Tag: Ancient Chinese

About Taotie

Taotie(饕餮tāotiè) is a mysterious(someone or something that is mysterious is strange and is not known about or understood) monster in the ancient Chinese mythology. It is said that the monster was extremely greedy of eating and would eat anything within its sight. It even ate its own body. So, the image of the taotie is just a big head and a big mouth without body. The taotie ate too much and died as a result. The monster then became a symbol of greediness and was used to describe people too gluttonous or too greedy.

Continue Reading →

Gong Gong

Gong Gong(共工Gòng Gōng) is the God of Water in the ancient Chinese mythology and also believed to be the descendant(someone's descendants are the people in later generations who are related to them) of the Yan Emperor. The archetype of Gong Gong dates back to a powerful tribal leader in the period of "the Three Emperors and Five Sovereigns". Gong Gong is said to be the earliest flood-control hero. He led people to combat floods bravely and put floods under control by "blocking", rather than "dredging".

Continue Reading →

The Chupu Game

Chupu is an ancient chess game(棋类运动qílèi yùndòng) played in the China. It is so named because the dice used in the original game were made of the simaruba. It is also called the Play of Five Wooden Dice since a set of five wooden dice are adopted.

Continue Reading →

The Scroll that Says It All清明上河图

“Along the River During the Qingming Festival” (清明上河图 Qīngmíng Shànghé Tú), a panoramic painting reputedly created by Song Dynasty (960-1279) artist Zhang Zeduan (张择端), celebrates not only a festival, but an entire culture. The resounding spirit of life captured in this grand painting has played muse for centuries, most recently inspiring a series of animated TV episodes.

Continue Reading →

Dragon: Chinese Dragon VS Western Dragon

Dragon is a legend animal in the world. The Chinese dragon is a far different beast from its Western counterpart. Smaug from J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” is perhaps the most widely known dragon from recent Western fiction, a cruel, avaricious and bloodthirsty creature whose lair under the Lonely Mountain identifies him as a creature of the earth. Tolkien drew much of his inspiration for Smaug from the dragon in the Old English epic of “Beowulf”, penned more than a thousand years earlier, which gives some indication of the depth of the European tradition of portraying dragons as bad news.

Continue Reading →

The 24 Solar Terms: Autumn Equinox

Introduction
On the Chinese lunar calendar, “Autumn Equinox” is the beginning of autumn and thisday is just at the middle point between “Autumn Begins” to “Hoar-Frost Falls”. After“Autumn Equinox”, the temperature decreases obviously, just like the old proverbsamong the farmers, “Each autumn rain makes it’s colder”, “The night of White Dewsand Autumn Equinox, one night is colder than the one before”. It arrives on September22 to September 23 each year when the sun reaches the celestial longitude of 180degrees. As said in the ancient Chinese books, “the Autumn Equinox” shows the Yin Qiand Yang Qi are half and half on this day”. This means the day and night are balancedand the heat and the cold are even. There is no polar day or polar night happening onthis day on every corner of the world. In some part of the north-east China, it’s notstrange to see frost at this time. The differences between the temperature in themorning and in the night are increasing, to more than 10 degree Celsius. The amountof rainfall decreases and it’s getting drier and drier in the air.

Continue Reading →