Table of Contents
Chapter 1 1
Introduction 1
1.1 Background 1
1.2 Problem Statement 3
1.3 Research Question 4
1.4 Research Purpose 4
1.4.1 Aim 4
1.4.2 Objectives 5
1.5 Scope of Research 5
1.6 Significance of Study 6
1.7 Limitations 6
1.8 Summary of chapters 6
Chapter 2 8
2 Literature Review 8
2.1 Festivals and Customs 18
2.1.1 Spring Festival 19
2.1.2 Lantern Festival 21
2.1.3 Dragon Boat Festival 22
2.1.4 Mid Autumn Festival 23
2.1.5 Magpie 24
2.2 Fading Chinese Cultures 26
2.2.1 Grave Visiting 26
2.2.2 Cooking on the 29th Day on the 12th Month 27
2.2.3 Not Sweeping on the First and Second Day of the New Year 27
2.2.4 Sacrificing for the Five Roads God 28
2.2.5 Sending the God of the Poor to Heaven 28
2.2.6 Sacrificing to the Kitchen Stove God 28
2.2.7 Opening Door Firecrackers Ritual 29
2.2.8 Tying the Knot without a Prior Date 29
2.3 Contributory Factor to the Lack of Interest in Chinese Traditional Customs and Culture among Chinese Youth. 29
2.4 Past Research 31
2.5 Graphic Design as a solution. 32
2.6 Summary of chapter 34
Chapter 3 37
3 Methodology 37
3.1 Literature Review 38
3.2 Observations 40
3.3 Quantitative Research 41
3.4 Experiments Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.5 Summary of the chapter 43
Chapter 4 46
4 Data Analysis 46
4.1 Part One: Demographic 46
4.2 Part Two: Opinion on the Research Topic 48
4.3 Part Three: Opinions and Preferences on Proposed Solution 61
4.4 Summary 64
Chapter 5 65
5 Conclusion 65
5.1 Summary of Findings 65
5.2 Conclusion 65
5.3 Recommendations 66
6 Bibliography 67
APPENDIX 70
7 APPENDIX A 70
8 APPENDIX B 78
9 APPENDIX C 80
Chapter 1
Introduction
1.1 Background
The research is geared towards the analyzing and exploration of five major Chinese festivals; Spring festival, Lantern festival, Mid- autumn festival, Dragon Boat festival and Magpie festival, by identifying the history, customs and cultures of these festivals respectively. The research is being conducted to help bring to light the customs and cultures of the above Chinese festivals through the employment of new digital media to attract today’s Chinese youth mainly between the ages 18 to 22 years.
China as a country is very large and populous hence there is the presence of different customs and traditions of the people of this country. It is estimated that the population of China is more than 1 billion with 56 different ethnic groups some of these ethnic groups include the Hans, the Mongols and the Naxi. These ethnic groups have various cultures and practices according to www.livescience.com chinese-culture.html. Despite this fact there are common events and festivals celebrated by all these ethnic groups or in totality the entire population as a whole. Some of these common festivals include the Spring Festival, the Dragon Boat Festival and the Lantern Festival with some of these festivals having lasted for thousands of years, according to an article Traditional Chinese festivals www.china.orrg.cn.
Westernization has however had an impact on some Chinese culture in areas such as clothes, food and traditions. This impact could go a long way to having an effect on some of the traditional cultural practices of the Chinese people especially in current times (according to Katie Burkhadt in an article on www.echinacities.com). These cultural adjustments may have an impact on the youth today as seen in other countries hence resulting in the deterioration of old traditional cultural values since western culture is gradually being found attractive by today’s Chinese youth according to Kathleen McLaughlin in a report Why China’s Youth Find Western Culture Attractive on www.pbs.org.
Graphic Design in other words can also be referred to as communication design. This is the process of planning and executing ideas as well as experiences with the combination of both visual aids and text or the individual use of each as a form of expression. Graphic Design in today’s world plays important roles in various aspects of lifestyle, from food to clothing to product design, creating new experiences for the public. Graphic Design in other terms is active not passive as it changes and improves to capture the attention of the public (Cezzar, J. (2015) What is graphic design) For instance in the film making industry after shooting scenes films were painted to add color to specific scenes and objects but today the use of a green screen and advanced graphics scenes can be created from scratch with full color. Some of these graphic design forms are going to be employed in the creating of a most preferred means through which Chinese culture can be experienced. Some of these design forms include publications, animation, info-graphic, video or film and illustrations. This is to determine which design solution is best effective to create a more interesting experience for the target audience for this research on the topic of Chinese culture.
At the end of this research the target audience would be reminded of the strong values of traditional Chinese customs and culture through a new and more attractive approach.
1.2 Problem Statement
The Republic of China is a large nation with approximately 1.37 billion people. This fact facilitates the presence of a large number of ethnic groups with different cultural practices making China very rich in cultural essence and values according to an article General Facts About China at www.travelchinaguide.com. Unfortunately over the past years, there has been a changing wave especially among the youth of China which is mainly caused by westernization which if not addressed would gradually lead to the deterioration of Chinese culture according to a report Western Culture Influencing China’s Youth on PBS News Hour Extra.
Western culture over some years has been an influence on the Chinese people today. It has affected the life style from food to clothing of the Chinese population especially the youth who are so fascinated by the western way of doing things. From a report “Why China’s Youth Find Western Culture Attractive, Chinese youth profess their admiration for western lifestyle.
The Chinese government however is trying their best not to allow the Western culture affect the youth today by taking control of the situation in diverse ways such as banning some television shows modeled after western television shows and the inability of Chinese to access applications such as facebook. This is to retain the rich cultural values of the Chinese people and also to avoid the fading away of Chinese culture over the coming generations. Why China’s Youth Find Western Culture Attractive,” by Kathleen McLaughlin.
