Chinese Ancient Mythology

Chinese ancient mythology, a remote and mystic world, was created with the wildest imagination by people in primitive ages, when faced with the unknown.

Nv Wa Mends the Sky

Chinese ancient mythologies were created collectively by people of the primitive society, and underwent the far-flung years of oral circulation until the Chinese characters were invented to provide a more permanent way of recording. The content of most mythologies reflected the rich and colorful life style of ancient society, including: Pan Gu Separates the Sky from the Earth, Nv Wa Makes Men, Nv Wa Mends the Sky, etc., which interpret how the world came into being; Hou Yi Shoots Down Suns, Kua Fu Chases the Sun, Jing Wei the Bird Determines to Fill Up the Sea reflecting mankind’s incessant struggle against the nature; Shennong Shi Tastes Medicine, Gun and Yu Harness Water written in praise of their selfless devotion, and so on.

Nv Wa Mends the Sky tells a story that at the earliest time, half of the sky suddenly collapsed and a huge hole appeared. Floods ravaged the land and beasts ran amok, so that the human race was in great danger. When, a woman named Nii Wa came out to mend the sky with five-colored rocks that the world regained peace and people lived a happy life like before.

Gun and Yu Harness Water

Gun and Yu Harness Water narrates a story about Gun and his son Yu who harnessed floods and saved mankind. Long, long ago, the land was flooded. An immortal called Gun stole from Heavenly Emperor one of his treasures,”xirang”, a kind of earth that could grow by itself to stop floods However, he failed and later was put to death by Heavenly Emperor. Three years later, Yu jumped out of Gun’s belly and succeeded his father’s cause and continued to harness the water. He showed such devotion to his work that legends said that he had never stepped into his home for 8 years in succession, even three times when he passed by his home. The floods were finally subdued.

Such fascinating mythologies not only reflect ancient people’s understanding of nature and their wish to harness nature, but also represent their dauntless, hard-bitten spirit in the struggle against natural disasters.The ancient mythical stories, endowed with a deep sense of romanticism, had a great impact upon the development of Chinese literature. They were widely regarded as the origin of Chinese literature, where writers of later generations continuously looked for their subjects, drew their inspiration found their resources.

 

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Author: AmoyTrip.com--Chinese Ancient Mythology
Free Inquiry: ryan@amoytrip.com

The Book of Songs

The Book of Songs

The Book of Songs is the first collection of poems in China. It recorded a total of 305 poems created over a period of 500 years or so, from the early Western Zhou dynasty(11century BC-771BC) to the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period. It was said that specific officials were appointed with a sole role of collecting poems among the mass. There was also a rule requiring officials to compose poems and present them to the emperor at that time. The anthology came into being after further compilation. According to the story, all the poems in The Book of Songs were lyrics of the ancient days.

At the very beginning, The Book of Songs was known as Poems or Three Hundred Poems. The great thinker Confucius used it as a textbook to teach his disciples. It was named as The Book of Songs after the Han Dynasty.

The Book of Songs is rich in contents. Many of its works depicted the genuine landscape picture of society at that time. Among them, many stories were devoted to love and marriage between young people. Besides, some poems portrayed the hard life of social underclass, some reflected the general public’s resistance to oppression, and aspiration for freedom and happiness. Others denounced the war and the sufferings caused by it. The poems in The Book of Songs mainly consist of four-character verses. They are original in wording, harmonious in rhythm, concise in style, and pleasant to read. For instance,

There she is gathering vine

A day without seeing her

Is like three autumns.

….

This poem entitled Gathering Vine expresses a young man’s pinning for his love. The tenor is that she has gone to gather vine and was unseen for one day which is like three years for that young man. The popular idiom ” One day without seeing is like three autumns” originated from this poem. The Book of Songs was not only valuable resource for studying ancient Zhou society, but also the root of Chinese poetry. It has a great impact upon the development of poetry in later times, in terms of both its ideological and artistic achievements.

 

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Author: AmoyTrip.com--The Book of Songs
Free Inquiry: ryan@amoytrip.com

Chu Ci--Poetry of the State of Chu

Chu Ci

Chu Ci, also known as Poetry of the State of Chu, was a new style of poetry emerged after the Book of Songs. It was created in the 4th century BC. In the course of its formation, it was influenced by folk sons, music and the folk literature of the Chu State, and as a result, it was characterized by a strong local flavor.

