F*ck Yeah Dynastic China!

Another Blog on Chinese culture!

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 15:17:00 -0400

Hi, just to let you know, I run a blog about Chinese myths here.

Go check it out, everyone :)

centuriespast: UnknownChinese (19th century)Erotic image with...

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 13:31:05 -0400

Unknown
Chinese (19th century)
Erotic image with man holding a woman’s red cloak
19th century
Painting
watercolor on silk

Amherst College

centuriespast: UnknownChineseGuanyin (Avalokitesvara)Song...

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 22:17:24 -0400

centuriespast:

Unknown
Chinese
Guanyin (Avalokitesvara)
Song Dynasty (960-1279) or Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368)
Sculpture
Wood, gesso, paint, and gilding

Collections Database

Five Colleges and Historic Deerfield Museum Consortium

centuriespast: Anonymous, Chinese Six Dynasties Grey Pottery...

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 15:16:22 -0400

centuriespast:

Anonymous, Chinese
Six Dynasties Grey Pottery Earth Spirit, 500-599

Colby College Museum of Art

mediumaevum: Traveling on the River in Snow An early Song...

Sun, 11 Sep 2011 14:40:22 -0400

mediumaevum:

Traveling on the River in Snow

An early Song Dynasty (960–1279) painting on silk of two Chinese cargo ships accompanied by a smaller boat, by Guo Zhongshu (c.910–977 AD); notice the large stern-mounted rudder on the ship shown in the foreground.

The text in the upper left was written by Song Huizong, the 8th emperor of the Song Dynasty.

centuriespast: Muxi, Arhat Meditating and Threatening Snake,...

Sat, 20 Aug 2011 19:12:59 -0400

centuriespast:

Muxi, Arhat Meditating and Threatening Snake, Southern Song dynasty, (106.1 x 52.4 cm), The Seikado Bunko Art Museum, Tokyo

Dà Jiāng Dōng Qù 大江東去 - theme of Red Cliff (2008-2009), erhu...

Sat, 20 Aug 2011 18:15:00 -0400

Dà Jiāng Dōng Qù 大江東去 - theme of Red Cliff (2008-2009), erhu cover

disturbthebookmites: Wang Xizhi Watching Geese, ...

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 14:53:03 -0400

disturbthebookmites:

Wang Xizhi Watching Geese, ca. 1295, China, handscroll; ink, color, gold on paper.

centuriespast: Goddess of Lightning, from Homage to the First...

Thu, 18 Aug 2011 11:52:28 -0400

centuriespast:

Goddess of Lightning, from Homage to the First Principle, Wall Paintings of Sanqingdian Hall, Yonglegong Temple, Dated 1325, Ruicheng, Shanxi

fuckyeahhanfu: Recreation of 《搗練圖》.

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 14:01:06 -0400

fuckyeahhanfu:

Recreation of 《搗練圖》.

cupcakeamelie: The latest issue of Archaeology Magazine has...

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 13:12:05 -0400

cupcakeamelie:

The latest issue of Archaeology Magazine has lots of goodies.

Love your blog~!!! So glad I came across this~

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 16:19:11 -0400

Ah, thank you so much! <3

And I apologize to everyone for posting incorrect info/not posting at all lately; I just haven’t had the time to research things and set up a queue for you guys ;-;

…which is why I’ll just throw this link out here~

haeresitic: THREE KINGDOMS IN PEKING OPERA (京剧 jingju) Left to...

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 16:15:47 -0400

haeresitic:

THREE KINGDOMS IN PEKING OPERA (京剧 jingju)

Left to right: Zhang Fei; Guan Yu; Liu Bei; Cao Cao; chibi figurines of the Three Brothers; figurines of the face masks of the Five Tiger Generals

Many scenes in Romance of the Three Kingdoms are folk legends passed down through generations and until today are famous in many story-telling mediums in China: books, TV shows, movies, films. In traditional operas, stories from ROTK are a staple in the repertoire, and this is not an exception in Peking Opera, which derives its influence (and many of its repertoires) from a variety of other earlier opera forms.

The most striking and memorable thing about Peking Opera is probably the face masks actors use to distinguish their characters, of which there are hundreds, or even thousands of. Someone versed in Peking Opera would know by sight which character is which just from the face mask; even if one wouldn’t be able to remember which character it is, from the colors and patterns on the mask one would be able to tell the characteristics of the character (evil, courageous, a clown, etc).

I love Peking Opera because of how beautiful it is. It’s an extremely simple but breathtaking form of storytelling—look at how elaborate the costumes and the masks (which the actors/es do on themselves) are! Because of the lack of props, they have to improvise either with the simplest of devices or even with nothing, using simply their body languages and movement to create just about anything (like sewing, fighting, etc) out of thin air. It’s a most dramatic form of drama—even when they aren’t singing, their spoken words are rhythmic and melodic, the intonations of the Chinese characters stressed and exaggerated for so many different kinds of effects. To be a good jingju (not just Peking opera, actually, but any other Chinese opera) actor/es, you have to be well versed in acting, singing, dancing, martial arts and acrobatics. It’s a real demanding job. In China, these actors are respected when they show up in TVs or movies because you can be sure they can act (as opposed to today’s flood of pretty faces on TV who are otherwise wooden in their acting).

