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Brief Introduction to Chinese Culture: Colors in Traditional Chinese Culture.
For several thousand years in the history of China, other than the Pre-Qin and Qin dynasties, the Chinese people have used brilliant colors. Today, red is a very popular color in modern China. But the ancient people before the Ming Dynasty did not pay special attention to the color red, contrary to modern people's assumptions.
"Yan Se" means color in today's Chinese; however, in ancient China, the word "Yan Se" had a meaning that was not completely the same as it is today. It actually meant "facial color." For instance, there is the expression "Yan Se Qiao Cui" (weary-looking) in the book Chu Ci Yu Fu (Verses of Chu State). In the book Shuo Wen Jie Zi (Explaining Characters and Expressions), "Yan" means the area between one's eyebrows, and "Se" means qi (or energy). In the commentaries added by the noted scholar Duan Yu Cai, it says, "All the shame, regret, joy and worries are called Yan Se (facial color)" because "one's heart reaches qi and qi will reach the eyebrows." So it is obvious that initially "Yan Se" referred to one's facial color and not the color of everything in the world. Only in the Tang Dynasty did "Yan Se" start to carry the meaning of all colors. For example, Du Fu, a poet of the Tang Dynasty wrote in his poem "The Bottoms of the Flowers," "Knowing the good colors clearly, and do not be content with being sand or mud." The Chinese idiom "Wu (five) Yan Liu (six) Se," which is used to describe a myriad of colors, also reflects the meaning that "Yan Se" means colors.
About five thousand years B.C., during Huang Di (The Yellow Emperor)'s time, people worshiped a single color. After Huang Di and through the Shang, Tang, Zhou and Qin dynasties, the emperors selected colors as symbols based on the theory of the five elements. The order of five elements is water, fire, wood, metal and earth. These correspond with the colors black, red, greenish blue, white and yellow, respectively. Ancient Chinese people believed that the five elements were the source of everything in nature. As the source of everything comes from these five elements, the colors come from the five elements as well. Based on the understanding that "colors come naturally while black and white are the first," people gradually established the relationship between the colors and the principle of the five elements, which guided the natural movement of heaven and the heavenly Dao. People also selected their attire, food, transportation and housing according to the natural changes in the seasons, going from spring, to summer, to autumn, and then to winter, which further formed the theory of five colors.
In the traditional Chinese system, five colors, black, red, greenish blue, white and yellow are regarded as standard colors.
The color black was regarded as the color of heaven in the Yi Jing (Book of Changes). The saying "heaven and earth of mysterious black" was rooted in the feeling of ancient people that the northern sky shows a mysterious black color for a long time. They thought that the North Star is where the Tian Di (heavenly emperor) is. Therefore, black was regarded as the king of all colors in ancient China. It is also the single color that was worshipped the longest time in ancient China. In the Taiji diagram of ancient China, black and white are used to represent the unity of Yin and Yang.
In the ancient Chinese concepts of color, the color white represents multiple things. In the theory of "Five Elements", white corresponds to gold, which shows that the ancient Chinese people felt that the color white symbolizes brightness and classifies it as a standard color, representing the nature of purity, brightness and fullness.
The color red symbolizes good fortune and joy to the Chinese people.
The color yellow is the color of the center, symbolizing the color of the earth. In China, there is a saying, "Yellow generates Yin and Yang," regarding yellow as the center of all colors. Yellow is the orthodox color positioned in the center and is the color of neutrality. It is placed above the color brown and regarded as the most beautiful color of all.
The color green-blue symbolizes the spring when everything is brimming over with vigor and vitality.
During the pre-Qin period, the symbolic colors of ancient China started to show a tendency towards diversification. In order to support the Zhou Dynasty's ceremonial observances, Confucius defined the colors of yellow, greenish blue, white, red and black as the standard colors and superior colors. He related the five colors to benevolence, virtue and kindness and incorporated them into the formal ceremonies. During the Zhou Dynasty, the color red was worshipped. Lao Zi, on the other hand, said that "five colors make people blind," so the Dao School chose black as the symbol of the Dao.
During that period of time, the symbolism of various colors was widely incorporated into the naming of seasons and directions. Each season was given a color and a direction. Spring was represented by greenish blue sun, its main guardian god was a green-blue dragon, and its direction was east. Summer was represented by reddish brightness, guarded by a red sparrow, and its direction was south. Autumn was represented by white, guarded by a white tiger, and its direction was west. Winter was represented by black, guarded by a black tortoise, and its direction was north. The color yellow was the symbolic color of the five legendary emperors of ancient China. In China, yellow had a special symbolic meaning and was the center of the five colors, symbolizing the color of earth.
