A dozen questions about ancient Chinese society and traditional culture.

To one's parents: house father, house mother

To the other's parents: yingtang, yingzun

To the other's daughter: yingyuan

2 China's earliest books were tortoise shells or animal bones inscribed in the Shang Dynasty, more than 3,000 years ago. At that time, several pieces of armor with related content were strung together on a rope for easy preservation

This was the form of binding for early books.

Beginning in the late Shang Dynasty, bronze inscriptions appeared, with rulers casting important documents on bronze. Especially by the Western Zhou Dynasty, inscriptions could accommodate a larger number of texts. Mao Gong Ding of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the inscription of up to

500 words, because people cast the ancient bronze inscription as one of the ancient "primitive book" form, so most book historians believe that it is also a form of ancient book binding.

Bamboo is the most representative form of books before the invention of paper. It can be based on the length of the article, arbitrarily determine the number of brief, a brief book of words a line, and finally with the upper and lower two rope strings, rolled and bundled to save,

There are two kinds of reed weaving and silk weaving, the examiner sewn into the bag with fabric. Bamboo brief about the origin of the late Western Zhou Dynasty, has been used until the 4th century AD. In addition to bamboo made of bamboo, there are also wood called wood Jane.

Parallel to the bamboo slips

There were also wooden documents, made of rectangular pieces of wood, used for writing short texts.

Palm book is slightly later than the bamboo brief a form of books, it is the text written on silk, its binding system is sewn into a roll after storage, because the material is expensive, mostly for the ruler to write official documents or painting

painting, general books used less.

Shijing is also a form of ancient books. The most representative is the "Hiping Shi Jing", which opened in the Eastern Han Dynasty Hiping four years (175 AD), the Confucian seven Confucian scriptures engraved on 46 stone tablets, the total number of words

more than 200,000 words. It stood in front of the door of the Imperial College in Luoyang for people to read, copy and correct, and its function exceeded that of a general book. Its form is double-sided engraving, the text read vertically, rows and columns neatly, the monument was U

zigzag-shaped arrangement. Others, such as the sui dynasty open carving of fangshan yunju temple buddhist stone sutra, although the age of late in the "xiping stone sutra", but its influence is greater, the value is also high.

3 not married from the father, both married from the husband, the husband died from the son, the four virtues are virtue (virtue), speech (speech), appearance (appearance), skill (work), that

"Women's virtue" as a wife, husband, aunt and uncle (in-laws) to be obedient and soft, as a wife, but also "go to jealousy! As a mother, she should be able to teach her children, and as a stepmother, she should love her former children; to get along with her family members, she should "get along with her uncles and sisters", "get along with her uncles and sisters", "get along with her uncles and sisters", "get along with her uncles and sisters", "get along with her uncles and sisters", and "get along with her uncles and sisters". In dealing with family members, one must be "at peace with one's uncles and sisters" and "at peace with one's sisters-in-law". If your family is poor, you should be able to live in peace, and if you are rich, you should be respectful and frugal. They also need to "honor the body", "value righteousness", "abide by the rules", "take revenge"... ... a series of virtues.

Women's Words: "Women's words are not valuable, but valuable when (appropriate)", various occasions need to use different appropriate words, such as encouragement of the husband, teach children, advise politely, clear-minded and polite, show wisdom, and avoid disaster

Women's face, the noble dignity and respect for the first, Wan Yai due to the time," which is also subdivided into "serve relatives", "respect for the husband" of the face to be smooth and respectful, expectant (pregnant) of the face to be dignified, mourning of the face to be sad and measured, avoiding the chaos of the face to be calm and collected, not lose the degree of tolerance, if necessary, need to be righteous to die martyrdom and so on the specific rules

women's work to maintain the The life of food and clothing needs of mulberry and silkworms, spinning and weaving, the service of the Chinese feed, wine and syrup; but also to support in-laws, husband, children, entertaining guests; another important work to prepare the sacrificial supplies and to assist in the rituals, etc.

4 Ancient Chinese traditional festivals and their customs

Spring Festival

China's traditional customs in the grandest festivals. This festival is the first of the year. In ancient times, "Spring Festival" and "Spring" were synonymous. Spring Festival customs on the one hand is to celebrate the past year, on the one hand and pray for a happy new year, a good harvest, people and animals, mostly related to agriculture. Welcome the dragon dance to please the dragon god blessing, wind and rain; lion dance from the deterrence of crop spoilage, cruelty to animals and monsters of the legend. With the development of society, to receive the gods, respect for the sky and other activities have been gradually phased out, burning firecrackers, posting Spring Festival couplets, hanging New Year's paintings, playing dragon lanterns, lion dance, New Year's greetings and other customs are still widely prevalent.

