Here are some photos from around our neighbourhood during the Tomb Sweeping Festival 清明节 from the end of March to the beginning of April 2011 (blogged here). For more about the Tomb Sweeping Festival see:
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Here are some photos from around our neighbourhood in the days before Tomb Sweeping Festival 清明节 (April 5). Tomb Sweeping Festival is when Chinese traditionally honour their ancestors by tidying their graves and making offerings to them, mostly by burning spirit money (纸钱) and other paper offerings. See more photos in the Tomb Sweeping Festival 2011 photo gallery.
A family tradition. A family burns spirit money on the sidewalk outside our apartment complex:
Spirit money for sale on the corner nearest our apartment complex:
Spirit money (纸钱) is usually called “ghost money” or literally translated as “paper money”. This man is also in the following photo.
Piles of spirit money ash. Intersections are prime locations for sending burnt offerings to your ancestors:
Local media pooh-poohs on the practice of burning piles paper in public spaces and then leaving the ash to blow around. This neighbourhood notice board says:
“Civilizedly offer sacrifices and tidy the ancestral tombs,
safe and sound Tomb Sweeping Festival”
文明祭扫 平安清明
See more 2011 Tomb Sweeping Festival photos here.
More about Tomb Sweeping Festival:
Here are some photos from around our neighbourhood in the days before Tomb Sweeping Festival 清明节 (April 5). Tomb Sweeping Festival is when Chinese traditionally honour their ancestors by tidying their graves and making offerings to them, mostly by burning spirit money (纸钱) and other paper offerings. See more photos in the Tomb Sweeping Festival 2011 photo gallery.
A family tradition. A family burns spirit money on the sidewalk outside our apartment complex:
Spirit money for sale on the corner nearest our apartment complex:
Spirit money (纸钱) is usually called “ghost money” or literally translated as “paper money”. This man is also in the following photo.
Piles of spirit money ash. Intersections are prime locations for sending burnt offerings to your ancestors:
Local media pooh-poohs on the practice of burning piles paper in public spaces and then leaving the ash to blow around. This neighbourhood notice board says:
“Civilizedly offer sacrifices and tidy the ancestral tombs,
safe and sound Tomb Sweeping Festival”
文明祭扫 平安清明
See more 2011 Tomb Sweeping Festival photos here.
More about Tomb Sweeping Festival:
Zhuāngxiū time!
If you’ve been living in China the last couple days, you might be wondering why you suddenly have to yell in your own apartment just to be heard… again. Last month you had to yell because of the Spring Festival fireworks, but those are long over. This time, it’s due to the ancient Chinese custom of using … wait for it … jackhammers to knock all the plaster and tiles off their concrete apartment walls and floors and re-plastering before moving in. You can’t move into a new apartment without first gutting it completely by taking jackhammers and drills to the concrete from 8am-7pm for several daysweeks.
It’s called 装修, or “renovation with Chinese characteristics.”
It’s bad luck to do this kind of thing (动土) during the first month in the Chinese lunar calendar — actually it’s bad luck/taboo (禁忌) to do a lot of things during the first lunar month, like get your hair cut — but three days ago the second Chinese lunar month began. The dragon has awakened from its winter rest and raised its head (龙抬头，on the second day of the second lunar month 二月初二); the insects are becoming active and the spring rains will fall (dragons are in charge of insects and rain). That means — among other things connected to interesting cultural traditions that I’ll mention in another post if I get time — it’s zhuāngxiū time! The pile in the picture above is outside our stairwell and was extracted from the apartment directly above ours via jackhammer.
Living with the occasional 装修 is part of life in a Chinese apartment building, and it’s normally not that big a deal. This time of year there’s a lot of 装修ing going on, but it’s usually tolerable. From where I’m sitting I can pick out of the soundscape four different apartments all running jackhammers and drills. Three of them are far enough away — in another part of the building or in the building opposite — that they just sound like noisy traffic outside. But one of them is in the apartment directly above us; I think their entire apartment must be directly above our toddler’s room. It’s driving her crazy, and that’s driving us crazy.
Our daughter loved the firecrackers, but she hates the jackhammers. Every time they start cries and buries her head in one of our shoulders. There is no way she’s taking either of her two regular daily naps, or doing anything else. And since it’s almost constant for hours on end, it means all she does is cry and want to be cuddled. Forget playing, or getting anything done. I’m writing this during the workers’ lunch break, because it’s the only time she can take a nap. She’ll wake up when they start work again around 1:30, and we’ll feed her and escape to a park for the afternoon. She’ll be tired and cranky, but better in the park than next to a zhuāngxiū!
