The chinese pantheon (popular deities of chinese buddhism)

Jade Maiden Golden Youth
Acolytes of Kuan Shih Yin P'usa - Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva



Kuan Shih Yin P'usa - Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva
The Bodhisattva of Great Compassion

The Sanskrit name "Avalokiteshvara" means "the lord who looks upon the world with compassion".

Translated into Chinese, the name is "Kuan Shih Yin"or Quan Yin.

Kuan: observe
Shih: the world / the region of sufferers
Yin: all the sounds of the world, in particular, the crying sounds of beings, verbal or mental, seeking help

Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva is the embodiment of great compassion. He has vowed to free all sentient beings from suffering.

Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva is has great powers and can help all sentient beings. His skilful means are limitless and he can appear in any form in all the six realms of existence to relieve the suffering of the sentient beings who live there. He vowed to rescue those who call on him when they are in suffering, for example, when caught in a fire, shipwrecked or facing an attack.

In the Lotus Sutra, Shakyamuni Buddha said that if a suffering being hears the name of Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva and earnestly calls out to the bodhisattva, Avalokiteshvara will hear the call and relieve that being from his suffering.

According to the Huayen Sutra, Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva transforms himself into forms that suit the nature of those to be helped. His manifestations or transformation bodies are countless.


e.g. if a boy or girl is about to gain some enlightenment, Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva transforms himself into a boy or a girl to teach the child.

e.g. If a monk is about to attain some enlightenment, Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva transforms himself into a monk.

In short, he can appear as a monk, a nun, or a normal person like you and me. The purpose of such transformations is to make people feel close to him and willing to listen to his words.

In China, Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva is represented in female form and is known as Kuan Yin. Probably because of Kuan Yin's great compassion, a quality which is traditionally considered feminine, most of the bodhisattva's statues in China since the Tang Dynasty (A.D. 618 - 907) have appeared as female figures. In India, however, the bodhisattva is generally represented as a male figure.

In her hands, Kuan Yin may hold a willow branch, a vase with water or occasionally, a lotus flower.

The willow branch is used to heal people's illnesses or bring fulfillment to their requests.

The water ( the dew of compassion) has the quality of removing suffering, purifying the defilements of our body, speech and mind, and lengthening life.


In Buddhist art, Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva is sometimes shown with eleven heads, 1000 hands and eyes on the palms of each hand (Thousand-Armed Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva). The thousand eyes allow the bodhisattva to see the sufferings of sentient beings, and the thousand hands allow her to reach out to help them.


Sometimes, he is represented with one head and 4 arms. This is the Four-Armed Avalokiteshvara, worshipped by all Tibetans as "Chenrezig", the Holder of the White Lotus. It is in the male form which has two hands in the praying gesture while the other two hands hold his symbols, the Crystal Rosary and the Lotus Flower.

There is a sacred place for the worship of Kuan Yin in China - the Putuo Mountain. It is actually an island located near the city of Ningpo, in Zhejiang Province. There are many stories of Kuan Yin's miraculous appearances at Putuo Mountain.

Actually, anyone can be like Kuan Yin. You may say that you don't have a thousand eyes or a thousand arms or that you lack skilful means, but it is your compassion that can transform you into a Kuan Yin. With your eyes and hands, you can help others. With your compassion, you can bring peace and tranquility to this world.

The Mani Mantra (The Mantra of Universal Protection) : OM MANI PADME HUM



Golden Youth
Acolytes of Kuan Shih Yin P'usa - Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva

Source:www.buddhanet.net

The "four treasures of the study - 文房四宝 wén fáng sì bǎo

Four stationery items indispensable to any Chinese scholar and calligraphy practitioner are brush pen, inkstick, paper and inkstone. They are main tools with which one carries out ones scholarly work, calligraphy and/or traditional Chinese painting. For this reason, they are called the "four treasures of the study" - Wen Fang Si Bao. It is only through these tools that the beauty of Chinese art receives concrete expression.


Brush pen (máo bî) 毛笔
The brush pen was invented very early in Chinese history. According to a few recent archaeological researches, the ancient oracle characters inscribed into the tortoise shells were first written with brush and ink, then carved with a knife. If this is proven, the use of brush pen can be dated as early as 11th century B.C. which is about 3,000 years ago.

