Chinese Legend Research Articles

The spectacular fossils of the ‘water margin’: the Cambrian biota of Chengjiang, Yunnan, China

Shi Nai'an's fourteenth century Chinese epic ‘Water Margin’ tells of the release of 36 heavenly spirits and 72 baleful stars from their captivity beneath a tablet of stone at Mount Longhu in Jiangxi Province. They are reincarnated as the 108 heroes of the Liangshan marsh in Shandong Province, who rise against an unjust world. The virtuous exploits of the ‘108’ were brought to life through the cathode‐ray screens of 1970s television sets, as the TV series The Water Margin introduced heroes like Lin Chong battling his evil nemesis Gao Qiu. Far to the west of Jiangxi Province and several hundred years after the Water Margin during the summer of 1984, a young scientist from Nanjing was working amongst the hills and lakes of southern Yunnan Province. He too overturned a stone slab, releasing from their half‐billion year captivity a cornucopia of new Chinese legends. His name was Xianguang Hou and he had made one of the most momentous fossil discoveries in history, uncovering the exceptionally preserved marine fossils of the Chengjiang biota from the ancient water margin of Cambrian seas.

중화권 여우커를 위한 한국관광지 스토리텔링 고찰

In 2001, Chinese youke(482,227) visited Korea to overtake the American tourists(426,817), In 2013, China(4,326,869) has finally to overtake Japan(2,747,750), China has become the largest visit country visit to South Korea. Chinese youke of visited Korea in 2014 has amounted to 6 million people, Chinese youke is 2.7 times that of Japanese tourists. if including all the local Chinese youke in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macao, it amounted to a total of 7 million people. In 2013, Japanese tourists visiting Korea was decreased, although more than 700,000 people was reduced more than in 2012(3,518,792), but foreign tourists(12,175,550) visited South Korea in 2013 rather than in 2012(11,140,028) increased by 9.3%. this is because Chinese youke visited Korea significantly higher than in 2012(2,836,892). In this paper, conducted a study about Korea Attractions storytelling for Greater China youke. In areas other than Seoul, using local resources and to make the storytelling. Jeju Island, Namhae, Geoje, the Busan there is a legend associated with the First Qin Emperor, Bu-lao-cao, Xu-Fu, San-shen-shan in the Chinese legend. Korea’s summer mount Kum-gang, mount Ji-ri, mount Ha-lla is considered to a ‘Underwater San-shen-shan’, Peng-lai-shan, Fang-zhang-shan, Ying-zhou-shan in the Chinese legend. Besides, There are many mountains with names like Peng-lai-shan, Fang-zhang-shan, Ying-zhou-shan in the Korea. Finally, China’s legendary story and Nam-hae China Ming Deng-Zi-long transcription story can feel the interest to Chinese youke. However, if too much unrealistic, the story will have the inconvenience to Chinese youke.

Theology and Identity in Gene Luen Yang’sAmerican Born Chinese

While Gene Yang’s acclaimed and widely-read graphic novel, American Born Chinese , has been the subject of scholarship focused on its representation of the formation of its young protagonist’s bicultural identity, critics have largely ignored its intensive and profound engagement with theological concepts. Christian allusions and visual imagery are prominently present at significant points in the book, interwoven with the Chinese legend of the Monkey King and the Bildungsroman narrative of the main character, Jin Wang. This article argues that theological discourses, verbal and visual, are constitutive elements in the characters’ experiences, understandings, and discovery of identity in American Born Chinese .

