Tag Archives: Chinese

Chang E goes to the moon

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 10
Occupation: Choreographer
Residence: Beijing
Performance Date: 4/18/2016
Primary Language: English

12) Chang E goes to the moon

Chang E was the wife of Hou Yi. They were a loving couple that was praised and respected by everyone around him. One day, an old monk that really admired Hou Yi’s power and bravery gave him a pill that can make him immortal and go up to the sky. Unwilling to leave the villagers and his wife however, Hou Yi told Chang E to hide the pill.

Peng Meng–a servant of Hou Yi–was bad natured and greedy and wanted to take the pill for himself so that he can become immortal. Thus, on the 15th of August one year, Peng Meng made an excuse to not go hunting with the rest of the man. He went to Chang E’s house, cornered her and forced her to give him the pill.

Worried and scared, Chang E did not know what to do, so she ended up just taking the pill herself. She then started rising to the sky, but because she loved her husband Hou Yi so much, she decided to land on somewhere that is the closest to earth–the moon.

Hou Yi came back home and when he found out about this, he was heart-broken. He kept chasing the moon, but whenever he moved forward, the moon mover forward, and whenever he moved backward, the moon moved with him also. He was so desperate but all he could do was to just stare up at the moon with his eyes to try to see if Chang E is there.

Thus, on the 15th of August of the second year, Chang E steps out from her moon palace and watches her husband and families. And the 15th of August became the mid-autumn festival/moon festival where all the families came back home and celebrated together (kinda like thanksgiving).

My mother also told me this tale when I was really little, and every kid just knew because when one attends an event for the moon festivals, there are poster boards that explain the origin of the festival. Unrequited love seem to be a very common theme in chinese stories throughout history. It seems that separation of distance between two lovers are used quite often in chinese folklores.

 

Kua Fu chases the sun

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 57
Occupation: Choreographer
Residence: Beijing
Performance Date: 4/18/2016

13) Kua Fu chases the sun

A long long time ago, there were a tribe of titans. These titans were big and tall, and very hardworking. However, it was not a good time then. There were vicious animals everywhere and the land was not very good and thus caused many crop failures. The sun is often so harsh that it killed most of the crops and food that the titans planted.

Kua Fu was the leader of his tribe, and he was tired of seeing his tribe people suffer due to the sun, he decided that he was going to do something about it. Many people told Kua fu that he will fail, that he will never reach the sun or that he will burn to death. These words only made Kua Fu more determined, and so he made up his mind to go on the journey to capture the sun.

Kua Fu marched thousands and thousands of miles, using rocks as his pillows and dirt as his bed; he kept going and going, and the he was getting closer and closer, feeling more and more confident. However, the closer he gets to the sun, the thirstier he got. It got to the point where the one drink from the river can’t even hold his thirst anymore.

After nine days and nine nights, Kua Fu finally reached the sun; he stood right under the sun. But his thirst was so bad that he drank two whole river dry, and that still did not help. He needed to run north; there lies a plain named Da Ze that holds enough water that can solve his thirst. However, Da Ze was simply too far away, and half way there, he just couldn’t do it anymore; Kua Fu fell down and died.

Right before he died, still thinking about the people of his tribe, he threw his cane to the side and it turned into a forest of peach trees. Since then, it has provided people with food and helped with their thirst.

My mother told me this story once again, and this one I also learnt as a kid but couldn’t quite remember the details. When I was little I never really comprehended the meaning of it, but thinking back now it really seems more proverbial, telling people that the more you acquire, the more you want, and the harder it is to get it. Unfortunately, when my mother performed this story to me through videochat it was glitching quite awhile due to the terrible wifi, thus reducing the effect of this story. I never realized that Kua fu is actually a relatively kind character.

 

Jing Wei filling up the Sea

Nationality: American
Age: 57
Occupation: Choreographer
Residence: Beijing
Performance Date: 4/18/2016
Primary Language: English

14) Jing Wei tried to fill up the sea

Legend has it that Yan Di (the ruler back then) had a smaller daughter named Nv Wa. She was really smart and pretty, and Yan Di loved her very much.

One day she went out to play, and saw a bigger kid riding on a smaller kid; she got mad and yelled at the bigger kid, saying that bullying the weaker ones are shameful; if he was really powerful he’d go hunt down bears and wolves.

The older kid saw that she was a little girl so he didn’t take her for anything. Turned out that the older kid was the son of the Sea Dragon King, and he was very full of himself. Him and Nv Wa got into a fight, but Nv Wa learnt a lot from her father and is very agile; she managed to win the fight against the son of the Sea Dragon King, and the Sea Dragon King had no choice but to back-off, swearing that he will get her back one day.

