About Age (2)

Before the age of 10, there are no sexual difference, but after 10, a male was called:

Civilly dance, in ancient China, at the age of 13-15, youth learning civil dance On top of the bar, it is a plume of pheasant, image1:

You may watch the dance at:
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoocSdnBFlUHWPcv-JwqEN9gQWacGgCk9fzcBf91vnC_G-38SDqGGuww8GtlFeE6_3pq3ELFXU_72lYBExERLRy-5up08UuPbG7pSwMuJXt9Xuq6D3KZkojgV-oPVFQ6PJwQUg5qppuow/s1600/%25E5%2588%259D%25E7%258D%25BB%25E7%25A6%25AE.gif

Martial dance, at the age of 15-20, youth started to learn martial dance, image 2:

Weak crest image3:

Bellow pay attention to the first row of characters written in black as number 1-10 and second row of characters numbered 1-12. If every time take each figure from both rows, after sixty times the first two figure 甲and子 will met again. That is the Chinese calendar.

 The second row represent 12 animals. They are:

The Chinese character 米means rice, character 八 means eight, character 十means ten. So the 米looked like 八十八 eighty eight, in vertical row image 5:

About Age (1)

If a language has too much words ready for use and only a handful contents need to be expressed then the speaker would change expression style in many different forms, in order to make the expression not too boring. Or we may say the form >content, people would try to use various form for one content. That happened in ancient China, when there was no scientific and technical terms like our times. I think it is also a reason for English words of after having pig, meat still introduce a word of pork too.

For instance, in English the words about age could be teenager, adult, juvenile, gossoon, lad, girl, boy, lass etc. among them only the ‘teenage’ telling exactly how old and the rest are vague, yet you can find out plenty word in China dealing with the age:

Normally every word was a story. Here we only list their images. As for the story, we may tell in future.

Sheep horn image 1:

If a slave girl keep such hair style, then she was called 丫头, it means ‘丫head’. For the ancient Chinese tradition attach great importance to parents rank, so if say someone was born by ‘丫head’, it is very rude, like the English ‘son of bitch’.

Cardamom image 2:

Change hair style image 3:

Split character 瓜:

The Chinese cursive writing of 瓜 looked like image 4:

While the Chinese character eight is八, split the 瓜could be look like two 八（eight）s mean sixteen.

So the split 瓜melon means two eights or sixteen.

The Flexible Meaning of Words

If a language is too easy to create words, then it would be easy for propaganda too.

The same thing can be explained either best or worst, here we just talking about an example of how to describe bamboo.

In Chinese term the character 节 means the joint of bamboo:

When split it, it looks like:

Obviously, as bamboo is empty in middle, the joints are holding the body to avoid being split when it was living. It works like a holding ring of a barrel. So the Chinese regard the 节joint is a symbol of self-control or to hold someone not to burst. Some other words may tell you the meaning of 节, such as贞节means virginity; hold ones sexual appetite, 屈节 bend-节 means grovel，变节Change-节 means change of loyalty, 音节 sound-节 means syllable. 一节 one-节 means a pieces of a long thing, such as 一节课 a lesson，节节败退 means one retreat in defeat followed another, 关节means connected-节, joint of limb etc.

Here we explain some Chinese words as:

节: joints of bamboo, symbolises self-control.

虚心: empty-heart means humble, modest or open mind. The empty-heart can be explained as regard oneself doesn’t have enough knowledge; the opposite word is 自满 self-full means regard oneself already full of knowledge or complacent.

腹中空: hollow-inside means emptiness.

皮厚: thick-skinned, or cheeky.

嘴尖: sharp-mouth means sharp-tongue.

With above back knowledge, when a Chinese uses bamboo shoot as metaphor to describe a shameless person, it would be:

嘴尖，皮厚，腹中空。

Sharp-tongue, thick-skinned and emptiness.

Cut bamboo shoot, it looks like:

While if a Chinese uses bamboo as metaphor for a good person, it would be:

未曾出土便有节，纵使凌云仍虚心。

Before push the soil up it had 节first (self-control). Even grow up above the cloud it was still modest (empty-heart).

From this we may understand what a political propaganda is. The same issue, party A can explained as the best, while the party B can explained as the worst.

About the Antithesis (3)

There are more on the gate:

福如东海，

寿比南山。

The luck likes East Sea.

The life matches South Mountain.