In 211 B. C., Qin Shi Huang unified China. He still followed his ancestors' traditions by observing objects and deciding symbols, distinguished black from white, respected the virtue of water and "decided that October was the beginning of winter and its color was a superior black." When Qin Shi Huang ascended to the throne, "the color of the clothing and flags was black."
Since the Qin dynasty, color gradually assumed a decorative function and the colors of ancient China also started their rich and colorful development. Throughout the dynasties after the Han Dynasty, yellow became the special symbolic color of the royal court because of its brilliance, and its shade was close to the golden color. Ordinary people were not allowed to wear yellow clothes. Throughout all the dynasties, clothing for officials of different ranks were also of different colors. Usually, people regarded the five secondary colors as the inferior five colors. During the Han Dynasty, bright purple was often regarded as an extremely precious and rare color. In the Tang dynasty, the color purple was used in the clothing of officials ranking above the "fifth class" and was a color favored by royal court members. Purple borders were considered elegant.
In Chinese culture, the relationship between color and craftsmanship, color and art, color and poetry, and color and custom are very close and unbreakable.
Colors were widely used in city dplanning, murals and paintings. For example, after the Ming Dynasty, only those who were related to the Emperor could live in houses with red walls and yellow roof tiles. Ordinary people's houses could only be made of blue bricks with blue roof tiles. However, the colors used in carved beams and columns were very rich. A lot of buildings had black tiles and white walls.
In the Dun Huang Caves, dating back 1500 years, there are more than ten thousand pieces of rare murals. The colors uses in the murals of different periods of time are different. For example, in the murals painted during the Northern Wei Dynasty, red and brown were the main colors, supplemented by blue and black. In the murals painted during the Tang Dynasty, yellow was added as a major color, and the application of the colors was also varied, bright and magnificent. In the murals painted during the Song Dynasty, blue and green were the dominant colors.
In Chinese paintings, the romantic charm of a picture is mainly expressed by the thickness of its ink. The practice is described as "ink holds five colors" and "shinning brilliantly without the usage of bright colors." The superb artistic realms are realized in the thickness and thinness of the ink. "Ink holds five colors" refers to five types of shades, charred, thick, ash, thin and clear. In a painter's eye, the color of water is clearly different throughout the four seasons, as expressed in Guo Xi's book Lin Quan Gao Zhi (A Book about Paintings), "The color of water is green in spring, bluish green in summer, aqua in autumn, and black in winter." Different colors do get used in traditional Chinese paintings. It was recorded in Selections of Famous Paintings of the Tang Dynasty that Li Si Xun's paintings of landscapes with strong green and blue colors were praised by Emperor Xuan Zong as "the best landscape paintings in the nation." This type of court painting is often outlined with colors extracted from various minerals such as Shi Qing (azurite), Shi Lu (mineral green), Shi Huang (mineral yellow), Zhu Sha (cinnabar), Yan Zhi (cochineal), Qian Fen (lead powder), and Ni Jin (golden paint). Their colors were bright and magnificent. The ancient Chinese people were good at extracting colors from large amount of minerals and plants. Because of that, the colors in Chinese paintings became more systematic and abundant in their brightness and richness.
Chinese poems and paintings share the same origin. They often have a relationship described as "a painting recites a poem and a poem draws a painting." Poems are often filled with vibrant colors and many poets were experts at describing colors. Poet Cui Hu created a wonderful artistic conception with colors. Two lines from his poem "Ti Du Cheng Nan Zhuang (For the Southern Village in the Capital)" are very well-known, "Last year inside this court, the beauty and peach flowers reflect on each other in red." Poet Bai Juyi wrote in "Verse on River Mu", "Paving in water is a streak of the setting sun, turning red is the rustling river." The two lines painted an imagery of the beauty of colors for people to ponder for thousand of years. This type of poet and poems are numerous in the history of Chinese culture.
Many modern Chinese characters that are used to describe different shades of color carry the "silk" radical. According to the book Shuo Wen Jie Zi (Explaining Characters and Expressions), there are 24 characters used to describe colors of silk fabrics, including red, green, purple, deep red (crimson), bright red, dark red (dark purple), light blue, orange red, white, and so on. All the brilliant shades of colors show how vibrant the silk manufacturing industry was in ancient China.
