RESEARCH PROPOSAL

Title: Chinese Festivals: A New Interpretation of Form into Digital Media

Introduction: Background of the Study

Abstract

The research analyze and explores the key elements and characters of the Chinese Festivals; Spring Festival, Lantern Festival, Mid-Autum Festival, Dragon Boat Festival and Magpie Festival by reviewing and examining the history, customs and cultures of these Chinese Festivals. The research proposes that the key elements and characteristics of the festivals are to be interpreted into new form of digital media; function as mechanism in propagating and promoting the customs to the target audience, teenagers aged from 18 to 25 years old.

Keywords: Chinese Festival, New Interpretation, Form (Art-form/Design/form), Digital Media

Statement of the Problems

- lack of interest amongst young people/teenagers to these Chinese traditions;

- poor knowledge an awareness of the teenagers about the Chinese Festivals and customs (Spring, Magpie, Dragon-Boat, Lantern, Mid-Autum)

- lack of interactive form/medium - digital medium to attract the young people/teenagers

** how do you prove these statements.... Please find good literature review from the news, report, research paper, statistics, etc.... To support your arguments. Who says so...where is the sources of information came from, and when? Date/year, published by who?

Aim(s) of the Study/Research

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Research Question(s)

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Hypotheses

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Literature Reviews

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Research Framework and Methodology

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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.

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 lunar month that is four weeks later than the Georgian calendar - 1^st January. 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 12^th lunar month every year until the mid 1^st 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 8^th day of the 12^th lunar month. Sacrifices (cattle, sheep, pig and chicken) are made for the kitchen god on the 23^rd day of the 12^th 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 (ink) 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.

Lantern Festival

This festival occurs on the 15^th 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 15^th day of the 1^st 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.

Dragon Boat Festival

This festival is about 2000 years old and is celebrated on the 5^th day of the 5^th 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 5^th day of the 5^th 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.

Mid Autumn Festival

According to the Gregorian calendar this fall in the month of October that is the 15^th day of the 8^th 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.

Magpie

This is also known as Qixi Festival Chinese Valentine’s Day. I takes place on the 7^th day of the 7^th lunar month of the Chinese calendar.

This festival is derived from a love story of the 7^th 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 7^th day of the 7^th 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).

References

(no date) Available at http://www.livescience.com/2883-chinese-culture.html (Accessed: 14 February 2017)

Chinese traditional festivals, featured Chinese festivals (no date) Available at: http//:www.chinahighlights.com/festivals/traditional-festival/ (Accessed: 14 February 2017)

Information, C.I. (no date) Traditional Chinese festivals Available: at http://www.china.org.com.cn/english/features/festivals/78131.htm (Accessed: 14 February 2017)

admin(2016) 2012 Chinese Valentines day (Qixi festival) falls on august 23. Available at: https://www.techisky.com/news/chinese-valentines-day.html#more-324 (Accessed: 15 February 2017)