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#Chinese folklore
rongzhi · 9 months
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A look at a few mythological beings from 山海经, Classic of Mountain and Sea, compiled beginning around 500 BC with the earliest remaining finished version existing by 200 BC.
Right column graphics created by me, translating the left and adding a few more details.
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kiwinatorwaffles · 3 months
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did that one meme resurgence of "i think we gotta kill this guy, steven." its funny how nezha was my first ever blorbo when i was like 4 years old and then 12 years later i picked up a new blorbo who is also an insane demon baby
there is no correlation between steve and phoenix. i wish there was tho
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yebreed · 5 months
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The Hall of the Holy Mother: One of the Oldest Places of Worship
The Hall of the Holy Mother (聖母殿) in Jinci Temple (晉祠), Shanxi. Built during the reign of Emperor Renzong (仁宗) of the Northern Song dynasty (1023-1032).
The hall is part of the ever evolving temple complex founded about one and a half thousand years ago. Over the centuries of countless transformations, it has accumulated buildings of various periods and styles.
The temple is dedicated to Shuimu (水母), The Old Mother of Waters, witch-goddess of Chinese lore, appearing in the form of a dragon, a snake or a charming lady with a sword and a yoke.
Photo: ©鱼雁江南, 雪夜魚舟
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plainandgeneric · 6 months
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Tis the season of the spooky! I recently delved into a rabbit hole about the 僵尸 (Jiangshi) and 湘西赶尸人 (Xiangxi necromancer), both Chinese folklores regarding the undead. These are very underrated topics so I’ve found some fun info to share under the cut!
僵尸 (Jiangshi) directly translates to ‘rigid corpse’ (corpse with rigor mortis), but it’s better known as the Chinese vampire in pop culture. 
Jiangshi is an undead that sustains itself by consuming the energy of the living, and moves about by hopping (cause rigor mortis).
湘西赶尸人 translates directly to the corpse herder of Xiangxi. It is considered as a traditional witchcraft practice of the Xiangxi area, and thought of as ‘good magic’. According to traditional lore, families hire these necromancers so that their loved ones (usually people who died in war) could be returned and buried in their homeland, so to encourage the spirit to pass on properly. 
The stereotype of the undead in Qing dynasty officials garb was made popular by horror films and pop culture of the 80s. In traditional folklore, the dead are often clothed in black death shrouds or otherwise have their face covered by large hats. The yellow talisman in movies are depicted to render the undead docile. Here, it is said to be used to keep the spirit within the vessel of the body during transport (I read cinnabar is also used for this purpose).
The necromancer guides the dead with a bell. They would rest during daylight in lodgings specifically made to accommodate this, and only travel at night. This is to avoid frightening the living during day time. 
Of course, there is no verifiable proof for this profession, though it is speculated that some sort of performative corpse transportation existed in history that helped to generate this fascinating legend. The usual portrayal of raising the dead in pop culture is often seen as evil and malicious, so it’s a lovely change of pace to see necromancy depicted in a positive manner. 
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yilinwriter · 1 month
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Kindred Spirits 知音: "The One Who Truly Understands Your Songs"
For #AroWeek, I want to talk about the Chinese term 知音 (pronounced zhīyīn in Mandarin), which has influenced my thinking about queerplatonic relationships. zhī 知: to know, knowing yīn 音: music, sound literally, a zhīyīn is someone who "truly understands your songs"
the term zhīyīn comes from a story about finding a kindred spirit through music.
There are many versions of the story. Here's one version:
One day, the musician Yu Boya was playing a qin (see image) in the wilderness, when he met Zhong Ziqi.
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When Boya played one song, Ziqi immediately understood it and described it as reflecting the mood of soaring mountains (高山). When Boya played another song, Ziqi also comprehended immediately and described it as creating the mood of flowing waters (流水). Ziqi could understand all of Boya's songs. When Ziqi passed away, Boya felt so distressed that he destroyed his qin and never played it again. Boya thought of Ziqi as a "zhīyīn," and that term continues to be widely used to this day.
In a modern context, the term of "zhīyīn" is often translated into English as a soulmate, a kindred spirit, or a very close friend, but at its core, it's a term that refers to a type of intensely emotional, spiritual, and platonic connection with someone.
