Young Writers Society

Hello!

I just had an idea for a novel/short story/film and I need to know everything and anything about Asia, mostly Japan and China. If anyone can help me, here is a list of topics I need covered.

Chinese Traditions- Writing, dancing, rituals.
Anything about I Ching
Geisha/Geiko
Fashion
History
Japanese/Chinese Food
Buddhism
Taoism
Tai Chi /Chinese medicine
Emperors
Just anything useful about the Languages
Interesting Facts
Marriage

and etc etc!

I would be very grateful for any information you can give me!

Thanks in advance!

Thanks, I didn't know most of that

Specific list... Well... The idea isn't very specific yet. I need to know about Buddhism mainly, or just anything to do with Chinese/Japanese beliefs, divination, rituals etc. But the other stuff would be useful. Thanks for the information!

I'm trying to find out more about the I Ching, (is it pronounced Yi Jing? I heard that somewhere) and how it is actually practiced.


Thanks once again for all the useful information.

In Japan, people believe you are born Shinto, married Christian and die Buddhist. There is a lot of mixing of traditions.

Do you want modern Japan, because I know a ton about that...

Hm...I know a little about Buddhism. Basically, there was this Indian prince, Siddharta Gautama, who was really sheltered until one day he went out and saw suffering in the world. This angered him so he ditched his princely stuff, wandered around and meditated a lot. Eventually he achieved Nirvana and figured out the keys to ending suffering (the Noble Eightfold Path, what she wrote is basically right, I think.) Of course, I'm probably missing some stuff in that story, so I'd double check the details. Another thing about Buddhism: Those who do reach nirvana(enlightenment) but stay on Earth and teach are called bodhisattvas. Another random fun fact: According to legend, Buddha (or possibly a bodhisattva) was having trouble staying awake when meditating, which frusturated him so much that he tore his own eyelids out. They grew into a plant and became tea leaves.

Buddhism spread to India, China, Southeast Asia, and Japan. In China, it and Taoism were really popular during the Tang Dynasty, but then the government went back to a very strict form of Confucianism. Confucianism was basically the foundation of Chinese society until the last Emporer fell in the early 1900's. It was started by the philosopher Confucius during the Warring States Period (around 500 BC I think) and passed on by his students. I can't remember much about it off the top of my head, but I'd definitely look into that more if you're doing anything on China.

As for Japan, I'd suggest looking more into Zen Buddhism. Sadly, despite the fact that I took a "Zen and Emerson" class, I don't know much about it. The monks pass on their teachings through koans, which are sort of like parables, except no one ever tells you the "moral" of the story. You have to figure it out for yourself.

As far as Chinese medicine goes, they used things like herbs, acupuncture, etc. and still do today. I don't know much about that, but I recommend further research.

Some stuff about Japanese history (at least what's off the top of my head):

It was fairly isolated, did get influenced by China/Korea but they put their own spin on things.
The society is traditionally collectivist, as opposed to Western society, which is individualist.
Mongols tried to invade in 1200's, were blown back by the kamikaze (divine winds or something like that).
The emperor ruled as a figurehead from Kyoto but didn't really do much. The Tokugawa shogunate (or maybe earlier?) packed up and moved the capital to Edo (now called Tokyo).
Samurai were honor bound warriors. Ex: 47 Ronin, who commited seppuku (ritual suicide) after their daimyo(lord) had been convicted for killing a guy. (Google it if you want to know more).
Like Rosey said, Japan closed its borders in the 1600's. Before that, they had let the Dutch come in a little, and Christianity got a small following. After the border closing, they were persecuted. Japan was closed to the outside world until 1853 when Commodore Perry from the US came with his ship.
The shogunate was a lot like European feudalism (and happened around the same time). You had an emporer (figurehead, didn't do much), a shogun (who really had the power), the daimyos (who controlled a region), their samurai (the warrior class, declined after Tokugawa established peace in the 17th century), and the peasants.

Um...well, that's a lot. Sorry I don't know much about the I Ching. I'm sure you could find out something at the library.

Well, there's this one Chinese belief that women with small feet were found beautiful. As a result, women often bound their feet to make them smaller. Some women often ended up with feet being only five inches long, maybe even three for extreme cases.

The first emperor of China, Qin Shihuangdi is believed to have built the Great Wall. He actually only joined up fragments of the wall to create one continuous wall. While I'm talking about the Great Wall, it was built out of bricks joined together with rice paste.

Ah yes. In China, dragons were regarded as noble. The dragons signifying the Emperor had five claws, and nobody could have more than five. Yellow was believed to be a divine color so the Emperors often wore robes in that color.

Chinese (and maybe Japanese) writing originated from drawings. For example, the character for moon 'yue' started off as a crescent moon which slowly evolved and simplified into its modern day equivalent.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help, but that's all I can recall at the moment.

Rice paste my butt. Moving on.

I happen to be asian and a buddhist, so ill help.

1. The buddhist symbol is a lotus flower, which represent you (the flower) above a world of muck (the lake).
2. Karma is the consequences of your actions and dharma is important too. Ill talk about that later.
3. Confucious and lao tzu are two main philosiphers of china
4. Food is primarily rice, fish, and green veggies, tofu, rice noodles, and pork.
5. Fun fact: traditionally, the most loyal daughter gives her mother a soup of her own blood on her mothers death bed

Wow, thanks, that is really interesting stuff guys! Thanks a bunch!

I'm Chinese too, so I'll add in my two cents.

Usually, the father of the family is strict and unbending. All the children are scared of him because he disciplines them. And the mother takes care of everything else.

The "liu hai"(I think that's what it's called) hairstyle is very popular nowadays. For boys, anyway. Just check out the hairstyles of some of the Chinese pop bands. Girls, on the other hand, have a fringe in front with long sides.

Chinese food? We have, um, chicken rice. The traditional festive food is easier. Like for Chinese New Year.
1. Pineapple tarts. Pineapple means lucky in Chinese dialect.
2. Fish, to symbolise that there is more to spare every year.
3. "Nian gao", directly translated as "year cake". Glutinuos(sp?) rice with brown sugar, I think, made into a sticky gooey cake. Long story.
4. Shrimp for good business.

I'd like to tell you some swear words, but I've a feeling they aren't allowed. For marriage, only close friends and relatives are invited. The groom pays a dowry to the bride's family, but they give it back. Sort of. The bride wears something distinctive and traditionally red and stands to the left of the groom. I think. Red packets (angpow) are given out. The bride and groom serve tea to their elders.

Calligraphy is writing with a brush. It's used as a form of art.

The traditional dress is the cheong sam, or qi(pronounced "chi") pao in Chinese. For women, of course. Just look up "cheong sam" on Google to get the picture.

We refer to ourselves as "long de chuan ren", the dragon's descendants. Another mythical creature often paired with the dragon is the phoenix, or "feng".

Some people still use Traditional Chinese Characters, although this generation was taught using Simplified Chinese. My parents use Traditional.

4 is synonymous to death in Cantonese, I think.

Okay, I'll get back to you on that later.

Cheers,
Lily.