Tag Archives: Chinese

Chinese Birthday Tradition of Longevity Noodles

Text:

“For everybody’s birthday, we have to wear new clothes from top to down. And then we also need to eat noodles each morning, and your whole family also needs to eat noodles with you. And then you also need to like use a chopstick to drag the noodles as long as possible (like hold it as long as possible). And say something like “live forever” or something like that. So that can like represent that you are going to be healthy and have like a good life for a very long time. Everyone has to take pictures as they hold the noodles. Even when we are apart, my family still does it and sends it to me on my birthday.”

Context:

The informant describes a family birthday tradition centred on eating 长寿面 (longevity noodles). This is a common practice in many Chinese households. She grew up participating in this ritual with her family, where eating noodles on one’s birthday symbolises wishes for a long and healthy life. The informant explains that this is not only done in person but continues even when family members are physically apart, as they take photos and share them with each other. For her, this tradition is both a symbolic ritual and a way of maintaining family connection across distance.

Analysis:

This tradition can be understood through Mary Douglas’s idea that everyday practices carry symbolic meanings that reinforce cultural values. The emphasis on the length of the noodles reflects how physical actions are used to represent abstract ideas like longevity and health. The act of carefully holding and eating the noodles shows intentional participation to express these wishes. Other than carrying symbolic value, the shared participation (whether in person or through photos) reinforces family bonds and continuity.


The Frog in the Well

CK: “So there’s a lot of folklore and children’s stories that I read when my mom was teaching me mandarin at home. There’s one that I like a lot and it’s pretty well known, like I feel like all Chinese people know it, it’s called: The Frog in the Well / The Frog at the Bottom of the Well. From what I remember, basically, there’s this frog and he lives a content life at the bottom of a well. He has company (fish and whatnot) and food and whatever you need to be comfortable. One day a turtle comes by the well and tells the frog that he should come out of the well and the frog is like ‘why would I do that lol my life is awesome and I have everything here I need, I have a beautiful view of the whole sky!’ 

Eventually, he’s convinced to hop out of the well and once he does he sees how vast the sky actually is. He realizes how much of the world he doesn’t know about and how much he hasn’t experienced. Yeah, moral of the story is about being open-minded, venturing out of your comfort zone, in general broadening your worldview, making the effort to learn, and discovering opportunities. 

There’s some idioms that come from it.  

井底之蛙 – jǐng dǐ zhī wā – “frog at bottom of well,” you might call someone this if they are close-minded

坐井观天 -zuò jǐng guān tiān – “gazing/looking at the sky while sitting in a well,” same use case as first one but the act of being close-minded

Oh, and a lot of Chinese idioms are 4 characters it’s like a whole thing.””

context: The informant is a Game designer who studied at USC and recently graduated as of 2025. She is a first generation Chinese American and grew up with a lot of Chinese traditions. Her family is from Southern China, and her parents put a lot of effort into teaching her about her culture’s food, language, rituals, etc.

Analysis: Looking at this children’s folktale through a functionalist lens, its meant to enforce a moral function within children. Its advice on how to go about life, and a warning to avoid being close minded. It also pushes children to get out of their comfort zone in order to gain new life experiences. This is further pushed through the multiple proverbs and idioms that come from this specific tale. the phrase “Frog at the Bottom of the Well” is also esoteric language between Chinese people, since they know the meaning behind the phrase due to most Chinese children growing up hearing this story.

Lunar New Year Superstition

Age: 23

JL: “My Mom texted me today, ‘Hello my daughter and son. It’s Chinese New Year so you don’t have to sweep or take out the trash.'”

Context: This is from one of my roommates, who is Chinese American. She celebrates the Chinese New Year with her family every year. This was a text from her mom to her family group chat, which includes her father and brother. It is a Chinese superstition that if you sweep on the Lunar New Year, you sweep away all your good luck. If you take out the trash, you are throwing away prosperity as you enter the New Year.