Sometimes later, Nv Wa goes into the ocean to swim; the son of the Sea Dragon King comes to her and asks her to apologize to him for what happened on land the other time. Nv Wa refuses, so the son of the Sea Dragon King turned waves against her, and ended up drowning her.

After she died, Nv Wa could not accept her death. Her spirit turned into a bird named “Jing Wei.” Everyday, Jing Wei flies to the west mountain to get pebbles, throws it into the sea, hoping to fill it up. She goes everyday, never ending.

I remember reading about this folklore in grade school and being very unsatisfied about the sad ending. Having my mom remind me of it and perform it to me again, I got to know more details of the folklore that I didn’t know before, yet I still feel very very sad about this story. I wish it wsa a happy ending.

 

Traditional Thanksgiving Dinner with Mac and Cheese

Nationality: Half Japanese, Half Chinese
Age: 20
Occupation: College Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/17/16
Primary Language: English

Tradition: An adult male, half Chinese half Texan, brings mac and cheese to his family Thanksgiving dinner every year. The family is a mix of ethnicities: Japanese, Chinese, and Caucasian.

The informant is a half Japanese half Chinese female, age 20.

Informant: For Thanksgiving, we have one cousin (Eric) whose sole responsibility is to bring the mac and cheese. And every year, our aunt asks everyone what they want to bring, and on the list, she’ll write “Eric-Mac and Cheese.” Apparently it’s the best mac and cheese.

Collector: Do you like it? Does your family like it?

Informant: It’s pretty good, I’ve eaten it. I assume that my family likes it. Because he’s demanded to bring it every year. I’m just waiting to see what happens when he doesn’t bring it.

Collector: Where did he learn to make it from?

Informant: I asked him about it, and he said he pulled the recipe off the internet. And he proceeded to forward it to me, so I can make it for myself.

Collector: What do you think it means to you or to your family?

Informant: I think it’s funny that my aunt assumes that that’s the only thing he can make and that we can eat. This has been going on for five years now. So whenever it’s Thanksgiving, I know that there’s something that I can eat–there’s gonna be mac and cheese!

Even though the family has a mix of different ethnic backgrounds, it’s interesting to see that every year, they demand and designated for one family member to bring the mac and cheese to Thanksgiving dinner. I think that this family tradition is reflective of the “melting pot” culture of America, where families come together and share their food cultures with one another.

Tea Ceremonies in Chinese Wedding Tradition

Nationality: Wilson
Age: 67
Occupation: Reverend
Residence: Houston, TX
Performance Date: April 10, 2016
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

The informant is a 67-year-old Mexican-American woman who is a reverend. She is known for tailoring wedding receptions to couples from different cultural backgrounds, and in her words “taking old traditions and giving them new meaning.” Many consider her to be the “guru of new wedding traditions.”

While out to breakfast while the informant was visiting me in Los Angeles, I asked her if there were any particular rituals or traditions drawn from Asian cultures that she has incorporated into weddings in the past. She responded by describing tea ceremonies, which she has commonly incorporated in the weddings of individual’s having a Chinese cultural background.

“In a tea ceremony, the parents of the bride and groom are called up to the altar. Together, the bride and groom prepare a cup of tea for each parent. The mothers and fathers then each take three sips of the tea, after which they sit back down. I’m not entirely sure why it is important that they take only three sips, but traditionally that is how it’s done.”

My first question after hearing of this tradition was, “How do they boil water at the altar?” To which the informant responded, “Typically a kettle has been heated somewhere behind the scenes, and it is brought out for the bride and groom. Really all they have to do is pour the tea into a cup and serve it to their parents.” This ceremony seems to represent the newlyweds demonstrating their gratitude to their parents for all that they have done, as a wedding marks the transition at which an individual’s spouse now has more responsibility for taking care of that person than do his or her parents. It is also a way for the bride and groom to let the parents know that they will take care of them in the future as old age approaches. While the informant was unsure of the reason that the parents take only three sips of the tea, examining this tradition with a comparative lens that takes into account a broad range of folklore shows that many folk traditions come in repetitions of threes. This often dates back to the Christian doctrine of the Trinity defined by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It also removes the awkwardness that would arise if one of the parents took a great deal of time to finish drinking the entire cup of tea while the entire audience had to sit and wait for them to be done, as three sips can be taken much more quickly and at the same speed by all parents.