Yuanxiao

China's traditional folk festival. Also known as the first half of the month, on the Yuan Festival, Festival of Lights. Lanterns custom have ornamental lanterns, dumplings, alarm drums, welcome toilet God, guess riddles and so on. The custom of eating Lantern Festival began in Song Dynasty. Lanterns that is round, made of glutinous rice flour into a solid or filled round, can be eaten with soup, can also be fried, steamed.

Cold food

China's traditional folk festival. Fireworks are strictly prohibited during the festival, and only cold food can be eaten. In the winter solstice after one hundred and five days or one hundred and six days, one or two days before the Qingming. According to legend, during the Spring and Autumn Period, when Jin Duke Chong Er was in exile, his minister, Jie Zi Pui, once cut his share. When Chong Er became the king of the country, he rewarded his ministers for their achievements, but not Jie Zi Pui. Zi Pui then hid in the mountains. When Chong Er heard about this, he was so ashamed that he set fire to the mountain to force him to come out to receive the reward. Zi Tui was burnt to death. Chong Er then forbade cooking on this day every year to commemorate Zi Tui and to express his condemnation of his own faults. Because of the close proximity between the cold food and Qingming, later generations regarded the custom of cold food as one of the Qingming customs.

Ching Ming

China's traditional folk festival. According to the lunar calendar in the first half of March, according to the solar calendar on April 5 or 6 every year. At this time the weather turns warm, wind and sunshine, "everything is clean and clear", Qingming Festival thus named. Customs include sweeping graves, trekking, swinging, flying kites, and wearing flowers in willows. All generations of literati have used Qingming as a theme for their poems.

Duanwu

China's traditional folk festival. Also known as Danyang, heavy afternoon, heavy five. Duanwu was originally the beginning of the afternoon ceremony, because the "five" and "Wu" homophonic, the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar into the Dragon Boat Festival. It is generally believed that the festival is related to the commemoration of Qu Yuan. Qu Yuan loyal and was deposed, threw himself into the water, so people to eat zongzi, dragon boat race to commemorate him. Duanwu customs are to drink xionghuang wine, hanging bags, eat zongzi, flowers and calamus, fighting grass, drive "five poisons" and so on.

Begging

China's traditional folk festival. Also known as the Maiden's Day or Tanabata. According to legend, the weaving maiden on the east bank of the celestial river married to the west of the cowherd, the cloud brocade weaving a little slow, the emperor was furious, the weaving maiden expelled back, only allowed two people every year on the seventh night of the seventh month of the lunar calendar in the magpies birds built into the bridge will meet. Or: the heavenly weaver married the earthly cowherd, the Queen Mother will be the weaver captured back to heaven, only allowed the two to meet once a year on the magpie bridge. On the evening of the seventh day of the seventh month every year, women take advantage of the reunion of the Weaving Maiden and the Cowherd to set up incense, thread needles and beg for her weaving and embroidery skills. Under the grape arbor, quietly listening to the conversation of the cowherd and the weaving maiden is also one of the most interesting things to do on the seventh day of the seventh month.

Mid-Autumn Festival

China's traditional folk festival. Also known as the reunion festival. Lunar August in the middle of the fall, August 15 and in the middle of August, so it is called Mid-Autumn Festival. Autumn high and refreshing, the moon in the sky, so there is the custom of moon worship and moon festival. The association of reunion brought by the full moon makes the Mid-Autumn Festival more popular. In the Tang Dynasty, Chang'e ran to the moon and the Mid-Autumn Festival was linked to the moon, which made it even more romantic. Many poets have composed poems on the theme of Mid-Autumn Festival. The main customs of the Mid-Autumn Festival include enjoying the moon, sacrificing to the moon, watching the tide and eating moon cakes.

Chongyang

China's traditional folk festival. The I Ching (Book of Changes) designates "nine" as the number of yang, and two nines overlap each other, so the first nine days of the ninth month of the lunar calendar are called "Chongyang". Chrysanthemum Festival, high and refreshing autumn, wind and moon clean, so there are climbing, chrysanthemum poetry, drink chrysanthemum wine, insert dogwood and other customs. The Tang Dynasty has a poem "all the cornel dogwood less a person".