Siblings of the Dragon: China's Territories and Constitutional Law

China’s territories are asymmetrical. Ideologically, statist socialism remains the People’s Republic of China (PRC)’s orthodoxy, but Hong Kong retains a “free market” of speech and belief in accordance with the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). Societally, in China’s peripheries, ethnic minorities, as territorial majority groups, are entitled to preserve their languages and cultures in autonomous (administrative) regions. Only in China proper have ethnic Han Chinese retained demographic dominance. Constitutionally, the Chinese state is a hybrid of various constituent units – special administrative regions, ethnic autonomous regions, and others of diverse legal statues – the theoretically “unitary” nature is under questions. According to Chinese legend, a dragon can have nine siblings and each of them are different – one who loves music sits on a lute; another who has good eyes resides up on the roof. This article argues that the asymmetry of Chinese territories, like the differences among the dragon’s siblings, has set the Chinese territories apart from ordinary administrative divisions, and created a unique regime of jurisprudential significance. As a matter of scope, this article will explore only three phenomena. The first section addresses the heterarchy of authorities in the Chinese context. The PRC central government and the territories are neither of equal authority, nor do they form a heterarchy of authorities with the PRC central government at the top. Ordinary administrative divisions are subordinate to a central government, but the territories may vary in institutions, cultures, and political attachments. The second section goes to the relationship between the authorities and citizens/nationals. The PRC, as a theoretically unitary state, still does not offer homogenous citizenship to all Chinese nationals. In fact, Chinese nationals registering residentship in different jurisdictions are entitled to various rights and legal treatments; in many circumstances, Chinese nationals are neither citizens nor aliens in a Chinese territory. This, nevertheless, has much outstripped what ordinary administrative divisions are supposed to do. In the third section, the article addresses the territories’ relationship with the international community. The structure of this article may be understood as a tripartite covering the relationship between the territorial authorities and the PRC central government with territorial authorities, individuals and foreign states respectively. Hypothetically, a unitary state’s relationship, legal or political, with its citizens/nationals should be simple and direct. As modernist constitutionalism presumes, the constituent power shall vest in a singular “people” as the demos of a liberal democracy and the constituted power ought to be primarily provided by a single Constitution. However, as the following sections will illustrate, the Chinese cases obviously depart from this presumption.

Green tea in dermatology--myths and facts.

Green tea consumption has a long tradition in Asian countries--especially China. The epidemiologically and experimentally observed anticarcinogenic and antiinflammatory effects of green tea have led to the implementation of green tea extracts in multiple therapeutic applications - both in dermatological and cosmeceutical preparations. The most abundant evidence exists for the anticarcinogenic and chemopreventive effect of green tea or its major constituent epigallocatechin-3-gallate. Almost equally evident is the effect in infectious diseases such as cutaneous viral infections. For external genital warts, a topical ointment with green tea extracts was licensed in the USA in 2010, and recently also in Europe. Experimental evidence pinpointing the block of central signal transduction factors in inflammatory mechanisms has led to the evaluation of catechins in inflammatory disorders such as atopic dermatitis. The belief of green tea as a "wonder weapon" against diseases dates back thousands of years. According to a Chinese legend, ancient Emperor Shen Nung noted a delightful aroma after some leaves of a nearby tree had fallen into boiling water. He immediately proclaimed the new "drink" as "heaven-sent", starting the belief - persisting until today - of green tea as a medication from nature against many different diseases. This review summarizes biological effects and clinical implications of green tea.

Bixie: The Emblem of Nanjing

During the Chinese Imperial period, Bixie was endowed with various mysterious powers said to be able to repel demons, condemn crimes, or even carry the dead to the heavenly wonderland, and was frequently rendered in imperial temples, public infrastructure, and mortuary art. In the Chinese myths and legends, this untamed animal even challenged the imperial dragon's authority, confronted the tiger's credibility, and defied the mandate of heaven. This article aims to examine how this unruly beast was edified, trained and turned into a cultural symbol, and eventually became the emblem of Nanjing.

Reversibility as structuring principle in Hong Sang-soo's Turning Gate

As its title indicates, Hong Sang-soo's film On the Occasion of Remembering the Turning Gate (Saeng-hwal-eui Bal-gyun) (2002) refers to a specific Chinese legend whose conclusion is alluded to at the end of the film. Though there are apparent references to the legend in the film's first half, the allusions there seem to have no immediate purpose. However, in light of the general pattern of reversibility that structures much of the film, those apparent references in conjunction with some dances early in the film suggest that the allusions refer, not to the Chinese legend, but rather to a well-known Japanese Kabuki play, A Maiden at Dōjōji, whose action inverts gendered roles of the Chinese legend.