Unlike fountain pens, ball-point pens, and other writing instruments with a hard tip, a brush pen is made from fine, soft animal hair. Hairs from goat, rabbit, wolf, horse, mouse and weasel are commonly used to produce various kinds of brush pens. Goat hair brushes are soft, flexible, and absorbent. Rabbit hair brushes produce bold, vigorous lines and are best suited to calligraphy. Sometimes, a mixture of two or three different kinds of animal hairs is used to satisfy a particular style or taste.

Some famous calligraphers even produced their own brush pens according to their own requirements.

The resulting flexibility of the point of the brush pen is perhaps its most outstanding and unique characteristic. An experienced calligrapher can manipulate a brush pen not only to the left and right on a two-dimensional plane , but can also to raise it up and push it down, thus creating lines of varying thickness.

Many aspects of the unique style of Chinese calligraphy evolved due to the special characteristics of the brush pen and how the brush pen is manipulated.


Ink (mò)墨
Ink is made from a mixture of soot and resin, molded into stick form. The most commonly used to make ink are pine soot, oil soot, and lacquer soot. A good ink stick is finely grained and has an even and smooth texture. It is firm and not sticky. It is pure, solid black in color, without murkiness or roughness. The control of hue is crucial to the success of a work in ink.


Paper(zhî)纸
One of the most important Chinese inventions, paper was invented by a Chinese scholar during the Eastern Han dynasty (25 - 220 A.D.). Since the paper is the medium which a piece of calligraphy is presented and preserved, it is utterly important to use the right paper. An ideal paper must be able to absorb ink quick and hold it well. The surface of paper can not be very firm and smooth. Chinese calligraphy and traditional Chinese painting require different kinds of paper


Ink Stone (yàn)砚
To use ink in the traditional stick form, an inkstone is required. As the name suggests, most inkstones are made of stone or bricks. The stone used must be of relatively fine whetstone materials to facilitate the grinding of the ink without harming the bristles of the brush pen. Today, many students use ink bottle to replace ink stick and ink stone.

Source:web.fccj.org

Different Types of Hanzi 不同的汉字

Introduction

Chinese characters have been used for thousands of years. In that time, they have changed and developed. The script used today is essentially the same as that used 2,000 years ago, but noticeable changes do exist. The types of changes that have occurred in the past are still going on today, and they can be seen where characters are different over short periods of time or across space. Characters are not exactly the same all across the world of people who speak and write in Chinese. They continue to be developed and refined as peoples needs arise and Change.

Mainland China

When he became the first Emperor of China in 221 BC, Qinshihuang (秦始皇) standardized the writing system of the Han people. After him, the characters used by the Han,汉字 Han4zi4, remained essentially unchanged for over two thousand years. With the exception of calligraphic styles and shorthand abbreviations, the tradition of writing Hanzi has been long and unbroken in China.

At least that was the case in China until the twentieth century. In the early party of the century, when the Qing Dynasty, 明朝 qing2chao2 (1644-1911), was overthrown, some progressives such as Hu Shi (胡适) and Guo Moruo (郭沫若) started advocating an alphabetic script. The movement was revolutionary because the literati involved spurned previous Chinese academic tradition of attending to precedent and studying according to the Classics. Instead, the intellectuals involved in the movement were independent thinkers—many of whom had studied abroad and returned to promote the use of Western scientific methods in academics.

Despite the strong influence of progressive academic thought, the movement to alphabetize Chinese failed in the first part of the century. By the 1930s and ‘40s, any thought of language reform was overshadowed by political unrest. The Nationalists (KMT: guo2min2dang3 国民党) and the Communists (CCP: gong4chan3dang3 共产党) were engaged in civil war, and all of China was at war with Japan. Naturally, it was not a convenient time for changing the way people wrote Chinese.

Nevertheless, language reform remained an important topic in the eyes of China’s leaders, and both parties had their own ideas about how to go about re-inventing the written language. As soon as the CCP came to power in 1949, it began planning written language reform. “Revolution” was the catch-phrase of the day, and the planned reforms would be truly revolutionary: the ultimate goal was to develop and institute a functional alphabetic system in place of characters; in the meantime, the government got to work on simplifying characters.