La Ri

China's traditional folk festival. It is an ancient festival to worship ancestors, gods and goddesses, and to celebrate the harvest at the end of the year. Lunar Day is usually held in the last month of the year ( Lunar month ), the North and South Dynasties Lunar Day has been fixed on the eighth day of the twelfth month of the lunar calendar. There are customs such as eating azuki bean porridge and worshipping ancestors. After the Buddhist Lapa congee also seeped into the Lapa custom.

New Year's Eve

China's traditional folk festival. On the evening of December 30 of the lunar calendar, families clean the house, put on a sumptuous dishes, the family reunion to eat "New Year's dinner". This night we stay up all night, or drinking and chatting, or riddles and chess, play and play, known as the "year-end". At zero o'clock, people scramble to run out, in front of the court gathered fire burning (the ancient name "court prairie", take its meaning of prosperity), and in this "year of yuan, the month of yuan, the time of yuan" "three yuan" time three "skyrocket" to be the first to release, in order to be the first developed, great luck. At this time, the sound of firecrackers, the sound of cheering into a piece, a "firecrackers in the sound of the old year," the scene.

5

Footbinding is an ancient Chinese custom, that is, the woman's feet wrapped up with cloth and silk, so that it becomes small and pointed "three-inch golden lotus". The "three-inch golden lotus" also once became an important condition of the aesthetic beauty of ancient Chinese women. It is said that the ancient women wrapped feet because the Southern Tang Dynasty after the Lord Li Yu like to watch women dancing on the "golden lotus", because the golden lotus is too small, the dancer will be feet wrapped up in white silk to the feet bent on the top, dancing will appear graceful, gentle and delicate, was originally a kind of dance attire, and then slowly from the harem to the upper class circulated! Later on, folk women followed suit, and it gradually became a common social custom and a morbid aesthetic. Normal foot and foot binding comparison

The foot binding process is divided into test winding, try tight Wrapping tip (wrapped toes) Wrapping thin (wrapped head), Wrapping curved (wrapped foot surface)

7, six rituals: the ancient marriage etiquette. It refers to the six rituals in the process of marriage from negotiation to consummation, i.e.: Nacai, asking for the name, Naji, Naji, inviting the period of time, and welcoming the bride.

8 1. A Complete Guide to Traditional Chinese Culture

★Traditional Overview★: benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom, faith, loyalty, filial piety, fraternity, temperance, forgiveness, courage, and letting go; qin, qi, books, and paintings, the three religions and the nine streams, the three hundred and sixty trades, the four great inventions, the folk taboos, the loyalty to the country, the bamboo, the ballads, the yellow earth, the Yangtze River, the Yellow River, the Red, the moon ...

★Agricultural Culture★: Farmers, Peasants' Revolt, Hoeing.

★Palace Officials★: Palace Culture, Imperialism.

★The Hundred Schools of Thought★:

Confucianism (Confucius, The Analects of Confucius, Mencius, Mencius, Xunzi ; Ideas: benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and faith; The Four Books: The Meanwhile, The University of the Middle Ages, Mencius, The Analects of Confucius)

1) Taoism (Lao Zi, Zhuang Zi; Ideas: morality, inaction, and impunity)

2) Mohism (Mozi, Mozi; Ideas: concurrent love, non-attack, the promotion of virtue, thrift)

③ Legalists (Han Fei, Li Si, "Han Fei Zi" ideas: centralized power of the monarch, the rule of law)

④ Famous Schools (Deng Analysts, Hui Shi, "Gongsun Long Zi")

⑤ Yin-Yang School (Zou Yan, the Five Elements, gold, wood, water, fire, and earth)

⑥ Zongheng and Heng Jia (Gigu Zi, Su Qin, Zhang Yi, the "Strategies of the Warring States")

⑦ Miscellaneous Schools (Lu Buwei "Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals")

⑧ novelists (Wu Chengen "Journey to the West", Luo Guanzhong "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", Pu Songling "Liaozhai Zhiyi", Cao Xueqin "Dream of the Red Mansions")

⑨ soldiers (Sun Bin "Sun Bin's Art of War" Sun Wu "The Art of War" ideas: emphasize that you must be prepared before combat)

⑩ medical doctors (Bian Magpie, Zhang Zhongjing, Hua Tuo, Sun Simiao, Li Shizhen There are writings below)

★Qin★: Flute, Erhu, Guzheng, Xiao, Drums, Guqin, Pipa. Jasmine Flower", ten famous songs ("High Mountains and Flowing Water", "Guangling San", "Pingsha Falling Geese", "Plum Blossoms", "Ambush on Ten Sides", "Sunset xiaojiao drums", "Hu Jia eighteen beats", "Autumn and Moon in the Han Palace", "Yangchun Baixue", "Fishermen and Woodcutters")

★★Chess ★: Chinese Chess and Chinese Weiqi, the game, chess, chess pieces, chess boards.

