The Tang Dynasty (618 – 906 AD) – Part 3/4

September 25, 2010

Later, after the first Tang emperor, Taoism was removed as the national religion and all religions were treated equal.

This benefitted Buddhism.

In 1987, archeologists discovered an underground temple/palace below the Famen Temple that had been built and sealed during the Tang Dynasty and found a solid-gold pagoda and inside was a finger bone of the founder of Buddhism, Sakyamuni.

The seventeen-hundred year-old Famen Temple was built during the Eastern Han Dynasty. To date, this is the largest underground Buddhist palace/temple in China.

Although China is known as the home of tea, it wasn’t until the Tang Dynasty that drinking tea became part of the culture when the Chinese also invented noodles.

Chang’an, known as Xian when it was the capital of China’s first emperor, had an east and west market that sold goods from around the known world.

A popular past time for both men and women during the dynasty was playing polo, which had been introduced from Persia.

Art, music and dance flourished in the Tang capital.  The political flexibility of the Tang Dynasty promoted social tolerance leading to stability.

Continued in Tang Dynasty – Part 4 or return to The Tang Dynasty (618 – 906 AD) – Part 2

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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. 

To subscribe to “iLook China”, look for the “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar, click on it then follow directions.

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The Tang Dynasty (618 – 906 AD) – Part 2/4

September 24, 2010

During the Sui (589-617) and Tang Dynasties, China went through a period of cultural and spiritual development.

The country’s ethnic groups along with Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism coexisted peacefully with foreign religions such as Islam.

Literature and the arts developed more than before.

The Han Dynasty (206 BC to 219 AD) opened the Silk Road for trade, and the civilizations of Rome, Ancient Egypt, of the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers and India continued trade with the Tang Dynasty.

According to Tang Dynasty records contact was maintained with more than 300 countries and regions across the known world, so the Silk Road was also known as the Envoy Road.

People from countries such as Japan, Korea, and India as well as Tehran came to China.

Many foreigners had positions in the central government of the Tang Dynasty, and they served both as civil officials and military officers.

The Tang Dynasty demonstrated respect for all foreign religions.  During this time, Christianity was introduced to China.

The Imperial family of the Tang Dynasty had been a military family in Northwest China for generations and they made Taoism the national religion.

Laozi, the founder of Taoism, advocated harmony between people and nature, which was reflected in the beliefs of the first rulers of the Tang Dynasty.

Continue with Tang Dynasty – Part 3 or return to The Tang Dynasty (618 – 906 AD) – Part 1

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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. 

To subscribe to “iLook China”, look for the “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar, click on it then follow directions.

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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

China’s Mid-Autumn Festival

September 22, 2010

China’s Mid-Autumn Festival starts today according to Suite101.com.

It is customary to have Moon-Watching parties, and offerings are still made to the Moon. 

Around the world, Chinese and Vietnamese celebrate this festival.

For example, San Francisco’s Chinatown will host a festival street fair from September 18th to 19th in 2010. Over a hundred thousand people are expected to attend. Source: Moon Festival.org

Also known as the “Full Moon Festival,” the Mid-Autumn festival falls on the fifteen day of the eighth lunar month.

To the Chinese, this festival is similar to the American Thanksgiving holiday, celebrating a bountiful harvest by coming together as families to eat, drink and be merry.

At this time, the moon’s orbit is at its lowest angle to the horizon, making the moon appear brighter and larger than any other time of the year.

There’s even a legend for eating Mooncakes. It seems that revolutionaries needed a way to bring the people together to rebel against the Yuan Dynasty. Source: The Legend of Eating Mooncakes

Discover China’s New National Holiday, The Rice Cake Festival

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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.

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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Jingyun Dagu, Beijing’s Story Telling Opera

September 21, 2010

Jingyun Dagu is a form of Chinese opera where stories are often sung in a Beijing dialect accompanied by a drum along with one or two other musical instruments. 

The stress is on singing and depicts the stories in short episodes.

Dagu was first popular near the end of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and is still popular in China’s capital today.

One super star of Dagu is Luo Yusheng,who was born in 1914. Her stage name is Xiao Caiwu.  Even in her 90s, she emcees TV programs and occasionally performs.

This link, Happy Spring Festival, will take you to a video of Luo Yusheng performing for about 2.5 minutes in 1995, playing wooden clappers and drum while singing in a Beijing dialect.

Although this performance of Dagu is not her best known work, it was the only example I found on the Internet and I couldn’t embed the video in the post.

Well known by most of China, her fans call her the Queen of the Golden Voice. She studied Peking Opera at the age nine and switched to Dagu at 17. 

After the PRC was founded in 1949, Dagu singers were regarded as people’s artists or actors, who sang traditional stories and new operas with themes reflecting contemporary life such as patriotic Communist stories like Glorious Journey, Red Flag Over Mount Everest, and Patriotism and Roaring Waves.

The singer/drummer is often accompanied by the Sihu (a four-stringed instrument similar to an Erhu) and Pipa (lute) in addition to three-stringed lutes and wooden clappers. One of the sources for this post was China Culture.org.

See Peking Opera

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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.

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In Search of the Tomb of Cao Cao – Part 3/3

September 20, 2010

Due to a victory against overwhelming odds, Cao Cao became one of the top generals of the Eastern Han Dynasty (23 – 220 A.D.)

In 189 AD, the emperor died and there was a power struggle to see who would control the dynasty. Thousands were murdered. 

By 196 AD, out of the chaos, Cao Cao became the power behind the powerless, last emperor.

Due to the years of struggle, many of the farms had been abandoned leading to famine.

Cao Cao described the situation, “Dead body’s can be seen here and there.  No roosters can be heard crowing anywhere.”  

Cao Cao became prime minister and reestablished the farms around the capital to end the famine. To deal with the danger, each farm was populated with a mixture of farmers and soldiers to work the land.

The following harvests ended the food shortages and the famine.

The following video reports the discovery of Cao Cao’s tomb in late 2009, in Xigaoxue village near the ancient city of Anyang in Henan Province.

The archeologists discovered an epitaph and inscriptions that indicate the tomb belonged to Cao Cao.

Pan Wenbing, the archaeological team leader said, “Cao Cao commonly used broadswords and short spears for defense. We have found six of them in the tomb.”

The skull of a man in his 60s was discovered, which fits Cao Cao’s age at death. 

After his death, Cao Cao was named Emperor Wei Wudi of the Wei Dynasty (215 – 265 AD).  Source: kongming.net

Return to In Search of the Tomb of Cao Cao – Part 2

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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.

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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

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