Chinese pottery and lacquer ware use colors even more extensively. The invention of various colored glazes gave these pieces brilliant and lustrous appearances. From the famous Tang San Cai (tri-colored glazed pottery of the Tang Dynasty) to five-colored glazed pottery, from the celadon ware to white glazed ware, from white and blue porcelain to the colored ceramic glazes, different colors play a key role in their beautiful appearances. Ancient Chinese colored pottery and black pottery represent the first peak in ancient China's pottery-making technology. Ancient Chinese lacquer ware and textiles also had exquisite patterns and gorgeous colors. During the Period of the Warring States, lacquer ware decoration reached an unprecedented level. The state of Qi was especially well known for its brightly colored fabric and silk products. Many of the silk products that have been unearthed from ancient tombs maintain their original colors, including brown, red, black, purple, and yellow.
In Chinese folk traditions, the culture of color is even richer. Yellow is the color for emperors. Royal palaces, royal altars and royal temples often use the yellow color. Yellow also represents being free from worldly cares. Therefore it is also a color respected in Buddhism. Monks' garments are yellow and temples are also yellow. Red is one of the colors beloved by the Chinese people. In the celebration of the New Year, holidays and gatherings, the red color is a must. Purple is the color of a propitious omen and solemnity. Among the Chinese people, there is the saying "purple sparrows in beams, carries mud in pairs, coming and going." White is the color of mourning. Ancient Chinese people wore white clothes and hats only when they mourned for the dead. That tradition is still practiced right now.
In modern times, especially after the Chinese Communist Party took power, the color red is used widely and has started to represent danger, blood, violence and radical actions.
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Recently published findings have put the origin of China’s famous Terracotta Warriors into question. Considered an “Eighth Wonder of the World,” the army of thousands of hand crafted life-size soldiers has longed thought to have been constructed as Emperor Qin Shihuang’s (259-210BC) guardians for the afterlife. However, historian and architect Chen Jingyuan believes that Qin’s ancestor, Empress Xuan (?-265BC), who died 55 years before Qin, was in fact the mastermind behind the army.
Chen’s book, TheTruth of Terracotta Warriors, outlines 63 examples illustrating his belief.
“For instance, the distance between the Terracotta Warriors and the mausoleum of Emperor Qin Shihuang is as long as 1.5 kilometers and the distance between the centers of the two places is even further. It is strange that the funeral objects are so far away from the mausoleum,” Chen told the Global Times.
He explained that besides this, details of the warriors, such as the unique hair knots on one side of their heads, their colorful clothes and the various wheelbases of the chariots put the current time frame in doubt.
“The hairstyle, the ancient Chinese characters found on some unearthed warriors and other evidence indicate the owner of the warriors was Empress Xuan,” Chen said.
In Chen’s point of view the hairstyle of the warrior’s is the same as the Chu minority, the ethnicity of the Empress. Chen said if Emperor Qin had designed the army, they would be dressed in Han style. The clothes of the warriors are also important, Chen explained. He said that the warriors were painted in many different colors, which is in stark contrast to the black-clothed soldiers of the Qin Dynasty.
Chen added that small details such as the wheels on the chariots indicate that they are not war chariots, but ones for everyday use.
“Empress Xuan, the so called ‘Empress Dowager Cixi of ancient times,’ was once one of the most powerful woman in China’s history. During her reign, the Qin State was thriving and flourishing. This prosperity of the State meant that this powerful women had enough money to conduct such a huge project,” Chen explained.
Despite Chen’s convictions, few agree with his stance.
“There are three strong pieces of evidence indicating that the warrior’s owner was Emperor Qin Shihuang. First, the pit of the warriors is within the territory of Emperor Qin’s mausoleum. Second, the weapons are inscribed with the words ‘Lu Buwei’ (the prime minister of the Qin Dynasty). Third, the architectural style and the earth analysis show that the warriors share the same characteristics as the Stone Armor Pit and Bronze Chariot and Horse Pit, which are verified parts of the mausoleum,” Liu Zhancheng, head of the Terracotta Warrior’s archaeological team told the Global Times.
“According to the material collection and relics analysis, the area of the entire mausoleum is as large as 56.25 square kilometers and the pit of the warriors is within this territory. What’s more, as parts of the mausoleum, many other verified Qin Dynasty funeral object pits are also a comparative long distance away from the mausoleum. Therefore, there is nothing unusual about the location of the warrior pits,” Liu added.
