Chinese tradition, ceremony,culture

Hendrik_2000

Lieutenant General
Here is brief story unfortunately Liang Shicheng was prosecuted during the cultural revolution because he recommend to preserve the old Beijing and suggest to built new city to house the government on the west side of the old Beijing. but the CCP following the Russian advisor instead and bulldoze the old Beijing leaving Beijing sterile . But that was the day when the old guard has no clue of heritage and only to eager to embrace modernity. Their life story is beautiful romance, dedication to the architecture and China, patriotic and modern. Exemplify the best tradition of scholar and gentlemen of the old. They strike a friendship with Douglas Fairbank
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Many of China’s ancient architectural treasures crumbled to dust before Lin Huiyin and Liang Sicheng began documenting them in the 1930s. In China, ancient structures were usually treated like any other buildings rather than protected and studied, as they were in many Western countries. The husband and wife team were among the first preservationists to operate in China, and by far the best known. Their efforts have since inspired generations of people to speak out for architecture threatened by the rush toward development.

Becoming China’s premier architectural historians was no easy feat. The buildings they wanted to save were centuries old, often in a shambles and situated in remote parts of the country. In many cases they had to journey in treacherous conditions across the Chinese countryside to reach them.
Exploring China’s outlying areas during the 1930s meant traveling muddy roads by mule, rickshaw or on foot. This was a demanding undertaking for both Liang, who walked with a bad limp after a motorcycle accident as a young man, and Lin, who endured tuberculosis for years. Inns were often squalid and food could be tainted, and there was always a risk of violence by rebels, soldiers and bandits.

Their greatest discovery came on an expedition in 1937, when they dated and meticulously cataloged
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, or the Temple of Buddha’s Light, in Wutai County, Shanxi Province. This breathtaking wooden temple was built in 857 A.D., making it the oldest known building in China at the time. (It is now the fourth-oldest known).
Liang and Lin crawled into the temple’s most forbidding areas to determine the building’s age; one dusty aerie was inhabited by thousands of bats, many of them dead, and millions of bedbugs. Liang wrote of the experience in “
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: Partners in Exploring China’s Architectural Past,” an English-language story of their lives by Wilma Fairbank, a close friend and correspondent.



“In complete darkness and amid the vile odor, hardly breathing, with thick masks covering our noses and mouths, we measured, drew, and photographed with flashlights for several hours,” Liang wrote. “When at last we came out from under the eaves to take a breath of fresh air, we found hundreds of bedbugs in our knapsack. We ourselves had been badly bitten. Yet the importance and unexpectedness of our find made those the happiest hours of my years hunting for ancient architecture.”


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Lin was enthusiastic about studying architecture, but it was considered improper for young women to work late into the night, unsupervised, with young men, so Liang became the official architect.Credit...CPA Media/Picture Alliance
Though Lin and Liang devoted themselves to saving remnants of ancient China, their lives were entangled with modern Chinese history.

Liang was born on April 20, 1901, in Tokyo, where his father, Liang Qichao, a leading Chinese intellectual and reformist, was stationed. Lin was born in Hangzhou, China, on June 10, 1904. Children of prominent families, they both lived and studied abroad and grew up to be open-minded intellectuals when much of Chinese society was constrained by traditions.

Their families knew each other, and the two journeyed to the United States together to attend the University of Pennsylvania in 1924. Lin was eager to study architecture, but the university’s architecture school would not admit her because it was considered improper for young women to work late into the night, unsupervised, with young men.

When they graduated in 1927, Lin earned a bachelor of fine arts degree, having taken classes in architecture, and Liang became the architect, earning a bachelor’s and later a master’s degree in the field. But they always worked together.

“I think they saw each other as partners, not as business but as life partners,” Nancy S. Steinhardt, who has studied the couple’s work as a professor of East Asian art at the University of Pennsylvania, said in a telephone interview. “It’s not clear who did which parts of drawings or articles they wrote; they were a team.”
At first glance they made an incongruous couple. Lin was a glamorous, vivacious polymath who wrote poetry, fiction, criticism and drama and made her home into a kind of intellectual salon. Liang was a highly focused architect and teacher who could be taciturn. But their differences proved complementary.