We took her up there yesterday to meet the workers and see what was going on (the workers were really friendly), hoping that she’d be less scared if she could see it. Didn’t work. I pity Jessica tomorrow — she gets to deal with her single-handedly while I’m at work! I gotta run — she just woke up with a startled shriek, practically jumping out of her crib. Maybe if we play Raffi at high volume it will distract her…
P.S. — Other Dragon Raising Its Head traditions
We had Chinese class this morning, and my teacher was telling me all about the second day of the second lunar month (二月初二), called 龙抬头, or “Dragon raises (its) head.” This day, which was two days ago, marks the beginning of spring activity and spring rains; no need to hibernate anymore, the weather is warming up and it’s time to get to work. People call dumplings “dragon ears” (龙耳) and noodles “dragon whiskers” (龙须).
The most obvious change you see, aside from the sudden appearance of jackhammers at work in neighbouring apartments, is that everyone suddenly goes and gets a hair cut (剃龙头). There’re line-ups in the barber shops because it’s bad luck to cut your hair during the first lunar month; if you do your uncle will die. At least, that’s what people tell you if you ask. There are actually a lot of taboos (禁忌) to avoid during the first month of the lunar calendar. Our Chinese teacher this morning explained the hair cutting taboo this way.
When the (foreign) Qing dynasty took power from (Han) Ming dynasty around the middle of the 17th century, they made the Han Chinese grow their hair in a long queue and shave the front of their heads as a sign of subjugation to their foreign rulers. Anti-Qing literati greatly resented this, and taught the common people that they can’t shave the front of their heads in the first lunar month because that would make your uncle die — 死舅舅 (sǐ jiùjiu) — and that sounds like 思旧 (sī jiù), which means “miss the former” or “cherish the memory of the past.” The peasants turned it into a popular custom/superstition without realizing its original meaning, because that’s just what peasants do.
The other explanation is that there’s a saying, “Start at the head” (从头开始), meaning to start things in the right place, with the idea that everything starts at and flows from the head. So at the start of the new year’s activity, it’s good to take care of your head first.
Why are dragons raising their heads now?
The legend behind the dragon raising its head is connected to China’s ancient agrarian society. The Heavenly Emperor was unhappy because China had a female emperor, so he said unless he looks down and sees the earth covered in yellow flowers (I don’t know why), he won’t allow the dragons to make it rain. But one dragon disobeyed and made it rain, so the Heavenly Emperor locked him up. So the people all made yellow things to eat, like scrambled eggs, and the emperor looked down and saw all the yellow, and so allowed the dragons to make it rain. Or something like that. One variation was that the imprisoned dragon’s mother looked up and saw her son and cried, and I think her tears had something to do with the rain?
My teacher was telling me all this this morning, yelling it at me across the table, actually, because of all the jackhammering going on right above us, so I forget the details. Does anyone know the full story?
P.P.S. — Happy Women’s Day
Today is “International Women’s Day”, aka “three-eight” (三八) in Chinese because it falls on March 8. Now, because these numbers are associated with womenkind, “three-eight” is more often used as a derogatory, sexist adjective for people, usually but not necessarily women, who are woman-ish in the sense of being gossipy, nosy busybodies with nothing to do except cause problems by sticking their noses into other people’s business and running their mouths. Happy International Women’s Day!
Pronounced: kǒngmíng dēng / xǔyuàn dēng
Literally: Kong Ming lantern / make-a-wish lantern
Means: sky lantern, the candle-powered floating lanterns released into the sky during the Lantern Festival.
Pronounced: kǒngmíng dēng / xǔyuàn dēng
Literally: Kong Ming lantern / make-a-wish lantern
Means: sky lantern, the candle-powered floating lanterns released into the sky during the Lantern Festival.
Last night was The Lantern Festival 元宵节, the final night of Spring Festival 春节 and that means the last night of fireworks(!), so this morning it’s finally all quiet on the eastern front.
We joined the happy crowds last night on Tianjin’s frozen Haihe river 海河 near Ancient Culture Street 古文化街 and launched a couple “wish lanterns” 许愿灯 (usually called 孔明灯) — the candle-powered sky lanterns you’ve probably seen pictures of.
These pictures aren’t great, but it was actually a pretty fun scene. Hundreds, maybe thousands of lanterns were floating around, fireworks up and down the river, lots of people having fun, etc.
Ok, the pictures really aren’t that great, but all those little dots in the sky are lanterns. It looked cool, I promise. Just look at the photos and use your imagination.
You can actually see it better in the video clip below.
Some of the flaming lanterns got stuck in trees, and every so often one would come hurtling down to the ice in a blazing arc of glory. We even launched a couple:
These were the only lanterns to be found at Tianjin’s Ancient Culture Street 古文化街，which was a bit of a disappointment considering it was the LANTERN Festival, but it was still fun to launch fire hazards into the night sky from down on the river. We’ll definitely do this again next time we get the chance!
You can browse the rest of our Spring Festival fun here.
Last night was The Lantern Festival 元宵节, the final night of Spring Festival 春节 and that means the last night of fireworks(!), so this morning it’s finally all quiet on the eastern front.
We joined the happy crowds last night on Tianjin’s frozen Haihe river 海河 near Ancient Culture Street 古文化街 and launched a couple “wish lanterns” 许愿灯 (usually called 孔明灯) — the candle-powered sky lanterns you’ve probably seen pictures of.
