thesis

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 22 years old.

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

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.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.

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.

Problem Statement

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

- poor knowledge and 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

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,” by Kathleen McLaughlin, Chinese youth profess their love for western lifestyles.

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).

Research Question

How to express Chinese festivals

Through what way to design Chinese festivals

The Chinese Festival is losing their traditional meaning now what new form can we use to interpret Chinese Festival

How can we use digital media to interpret Chinese Festival and show the traditional meaning of festival.

Aim

To develop and/or design a digital form of the the Chinese Festivals through new interpretation and presentation

Objectives

1. To study and analyze the chinese festival , focusing on the 5 famous/main festivals celebrated.

2. To identify the main element and character on each of the chinese festival

3. To develop design concept character design

4. To create/develop the chinese festivals into digital form of animation or video.

Scope of Research

The age bracket for this research is youth between the ages 18 to 22 years. Majority of this bracket is found in university. The research would therefor 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.

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.

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

The table below shows a list of words and their meanings. All definitions are derived from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

Word	Definition
Culture	This refers to beliefs, customs and way of life of a particular group of people at a particular place at the same time.
Customs	A way of behaving that is usual among a particular group or place.
Westernize	To imbue the qualities associated with a western region and especially the communist countries of Europe and America.
Graphic Design	The art or profession using design elements (such a typography and images) to convey information or create an effect.

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.

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 12^th  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 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 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 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 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.

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).

What is the main contributory factor causing Chinese youth to lose interest in Chinese culture?

Chinese youth today are easily losing touch with old cultural practices and customs due to one major factor that is westernization.

What is Westernization?

To imbue the qualities associated with a western region and especially the communist countries of Europe and America.

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 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.

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.

Methodology

This is basically referring to the proposed steps and manner by which information is going to be gathered for this research.

Method	Description
Literature Review from: I. Content/Document Analysis Ii.	This was undertaken by reading journals, books, reports and past researches.
Previous research or study	This is by observing festive videos, observing the relevant festive colors, and custom studies .
Interviews	This basically was undertaken by conducting interviews use of structured questions as a qualitative research approach.

Reference

(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)