Tag Archives: Chinese

legends about the ghost building in Shenyang

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Nationality: China
Age: 21
Occupation: student

Context:

My informant learnt about the ghost story from his father, who is a native of the Shenyang city.

text:

“There is a ghost building in Shenyang, which the old generation knows where it is, but they tacitly agreed that they would not tell the younger generation its location. They hid it because they were afraid that if young people knew about it, kids would form explore teams and seek advanture in the ghost building. So that’s why I don’t know where it is but my father know where it is.

I don’t know what happened before abou this building, but it’s hounted, and very severe. One after another, people moved out of that building. They would connect, or call the police and say ‘哎！有鬼有鬼有鬼，’or ‘Oh there is ghost!’ And because everyone moved out of the building, it become quite a big deal to the real estate developer of this building. And it also had bad influence to the local security, people were scared. The government thinks this is not the way things should be, so they sent out a team of police officer to the ghost building one night, to see what’s the real deal there.

And because it was a very famous hounted house, the police also knew about it, and they were scared as well. The police, as they should, brought guns with them.And they also brought wine, to strengthen their courage. So their plan was to drink in the ghost building and see what will hanppens. After they drunk, they slept. But the next morning when they woke up, every single one of the police officer was dragged outside of the building. They were slept in bed, but they woke up outside. So there is something wrong with the building.”

Analysis:

This is a classic example of a haunted house legend. The legend is passed down through oral tradition and is a part of the local culture. The fact that the older generation knows about the ghost building but does not disclose its location to the younger generation adds an element of mystery and intrigue to the story. This legend of the hounted house is a legend that contextual the influence of space angd time into our belief. The time of this legend appeared just after the open up of China, when there were lots of superstitious belife as well as ideas that call for science and anti-superstitious.

The emphasis on the severity of the haunting and the repeated instances of people moving out of the building due to ghostly encounters build the suspense and contribute to the eerie atmosphere of the legend. And because legends might be true, the use of the phrase “哎！有鬼有鬼有鬼”(Oh there is a ghost!) adds authenticity to the legend, as this phrase is commonly used in Chinese ghost stories and adds an element of cultural familiarity to the tale.

This legend offers insight into the beliefs and superstitions of the people of Shenyang city, as well as their attitudes towards the supernatural. The fact that people were so afraid of the haunted building that they moved out and reported ghostly encounters to the police suggests that belief in ghosts and spirits was widespread in the community. It also highlights the impact that supernatural beliefs could have on everyday life, such as the impact on the real estate market and local security. It also implied that the supersitous belief of ghost does not limit to the ordinary people, but as well as the people in the government, who supposedly based on communist doctrine, reject any superstious belief and firmly believe in science. The contridiction between dogmatic belief of the state and the actual practice of the people is particularly interesting in this context.

Ghost story in Chinese village in Sheng yang

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Nationality: China
Age: 21
Occupation: student

Text:

“The entrance of the village had a big millstone that the entire community shared. Every night, there would be a small, white thingy that people thought was a small white ghost, running around the millstone over and over again. And you can’t get close to it. I mean, if you get close to it, it would jump on you and start to tickle you. It would tickle you until you laughed to an extent that you couldn’t breathe anymore and died. My grandma said she saw it once, but she was not tickled by it. And after the Cultural Revolution, this little thing was gone forever.”

Context:

This legend was passed down from the informant’s grandma. The legend took place long before the Cultural Revolution in China. Our informant thinks it was the “Elimination of the Old Four” movement by the Chinese government at the time that had eliminated the ghost. The “Old Four” include old ideology, old culture, old tradition, and old customs. It was a time when many historical treasures were destroyed. The informant thinks that the villagers believed that the ghost belonged to the Old Four, so it was gone after the movement.

interpretation:

This is a great example of explaining personal experience or rationalizing it with existing legends. It’s a kind of belief enhanced by the informant’s grandma’s own sightings. Similar experiences around the village might have occurred, and added up to the formation of the ghost legend. Obviously, it’s an unwanted ghost. My interpretation of the tickling is that the ghost is small, probably a childlike figure. It’s not rational for a child to kill grown people, and laughing is often associated with children.

The “elimination of the old four” movement, or “除四旧” (pinyin: chú sì jiù), was a movement in China during the cultural revolution that caused a lot of historical antiques and culture to be destroyed. The “old four” refers to old ideas, old culture, old customs, and old habits. The movement firmly grasped the idea that old and superstitious ideas, or anything counter-scientific, went against the principle of communism. This movement’s dogma provided the villagers of Shenyang with a spiritual tool to wash away what they feared in their collective past. The small ghost by the millstone might have been a troublesome existence in the lives of the villagers. In the context of the elimination of the old four, it was eliminated and washed away like all the other things deemed bad and counter to the Communist Party.