It means that ‘the luck’ is unlimited and the life is endless. Note, east opposite south, sea opposite mountain.

忠厚传家久，

诗书继世长。

Loyal and kindness inherit family durable.

Language and book succeed generations longer.

Between two lines of characters there may have some characters in a horizontal line, or horizontal scroll bearing called 横批. It is a summary of both sentences:

The Chinese antithesis normally have two sentences writing from top to bottom. They are regarded as a whole piece of work. The old tradition is the right one called 上半阙 or ‘the upper half 阙’ the left one called 下半阙 or ‘the lower half 阙’. Now let’s talk about what is 阙 [que]. It were two ornamental buildings in ancient time, as two towers flanked at both sides of a building in front. At that time, without any words on it, people will know that was a government building or emperor’s dwelling.

About the Antithesis (2)

For this reason, the Chinese style of expression could be little bit harder to write than other languages, especially you want to be a good writer. In fact, the word ‘elegance’ translate into Chinese could be 讲究 means something not only precious but have story.  In this case, any Chinese family loved to put antithetical couplet in front door or gate. Either rich or poor, once you have more antithetical couplets in your yard or on the wall of your living room, it will tell the visitor about your attitude of living. Here are some famous antithetical couplets:

In the front of Memorial Hall of 诸葛亮Zhu Ge-Liang (you may see his image in the movie Battle of Red Cliff, the one who always kept a feather fan in hand)

The antithetical couplet is:

能攻心则反侧自消，从古知兵非好战，

Using psychological strategy so the rebel and mob will self-disappear. From ancient good militarist didn’t like war.

不审势即宽严皆误，后来治蜀要深思。

Ignoring mega-trends then easy or strict polices either be mistakes. Hence later ruler of 蜀 do take care.

Here is another:

牡丹花下死，做鬼也风流
Died under peony, even become ghost, be the romantic one

阿娇枕边卧，为人复何求？

Slept aside beauty, as a human, what can expect else?

About the Antithesis (1)

Last time when we talking about bamboo, one may noticed that number of character that describe the bamboo. It is two sentence

未曾出土便有节，

纵使凌云仍虚心。

Here I put underline words in bother sentences opposite each other and non-underline words opposite each other too. That is the typical Chinese style of description, they uses two sentence to say some thing or to emphasis something. We may call it as antithesis. That is to describe one thing from two profiles. We can analysis the word by word. First 未曾 means ‘before happened’ opposite纵使means ‘even after’. The second word 出土means ‘unearth’ opposite 凌云 means ‘above cloud’. The third word 便 means ‘already’ opposite 仍 means ‘still’. The last word 有节 means ‘can have self-control’ opposite 虚心 means ‘empty-heart or humble and modest’. You may see in the last pair words 有 means ‘have’ opposite 虚 means ‘empty’ or ‘have no’.

This kind of expression may look like stereo vs. normal record. You may regard it as a stereo message that causes the audience a stereo thinking. The normal antithesis habit is:

天对地，玄对黄，日对月，乾对坤,

Heaven opposite earth, black opposite yellow, sun opposite moon and sky opposite ground.

地理对：河对海、地对山、大陆对长天、荒原对沙漠、古塞对雄关。

River opposite sea, plain opposite mountain, continent opposite sky, desert opposite sand-land, fortress opposite mountain-pass. 
　　天文对：冰对火、雪对霜、海市对山光、星辰对日月、瑞雪对骄阳。