By 1950, the Communist shifted their priorities away from the alphabetic ideal—probably because it would have been nearly impossible to realize. Instead, the focus lay on the less revolutionary step of developing Simplified Characters, 简体字 jian3ti3zi4, for common use. In 1950, the first dictionary of simplified forms was published, and in 1956 the government issued the first official list of Simplified Characters. The publication of that official list effectively made Chairman Mao the first person to officially alter the Chinese script in 2,177 years.

Although the development of an alphabetic script was the original revolutionary intent, the CCP changed its official stance with the publication of the Simplified Character list in 1956. By this time, Pinyin had been developed as a suitable Romanization system, but the goal was no longer to replace characters with Pinyin. At that time, Zhou Enlai announced that “the purpose of Pinyin Romanization is to indicate the pronunciation of Chinese characters and to spread the use of the standard vernacular [Putonghua].”

The original list of simplified characters was updated in 1964. The new standard of simplified characters was called 简化字总表 jian3hua4zi4 zong1biao3, “A comprehensive list of Simplified Characters.” This list contains over 2,200 Simplified forms—about one-third the total number of characters needed to write Chinese. The list was updated again in the 1980s, but the new publication is essentially the same as the 1964 version.

Greater China

Today, Simplified Characters are the standard for any printed material in Mainland China. The islands Taiwan (台湾 taiwan) and Hong Kong (香港 xianggang) persist in using Traditional Characters, fan4ti3zi4 繁体字 for everything from printed materials to movie subtitles. Because Hong Kong is a media powerhouse in Asia, Hong Kong’s continued use of traditional characters infiltrates the mainland via television, movies and karaoke. Therefore, it is nearly impossible to live on the mainland without encountering Traditional Characters. In order to read older materials and overseas publications, Chinese must be fluent in both scripts.

Taiwan 台湾

Taiwan and Hong Kong’s reasons for continuing to use traditional script are quite distinct. Hong Kong never changed to Simplified Characters because it was a British colony until 1997. It seems that Taiwan persists in its use of Traditional Characters in order to prove that it is not the same country as the Mainland. Taiwanese tend to be proud of the fact that they continue using traditional forms, and they look condescendingly on the Simplified Characters as a corrupt form of writing.

Hong Kong and Macao 香港和澳门

The Linguistic situation of Hong Kong and Macao is slightly different than that of Taiwan. Owing to their long period of separation from the Mainland, Hong Kong and Macao naturally have their own political qualms with policies instituted by the People’s Republic of China. Having spent so much time as colonies, these islands never had to worry very much about the language policy in the rest of China. Furthermore, Hong Kong and Macao were not governed by the People’s Republic of China when simplified characters were introduced. Therefore, Hong Kong and Macao not only use Traditional Characters, but also uses Cantonese as their standard language for spoken communication.

Like Cantonese speakers on the mainland, Hong Kongers are particularly proud of their dialect. Chinese from Hong Kong have a reputation for their poor command of the common vernacular, Putonghua (普通话).

The tradition of exclusively speaking the local dialect has resulted not only in a sense of linguistic pride, but also in a peculiar writing situation. Some grammatical elements of Cantonese are quite different from those of Putonghua. There are also commonly used words in Cantonese that are rarely used in Mandarin. For these reasons, it is possible to write in a style that is distinctly Cantonese. This writing style is generally reserved for the scripts of operas and other “low” forms of writing. Although Chinese characters can be read in any dialect, the Cantonese writing style is so unique that it would be unintelligible to a non-Cantonese speaker.

All official writing throughout China is done in 白话 bai2hua4, which is the written equivalent of Putonghua. Written Cantonese differs from bai2hua4 in terms of style, and also in terms of the actual characters used. Some writing makes use of special Dialect Characters that are only meant to be read in Cantonese. Like all characters, these specialized graphs represent speech sounds. However, they represent sounds that have no equivalent in the standard dialect.