Lin entertained several suitors as a young woman, including the poet
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, but married Liang in 1928, in Canada, where they had traveled after their graduation. After several months in Europe they returned to China, where Liang and Chinese colleagues from the University of Pennsylvania founded the architecture department at Northeastern University in Shenyang, the country’s second architecture program. His academic writings and lectures from the 1930s were eventually bound and released as “A History of Chinese Architecture,” a rare comprehensive book about the subject.

During the early 1930s, after moving to Beijing, the couple began making regular expeditions into the Chinese countryside to seek out surviving ancient wooden structures. Their explorations ended when Japan invaded China in 1937. In 1940, the Liang family, now with a young daughter and a son, moved to a cottage they built in a village near Kunming, in southern China. Lin’s tuberculosis got worse, and the straitened circumstances of wartime made life all but intolerable.

During the war they used their copious notes, photographs and drawings to continue writing about architecture. When the war ended, Liang became a visiting professor at Yale and China’s representative to the committee that designed the United Nations building in Manhattan in 1949. Lin, burdened by caring for her family, remained in China.
After the Communist takeover in 1949, Liang and Lin were excoriated as bourgeois intellectuals, becoming fodder for Communists trying to display party loyalty. Lin did not have to endure the mistreatment for long: She died of tuberculosis on April 1, 1955, at 51.

But Liang, who had returned to China to care for her, was accused of being a counterrevolutionary, publicly shamed and forced to undergo “re-education.” He was powerless to stop the demolition of the ancient walls and gates that surrounded Beijing; though he argued for their preservation, Maoist forces wanted to reinvent the city as an industrial center. Still, he continued to work and teach and eventually remarried. He died on Jan. 9, 1972, at 70.

The work of Liang and Lin lived on, with the help of Fairbank and Liang’s second wife, Lin Zhu. Decades after Liang’s death, they tracked down his lost drawings and photographs. Fairbank combined them with his written work to create “
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,” which was published in 1984. An in-depth look at Chinese architecture, it documents many buildings that no longer stand.
Lin and Liang have become folk heroes in China, their lives recounted in novels, films and a
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.

Lin’s niece, the architect and artist Maya Lin, who is best known for designing the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington,
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in 2017 that “most people in China know more about Liang and Lin’s personalities and love lives than their work."

"But from an architectural point of view, they are hugely important," she continued. "If it weren’t for them, we would have no record of so many ancient Chinese styles, which simply disappeared.”
Developers in Beijing, however, were less concerned with preserving their legacy than with progress. In
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,
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and to the dismay of preservationists, they demolished the house where Liang and Lin lived during the 1930s.
 
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SimaQian

Junior Member
Registered Member
Here is a Chinese song compiled more than 2200 years ago by the people who first unified China.
A Song from the state of Qín 秦 [modern Shǎanxī 陕西 and Gānsù 甘肃]. This song has an English title translated to 'No Clothes'.

The context is the king is preparing to go to a war and raising his troops.


秦风无衣(Qin's song No Clothes)

岂曰无衣?与子同袍。王于兴师,修我戈矛。与子同仇。
岂曰无衣?与子同泽。王于兴师,修我矛戟。与子偕作。
岂曰无衣?与子同裳。王于兴师,修我甲兵。与子偕行。


And here is an approximate English translation of this.

This song is in poem form, you will get a strange translation using google translate.

1619500874212.png


Nobody knows what is the tune of this song when it was first originally sing.
But it was passed down to us over that 2200+ years in the Qin's Book of Songs.


This is one of the modern renditions of this song and a beautiful version and may make you cry.
Its the main theme song of the newest and probably the best Qin Shi Huang series historical drama. Its uploaded in youtube and there is an English subtitles to it.

(This is the first of the series
)



This one they use it as music background at King Zhaoxiang of Qin (秦昭襄王) funeral.



And also this at 39:00 which is more appropriate, the dying Qin king is inspecting his troops and he let his son Ying Zheng, the future Qin Shi Huang to make a speech. This is highly not historically accurate as Ying Zheng's father died when Ying Zheng was just 13. Who knows, these events happened 2200 years ago. But a king(not Ying Zheng) singing this song to rally his troops is 80% certain. We leave 20% uncertainty as this is the age before selfies.