 

Qu Yuan was the central figure of Chu Ci. Born in the Chu State, Qu Yuan was regarded as on of the greatest patriotic poets who are held in the highest esteem in Chinese history. Witnessing the corruption of his colleagues and the inability of his king, Qu Yuan was rather worried, so he wrote a great number of poems expressing his resentment. Afterwards, defamed by other villains, Qu Yuan was exiled to lead a vagrant life for a long time and finally drowned himself in the Miluo River. On the Dragon Boat Festival every year Chinese people will wrap glutinous rice dumplings which is made of glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves and hold dragon boat race to commemorate him, His main works include On Enountering Trouble (Li Sao), Heavenly Questions (Tian Wen)–a long poem with more than 170 questions concerning heaven put forward in one breath., Nine Songs( Jiu Ge)–which are based on folk legends of the Chu State. Drawing on the form of obit songs, Qu Yuan compsed a group of lyrics, including East Emperor Tai Yi, The person in the Clouds, The person from Hunan, The Madam from Human, etc.

Qu Yuan

On Encountering Trouble(Li Sao) is a colossal political lyric made up of over 370 lines with 2400 characters. Drawing on the technique of romanticism, the poet recounted his life, his beliefs and misfortunes, expressed his concern over the fate of the Chu State and his determination to maintain his lofty aspirations. In this poems, riding on a rainbow chariot driven by dragons as white as jade, guarded by the god of wind, god of sun, and god of moon, he soared to heaven in search of his ideals. Finally he was forced to leave his most beloved Chu State .Qu Yuan’s patriotism and unyielding spirit has moved and encouraged many readers down through the generations, edifying their sentiment.

 

After Qu Yuan, Song Yu and Tang Le also wrote exquisite works in Chu Ci style, making Chu Ci a typical genre of poetry in a certain period, which was called the ” Poetry of Sorrow”.

Glutnous Rice Dumpling

The profusion of myths and fantasies, the unusual twists of imagination, the vigorous surge of feeling and exotic use of verses in Chu Ci was a complete breakthrough compared with the “Four-Character-Trim-Verse” style in The Book of Songs, thus enlarging the content of every line of poem and enhancing the expressiveness, thereby demonstrating a unique romanticism that has never faded and pioneered a new road for the development of Chinese culture.

 

 

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Author: AmoyTrip.com--Chu Ci--Poetry of the State of Chu
Free Inquiry: ryan@amoytrip.com

Yuefu-Songs of the Han Dynasty

Yuefu originally referred to the “music bureau” in the Han dynasty, a reference to the government organization originally in charge of collecting or writing the literati’s poems, folk ballads, which were set to music. Later, poems and folk ballads collected and complied by Yuefu were given this generic name. Folk ballads are ten essential part of the Yuefu songs of the Han dynasty.

The following folk ballad entitled Jiangnan (south of the Yangtze River) is one elaborate work of Yuefu songs of the Han dynasty.

Time to gather lotus in the Yangtze Valley,

As lotus leaves are fair and lusty.

Fish frolic amid-st the lotus leaves.

Fish frolic to the east of the lotus leaves,

Fish frolic to the west of the lotus leaves,

Fish frolic to the south of the lotus leaves,

Fish frolic to the north of the lotus leaves.

This folk ballad depicted the vivid scene of lotus-gathering in Jiangnan, where local people were in joyous mood while they were working. The tenor of this ballad was as follows: It was the right time to gather lotus in the huge lakes of Jiangnan. There teemed with lotus leaves in the lake, where small fishes were swimming freely… The simple, unadorned and vivid atmosphere permeates the whole folk beginning to end.

Most of the Yuefu songs of the Han dynasty are narrative poems, which truthfully uncovered the sentiment of people at that time. Some poems mirrored the poverty-stricken life of laboring people; some exposed the misery caused by was; some manifested the opposition to feudal marriage customs and the pursuit for true love; and some revealed the decadent life of aristocrats and the darkness of the society.

The best-known poem in Yuefu songs of Han dynasty is Peak-cocks Flying Southeast, which is also the first long narrative poem in Chinese history. It gives a vivid account of a tragedy of two lovers in a feudal family.

Southeast the lovelorn peacock flies. Alack,

At every five li she falters and looks back!

At thirteen years Lanzhi learned how to weave;

At fourteen years she could embroider, sew;

At fifteen music on her harp she made;

At sixteen knew the classic, prose and verse…

Liu Lanzhi, a smart, pretty and kind-hearted girl, got married to Jiao Zhongqing, her beloved man. They loved each other deeply, but Jiao’s mother was so cruel that she forced them to separate. As a result, both Jiao and Liu committed suicide for the sake of love, and turned into a pair of lovebirds. ” They cross their bills and sing to one another. Their soft endearments all night long till dawn.” Hence the lovebirds became the symbol of true love. The tragedy condemned the feudal ethics and evil clan rule, and expressed the wish and determination of the young who were in pursuit for the free marriage.