Overseas Chinese Communities

Living in isolation from the majority of Chinese has had its effect on overseas Chinese communities. Like Hong Kong, these communities were not under the PRC’s government when simplified characters were introduced. Therefore, many Newspapers, advertisements, and other text in overseas Chinese communities are produced in Traditional Characters. Nowadays, newspapers from the People’s Republic of China are available abroad, so it is possible to acquire Simplified texts. Nevertheless, in Chinatowns around the world, you are more likely to encounter Traditional Characters than Simplified.

Additionally, many overseas Chinese come from Southern China. They therefore tend to speak Cantonese or Minnanhua natively. Because overseas Chinese tend to trace their roots to the South of China, they historically have been more influenced by Hong Kong and Taiwan than the Mainland. Unless a text is produced by the overseas community itself, it is unlikely to come from the mainland. In other words, overseas communities simply do not have very much access to or use for Simplified Characters.

Source:www.interestingchinese.com

Chinese Papercuts - Artistic Creations from Nimble Fingers

Chinese Zodiac Papercut

Paper cutting is a traditional art that has evolved through-out the course of Chinese cultural development. Its origin should be closely connected with the invention of paper during the Han dynasty (206 B.C.-221 A.D.). As paper was highly precious in the early days, the art of paper cutting first became popular in the royal palaces and houses of nobility as a favorite pastime among court ladies. Later, during the 7th through 13th centuries, paper cutting was immensely popular during folk festivals and celebrations. By the 14th century, the art had spread to the Middle East and Europe; and by the 15th century onward, paper cut art works had become and integral part of the everyday life of the people. However, the art of paper cutting was on the verge of dying out during the past century as old China experienced successive years of the disaster of war brought on by domestic turmoil and foreign invasion. Amidst a myriad of changes in their lives, most people had no leisure time to engage in the study of the art of paper cutting.

The Republic of China on Taiwan has been actively promoting the renaissance of Chinese culture since the 1980s. The art of paper cutting has again received a great deal of attention because of heavy publicity, resulting in even more innovative artwork.

The influence of paper cutting on continental Europe and Asia can be traced back to the seventh century. It spread to Japan and then to the Middle East and Europe via the Silk Road, thus leading to the development of many diverse styles. Today, many valuable ancient paper cutouts are kept in the national museums of these countries.

The art of paper cutting has remained unfading in China through the ages principally because its devotees used the skills of knife and scissors to dynamically depict splendid Chinese culture and folk festivals in all its many facets--in a most interesting and likable way that is felt to be more and more precious with the passage of time.


Fish and Lotus


For example, noble ladies in ancient times would often use paper cutting to practice their art during their leisure, while social calls by ordinary folk involved giving paper cuts as gifts and using paper cut fancy likenesses for pretty adornment to signify auspiciousness. Subsequently, mutual emulation and minute study led to a superb level of technique. By later generations, paper cut art ranged from clipping complicated patterns using a tiny pair of scissors to often making cutouts into window decorations, clothes-making stencils, or embroidery patterns for shoes.

As the art has been passed down through the generations, the mainstream techniques developed many diverse forms, but the themes of the subject matter have primarily remained folk motifs, with two-dimensional illustrations as the primary form. The technique they display consists of a combination of trimming with scissors and carving with a knife. The rendering of their visual appearance involves such methods as applying multiple layers of color, folding symmetrically, individually pasting, or uniquely engraving. These diversified cutting methods could be said to be quite beautiful, but manifestation of the unique, lively beauty of paper cut art still depends on the artistic mastery of every paper cut artisan.

Generally speaking, animated artistic creation is extraordinary because of the artist, time, place, environment, and disposition. Carved reproductions of paper cuttings for commercial purposes can only remain at the level of mere handicrafts.

In recent years, Mrs. Linda Pu-fei Sun Yeh has revived the art of traditional Chinese paper cutting through her diligent study and uniquely creative style. As a result of her uncanny cutting skill, the art has undergone a metamorphosis from ordinary folk handicraft to works of a sophisticated, cultural art standard. Every one of her paper cut art pieces is an animated, vivid, and fascinating image that seems to be three-dimensional. She has held many personal exhibitions in renowned museums and cultural centers in Taiwan and around the world. The worldwide acclaim has gained her greater respect and recognition in the international art arena.