The original songs played by Boya have been long lost to the passage of time, but musicians and composers have tried to imagine what the songs might have sounded like.
There's even a recording of "Flowing Waters" (流水) included on the Voyager Golden Record, symbolically helping humankind search for a zhīyīn as it drifts around in outer space.
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For me, as an aspec (demiromantic, biromantic, and asexual) Sino diaspora femme, the idea of zhīyīn offers me a way to think about the concept of queerplatonic relationships, given that it's very similar to the idea of a soulmate but without the necessary romantic connotations of the word in English. The concept of zhīyīn is explored again and again in various Sinophone literature and popular media, from wuxia and xianxia c-dramas to poetry that alludes explicitly or indirectly to zhīyīn.
Folks who follow my work as a translator might know that I have been translating poems by Qiu Jin (1875-1907), one of China's most renowned feminist poets. She frequently wrote about her longing for a zhīyīn. Some of my translations: https://chinachannel.lareviewofbooks.org/2021/02/12/qiu-jin/
The concept of zhiyin also features prominently in my upcoming book of poetry translations, The Lantern and the Night Moths. I originally wrote this thread for Twitter but wanted to bring it here for #AroWeek. Alloromantic folks, please take a moment to learn more about #AroWeek and support arospec creators. If you are arospec and found me via this tweet, please feel free to say hi!
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chernobog13 · 8 months
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The Monkey King by Yoshitaka Amano.
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ruibaozha · 4 months
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I am presently preparing for final exams and wrapping up my final case studies for this semester, but I would like to share an opera that features Nezha outside of the widely known Havoc in Heaven where he is in combat with Sun Wukong. Today, we are going to discuss the opera Chentangguan (陳塘關), known also as The Birth of Nezha (哪吒出世) and Nezha Fights the Sea (哪吒鬧海).
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The plot of this opera closely follows the origin story of Nezha as is featured within Canonization of the Gods. A defined year for when this opera was initially performed is unclear, though it was written by Xiao Rongchun and appeared within a registry of operas that featured a 'celebratory ascension' in 1824; an online record of this appears here from the Opera Culture Network.
Outside of Peking Opera, Qin Opera, Hui Opera, and Szechuan Opera also regard the performance as Nezha Fights the Sea whereas Hengqi Opera regards it as Golden Pagoda. The opera is present within Gui Opera, Hunan Opera, Chenhe Opera, and Handiao Erhuang (A form of folk opera exclusive to Shaanxi Province originating in 1807) though it is not as prominent.
This opera alongside it's contemporary art forms also focused heavily on the martial arts aspect of Chinese Opera in regards to Nezha and the varying methods his story was retold. Within this post is a brief taste of how this opera was performed, Nezha himself being played by Xu Yingying in this recording.
The full hour long performance can be found here, though it is not nearly as cinematic and was recorded from a considerable distance.
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thejewellerybox · 2 years
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Centipede necklace by Gaelle Khouri
Designed in 18k yellow gold with blackened sterling silver legs, the centipede’s body is dotted with white diamonds, blue sapphires, tsavorites, and enamel details. €8,500
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strijkdesign · 2 years
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Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!
enjoy your mooncakes <3
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baicaozhe · 4 months
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painted skin
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daveykimy · 2 months
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Traditional Chinese Catholic depiction of the Nativity scene
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rongzhi · 1 year
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The two at the beginning are dressed as (left-right) 财神/Caishen and 福星/Fuxing, gods of wealth and fortune/luck, respectively. 月老/Yue Lao, the matchmaker god is seen at the end. They are three gods from Chinese folk religion.
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tendaysofrain · 1 year
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Random Stuff #14:  Cats in China--History (Part 2)
(Link to Part 1)
(Warning:  Very long post ahead with multiple pictures!)