As for the clothing, Liu explained that, “In the Qin Dynasty, black was a superior color. The Qin people wore black during grand occasions, such as sacrificial ceremonies, but there was no need for people to wear black all the time.”
However, Yuan Zhongyi, a member of the first Chinese archeological team to excavate the Terracotta Army in 1974 and former director of the Museum of the Terracotta Warriors said, “The question of the real owner of the warriors has been debated since the very beginning. The conclusion that the warriors were the funeral objects of Emperor Qin was made by a group of scholars and it has been widely accepted at home and abroad.”
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Similarly in European/American traditions people at formal events wear black suits and priests wear black. It all goes back to worship of the black man
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Also, many African tribes paint themselves WHITE in honor of the dead. Can we claim it a worship of Whites too? LMAO!!! Keep up the Afro-lunacy. Y'all need to keep exposing your buffoonery.
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The color black in China and Japan is the color of knowledge,experience and goodness .The color white in Japan and China is the color of ignorance,naivety and evil (wikipedia) .In traditional funeral in China and Japan the people are dress in white .In Ancient Egypt the color black was the color of knowledge,success,experience,wealth and the gods. Osiris title was Kem Wor the great black and Isis title was Set Kem the black woman .The color red in egypt was an evil color it was the color of the god Set and the barbarian albino invader . In albino Europe the color black was corrupted .The color black become the color of everything bad .The devil was painted black .Everything negative was call black like you have a black heart,you have a black soul,this a black day etc .In funeral the European dress in black but they forget it was to honnor the resurection of Osiris the great black they think it is because black is the color of death .
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^^Black is also the color of death in ancient Egypt, fucking liar. Osiris, is depicted Black in the after-life (death)/underworld as he sits on the throne in the duat chamber. Stop the bullshit, Mike.
The Egyptian palette had six colors: red (desher), green (wadj), blue (khesbedj and irtiu), yellow (kenit and khenet), black (khem or kem), and white (shesep and hedj). Most of these colors were made from mineral compounds, which is why they retained their vibrant colors throughout thousands of years. And most of the gemstones they used were semi-precious and chosen not as much for their beauty as they were for the symbolism or the perceived magic they contained. Whether these materials were carved into everyday jewelry or ground down and painted on tomb walls, their colors were not used randomly. Great forethought was given to the colors used on the deity being portrayed, the deceased person’s afterlife requirements, or living Egyptian’s protection.
From ancient times into the 21st century, many people have put their faith and belief in the power of gemstones and color for various purposes: To attract a mate, for fertility, for victory, to improve health, and just about any need. In ancient Egypt, both royalty and average citizens wore jewelry with religious or magical significance; in fact, almost everyone, including infants, wore at least one amulet. Wearing an amulet made from a particular stone with a specific motif engraved upon it would encircle the wearer with the magic of that amulet. For example, scarabs were carved from many types of stones and were worn to guarantee continued existence in this life as well as in the afterlife.
As with most ancient Egyptian symbols, there are many variations to the interpretation of color. Interpreting the symbolism of colors used in paintings or on objects many times depends on the context in which they are used, much the way hieroglyphs are understood through context. Here are some of the more commonly accepted understandings:
Green was believed to be the color of new life, growth, vegetation, and fertility. A person was said to be doing "green things" if his behavior was beneficial or life producing. The power of green to guarantee new life or resurrection is why many depictions of Osiris show him with green skin, referring to his resurrection and power over vegetation. Chapter 77 of the Book of the Dead makes reference to the deceased becoming a falcon "whose wings are of green stone", referring to new life and rebirth. Also, the common "Eye of Heru" amulet is often green characterizing the color as one of healing and well-being in its association with the eye. But the most important green amulet was the heart scarab, which was placed in the heart cavity in case something happened to the deceased person’s actual heart. The heart was vital because it was considered the seat of emotions and intellect, and it was believed that the heart had a will and existence of its own. Several chapters in the Book of the Dead are dedicated to the preservation and protection of the heart.