Nonetheless, Mrs. Yeh feels that Chinese paper cutting art can seek future development in the following directions that she also intends to strive for. First, she calls on the public to accord due respect for the traditional classic and elegant style rather than cut reproductions and imitations with a knife. Second, she advises artists to capture the sense of rhythm in the folk art and explore new themes rather than being confined to the conventional Chinese folk festivals. Third, she has hopes that the art of paper cutting may blend the romantic charm of traditional Chinese painting, the fineness of embroidery, and the form in Western sculpture in order to create a realistic sense of three-dimensional imagery and revitalizing and animating the art form.

Aside from all this, engaging in the mastery and study of paper cutting is a delightful recreation that nourishes the mind. It cultivates patience and concentration among young people, and diminishes loneliness for the middle-aged and elderly. The art of paper cutting also contributes to close friendship among associates, resulting in a sharing of experience and wisdom. As a beneficial exercise for both the eyes and the hands, this decorative art is a recreation that transcends age limits.

The sense of fulfillment in mastering a pair of scissors, the sense of being uplifted in both the traditional and creative realms, and the satisfaction of achieving the lofty ideals of truth, beauty and goodness, fill the heart of an artist with indescribable joy.

Source:www.chinavoc.com

The chinese pantheon (popular deities of chinese buddhism)

Amitabha: the Buddha of Boundless Light.

According to Mahayana Buddhist sutras he was a king in the remote period of time. Renouncing his kingdom, he became a monk and was named Dharmakara, which means 'Treasury of Dharma'. Inspired by the teachings of the then Buddha of that time, Lokesvaraja Buddha, who taught him the way to supreme enlightenment many aeons ago, he made forty eight great vows for the saving of the sentient beings. The Eighteenth Vow, which is the basis of the Pure Land, ran like this: 'If upon the attainment of Buddhahood all sentient beings in the ten quarters who aspire in sincerity and faith to be reborn in my land, recite my name up to ten times and fail to be born there, then may I not attain the Perfect Enlightenment…'

Since then, the Bodhisattva Dharmakara, after five aeons of self-cultivation, finally attained the Supreme Enlightenment and became the Buddha Amitabha. This means that his grand and infinitely compassionate vow is now a reality, the paradise known as Pure Land or Sukhavati has been established, suffering beings must and will be delivered if only they will have the full faith to call upon his name.

Calling the Buddha's name with full faith is known to the Chinese as 'NIEN-FWO' meaning 'Prayer-recitation'. The Japanese term for this practice is known as 'Nembutsu'. In this practice three important qualities must be present in the mind: Sincerity, Faith and Aspiration to be reborn in the Pure Land. The simple prayer or formula that one needs to repeat is:

"NAMO O-MI-TO FWO"

One may repeat it in Sanskrit 'Namo Amitabha Buddha' which literally mans 'Homage to the Amitabha Buddha ' or 'I seek refuge in the Amitabha Buddha'.


Yao Shih Fwo, Bhaisajyaguru: the Medicine Buddha.

Yao Shih Fwo, one of the three foremost Buddhas of the Chinese Pantheon, is a Buddha of the past era. Better known to the people as the Buddha of Medicine or the Master of Healing, he is dear to the hearts of many, for they have indeed received his blessings in the forms of miraculous cures of all kinds of illness. The Buddha's efficacy in preventing calamities and granting prosperity besides curing illness has attracted a steady number of believers and devotees since the time of the Eastern Chin Dynasty (AD 317-420) to the present day. The Sutra of the Buddha of Medicine (Bhaisajyaraja Sutra) was also translated into Chinese at that period of time which provided a full account on the peerless Buddha, his Paradise and his Twelve Great Vows. However the later translation made by Tripitaka Master Hsuan Tsang, the famous monk of the Tang Dynasty, known as The Sutra of the Master of Healing (Bhaisajyaguru - Vaidurya - Prabhasa Tathagata), is the more popular Sutra which is widely read by most people today.