Cats Becoming Pets
In the book Dreams of Splendor of the Eastern Capital (《 東京夢華錄 》), a memoir by Meng Yuanlao/孟元老 about life in the then “Eastern Capital” or Bianliang/汴梁 (today known as Kaifeng/开封, located in Henan province) in Northern Song dynasty (960 - 1127 AD), there was a section called “Miscellaneous Goods”, which revealed that there were special street vendors who sold horse feed, dog food, and of course, cat food and cat treats:
“If you kept horses, there were two people who sold hay daily; if you kept dogs, there were dog food being sold; if you kept cats then there were cat food and small fish”. (“若養馬,則有兩人日供切草;養犬則供餳糟;養貓則供貓食並小魚”)
Another book that shed light on this change in more concrete terms is Fleeting Dreams of Splendor (《夢粱錄》)--which as you can probably guess from the title, is a memoir modeled after Dreams of Splendor of the Eastern Capital, this time about life in Southern Song dynasty (1127 - 1279 AD) capital city Lin’an/臨安 (today known as Hangzhou/杭州, located in Zhejiang province).  In the book it was mentioned that people in the capital kept white or yellow long haired cats, called “lion cats”/獅貓, which couldn’t catch mice and were only kept for their looks, or in other words, these cats had become actual pets:
“People of the capital kept cats to catch mice, and the cats have long hair.  Those that were white or yellow were called ‘lion cats’, these cats could not catch mice and were kept because they looked beautiful”. (“貓,都人畜之捕鼠,有長毛。白黃色者稱曰「獅貓」,不能捕鼠,以為美觀”)
During Song dynasty, folk customs also developed around cat adoption.  Cat adoption, called pin/聘 or na/納, was treated like a “wedding” of sorts, complete with a “bride price” and a “marriage certificate” contract/契.  The “bride price”, of course, was paid to the family that the cat came from, and usually took the form of some salt (this act is called ”bringing salt”/裹鹽; historically salt is a valuable commodity) or some small fish skewered on a willow branch (called “buying fish and skewering with willow”/買魚穿柳 or simply “skewer of willow”/穿柳).  The contract, however, had quite a mysterious air about it and vaguely resembled a Daoist talisman:
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^ Template of a cat contract, from Yuan-era (1271 - 1368 AD) book Newly Published Reference on Ying Yang and Selection of Dates/《新刊陰陽寶鑑剋擇通書》.  Top says “Cat Contract”/貓兒契式.  Content consists of a drawn picture of the cat in question at the center, and the terms of the contract written in a counterclockwise order that spiraled outwards from the picture of the cat, which read:
“A cat is Black Spots¹, it used to live before the bodhisattvas of the West, Sanzang² brought it home with him, and it has since been protecting Buddhist scriptures among the people.  The Offeror is Moujia³ , who is selling (this cat) to a certain neighbor.  All three parties⁴ has agreed upon the price of __, so __ will be returned as the contract finalizes.  May the Offerer become as wealthy as Shi Chong⁵, and as long-lived as Peng Zu⁶.  (From now on, the cat) Must patrol the grain storage diligently, and must catch rat thieves without slack.  (The cat) Must not harm the chickens and other livestocks, and must not steal any sort of food.  (The cat) Must guard the home day and night, and must not wander to the east or west.  If (the cat) breaks these terms and wanders off, it shall be punished in the courtyard.  __ year __ month __ day, Offeror __.”
The foot of the contract read:
”To evaluate a good tabby cat:  there must be stripes on the body, and the stripes on the limbs and tail must be just right”⁷
“King Father of the East⁸ see to it that (this cat) does not wander south”
“Queen Mother of the West⁸ see to it that (this cat) does not wander north”
“Received on a day blessed by the Eminent Benefactor of Heavenly Virtues and Eminent Benefactor of Lunar Virtues⁹”
“Returned on a day blessed by the Eminent Benefactor of Heavenly Virtues and Eminent Benefactor of Lunar Virtues”
Notes:  
“Black Spots”/黑斑:  placeholder cat name.
Sanzang/三藏 refers to Xuanzang/玄奘, as in the real life inspiration of the character Tang Sanzang/唐三藏 in Journey to the West.  It was widely believed that domestic cats had came to China from India with traveling Buddhist monks, and that they were protecting the scriptures from damage by rodents.  
“Moujia”/某甲:  placeholder human name.
“Three parties”:   Offeror, Offeree, and Witness.
Shi Chong/石崇 was an extremely wealthy official during Western Jin dynasty (266 - 316 AD) who loved to compete with others over who was the wealthiest.  
Peng Zu/彭祖 is a figure in legend and a Daoist immortal who had lived for 700 years according to legend.)
This is part of the practice of evaluating cats based on looks, called xiangmao/相貓.  
King Father of the East/東王公 and Queen Mother of the West/西王母 are gods of Yang and Yin respectively.  