Sadly this effort might not be as successful as it is intended to be since a lot of Chinese are found living outside China and in western countries. Also Chinese parents today send their children out to study in some of these western countries or other countries where westernization has already to a large extent had an effect on. This becomes a problem also since these Chinese abroad are likely find the old cultural ways stale and not as interesting as western culture and are more likely to influence their peers upon their return from the western world according to a past research by Yingqin Liu available at web.uri.edu.
1.2 Research Question
How to interpret Chinese Festival into digital media?
Is digital media is the medium to interpret Chinese Festival?
How can we use digital media to interpret Chinese Festival and show the traditional meaning of festival?
1.3 Research Purpose
1.3.1 Aim
To develop and/or design a digital form of the Chinese Festivals through new interpretation and presentation.
1.3.2 Objectives
To study and analyze the chinese festival , focusing on the 5 famous/main festivals celebrated.
To identify the main element and character on each of the chinese festival
To develop design concept character design
To create/develop the Chinese festivals into digital form of animation or video.
1.4 Scope of Research
The age group of the respondents for this research is Chinese youth between the ages 18 to 22 years, which comprises of Malaysian Chinese and China students. Majority of these students are found on the university campus of KTG Education Group, Mantin, Malaysia. The research would therefore be conducted on the university campus since there are a lot of Chinese students making it easy to find suitable correspondents for this research.
The research is in three main parts. The first part is conducted through the use of questionnaires. This first part is in three sub divisions, the first having to do with basic demographics, the second views, opinions and knowledge on Chinese culture while the last part deals with questions pertaining to the proposed solution. The second part of the research has to do with interviews with correspondents being the elderly Chinese to know what they think about this topic.
The third part of this research is has to do with experimentation and testing out of a suitable graphic design solution in relation to the topic for this research.
1.5 Significance of Study
This research is hope to aid in the identification of what has caused lack of interest in Chinese culture among the youth of China which has led to the necessity of this research. Views of the target audience are going to be taken into consideration. Also the elderly would be interviewed to understand what has changed between the old and the young today. Pre-existing solutions would also be analyzed to identify their weaknesses in order to understand whether or not they have been effective.
The data collected from this research, would provide guidelines which would assist in the creating of a more effective solution to the problem at hand.
1.6 Limitations
The first limitation was the problem of unanswered and unreturned questionnaire. It left a question of how relevant the research topic was or if the questions ask were not clear enough for the correspondents. The second was with the creating of the proposed solution to the problem posed by the research topic the first few tries to make a more attractive imagery was harder than expected and had to restart the process due to lack of proper research in the initial stages.
1.7 Summary of chapters
This thesis is made up of five chapters. The first chapter is an introduction to the research topic, aim of the research, objective of the research, scope of the research, significance of the research and limitations of the research. The second chapter brings to light the literature used. It includes information pertaining to the research topic and the suggested method of addressing the research topic. This information is derived from books, online journals, online articles and reports. The third chapter elaborates on the methods employed in the conducting of this research, these include a quantitative research method, it also includes experiments. The experiments are only pilot experiments, preliminary ideas to ascertain the views of the set target and general public on the suggested channel to address the research topic. The fourth chapter explains the data received from the research. The last chapter is the fifth chapter is a conclusion of the whole thesis it entails future endorsements for the research.
Chapter 2
2 Literature Review
The table below shows a list of five popular Chinese festivals and customs that accompany these festivals.
Festival
|
When
|
What
|
Cultural Elements and Characters
|
Why
|
Spring Festival
|
1st day of 12th lunar month
|
To celebrate a new year
|
1. Laba porridge
2. Sacrifices
3. Festival couplets
4. Iconic Chinese calligraphy
5. Paper cuttings
6. Red color paper
7. Family sit together to eat
8. Money to parents and children
9. Firecrackers
|
Unity
Give thanks
Good luck / bright future.
Represents blessings and happiness.
Decorations
To contain money
Togetherness
Abundance and riches
Drive away evil spirits
|
Lantern Festival
|
15th day of the 1st lunar month
|
Sign of respect to Buddha
|
1. Lanterns
2. Riddles
3. Rice dumplings
4. Performances
5. Firecrackers
|
Worship Buddha
Wisdom
Unity
Entertainment
Welcome New Year
|
Dragon Boat Festival
|
5th Day of 5th Lunar month
|
Commemoration of Qu Yuan
|
1. Racing of dragon boats
2. Drumming
3. Pyramid shaped dumplings
4. Little Silks bags filled with herbs and perfume
|
Represent efforts to recover Qu Yuan’s body the day he drowned.
To cheer on racers
Represents efforts to ward off sea creatures from eating Qu Yuan’s body the day he drowned
To ward off evil spirits
|
Mid Autumn Festival
|
15th Day of the 8th Lunar month
|
Worship of the bright moon
|
1. Incense
2. Prayers
3. Eating of moon cakes
4. Standing under the moon
|
Love
For better life
Unity
Express feelings
|
Magpie
|
7th Day of the 7th lunar month
|
Celebrate the love of the Weaving Maid and Cowherd
|
1. Lovers go and pray at the temple of the Matchmaker
2. The single go and pray at the temple of the Matchmaker
3. Girls go and pray to the Weaving Maid Star
4. Needle on water surface test for girls
5. Flower placed on ox horns
6. Women washing hair at night
7. Children washing their face
8. Colorful ropes thrown on roof
|
For possible marriage and their love
For luck to fall in love
To make them smarter
To prove readiness for marriage
To avert any form of disasters
To give them a fresh look and let them shine
To give them a natural and beautiful look
For magpies to use in building the bridge for the Weaving Maid and Cowherd
|
Diversity in culture is very evident in China due to its large population that has provided the presence of various ethnic groups such as the Hans and the Mongols. These various ethnic groups by default possess their unique culture and traditions (according to www.livescience.com chinese-culture). However this thesis is focused on five major festivals in China, which are equally celebrated the same way by all these ethnic groups.
