Author Archives: chandiya@usc.edu

THREE KINGDOMS

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 22
Occupation: Musician
Residence: California
Performance Date: 4-23-2018
Primary Language: English
Language: Chinese

THE THREE KINGDOMS

 

Main Piece:

 

Everywhere. Even before learning about it in class it’s in video games, TV series – there’s a TV series about it new every year, every 4 years a new movie about it, all over Asia, Japan, Korea, etc.

 

Romance of the Three Kingdoms – embellished story of true events that happened way back when China was warring states. This is the coolest story of China’s cyclical warring period. Very epic and a romance, and brotherhood, and betrayal, poor person becomes king.

 

Very exciting story, that’s why everyone likes it, much like Game of Thrones.

 

Background Information:

Why do they know this piece?

Used to play a game called Dynasty Warriors – you choose a kingdom to represent and you go through the storyline. You fight as these warriors and these characters are copied from the novels, their mannerisms, personalities, etc., very popular because they have very defining characteristics – such as the brute, the cunning spy, etc.

 

Later learned about the story in high school – everyone has to learn it in China – in excerpts – examples of the Three Kingdoms are used in everything, much like Confucious.

 

Where/Who did they learn it from?

School / Video Games / everywhere in the culture.

 

What does it mean for them?

Makes him very proud to be Chinese because it is a very badass story and very inspiring, so much cool things happened, and the decisions and courses of actions are all still accurate and reflect the emotions of the characters….overall very inspiring and just a damn good epic.

 

Context of Performance:

Sitting inside friend’s room just talking.

 

Thoughts:

 

Similar like the Chinese folklore of the Monkey King, I also learned about the Three Kingdoms from a video game – although it took me a very long time (probably more than 8 or 10 years) to realize that there is actually a history, a real history to the game – that all of this is based on a very real historical account of what actually happened in the past.

 

Again, it is interesting to see how even at childhood, we can have indirect contact with folklore through say, video games (which are based on on the cultural need to pass down folklore/culture, but from a more monetary need to sell/an intent based more on capitalism or the market system), which can lead to kids like me playing these games and getting into the folklore but in a vacuum like setting…I didn’t learn more about this and it’s real-ness until the internet where I had the freedom to research it for myself.

Also you can find another version/annotation here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Kingdoms

21 HISTORIES

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 22
Occupation: Musician
Residence: California
Performance Date: 4-23-2018
Primary Language: English
Language: Chinese

21 HISTORIES

 

Main Piece:

 

Boring thing he had to learn in middle school – compilation of stories, events, almost like an almanac, these scholars go write in 100 years what happened – this person becomes king, this land goes to who, this person gets exiled, facts and facts.

 

Section such as farming, war, royalty – these sections in 100 year sections – detailed accounts of the things that happened in these 100 year periods.

 

Usually in each section there’s categories such as strange events/phenomenon – there’s crazy shit in there ex: on this day/time the fire was freezing cold / I saw the geese flying backwards / I saw dragons creeping in the woods.

 

21 chapters goes through time periods

 

Each emperor has a person who just takes cares of his hats / crowns / and another that just takes care of his concubines…etc.

 

Background Information:

Why do they know this piece?

Had to learn it as part of the curriculum.

 

Where/Who did they learn it from?

School

 

What does it mean for them?

Makes him learn the differences of royalty between the East and the West. Again, part of his identity of being Chinese/Chinese history, things that are particularly/uniquely Chinese: emperor not treated as human – as a God/force of nature, can’t even criticize them

 

 

Context of Performance:

Sitting inside friend’s room just talking.

 

Thoughts:

 

As a Chinese Indonesian born and raised in Surabaya, Indonesia until I was six, it was interesting that I was not subject to the same kind of rigid curriculum (nearing propaganda) as my friend had received in China.

 

Perhaps this is one of the reasons why my identity as an Indonesian (I am Chinese by blood but we live in Indonesia at the time), my identity as an Indonesian isn’t that strong to say, my friend’s identity as Chinese.

JUNGLES OF CAMBODIA

Nationality: Cambodian
Age: 22
Occupation: Barista
Residence: California
Performance Date: 4-24-2018
Primary Language: English
Language: Cambodian

JUNGLES OF CAMBODIA

 

Main Piece:

 

While I was at work I went on REDDIT to learn more about ghost stories I could find about Cambodia. I found one story on reddit from someone’s great grandparents a story about how one must never one must be extremely careful before establishing, going forth into the jungle, or hunting in the jungle.