Eminent Benefactor of Heavenly Virtues/天德貴人 and Eminent Benefactor of Lunar Virtues/月德貴人 are deities representing celestial objects, and are part of the Four Pillars of Destiny/四柱命理 concept in Chinese astrology, where basically different days and times are presided over by different celestial objects and therefore different gods.  A day that is blessed by both of the aforementioned Eminent Benefactors is considered to be a very auspicious day.
As a cat owner, I could most definitely feel the helplessness and desperation emanating from this contract.  Invoking deities in the hopes that the cat will do its job, not destroy stuff, and not simply run away......I’m sure many cat owners throughout the ages and across the world could sympathize with this sentiment.  The special emphasis that was placed on keeping the cat from running away was probably because back then, people lived in residences that consisted of buildings surrounding a courtyard in the middle (for example, a siheyuan/四合院), so it was extremely easy for cats to run out of the residence and become lost.
Anyways......back to history.
Song-era poets wrote many poems about cats, and both Song-era and Yuan-era painters painted many works about cats (which I will cover in my next posts!).  At the same time, cats were painted in Song-era tomb murals along with sparrows as a sign of longevity, since cats are māo/猫 and sparrows are què/雀, and when said together they sound like the word mào qí/耄耆, which means “elderly people”.
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^ Tomb mural depicting a tabby cat with a sparrow in its mouth.  From a Northern Song-era tomb discovered in Dengfeng, Henan.
Ming dynasty (1368 - 1644 AD) emperors were also big-time cat lovers.  Of note were Emperor Xuanzong of Ming/明宣宗 (personal name Zhu Zhanji/朱瞻基), who painted cats, and Emperor Shizong of Ming/明世宗 (better known as Jiajing Emperor/嘉靖帝), who reportedly loved his cat Frosty Brows/霜眉/Shuangmei (I swear this name sounds a lot more artsy in Chinese) so much that he bestowed the title of Qiulong/虯龍 (note:  Qiulong is a type of Chinese dragon that is either defined as horned or hornless depending on the source) upon it, and when Frosty Brows died, he ordered a tomb be constructed just for his cat, then ordered high-ranking officials to write eulogies for Frosty Brows:
“During Jiajing Emperor’s reign, there was a cat in the palace whose fur was slightly blue-ish except the glowing white brows, so it was named ‘Frosty Brows’.  This cat understood His Majesty well, and when His Majesty went somewhere in the palace or visited a consort, it would walk ahead and lead the way.  While His Majesty slept, it would stay nearby.  His Majesty adored it the most.  When it died, His Majesty ordered it be laid to rest at the shady side of Mt. Wansui (today called Jingshan/景山), and a stone stele was to be erected marking its grave as ‘The Grave of Qiulong’”. (嘉靖中,禁中有貓,微青色,惟雙眉瑩潔,名曰“霜眉”。善伺上意,凡有呼召或有行幸,皆先意前導。伺上寢,株橛不移。上最憐愛之。後死,敕葬萬歲山陰,碑曰‘虯龍塚’)
-- Old Rumors Under the Sun, “Within the Palace of Ming Part 3″/《日下舊聞考·宮室·明三》
“Later when a lion cat of the Palace of Eternal Longevity died, His Majesty grieved and ordered it be laid to rest at the shady side of Mt. Wansui in a coffin of gold, then ordered the senior officials to write eulogies and a funeral ritual be done, so the cat’s soul may achieve transcendence.  However because the prompt seemed awkward, most of the senior officials could not perform at their usual levels, only the Scholar of Rites Yuan Weiwen came up with such words as ‘the lion metamorphosed into a dragon’, which delighted His Majesty”.  (“最後西苑永壽宮有獅貓死,上痛惜之,為製金棺葬之萬壽山之麓,又命在直諸老為文,薦度超升。俱以題窘不能發揮,惟禮侍學士袁煒文中有「化獅成龍」等語,最愜聖意”)
-- Compiled Rumors of Wanli Era, Chapter 2/《萬曆野獲編·卷二》
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^ A Nebelung cat (image source).  According to the description above, Frosty Brows probably looked like this cat but with white markings above the eyes.  RIP Frosty Brows, you shall be remembered.