1.1 Chinese Festivals and Customs
China as a country is very large and populous hence there is the presence of different customs and traditions of the people of this country. It is estimated that the population of China is more than 1 billion with 56 different ethnic groups some of these ethnic groups include the Hans, the Mongols and the Naxi. These ethnic groups have various cultures and practices (according to www.livescience.com chinese-culture). Despite this fact there are common events and festivals celebrated by all these ethnic groups or in totality the entire population as a whole. Some of these common festivals include the Spring Festival, the Dragon Boat Festival and the Lantern Festival with some of these festivals having lasted for thousands of years (according to an article Traditional Chinese festivals www.china.org.cn). However this research is going to have its primary focus on five main festivals celebrated in China.
1.1.1 Spring Festival
To start of with we would talk about the most significant festival in China, the Spring Festival. This festival has similarities with Christmas with family members both home and abroad coming together for the festivities. It occurs on the first day of the 12th lunar month that is four weeks later than the Georgian calendar. During the reign of the Shang Dynasty was when this festival begun, with people offering sacrifices to gods to show appreciation for an old year ended and the start of a new one around 1600 BC – 1100 BC. The festival commences in the early days of the 12th lunar month every year until the mid 1st lunar month of the following year. The eve of the Spring Festival and the first three days are very significant. The Chinese government gives people seven days off work to celebrate the festival.
Customs
There are customs that follow the celebration of the Spring Festival. Some of these customs are deteriorating however some of them are still practiced. Families prepare laba porridge, which is made from glutinous rice, millet, the seeds of Job’s tears, jujube berries, lotus seeds, beans, longan and gingko on the 8th day of the 12th lunar month. Sacrifices are made for the kitchen god on the 23rd day of the 12th lunar month which is also known as the Preliminary Eve. Families also cook delicious meals to enjoy by themselves.
After this event, preparations are made for the coming New Year, this is known as “Seeing the New Year in.” Everybody goes out to purchase some necessary items for the New Year. These items consist of both edibles such as rice, duck, fish and meat as well as decorations and gifts for children and the elderly. People put up decorations and clean their houses to depict a sense of a festive season. Spring Festival couplets are put on doors with iconic Chinese calligraphy with all character in black on a red paper. The couplets possess different contents this depends on every specific family’s preferences, most often they include wishes for a bright future or good luck for a New Year. Images of the god of doors and riches is put on the front of doors to drive away contrary spirits and embrace peace and abundance. “Fu” the Chinese character which represents blessings or happiness is put on papers and pasted. It is pasted upside down, reversed “fu” which is homophonic with “fu” comes and are both pronounced as “fudaole.” Two red lanterns are hanged on the sides of the front door. Paper cuttings decorations are made from red paper and colored brightly and hanged on windows. New Year paintings with prosperous meanings are also put on the wall. A lot of significance is given to the Spring Festival, families sit together to eat. The meals eaten are different and special with and include chicken, fish and bean curd, their pronunciations are “ji”, “yu” and “doufu” which mean prosperity, abundance and richness. After dinner families sit together to gist and watch television and stay up together to transit into the New Year in.
On the day of the New Year, salutations are given to parents, and children are given money in a red paper. In the northern part of China jiaozi or dumplings which are is made in the shape of old gold ingots of China are eaten and wishes for money and abundance are made. Finally firecrackers are bought it is believed the sound they produce drives away contrary spirits .The Spring festival then comes to an end when the Lantern Festival ends. Han people have different customs though the Spring Festival is celebrated almost at the same time.
1.1.2 Lantern Festival
This festival occurs on the 15th day of the first lunar month. It is often celebrated in February or March on the Gregorian calendar. It became an important festival during early Western Han Dynasty. It all begun when an emperor found out monks would watch the remains from the cremation of Buddha’s body and in awe of Buddha light lanterns as a form of worship on the 15th day of the 1st lunar month. He then ordered that as a sign of respect lanterns should also be lit in the palace to pay reverence to Buddha. Gradually this became a festival spreading all over China.
Customs
Different shapes and sizes of lanterns are put in the streets to attract a lot of visitors. Children often stroll on the streets with self-made or bought lanterns looking very excited. The lantern owners compose riddles and post them on their lanterns. If an individual feels he or she has the solution to the riddle that person goes to the lantern owner and if the solution being offered for the riddle is correct a gift is given to that individual. This custom begun during the Song Dynasty which was between 960-1279. It makes the festivities more interesting and is a symbol of wisdom.
Yuanxiao, also known as rice dumplings are eaten on this day. It is made from glutinous rice flour with rose petals sesame, bean paste, jujube paste, walnut meat, dried fruit, sugar and edible oil as filling. It can be either boiled, fried or steamed. Another name for this sweet and delicious meal is “tangyuan” which has the same pronunciation as “tuanyuan,” which means reunion hence signifying that people come together to eat to signify unity, harmony and happiness of family.
Performances such as the dragon lantern dance, lion dance, a land boat dance, a yangge dance, walking on stilts and beating drums whiles dancing are exhibited during the day. At night the is a display of fireworks to welcome the New Year.
1.1.3 Dragon Boat Festival
This festival is about 2000 years old and is celebrated on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month that is often in June of the Gregorian calendar. This festival has evolved one of the most post popular evolutionary legends of this festival is in the commemoration of Qu Yuan between 340-278 BC. Qu Yuan being a minister of ther State of Chu and one of China’s early poets, he played a significant role in the enrichment of the country and fortifying of the military forces of the country to fight against the Qin. Sadly he was opposed and exiled. While in exile he wrote significant poems that depict his love for his country an example of his poems is Jiu Ge or Nine Songs. He gave up his life by jumping into the Miluo River after writing his last piece Huai Sha or Embracing Sand upon hearing the news that the Qin soldiers had been overcome. His death occurred on the 5th day of the 5th month of the Chinese lunar calendar. The Chu people gathered at the river bank with their fishermen trying to recover his body, they threw into the water pyramid shaped dumplings wrapped in reeds to prevent aquatic life from eating his body while an old doctor poured in a jug of reaglar wine hoping to intoxicate the aquatic life. These practices became the basis of the customs of the festival.