					

		
		
	


	

				

			
						

				Impart means promiscuous party in China
			

								

			

			
Nationality: China
Age: 20
Occupation: Student/Rapper
Performance Date: 2/21
Primary Language: Chinese
Language: English
	
		

				

			

Text:






“‘Impart’ is a more universal folk language that has just been created not for long. But it’s a folklore that’s widespread in China. It is because impart is a homophone for the word ‘yin pa’ which directly translates as promiscuous party.”
“I think it’s because people in China think we don’t study and do sex every day.”






Context:






FG is a USC student who studies History and Economics. He is currently in Ireland. FG and I are both considered international students in China. International students can also mean students who study internationally, rather than foreign students. F thinks that the Chinese use word “impart” as “promiscuous party” signifies the stereotypes mainland China has toward international students. They think international students are all rich second generations that paid their way to education who don’t study and who have sex every day.






Analysis:






“Impart,” yin pa,” or “淫趴.”






I don’t really agree with F’s perspective. I don’t think it’s a stereotype toward the Chinese international student, but more toward the American people. People who use “impart,” as promiscuous party is often making jokes. The goto phrase is “ni men kai impart bu han wo,” or “你们开impart不喊我,” which means “why do you have a promiscuous party without me?” This is obviously more trifle than serious.






There is a rising trend of English homophones with Chinese words as a new genre of folk speech in China. I think this is due to the rising level of education and globalization through social media that had connected the two cultures closer. Another example of an English homophone in Chinese is “lash,” which is similar to the Chinese word “la shi”, or “拉屎” which means shit in China. I wonder why it’s always the sordid words that get popular with their English homophone.

					

		
		
	


	

				

			
						

				Chen as Taboo in Qing dynasty’s Navy
			

								

			

			
Nationality: China
Age: 20
Occupation: Student/rapper
Performance Date: 2.22
Primary Language: Chinese
Language: English
	
		

				

			

Text:






“It is said that navies in the Qing dynasty in China don’t recruit personnel whose names include Chen. The entire Qing dynasty’s navy doesn’t have a single person whose name includes Chen.”






Context:






FG is a USC student and a good friend of mine who is currently studying in a transfer program in Ireland. He learned about this tabooistic vocabulary when he was eating fish with a friend. Free is very into history. He is always the one with the most jokes and strange stories on any occasion. And he is always eager to share them with his friends.






Analysis:






The very popular Chinese name Chen（陈） is a homophone for the Chinese character Chen （沉）， which means sink in Chinese. Qing （清） dynasty is very superstitious. Homophones can actually decide the faith of people. The beginning of all these tradition is the “literary prison,” or 文字狱, in Qing Dynasty. The dynasty before Qing Dynasty is called Ming（明） Dynasty. And because Qing Dynasty overthrew the Ming dynasty, many people at the time thought Ming was the legitimate dynasty and Qing is the rebels. Of course, Qing emperor thinks it’s the other way around. It had become so sensitive that the emperor of Qing had killed thousands of people who had published content that creates a positive connotation of the word Ming（明）. This signifies how superstitious Chinese people were at the time of the Qing Dynasty. There are many more examples like Chen in the navy. One is that when a fisherman in China eats fish, and they want to turn the fish to the other side, they can’t say fan （翻）， which means turn the fish, but hua（滑）， which means slide. Because fan also means capsize in Chinese

					

		
		
	


	

				

			
						

				Chinese Lunar New Year
			

								

			

				
		

				

			

Context:





A, 18, is a student at USC. He is a French citizen of Chinese descent; he told me about how his family celebrated Lunar New Year when he visited China. He told me he grew up in France, so he seldom celebrated this tradition, only when he was in China back when he was young.  





Text:





Chinese Lunar New Year is celebrated on the second new moon after the winter solstice, so it’s usually around the end of January or the beginning of February. Every Lunar New Year is about a different zodiac animal, this is the year of the rabbit (2023). We usually wear red or red clothes and use traditional Chinese red paper lamps. We also put up fish posters to symbolize wealth in China, we put them on walls and doors to bring good fortune. We eat dumplings and blow-up firecrackers and fireworks.





Analysis:





Chinese Lunar New Year is a very common celebration among the Chinese diaspora throughout the world. It celebrates the New Year, and just like many other cultures, it lines up with the life cycle calendar beginning with spring (birth) and ending in winter (death). It is a liminal time between two cycles, so it is a magical time outside of the norm filled with superstitions, feasts, and celebrations. This festival is annually celebrated, as one might assume by its name; however, contrastively to the Solar year and Gregorian Calendar, this festival aligns with the Lunar Calendar, which is why it is on a different day every year. The rituals and superstitions that are celebrated during this festival often are practiced to bring good luck; similar to most cultures around the world that also have “good fortune” superstitions during their new year celebrations as well.