These pictures aren’t great, but it was actually a pretty fun scene. Hundreds, maybe thousands of lanterns were floating around, fireworks up and down the river, lots of people having fun, etc.
Ok, the pictures really aren’t that great, but all those little dots in the sky are lanterns. It looked cool, I promise. Just look at the photos and use your imagination.
You can actually see it better in the video clip below.
Some of the flaming lanterns got stuck in trees, and every so often one would come hurtling down to the ice in a blazing arc of glory. We even launched a couple:
These were the only lanterns to be found at Tianjin’s Ancient Culture Street 古文化街，which was a bit of a disappointment considering it was the LANTERN Festival, but it was still fun to launch fire hazards into the night sky from down on the river. We’ll definitely do this again next time we get the chance!
You can browse the rest of our Spring Festival fun here.
Last night was The Lantern Festival 元宵节, the final night of Spring Festival 春节 and that means the last night of fireworks(!), so this morning it’s finally all quiet on the eastern front.
We joined the happy crowds last night on Tianjin’s frozen Haihe river 海河 near Ancient Culture Street 古文化街 and launched a couple “wish lanterns” 许愿灯 (usually called 孔明灯) — the candle-powered sky lanterns you’ve probably seen pictures of.
These pictures aren’t great, but it was actually a pretty fun scene. Hundreds, maybe thousands of lanterns were floating around, fireworks up and down the river, lots of people having fun, etc.
Ok, the pictures really aren’t that great, but all those little dots in the sky are lanterns. It looked cool, I promise. Just look at the photos and use your imagination.
You can actually see it better in the video clip below.
Some of the flaming lanterns got stuck in trees, and every so often one would come hurtling down to the ice in a blazing arc of glory. We even launched a couple:
These were the only lanterns to be found at Tianjin’s Ancient Culture Street 古文化街，which was a bit of a disappointment considering it was the LANTERN Festival, but it was still fun to launch fire hazards into the night sky from down on the river. We’ll definitely do this again next time we get the chance!
You can browse the rest of our Spring Festival fun here.
If you’re wondering why it sounds like your Chinese city is under attack again, a mere five days after the Chinese New Year bombardment, it’s because today is 初五, the 5th day of Spring Festival and the day traditionally reserved for getting together with family and cursing your current and future enemies. In other words, what you’re hearing tonight is Chinese firecracker voodoo.
There’re also voodoo dumplings, among other preemptive enemy cursing traditions, which you can read about here:
Happy Chūwǔ 兔 you!
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Chinese festivals
We both write, but Jessica only writes when I bribe her. See all of her posts here.
Pronounced: guāzǐ liǎn
Means: Melon-seed Face. One of the ideal Chinese face shapes.
Albert at Laowai Chinese introduces two ideal and two undesirable Chinese face shapes: The Four Faces of Chinese People (women, really)
- 2012/03/22
Eating Bitterness: an intro to the unprecedented Chinese migrant worker phenomenon
If you're unfamiliar with the urban migrant phenomenon in China -- as in, the people who make the stuff you buy and their lives -- then China’s Urban Immigrants: A Diet of Bitterness is a fine overview with lots of links for further reading.
"Chinese metropolises are now home to an estimated 200 million rural-to-urban migrants . . . who occupy a precarious place in the urban hierarchy: while urbanites appreciate their labor, they are less enthusiastic about the migrants’ presence in their cities."
For more on this topic you can browse our Migrant Workers category, or if you like documentaries, see these reviews of two good documentaries on migrant workers:
- 2012/05/10
Chairman Mao enshrined -- literally
When one of my young, very privileged Party-family students passionately told me, "Chairman Mao is like a god to us!" I understood he meant it as a simile. And the god metaphor is common when discussing Mao and his Cultural Revolution personality cult. But as it turns out, in some incredible irony, some other Chinese mean it literally. I heard about this before, but this is the first time I've found pictures -- Mao actually enshrined in a local temple: Mao Temple in China – Chairman Mao Becomes Local God.
For more about Mao and the Mao Era, you can browse these topics:
- 2012/05/08
A deeper look into the dynamics of living with Chinese propaganda
Two insightful posts from Seeing Red in China, which is probably my current favourite China blog, about living in an aggressively and explicitly propagandized environment, and how Chinese try to deal with it. The propaganda still works, but in ways different than us foreigners probably tend to assume. Without further ado:
I tell [my daughter] that she must not be afraid to take a clear moral stand. “If you see someone is being bullied,” I said, “speak up for that person.” “Be the keeper of the good.” [But] Chinese parents would have to think twice, three times, or even lose sleep, if they are to instill these values in their children, because these qualities won’t serve them very well in the Chinese society.
We've written lots on propaganda, mostly the Chinese kind, including translations of the propaganda we've encounter in China. You can find it all in our Propaganda category.
- 2012/05/06
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