Tag Archives: Chinese

Chinese Bridal Dowry

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 53
Occupation: Manager
Residence: Beijing, China
Performance Date: 3/23/12
Primary Language: Chinese

Informant: “I have little brother, and my mother always used to tell me that it’d be perfect if I married a Chinese man, because then he’d [his side of the family] would have to pay for the wedding. And if my little brother married an American women, she’d [her side of the family] have to pay for the dowry. So that way we’d be saving money, haha (laughs).”

Me: “Did your husband have to pay for the wedding?”

Informant: “Well, we didn’t have a wedding. (laughs.) So I guess he got off free. He didn’t have to provide Jia Zhuang for me.”

Me: “Do people still do this?”

Informant: “Well, people who are more modern won’t care. After all, most people in China wear white wedding dresses instead of red now that China’s becoming more globalized and what not. Many families share the load of the wedding fee.”

Analysis: 嫁妆, (jia zhuang) literally means “Wedding Decoration”. In the traditional sense, this could include gold jewelry, embellishments, red shoes and bedding, etc. Now, it has expanded to include modern things like appliances.

Through my research I discovered that in China, the bride’s family does pay a dowry but gives it to the bride. Instead, when asking for the bride’s hand, the groom has to give gifts to the family. These gifts, “jia zhuang”, are similar to what typical American couples register for. Bedding, curtains, simple household appliances may all be included. Some of these the family will let the bride keep. It symbolizes respect for the family. What was most important was that it proved that the groom was capable of providing a good life style for the bride.

This goes down to cultural roots and practices such as filial piety, and having respect for one’s elders. When the bride marries the groom, she essentially becomes part of the groom’s family and leaves her own family.

My informant is 53, and currently works as a manager for Dow chemicals. She was born in QingDao China and currently resides in Beijing.

Potstickers myth

Nationality: Irish, German, Czech American
Age: 15
Occupation: High School Student
Residence: Deephaven, MN
Performance Date: March 19th, 2013
Primary Language: English
Language: Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, French

My informant is a high school student who has been taking Chinese in school since kindergarten (age 5), to make a total of 10 years of study. She traveled to Taiwan last summer doing a homestay. She was born in Wisconsin, but raised in a suburb of Minneapolis, Minnesota. She is very knowledgeable of Asian culture; she has had a passion for learning languages and learning about different cultures since a young age. She also studies Japanese Language and culture. My informant heard this legend explaining how potstickers were invented from her Chinese instructor, who is from China. She told me this story because of her interest in Chinese culture.

Informant: This emperor from China asked his chef to make him some food. So the chef decided to make dumplings. Then, he forgot about them in the pot…When he came back to the kitchen, they were stuck to the pot. He was going to make more food because he messed up, but the emperor really wanted to eat. Because he did not have time, the chef brought the overcooked dumplings to the emperor and told him that he was trying something new called “potstickers” because they stuck to the pot. The emperor thought they were tasty and voila, potstickers!

Me: Where did you learn this from?

Informant: From 8th grade Chinese class

Me: From who?

Informant: Tan Lao Shi (Informant’s Chinese instructor)

Me: Where is she from and who did she hear it from?

Informant: Mainland China and her parents told her the story.

Me:Why did your teacher tell you this story?

Informant: Because we were doing a project Chinese folklore. We had to find a story and then make a presentation about the story. She told us this story as an example of a story we could do for our presentation.

I thought it was interesting that my informant had to do a folklore assignment for her Chinese language class. Her Chinese teacher gave this story as an example of a common piece of folklore that is passed down in China. It was interesting that my informant heard this from her Chinese teacher who is actually form China, because it seems like a story that Americans could have developed to explain how this food came to be. It reminds me of the story about how pretzels were invented which was My informant told me that she tells this story when at Asian restaurants to her friends, because it is like a “fun fact.” She is interested in any Chinese stories and says that she gets them from her high school in structors how are from mainland China.

The Suicide House

Nationality: Chinese - American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Fullerton, California
Performance Date: April 2012
Primary Language: English
Language: Mandarin, Cantonese, Spanish

My informant’s grandparents emigrated to the United States from China. The following story is from her maternal grandfather’s village in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, near the city of Toisan. She heard this story from her mother, who heard it from others in the village while visiting.