Analysis: This superstition is a Chinese folk belief, combined with a calendar ritual relating to Lunar New Year. Like many other cultures folklore, this one relates the idea of good and bad luck with specific rituals. Functionally, not participating in these chores reinforces cultural identity, and also reinforces Chinese social values of prosperity and luck. I also think that the fact this was shared over text demonstrates how folklore adapts over time. Many years ago, this may have been an in person face to face conversation, but in the year 2026, people have found other ways to communicate and connect with one another in order to spread knowledge and information. Overall, this tradition helps create a sense of certainty when the future may be uncertain, especially at the start of a new year.

Zongzi

Age: 23

JL: “I’ve been Chinese for 23 years. Every year my family in the beginning of May wraps sticky rice in, I think, banana leaves? It’s either banana leaves or another type of leaf. My grandma did it, but now she’s too old, so my mom does all of it now. I help my mom wrap the rice. There’s a story behind it- Why we do this tradition. There was this married couple, and the man fell into a river, and there’s, like, fish inside. His wife made the wrapped sticky rice to feed the fish so that they wouldn’t eat her husband. So, that’s just kind of a fun story. Its sticky rice usually filled with cured meat and sausage and mushrooms and mung beans and peanuts. It’s like a comfort food. Mom freezes it. I have some in the freezer, and I ate it recently. It’s portable. It’s easy to heat up. It lasts a while.”

Interviewer: “who who told you that story?”

JL: My mom told me it multiple times. I heard it in Chinese school. It’s a very common Folktale slash Uh, story, cultural story. In Chinese culture, there’s a lot of meaning behind a lot of things. Every word has a story behind it. Every holiday has a story behind it. People speak in idioms with stories behind it. So that’s important.”

Context: The informant considers herself very close with her Chinese heritage. She is a first gen USC CS games student, and has noted that Chinese traditions rituals, beliefs and culture play a big part in her everyday life. She has a lot of experience cooking, specifically Northern Chinese food, and really enjoys this specific comfort meal.

Analysis: Because the story is rooted in reality, I think this would fall into the Legends category. This cultural Foodway tradition of making this specific meal on a certain day of the month is a big reinforcement of Chinese identity. The informant learned this through an institution, Chinese school, reenforcing the popularity and importance of this story in Chinese culture. The fact that most holidays and rituals are paired with a narrative or story shows how these traditions have adapted in order to be kept alive, even across generations, since the “origin” of this Legend and food started thousands of years ago. Looking at this through a functionalist lens, this story also solidifies this specific food item’s importance. Zongzi metaphorically saved this mans life, is also portable, easy to store, yummy to eat, and filled with nutrient heavy foods, reenforcing how nourishing it is for those who make and eat it.

Anhui Province Legend

Age: 18

TEXT

Interviewer: “Okay, would you like to introduce yourself?”

MC: “Yeah, hi, my name is ANONYMOUS, and I’m a freshman student at USC University.”

MC: “My story is set in a park in my hometown, and in the park, there’s a trail and along the trail there’s a cave called the cow nose cave. This cave has two holes that are kind of shaped like a cow’s nose, and there’s a legend about how it’s dangerous if you put your arm or fingers into the hole, as there might be a very mysterious force that basically sucks your whole arm in and it can be very dangerous. So kids are advised not to put their arms into the hole.”

Interviewer: “Was that a story, or like a legend that was always around or more of a family legend?”

MC: “It’s known in our region and it started like – actually I don’t know when it started but I heard it from my parents.”

Interviewer: “Ohhh I see.”

MC: “Yeah they told me not to put my arms in there, yeah.”

CONTEXT

My relationship with this informant is that she is my classmate for this anthropology lecture. My informant is an international freshman student at USC, originally from China. As mentioned in the text, her relationship to this piece stems from her hometown, in which a notable landmark has a surrounding legend that was passed down to her by her parents.

ANALYSIS

Considering this piece is set in the real world and tied to a real location, this is a legend that functions as a cautionary tale for children. In my opinion, it’s plausible that this legend started from a worried parent who could not supervise their curious children 24/7 – rather than explaining all the actual dangers of sticking your arm into an unknown hole, like injuries from getting stuck or getting bit by creatures that may be inside, replacing this with a supernatural force is a more vivid and memorable warning to children. As this legend spread informally to other children and generations after, a cultural value that may come specifically for this region in China is that an ordinary cave is now enshrined forever as a supernatural landmark with a distinct legend.