Smell China

Guan Yu had been impacted by an arrow, the arrow was crossed through his left arm. After that, though his wound had healed, when rainy day comes, the bone of his left arm always feels hearts. Hua Tuo said to him: “You was impacted by an poisoned arrow, the poison now has sank into your bone. Your arm can be cure only after to be open again and scrape off the poison on your bone.” Then Guan put out his left arm and let Hua open it. It was just the time that Guan inviting generals to have dinner with him. The blood was bleeding from his arm and splashed onto his dish, but Guan was still ate and drank as usual, go on talking and laughing as if nothing has happened.

Once upon a time, the youngest daughter of Emperor Yan, legendary ruler of primitive China, went boating on the Eastern Sea. While she was enjoying herself, a strong wind rose on the sea and her boat capsized. Just before she was buried by the surging waves, her spirit turned into a beautiful bird. As it flew over the roaring sea, it cried sadly in the sound “jinwei, jingwei”. That was why people called it “Jingwei”.

The bird lived on a mountain near the sea. It hated the sea so much that it decided to fill it up. Every day, it flew to and fro between the mountain and the sea, carrying in a twig or a pebble from the mountain and dropping it into the sea.

One day, the roaring sea said to Jingwei, “Poor little bird, stop doing that meaningless thing! You’ll never fill me up.” Jingwei replied, “I’ll fill you up no doubt! I will, even if it’ll take me thousands of years! I’ll fight on until doomsday!”
The brave little bird kept carrying twigs and pebbles from the mountain to the Eastern Sea without taking a rest.

From this fable comes the idiom “The bird Jingwei trying to fill the sea”. We use it to describe people who are firm and indomitable and will not stop until they reach their goal.

Listed as one of ten best ancient Chinese music pieces, “High Mountains Flowing Water” has lyre and zither versions, both inspired by the classical allusion: Boya encountering a person who understands his zither performance.

“Bo Ya was good at playing the qin. Zhong Ziqi was good at to listening to the qin. When Bo Ya’s will was towards high mountains in his playing, Zhong Ziqi would say, ‘How towering like Mount Tai!’ When Bo Ya’s will was towards flowing water in his playing, Zhong Ziqi would say, ‘How vast are the rivers and oceans!’ Whatever Bo Ya thought of Ziqi would never fail to understand. Bo Ya said, ‘Amazing! Your heart and mines are the same!’ When Ziqi died, Bo Ya broke the strings of his qin and vowed never to play the qin again. Thus, there was the melody of High Mountains Flowing Water.”

The story occurred in ancient times far far away. A beautiful and merciful Goddess,  who’s name was Nuwa, came to the eastern land. Her arrival filled all the plants and animals in the human world with vitality.

One day, Nuwa came upon a broad field. She was so delighted by the world full of the chirping of birds and the fragrance of flowers that she didn’t want to go back. She however had a nagging feeling that something was missing. The feeling stayed with her as she walked all the way to the water. She squatted down to drink. Seeing the beautiful image of herself in the mirror-like water gave her the idea of creating lives. Excitedly, she grasped a handful of mud, and molded a figurine, an imitation of herself. Strangely enough, when she put down the figurine, it immediately came to life! How magical! It even called her “Mama” and jumped up and down. Joyfully she molded another, and then another, and another. She worked so hard that her fingers grew sore. But still, the figurines she molded were too few; how could they fill the broad field? Then an idea came to Nuwa: she dipped a long strand of ivy into the mud. When she lifted it, the mud dripped from the ivy rope and became human beings. Nuwa cherished her creations; she was wild with joy and ran across mountains and rivers, and before long the field was full of people. From then on human beings lived in the wonderful world, creating wealth, working with their hands, and leading happy and peaceful lives.

However, the prosperity did not last long. One day a great storm came. The wind rose and clouds scudded across the sky. Thunder roared, as a jagged flash of lightning set the woods on fire. Birds and beasts fled in panic at the deafening sound, but then half the sky fell off. A torrential downpour doused the fire and drenched the woods and fields. The riverbed of heaven was broken. The water in the heavenly river poured straight down. The ground was about to be submerged in a flood. Seeing that the people would drown, Nuwa’s heart broke. She raised a giant rock above her head and made a flying jump toward the hole that the heaven river gushed through. But the stream was so strong that Nuwa was flushed down with the rock. She raised the giant rock and jumped again, but the water again flushed the rock and Nuwa away from the hole. Nuwa was not discouraged. She picked up many beautiful stones from the rivers and lakes, and piled them up to form a beautiful shiny five-color mountain. Next she cut reeds from the field and mixed them together with the stones, and then set fire to the reeds. The fire burned continuously for nine days and nights. The Goddess Nuwa raised the burning melted-rocks and jumped to the sky. She kept mending and filling for seven days and nights and finally, the big hole was fixed.

