Today is the God of Wealth’s birthday in Jilin #China! So many fireworks celebrating! It’s a day to find good luck and fortune!! I like this holiday 😋🤑😛💰💵💴💶💸💷💳💰🎊
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Tag Archives: heritage
God of Wealth Birthdays
22 Aug
Don’t #Fence Me In!
25 May
Chinese historical sites (and some city buildings) here in Henan have a tendency to have these sharp warnings NOT to climb the walls. Given how much looting and destruction they’ve faced with their heritage in the past, it is a pointed (pun intended) reminder that history is to be protected, not stolen or broken. Also – avoid the Baiju (China’s alcoholic beverage which is as much as 70% alcohol). Getting drunk on that and stupidly climbing the fence is a REALLY BAD idea here!
Happy Mid-Autumn Festival
15 Sep
Happy Mid-Autumn Festival from China to you!
Today (September 15, 2016) is the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival (Zhong Qiu Jie). The festival will fall on the 15th day of the 8th month on the lunar calendar, which just so happens to be today for 2016. Although today is the official day of the holiday, most people in China will take a 3-4 day weekend to celebrate. 🙂 For example, at our university all classes are cancelled for Thursday – Saturday, with Friday’s classes made up on Sunday.
Based on the lunar calendar, on the 15th of the month, the moon should be a full moon, shining bright and beautiful. So a lot of the stickers and pictures being sent around WeChat (Chinese version of Facebook) are full moons or things shaped like full moons. 🙂
The moon has a special place in the world of Chinese art and culture, with many of my students great enthusiasts of the “romantic and beautiful night sky.” So during the Song Dynasty, the Mid-Autumn Festival or Moon Festival was created to celebrate the Harvest Moon. This is supposed to be the brightest, biggest, most beautiful moon of the year.
One of the best and largest part of the Mid-Autumn Festival is the tradition of eating what are called “Moon cakes” (月饼 – Yuè Bĭng). Moon Cakes are little pastries or cakes about 4 inches around and 2 inches thick. The pastry crust tends to be pretty thick and then inside are any variety of treats or fillings. Most common in Henan is the red bean or Jujube paste, but there are many others with nuts and fruits inside. (I’m not terribly fond of the paste ones, but a few of the nut versions are pretty good.) The pastry top will somehow be stamped with a Chinese character of good fortune luck, peace, happiness, etc. They are usually passed around to family, friends, teachers, business colleagues, etc. Visit a Chinese shop before the holiday and for at least two weeks they will be selling these cakes like crazy.
According to legend, the moon cake became a holiday tradition during the Yuan dynasty. China was under the control of Mongolian rulers at the end of the dynasty, and the Ming Chinese were fed up. They decided to stage a revolution, but had a difficult issue in the logistics of communicating their message to the people without tipping off the Mongolians. The story says that the leader Zhu Yuanzhang and his adviser Liu Bowen came up with the brilliant idea of using moon cakes. They started a rumor that a horrific and deadly disease was spreading through the area and that special moon cakes were the only possible cure. Of course the people began buying up moon cakes and hidden inside each moon cake was a message telling them the date and time for the revolution (Mid-Autumn Festival). The Chinese revolted, the battle was won, and moon cakes became a permanent staple of the holiday! 🙂
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Another famous legend about the festival is that of a tragic romance. In the west, our culture has the beloved Man on the Moon, but in Chinese it’s the beautiful Chang’e, Lady on the Moon. The story says that centuries ago there live a famous hunter, Hou Yi, and his wife Chang’e. At the time, the world was surrounded by 10 suns and they were burning the earth and its people to death. A brave man, Hou Yi took his bow and arrow and went out to shoot down nine of the suns. He saved the world in the end. As a reward, he was given a special potion that contained immortality. However, because he loved his wife so much and because the potion was only enough for one person, Hou Yi refused to drink it. After this, he was very famous and many people came to learn from him. But some also came to steal from him, including one wicked man. One day while Hou Yi was out, the evil man snuck into the house and attempted to steal the potion from Chang’e. She realized she could not keep him from taking it, and so drank it herself. The potion immediately gave her immortality, and her body flew up, up, up and up to the moon. Heartbroken, Hou Yi came home and prepared a feast on a table under the moon in honor of his wife and in the hopes that she would see his efforts and know how much he missed her. So (according tot the legend), ever since the Chinese like to eat big meals under the moon to remember her sacrifice and to celebrate their own families.
Turkey: Church discovered in world’s biggest underground city in Nevşehir with never-before-seen frescos
24 Feb“Turkey: Church discovered in world’s biggest underground city in Nevşehir with never-before-seen frescos”
by Matt Atherton via “IBT“
An 1,500-year-old underground church has been discovered in Turkey with never-before-seen frescoes depicting Jesus and “bad souls being killed”. The church was found in the world’s largest known underground city in the Cappadocia region of central Turkey.
The frescoes have been described as depicting Jesus rising into the sky – known in Christianity as the Ascension – and the destroying of evil – known as the Last Judgement. The discovery of the church itself – which archaeologists suggest could be more than 1,500 years old – still has secrets to be revealed, as so far only the roof and uppermost part of the walls have been uncovered.
“Only a few of the paintings have been revealed,” said researcher Ali Aydin, who told the Hurriyet Daily News: “There are important paintings in the front part of the church showing the crucifixion of Jesus and his ascension to heaven. There are also frescoes showing the apostles, the saints and other prophets Moses and Elyesa.”
An urban housing project was taking place in the city of Nevşehir, where the church was found. It is part of a huge number of early dwellings, which form the largest known ancient underground city. The underground city itself was discovered in 2014, and around four miles of tunnels have been uncovered. The experts believe people lived here around 5,000 years ago.
Archaeologists have had to pause their excavations, however, as the winter humidity can damage the paintings. However, they have managed to reveal the ceiling of the structure which mainly sits underground, and were fascinated by the huge frescoes which can be found across the inside of the roof and top of the walls.
“We know that such frescoes have so far never been seen in any other church,” said Hasan Ünver, mayor of Nevşehir. “It was built underground and has original frescoes that have survived to this day. This place is even bigger than the other historical churches in Cappadocia.
“It is reported that some of the frescoes here are unique. There are exciting depictions like fish falling from the hand of Jesus Christ, him rising up into the sky, and the bad souls being killed. When the church is completely revealed, Cappadocia could become an even bigger pilgrimage center of Orthodoxy,.”
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Art I Love ~ 1731 Korean Scroll
10 Nov
1731 ~ Korean Scroll of Special Examination at the Northern Peripheral Territories.
Currently housed in the National Museum of Korea at Jeju
China, Hong Kong, and the transfer of Artifacts
12 FebPanda Mural in Chinatown
Whew! These past two weeks have been amazingly busy, sorry for not posting anything earlier!
I’ve recently been trying to get all of my law school classes in order, but I think I’m going to give up on that effort. It’s impossible to figure out how to juggle all of the classes, clubs, volunteer hours, and Research Assistant work. Right now, I have been manning a taco table for the Latino Law Students Association, while looking up various research for the Iowa Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts project, at the same time that I look into topics for a research paper in the Cultural Heritage class. 0_0
Anyway, I managed to stumble across an idea I think I’ll use for the Cultural Heritage class, and I’m interested to see if anyone has some input on it. Continue reading
“She was free in her wildness. She was a wanderess, a drop of free water. She belonged to no man and to no city” ~ Roman Payne
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