The title 'Master of Healing', is a literal translation of his Sanskrit name 'Bhaisajyaguru', the Buddha who favours worshippers with relief from the troubles of the world. Apart from curing illness, warding such calamities as famine, drought and plague, granting longevity and assisting the dead, Yao Shih Fwo is known to have dispensed all kinds of mundane benefits to those who pray to him. Despite his great popularity, temples dedicated to him are very scarce so that those who wish to worship him may do so at temples where his images can be found. He is often found in a triad with Sakyamuni Buddha and Amitabha Buddha, and his symbols are either the medicine bowl or the pagoda. When depicted alone, he holds his symbol with his left hand and he is normally attended to by his prominent disciples, the Great Bodhisattvas 'Radiance of the Sun' and the 'Radiance of the Moon'.


to be continued

Source:www.buddhanet.net

Qixi -- the Chinese Valentine's Day

If it rains heavily on Thursday night, some elderly Chinese will say it is because Zhinu, or the Weaving Maid, is crying on the day she met her husband Niulang, or the Cowherd, on the Milky Way.

Most Chinese remember being told this romantic tragedy when they were children on Qixi, or the Seventh Night Festival, which falls on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, which is usually in early August.
As the story goes, once there was a cowherd, Niulang, who lived with his elder brother and sister-in-law. But she disliked and abused him, and the boy was forced to leave home with only an old cow for company.

The cow, however, was a former god who had violated imperial rules and was sent to earth in bovine form.

One day the cow led Niulang to a lake where fairies took a bath on earth. Among them was Zhinu, the most beautiful fairy and a skilled seamstress.

The two fell in love at first sight and were soon married. They had a son and daughter and their happy life was held up as an example for hundreds of years in China.

Yet in the eyes of the Jade Emperor, the Supreme Deity in Taoism, marriage between a mortal and fairy was strictly forbidden. He sent the empress to fetch Zhinu.

Niulang grew desperate when he discovered Zhinu had been taken back to heaven. Driven by Niulang's misery, the cow told him to turn its hide into a pair of shoes after it died.

The magic shoes whisked Niulang, who carried his two children in baskets strung from a shoulder pole, off on a chase after the empress.

The pursuit enraged the empress, who took her hairpin and slashed it across the sky creating the Milky Way which separated husband from wife.

But all was not lost as magpies, moved by their love and devotion, formed a bridge across the Milky Way to reunite the family.

Even the Jade Emperor was touched, and allowed Niulang and Zhinu to meet once a year on the seventh night of the seventh month.

This is how Qixi came to be. The festival can be traced back to the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220).

Traditionally, people would look up at the sky and find a bright star in the constellation Aquila as well as the star Vega, which are identified as Niulang and Zhinu.

The two stars shine on opposite sides of the Milky Way.

Traditional celebrations

In bygone days, Qixi was not only a special day for lovers, but also for girls. It is also known as the "Begging for Skills Festival" or "Daughters' Festival."

In the past, girls would conduct a ceremony to beg Zhinu for wisdom, dexterity and a satisfying marriage in the future.

This was not the case all over China, as the festival varied from region to region.

In some parts of Shandong Province, young women offered fruit and pastries to pray for a bright mind. If spiders were seen to weave webs on sacrificial objects, it was believed the Waving Girl was offering positive feedback.

In other regions, seven close friends would gather to make dumplings. They put into three separate dumplings a needle, a copper coin and a red date, which represented perfect needlework skills, good fortune and an early marriage.

Girls also held weaving and needlework competitions to see who had the best hands and the brightest mind, both prerequisites for making a good wife and mother in ancient China.

Young women in southern China used to weave small handicrafts with colored paper, grass and thread.

Afterwards, they competed to pass a thread through the eyes of seven needles in a single breath.

Tradition transformed



The love story of Niulang and Zhinu, and the Qixi Festival have been handed down for generations. Yet these ancient traditions and customs are slowly dying out.

Many modern Chinese, particularly youngsters, seem to know more about St Valentine's Day on February 14, characterized by bouquets of roses, chocolates and romantic candlelight dinners, than they do about their home-grown day for lovers.

Even Qixi is nowadays referred to as the "Chinese Valentine's Day."

Fewer people than ever will gaze at the heavens on Thursday to pick out the two stars shining bright on either side of the Milky Way, that is, if people even know on which day Qixi falls.

There are ready reminders dotted about, in the form of big ads saying "Sales on Chinese Valentine's Day!" in shops, hotels and restaurants.