Customs
There is the racing of dragon boats, a very iconic even which is part of the festive celebrations. This has its origins from the efforts of recovering Qu’s body on the day of his death. A gun goes off and boat racers are seen rowing dragon shaped canoes and being followed by beating drums all the way to their destination.
The pyramid shaped dumplings wrapped in reeds is eaten. It is believed it was very common during the Spring and Autumn Period between 770 BC to 476 BC. This type of dumpling is known as zongzi. It was initially made with glutinous rice wrapped reeds and tied with a brightly colored thread. In modern times the fillings for this delicious meal varies from meat, bean paste, egg yolk among others.
Little silk bags are sewn with colorful silk cloth and filled with herbs or perfumes and stringed with silk threads. It is either put around the neck or at the front of outfits to ward off contrary spirits.
2.1.4 Mid Autumn Festival
According to the Gregorian calendar this fall in the month of October that is the 15th day of the 8th lunar month of the Chinese lunar calendar.
In ancient times, Chinese emperors offered rites which required making sacrifices to the sun in spring and the moon in autumn. Historical literature from the Zhou Dynasty had the word Mid – Autumn. This was later spread wide by the rich and highly placed to common people. The people paid reverence and worshipped the bright moon and talked about their feelings under it. From one dynasty to the other this festival kept growing till it became a major festival in China.
This festival has its origins from a folklore of a hero Hou Yi who saved his people from the predicaments of the 9 suns out of 10 and ordered the last one when to rise and set. He lost his wife to an enemy his wife drunk an elixir given to him by an emperor and became a celestial body, the big bright moon. He chased the moon but to no avail could not reach his wife so he laid a table of incense in the garden his wife loved so dearly. When the people of the village heard what had happened the did like wise and prayed to his wife, the moon for good fortune and peace.
Custom
People practice different customs for this festival. However people commonly set incense and show love, praying for a better life. People also eat moon cakes and express their feelings while enjoying under the moon.
1.1.4 Magpie
This is also known as Qixi Festival Chinese Valentine’s Day. I takes place on the 7th day of the 7th lunar month of the Chinese calendar.
This festival is derived from a love story of the 7th daughter of the Emperor of heaven, the weaving maid and an orphan boy, cowherd. The cowherd had an ox that was apparently a celestial being and asked him to go and wash himself in the brooks if he wanted to get married for his kindness. On reaching the brooks he saw the seven daughters of the emperor. Fascinated by the beauty of the seventh daughter he stole her clothes and after her sisters had left he showed up and persuaded her to marry him. After a while the emperor realized the sky was not as beautiful as it used to be before since his seventh daughter the weaving maid was not around to weave nice skies and rainbows. He then asked her grandmother to go and bring her back to him. The cowherd chased after his wife with their children as she was being taken away. In order to separate them the emperor sent his daughter to live on the star Vega and the cowherd was sent to Altair also known as the Weaving Maid Star and the Cowherd Star respectively in China. The sweet couple were maid to see each other once a year that is on the 7th day of the 7th month of the Chinese lunar calendar. It is believed that on this day magpies in China go to form the bridge by which the two stars met. It is also believed that if it rains in the evening of the Magpie Festival it means that the Weaving Maid and the Cowherd are shedding tears (according to an article Happy 2012 Chinese Valentine’s Day at www.techisky.com).
Custom
On this day lovers go and pray for their love and possible marriage at the temple of the Matchmaker in China. The single also go and pray for luck so they can also fall in love.
A long time ago girls wanted to be like the Weaving Maid, since crafting is an essential part of womanhood in China hence also calling this festival the Daughter’s Festival. It is still essential that a woman should be good at crafting so on this day Chinese girls pray to the Weaving Maid Star to make them smarter. When the star is at its highest a test is taken by placing a needle on a water surface if the needle floats it means that girl is already smart and ready for marriage if it doesn’t it means she is not ready. The Girls are permitted to make wishes on this day but one wish every year.
Flowers are placed on the horns of ox in order to avert any form of disaster on this day in Chinese provinces. Women wash their hair in the night on this day to make them have a fresh look and to make them look shiny. The overnight water from the Valentines Day rains are used by children for the washing of their faces to give them a more natural and beautiful appearance. Colorful ropes are also thrown by girls these ropes are from the Chinese Dragon Boat Festival and are thrown on the roof so magpies can carry them and use them to build the bridge according to an article Happy 2012 Chinese Valentine’s Day at www.techisky.com).
1.2 Fading Chinese Cultures
As time passes by there are some Chinese cultural practices and customs that are slowly fading out of existence due to the effect of modernization on the younger generation (Chinawhisper.com, 2017). Below are some cultural practices and customs that have slowly been deteriorating with time (Chinawhisper.com, 2017).
1.2.1 Grave Visiting
It is believed that on the third day of the Chinese New Year evil spirits begin to roam the earth’s surface hence making it unsafe for friends and families to roam freely or pay visits to loved ones the reason being that these spirits could possess and therefore bring bad luck to people.
Due to the reasons above, the third day is the day families were set aside to pacify the spirits by families paying visits to the graves of the dead and burning incense. This old custom is seldom practiced. The younger generation of today does not observe this custom and disregard the existence of evil spirits.
1.2.2 Cooking on the 29th Day on the 12th Month
In the olden days Chinese preparing dishes between day 1 and day 5 of the new year as bad luck. To avert the misfortune, people of old cooked a lot of food enough for a week on the 29th of the 12th month of the new year. The meal mostly prepared were steamed buns decorated with red dots to contribute color to the celebrations.