There is a butchered English commentary and historical background of this song
but it is comprehensible enough. I cannot find the original Chinese source.

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There is also a baike entry of this song
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The main point of this is those ancient Qin people in those times, 2200 years ago, did not have anything and they gave hundreds of thousands of their lives to unify China so that their descendants can achieve peace. The warring states period lasted for 500 years until Ying Zheng unified China.

Though China does not have kings or emperors anymore and certainly the spears and the dagger axes have lost their function, this song will remind us and our future descendants how much our ancestors sacrificed in uniting the nation...
 

PiSigma

"the engineer"
Here is a Chinese song compiled more than 2200 years ago by the people who first unified China.
A Song from the state of Qín 秦 [modern Shǎanxī 陕西 and Gānsù 甘肃]. This song has an English title translated to 'No Clothes'.

The context is the king is preparing to go to a war and raising his troops.


秦风无衣(Qin's song No Clothes)

岂曰无衣?与子同袍。王于兴师,修我戈矛。与子同仇。
岂曰无衣?与子同泽。王于兴师,修我矛戟。与子偕作。
岂曰无衣?与子同裳。王于兴师,修我甲兵。与子偕行。


And here is an approximate English translation of this.

This song is in poem form, you will get a strange translation using google translate.

View attachment 71373


Nobody knows what is the tune of this song when it was first originally sing.
But it was passed down to us over that 2200+ years in the Qin's Book of Songs.


This is one of the modern renditions of this song and a beautiful version and may make you cry.
Its the main theme song of the newest and probably the best Qin Shi Huang series historical drama. Its uploaded in youtube and there is an English subtitles to it.

(This is the first of the series
)



This one they use it as music background at King Zhaoxiang of Qin (秦昭襄王) funeral.



And also this at 39:00 which is more appropriate, the dying Qin king is inspecting his troops and he let his son Ying Zheng, the future Qin Shi Huang to make a speech. This is highly not historically accurate as Ying Zheng's father died when Ying Zheng was just 13. Who knows, these events happened 2200 years ago. But a king(not Ying Zheng) singing this song to rally his troops is 80% certain. We leave 20% uncertainty as this is the age before selfies.




There is a butchered English commentary and historical background of this song
but it is comprehensible enough. I cannot find the original Chinese source.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!


There is also a baike entry of this song
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!



The main point of this is those ancient Qin people in those times, 2200 years ago, did not have anything and they gave hundreds of thousands of their lives to unify China so that their descendants can achieve peace. The warring states period lasted for 500 years until Ying Zheng unified China.

Though China does not have kings or emperors anymore and certainly the spears and the dagger axes have lost their function, this song will remind us and our future descendants how much our ancestors sacrificed in uniting the nation...
Actually the Qin song was written around 600BC when the Qin state was first formed. Its meaning is the fact Qin didn't have a standing army in the early period but a citizen militia. So when the Duke (not king) goes to war, the citizens follow with their own gear, which is why so many don't have proper gear. Yi (clothing) in this line doesn't mean clothing, but the different pieces of armor gear.
 

Hendrik_2000

Lieutenant General
Rebecca Lim and Pierre Png will star a new peranakan TV show by Media corp called The land is mine about a peranakan lawyer who defend the Japanese war criminal must be interesting. I guess these type of show is popular in Malaysia and Singapore It is nostalgia about the "the good ole day"
I have this grandfather clock I bought it in Bangkok and transported to Spore.

A 1940s Peranakan home tour with Rebecca Lim and Pierre Png | Know My Home​

 

supersnoop

Major
Registered Member
@supersnoop most Filipino Hua qiao came from Fujian Province from 2 cities, Xiamen and JinJiang. Bro I'm also a proud Filipino Chinese. We are proud of our ancestral heritage at the same time are grateful to our adopted country. We are a model citizen cause we can adopt quickly with our cultural sensibility intact. Being a minority is hard , we all experience Racial discrimination in our lifetime but how to manage and channel that anger is the key. I'm glad my father is there to guide me and it make me a better person. Bro we had cross the racial divide with our Filipino countrymen when many of them go abroad to work. Having experience Racial discrimination and physical abuses from their foreign employers (especially Arabs, HK & Singaporean) they can relate with us. That experience created an atmosphere of peaceful co-existence.
Maybe we are from the same clan, lol.
My father is from that area as well and he said many of his fellow villagers went to the Philippines to seek their fortunes.
I know what you are talking about, we have the same experience as the international politics can sometimes be painful to watch and read. Politicians want to create an enemy, but we just want to live. One is our home, the other is our history, they want us to make "Sophie's Choice", because they have nothing to lose. What jokes.
 