Wadj, the word for green, which also meant to flourish or be healthy, was used for the papyrus plant as well as for the green stone malachite. Green malachite was a symbol of joy. In a larger reference, the phrase "field of malachite" was used when speaking of the land of the blessed dead
Another green stone, which was a favorite among Egyptians, was turquoise. The word for this greenish stone was mefkat, which meant joy or delight. The use of turquoise has been traced back to the beginnings of civilization. When the tomb of Egyptian Queen Zer (5500 BC) was excavated in 1900, archaeologists discovered a turquoise and gold bracelet on her wrist. In ancient Egypt, if no turquoise could be found, glazed quartz was used as a substitute. It was the representation of the color, more than the actual material itself that mattered.
Red was a powerful color, symbolizing two extremes: Life and victory as well as anger and fire. Red also represented blood, and in Chapter 156 from the Book of the Dead (as translated by Dr. Raymond Faulkner), protection is sought through the blood (power) of Isis: You have your blood, O Isis; you have your power, O Isis; you have your magic, O Isis. The amulet is a protection for this Great One which will drive away whoever would commit a crime against him.
In its negative context of anger and fire, red was the color of the god Set, who was the personification of evil and the powers of darkness, as well as the god who caused storms. Some images of Set are colored with red skin. In addition, red-haired men as well as animals with reddish hair or skins were thought to be under the influence of Set. A person filled with rage was said to have a red heart. For some reason, the red stone carnelian eventually came to be considered an ill-omened stone. Its name, herset, meant sadness.
Dark blue, also called "Egyptian" blue, was the color of the heavens, water, and the primeval flood, and it represented creation or rebirth. The favorite blue stone was lapis lazuli, or khesbed, which also meant joy or delight. It is thought that blue may have had solar symbolism because of some objects made from blue faience that carry a solar theme. There is also a theory that blue may have been symbolic of the Nile and represented fertility, because of the fertile soils along the Nile that produced crops. Because the god Amen (also spelled Amon or Amun) played a part in the creation of the world, he was sometimes depicted with a blue face; therefore, pharaohs associated with Amen were shown with blue faces also. In general, it was said that the gods had hair made of lapis lazuli. In a tomb painting of the Opening of the Mouth ceremony, depictions of both the mummy and Anubis are shown with blue hair.
Beads made from lapis lazuli have been found dating back to the Predynastic Period. Since lapis lazuli was imported from the Euphrates area because it was not native to Egypt, these early specimens show that extremely ancient civilizations had already formed trade routes.
Yellow designated the eternal and the indestructible, also considered to be qualities of the sun and of gold. Many statues of the gods were either made of gold or were gold-plated; in fact, Egyptians believed the gods’ skin and bones were made from gold. Tomb paintings showed gods with golden skin, and pharaohs’ sarcophagi were made from gold, since the belief was that a deceased pharaoh became a god. Some chapters of the Book of the Dead require that funerary jewelry be made from gold, and many golden mummy masks have been found. When the Shen (see "Red" for meaning and description) was made as a funerary amulet, it was always made of gold and placed inside the mummy wrappings above the breast. It was dedicated to Re and symbolized that the person would be restored to life and live as long as the sun shines, rising again like Re himself. At times the color yellow was used interchangeably with white, and at those times it took on the symbolism of white.
Black symbolized death, the underworld, and the night. We see this reflected in Osiris, who was referred to as "the black one" because he was king of the afterlife, and also with reference to the god of embalming, Anubis, who was portrayed as a black jackal or dog. Because Queen Ahmose-Nefertari was the patroness of the necropolis, she was often shown with black skin.
In a rather unusual about-face, black could also represent fertility and resurrection because of the dark silt left behind by the annual Nile flood. From the most ancient Egyptian times, Egypt was known as Kemet, or "the black land", because of the dark soil of the Nile Valley; therefore, the color black symbolized Egypt itself. When used to represent resurrection, black and green were interchangeable.
(ONE SHOULD REMEMBER THAT ALBINOS WROTE THIS. THERE IS NO EVIDENCE THAT BLACK WAS EVER THE COLOR OF DEATH.)
White denoted purity and omnipotence, and because it had no real color, it represented things sacred and simple. White was especially symbolic in the religious objects and ritual tools used by priests. Many of these were made of white alabaster, including the Apis Bulls’ embalming table. "Memphis", a holy city, meant "White Walls", and white sandals were worn to holy ceremonies. White was also the color used to portray most Egyptian clothing. Hedj, one of the words for white, was also a word used for silver. When silver was used together with gold, they symbolized the moon and sun. Because red and white were opposites in meaning, they were at times placed together to symbolize completeness.
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