Things have however changed and it is hard to find decorated buns. In today’s modernized China some people do not observe the cooking and others go to restaurants with their families instead of cooking at home hence the fading away of the cooking tradition.
1.2.3 Not Sweeping on the First and Second Day of the New Year
Visits from family and friends are a typical feature of the new year celebration to exchange gifts with loved ones. Most of the time the compounds are swept since there might be some amount of trash left on them from decoration put up. It was believed that sweeping on the first and second day resulted in the loss of good fortune, so on these days people did not engage in any cleaning activities. This is a practice that is not practiced in the big cities but is still maintained in small towns and villages.
1.2.4 Sacrificing for the Five Roads God
The god responsible for gifting good fortune is the five roads god. The god watches over the North, East, Central, South and West mythical roads. Animal sacrifices were made to this god to pacify the god for good fortune for all endeavors for the new year. This custom was observed on different days based on location. Northern Chinese performed this ritual on the 2nd day of the year while the 5th day was when the Southern Chinese performed this ritual. With the increase of rural-urban migration of the youth in search for better life opportunities, this practice is fading away.
1.2.5 Sending the God of the Poor to Heaven
The god of the poor is believed to be the child of King Zhaun and had the habit of wearing worn out clothes. He was often given new clothes but he damaged them by tearing them up before he wore them. Not happy seeing him in this state they decided to send him away to the heavens on the 6th day of the new year. This practice is no longer being observed.
1.2.6 Sacrificing to the Kitchen Stove God
In the days of old, on the 23rd day of the 12th month, of the Chinese year it was believed that this god would go to the heavens and tell the Jade Emperor what people did at the end of the year. The Chinese people offered sacrifices to serve as a form of bribe so the god said good things about their families. As time went by the people even suggested what they wanted to be said about their family as they performed these sacrifices. However this practice is fading away as well.
1.2.7 Opening Door Firecrackers Ritual
Families aspired to be the first to light up firecrackers exactly at 12:00 am on the first day of the new year to usher them into the new year. It assumed that the louder your firecracker the more your blessings for the new year. This practice has been banned in the urban areas and dying slowly in rural areas.
1.2.8 Tying the Knot without a Prior Date
The last week of the Chinese year is believed to be a free pass week for both gods and humans, nothing is forbidden. Gods and human could partake in activities which on a any other day would be considered not appropriate. The young could get married without and prior plans. Today this is no longer practiced.
1.3 Contributory Factor to the Lack of Interest in Chinese Traditional Customs and Culture among Chinese Youth.
Chinese youth today have less interest in Chinese customs and culture as a result of one major contributory factor which is modernization. Modernization is the transition from pre-modern or traditional society to a modern society.
In today’s China, modernization has played a huge role in various aspects of life style from education to economic this has to an extent resulted to a slow and steady increase in westernization which refers to the developing of taste for western traditions among Chinese youth (Scribd, 2017).
The Chinese youth have taken up some practices which are a contrast to the traditional cultural customs of the Chinese society. In today China especially in the urban areas, the Chinese youth, who are exposed to western pop culture, are more focused on their individual needs depending on their parents as their sole source of living to the extent that you could find a young person who is eligible for employment unemployed still living with his or her parents still depending on them for everything according to though rural areas are slow to the reception of modernization the urban areas of China are easily woven into the web of this concept. Modernization is slowly becoming a part of the Chinese lifestyle and has had a great impact on customs, culture and traditions of the Chinese society. For instance in the days of old, the extended family was practiced in most societies where grandparents, parents, children and other relatives resided on the same compound, today in Beijing you extended families have to give way to the nuclear family system since the traditional four – fold houses are now being demolished to give way to small high-rise apartments (Scribd, 2017).
As modernization weaves itself into the Chinese society, the Chinese youth are not left out. traditional cultural customs this practice is frowned upon since by a certain age the younger ones should be taking care of the older ones. Most Chinese youth today also prefer the western concept of marriage and family. Against the laws of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism, the basis of the Chinese society, Chinese youth today do not mind practicing pre-marital sex which is a taboo in these three religions. The youth also prefer not to marry at all or marry late which is against the Chinese traditional cultural customs since the young are required by those customs to marry early in order to procreate and continue the family lineage. Modernization has even had an impact on the choice of religion amongst the Chinese youth today. Currently Chinese youth begin to show interest in western religion, Christianity; Catholicism to be more precise and form secret church groups which is totally against the Chinese Communist Party. Chinese youth both Christian and non-Christian are found celebrating western festivals such as Christmas and Valentines Day (Scribd, 2017). These new practices taken up by the youth are clearly a contrast to the rich morals of responsibility and sense of duty traditional cultural customs are accompanied with.
The effect of modernization on the Chinese society to a much greater extent can be evidently regarded as the major contributory factor to the lack of interest in Chinese traditional customs and cultural practices among the Chinese youth and though it is most dominant in the urban areas, the gate ways for modernization it could slowly seep into rural areas as well.
1.4 Past Research
In understanding more the topic of this research, various past researches were read and analyzed to understand to a full extent why Chinese youth today do not find Chinese traditional cultural customs interesting.
“A Qualitative Study of U.S. Tv Shows Success in China” is a research study by Peiyu Hu, a Southern Utah University student, July 2014 which significantly points out the fact that in modern China the youth have adopted some western concepts through television shows and are gradually losing intrest in Chinese culture due to the influx of the western cultural practices. For instance it points out the fact how in the past Asian who travelled to America found it difficult to adapt to the American culture causing them to live together to form their smaller communities hence the rise of China Town, Korean Town and other dominant Asian communities in America, the research study goes on to further state how this concept has changed in present day where majority of Chinese youth do not have an issue when it comes to the adaptation of the western culture since they are already used to experiencing it through television shows they watch and have over time in some way have already adapted to the western way of life.
