Tag Archives: Taiwanese

凱瑞 : “Carry”

“Kǎi ruì”

Translation: “carry”

Background: Y is a 21-year-old college student from Taiwan who is navigating her new life in Los Angeles, California. Having grown up in and gone to school in Taiwan, she is incredibly familiar with Taiwanese culture and folklore. She attributes her familiarity with modern Taiwanese folk speech to her experience in the Taiwanese education system.

Context: Y remembers first hearing “凱瑞” from a classmate in high school. Y describes “凱瑞” as folk speech which describes someone who is carrying the whole team. It describes someone whose skill, personality, and preparation is so efficient that it compensates for the shortcomings of others. For example, when in a group project, if one student’s efforts outweigh and compensate for the incompetence of others, you can say that this exemplary student is very “凱瑞”. This example of folk speech is most commonly employed in the educational setting and used by the youth.

Analysis: As mentioned, this folk speech is used most commonly amongst the Taiwanese youth, specifically students. Y’s personal example of the group project demonstrates the common occurrence of loafers, slackers or idle workers that can create the need for a more skilled individual to contribute extra effort so that the whole group may meet certain expectations. The usage of “凱瑞” highlights how the person who carries the whole team is venerated for their noble act of stepping up to the challenge. In fact, the existence of such a phenomenon in Taiwan, the word referring to it and its relevance to other cultures (especially American schools) can possibly imply that the experience of a group project is despised in many academic spheres worldwide.

欲速則不達: “Want speed, then no achieving”

Yù sù zé bù dá

Translation: “Want speed, then no achieving”

Background: Y is a 21-year-old college student from Taiwan who is navigating her new life in Los Angeles, California. Having grown up in and gone to school in Taiwan, she is incredibly familiar with Taiwanese folklore and culture.

Context: Y recalls hearing this proverb from her parents, teachers, and coaches in Taiwan. She says it means if you try to accomplish something quickly, you can fail badly.

Analysis: This is a proverb that came from the Analects of Confucius. It means that working towards something at a fast and unreasonable pace will inevitably lead to failure. It suggests that taking your time and being wise with your decision-making will ultimately lead to success. The proverb demonstrates the central role and influence of Confucian philosophy in Taiwanese culture, as it serves to provide a focus on personal morality and wise attitudes toward life. The proverb also reflects the need for and importance of reaching some ultimate end goal. This proverb is similar to the proverbs: “Haste makes waste” and “Slow and steady wins the race”

Qing Ming Jie (Tomb-Sweeping Festival)

Context:

B is a 17 year old Taiwanese-American high school student who is from Northern California.

This happened online through a zoom call after I reached out to them about sharing any folklore that they may have. For more context, their grandfather had recently passed away and they had gone to visit his grave recently for the holiday described below. 

Text: 

B: The thing is just known as Qing Ming Jie, otherwise known as the Qing Ming Festival. And in English it kinda just means like… tomb sweeping day. And it’s a Chinese tradition, I’m Taiwanese but we hold a lot of the same traditions as China. But basically, during this festival or Qing Ming Jie, you clean your ancestor’s tombs. I think it’s pretty well known but like Asian cultures are very big on familiy and honor and like respecting the dead like especially your ancestors. So this is like a part of that and it’s basically like the most important thing for like, one of the most important things about honoring your an cestors. You clean their tombs and then like make offerings to them, like give them food typically. You can also, we don’t do this here because I’m not in Taiwan right now, but in American we do it in an easier way. But I know you can also, it’s kinda like also a festival, Qi Ming Festival-

Me: Yeah

B: So I know you can also fly like kites. I know flying kites is pretty popular. Americans don’t do that I realize. I thought Americans flew kites but they don’t.. Or at least not commonly. Basically you just eat food and honor the dead. It’s just very… respect.

Me: Do you guys like, because I know when I visited my Grandpa’s grave when I was in China, it wasn’t on Qing Ming Je, because it was just when I was visiting, but we like burnt the offerings? At least some of them.

B: Yeah. So like for us, you can visit the grave anytime, it doesn’t have to be on Qing Ming Jie, but everyone or most people do go on that specific day because it’s special. My mom goes every sunday or so, obviously because its her father so she goes to see him. But all of us went on Qing Ming Jie, to like honor the specific day. And for offerings, we burn the paper that we make. I don’t know if thats specific, I think it might be specifically buddhist.

Me: is it like, I know I burnt like paper money?