Introduction to the proceedings of the Fifth International Scientific Symposium on Tea and Human Health

Introduction to the proceedings of the Fifth International Scientific Symposium on Tea and Human Health

Performance and the politics of gender: transgender performance in contemporary Chinese films

This article focuses on two different genres of gender transitivity or impersonation. First, male actors who impersonate female characters. The two examples used to examine these impersonations are Chinese films Farewell My Concubine (Ba Wang Bie Ji 1993) and Forever Enthralled (Mei Lanfang 2009). Both films are based on the historical practice of dan in Peking Opera. Second, women who cross-dress as men for the sake of transgressing into the public sphere that had traditionally been forbidden for women. The main example of this is Hua Mulan (2009), a live action movie based on a Chinese legend of a female warrior called Hua Mulan, who disguises herself as a man to replace her father in the military service. Based on my close reading of the transgender performance in these Chinese films, the article will engage discussions of Western gender theories by Garber, Butler and Halberstam to examine the discourse and politics of gender and sexuality in contemporary China. To be more specific, a critical analysis will be carried out in the following three aspects: first, gender performativity is not necessarily subversive, but only suggests that heterosexual norms are arbitrary and unnatural. Second, rather than challenging heterosexism and gender binarism in contemporary China, the three films seem to support and consolidate the gender hierarchy. Thirdly, the category of transgender is intersected with art, identity and ideology in the specific social and historical settings. The contextualized analysis not only sheds new light on the implications of transgender in contemporary Chinese culture and politics but also questions the universalism of Western gender theories in cross-cultural contexts.

Cultural deformations and reformulations: a case study of Disney's Mulan in English and Chinese

The article first introduces the 1998 Disney production of the animated film, Mulan, and suggests that the film is based on the Chinese legend of Hua Mulan, especially on The Mulan Ballad. It discusses the cultural adaptations in the production of the film through various methods, such as additions, omissions, specifications, generalisations, explicitations, and so on. It focuses on the Chinese translation of the film, examining the cultural restorations and reformulations in the target text on the linguistic level by means of various domesticating and foreignising methods. Finally, it discusses and explores the bidirectional transfer between American and Chinese cultures, holding that there are intracultural and intercultural transfers, and that the establishment of a cultural repertoire is, in some sense, dependent on cultural borrowings and rewritings which will give rise to cultural deformations and reformulations.

Once Upon a Time in Chinese America: Chinese American Folklore in American Picture Books

Lorraine Dong provides a comprehensive catalog of Chinese American children's folk literature, identifying an important distinction between children's stories based on Chinese legends and specifically Chinese American literature written for children. By focusing on Chinese American folklore for children, Dong makes the claims that such stories speak to a distinct Chinese American community. In turn, Dong looks into the origins of these stories, leading to questions about what is authentic about Chinese folklore retold for Chinese American and American audiences.

On Generalized Tian Ji’s Horse Racing Strategy

Tian Ji’s horse racing strategy, a famous Chinese legend, constitutes a promising concept to be applied to important issues in today’s competitive environment; this strategy is elaborated on and analyzed by examining the general case. The mathematical formulation concerning the calculation of winning, drawing or losing combinations and probabilities is presented to illustrate the interesting insights on how ancient philosophies could promote thinking in business competitiveness, in particular, the wisdom behind sacrificing the part for the benefit of the whole or sacrificing the short-term objectives in order to gain the long-term goal.

The Worldviews of Healing Traditions in the East and West: Implications for Psychology of Religion

This article will compare the worldviews of psychotherapy traditions in Eastern and Western culture, particularly the therapeutic factors and principles indigenous to the Chinese culture. The author will first define the meaning of culture and psychotherapy from a postmodern anthropological approach. By referring to history and literature in the study of cultural psychology, a comparison will be made between the value systems lying behind therapeutic methods used in the East and West. This includes the worldviews on the body and mind, the self, mental health, relationship, community, healing, and spirituality. Lastly, a famous Chinese legend will be used as an example to illustrate how worldview differences between the East and West determine the goals and process of psychotherapy. It is hoped that psychology of religion would be sensitive to the underlying worldviews across different cultures, without imposing its definition of “mental health” and method of “healing,” as different religions embody different cultural traditions as well. It is argued that whether spirituality or religion is helpful to the wellbeing of local people, it should be defined by the local persons and expressed in their mother tongue. Hence a psychology of religion for Chinese people should respect its customs of healing and particular set of worldviews.