In another research titled, “Cultural adaptation pattern analysis of McDonalds and KFC in the Chinese market, by Longyu Zhou and Qinjie Zhang, May 25th 2012, is a research paper that examines how the choice of western food choices are taking predominance in the Chinese society. It further depicts the fact that the youth today do prefer to eat from such new western food joints hence their preference of western life style and products to the traditional an cultural customary ones. This research paper clearly points out the fact that the Chinese youth is the most dominant consumer group of these brands and have easily adapted to these western brands amongst others which have found their way into the Chinese society through the process of modernization.
1.5 Graphic Design as a solution.
Graphic Design in other words can also be referred to as communication design. This is the process of planning and executing ideas as well as experiences with the combination of both visual aids and text or the individual use of each as a form of expression.
For many years in the maintaining of the Chinese culture and customs, animation has been used. Award winning animations such as, Cowboy’s Flute 1963 and Nezha Riots the Seas 1979 have been used to attract and spread the moral values and essence found in traditional cultural customs and practices of the Chinese society (Best4Future Blog: Bringing Up Baby Bilingual, 2017).
Figure 2 Nezha Riots the Sea
With that being sad the use of an animation video is going to be used to narrate these customs and tradition with the five festivals in a more interesting way. Which would depict an iota of western animation and character styling to attract the attention of the target audience.
1.1 Summary of chapter
This chapter contains information gathered on the research topic and the proposed solution in addressing the issue presented by this research. In order to redirect the interests of Chinese youth towards the traditional cultural customs of China. With this current generation, a mass of the Chinese youth are slowly losing interest in the traditional cultural customs of the Chinese community as a result of the influx of the western life style. In light of this literature references similar to the research topic are accessed in order to get other viewpoints of previous researchers, also references have been accessed to understand the extent to which the proposed solution could be used to address the research topic.
Chapter 3
2 Methodology
This is basically referring to the proposed steps and manner by which information is going to be gathered for this research. This chapter also describes the categories the research methods fall under.
The method of this research falls under the following categories; literature review, observations, quantitative research and experiments.
Table 3 Methodology
Method
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Description
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Literature Review
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This was undertaken by reading journals, books, reports and past researches.
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Observations
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This was undertaken by watching videos and taking into notice the reactions and general behavior of correspondents in this research.
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Quantitative Research
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This was conducted by the use of structured questionnaires as a quantitative research approach.
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Experiments
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This was undertaken by putting to test data retrieved.
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3.1 Literature Review
For the purpose of truly understanding and gathering information for this research, material such as journals, articles, reports books and past research. “A Qualitative Study of U.S. Tv Shows Success in China” a research study by Peiyu Hu, a Southern Utah University student and “Cultural adaptation pattern analysis of McDonalds and KFC in the Chinese market, by Longyu Zhou and Qinjie Zhang were the two major past research papers which were accessed for this research which primarily depict the fact that modernization has affected the cultural and customary decisions of the Chinese youth today. The content analysis of these two past research papers identifies the preference of the Chinese youth in relation to television shows and food. It is clearly seen in these researches that a majority of the Chinese youth have taken a strong liking to western brands in this aspect. For instance in the research of Longyu and Oinjie show how the majority of the Chinese youth increasingly have chosen KFC as their preferred restaurant the Chinese youth are the core customers for KFC in China currently. After analyzing the contents of these research papers it was easy to identify that the problem introduced by the research topic was eminent hence making this research much of a necessity to address this problem.
1.1 Observations
This part of the research was first of all conducted to identify and analyze some pre-existing solutions similar to the proposed solution for this research. The majority of the analyzed previous solutions were video based. There were two main past solutions analyzed similar to the proposed solution the first being the Cowboy’s Flute and Nezha Riots the Sea. These two are animations with similar styles. The style applied in these two animations is a combination of both abstract and real. The style applied with these two existing solutions is a borderline for abstract ideas and realism where characters resemble and represent real live subjects but in a cartoon sort of form. They also contain an element of Chinese calligraphy and characters. These animations express traditional aspect of the Chinese culture.
The second part of this research was to understand the full extent to which the problem identified in the topic for this research had affected the Chinese youth today. This part of the research was conducted by observing the Chinese students on the campus. Trying to identify their choices of fashion, food and other aspects of their lifestyle was the main focus. It was noticed that subconsciously the target audience seemed to be more leaning towards some popular western brands for instance in aspects of fashion, brands such as Nike and Adidas were popular among the target audience. This aroused the question, is the target audience aware of the extent to which their lives are being influenced by modernization a contributory factor to the bastardization of ones tradition and culture? This method of the research contributed to the formulating of the structured questions for the qualitative research, in order to assist in identifying whether or not the target audience was aware the problem at hand.
3.2 Quantitative Research
The word quantitative signifies a number or something that could be quantified. For this step structured, questions developed to be answered by the target audience. These questions were categorized into three sections. The first section is for demographic purposes such as age and gender. The second section is to understand the opinions of the target audience on the topic of the research to derive the necessary information for the data collection of the research. Through the process of observation questions in this section were structured so the target audience could analyze their lifestyle to identify if they agreed to the fact that the problem presented by the research topic was eminent or not. The last part of the research is to derive the opinion of the target audience on the appropriateness of the suggested choice of possible solution for the research topic at hand. The target audience were aloud to choose their preferred digital media choice to identify what would peak their interest so it could be applied in the formation of the possible solution
1.2 Questionnaire Survey
This part of the research involved the testing of various styles to derive the suggested solution. Initially the doodling technique was to be applied in achieving the desired and results for the proposed solution. However unfortunately this technique did not do much justice to the formation of the suggested solution. This was disappointing and immediately a new style had to be applied. Like the existing solution analyzed, the new style was a blend of abstract and real. This style served its purpose well and was able to depict the Chinese elements and tradition. With this style five major Chinese festivals and their customs could be successfully illustrated and translated into an animation form since animation was the preferred desired digital media solution suggested by the target audience.
