The Water King (Yu the Great)

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: He goes to school here at USC in LA but is from Shanghai.
Performance Date: April 23, 2016
Primary Language: English
Language: Chinese

Description: “Also, it’s in ancient china actually there’s floods. Like overflowing areas. Like the river is filled with like water like and what is spilled over everywhere and there’s a kind of like very kind king who is also skilled at like water engineering and he maybe he studied how to maybe to conduct water so he used his he spent ten years dealing with this problem and finally he succeed like. And he’s like he’s made a legend people person by the after that. Yeah so he engineered to stop floods like.”

2. Great Yu is a character who’s full capabilities may or may not be actually true but we do have a good guess at the validity of his existence. Most believe that he’s true even if some of the stories have been embellished. There are more practical accounts as well.

3.  I walked into his room and asked him if he could tell me some folklore. This was one of the first accounts he told me. This must mean that it’s pretty well renown in Chinese culture.

4. This performance says a lot on the culture and history of China and the minds of the people that live there. Because of the flood, no matter how large it actually was, they obviously really respect the power of water. Historically, the Chinese people have had a knack for engineering. They’ve always honored and respected occupations like that. Because of this, it’s understandable that they would create a god like figure out of him.

Chinese Weddings

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: He goes to school here at USC in LA but is from Shanghai.
Performance Date: April 23, 2016
Primary Language: English
Language: Chinese

“There were many Chinese girls that didn’t have sex before the wedding and on the wedding night old people like men and superior persons in the family put like a kind of like close in like a white close in on the back and so for the woman’s first time there’s some kind of bloody thing on the cloth and you know and some people make it like the handkerchief so it has that nice red thing on the clothing. This clothing is made like a handkerchief thing so it stains. It’s very popular in asian culture. It’s a long time ago. They don’t do that today. Very Asian thing.”

2. My friend achieved this knowledge just by growing up in the culture. He doesn’t remember anyone really telling him anything. He did say that he hasn’t been to a wedding like this because no one really does it like this anymore.

3. The context of this story is my friend’s dorm room. I practically just walked in and asked him if he could let me record him saying some folklore. This piece was mentioned when I asked him to divert from tales and go into traditions a little bit more.

4. He tended to believe that this was generalized to the Chinese people. However, I’ve recognized that this practice, although with multiplicity and variation, throughout the entirety of the globe. For example, I know that in ancient Hebrew culture wedding ceremonies were quite similar. They would consummate the marriage at the wedding and toss a bloody rag over a curtain. These practices have obviously evolved over time and the view of sex has as well. Because of this, the Chinese practices have changed, but according to my friend, the Chinese still value waiting for marriage to have sex very highly. In that sense, these old customs still influence the current day.

The Monkey King

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: He goes to school here at USC in LA but is from Shanghai.
Performance Date: April 23, 2016
Primary Language: English
Language: Chinese

Description: “There’s a very like kung fu king like he’s called like Monkey King. He’s either a monkey but he’s also very skillful at Kung Fu but he’s so naughty like. He didn’t want to become a servant of the like in the most superior king in the paradise so he did some war against the king of the paradise. But he didn’t manage to do so and he was put into the prison in the paradise. He suffered lots of things but he finally redempted like he proved that he was a very valuable person through sufferings. He was able to get out by reproving himself. He made some achievements or the lost of the paradise because he did some loss to the paradise.”

2. My informant told me that this is a story typically told to children. He heard it growing up and will eventually tell his own children.

3. I walked into his dorm and asked if he could tell me some Chinese folklore. He started a little slower at first but once he really got his mind going he had story after story after story. There is some broken English here but I thought it was best to transcribe as close as possible to the actual performance.

4. The story of the Monkey King is one that reveals interesting elements to the culture it’s told in. For instance, this culture obviously holds the powers of other creatures very highly. In this case, the Monkey’s flexibility has given him enough power to war against the goodness of paradise. In some senses this could be compared to Satan in the Garden of Eden. He took the form of a serpent, who is considered a crafty creature, and the Monkey King is also considered a ‘naughty’ creature. These two beings are able to disrupt Paradise and were punished afterward. However, the Monkey King had a change of heart and was forgiven at the end. The serpent wasn’t so lucky.

Jiangshi

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: He goes to school here at USC in LA but is from Shanghai.
Performance Date: April 23, 2016
Primary Language: English
Language: Chinese

1. “There are a lot of Zombie stories in China, especially the middle part of China. There’s a lot of mysterious people who are so skilled at controlling zombies to do something very bad. These people are suppressed by Chinese people in mid 20th century because the communist party would suppress them and their stories. Stories still circulate today. We call the people who control the zombies Jiangshi. In Chinese it means the people who chase the zombies to control the zombies. They control zombies so they could use them to force people to give them money and if people give them money they would not use the zombies to damage their homes or damage their families. There’s specific details in ancient Chinese books. These are real jobs 200 years ago but it’s prohibited by governments in different eras because they’re mystical. Also, people who take those jobs are against the government.” 

2. He knows stories like these because he’s from Shanghai. Supposedly these are magical tales that parents tell their children.

3.  I went into his dorm and asked him if he could tell me some Chinese folklore. He had so much more that I couldn’t fit into the project as a whole.

4. This element of Chinese culture is not necessarily one seen only in China. Even more so, it’s not necessarily only seen in the eastern parts of the world. For example, there are very similar characteristics associated with voodoo practices in the caribbean. As far as I know from my subject, there aren’t exactly “good voodoo” practitioners in china with zombies like there are in the caribbean. It’s also worth noting that he made an effort to outline the fact that he couldn’t remember all the details that he’s read in the ancient Chinese books. That means not only were these stories spread by word of mouth, but apparently there were some fairly well developed written accounts of these stories as well. That could possibly mean that these books contain not only written accounts of these individuals known as the “Jiangshi” but it’s also possible that they include instructions on how to actually perform the deed of raising the dead as well.

IBO Fest

Nationality: Nigerian
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: April 25, 2016
Primary Language: English

Description: “IBO fest happens every year. Every August. Every second week in August. The cultural association will like rent a festival space. People are selling food. People are giving away food. There’s live music. Choreographed dances, masquerade shows. It’s the biggest collection of IBOS in the area and around the state. It’s fun. The food is overpriced but it’s good. It’s just good to see everybody. There’s always jollof rice. There’s plain rice with tomato soup. Chicken, meat pies, fried fish, fufu, mashed yams you eat with your hands, Nigerian biscuit.”

2. My informant knew of this tradition because he had been to one first hand.

3. I walked into his dorm and he was just about to go to sleep. His roommate had fallen asleep and I asked him if I could grab some quick folklore from him before he crashed. He said sure.

4. This is an interesting piece because it’s very Nigerian but is happening in America. It’s this entire subculture of people who have their own folklore and jokes and riddles. They’re not entirely Nigerian and they’re not entirely American. Even so, it’s hard to say who exactly is American. We all bring our culture to this place, and that’s what IBO fest does. Except it’s arguable that this isn’t even Nigerian. It’s some new mixture and combination that results in its own identity.