Cantonese Sojourners and Shiwan Ceramic Roof Decoration in Malaysia

AbstractOver the period October 2006-July 2008, the author conducted a detailed survey of five historic buildings in Malaya constructed by 19th-century Chinese immigrants. These buildings feature roof decorations made in and imported from Shiwan 石灣, China, during that period. The decorations include scenes and figurines representing events and characters taken from Cantonese operas, Chinese legends and classical novels. In studying these decorations the author has come across several recurring themes illustrating concepts such as justice, sworn brotherhood, loyalty and courage in the face of adversity, which shed light on the cultural identities and thinking of the Cantonese migrants. In this paper these themes are interpreted against the background of the social and political circumstances in China and Southeast Asia during the period under discussion, showing how an understanding of the concerns of these Chinese migrants of the past can help one to understand contemporary migrant communities worldwide.

Intercultural dialogue

The scientific breakthroughs of important theorists such as Sigmund Freud, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, etc., engendered a new concept of subject. Instead of the centered and integrated Cartesian subject, the postmodern individual is fragmented and multiple, affected by ideology and by his/her unconscious. This makes it necessary to analyze the historical and psychological dimensions to apprehend his/her complexity. In Maxine Hong Kingston’s The woman warrior — memoirs of a girlhood among ghosts, first published in 1976, it is possible to identify the multiple subject positionings of the main character, who is also the narrator. As a North American of Chinese descent, she portrays Chinese legends, myths, and family stories of her ethnic community through an American frame of mind. Growing up in the intersection of cultures, a position of in-between cultures, and having to deal with different customs and values, the narrator faces conflicts and paradoxes. Her contradictory and fragmentary identity reveals the hybrid and diasporic character of the Chinese American author. Kingston constantly brings together the discourses of her Chinese cultural heritage and the American ones presented in her environment. With this constant dialogue between different cultural elements, the narrator tries to forge a sense of wholeness, a unified cultural identity, of her various subjective positions. The result of this effort, however, is a culturally unstable identity: The woman warrior reflects the heterogeneous nature of the main character and the author, revealing to the reader the Chinese American “country” and culture in all its singularity and uniqueness. The theoretical framework used to analyze the different expressions of subjectivity in the main character of this fictional autobiography is based on critics of Postmodernism and on cultural studies about diasporas.

100 Horsemen and the empty city: A game theoretic examination of deception in Chinese military legend

We present game theoretic models of two of the most famous military bluffs from history. These include the legend of Li Guang and his 100 horsemen (144 BC), and the legend of Zhuge Liang and the Empty City (228 AD). In both legends, the military commander faces a much stronger opposing army, but instead of ordering his men to retreat, he orders them to act in a manner consistent with baiting the enemy into an ambush. The stronger opposing army, uncertain whether it is facing a weak opponent or an ambush, then decides to flee and avoid battle. Military scholars refer to both stories to illustrate the importance of deception in warfare, often highlighting the creativity of the generals’ strategies. We model both situations as signaling games in which the opponent is uncertain whether the general is weak (i.e. has few soldiers) or strong (i.e. has a larger army waiting to ambush his opponent if they engage in combat). We then derive the unique Perfect Bayesian Equilibrium of the games. When the probability of a weak general is high enough, the equilibrium involves mixed strategies, with weak generals sometimes fleeing and sometimes bluffing about their strength. The equilibrium always involves the generals and their opponents acting as they did in the historical examples with at least a positive probability. When the probability of a weak general is lower (which is reasonable given the reputations of Li Guang and Zhuge Liang), then the unique equilibrium always involves bluffing by the general and retreat by his opponent.

