|
Monkeys In Chinese Culture
Monkeys, particularly macaques and monkey-like gibbons, have played significant roles in Chinese culture for over two thousand years. Some examples familiar to English speakers include the zodiacal Year of the Monkey, the Monkey King Sun Wukong in the novel ''Journey to the West'', and Monkey Kung Fu. Terminology The Chinese language has numerous words meaning "simian; monkey; ape", some of which have diachronically changed meanings in reference to different simians. For instance, Chinese ''xingxing'' 猩猩 originally named "a mythical creature with a human face and pig body", and became the modern name for the "orangutan". Within the classification of Chinese characters, almost all "monkey; ape" words – with the exceptions of ''nao'' 夒 and ''yu'' 禺 that were originally monkey pictographs – are written with radical-phonetic compound characters. These characters combine a radical or classifier that roughly indicates semantic field, usually the " dog/quadruped radica ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Erya
The ''Erya'' or ''Erh-ya'' is the first surviving Chinese dictionary. Bernhard Karlgren (1931:49) concluded that "the major part of its glosses must reasonably date from the 3rd century BC." Title Chinese scholars interpret the first title character ''ěr'' (; "you, your; adverbial suffix") as a phonetic loan character for the homophonous ''ěr'' (; "near; close; approach"), and believe the second ''yǎ'' (; "proper; correct; refined; elegant") refers to words or language.''Shiming (Explanations of Names)'"Explaining the Classics" versio [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Feng (mythology)
In Chinese mythology and folklore, ''Fēng'' (封, lit. "mound; hump") was an edible monster that resembles a two-eyed lump of meat and magically grows back as fast as it is eaten. Early Chinese texts also referred to this legendary food with the names Shìròu (視肉, "look like meat"), Ròuzhī (肉芝, "meat excrescence"), and Tàisuì (太歲, "great year; Jupiter"). Ròulíngzhī (肉靈芝, "meat Lingzhi mushroom") is a modern name popularized by Chinese news media reporting on purported discoveries of Feng throughout China, including a widely publicized Xi'an television reporter who misidentified a sex toy as a ''roulingzhi'' monster. Names ''Fēng'' ( 封, lit. "hump") meant "mound, tumulus, raise a mound; altar; earth up (a plant); wall, bank of field; boundary embankment, fief" in Old Chinese; and means "to seal; bank (a fire); confer (title/territory/etc.) upon, feudal; envelope" in Modern Standard Chinese. Feng occurs in other Chinese mythological names. Fengzhu (封 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Penghou
The Penghou (, pronounced ʰə̌ŋ.xǒʊ literally: "drumbeat marquis") is a tree spirit from Chinese mythology and folklore. Two Chinese classics record similar versions of the Penghou myth. The (c. 3rd century) ''Baize tu'' (白澤圖, "Diagrams of the White Marsh"), named after the Baize "White Marsh" spirit recorded in the '' Baopuzi'', is no longer fully extant, but is identified with a Dunhuang manuscript (P2682). It describes the Penghou: A creature that has evolved from the essence of wood is called Penghou. It looks like a black dog with no tail and its meat can be prepared as food. The essence of a 1,000-year-old tree may evolve into a spirit called Jiafei. It looks like a pig. Its meat tastes like dog meat. (tr. Luo 2003: 4132) The (c. 4th century) ''Soushenji'' (搜神記, "In Search of the Supernatural") has a story about "The Penghou in the Camphor Tree": During the Wu Kingdom (Three Kingdoms Period, 220–280) Jing Shu felled a big camphor tree. Then the wood bl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wangliang
''Wangliang'' ( zh, t=魍魎 or ) is the name of a malevolent spirit in Chinese mythology and folklore. This word inclusively means "demons; monsters; specters; goblins; ghosts; devils" in Modern Standard Chinese, but ''wangliang'' originally meant a specific demon. Interpretations include a wilderness spirit like the '' kui'' "one-legged mountain demon", a water spirit like the ''long'' "dragon", a fever demon like the ''yu'' "poisonous 3-legged turtle that causes malaria", a graveyard ghost also called wangxiang or fangliang "earth demon that eats the livers or brains of corpses", and a man-eating "demon that resembles a 3-year-old brown child with red eyes, long ears, and beautiful hair". Name In modern Chinese usage, ''wangliang'' "demon; monster" is usually written with radical-phonetic characters, combining the " ghost radical" (typically used to write words concerning ghosts, demons, etc.) with phonetic elements ''wang'' and ''liang'' (lit. "deceive" and "two", r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bencao Gangmu
The ''Bencao gangmu'', known in English as the ''Compendium of Materia Medica'' or ''Great Pharmacopoeia'', is an encyclopedic gathering of medicine, natural history, and Chinese herbology compiled and edited by Li Shizhen and published in the late 16th century, during the Ming dynasty. Its first draft was completed in 1578 and printed in Nanjing in 1596. The ''Compendium'' lists the '' materia medica'' of traditional Chinese medicine known at the time, including plants, animals, and minerals that were believed to have medicinal properties. Over the centuries it was reprinted, translated, and cited widely. In the twentieth century was adopted as a basis for Traditional Chinese Medicine. Li compiled his entries not only from hundreds of earlier works in the ''bencao'' medical tradition, but from literary and historical texts. He reasoned that a poem might have better value that a medical work and that a tale of the strange could illustrate a drug's effects. Name The title, tran ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Li Shizhen
Li Shizhen (July 3, 1518 – 1593), courtesy name Dongbi, was a Chinese acupuncturist, herbalist, naturalist, pharmacologist, physician, and writer of the Ming dynasty. He is the author of a 27-year work, found in the ''Compendium of Materia Medica'' (''Bencao Gangmu''; ). He developed several methods for classifying herb components and medications for treating diseases. CNTV Documentary on the life and achievements of Li Shizhen, with focus on his work ''Compendium of Materia Medica''. Title is (English translation is "Medical and Pharmacological Sage Lishizhen"). Part of the serie(English name is "Around China"). English subtitles are available. The ''Compendium'' is a materia medica text with 1,892 entries, with details about more than 1,800 traditional Chinese medicines, including 1,100 illustrations and 11,000 prescriptions. It also described the type, form, flavor, nature and application in disease treatments of 1,094 herbs. The book has been translated into ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