 

“This story is from my grandpa’s village, but is from before his time, back when arranged marriages were customary. In the village there was a cranky but wealthy man, who had made money in the United States and then came home to the village. One day, he decided to get married. This old, disgusting freak ended up marrying a young woman. The day of the wedding, she hung herself in his house. A short while later, the old man’s son also decided to get married. I’m not sure if it was his son or another male relative, a nephew maybe, but he was an idiot too. The woman he was marrying was smart and capable, but she had no way out of the marriage, so she hung herself too, in the same house. The house is now haunted by the ghosts of both of these women, and is avoided by those in the village.”

 

This ghost story reflects a traditional Chinese village’s societal views about the custom of arranged marriages. This negative view of arranged marriage, as well as the suicides of the young women, are topics which probably would have been taboo to talk about in day to day life. However, this ghost story provided an outlet for the villagers to do so. This story being remembered close to 100 years after it supposedly occurred shows that it is still very much a part of their culture, and that they still identify with the story.

Chinese Superstition about Rice

Nationality: Taiwanese
Age: 19
Occupation: USC student, majoring in electrical engineering, minoring in computer science
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: April 7, 2012
Primary Language: Chinese
Language: English, French

“When you eat rice—when you eat a bowl of rice—you’re not supposed to leave any bits of rice left in the bowl when you’re finished. So, if you leave one, it’s said that your future wife or future husband would have pimples on his face, or on her face.

“You can have leftover fish, in fact it’s good manners to have leftover fish or meat. It indicates that you have enough to eat. During Chinese New Year, one thing that we will do is eat fish, and leave some on the plate. And that will be a good sign that we’re going to have more for next year.”

Q. Why do you think that this superstition exists?

A. Rice is like a very basic farmer’s food, I guess. It’s something that everybody eats. And for somebody to not finish their rice—you’re wasting sort of a staple food product. That’s bad.

If you can eat meat—if you can eat fish—that means that to begin with, your family is very wealthy, or if you’re not wealthy, it has to be a special occasion, and you want to honor the rituals more than you bother about the fish. But rice is a daily thing, and prudence is something that we are taught.

Q. If you’re eating rice now, will you eat all of it?

A. If I’m eating rice, I will eat all of it. I no longer believe in it, but it’s a habit that got passed on when I was a kid. So, when I was a kid, my mother would stand over me and say, “You have to finish your rice.” Did I really believe that my wife would have pimples? I don’t know, I can’t remember. But I know that since my mother was watching over me, I ate my rice properly. And to this day, when I’m eating out anywhere, in the cafeteria, I still make an effort to finish all the rice. I try to finish my food all the time, but rice is special.

Analysis: This superstition illumines the dependence of the Chinese diet upon rice, while also reflecting that the majority of China’s population did not historically possess much wealth. The belief seems geared toward teaching children—if you fail to finish your rice, then your future husband or wife will have pimples. Thus, the superstition seems intended to teach children not to waste food, an important value in a society in which most people own little.

Chinese Legend about Jing Ke

Nationality: Taiwanese
Age: 19
Occupation: USC student, majoring in electrical engineering, minoring in computer science
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: April 7, 2012
Primary Language: Chinese
Language: English, French

“This is an actual—I won’t say it’s history—it’s history-legend.

