Three Symbols of Chinese Culture
(Huang Minmin 黄敏敏, 1162310301, Communication, Hehai University, Changzhou)
Abstract: With the rapid development of Chinese economy, the international position of China has
improved. Under this circumstance, more and more foreigners have a desire to learn more about
China, the Chinese way of living，especially Chinese Culture., There are many symbols of Chinese
Culture, which help foreigners understand China, among which symbols of Confucius, Tang
poems and Beijing Opera are the most famous.
Key words: Chinese culture; symbol; Confucius; Tang poems; Beijing Opera.
1. Confucius — The magnificent philosopher and educator
Confucius (see Fig.1 below) is the most outstanding representative symbol of Chinese
Culture. He sometimes go by the names Kongzi through being born-Kong Qiu-styled-Zhong Ni.
Fig1. Confucius (From: http://image.baidu.com/)
Confucius was born in the village of Zhou in the country of Lu in the year 551BC when life in
China was very hard. Confucius came from a noble family, but his parents were poor. His father
died when Confucius was only 3 years old. The boy was a good and obedient son to his mother.
He grew up to be quiet, thoughtful, and studious. He was married at the age of 19 and had one son
and two daughters.［1］
As Confucius watched the people around him, he became eager to help them. At last, he left
his family and started out his students to be honest and kind, and to honor their parents. He taught
them that a good man never let himself get angry. But he ever worked as a keeper of a market.
Then he was a farm who took care of parks and farm animals. When he was 20, he worked for the
governor of his district.
This Chinese man was a well-known leader in philosophy and he also made many wise
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thought and theories about the law, life, and Philosophy. Philosophy is a kind of a system of ideas
and thoughts that normalizes the human behavior, and also the rules that government and people
should follow to make a successful life. Many of his mottos were gathered together and written
down to the next generations. One of the books is named The Analects of Confucius 《论语》∗ [2], in
which a famous saying goes “Don't be concerned about others not appreciating you. Be
concerned about your not appreciating others.”[需加引用文献]
For thousands of years, Confucianism has been established as the orthodox thoughts, and
Confucius is respected by all as an immortal great master. In 1988, 75 Nobel Prize Winner
gathered in London. After the meeting they made a declaration to appeal to the world that if people
want to survive in the 21 century, they must go back to 2500 years to learn from Confucius.
Nowadays, many Institutes of Confucius are set up in memory of him all around the world.
2. Tang Poems — the poems obtaining the extremely high achievements
Tang Poetry is China's classical poetry development in its heyday. It is China's excellent culture
heritage, and also a bright pearl of the world literature in the treasure house. The history of Tang
Poems can be divided into four stages of development as follows: the early Tang Dynasty
(618-712), the heyday of Tang Dynasty (713-765), the middle of Tang Dynasty (766-835), and the
later Tang (836-907).［3］Chinese poetry since the Tang Dynasty has followed particularly only two
forms, the 'modern' or 'ruled' form (It is a common exercise with 'modern' or 'ruled' in general.) and
the 'ancient' or 'unruled' form. A poet usually writes both. The 'eight-rhyme' poem, however, was
practiced for official examinations only.
There came about many outstanding poets in the whole Tang Dynasty. In the early Tang, the
representatives were the Four literary Eminences. They are Wang Bo, Luo Bingwang, Yang Jiong,
and Lu Zhaolin. They began to put the poetry from the court moved to the town, from the pavilions
to the desert. They expended the topics. From them, the rhythmic harmony of poems of Tang said
by the later generations began to be finalized. During the heyday of Tang dynasty, Wang Wei,
Meng Haoran, Wang Changlin, Li Bai, and Du Fu had the most outstanding accomplishment,
especially Li Bai and Du Fu. Li Bai, being called the God of poetry, is the most famous poet in Tang
Dynasty and a genius gestated by prosperous Tang Culture. Li’s poetic style is bold and
unconstrained elegant. He had rich imagination and his language circulation was natural.
∗
《论语》中国儒家经典之一
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Fig2: Li Bai (From:http://image.baidu.com/)
Du Fu, the master of poetry, is regard as the greatest poet of China and the peak of Chinese
poetry in history. His poems reflect the real society of that time. When it came to the middle of the
Tang Dynasty and the later Tang Dynasty, the representatives were Han Yu, Liu Yuxi, Liu
Zhongyuan, Bai Juyi, Li Shangyin, Du Mu and Wen Tingyun. Their poems reflect the degenerative
process of the Tang Dynasty. In their poems, they took down crisis and the folk suffering. The
artistic achievements of these poems was very high and they had a very big impact on later
generations.
