told the king of Zhao, "Qin is stronger than us, so we cannot refuse. If we refuse to trade, it is our fault. If we give Qin the Yu and it does not give us the cities, it is their fault. We'd rather leave the fault on their side." He then promised, "I can bring the Yu to Qin. If they do not give us the cities, I'll make sure that the Yu is back to Zhao intact." The king of Zhao approved.

When Lin arrived in Qin and showed the Yu on Qin's court, the king of Qin was very much pleased. The king played with the Yu and showed it to the belles and courtiers around him, who all sang high praise to him, paying no attention to the Zhao's messenger at all. Knowing that the king had no intention to give Zhao the cities as he had promised, Lin said, "There is a flaw on the Yu, and I can show you where."

After the king handed the Yu back, Lin moved towards a column and held the Yu high, saying, "Such a great state like Qin must have credibility. I see your majesty do not  have the intent to fulfill your promise about the 15 cities, so I take the Yu back. If your majesty must urge me, I shall crash the Yu and myself to the column, breaking both of us."

Fearing that Lin break the Yu, the king of Qin insincerely agreed to give Zhao the 15 cities. He even summoned the officials in charge and showed Lin the map of the cities. Lin knew that this was just another scam, so he said, "The He's Yu is extremely valuable. The king of Zhao held a big ceremony when I took it here. Your majesty should hold a big ceremony too."

The king of Qin knew that he could not just grab the Yu, so he agreed to hold a big ceremony five days later. Lin took the time and had men secretly carry the Yu back to Zhao.

After the five days, Lin was called in to the palace of Qin. He told the king of Qin, "I was afraid of being deceived, so I sent the Yu back to Zhao. As Qin is much more powerful than Zhao, Zhao dare not refuse your majesty's request. If your majesty give Zhao the 15 cities first, Zhao is sure to send the Yu here. As for my guilt, I plea for the death penalty now."

The courtiers were angry and wished to kill Lin, but the king of Qin said to them, "We cannot get the Yu even if we kill him now. It only worsens our relationship with Zhao." So he treated Lin with good manners and let him go back to Zhao.

After his return, Lin was well rewarded by the king of Zhao. In the end of the story, Qin did not give Zhao the 15 cities, so Zhao did not give Qin the Yu either. However, centuries later, the He's Yu fell into the hands of Qin after all, but that is another story.

Sega, one of the top internationally recognized gaming brand, has begun the testing in China mainland its new online game about Chinese history, entitled "Saga of the Three Kingdoms".

Sega and other Japanese gaming companies, such as KOEI, have produced many games based on Chinese history, which reflects China's cultural influence on Japan. The Three Kingdoms Period (220 - 280) is one of their favorite subjects.

There are lots of tales about the Three Kingdoms Period. The heroes and warlords of that time all have unique personalities in Chinese folklore. It is an amazing phenomena that a historical period, especially one so remote as two thousand years ago, is narrated in such details and thoroughness.

In the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644), a book was published entitled "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", which later got regarded as one the four greatest novels in traditional China. Besides its literary value, the book also provides many vivid examples of war fighting, so to some extent it became a textbook for the art of war. There are stories about famous historical figures who had not been educated or trained in warfare, who used "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" as guideline and finally won the victory.

The Three Kingdoms heroes have always lived in pop culture. In the past they thrived in folklore, while in modern times they revive in digital gaming. Nonetheless, the games are not entirely faithful to the history, but they have indeed done a great job in spreading historical and geographical knowledge.

Based on a popular street game, the new Sega online game claims to have combined the features of competitive e-sport and real time strategy (RTS). The controls of the game is said to be totally new and unique. Besides, it is reported that many famous painters in China and Japan have been invited to draw portraits of the heroes. In short, this game looks worth a try.

Knowing that "jade" is a mistranslation of Yu in Chinese, let us hear the story of the most famous piece of Yu in Chinese history.

In the Spring and Autumn Period (770 BC - 476 BC), a man named Bian He found a precious stone in the mountains. He believed that there was Yu in the stone, so he presented the stone to the king in loyalty. 