1.1 Summary of the chapter
This chapter has information on the process through which the information for this research was retrieved. It systematically defines and explains the steps involved. This is to bring to light the fact that the research is based on real facts and not just assumptions or personal opinions. It also depict the fact that the opinions of the target audience has been taken into consideration in addressing the issue posed by the research topic.
Chapter 4
2 Data Analysis
In this chapter data based from the quantitative method of research derived from the questionnaires given out to the correspondents or target audience is going to be analyzed to determine whether or not the research topic has any relevance and holds substance and also to find out if the chosen solution to this problem is a suitable channel which can be used in tackling the problem posed by the research topic. Out of a total of 100 correspondents, 10 correspondents failed to return their questionnaires while 20 more returned their questionnaires with a lot of the questions unanswered, therefor rendering 30 questionnaires invalid. However 70 correspondents returned with valid questionnaires hence making them our main source of data.
The data collected is mainly in three parts, the first part deals with the basic demographics of the correspondents, the second tackles the views of the correspondents in regards to the research topic and the third part is aimed at getting the opinions of the correspondents on which solution they deem fit to tackle the problem posed by the research topic.
2.1 Part One: Demographic
1. This question was to identify the gender of the correspondents. This is because girls and boys do not always share the same interest hence are bound to have different opinions on issues.
Figure 5 Gender
From this bar chart, out of the 70 correspondent representing 100%, 43 representing 61% were male students and 27 representing 39% were female students.
2. The second question is aimed at identifying the age bracket of the correspondents.
Figure 6 Age
From the chart above out of the 70 correspondents representing 100%, 2 were less than 18 years representing 3%, 23 were between the ages 18 to 20 representing 33%, 29 were between 21 and 22 representing 41%, with 16 less than 20 representing 23%.
4.2 Part Two: Opinion on the Research Topic
1. The first question identifies if the correspondents has any idea of what the meaning of culture is.
Figure 7 What is Culture
From the chart above out of the 70 correspondents representing 100%, 6 correspondents representing 9% had no idea of the meaning of culture, 10 representing 14% had very little knowledge on what culture meant, 11 representing 16% had some fair knowledge on what culture meant, 27 representing 39% had much knowledge on the meaning of culture and lastly 16 representing 23% were not certain if they knew the meaning of culture or not.
2. This question was to find out if the correspondents had any knowledge of the Chinese culture.
Figure 8 Knowledge on Chinese Culture
From the chart above out of the 70 correspondents representing 100%, 5 correspondents representing 7% had no idea of the Chinese culture, 22 representing 31% had very little knowledge of the Chinese culture, 11 representing 16% had a fair idea of the Chinese culture, 14 of them representing 20% had much knowledge of the Chinese culture and 18 representing 26% were not so certain if they knew the Chinese culture or not.
3. Questions 3 and 4 are geared towards identifying the number of festival the correspondents are familiar with.
Figure 9 Chinese Festivals
From the chart above out of the 70 correspondents representing 100%, 5 representing 7% knew about the Spring Festivals, 20 representing 29% have knowledge of the Dragon Boat Festival, 19 represent 27% have knowledge of the Lantern Festival, 14 representing 20% know about the Mid-Autumn Festival, 10 of them representing 14% had knowledge of the Magpie Festival, 1 of them representing 1% have knowledge about Tomb-Sweeping Day and 1 representing 1% have knowledge of Yuan Festival.
4. Question five seeks to find out if the correspondents had any knowledge of the customs of the festivals in the previous question.
Figure 10 Knowledge on Customs
From the chart above out of the 70 correspondents representing 100%, 14 representing 20% had no idea, 15 of them representing 21% had very little idea of the customs of these festivals, 14 of them representing 20% had a fair idea of the customs, 9 of them representing 13% knew a lot about these customs, 18 of them representing 26% were not certain if they had any knowledge at all of the customs of the festivals.
5. Question six seeks to identify what attract the correspondents to Chinese festivals.
Figure 11 Attractions
From the chart above out of the 70 correspondents representing 100%, 30 representing 43% like the food, 20 representing 29% of them liked the costumes, 9 representing 13% like the history that comes with the festivals, 5 representing 7% like the colors, 3 representing 4% like the characters that come with the festivals and 3 representing 4% like the music.
6. The seventh question seeks to identify what the correspondents do not like about the Chinese festivals.
Figure 12 Dislikes
From the chart above out of the 70 correspondents representing 100%, 10 of them representing 14% dislike the food, 4 of them representing 6% dislike the costumes, 19 of them representing 27% dislike the history, 13 representing 19% dislike the color, 15 of them representing 21% dislike the characters and 9 of them representing 13% dislike the music.
7. Question eight is more of a qualitative question that seeks out to identify what specifically they did not like about their answers in question seven, majority of them did not like the old traditions of the old Chinese customs that come with the festivals.
8. The ninth question seeks to identify if the correspondents had interest in western culture since it has been identified in the literature review that it is a contributory factor to the problem stated in the research topic. 
Figure 13 Knowledge on Western Culture
From the chart above out of the 70 correspondents representing 100%, 4 representing 6% have no idea about western culture, 14 representing 20% had very little idea about western culture, another 14 representing 20% had a fair idea, 15 representing 21% had much knowledge while 23 representing 33% were not so certain if they had any knowledge or not.
9. The tenth question seeks to identify what it was about western culture that attracts the correspondents.
Figure 14 Attraction Western Culture
From the chart above out of the 70 correspondents representing 100%, 19 representing 27% liked the food, 17 representing 24% liked the costumes, 4 representing 6% liked the history, 5 representing 7% liked the colors, 12 representing17% liked the characters and 13 representing 19% liked the music.