With rich flavors of life, Yuefu songs of the Han Dynasty are in the pursuit of faithful reflection of social reality and have accomplished artistic achievements, which have had a direct and far-reaching impact on the development of poetry in later generations.

 

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Author: AmoyTrip.com--Yuefu-Songs of the Han Dynasty
Free Inquiry: ryan@amoytrip.com

Ordination Altar Temple

Ordination Altar Temple or Ordination Terrace Temple(Jietaisi戒台寺）， is located at Ma’anshan (Saddle Hill) in the Western Hills, 35 kilometers west of Beijing. It was built in 622 in the Tang Dynasty, and was known as the Wisdom Accumulation Temple (HuijuSi). In the Liao Dynasty, a monk named Fajun had an altar built here for the ordination of novices into the Buddhist priesthood. It was renovated and renamed the Longevity Temple (WangshouSi) under the Ming Dynasty. The temple is commonly known as Jietasi, Ordination Altar Temple or ” the place for selecting Buddhas”. Most of the present buildings were reconstructed on the Qing Dynasty.

The Mahaira Hall, the main hall in the Temple, originally contained ten carved sandalwood chairs made in the Ming Dynasty. Three of them were placed high above, for the abbot and two elders, and another three to the left and four to the right, for the witnesses to the ordination ceremony. Outside the hall there are two steles, one erected in the Jin Dynasty and the other in the Liao dynasty. In the northeast compound is the Ordination Altar made of white marble. It consists of three levels altogether over three meters high. On the upper level is a statue of Sakyamuni seated on a lotus flower base and ten chairs of eaglewood for the preacher and witness on ordination. The base is carved with figures of several hundred deities. The ordination altar is the largest extant in China.

South of the altar is the pagoda courtyard, in which stand two pagodas built in the Liao and Yuan dynasties. Not far from the courtyard is the Hall of the Brilliant Kings with a stone balustrade in front enclosing three stone pillars. They are inscribed with Buddhist sutras, and images. Two of them were erected in the Liao Dynasty and the other dated from the Yuan dynasty. They are all in good condition. Just as the Pool and Cudrania Temple is famous for its spring water, the Ordination Altar Temple is noted for its ancient pine trees, which date from the Liao and Jin dynasties and are still growing luxuriantly. Many of the pine trees have been given names suggested by their distinctive shapes, such as the Reclining-dragon Pine, the Unrestrained Pine, the Nine-dragon Pine, the Embracing-pagoda Pine and the Sensitive Pine, which quivers if one of its branches is touched

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Author: AmoyTrip.com--Ordination Altar Temple
Free Inquiry: ryan@amoytrip.com

Wangfujing Street

Beijing Wangfujing Pedestrian Street is a well-known commercial street with a long history. It is also called “Gold Street” in Beijing. The street intercrosses the Chang’an Avenue ( Everlasting Peace Avenue) in the south, and is 810 meters long from south to north. The pedestrian street started near the Wangfujing Book Store and ended near the New Dong’an Department Store. There are 765 big or small stores along the street and it is the most poplular commercial street in Beijing nowadays.

The history of Wangfujing Street can be traced back to the Yuan dynasty. To the Ming dynasty, there had been 10 royal mansions and three princes mansions, so the street was called”Royal Mansions” street, which pronounced as “wangfu” in Chinese. In 1905 during the Qing dynasty, the government renamed the street because there was a well in the street. So the name became “Wangfujing”, which means”The Well of Royal Mansion”. There were some legends about the well and now you can see it on the northwest side of the center cross of the street.

During the reign of Emperor Guangxu, the”Dongjiaominxiang” embassy district in the south of Wangfujing was formed. So some banks and business offering services for foreigners were started on Wangfujng Street. In early 20th century, the Wangfujing Street has entered a new commercial era, and has become one of the major commercial districts in Beijing. Nowadays Wangfujing has become a wonderful place where people can do shopping, have dinner, etc.

Wangfujing Street is like a museum, with its extensive and profound convergence of traditional culture. There are lots of stores with ancient Chinese famous brands like “Tongshenghe Shoes Store” and “Shengxifu Hat Store” which had ever made shoes and hats for lots of Chinese leaders.”Dong-lai-shun Hot Pot” ,the most famous hot pot restaurant in Beijing, is also located in the street.