But few young women will mark the festival with their boyfriends, or take part in traditional activities to pray for cleverness.

"I really have no idea about the 'Begging for Skills Festival.' I thought Qixi was only connected to the fairytale," said Wang Yilin, 24, a young woman working for a website in Beijing.

Wang's lack of awareness about Qixi's cultural implications is common among young Chinese women.

In modern society, a girl is no longer required to excel at weaving or needlework, so praying for dexterous hands holds no special meaning.

But this is not to say the interest in needlework is dead and buried, as the skill sets of some young women have evolved from mending clothes and sewing buttons to making unique handicrafts.



Wang Yilin is actually quite handy with a needle and thread, herself.

"I think my earliest creation was a hat. It was quite easy as I just tied a knot in every corner of my handkerchief," she said laughing.

She tried tailoring a skirt for her doll by sewing pieces of cloth together, but found it a hard task.

"I used to cover all buttons with beautiful cloth, and knitted colorful wool into different shapes to put them on my key ring," she added.

The need to operate sewing machines and knit has dwindled in recent years as there is a glut of quality clothing available in shops and on the Internet, which is a change from the time of their mothers and grandmothers for whom knitting was an essential tool in times of shortage.

Some young women have, however, fallen in love with knitting woollen scarves in recent years.

"My roommate at university knitted a white scarf for her boyfriend, and then gradually all the girls in our department joined in," Wang said.

Dong Yijun, 23, an office worker from Shanghai, is another scarf knitter.

"It is simple to knit a scarf. And it feels satisfying to wear a homemade scarf," she said.

A new form of needlework is now making waves the cross-stitch.

Imported from Europe, the cross-stitch is a popular form of counted-thread embroidery, in which X-shaped stitches are used to form a picture.

But this trend didn't sit well with Dong Yijun.

"It causes too much trouble. I don't think I am patient enough," she said.

Lin Yun, a 17-year-old high school student, is a spectator when her classmates spend time after class knitting and stitching.

"Years ago we really enjoyed weaving bracelets. Soon we all got tired of it. Now there are new fashions. But we are too busy with homework. And after all, we girls prefer shopping and listening to pop music," she said.

"Compared to the cross-stitch, I prefer traditional Chinese embroidery. Maybe one day I will take courses on it," Wang Yilin said.

"I hope to make all kinds of embroidery patterns on hebao (a silk pocket used in ancient China). That soft cloth and colorful thread always make me excited."

Source:www.china.org.cn

The Development of Characters 字体发展

Understanding that the notion of pictographic or ideographic characters is no more than a myth, there must be some explanation for Chinese characters. What exactly are they if not pictures or alphabet? A more accurate word in English for the Chinese type character is “logograph” or “logogram,” which means a sign (graph) that represents a word (logos).

Many people see Chinese characters and are reminded of Egyptian Hieroglyphics, 象形文字 xiang4xing2wen2zi4. Unlike Chinese characters, Hieroglyphics are not all logographs that represent spoken words. Some Hieroglyphics are purely phonetic symbols, like an alphabet; some are logographic, like Chinese; and some are determinative--words that specify the meaning of other graphs. While the two orthographies are not related in any way—Chinese developed independently—their histories do bear certain similarities.

Proto-Writing


In archaeological work done in both Egypt and China, artifacts have been unearthed that bear stylized drawings or proto-writing. In China, the earliest artifacts of this type were discovered in Shandong (山东) province, which lies between Beijing and Shanghai. These artifacts include shards of pottery that have been dated to approximately 2000 BCE. The pictures on these pieces are definitely not writing. They are a defined set of fairly realistic images that may have been used for ritual purposes, but were essentially decoration. The earliest Egyptian relics, which date to around 4000 BCE, are also considered decorative proto-writing.

Chinese tradition says that Chinese characters were created by a minister of the Yellow Emperor, 黄帝 huang2di4, named Cangjie, 仓颉. According to legend, he discovered the secret of writing by looking at animal tracks in the earth and stars in the sky. This discovery shook the confidence of the gods on high because writing was a powerful tool unknown to mankind. In similar mythological fashion, the Egyptians honored the deities Thoth and Isis for the gift of writing.

