Language

Perhaps, I will continue writing this blog…but at the same time perhaps this will be my last post. As one final look at Chinese cultural for a while, I have to discuss one of the most important aspect – Language. When you define a cultural, you usually define it through the language the people speak. Since I was only one when I came to the United States, my Chinese speaking and reading ability is very low. My parents, trying to learn English themselves, enforced English in the household. Looking back on it now, I wish I was more fluent than I am. My mom has been trying to teach my little cousin Chinese by having her watching shows like Mickey Mouse in Chinese. But within China, there are many types of dialects. The dialect my parents speak is Mandarin, which is sometimes coined as the “standard dialect”

History of Mandarin

Mandarin is actually a collected group of related – dialect. While there are other dialects such as Shanghainese, Cantonese, etc… Mandarin refers to Standard Chinese and is the official spoken language for the PRC (China). Unless they speak standard Chinese, most will refer to their dialect by name. My father referred to his dialect of Mandarin as Hubeinese.

Mandarin and the other Chinese dialects derived from the dialects of Old Chinese and Middle Chinese. Old Mandarin developed after the fall of the Northern Song dynasty in the 12^th century. It was based on the dialects of Northern China. There are evidence from the 14^th century that show distinct Mandarin vocabulary and syntax, though there are still vocabulary that derives from further back (9^th century).

While Mandarin was historically spoken in just the northern and southwestern China, but this would spread to other areas in the mid-20^th century. Beijing Mandarin (Standard Chinese) became the basis to be used in education, media, etc, it is now spoken as a “second language” by most younger people.

There are quite a few different dialects:

Northeastern à spoken in northeast China, closely related to Standard Chinese

Beijing à basis of Standard Chinese

Ji Lu à spoken in Hebei and Shandong province, different tonations, but similarly vocabulary to Beijing Mandarin

Jiao Liao à spoken in Shandong and Liaodong province, very visible tonal changes compared to Beijing Mandarin

Zhongyuan à spoken in the Henan province, significance phonological differences

Lan Yin à spoken in Gansu province

Jiang hua à spoken in Jiangsu and Anhui province, intelligibility is limited with Beijing dialect

Southwestern à spoken in Hubei, Sichaun, Guizhou, and Yunnan province. Sharp phological, lexical, and tonal changes

Mandarin Dialects in China

The dialects that I just listed are only Mandarin dialects...there are many more other types of dialects, as well as more than 50 ethnic groups identified in China.

Dumplings

One of the things that I think define Chinese culture is the food. But the ‘Chinese’ food cooked in my house differs greatly from what I eat when I’m at school. I’m not sure why, but I am a huge fan of what I usually term fake Chinese food. I think I order Dragon gate or eat at Panda Express at least once a week. And from these two places, I usually end up getting the same thing again and again – fried rice and orange chicken, sesame chicken and white rice, beef lo mein, or chicken and broccoli. When I am at home, while my mom will sometimes cook fried rice, my diet usually consists of dumplings, fried dumplings, and various adjustments to the dumplings. Also we do eat a lot of chicken, but nothing that I would find in a Chinese restaurant. While we often do eat other types of food at home (a.k.a having my mom cook us some macaroni and cheese for example), we usually just stick with eating dumplings for most of our meals

An example of my typical fare when at school

History and Facts about Chinese Dumplings

Dumplings in China can take on a variety of names depending on how they are made and what they are made out of. In my home, we call them jiaozi (饺子). Jiaozi are made by wrapping minced meat and vegetables in an elastic doughy skin. My mom makes use of the blender quite often when making dumplings, and depending on how tired she is, sometimes she will make the doughy skin and sometimes she will just buy it from the store. An interesting fact about dumplings is their use in the Chinese New Year festival. They are eaten on Chinese New Year’s Eve and on the 5^th day of the New Year. The jiaozi are supposed to resemble the gold yuan used during the Ming dynasty and is symbolizes wealth and prosperity for the New Year. According to Chinese stories, a doctor named Zhang Zhongjing invented the dumpling as a way to help the poor against chilblains.

Jiaozi. This image is similar to the jiaozi my mother makes

  

Jiaozi are actually more commonly eaten in Northern China, while another type of dumpling called wonton are more popular in Southern China. This makes sense to me, as my mom was born and raised in Qingdao, which is a northern port city, and she had learned how to make and cook dumplings from her Grandmother. There are quite a number of different types of dumplings and different ways of eating them. We dip our jiaozi in soy sauce and other spices, but there are many other types and names for dumplings just in China alone. I’ve listed some examples below.