If you’re a Three Kingdoms fan and you’re interested in giving jingju a try, here are a few links! If you don’t understand Mandarin Chinese it’s probably hard to follow (actually, even for mainland Chinese it’s really hard to follow unless you memorize the lines) but if you are familiar with the story it’d be okay!

Most famously, this is chibi where Liu Bei and Sun Quan formed an alliance to fight off Cao Cao. This is changbanpo where Zhao Yun fought off Cao Cao’s million men to save Ah Dou. This is dingjunshan where the old general Huang Zhong fought Xiahou Yuan. The chibi video is a modern-style Peking Opera—to cater to today’s tastes, many aspects—the music is the most obvious part (traditional Peking Opera is ‘noisy’ with many cymbals and the wailing erhu but modern operas have more modern and more ‘melodious’ musical arrangements) while the changbanpo, if I’m not wrong, is filmed in the 60’s so you can see the stark differences in props and effects and music!

(If you ask me, I much prefer this version of chibi than the John Woo movies, of which I have Strong Feelings—mostly Against. But this isn’t the point of the post so never mind!)

And on a totally different note, the chibi jingju figurines are widely available in Beijing (and even in Shanghai, although when I checked the prices there they’re much higher). I got three of Zilong, Yide and Yunchang for a total of 100 RMB (the salesman was cursing and grumbling as he handed me the products reluctanty) and I regret not getting more (like the entire Five Tiger Generals plus Kongming and Xuande). I think they’re available online too and if you’re interested, check the last image source below (bolded)!

image sources 1 2 3 4 5

You can remember the major Chinese Dynasties (for AP World History) too!

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 03:20:36 -0400

asianhistory:

To the tune of Frère Jacques:

Shang, Zhou, Qin, Han,

Shang, Zhou, Qin, Han,

Sui, Tang, Song,

Sui, Tang, Song,

Yuan, Ming, Qing, Republic~

Yuan, Ming, Qing, Republic~

Mao Zedong (Deng!)

Mao Zedong (Deng!)

I feel like we need some clarification [IMPORTANT UPDATE]

Sat, 09 Jul 2011 22:31:17 -0400

nijibug:

fuckyeahhanfu:

petalorum:

This is a Kimono (Japanese):

This is a Hanfu (Chinese):

This is a Cheongsam (Chinese):

This is a Hanbok (Korean):

Any questions?

Sorry, but that’s not hanfu. It’s what we call 影樓裝 - a costume that photography studios provide that is based on but is not hanfu. I don’t even want to start detailing all the things that make it not hanfu (and there are a number of those)
.

^^^^^^^^^^ This.

I’m should have spoken up earlier myself. It’s very unfortunate that it’s what comes up first on google image searches. What that is is pretty much the equivalent of a medieval fantasy costume. And I don’t mean medieval fantasy like Beowulf or Lord of the Rings, which strives for authenticity.

Chances are, if the “hanfu” in question is flashy, it’s something you can order from the Chinese equivalent of Halloween USA. For clothing that historical Chinese people would actually have worn, I suggest fuckyeahanfu as well as my month-long hanfu spam.

Since I posted this earlier and didn’t look twice at this at all, I feel like an idiot for not researching more .__.

Yep, I am one of those people who can’t tell between authentic and derivatives, because I’m more exposed to the costumes in the more popular movies and period dramas and haven’t seen much other than centuries-old paintings. But that is no excuse for not looking them up!

A simple search on Wikipedia gives this photo:

with the caption: In recent years, young Chinese are trying to revive traditional en:Han Chinese clothing (汉服运动) using internet-based forums. A few en:Han Chinese clothing gatherings both within China and overseas were organized. Han clothing was lost for 267 years as a result of the Manchu subjugation of China, which lasted from 1644 to 1911. (*)

I feel like we need some clarification

Sat, 09 Jul 2011 20:17:22 -0400

petalorum:

This is a Kimono (Japanese):

This is a Hanfu (Chinese):

This is a Cheongsam (Chinese):

This is a Hanbok (Korean):

Any questions?

The hanbok and kimono were both heavily influenced by hanfu. The tight, curve-hugging cheongsam/qipao as we see it today was developed in Shanghai as a variation on looser Manchu qipao that were widely worn during the Qing Dynasty instead of hanfu.

fuckyeahchinesefashion: (via aiyatheydidnt: Beauties’ World...

Sat, 09 Jul 2011 20:03:21 -0400

fuckyeahchinesefashion:

(via aiyatheydidnt: Beauties’ World Showcases Popular Tang Dresses)

Photo

Sat, 09 Jul 2011 20:02:07 -0400

fyeahasianstudiestapir: [Picture: Background: 6 piece pie style...

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 16:27:47 -0400

fyeahasianstudiestapir:

[Picture: Background: 6 piece pie style color split with yellow and green alternating. Foreground: Brown tapir sticking out its tongue. Top text: “Romance of the Three Kingdoms?” Bottom text: “More like BROMANCE of the Three Kingdoms.”]

Marriage got nothin on sworn brotherhood.

ornamentedbeing: Imperial concubine’s winter court hat,...

Tue, 05 Jul 2011 00:45:30 -0400

ornamentedbeing:

Imperial concubine’s winter court hat, 1644-1911 (Qing dynasty). Sable, pearls, gold, tourmaline, red silk floss. Height 21 cm x width 25 cm x depth 26 cm. On loan from the Palace Museum, Beijing. © The Palace Museum, Beijing

With the full court dress ensemble the imperial concubines would wear a phoenix crown

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