Of course, Frosty Brows wasn’t the only pet cat in the palace.  According to Moderate Records/《酌中志》, a book that’s mostly about life in Ming-era imperial palace (which is the same as the Palace Museum today), there was a special place called the “House of Cats”/貓兒房 that employed 3-4 servants just to take care of the cats that were favored by the emperor.  These cats even had titles and nicknames:  un-neutered male cats were called xiaosi/“小廝”/”lads”, neutered male cats were called laoye/”老爺”/“old men”, female cats were called yatou/”丫頭“/”gals”, and cats with titles were called maoguanshi/”貓管事”/“cat butlers” .
Speaking of royal kitties that left their names in history, Emperor Qianlong (1711 - 1799 AD) of Qing dynasty commissioned a series of paintings of his cats from the court painter and Jesuit missionary Ignatius Sichelbart (also known by his Chinese name 艾啟蒙/Ai Qimeng), and this series of 10 paintings were collectively known as 《貍奴影》, or “Cat Images” (li/“貍” or linu/“貍奴” are both archaic names for cats).  Here is a Douyin video of these 10 paintings and the names of these 10 royal felines, translation courtesy of @rongzhi​.
The Ins and Outs of Feline Ownership
By Qing dynasty (1636 - 1912 AD), there were two encyclopedia-like books specifically about cats, called The Compendium About Cats/《貓苑》 and The History of Cats/《貓乘》 respectively, which were extensive compilations of records and mentions of cats from older texts, including everything from folktales about cats to cat behavior to how to take care of cats, which served as guides for new cat owners back then.  Although cat owners today have much more reliable and scientific sources on how to take care of cats (***Please keep in mind:  this post is for fun!  If you have any questions regarding the health of your cat, please ask your local veterinarian!***), books like these still provide an interesting glimpse into how cat owners of old went about taking care of their cats.  Here I will be presenting a few passages from The Compendium About Cats/《貓苑》 that I found to be pretty cool or interesting:
How people used to bring cats back home and litter train them:
“The way to adopt cats:  use a dou¹ or a bucket, and carry it in a cloth sack.  Once you reach the home of the previous owner, ask them for a single chopstick, then put both cat and chopstick in the bucket inside the sack to bring them back home.  Should you encounter potholes on the way back, you must fill the pothole with rocks before passing over it.  Upon arriving back home, take the cat along to worship the household stove god and greet the resident dog.  When you are done, take the chopstick and stick it in a mound of dirt in the yard, then tell the cat to never urinate or defecate inside, but still allow the cat to sleep on the bed.  This way the cat will not run away”. (“納貓法,用斗或桶,盛以布袋,至家討著一棍,和貓盛桶中攜回。路遇溝缺,須填��以過,使不過家,從吉方歸。取貓拜堂灶及犬畢,將箸橫插於土堆上,令不在家撒屎,仍使上床睡,便不走徃”)
How people thought neutering changed behavior:
“Male cats must be neutered to blunt its might, so their toughness may be softened, and they will soon become plump and friendly”.  (“公貓必閹殺其雄氣,化剛為柔,日見肥善“)
What to feed cats and what not to feed cats:
“Cats will grow sturdy when fed eel, and will grow plump when fed pork liver.  However if cats are fed too much meat broth, it will give them intestinal issues”.  (“猫食鳝则壮,食猪肝则肥,多食肉汤则坏肠”)
“Catnip”:
“Cats will become inebriated after eating mint²”... “Mint is the alcohol of cats, as such the leaves are fresh and relaxing”.  (“貓食薄荷則醉”...“貓以薄荷為酒,故葉清逸”)
Treatment for fleas:
“When a cat has fleas, mash up peach tree leaves and chinaberry tree roots, boil the paste into a warm brew and bathe the cat in it to kill the fleas; otherwise rubbing camphor tree shavings over the cat also works”.  (“貓生虱,桃葉與楝樹根搗爛,熱湯泡洗,虱皆死,樟腦末擦之亦可”)
Notes:
Dou/斗 (here pronounced dǒu), was historically a type of container that was originally for wine, and then became an apparatus used to measure volume (particularly for grains), so dou also doubled as a unit of volume.  This unit of volume can be traced back to at least the Warring States period (770 - 221 BC), but is considered archaic today and could only be found in chengyu and other sayings that originated in history (ex:  升斗小民, “sheng and dou commoners”; since both sheng and dou are relatively small units of volume that ordinary people used in day-to-day life, this chengyu was and is still used to imply “ordinary people”).