Shuijiao à literally means water dumpling; boiled dumplings

Zhengjiao à steamed dumplings

Guotie à Shallow fried dumplings

Danjiao à dumplings that instead of dough, uses an egg skin

Jiaozi also differ in the way they are made and what types of meat they contain. Some like using pork, others beef, and others chicken. My mom usually makes chicken or beef dumplings, and she mixes what she thinks is the best vegetables with them. Personally my favorite is beef dumplings that contains carrots and celery. I am hoping to learn from my mom how to make dumplings, since I still have no clue except the cooking process (but not the preparation process).

Chinese Education

After reading William Brody’s blog post Exploration of Imagination, which discussed Amy Chua and her contention that first and second generation Asian (or even more specifically Chinese) mothers are better than their US counterpart, it had me thinking about my own education. While I was borne in China, I grew up in the United States from the time I was one and a half, and so I have always been, at least in my opinion, immersed in American culture. I did well in high school, obviously, as I go to Duke now, and similarly my sister and brother also attend some of the top colleges in the United States (Harvard and Columbia respectfully). So is this a sign of better parenting? I’m not sure. In my household, we were all bribed (kind of forced) to get A’s. Disappointment would pervade through the household, if this grade was not reached. During the summer, when many of my friends were out relaxing on the beach or just chilling, I distinctly recall having to remember vocabulary words and working on mathematical problems in preparation for the SAT’s. When we (my siblings and I) complained about the workload, the response we got from out parents usually elicited the following response “In China, you wouldn’t even be able to be accepted into a University unless you’re the top of the top. You have  to work harder”. This had me wondering…what made the Chinese educational experience so much different than ours that perhaps gave Amy Chua her conclusion about Chinese being better parents.

Chinese Education

Currently in China, the government requires that all citizens have at least 9 years of education (from 6-15), a law that was passed in 1986. Since my parents have left China to move to the United States, the number of undergraduates and those with doctoral degrees have increased tremendously. The importance of which high school one attends in China is very significant. Every year, China holds the ‘Zhong Kao’ or middle test for junior graduates (comparable to our middle school). The students will be tested in Chinese, Mathematics, English, Physics, Chemistry, Politics, and PE. They have to process an application for the high school that they wish to attend. When students are in their last year of high school, they will often time take the ‘Gao Kao’ (high examination). This exam is somewhat comparable to our SATs or ACTs, and began in 1952 with a break in between from 1966-1976 because of the Cultural Revolution, and then began again in 1977. The exam takes place over a two to three day period and has 3 mandatory subjects – Chinese, Mathematics, and a Foreign Language. Then they have other 6 other subjects, where they choose which one (or several) that they wish to take – Physics, Chemistry, Biology, History, Geography, and Political Education. The importance of this test to enter college cannot be stressed enough – failing or performing poorly on this exam means that they might not be able to attend a university. Some will repeat their senior year in order to make a second attempt.

I remember that several years ago, my mom was telling me how a relative of ours in China did poorly on the Zhong Kao, and so didn’t even bother to go to high school. I think one of the important things to remember regarding perhaps why Amy Chua mentioned that Chinese mothers are better parents, is that they had to grow up in a super competitive educational environment, where at any stage of their educational pathway, they could either ensure success or disappointment.

The above clip is just a funny YouTube video of how the stereotypical Asian parent react to a non-A grade

Terra Cotta Warriors

Like the ancient Egyptian pharaohs who placed belongings, furniture, mummified animals, food, etc… in their pyramids for the afterlife, the terracotta army of the first Qin emperor, Shi huangdi, was to help him rule some ‘afterlife’ empire. Even in the United States, this notion of the protective nature of the terracotta army has been captured on film. One of these movies that I can recall was a Disney movie “Wendy Wu Homecoming Warrior” in which the main character has to fight and destroy an evil being that keeps returning, who can summon up these terracotta warriors. 

This is a 10 minute clip from "Wendy Wu, Homecoming Warrior", but you only need to look at the first minute to see some of the heroes fighting representations of the terracotta warrior.

Discovery and Description

In 1974, a group of peasants, while attempting to dig a well in the Shaanxi province, founded this army. While for centuries, pieces of the terracotta fragments and figures had been dug up in the area, this new discovery had prompted archaeologists to explore further. While these archaeologists were investigating, they noted some 18^th – 19^th century graves, in which the diggers had come across some terracotta fragments but discarded them as worthless. There are four pits:

Terra Cotta Pit 1

 Terra Cotta Pit 1 à contains 6,000 warriors and horses (only 1,000 have been unearthed), and covers an area of ~19,000 square feet. They are placed in well-organized battle array. Pit 1, which is the largest pit, is set so that it seems like they are ready and prepared for battle at any point. 

Terra Cotta Pit 2 à ~7,100 square feet, and is shaped in an L-Shape formation. This pit, while with only about 1,300 warriors, is more elaborate and complete than any of the other pits.