The sun shone again after the rain, and colorful clouds floated in the sky. Nuwa was burned all over her body. The heroic goddess overcame an especially big disaster. The people were finally saved. All heaven and earth celebrated together. Thus began the golden age of living in harmony, men plowing, women weaving, and all enjoying a good and prosperous life. Bearing their harvests, they thanked Nuwa. A thunder-chariot, drawn by a flying dragon, bore the Goddess up to the clouds and beyond, toward the ninth heaven.

According to Chinese belief, there was a time when ten suns shone in the sky, leaving the earth scorched. Because of the heat, crops dried up before they could be harvested and people were dying from hunger and thirst. The Emperor Yao asked the mighty archer Hou Yin for help. Climbing up the Kun Lun mountain, Hou Yi shot down nine of the ten suns, leaving just the one that still lights up our skies. This was how he saved mankind.

Hou Yi had a beautiful wife named Chang’e whom he loved with all his heart. He wanted their happiness to last forever, so he left again for Kun Lun mountain, to ask the Queen Mother of the West, Xi Wangmu, for the elixir of life. Xi Wangmu was happy to oblige with the warning that if the couple share the drink, they would live happily forever on earth, but that if only of the pair should drink it, that person would join the ranks of the immortal in heaven.

Hou Yi and Chang’e decided to share the drink in mid-autumn, on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, when the light of the full moon shone on earth. On that day, though, an envious man who wanted the elixir for himself decided to interfere with their plans, killing Hou Yi and threatening Chang’e. Without hesitating, Chang’e drank the liquid and began her ascent to the world of the immortals.

But Chang’e missed her husband so much that she decided to live on the moon, since it was the heavenly object that was closest to earth. She lives there still, and if you look really hard, in the life of mis-autumn’s full moon, you might just see her. Look even more closely and you might also find Jade the rabbit, who helps Chang’e prepare elixirs for the immortals.

Mooncakes are an important part of the Moon Festival Mooncakes are an important part of the Moon Festival – The mid-autumn festival, or the moon festival, has been celebrated in China for thousands of years. The moon waxes and wanes, and the world is in a constant state of flux. This festival is a potent symbol of togetherness for the Chinese family. The whole clan gets together for a meal and reaffirm their family ties. Those who are far away look at the same full moon and still feel a sense of belonging — they are, after all, looking at the same moon that their loved ones are gazing at.

Food goes hand in hand with Chinese festivals, and mid-autumn festival is no different. Traditionally, mooncake is served. A hardboiled egg yolk was originally placed in the middle of the mooncake, a salty-sweet reminder of the full moon. And the lady that adorns the boxes these mooncakes come in is almost always the Chinese goddess of the moon, Chang’e.

In Chinese mythology, the sun is sometimes symbolized as a three-legged bird, called Sun-Birds. There were ten of these sunbirds, all of whom are the offspring of Dijun, God of the Eastern Heaven. The ten sun birds resided in a mulberry tree in the eastern sea; each day one of the Sun-Birds would travel around the world on a carriage, driven by Xihe, the Mother of the Suns.

Folklore also held that, at around 2170 BC, the Sun-birds grew tired of the routine and decided that all of them were to rise at the same time. The heat on earth became intense. At a result, crops shriveled in the fields. Lakes and ponds dried up. Human and non-human animals cowered in shelters or collapsed from exhaustion. Time passed and the suffering continued. Yao, the Emperor of China, decided to plead for divine intervention and to ask Dijun for aid.

Dijun was well aware of his sons’ misdeeds, and sent for Houyi, the God of Archery, to teach his sons a lesson. Dijun wanted Houyi to simply frighten them so that they would not dare to cause mischief again. Houyi, too, wanted to settle this crisis peacefully, but a single glance at the scorched land was enough to convince him that desperate measures were needed. Angered by the suffering of the people caused by the Sun-birds’ misconduct, Houyi lifted up his bow and shot them down one by one. Upon killing the ninth, Emperor Yao hurried to halt him as killing the last one would leave the world in total darkness. Houyi agreed and was hailed as a hero for mankind. Yet, later, Houyi’s actions caused him to make enemies in Heaven and as a result he was punished with divine wrath.