Ice opposite fire, snow opposite frost, mirage opposite vapour, stars opposite sun and moon, timely snow opposite blazing sun etc. there are some more as:
　　颜色对：红对白、紫对缃、黑桦对白杨、青竹对绿柳、墨兰对珠黄。
　　方位对：南对北、西对东、六极对八风、五湖对四海、边塞对围城。
　　数字对：一对二、百对千、两两对三三、千年对万寿、独木对群山。
　　花木对：桃对李、菊对兰、玫瑰对牡丹、绿茵对红叶、白芷对橙柑。
　　飞禽对：鸥对鸟、枭对鹏、白鹤对黄莺、杜鹃对喜鹊、燕舞对鸪鸣。
　　走兽对：熊对象、马对羊、狡兔对贪狼、雄狮对猛虎、牛仔对猴王。
　　鱼虫对：蜂对蠓、蛾对虫、蝼蚁对鱼龙、河龟对海蚌、蝴蝶对蜻蜓。
　　人伦对：夫对妇、臣对君、祖宗对玄孙、同志对朋友、家族对外亲。
　　文学对：词对赋、曲对文、五典对三坟、楚辞对史记、诗品对文心。
　　感情对：愁对乐、喜对吟、和气对知心、涌泉对滴水、思绪对情恩。
　　精神对：痴对智、佞对昏、颓废对沉沦、修身对养性、刻骨对铭心。
　　人事对：公对私、言对行、协作对竞争、生活对劳动、长辞对永生。
　　文史对：经对史、古对今、后汉对先秦、伏羲对盘古、忠臣对昏君。
　　形体对：面对首、毛对肌、口舌对心脾、饥肠对傲骨、夺目对画皮。
　　宫室对：楼对阁、户对窗、皇室对民房、茅庐对寺庙、巨厦对中堂。
　　珍宝对：珠对玉、锦对珍、绿翡对白银、琼瑶对玛瑙、紫贝对黄金。
　　军事对：弓对箭、将对兵、烽火对狂旌、楚歌对剑气、画角对长城。
　　饮食对：茶对酒、盐对油、瓜果对米粥、山珍对海味、熊掌对猴头。
　　时令对：朝对夕、暮对晨、白昼对黄昏、中秋对元旦、去暑对立春。
　　文具对：棋对纸、笔对琴、泼墨对撰文、砚池对书案、七彩对八音。
　　衣饰对：巾对带、衣对衫、木屐对华冠、袈裟对襁褓、项链对耳环。
　　虚词对：然对也、之对乎、而已对斯夫、无非对是否、矣哉对再如。
　　副词对：还对再、就对将、偶尔对时常、方才对恰巧、必定对应当。
　　连词对：及对与、而对或、除非对倘若、虽然对即使、因为对如果。
　　介词对：同对往、被对朝、由于对沿着、自从对为了、除了对依照。
　　助词对：的对地、啦对吧、罢了对是吗、哎哟对完了、似的对等着。
　　叹词对：嘿对喂、哦对啊、嘿喽对哇啦、哎呀对嗨哟、哼哼对哈哈。
　　象声对：轰对嗡、当对哗、叮咚对乒乓、咣当对扑哧、唏哩对哗啦
　　联绵对：阡对陌、貅对貔、璀璨对旖旎、氤氲对滟潋、翡翠对琉璃。

Story About 回文诗 （circling poem）

Yesterday, we talked about the回文诗 （circling poem）. A famous author was a girl lived during 东晋East Jin Dynasty（304－439 AD.）

Her name was 苏蕙（Su Hui）the same surname with me. Her poems was weaved in a piece of silk named 璇玑图when you type this three characters in Google search, you may find plenty websites and images about it. There were many other回文诗 （circling poem）but this one was the most famous one.

Each of the ancient poems had four sentences, and each sentence had seven characters. The tradition of Chinese writing material started from top right corner. The different of circling poem is that you can start from first, second, third or any of the character. Started from different character, it would be a different poem. If you read from 1^st character it would ended in 7^th character of every sentence. If you start from 2^nd, it would ended on the 1^st character of next group of characters. It also can be read like:

So altogether, this picture give us 7,958 pieces of poetry.

When Su Hui was 16, she married an officer Dou Tao. Later, her husband was assigned to other place; it is normal in ancient China, a high rank officer always being assigned to a remote country, because it was a large empire. The real power was not in the hand of aristocrat but in hand of high rank officers that appointed by emperor himself. These high rank officers had to swap place every few years by the new assignment of emperor, for if they stayed in one place too long, they might organise their own authority.

When Su Hui found that her husband had taken a concubine Zhao Yang-Tai, she was so angry and beaten Zhao badly, it make Dou Tao unhappy, for at that time to take concubine was normal. Not only this, as so many officer might live in remote country or on the road for a long period, the government had prepared public prostitute for them. (We will talk this in later post.) In additional, Zhao Yang-Tai speak ill of Su Hui in the ear of Dou Tao. Then Dou Tao went to his appointed post only carried the concubine Zhao Yang-Tai.

Su Hui stayed at home with regret and she wrote this 回文诗 （circling poem）. When her husband read it, he was moved and regret too, he invited Su Hui to his office resume their love. (The ancient Chinese office was called 府, the officer worked in front house and lived in other houses like below.)