★Books★: Chinese Calligraphy, Seal Engraving Seals, Four Treasures (Brush, Ink, Inkstone, Xuan Paper), Woodblock Watermarks, Oracle Bone Inscriptions, Bell and Tripod Inscriptions, Bamboo Slips of the Han Dynasty, and Vertical Wire Binding Books

★Paintings★: Chinese Paintings, Landscape Paintings, and Scriptural Paintings; Dunhuang Mural Paintings; Bajun Drawings, and Taiji Drawings (Taiji).

★Zodiac★: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig.

★Traditional Literature★: The Classic of Poetry, Han Lefu, Sun Tzu's Art of War, The Thirty-Six Stratagems, Pre-Qin Poetry, Han Fugue, Tang Dynasty Poetry, Song Lyrics, Yuan Opera, Ming Dynasty Novels, The Four Great Masterpieces (Journey to the West, Dream of the Red Mansion, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and The Water Margin), and Liaozhai Zhiqi (Liao Zhai Zhiyi)

★Traditional Festivals★: Lantern Festival (Eat Tangyuan), Cold Food Festival (eating only cold ones), Qingming Festival (sweeping tombs), Dragon Boat Festival (dumplings, dragon boat races, Qu Yuan), Mid-Autumn Festival (eating mooncakes), Chung Yeung Festival (hiking), Lunar New Year's Day (New Year's Eve, red packets, New Year's Eve, and reunion dinners), New Year's Eve (New Year's Eve), and the Spring Festival (New Year's Day) are representative of these festivals.

★Chinese Theatre ★: Kunqu, Xiang Opera, Peking Opera, Shadow Puppetry, Sichuan Opera, Huangmei Opera, Cantonese Opera, Flower Drum Opera, Balinese Opera, Puppetry | Peking Opera Face Painting Traditional Chinese Culture of the Kunqu Opera

★China's Architecture ★: The Great Wall, Paik Fongs, gardens, monasteries, bells, pagodas, temples, pavilions and pavilions, wells, stone lions, residential houses, the Qin bricks and Han tiles, and the Terracotta Warriors and Horses.

★Chinese Characters and Chinese Language ★: Chinese characters, Chinese language, couplets, riddles (lantern riddles), hiatus, familiar phrases, idioms, shooting over the top, wine orders, etc. ......

★Traditional Chinese Medicine ★: Traditional Chinese Medicine, traditional Chinese medicines, Huang Di Nei Jing (The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine), Acupuncture and Moxibustion A and B Jing (The Classic of the Pulse), Materia Medica, The Compendium of Herbal Medicine (Materia Medica), Thousand Gold Formula (The Golden Formula)

>★Religion and Philosophy★: Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Yin and Yang, Five Elements, Compass, Bagua, Sinan, Fabulous, Fortune-telling, Zen, Buddhism, Guanyin, Taishang Laojun; Burning Incense, Worshiping Buddha, Candles.

★Folk Crafts★: paper-cutting, kites, Chinese weaving and embroidery (embroidery, etc.), Chinese knots, clay figure face molding, dragon and phoenix patterns (taotie pattern, ruyi pattern, thunder pattern, back pattern, ba pattern), auspicious cloud patterns, phoenix eyes, thousand-layer base, eaves, vulture.

★Chinese Martial Arts★: Southern Fist and Northern Leg, Shaolin, Wudang, Emei, Kongdong, Kunlun, Dancang, Huashan, Qingcheng, Songshan.

★Regional Cultures★: Middle Earth Culture, Jiangnan Culture, Jiangnan Water Town, Sebei Lingnan, Desert Style, Mongolian Grassland, End of the World, Central Plains, Baling Culture ......

★Folkways and Folk Customs★: Rituals, Marriage (Red Maiden, Moonlady), Funeral (Filial Clothing, Paper Money), Sacrifices (Ancestors); Door Gods, New Year's Paintings , firecrackers, dumplings.