 

There was one story where one traveler visited a town and asked the leader for guidance into the jungle. The leader was hesitant but eventually they both went into the jungle armed. the leader had told the traveler of the dangers and the things he must be very careful of doing such as talking to the animals. the traveler laughed and took no regard to this and one day attempted to speak to the animals. the next day he went missing.

 

the leader knew what had happened to him and fled back to town.

 

my thoughts behind this story is that these animals are of no ordinary animals but they are perhaps possessed by spirits or demons of the jungle.

 

these stories are somewhat similar to some of the things my father said about the jungles (father lived in Cambodia as a farmer/villager in his youth)

 

Background Information:

Why do they know this piece?

From reading a post on reddit – interest in learning about ghost stories found online through Cambodian ancestors.

 

Where/Who did they learn it from?

Reddit – a post made by a Cambodian male. (but this story also resonated/aligned with what the subject’s father told her when she was young – the father was a villager/farmer in Cambodia during her youth).

 

What does it mean for them?

Coming from a Christian family who had no interest in telling me stories such as these it means a lot learning about real stories coming from ancestors who believe in the spiritual world. It also teaches me about what life was like in the jungles of Cambodia and how farmers like my ancestors survived.

 

Context of Performance:

Sitting inside friend’s room talking.

 

Thoughts:

Here it is interesting yet again that in the modern 21st century, people can learn about their ethnic/cultural folklore (that may be lost through sequences of immigration, naturalization, or assimilation) through mediums outside their family, such as the internet (Cambodian folklore part of Reddit).

 

Although I am aware that such accounts gotten from the internet, such as Reddit, may not be the most accurate, I do stand by this account because she (the subject) told me how this story was very similar to those that she was told by her father a long time ago when she was much younger.

BABY BEACH GHOSTS

Nationality: Indonesian
Age: 48
Occupation: Shopkeeper
Residence: California
Performance Date: 4-24-2018
Language: Indonesian Primary / English Secondnary

BABY BEACH GHOSTS

 

Main Piece:

 

Indonesia is a land and island with a lot of spirits. You must be careful whenever you are leaving out at night.

 

My mother used to tell me that there are ghosts of babies, or what look like babies, that crawl out of the ocean and night in the beaches.

 

Background Information:

Why do they know this piece?

This is something that my mother told me/warned me about.

 

Where/Who did they learn it from?

From my mother.

 

What does it mean for them?

It is a very spooky story. Because of this story I don’t like going out at night even if my friends asked me to. Especially to the beaches because I heard other people (friends, family) seeing these baby ghosts crawling on the beach multiple times.

 

Context of Performance:

Talking to mother through the phone.

 

Thoughts:

This is very creepy and although I never seen it during my time in Indonesia, when I did come back to Indonesia for the first time since I left, I did feel a lot of spiritual presence there, especially during the night/midnight of the new year.

 

DON’T PEE IN NATURE WHILE IN BALI…YOU CAN PEE ON A SHRINE AND HAVE A CURSE ON YOUR GENITALS

Nationality: Indonesian
Age: 48
Occupation: Shopkeeper
Residence: California
Performance Date: 4-24-2018
Language: Indonesian Primary / English Secondnary

DON’T PEE IN NATURE WHILE IN BALI…YOU CAN PEE ON A SHRINE AND HAVE A CURSE ON YOUR GENITALS

 

Main Piece: (rough English translation)

 

There are a lot of shrines here in the jungles/wild/forests/beaches of Bali. Sometimes you do not know whether or not a place is sacred and there are a lot of tourists or people even (natives) who would just go to a bush and pee there – but then they would pee on a sacred space, like a shrine or part of a temple and then spirits of that temple/shrine would get very mad and curse them – their genitals.

 

Their genitals (penises) would get very swollen (in a very bad way), like purple or blue, for a very long time, until they would go to a witch doctor/shaman, and do what’s necessary for them to heal.

 

Background Information:

Why do they know this piece?

It is important to know things like this when you are going through the jungle/forests/beaches/the wild because it is important to protect yourself from bad situations like this.

 

Where/Who did they learn it from?

Friends, family accounts of tourists, taxi drivers.

 

What does it mean for them?

Do not go around peeing anywhere/everywhere when you are in the jungle.

 

Context of Performance:

Talking to mother through the phone.

 

Thoughts:

My mother told me this when I was in Bali and I did not pee anywhere in the wild just to be safe. Always used a bathroom.