“Basically, during the Spring and Autumn period in China, around the time of—I think it was 250 to 300 BC, China was under a period of war. There was about a century of—just constant war and chaos. The country was divided into a lot of little states; in fact, there were so many of them that we barely have record of all of them. Slowly, these states started combining—conquering each other—and there were seven states left at the end of the spring and autumn period. And we call them the warring states; they were the seven warring states. Out of the seven, the strongest was called Qin, and it later became the Qin Dynasty, which had the world’s first emperor. But, since he was an emperor in an age where everybody was more or less free, people didn’t like him very much. So, there were numerous assassinating attempts at him, and one of the most famous ones was by this person called Jing Ke, who was a—he was a sort of a brave man, that’s how they describe him, but he didn’t have a position in the government. So, some of the officials in one of the seven states decided that we really needed to get rid of Qin, the Emperor Qin. So, one went to Jing Ke and said that ‘We need you to go and assassinate him.’ And he said, ‘Okay, but you have to provide for me.’ So, for three years, Jing Ke stayed in this official’s house, in his palace, they treated him well, they gave him whatever he wanted, they covered him with gold if he wanted it. And after three years, he said, ‘Okay, it’s time for me to fulfill my promise.’ But in order to get close to the emperor of Qin, who was very suspicious, I need something as a gift to give to him.” And, there was a defect general from the state of Qin who went to this country, and they went up to the general and said, ‘We need your head as an offering to the emperor of Qin to prove our loyalty, so we can get close to him.’ So, the general actually said, ‘Sure.’ I know it sounds very improbable, but he cut off his own head and put it in his own two hands and gave it to Jing Ke so he could bring it to the emperor. In addition to that, he brought with him a scroll with a map on it. And the map was of a certain part of the states he was in, and he was supposed to give the Qin Dynasty that state as a show of loyalty, basically. So Jing Ke went, he took the scroll and the head, he went up to the emperor of Qin, who was very happy—he didn’t like that defect general very much—and he wanted the man. So, he allowed him a reception, and he was allowed to see the emperor of Qin, which back then was a very difficult thing to do; he kept everybody away from him, even his most trusted generals and people. And, he presented the head, and then he unrolled the scroll, and as the scroll unrolled, the emperor became happier and happier because he saw the part of the land that he was supposed to get—it’s a very fat piece of land that he’s been wanting for a very long while. But, once he finished unrolling the scroll, at the end of the scroll was a dagger, and he picked up the dagger and attempted to stab the emperor Qin. But the emperor was a—he was himself a fighting man, so he managed to dodge the strike, and he tried to draw his sword, but he couldn’t, because it was stuck. And all of his people—his units, I guess, at that time—weren’t allowed to carry weapons in front of the emperor Qin. So, all of them were unarmed, and they can’t help the emperor, so the emperor had to be chased around the palace by an assassin with a dagger, until Jing Ke accidentally got his dagger stuck in one of the pillars. Back in those days the pillars were wooden and they were heavy. You know those Californian redwoods? They sort of looked like that, and they were painted bright red. And he got his dagger stuck in it, and he tried to grab onto the emperor of Qin, but the emperor of Qin let his sleeve get ripped off—to run away from him—and at last, when he managed to draw his sword, Jing Ke looked at him and said, ‘I failed. I’m going to give this one last ditch attempt,’ and he threw his dagger at him, which got stuck on the pillar behind the emperor of Qin, and didn’t kill him. And it is said that all of the strength of the emperor of Qin could not pull the dagger out of the pillar because he was that powerful. But, in any case, the assassination failed, but what we’re supposed to learn from this story is loyalty—you’re supposed to be loyal to your lord, even if it’s a death mission, a suicidal mission. You have to carry it out, and you have to live your last moment trying to carry it out. And if you make a promise, you always have to keep it. He spent three years being lavished in wealth, and he could have just run away, but since the lord put trust in him, he has to honor that trust. So that’s the story of Jing Ke, which is pretty famous, I think it’s actually recorded in the records of the Grand Historian, which is like the history book of ancient China.

“Within families with children, I know this is a story that parents often tell their children. So, I think most people heard it from word of mouth. I wouldn’t say a lot of people have read the records of the Grand Historian. It’s a dry book; basically, it’s written in ancient Chinese, which you can read, but it’s in nearly incomprehensible prose. You need, like, a translation on the other side. It’s even worse than reading Shakespeare. So, most people haven’t actually read it. I’ve actually read it, when I was in high school, but I would still consider it folklore because most people haven’t.

“The thing about the record of the Grand Historian is that it’s not only dedicated to kings and generals, as most historical books are—he had a specific section called “The Annals of Assassins,” which just talks about normal people who had done extraordinary, brave acts. And most of them were assassins, and Jing Ke was in it. So whether it’s history or legendary-history, well—we’re not quite sure.”

Q. Why do you think this story is so famous, as opposed to other stories?

A. Well, since China was an imperial state for three thousand—well, two thousand five hundred—years, you are always encouraged to be loyal to lords, governments, and royalty. Betrayal is something that you don’t want to instill in your general population. So, that’s probably one of the reasons why it was spread in the first place. And so, even though we’re no longer in an imperial state—I’m from Taiwan, which is a democracy—it’s still a story that people find to be very brave and heroic, and worth telling. Another fun thing about it is that it shows that kings and emperors aren’t supposed to treat their subjects badly. If their subjects do something for them, they’re supposed to reward them equally. If your subject gives you his life, you’re supposed to shower them with wealth and treat them well for the time they have to live. And I think all the common people—they like that kind of thinking. They want their kings and emperors, their people higher up, to respect them if they do something extraordinary.

Analysis: This story reflects the history of civil war in China; it makes sense that emperors and nobility would promulgate such a tale, as it encourages people to serve them wholeheartedly and zealously. Glorified long after his death, Jing Ke has become a folklorized historical figure. Viewed in a different light, however, the story could also be a double-edged sword, teaching people not to trust war lords—Jing Ke is basically sent on a death mission, so this story testifies to the reality that war lords tended not to place a very high value upon human life.