Terra Cotta Pit 3 à ~600 square feet, and has been deemed the command center. It contains 68 warriors, but no commander-in-chief…so it is often speculated that it is the Emperor Shi Huangdi, himself that is supposed to represent this commander-in-chief.

Terra Cotta Pit 4 à empty of warriors, and sometimes called the accessory pits, which includes builder’s graveyards, slaughter pits, animals pits, etc…

Construction and About Emperor Shi Huangdi

Shi Huangdi was emperor of the State of Qin from 246 BC to 221 BC, and then Emperor of China from 221 BC to 210 BC. He began ruling at 13 and was able to unify China by 221 BC. The very fact that he was able to unify China and then ushering in almost 2,000 years of imperial rule makes him a very significant figure. According to historian Sima Qian, the construction of this necropolis would begin in 246 BC and involve around 700,000 workers (A LOT!) so basically he started this necropolis right when he became emperor of the State of Qin—almost seems like a testament to his confidence and thoughts about his abilities as a ruler. The terracotta warriors were manufactured in workshops by laborers and craftsmen and each were given different features and facial expression. The warriors are also life-size and vary in height, uniform, hairstyle in accordance to their rank.

Shi Huangdi

I think it is pretty cool that there is such a large monument devoted to one man – I wouldn’t mind a necropolis for myself :D

The Giant Panda

So I guess it is about time I explored why my blog is called ‘The Culture of the Panda’. As is pretty obvious, this blog is about different aspects about Chinese cultural – information about different cities, festivals, and aspects of China. The Giant Panda, along with the Chinese Dragon and Red-crowned Crane, are listed as the National Animals of China. But I think out of these three animals, the Giant Panda is the most treasured as 1) the Chinese Dragon is mythical and 2) the Red-crowned Crane’s Latin name is translated into the ‘Japanese Crane’. Even from a young age, I was able to notice the importance of the Giant Panda, as when I was 5 or 6, my parents bought my sister and I stuffed Panda Bears – I named mine Pam Pam and my sister named her Shing Shing. I think that the Giant Panda is pretty much automatically synonymous with China. While the Giant Panda is pretty much synonymous with China, there are very few left in the wild. The estimate puts about 1,600 in the wild (though upper end sometimes put it at 2,000 – 3,000) and another 300 in captivity.

Geographic Location and Habitat

The Giant Panda is situated in a few of the mountain ranges in Central China—Sichuan, Shaanxi, and the Gansu provinces. They live in a broad leaf forest of bamboo at an elevation between 5,000 and 10,000 feet. The Giant Panda’s diet almost consists wholly of bamboo, and with land development, farming, and deforestation their habitat has dwindled. The following image is a representation of the habitat and its decline of their habitat over the last 2,000 years.

Image from Smithsonian Institute, National Zoo

Physical Description and Diet

When you think about what a Giant Panda looks like, black and white comes immediately to mind. They often have black fur on their ears, eye patches, muzzle, legs, and shoulders, with the rest of their coat being white. There is speculation that the reason for this coloring is for effectiveness in camouflaging in snowy and rocky surroundings. The Giant Panda also have large molar teeth in order and strong jaw muscles to crush bamboo. As for their size, they can grow up to two to three feet at the shoulder, and up to four to six feet long. Males can weigh up to about 250 pounds, and females up to 220 pounds.

As mentioned earlier, the diet of the Giant Panda is mainly bamboo (they get water from the bamboo as well). They can eat anywhere between 20 – 30 pounds of bamboo a day. They do sometimes eat other small rodents and musk deer fawns. In zoos, they eat other stuff like sugar cane, rice gruel, high-fiber biscuits, apples, carrots, etc… But because of their diet, which is pretty low in nutrition, they then spend most of their time resting, eating, and seeking for more food.

Giant Panda eating some bamboo

Conservation and Diplomacy

Because of the low number of Giant Pandas in the wild, they are placed at a conservation status of Endangered. Besides the deforestation and land development that has placed limitation on their habitat, there are other factors that have contributed to their decline. The main one being their slow reproduction rate – a female panda can at most give birth to 5-8 cubs throughout her lifetime. Because of their low reproduction rate, there has been efforts by conservation reserves in breeding baby pandas. One of the most famous centers for this captive breeding program is the Wolong Nature Reserve. It is reported that so far with this breeding program, about 270 giant pandas have been born in captivity as of 2008.