B: Yeah, paper money but we also like fold origami paper like.. You know how gold nugget dumpling things? Those are like specifically for the Buddha. I mean not just Buddha but also just money, currency whatever. But it’s a very specific paper that we have to buy that’s like a specific material thats like very thin and like in the middle has fake gold or fake silver. And we fold it into the shape, its really easily to fold, or at least for me because I’ve had to fold so many. But at the grave we just burn all of it so they can use it in the afterlife and stay rich. So we fold like a lot of many so our grandpa can spend to his liking.

Me: I remember burning the money because we bought it at like the graveyard place because they had a stand for it. But I think it’s also like in China they’re probably more likely to have it because more people are doing it.

B: Yeah over here, we don’t have that. On Qing Ming Jie specifically they had like Buddhist stands, they didn’t sell paper but they sell flowers. Which is fair because the place he was buried is not for Asians, it’s majority asians, but its just flowers being sold there. 

Reflection: 

Qing Ming Jie is a holiday that embodies the values of Chinese traditions of respecting your elders and honoring your ancestors who came before you. While the informat is Buddhist and therefore had specific traditions that tie their religion and the holiday together, these rituals that are conducted on Qing Ming Jie are a common practice in order to honor our ancestors who helped us. This also brings up how many Eastern cultures like China and Taiwan are primarily focused on the past because of its impact on the future and the present. While I have never explicitly celebrated Qing Ming Jie, it was interesting to see the connection between my experiences visiting my Grandfather’s grave in China and the informant visiting their grandfather’s grave for this particular holiday in the US. The festival is one that is celebrated in order to show respect for your ancestors by cleaning up the tomb leaving offerings that the person enjoyed in the living for them to enjoy in the afterlife. Paper money and incense are also often burned together in order to reach the heavens for the person to use in the afterlife. 

Meredith, Anne. “What Is Qingming Festival and How Is It Observed?: Tomb Sweeping Day.” CLI, Chinese Language Institute, 1 Apr. 2022, https://studycli.org/chinese-holidays/qingming-festival/.

Ghost Month

Description: A month dedicated to ghosts as they come to the land of the living and wander the streets. The ghosts would stay starting from the first day of the seventh month of the Lunar Calendar. During this time, people would leave food and other object offerings to the hungry ghosts.

Background: As the informant lived in Taiwan, the ghosts month traditions are commonly seen every year.

Transcript:

BL: So there is a month we do in Taiwan, it’s hard to miss. It’s called the month of ghosts or something like that. It’s the month when ghosts come out, so people have to leave stuff outside their house to give the ghosts. So you see stuff like food or clothes and stuff. Sometimes people would also put baby shoes outside. It kind of has a creepy vibe when it’s the middle of the night and there is all this stuff outside people’s doors.

Me: When is the month?

BL: It follows the Lunar calendar so it starts at around the first day of the seventh month. People also put incense and stuff like that too.

My thoughts:

The first thing I thought of were other holidays that celebrate the dead. Halloween and Dias de los Muertos come to mind. As the dead, such as ancestors and dead family members, are very prevalent throughout many Asian traditions, it isn’t shocking to see that Taiwan has an entire month dedicated to appeasing the ghosts. Personally, I hope that ghosts exist as it shows that we will have an afterlife. Though the food and offerings obviously don’t go to the ghosts, I think it is the thought that counts. It’s a tradition that makes people remember those who have passed away.

Yusheng

Description: It is the tossing of fish salad done during the New Years. People would circle around with chopsticks in hand. Then they would throw the salad as high as they are able, the higher meaning better fortune for the next year and having your wishes come true. The fish is the most important part due to the pun of the Chinese word for fish sounding like the word for abundance.

Background: It is something commonly done within her household. I was able to observe this ritual when we did it with a group of friends.

Procedure:

The salad is prepared with sauces, assorted vegetables and most importantly fish. The dish will then be presented on a table where people would gather. Each participant will be equipped with a pair of chopsticks. When the ritual begins, each participant will toss the contents as high as they can while saying their wishes. The duration of the ritual varies. At the end, the salad is consumed like a normal meal.

My thoughts:

In terms of cuisine, the salad is delicious. While the tossing does tend to make a mess, the sense of community and energy it brings is well worth it. There are many elements of this tradition that I believe are very neat. One thing is the origin of the tradition. It is mainly practiced by people who are ethnically Chinese living in Singapore or Malaysian. Most of the wordplay originated from the Chinese language, the fish signifying abundance is well known to any one who is Chinese. This tradition creates a branching and unique identity that separates itself from the traditions of the mainland and Taiwan. Food is commonly seen as something that brings people together; sharing food is often a bonding experience especially with home made cuisine. The community aspect is especially true for those in Malaysia, where ethnically Chinese people are part of the minority.