10. The eleventh question seeks to identify what the correspondent do not find attractive about western culture.
Figure 15 Dislikes Western Culture
From the chart above out of the 70 correspondents representing 100%, 11 representing 16% dislike the food, 17 representing 24% dislike the costume, 24 representing 34% dislike the history and 18 representing 26% dislike the colors.
11. Question twelve just like question 8 is also more qualitative than quantitative, seeks to identify what specifically they did not like about western culture. The majority did not find western music very interesting to them.
12. The thirteenth question was to identify if western culture had affected the lives of the correspondents.
Figure 16 Impact of Western Cultur
From the chart above out of the 70 correspondents representing 100%, 11 representing 16% had not been influenced by western culture in any way, 17 representing 24% had been affected in a very little way by western culture, another 17 to 24% had been fairly affected by western culture, 15 representing 21% had been affected greatly by western culture with 10 representing 14% were not certain if their lives had been affected by western culture.
13. Question fourteen seeks to identify the aspect of their lives affected by western culture.
Figure 17 Area of Impact
From the chart above out of the 70 correspondents representing 100%, 11 representing 6% have been affected by western culture when it comes to their choice of music, 13 representing 19% had been affected when it comes to the choice of food, 9 representing 13% had been affected when it comes to the choice of dressing, 2 representing 3% had been affected when it comes to the choice of cars, 10 representing 14% had been affected when it comes to the choice of television shows and 25 representing 36% had been affected in their social life.
14. Question fifteen seeks to identify if the correspondents would agree that Chinese youth have forgotten their customs and culture.
Figure 18 Chinese Youth Forgotten Culture
From the chart above out of the 70 correspondents representing 100%, 8 representing 11% strongly disagreed, 9 representing 13% just disagreed, 10 representing 14% less agree, 35 representing 50% do agree and 8 representing 11% strongly agree.
15. The sixteenth question seeks to identify if the correspondents agrees that Chinese youth prefer western culture.
Figure 19 Chinese Youth prefer Western Culture
From the chart above out of the 70 correspondents representing 100%, 3 representing 4% strongly disagree, 6 representing 9% just disagree, 13 representing 19% less agree, 44 representing 63% agree, 4 representing 6% agreed very much.
16. The seventeenth question seeks to identify if the correspondents agree traditional customs are boring.
Figure 20 Are Traditional Customs Boring
From the chart above out of the 70 correspondents representing 100%, 8 representing 11% strongly disagreed, 11 representing 16% just disagreed, 10 representing 14% less agree, 34 representing 29% agree with 7 representing 10% strongly agree.
2.2 Part Three: Opinions and Preferences on Proposed Solution
1. Question one seeks to identify if the correspondents agree western culture is slowly taken over the Chinese culture among the youth.
Figure 21 Western Culture taking over
From the chart above out of the 70 correspondents representing 100%, 13 representing 19% strongly disagreed, another 13 representing 19% disagreed, 16 representing 23% less agree, 21 representing 30% agree and 7 representing 10% agree strongly.
2. The second question seeks to identify if the correspondents think Chinese traditional customs and culture is boring.
Figure 22 Is Chinese Tradition Boring
From the chart above out of the 70 correspondents representing 100%, 3 representing 4% say absolutely no, 6 representing 9% say mostly no, 16 representing 23% say neither yes nor no, 29 representing 41% say mostly yes and 16 representing 23% say absolutely yes.
3. Question 3 is to identify if the correspondent agree that Chinese culture and customs should be made more interesting.
Figure 23 Should Traditional Customs be made Interesting
From the chart above out of the 70 correspondents representing 100%, 5 representing 7% strongly disagree, another 5 representing 7% disagree, 9 represents 13% less agree, 38 represents 54% agree and 13 represents 19%.
4. This last question seeks to find out which digital form the correspondents would prefer as a solution to the problem stated by the research topic.
Figure 24 Preferred Solution
From the chart above out of the 70 correspondents representing 100%, 35 representing 50% prefer animation, 6 representing 9% prefer digital info-graphics, 2 representing 3% prefer interactive media, 18 representing.
Based on the data gathered it is evident that majority of the correspondents would agree that there is much work to do concerning the research topic and the proposed solution. It also shows that the research data tallies very well with the research topic hence making the research more viable and vey necessary.
2.3 Summary
This chapter deals with the explanation of the data gathered. It also provides credible support for the research study for this thesis so it would not seem as if the data collected were merely hear say but is backed up with facts of truth.
Chapter 5
3 Conclusion
3.1 Summary of Findings
The research conducted has proven that though some would disagree there is clear evidence that the Chinese youth are slowly giving up their interest in the traditional culture and customs of the Chinese society.
The research has also been able to identify that westernization an effect of modernization is the main contributory factor to the problem stated in the research topic. With the world becoming a global village and western brands from fashion to television shows to food the world is becoming much more westernized taking a toll on traditional customs and culture of many countries China not being an exemption.
The findings also helped us identify with the correspondents on the matter of a preferred solution. Through the findings in order to make the old customs and traditions more interesting with the aid of the correspondents, animation has been sought out to be the best way to tackle the problem posed by the research topic.
3.2 Conclusion
In this research, four research methods were employed. The first being literature review, this entails the reading and gathering of information from a wide range of literary materials such as journals, past research and reports. The second method being observations, this was based on trying to understand the target audience and their lifestyle to determine if there is actually a problem in regards to the research topic or not. The fourth method being quantitative data it entails the employment of structured questions to really know the opinions of the target audience on the problem and solution in regards to this research study. Lastly experimentation this entails trying hard to develop a good and more understanding representation of the Chinese culture and traditions through animation.
3.3 Recommendations
If there be any researcher who desires to take up a similar research data it is very necessary for the researcher to collect data from credible sources based on the ethnic culture of the geographical location he wishes to apply this research. Also the proposed solution could be tested and tried by any researcher and if it does not serves its purpose in the geographical location the researcher is at liberty to change or improve upon the solution.
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