★Clothing and Costumes★: Hanbok (Han Chinese), Tang (Han Chinese dish-collar robe), Miao (Miao), Vi (Uyghur), embroidered shoes, tiger shoes, pseudo-tang (Manchu lab coat), cheongsam (Manchu), bibs (Manchu), cocked hats, crowns of the emperors, phoenix crowns of the empresses, silks. Chinese Traditional Costume Hanfu

★The Four Elegant Plays★: Birds, Flowers, Insects and Fish, Peony, Plum Blossom, Osmanthus, Lotus, Birdcage, Bonsai, Carp;

★Animals and Plants★: Dragons, Phoenixes, Wolves, Unicorns, Tigers, Leopards, Cranes, Tortoises, Giant Pandas... ; Plum, Orchid, Bamboo and Chrysanthemum: Plum, Orchid, Bamboo, Chrysanthemum. Pine, Cypress.

★Wares on the go★: Jade (jade pendant, jade carving ......) Porcelain, cloisonné, Chinese lacquerware, colored pottery, zisha pots, batik, ancient weaponry (armor, daggers, swords, etc.), bronzes, antiques (copper coins, etc.), tripods, gold yuanbao, Ruyi, candlesticks, red lanterns (palace lanterns, gauze lanterns), yellow cabs, snuff bottles, Birdcages, long-life locks, sugar gourds, bronze mirrors, sedan chairs, hookahs, snuff bottles, banana fans, peach blossom fans, and foot wrappings.

★Diet and Cookery★: seven things: firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, tea; wine, tea ceremony; eating culture, Chinese cuisine, the eight cuisines (Lu, Sichuan, Guangdong, Fujian, Suzhou, Zhejiang, Hunan, Hui), dumplings, reunion dinner, New Year's Eve dinner, New Year's cake, Mid-Autumn Moon Cake, Chopsticks; Shark's fins, bear's paw ...

★Legends and Myths★: Nuwa mending the sky, Pangu opening the world, Houyi shooting the sun, Chang'e flying to the sky, Kuafu chasing the sun, Jingwei filling up the sea---

★Gods, Demons and Ghosts★: Gods and Immortals, Demons, Ghosts and Goblins, the Underworld; the Jade Emperor, King of Yanluo, the Black and White Irregulars, the Dreaming Woman, and the Bridge of Naihe---

9Traditional culture is divided into eight categories of Philosophy, Ethics, Religion, Education, Literature, Art, History, Science and Technology, and others, science and technology, and other eight categories. Of course, the richness and breadth of traditional Chinese culture has also left behind an extremely rich cultural heritage; another example is that ancient Chinese culture has also made great achievements in the field of archaeology, edition, collation, and so on.

10. "Underworld Marriage" is also known as "Underworld Marriage" or "Ghost Marriage", and it has a lot of names, such as "Underworld Match", "Bone Matching", "Ghost Marriage", "Round Grave", etc. In simple terms, we can call it the "Underworld Marriage", or the "Ghost Marriage", or the "Ghost Marriage". Simple to understand, we can see the "ghost wedding" as a memorial wedding held in the netherworld, in the end, it is a dead man's wedding.

11 Receiving marriage is one of the old Chinese wedding customs. Most of the brothers died to receive their widowed wives as a wife, including brother to receive sister-in-law and brother to receive brother and sister-in-law. Individuals also have a son to accept the concubine mother (father's concubine) as his wife. The former originated from the ancient group marriage period brother **** wife of the phenomenon. After entering the patrilineal society, the father's concubine, as part of the inheritance, was often married to the first son. During the Spring and Autumn Period, the incest of the sons and lords of heaven was recorded in history. Among the people, it was customary for a brother to accept his brother's wife, and for a brother to succeed his brother's wife, until modern times. In the prevalence of sale of marriage in society, the poor can not afford to marry, so there are widows and widowers will be things. The law of the Ming and Qing dynasties prohibited the acceptance of a brother's wife, but in practice the people did not comply.

12Three relatives and six relatives: three relatives are said to be husband and wife, father and son, brothers or clan relatives, foreign relatives, wife relatives, six relatives, refers to the father, mother, father-in-law, mother-in-law, own, wife's acquaintances

13Seven out: also called seven to go (also known as the seven abandonment) is the ancient Chinese law, etiquette and custom, the husband and wife to be divorced by the time of the seven conditions, when the wife meets the conditions of one of them, the husband and his family can ask for repudiation of the wife. When the wife meets one of these conditions, the husband and his family can demand repudiation (i.e., divorce). These are as follows:

1. "Disobedience to parents"

2. "Childlessness"

3. "Lasciviousness"

4, "Jealousy"

V. "Having an evil disease"

VI. "Having a mouth that speaks too much"

VII. "Stealing "