Giant Pandas at the Wolong Nature Reserve

As a way to signify the importance of the Giant Panda to China is that when these pandas are in captive elsewhere other than China, they are actually on ‘loan’ for a set period. For example, American Zoos actually have to pay the Chinese government about $1 million dollars a year in fees, as part of its typical 10-year contract. Also the Giant Panda has been used as diplomatic gift to other countries, though after 1984, the contract and fee was included, as well as the provision that any cubs born would be a property of the PRC. China actually gave two pandas to the United States in 1972, after Richard Nixon visited China – Ling Ling and Hsing Hsing. Another example of Giant Pandas being used as a diplomatic gift occurred in 2008, when two pandas were given to Taiwan from China. There names were quite significant as well as the combination of their names mean ‘reunion’ (Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan)

The Giant Panda plays an integral role in Chinese society as they are one of the symbols of China. While they are endangered, with the help of conservationists around the world, people can hope to appreciate them in the future.

QingMing Festival

While the Chinese New Years is the most important festival, the QingMing Festival is significant as a day for remembering ancestors. It falls on the 15^th day after the Spring Equinox (usually around the 5^th of April). There are a few names that this festival is called in English such as All Souls Day, Clear Bright Festival, Spring Remembrance, Grave Sweeping Day, etc…

In the following excerpt from Mulan, we can see perhaps the Disney representation of how Ancestors can look after the living.

ORIGIN

Historically, filial piety has been one of the most important aspects of Chinese culture. This filial piety extends after death because it is believed that the spirits of dead ancestors will look after the family when they are gone. Offerings of food and money can keep the ancestors happy in the spiritual world, and thus the living family will continually make sure to keep these ancestors happy in order to have their blessing. The origin of the QingMing Festival stretches back over two millennia and is derived from the Hanshi festival which means ‘cold food’. The Hanshi festival was originally held to commemorate a man named Jie Zitui, who had a cut a piece of his own leg for his starving lord to eat when he had been exiled. When his lord, the future Duke Wen returned to power, he forgot about Jie’s sacrifice, and so he left and holed himself into a mountain. Duke Wen, realizing that he wanted to reward Jie tried to find him in the mountain, but couldn’t so tried to weed him out with fire…but instead Jie would be found dead. Eventually the Hanshi festival and the QingMing Festival would be combined into just one and would be interconnected.

ACTIVITIES

As one of the name suggests, QingMing is grave sweeping day, so many family will go to graves to clean and tend to any weeds and underbrush which have grown out of hand around the grave. The family also offer flowers, food, drinks, and paper money for their dead ancestors. School children will also often go to Martyrs’ Park to pay respect to national heroes and martyrs who had sacrificed their lives for China.

Offerings made to the deceased on QingMing Jie

Another aspect of QingMing is the spring outing. It is a festival where people go out and appreciate the beauty of Spring, and also marks the day when planting season has resumed. It is a symbol for the end of winter, and the beginning of warm weather and nice rainfall.

Lastly, on this day, kites are flown both during the day and night. Also they will cut the string of the kite to let it fly free, and by doing this it said that it brings good luck and eliminates diseases.

The Great Wall of China

Have you ever heard that you could see the Great Wall from space? Well while it is an amazing structure, it is still the size of a wall, and is not visible with the naked eye. Its length, however, is quite amazing, as it stretches with actual wall, trenches, and natural defenses for an estimated 5,500 miles! The length of the actual wall is an estimated 3890 miles. The Great Wall is close to double the length traveling from one side of the United States to the other. When I google mapped directions from Wildwood, NJ to San Francisco, CA, it was about 3,000 miles. One common misconception is that the Great Wall is continuously. It is rather a series of short walls that follow the crest of the hill near the Mongolian plain. 

Why was the Great Wall Built?

The Great Wall was built was to help ward off invaders from the North. Walls were built beginning in the 5^th century and was rebuilt and maintained up through the 16^th century.  Most of the walls we have left were built during the Ming Dynasty (1368 – 1644)

The map above shows when the different parts of the wall were built and during which dynasty. While the map above is a bit small and hard to see this shows it in a bit more detail. While the wall was built to ward off the Mongolian defenders, because it was not continuous, the Mongolians just went around the walls instead...which led to the abandonment of the building of the walls. The first walls were pretty simple, mad with earth and stones on wooden frames. 

Early parts of the Great Wall in China

The Ming Dynasty walls were much more complex, and could be up to 25 feet high, 15-30 feet wide at the base, and 9-12 feet tall at the top, with  guard and watch towers at regular intervals. The walls were made wide enough for marching troops and wagons. 

Great Wall built during the Ming Dynasty

The Great Wall Today

Because of the age of the Great Wall, there has been restoration efforts to maintain the wall. Every day the Wall can boast thousands of visitors! In parts of the wall (Badaling Section and the Ming Mausoleums Scenic Area), there is a limit to 53,000 visitors per day...which means that an estimated 2 million people visit that part of the wall each year. The wall is also proned to graffiti and certain sections of the wall are eroding.

Graffiti on the Great Wall

As an integral part of China and its culture, I hope that the wall will be around for hundreds more years for people to visit!