taxiya

Brigadier
Registered Member
Here is a Chinese song compiled more than 2200 years ago by the people who first unified China.
A Song from the state of Qín 秦 [modern Shǎanxī 陕西 and Gānsù 甘肃]. This song has an English title translated to 'No Clothes'.

The context is the king is preparing to go to a war and raising his troops.


秦风无衣(Qin's song No Clothes)

岂曰无衣?与子同袍。王于兴师,修我戈矛。与子同仇。
岂曰无衣?与子同泽。王于兴师,修我矛戟。与子偕作。
岂曰无衣?与子同裳。王于兴师,修我甲兵。与子偕行。


And here is an approximate English translation of this.

This song is in poem form, you will get a strange translation using google translate.

View attachment 71373


Nobody knows what is the tune of this song when it was first originally sing.
But it was passed down to us over that 2200+ years in the Qin's Book of Songs.


This is one of the modern renditions of this song and a beautiful version and may make you cry.
Its the main theme song of the newest and probably the best Qin Shi Huang series historical drama. Its uploaded in youtube and there is an English subtitles to it.

(This is the first of the series
)



This one they use it as music background at King Zhaoxiang of Qin (秦昭襄王) funeral.



And also this at 39:00 which is more appropriate, the dying Qin king is inspecting his troops and he let his son Ying Zheng, the future Qin Shi Huang to make a speech. This is highly not historically accurate as Ying Zheng's father died when Ying Zheng was just 13. Who knows, these events happened 2200 years ago. But a king(not Ying Zheng) singing this song to rally his troops is 80% certain. We leave 20% uncertainty as this is the age before selfies.




There is a butchered English commentary and historical background of this song
but it is comprehensible enough. I cannot find the original Chinese source.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!


There is also a baike entry of this song
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!



The main point of this is those ancient Qin people in those times, 2200 years ago, did not have anything and they gave hundreds of thousands of their lives to unify China so that their descendants can achieve peace. The warring states period lasted for 500 years until Ying Zheng unified China.

Though China does not have kings or emperors anymore and certainly the spears and the dagger axes have lost their function, this song will remind us and our future descendants how much our ancestors sacrificed in uniting the nation...
Two words from the song also become common words in Chinese. 同袍 and 袍泽, all refers to comrades in the army.

It is no surprise that China and its variants became the name of the country in many foreign languages. Qin->Chin in Persian->Sina in Latin. Without Qin and Shihuangdi there is no China.
 

Hendrik_2000

Lieutenant General
When you read youtube comment they always dissed Chinese quality and workmanship But that is further from the truth The Japanese learn the art of perfection from Chinese craftsman. The problem is the like of Walmart seek for maximum profit so they demand the cheapest possible product. The art of perfection is still alive and well in China among the craftsmen and various artisan like this video below

A journey home, re-discovering traditional Chinese lanterns​

1,953 views
•May 2, 2021


GLOBALink | Why is this teapot so expensive?​

598 views
•May 4, 2021

Never break a Chinese teapot...it may be a luxury worth million. In Yixing, the pottery capital of China, an everyday item can be priceless
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Sadly the art of lantern making is disappearing in peranakan community

Peranakan Lantern
1620279344807.png1620279440113.png
 
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Hendrik_2000

Lieutenant General
This is awe inspiring deed of an old man who spend all his money and saving to save ancient building from the wrecking ball. And rebuild it over 2 years 180 truck load and 12 million US dollar, countless sweat and work and restore it to its former glory. It bring tears in my eyes
I guess I am wrong not all mainland Chinese are ignorant of his heritage


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