Fig3: Du Fu (From:http://image.baidu.com/)
The creation methods mainly divided into two kinds. One is the realism; it reflected the class
structure of the society and the class contradictions. In some way, it disclosures the seedy side of
the society. Another is romanticism, it tells the love between men and women. In addition, it spoke
highly of the great rivers and mountains of our motherland.
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Beijing Opera — One of the Four Quintessence
Beijing Opera is a form of traditional Chinese theatre which combines music, vocal
performance, mime, dance and acrobatics. It arose in the late 18th century and became fully
developed and recognized by the mid-19th century. The form was extremely popular in the Qing
Dynasty court and has come to be regarded as one of the cultural treasures of China. Major
performance troupes are based on Beijing and Tianjing in the north and Shanghai in the south.
The art form is also enjoyed in Taiwan, where it is known as Guoju (国剧). It has also spread to
other countries such as the United States and Japan.
Chinese traditional Opera is considered one of the world’s three ancient operas, together with
Greek tragedy and Indian Sanskirt Opera. Among more than 360 ancient local operas in China,
Beijing Opera is known as China's national opera, despite its comparatively young 200-year
history. Although it is called Peking Opera, the origins of Peaking Opera does not started in Beijing
but in the provinces of Anhui and Hubei. Its rise is due in great part to the favorable eyes and
patronage of the imperial royalties. Peaking Opera is a purely Chinese opera dating back to the
year 1790, when the famous four Anhui opera troupes first come to Beijing in celebration of the
80th birthday of Emperor Qianlong (1711-1799) of Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). The tour was a hit
and the troupes stayed. In 1828, some famous Hubei Opera Troupe players came to Beijing. The
artists of Hubei and Anhui troupes often jointly performed on the stage and absorbed repertoires,
music, arias and performing techniques of each other and from other operas like Kun Qu (昆剧),
Qin Qiang (秦腔) and Bang Zi (梆子), as well as, the local dialect and customs of Beijing. Its
repertoires mainly depict fairy tales of preceding dynasties and important historical events. It was
after 1840 that Peking Opera formally took shape, growing even faster during the reign of
Empress Dowager Cixi（慈禧太后）(1835-1908), who was an opera aficionado. Classic Peking
Opera repertories and the names of the first generation masters were on the lips of the people in
Beijing, and eventually prevalent around the country.
Fig4: Beijing Opera
(From:http://image.baidu.com/ )
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During the second half of the 20th century, Beijing Opera witnessed a steady decline in
audience numbers. This has been attributed both to a decrease in performance quality and an
inability of the traditional opera form to capture modern life. The influence of Western culture has
also left the younger generations impatient with the slow pacing of Beijing Opera. In response,
Beijing Opera began to see reform starting in the 1990s. Such reforms have taken the form of
creating a school of performance theory to increase performance quality, utilizing modern
elements to attract new audiences, and performing new plays outside of the traditional canon.
In addition to more formal reform measures, Beijing Opera troupes also adopted more
unofficial changes. Some of these seen in traditional works have been called 'technique for
technique's sake'. This has included the use of extended high pitch sequences by Female Dan,
and the addition of lengthier movement sections and percussion sequences to traditional works.
To survive in an increasingly open market, troupes like the Shanghai and Jiansu Company
need to bring traditional Beijing Opera to new audiences. To do this, they have offered an
increasing number of free performances in public places.
Fig5: Beijing Opera、theatrical mask (From:http://image.baidu.com/)
The four roles of Beijing Opera are Sheng (生行), Dan (旦行), Jing (净行), Chou (丑行)∗. Sheng
is a main male role. Dan is a young and beautiful female role. Jing is a painted faced male role
while Chou is a clown female role.
4. Conclusion
Three symbols of Chinese culture introduced above show the greatness and profoundness of
Chinese. They are not only illustrating the culture but also the spirit of Chinese and all people in
the world. They are the heritage of all nations.
∗
生行：是扮演男性角色的一种行当，包括老生、小生、武生等。
旦行：是扮演女性的角色，分青衣、花旦、武旦、老旦等。
净行：俗称“花脸”
，一般扮演男性角色，分正净、副净和武净。
丑行：又称“三花脸”
，多演伶俐幽默或阴险狡猾的角色。
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Reference:
[1]
http://baike.baidu.com/view/2176.htm, 2011,11
[2]
xxx 《论语》, 出版社, 年份:页码.
[3]
Guo Yingde, Guo Changbao, Ancient Chinese Literary History, 出版社, 年份:页码.
[4]
http://image.baidu.com, 2011,11
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