Popular Culture and Public Imaginary: Disney Vs. Chinese Stories of Mulan

This case study is an attempt to challenge the dominant narrative of a U.S. popular cultural text that has shaped the public imaginary of anon-Western culture and to open up the possibility of re-constructing alternative narratives, imaginaries, cultural spaces, and identities. More specifically, the present analysis investigates the process that Disney appropriated the Chinese legend of Mulan into a “universal” classic and offers an interpretation of The Ballad of Mulan, upon which the Disney film was based, as a form of counter-rhetoric for negotiating the dominant image produced by Disney. This case study demonstrates that Disney’s appropriation simultaneously reinforced the existing racial and gender ideologies through deprecating Chinese culture as an Oriental despotism and dissolving feminism into the cultural/racial hierarchy. Contrary to the overriding theme of individualism in the Disney version, the original Ballad reflects the Chinese ethos of relationalism, filial piety, and loyalty and embraces an alternative form of feminism that is predicated on the Chinese preference for the collective.

Watching with a third eye – reflections on learning from infant observations in Taiwan

Based on eight randomly selected initial interviews with families who agreed to be visited by an observer in Taiwan, this paper illustrates the way in which repressed guilt underlies the hospitality shown by the family, and the inhibition of both the fulfillment of the baby's needs, and of the bonding between the baby and his/her parent. Using a Chinese legend, the last part of the paper illustrates how the study of infant observations in Taiwan has revealed how a kind of triangle formed in the context of the Chinese family structure may interfere with ordinary Oedipal developmental processes.

Development, Justice, and Technology Transfer in China: The Case of HP and Legend

In 1978, 16 months after Mao Zedong’s death, China’s new leader, Deng Xiaoping, introduced market reforms and an “opening” to the West that allowed the US company Hewlett-Packard (HP) to enter China in 1981. Shortly thereafter, HP began a partnership with the Chinese company Legend Computer (now Lenovo), through which HP transferred its technology in four main areas: (1) product technology, (2) business model, (3) management practices, and (4) strategic planning processes. This technology transfer seems to be a “just exchange” in that HP received access to China’s market while China received key managerial, marketing, and product technologies. Although multinationals are often criticized for their dealings with developing nations, the HP–Legend case provides an illustration of how a company from an industrialized nation can deal justly with a developing nation and assist in advancing its development. The transfer of technology from HP to Legend was facilitated by several factors, including HP’s historical willingness to help startups, its strategic posture, a favorable local environment, Legend’s recognition of its own needs, its willingness to learn from a foreign company, and the incentives to share technology that the Chinese government provided.

Ambivalenssin ”arvoituksellinen sulo”

The “mysterious sweetness” of ambivalence: Hagar Olsson’s Silkkimaalaus Hagar Olsson’s Silkkimaalaus (Kinesisk utflykt, 1949) is a self-biographical, allegorical and poetic prose story with themes of ambivalence and a decidedly ambivalent structure. The story follows the Chinese legend of Chienniang who was so torn between a desire to follow her lover and obedience to her parents that she became two selves, one living with her husband and the other asleep in her father’s house. Olsson’s story builds the legend up into a complex picture of dualisms, conflicts, choices and failures to choose. The narrator Hagar experiences the split and healing of self on a fantasy journey, where she encounters herself as Chienniang and figures and scenes from her past. There are several combinations of characters analogous to the legend. Hagar makes the choice most notably in relation to a young man, her first suitor, and to Ka, the female lover of her later life. Thus the theme of ambivalence includes the hetero/homosexual dualism and with it bisexuality. The story moves both in time and in narrative space: the straightforward plot of the journey and the life story re-organized in memories is complicated with an emphatic spatial organization of the story. The narrator steps into visions, transcends narrative hierarchy and sees herself in framed stories presented as pictures. This structural ambivalence allows the thematic ambivalence to survive: the legend of Chienniang can not be reduced to any single conflict and solution, not even the question of bisexuality, but becomes an image of ambivalence itself and also for the intuitive, holistic understanding of humanity predominant in Olsson’s thinking in the late 40’s.