Author Archives: Jeff Hsu

Basketball Team

Informant EL went to the same high school as me and now currently goes to UC Berkeley. However, because he is interning in LA, he is taking classes at USC this semester to satisfy credits. While we were out eating dinner we began reminiscing about high school when I realized that our school had a lot of traditions and myths, so I asked him to tell me in his own words some of the stories of our school.

EL: “I don’t know.. does hazing count?”

Yeah it does

EL: “Okay I’ll tell you about the hazing we did in our high school basketball team then. We do a lot of small hazing things that aren’t that big of a deal but the worst one was one time when all the older people and the coaches were in on it together. We had to run basically suicides, except instead of running the long way we run the short way, from left side of the court to the right side then back. The coach told us, all the people that had just made the team, that we need to run 20 suicides in under 1 minute. If we don’t make it in time, we would have to redo it with one less suicide every time. Basically if you don’t make 20, the next time you have to hit 19, and then 18 and so on. Obviously, hitting 20 in a minute was impossible and I remember so clearly everyone was protesting ESPECIALLY the older guys. Little did I know… So then we started the run and after the first run, no one made it, but all the older guys claimed to have made it so they sit out. Meanwhile, us the people that had just made the team just kept running and running. I ended up not making it until it was 14 in under 1 minute, because by the second or third time you’re so exhausted. But yeah, after we finished the suicide running the coaches grouped us up and then told us what was going on. I’ve never been that pissed at sports in my life.”

Thoughts: I’ve never known that our basketball team had a hazing ritual considering I have been on other sport teams and have never been hazed before. I thought it was really interesting that their hazing seemed to have no reason except to torture their near teammates, because usually there is a point to hazing, such as mental toughness or team building, but I guess sometimes hazing is just pointless like that.

The 12 Zodiac Signs

Informant KY is my aunt who was born and raised in Shanghai, and came to the states when she was in her late 20s.

KY: “I kind of don’t remember why they animals race. I think its because God wanted 12 guards or something, so the animals raced. The rat and the ox were the earliest to wake up so they raced. Eventually they came across a river that the rat couldn’t cross, so he jumped on the ox’s back. Once on the other side, the rat ran and got first place while the ox got second. Next came the tiger and rabbit cuz they were the fastest and most athletic. Following them in 5th place was the dragon. God saw dragon and was like damn you’re good looking your son can get 6th place. However, dragon’s son didn’t come and just then the snake shows up and says ‘I’m the dragon’s son’, making snake 6th place. Then came the horse and the goat, who were both really kind, so God ranked them 7th and 8th respectively. Eventually, the others, monkey, chicken, dog, and pig, came.”

The 12 zodiacs is a story that I had learned growing up and is present in my life a lot. Since one animal is represented each year in a cycle, your spirit animal is the animal of the year; mine is the ox. Often times my parents would ask people they just meet what their zodiac sign is to get a feel of the person. If they have the same zodiac sign people often bond over it. Zodiac sign also represents personality traits and love connections in Chinese culture. Zodiac signs are a really important part of Chinese culture and many other Asian cultures which is why it is very important to know where they came from.

 

守株待兔

Informant KY is my aunt who was born and raised in Shanghai, and came to the states when she was in her late 20s.

Original：守株待兔

Phonetic：shou zhu dai tu

Translation: guard tree and wait for rabbit

How did the story go again?

KY: “Basically, the story behind this proverb is a guy, who always wanted become really rich and successful but was really lazy, was walking around in the woods one day. Then this rabbit jumps out of nowhere and runs into a tree killing itself. The guy quickly grabs the dead rabbit, goes home, and eats the best meal he’s ever had in his life. So he thinks ‘wait why don’t I just wait at the tree every day since rabbits will just kill themselves, its free food!’. So the next day this guy goes to the tree and waits for another rabbit to kill itself. Obviously there was no rabbit, but the guy keeps waiting day after day until eventually he dies. The meaning of this proverb is that even though sometimes we get lucky, we can’t expect the same thing to happen all the time or else we will end up failing.”

Even though the story behind this proverb is ridiculous, it makes a lot of sense. There are a lot of times where people get lucky and expect it to happen to them all the times and just wait for things to fall on their lap. Unfortunately, thats not how life works and we need to go out and be proactive to get the things in life that we want.

For another version of this story see: Chinese Proverb Stories: A Simplified Version of Ancient Chinese Stories with English for American Secondary School Students by HongChen Wang

Zongzi (sticky rice dumplings)

Informant KY is my aunt who was born and raised in Shanghai, and came to the states when she was in her late 20s.

KY: “a long time ago there was this dude, forgot his name, who was a war hero and a sick poet. He was loved by everyone and eventually became the emperor’s right hand man. The Emperor trusted him and listened to all of his advice. However, there began a rumor that this dude was a traitor and selling secrets to other nations, and the Emperor started believing this rumor. The guy was kicked outta nation and he just hung out on his own for a few years. Eventually he hears news that his nation has been invaded and defeated. The guy was so sad, because he really loved his country, he took a rock and drowned himself. People felt bad for him so they made these zongzi for his spirit and threw it in the river that he drowned himself in. One day as these people were throwing the zongzi the guy’s ghost floats up and was like ‘guys, the fish are eating all the food and I don’t get any’. So the people went home, put the zongzi in bamboo baskets and threw them into the river”

wait i thought they threw the rice because then the fish would eat the rice and not each the guy’s corpse

KY: “I don’t know man, thats what I remember…”

Thoughts: To me, this is a very familiar because zongzi is a large part of Chinese cuisine and culture, and I’ve heard of this story from my parents and my teachers too. Zongzi is traditionally eaten during the Dragon Boat Festival, which shows that it is a big part of Chinese culture. Anyways, this story just reminds me of when I was a kid and I would listen to my mandarin teacher tell us all these stories about why we eat different things during different Chinese festivals, and also reminds me of how much I miss home.

For another version of this story see: https://artifactsjournal.missouri.edu/2014/03/the-legend-behind-zongzi/ by Xiao Fan

Macbeth

Informant AN is a student at USC in the cinema arts school, so she knows a lot of cinema traditions.

AN: “This one is pretty common you’ve probably heard it but Actors can’t say Macbeth and instead refer to the play as the Scottish Play. This is because they believe that the first lines of Macbeth where the three witches are chanting their spell, is an actual spell and that if you say Macbeth you’ll have bad luck. Maybe your tv show won’t get picked up, or something bad will happen to you on set or something, but basically saying the word Macbeth is taboo.

Thoughts: I’ve heard of this before and it makes sense that if something was to be taboo in the cinema world it would be Macbeth since that play is gory and spoiler alert but everyone dies in the end. I feel like every culture has something like this where doing something or saying something is taboo. However, my only question is how often to actors talk about Macbeth to be able to cause enough accidents to make future actors believe that saying Macbeth brings bad luck?