The earliest evidence of the use of drums in China was found in Oracle inscriptions from the Shang Dynasty (1783-1123 BC).
Drums were used to motivate troops, set a marching pace and for sending orders or announcements.
The drum had a purpose in almost all elements of Chinese life. Copper drums come from southern China and date to almost a thousand years before Christ.The copper drum was also called the war drum.
The Han Dynasty used copper drums for war too.
The Fengyang Drum Dance originated in Anhui Province and was used by traveling musicians and dancers in the streets of villages and towns. In time, it would represent poverty.
Tibetan drums are part of the Sholdon (Yogurt) Festival, which occurs in late August.
Drums are also used for the traditional Chinese New Year’s Lion Dance.
Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too.
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In August, I wrote China’s Got Talent Too about Liu Wei, the armless pianist who plays the piano with his toes.
This week, he won the contest and performed by singing, “You Are Beautiful” in English.
Lui Wei’s motto is, “I have two options – I can die as fast as possible, or I can live a brilliant life, and I chose the latter.”
Another one of Liu Wei’s quotes is, “To me, there are three things that cannot be missed in life – air, water and music.”
If you watch his winning performance in the embedded video and don’t speak Chinese, be patient. Eventually you will get to hear Liu Wei perform.
Liu Wei was 10 years old when he lost his arms after touching a high-voltage wire during a game of hide-and seek. In America, the standard current is 110 V. In China, the standard electric current is 220 V.
If you travel the globe, you may want to know about the World Electric Guide so I included this link and visit Electric Shock to discover a few tips to avoid that jolt.
I also read a piece in the People’s Daily Online asking, Do Chinese people lack compassion? After reading the piece, I’m sure most animal lovers in America would say that the Chinese lack compassion.
However, I would disagree. Most Chinese have a lot of compassion but it isn’t the same as showing compassion in the West, which usually means donating money or time to an animal shelter.
In China, compassion helped Liu Wei win China’s Got Talent and he became a national celebrity and an example to every child in China showing what it means to never give up regardless of the odds.
Liu Wei earned that compassion by not allowing his handicap to get in his way – not because he lost his arms in an accident.
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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too.
If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.
As one of the older performing arts in China, Quyi is rooted in China’s history and culture, which developed during the Tang Dynasty and flourished in the Song Dynasty.
Chinese Quyi focuses on how the “Body Talks”.
During a performance, the actors pay attention to the use of the hands, eyes, body and step. The focus of this performing art consists of narrative storytelling using staged monologues and dialogues.
It is mostly a spoken performance from one to four people. Do not confuse it with Chinese opera.
Hand gestures are used to present the story’s plot while the eyes are the most important part of a Quyi performance. The eyes show anger, sorrow and joy. Using the eyes in this way is an art in itself.
Since there are different schools of Quyi, the hand, eyes, body and steps are used differently from school to school.
There are fifty-six minorities in China and minority produced Quyi varies and is different from the Han majority.
In fact, since Quyi is a vital part of China’s minority culture, soon after the People’s Republic of China was founded in 1949, the Chinese Quyi Association was organized. Today, more than 3,500 members belong and the association publishes a Quyi magazine.
Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too.
If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.
Music in China is traditionally associated with ritual observances and government affairs.
In 1999, Chinese archeologists unearthed what is believed to be the oldest know playable instrument – a seven-holed flute fashioned 9,000 years ago from the hollow wing bone of a large bird.
To establish the age, a U.S. chemist at the Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory analyzed data from carbon-14 dating done in China on materials taken from the site.
The 9,000-year-old flutes were “exquisitely-crafted” from the wing bone of a red-crowned crane.
Music from the Book of Songs
In the Book of Songs, an ancient collection of Chinese poetry from the 6th century BC, the three-hole Yue is the most frequently mentioned wind instrument.
By the Tang Dynasty, the Yue had all but vanished. Source: China Daily
Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too.
If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.
The Tang Dynasty (618 to 907 A.D.) is regarded as one of the most prosperous times in China’s long history.
It was also the golden age of Chinese art and literature.
Crossing the Han River
Song Zhi-wen (656 – 712 A.D.)
No news, no letters – all winter, all spring —
Beyond the mountains.
With every homeward step more timid still
I dare not even inquire of passerby.
Song Zhi-wen, the poet, was found guilty of accepting bribes and executed. He had good reason to fear returning home from exile.
In this video is a famous Tang poem.
The classical form of Chinese poetry developed in the late Han Dynasty and reached its peak during the Tang Dynasty.
Most Tang poems have four or eight lines, with five and seven Chinese characters in each line following certain rules.
Another example of Tang Dynasty poetry is Spring Perspective by Du Fu (712 – 770 A.D.).
When the post of prime minister was awarded to a cousin of the imperial concubine, there was the military rebellion of An Lu–shan in 755 A.D.
The nation has fallen, the land endures
Spring trees and grasses flourish in the town.
Troubled by the times — flowers bring tears;
Dreading parting — birds startle the soul.
With turmoil of battle three months on end,
A letter from home is worth a fortune in gold.
As it is, they can barely hold a pin.
This poem demonstrates what happens when the Chinese people get tired of nepotism and corruption, which should be heeded as a warning today to crack down on corruption in Communist China.
The next poem is one of many that Yuan Zhen (779 – 831 A.D.) wrote for his dead wife, who he married when he was poor. She did not live long enough to share his fame and fortune.
In former years, we chatted carelessly of death and what it means
to die.
Since then, it’s passed before my very eyes.
I’ve given almost all your clothes away
But cannot bear to move your sewing things.
Remembering your past attachments, I’ve been kind to maids you
loved.
I’ve met your soul in dreams and ordered sutras sung.
Certainly, I know this sorrow comes to all
But to poor and lowly couples, everything life brings is sad.
Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too.
If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.
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