Besides all  these ancient brand stores, Wangfujing Street is more like a kaleidoscope, It seems to roam into a shopping paradise when people hanging around here. Since the reform and opening up of China, Wangfujing Street has been changed greatly. There are many newly renovated stores along the street, such as Wangfujing Bookstore, the modern Oriental Plaza and Dong’an Department Store. All of these ancient brand stores and modern shopping malls embody the perfect combination of tradition and modernization of the new central business district.

On September11,1999, Wangfujing Street finished its eight-year-renovation and presented a brand new appearance to all the people in Beijing. After the renovation, the street formed a “cross”. The center of the cross is crossing of ” Golden Fish Alley” from east to west. To the east, there is the street of hotels,such as Wangfu Hotel, Taiwan Hotel, newly opened Regency Hotel and so on. To the west, there is the Donghuamen Snack Street where people can try lots of snacks of Beijing. The flourishing pedestrian Wangfujing Commercial Street is to the south of the cross. And there is an Entertainment Street to the north of it. There is a big Sporting Goods Store named Lisheng, where you can see some huge facilities for some extreme games just n front of the store, The church is located right across the road.

Today’s Wangfujing has become a complex commercial street with shops, sports and leisure places, and catering business. In the future, Wangfujing will be created into a digitalized commercial street of the central business district. It will keep on developing and lead the trend of the development of world commercial streets.

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Author: AmoyTrip.com--Wangfujing Street
Free Inquiry: ryan@amoytrip.com

Liulichang Street

Liulichang is a famous cultural commercial street in Xuanwu District,Beijing, that is famous for selling paintings, calligraphies and antiques. In the Liao Dynasty(907-1125), the place here was suburbs of Beijing and Liulichang was a small village called Haiwang village. In the Yuan dynasty(1206-1368), because of construction of the imperial palaces, the government set up a kiln here in order to produce colored glazed tiles. Colored glazed tiles were called Liuli in Chinese, so the place was named Liulichang. which means a factory porducing colored glazed titles. At that time the five-colored glazed titles produced here were not only used to decorate the imperial palaces, but also welcomed by constructors of temples and royal mansions. So the place of Liulichang becam e prestigious and the glazed tiles business was booming.

However, in the Qing dynasty, the business gradually declined. And at the end of the reign of Emperor Kangxi, the imperial court held lantern festival of inner-city here. With the city’s carnival here, the place thrived again. During the holidays, it was bustling and filled with people here.

In addition, the codification of two books serve well for the prosperity of Liulichang. One is Ancient and modern books Integration in Kangxi’s regin(1661-1722), which is called Kangxi Da Dian in Chinese. The other is Imperial Collection of Four Categories in Qianlong’s reign(1735-1796), which is named Siku Quanshu in Chinese. The compilation of these two books made a large number of bachelors from all over the country gathered in the capital. They all lived in their assembly halls respectively outside the Front Gate where is not far away from Liulichang. So Liulichang became the best place to exchange ideas and books. And most of the officers in charge of the work lived in south Beijing, where Liulichang was located. So they thought it was also a perfect place to discuss their research and learn from each other. Astute book dealers are also aware of these two advantages and start to do their business here and gradually they enlarged their book business to anti ques, the four stationery treasures, scroll paintings and calligraphy. Finally Liulichang turned into a cultural street.

In 1982 the street was renovated, and some parts of the street were reconstructed according to the original architectural style. The street is 750 meters long and extends east to Yanshousi Street and west to Nanbeiliu Alley, with South Xinhua Street in the middle. The crossing of South Xinhua Street and Liulichang Street divides the street into two sections. The stores in the eastern section mainly deal in the business of antiques, while the stores in the western section mainly do ancient book business.

Walking along the street, you would get the feeling like walking in an ancient market with brick pavements in the street, gray tiles on the roof, brick carving and antique paintings on the edge of the roof. There are so many ancient stores with sound with sound brands along the street. For example, Rongbaozhai Scroll Painting and Calligraphy Store, Baowentang Bookstore, Chizhenzhai Porcelain Store, Ancient-melody Cloisonne Store, and some famous ancient stores for stationery treasures, such as Daiyuexuan Huzhou Brush and Anhui Chinese-Ink Store. The four stores represent four most famous places in China that produce stationeries of the best quality. They are Huzhou ChineseBush, Anhui Chinese Ink, Xuan Paper and Duan Inkstone.

Liulichang is a place really worth going because you can experience the life of ancient Chinese intellectuals. The four stationeries, the ancient books the scroll paintings and calligraphy all give you a strong taste of Chinese tradition.

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Author: AmoyTrip.com--Liulichang Street
Free Inquiry: ryan@amoytrip.com