It is generally accepted that no one could have invented the entire writing system. However, if Cangjie was a real historical figure, then he may have played a role in stylizing and standardizing the proto-writing, and turning the ancient pictures into a true writing system.

Oracle Bones 甲骨



The earliest examples of actual Chinese writing are found on Oracle Bones, 甲骨 jia3gu3. Oracle Bones are pieces of tortoise shell or cow bone that were used for divination in the Shang Dynasty, 商朝 shang1chao2 (1766-1122 BCE). In comparison, the earliest Egyptian writing has been dated to the time of the Second Dynasty, which occurred during the third Century BCE.

In fact, many experts now believe that the Oracle Bone script is too refined to be China's original writing system. Counting many years of development prior to the Shang dynasty, it is is possible that Chinese started keeping written records at the same time as the Egyptians. As far as the Chinese are concerned, they have been keeping records in one way or another for as long as there have been Chinese people. According to mythology, before the development of writing, information was recorded using knotted ropes 用结绳来记事 yongjieshenglaijishi.

Whether or not they are the most ancient orthography, Oracle Bone inscriptions, 甲骨文 jia3gu3wen2, are the ancestors of modern Chinese characters. They represent true writing in that they are an orthographic representation of language (as opposed to a picture). Even after thousands of years of development, modern characters still bear a resemblance to the Oracle Bone script. It is even possible for an untrained reader of modern Chinese to recognize many of the ancient characters.

The Rebus and the Advancement of Writing

From Oracle Bones, it can be seen that Chinese characters were developed based on the rebus. Despite the intimidating and unfamiliar word, everyone who has been through elementary school is familiar with this principle. The rebus uses symbols to represent a word because of their sound rather than their meaning. In English, we commonly play such word games using simple pictures and single letters. For example, you might draw a picture of an eye to indicate the subject “I,” a picture of waves to indicate “see,” and the letter U to indicate “you.” In this manner you can use basic pictures to symbolize words that are difficult to draw:



It seems somewhat strange to say that an entire language can be based on a principle that is generally used in the West to create games for children. However, the Chinese use of the rebus system is quite sophisticated.

Naturally, the first characters that could have developed were pictographs that are essentially pictures of objects. When a symbol was needed for a more complicated concept, an existing character with the same pronunciation could be used to symbolize the pronunciation of the word. In other words, the written language is truly a record of the spoken language. For this reason, about 90 percent of characters have a phonetic element, and the number of pictograph and ideograph characters is quite low.

In the Oracle Bone script, the skeleton of this system is revealed. Some characters are reused without change to represent other words with the same pronunciation but different sounds. Although, such recycling of characters creates an accurate record of speech, it also creates a written language that is difficult to understand.

Radical Developments 部首发展

In addition to reusing characters for their sounds, Chinese uses the slightly more sophisticated system of radicals to clarify the meaning of a character. With the combination of phonetic elements and radicals, Chinese developed into a fully functional orthography that is radically different from that of any other world language.

From the Oracle Bone script of the Shang Dynasty, Chinese script developed into different styles in different places. These scripts were all built on the same foundation and principle, but diverged because China was divided into several warring states until the time of the Qin Dynasty, 秦朝 Qin2chao2 (221-207 BCE).

During the Qin Dynasty, the first emperor, Qinshi huangdi, 秦始皇帝, unified the warring states in China. He allegedly built the Great Wall, and he also standardized the writing system used throughout China. He had his code of laws carved on stone tablets in the capital using only one script, which is known today as the "Small Seal" script, 小篆 xiaozhuan.

With some slight alterations, the standard script used today is essentially the same as the Qin Script used over two thousand years ago.

Conclusion

While Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics bear some superficial resemblance to Chinese characters in terms of appearance and historical development, the similarities disappear quickly given more information about the methodology and tradition of the two systems. Also, it is important to note that while hieroglyphics originated before Chinese characters, they also stopped being used long ago. Modern Egyptian is actually a dialect of Aracbic, and it is written in Arabic script. Chinese writing, on the other hand, has enjoyed approximately three thousand years of continuous use.

Source:www.interestingchinese.com