The king had the stone examined, and got the report that it was but a mere piece of stone. He was infuriated for being fooled, so he ordered to have Bian He's left foot chopped off.

Years later, the king died and a new king succeeded. Bian He came with his unpolished Yu again. Again it was considered mere stone. This time he got his right foot chopped off.

When this king died and the third king succeeded, Bian He went to the foot of the mountains and wept for three successive days and nights, holding the unpolished Yu in his arms, until his eyes began to bleed.

The third king, previously unaware of Bian He, heard of this weeping man. He sent men to ask him, "Why are you so sad?"

Bian He answered, "I'm not sad because I lost my feet. I'm sad because a precious Yu is considered stone, a loyal man is considered a liar."

The king had craftsmen cut open the stone. Inside was indeed a flawless piece of Yu. Everyone gasped in admiration at its beauty.

To memorize Bian He, the piece of Yu was named after him. And that was only the beginning of the story of this famous He's Yu.

This is a heavy subject. China has a long history of more than four thousand years. It survives till today, not like other ancient civilizations that have been extinct, such as the ancient Egypt and the ancient Babylon. But this does not mean it has never faced setbacks. In fact, Chinese culture has suffered severe crisis, and in my opinion, it is not over yet.

China reached a level of civilization in the Yellow Emperor Period. It developed for thousands of years and in the Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD) achieved a high level of prosperity. The country and its people were consolidated and from then the Chinese began to be known as the Han.

For the millennium following, despite of dynasty changes, the Han was the absolute majority of China. Actually Han and China were synonyms in many cases. However there were other ethnical groups on the border of China, posing threat.

The tragedy finally happened in the thirteenth century. The Mongols rose into a shockingly high status. They conquered and destroyed many countries and civilizations across the Eurasia continent, China sadly included. Nomadic as the Mongols were, they ruled the conquered areas by imitating their original local regimes. Thus, they built a Yuan Dynasty in China, but they never felt they were part of the Chinese. For fear of people's resistance, they commanded that people were prohibited to have weapons. Ten household could only share a small knife to prepare food. They had the will to kill all Han people, but there were too many, and they needed people to work for them, so they planned to slaughter the Han from the five biggest family names. Their ruling was so ghastly that they were overthrown within decades.

The Han rose up and drove the Mongols back to the northern border, founding the Ming Dynasty. It was a period of prosperity and liveliness. Yet in the seventeenth century, tragedy happened again.

Because severe natural calamities lasted in northern China for tens of years, the Ming government ran out of funds to help the victims, who then fled around forming roving bandits, which finally led to the collapse of the government. The Manchu in the northeast China caught this chance and drove into Peking, building the Qing Dynasty.

The Manchu forced the Han people to change their traditional clothing and hairstyle into that of the Manchu style. Those that dared to disobey were beheaded. However, the Manchu learned a lesson from the Mongols, since they pretended to be disciples of Chinese culture. Only the "Chinese culture" was defined by them. Chinese people were only allowed to study the "Chinese culture" as the Manchu defined it. Anyone that dared to think about the true Chinese culture would have themselves and their family members killed and their writings eradicated.

This distortion of Chinese culture was even more detrimental than prohibition. If people were disallowed to study Chinese culture, they would resist hard and preserve the true Chinese culture. But since the Manchu "let" people study Chinese culture, there seemed to be no reason to resist. Then people were taught what the Manchu rulers wanted them to know, and they still took it as "Chinese culture". Only the name remained while the real thing was changed. The harm was done, but Chinese people did not know it.

In the twentieth century, as the whole world was changing, Chinese people overthrew the Manchu ruling and began the process of modernization. They hated the Qing Dynasty that led China into darkness and backwardness. So did they hate the "Chinese culture" used by the Manchu rulers. Only they did not know it was not the true Chinese culture.

That was probably the darkest page in the history of Chinese civilization, when its own people hated its own culture.

In today's China, people have begun to rethink about the Chinese culture, but there are still lots of misunderstandings and contradictions. The true Chinese Han culture is considered obsolete while the Manchurized culture is taken as conventional.

Will China have its Renaissance?