Cultura China-Chinese Culture

La cultivación de Litchi (en inglés: Lychee) comienza en la región del Sur de China, Malaysia y norte de Vietnam. Esta fruta crece de forma salvaje en la providencia de Guangdong y en la isla de Hainan. En los record extraoficiales dicen que en China los Litchi estan desde 2000 BC. Referencia en el libro "Handbook of environmental physiology of fruit crops" del autor: "Andersen, Peter A" del año 1994 en la paginas 123 a la 140.

Cultivation of lychee began in the region of southern China, Malaysia, and northern Vietnam. Wild trees still grow in rainforest in Guangdong province and on Hainan Island. Unofficial records in China refer to lychee as far back as 2000 BC.^[7]

In the 1st century, fresh lychees were in such demand at the Imperial Court that a special courier service with fast horses would bring the fresh fruit from Guangdong. There was great demand for lychee in the Song Dynasty (960-1279), according to Cai Xiang, in his Li chi pu (Treatise on Lychees). It was also the favourite fruit of Emperor Li Longji (Xuanzong)'s favoured concubine Yang Yuhuan (Yang Guifei). The emperor had the fruit delivered at great expense to the capital.

According to folk stories, stinky tofu was invented by a person named Wang Zhi He (王致和)in the Qing dynasty. However the versions of the exact story are quite varied.

Soft Stinky tofu:

Because of failing the imperial examination, Wang Zhi He stayed in Beijing and relied on selling tofu to make a living. One day, because of the huge quantity of redundant tofu, he tried to cut the tofu into small cubes and put them into an earthen jar. After several days, he opened up the jar and found out that the tofu had turned greenish and became extremely smelly. He tasted the “stinky greenish tofu” and it was surprisingly delicious. And so he decided to sell those “stinky greenish tofu” as a commodity in his store.

Dried stinky tofu:

During the Kangxi period, Wang Zhi He was a tofu seller as well as a pig feeder. One day, he was making dried tofu with an earthen jar. After he put all the seasonings in the jar, he was distracted by the pigs and forgot to close the lid, and so the white paint on the wall kept falling into the jar. A while later, after Wang Zhi He had settled down all the pigs, the dried tofu had already turned into dried stinky tofu.

Glove puppetry (Chinese: 布袋戲; pinyin: bùdàixì; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: pò͘-tē-hì) is a type of opera using cloth puppets that originated during the 17th century in Quanzhou or Zhangzhou of China's Fujian province, and historically practiced in the Min Nan-speaking areas such as Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, the Guangdong region of Chaoshan, and other parts of southern China. It had since established itself more firmly and contemporarily as a popular art form in Taiwan. The puppet's head uses wood carved into the shape of a hollow human head, but aside from the head, palms, and feet, which are made of wood, the puppet's torso and limbs consist entirely of cloth costumes. At the time of the performance, a gloved hand enters the puppet's costume and makes it perform. In previous years the puppets used in this type of performance strongly resembled "cloth sacks," hence the name, which literally means "cloth bag opera." (wiki)

There is one myth and one historical fact about the history of Nian Gao. In the ancient China, there was a monster called “Nian”. It used to stay at the cave in the mountain; however, it would come out and hunt for animals when it was hungry. In winter, most of the animals went into hibernation. Nian had no other options; it had to go to the village and searched for humans to fulfill its hunger. Lots of people lived under the fear of Nian for decades. Until, there was a smart villager who named “Gao”. He assumed Nian would come down from the mountain and hunt again; therefore, he pre-made some pastry and put them in front of the door. As soon as Nian came down, it could not find any human to eat but it found some pastry instead. When it felt full, it went back to the mountain. When it was gone, the villagers came out and celebrated for the survival. From then on, the villagers made rice pastry every winter to prevent Nian to eat them. Since Gao invented the rice pastry, the villagers named the rice pastry as “Nian Gao”. In BC 770 to BC 221, China was divided into different small countries. There were two neighboring countries that fight each other every year, which are “Wu” and “Yue”. In Wu, there was a prime minister called “Wu Zi Shui” who helped the old emperor to build the wall. Before Wu Zi Shui died, he told the new emperor’s eunuch to dig the wall when the citizens were in hunger since he had buried lots of rice pastry until the wall. When Yue attacked Wu, Wu was in danger and the whole country was suffering from hunger. The eunuch remembered what Wu Zi Shui said, so he ordered the citizen to dig until the wall. The citizen was saved from what Wu Zi Shui had done for them. From that moment onwards, the citizen made rice pastry every year during Chinese New Year. There were two purposes for them to make rice pastry; one was to remembrance Wu Zi Shui and another reason was to celebrate Chinese New Year with relatives and friends. Nian Gao was made one of the older historical food in China. In 1974, there were some historian in Zhejiang discovered some wheat fossil. After several textural researches, they had confirmed that it was made seven thousands years ago.

La tradición afirma que los caracteres chinos, la forma más antigua conocida de escritura de los existentes hoy en día, fueron inventados por Cang Jie (hacia 2650 A. C.). Otra tradición remonta su creación a los tiempos de Fuxi, el legendario primer emperador de China.

La cultura china concede una gran importancia a la caligrafía. Ésta se fundamenta en la belleza visual de los ideogramas, la técnica de su realización y los preceptos metafísicos de la cultura tradicional china. (wiki)

Chinese calligraphy is a form of calligraphy widely practiced and revered in the Sinosphere, which often includes China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. The calligraphic tradition of East Asia originated and developed from China. There is a general standardization of the various styles of calligraphy in this tradition. Chinese calligraphy and ink and wash painting are closely related, since they are accomplished using similar tools and techniques. Chinese painting and calligraphy distinguish themselves from other cultural arts because they emphasize motion and are charged with dynamic life. According to Stanley-Baker, "Calligraphy is sheer life experienced through energy in motion that is registered as traces on silk or paper, with time and rhythm in shifting space its main ingredients." Calligraphy has also led to the development of many forms of art in China, including seal carving, ornate paperweights, and inkstones. (wiki)