MP 2 Blog post #2: Chinese Culture

The associated element that I am is the Yin water element. The associated animal I am is the water rooster. Yin (literally the 'shady place' or 'north slope') is the dark area occluded by the mountain's bulk.Yin is usually characterized as slow, soft, insubstantial, diffuse, cold, wet, and tranquil. It is generally associated with the feminine, birth and generation, and with the night. Water is yin in character, its energy is downward and its motion is stillness and conserving. It is associated with the planet Mercury, the north, winter and cold, darkness, night and the colour black. It is also associated with the moon, which was believed to cause the dew to fall at night. It is also believed to govern the kidneys, ears and bones. The negative emotion associated with water is fear, while the positive emotion is calmness. Its Primal Spirit is represented by the Black Tortoise.

The aspects of my life seem to disagree with this description. I am a happy person and i have a bright personality so the fact that the Yin is characterized as slow, cold and wet. I don't think that this identifies with me personally. My favorite season is the summer, and Yin is also associated with the north, winter and cold, and the moon. I feel like I identify more with the sun.

The Chinese lunisolar calendar determines the Chinese New Year dates. This year the Chinese New Year will be on February 14, 2010. In the Chinese calendar, winter solstice must occur in the 11th month, which means that Chinese New Year usually falls on the second new moon after the winter solstice. The mythology behind this is that, the beginning of Chinese New Year started with the fight against a mythical beast called the Nien. Nien would come on the first day of New Year to devour livestock,crops, villagers and children. To protect themselves, the villagers would put food in front of their doors at the beginning of every year. It was believed that after the Nien ate the food they prepared, it wouldn’t attack any more people. One time, people saw that the Nien was scared away by a little child wearing red. The villagers then understood that the Nien was afraid of the color red. So, every time when the New Year was about to come, the villagers would hang red lanterns and red spring scrolls on windows and doors.

Throughout most of Chinese history, surnames have served sociological functions. Because of their association with the aristocratic elite in their early developments, surnames were often used as symbols of nobility. In ancient times two types of surnames,family names and clan names existed. The connection that I see between this and the Bonesetter's daughter is that Precious Auntie valued her name a lot and wanted to pass it down to Luiling to make sure she knew what it was. This shows that what your surname is can identify you to a certain group of people, and that they are valuable to remember.