“Mint” or “薄荷” here is likely just a species of mint.  However, catnip (Nepeta cataria) is a member of the mint family, and its native range seems to span much of Eurasia, including parts of China, so it’s unclear exactly which member of the mint family this text is referring to.
Cats in the Age of the Internet
Thanks to scientific and technological advances, many people no longer adopt cats to keep rodents away, but keep them solely as companions.  However, being our feline overlords, cats require a lot of affection, attention, service, and commitment from their humans, thus giving rise to the playfully self-mocking terms of "official(s) of poop-scooping”/铲屎官/chanshiguan and “slave(s) of cat(s)”/猫奴/maonu, while cats are called “cat master(s)”/猫主子/maozhuzi due to their seemingly volatile moods and behavior.  People even imagined that cats were aliens from another planet called the “Planet Meow”/“喵星” who came to Earth to conquer humans with their cute appearance, thus giving rise to the term “Meowish”/“喵星人”, meaning “inhabitant of Planet Meow”.  A cat who raises its hind leg up straight to lick its backside is described as “sending signals back to the mother planet (Planet Meow)”, and a common euphemism for a cat passing away is “(the cat) has returned to Planet Meow”.  
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^ An inhabitant of Planet Meow sending signals back to its mother planet.
Another common internet slang for the act of kissing, sniffing, or hugging a cat out of adoration is “sniffing cat”/“吸猫”/ximao.  As some might notice, the term subtly and playfully draws a parallel between the addictive aspect of cuddling with a cat and the addictiveness of illicit drugs.  Finally, because 喵 (miāo), the character for “meow”, is a homophone of 妙 (miào), the character that can mean “great”, on videos where there are cats meowing clearly, you can see barrage comments from many people asking questions like “how is my exam going to go” or “how is my job interview going to go”, as a playful way of wishing for things to go smoothly in the near future.  
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^ Some examples of these barrage comments, with people asking “how is my job interview score”, “how is my luck in the future”, “am I going to be accepted into Tsinghua University”.  Video from Bilibili.
And that is all for the history of cats in China!  In Part 3 and Part 4 I will cover famous paintings about cats and poems of cats, and these posts will be coming out within the next two weeks, stay tuned!
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crazycatsiren · 7 months
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My grandfather was the one who told me this when I was a child. In Chinese astronomy, Venus is named after the god Taibai Jinxing (his name means "great white gold star"), an honored and beloved advisor of the emperor of heaven. He has the brightest star in the night sky named after him for his great wisdom and the brightness of his mind.
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dorothygale123 · 4 months
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You are a fisherman.
You're just sailing around, doing fishermen things like casting nets and getting sunburned when you see something odd on the horizon. It's a small raft. Poorly made, too. Gosh, and is that a monkey on it? Who put that poor monkey on a raft and set it adrift?! So of course you go over to help the poor thing. It's what any decent person would do, after all.
Except.
This is no ordinary monkey.
The second it's close enough, the crazy thing jumps you, steals your clothes, gets back on it's raft and goes about it's merry way.
You learn a valuable lesson about leaving suspicious monkeys well enough alone.
So goes the tale of the poor fisherman Sun Wukong robbed on his way to civilization for the first time.
Sorry I haven't posted in a few days, I was sick and felt like crap. But I got to the section of my book with Wukong in it and was all like "Monkey time!" I won't go over his full origin here because several other, more knowledgeable people have already done so (I recommend OSP's JttW videos), but there were two tidbits I wanted to share. The first was the story of that unlucky fisherman, and the second was something that happened during his little bet with Buddha.
You see, we all know that Wukong tried to jump out of Buddha's hand and wrote his name on the 'pillars of the universe' to prove it, only for those pillars to turn out to be Buddha's fingers. However, my source claimed that the finger Wukong specifically wrote on was Buddha's MIDDLE finger.
Feel free to use your imagination as to how the almighty and merciful Buddha showed this cocky little monkey exactly where he wrote that. The way I'm thinking definitely isn't canon, but it sure is funny.
Sh*tpost Masterlist
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fortunaestalta · 20 days
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