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Laotong
Laotong () is a type of relationship in Chinese culture formerly practised in Hunan that bonded two girls together for eternity as kindred sisters. There two cultural practises in Hunan in past centuries, Laotong and Laotang, acknowledged women's social bonds. Chinese women commonly refer to each other as "Sisters". This is a recognition of the importance of women's supportive relationships, which help them endure hardships over their lives. Preparation for marriage might involve a Laotang relationship between several young women; the sisterhood would be dissolved upon marriage. After marriage, new sisterhoods could be formed later between married or widowed women. For Chinese women, the Laotong or "old-sames" relationship was the strongest and most precious bond of female friendship. This was a more rare and formal relationship between women. A woman could only have one Laotong, and the intensely unbreakable bond was for life. Often a Laotong relationship would be formed when a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Snow Flower And The Secret Fan (film)
''Snow Flower and the Secret Fan'' is a 2011 historical drama film directed by Wayne Wang, based on the novel of the same name written by Lisa See. The film stars Gianna Jun, Li Bingbing, Archie Kao, Vivian Wu, and Hugh Jackman. Plot In nineteenth-century China, two girls named Snow Flower ( Gianna Jun) and Lily (Li Bing Bing) are forever bonded together as sworn sisters. They are paired as '' laotong'' by a matchmaker who is also responsible for arranging their marriages. They are isolated by their families and communicate by writing in a secret sisterly language, ''Nü shu'' (a historical practice in China in that period) on a unique Chinese fan that Snow Flower possesses. Meanwhile, in the present day Shanghai, their descendants Sophia Liao and Nina Wei struggle with the intimacy of their own pure and intense childhood friendship. As teenagers, Sophia and Nina were introduced to the idea of laotong, and they signed a traditional laotong contract on the cover of Canto-pop F ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Snow Flower And The Secret Fan
''Snow Flower and the Secret Fan'' is a 2005 novel by Lisa See set in nineteenth-century China. In her introduction to the novel, See writes that Lily, the narrator, was born on June 5, 1824—"the fifth day of the sixth month of the third year of the Daoguang Emperor's reign". The novel begins in 1903, when Lily is 80 years old. It continues on to tell the story of her life from birth, childhood, marriage, and old age. During her lifetime, Lily lives through the reigns of four emperors of the Qing dynasty: Daoguang (1820–1850); Xianfeng (1850–1861); Tongzhi (1861–1875); and Guangxu (1875–1908). The University of Southern California China historian Charlotte Furth wrote that Western readers think of Chinese women simply as victims and focus on such problems as footbinding and arranged marriages, but that Lisa See's historical novels "follow the best feminist scholarship on women in the Ming- Qing period by tackling these stereotypes." In ''Snowflower and the Secre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hunan
Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to the east, Guangdong and Guangxi to the south, Guizhou to the west and Chongqing to the northwest. Its capital and largest city is Changsha, which also abuts the Xiang River. Hengyang, Zhuzhou, and Yueyang are among its most populous urban cities. With a population of just over 66 million residing in an area of approximately , it is China's 7th most populous province, the fourth most populous among landlocked provinces, the second most populous in South Central China after Guangdong and the most populous province in Central China. It is the largest province in South-Central China and the fourth largest among landlocked provinces and the 10th most extensive province by area. Hunan's nominal GDP was US$ 724 billion (CNY 4.6 trill ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seal (East Asia)
A seal, in an East and Southeast Asian context, is a general name for printing stamps and impressions thereof which are used in lieu of signatures in personal documents, office paperwork, contracts, art, or any item requiring acknowledgement or authorship. On documents they were usually used to print an impression using a pigmented paste or ink, unlike the wax impression commonly used in Europe. Of Chinese origin, the process soon spread beyond China and across East and Southeast Asia. Various countries in these regions currently use a mixture of seals and hand signatures, and, increasingly, electronic signatures. Chinese seals are typically made of stone, sometimes of metals, wood, bamboo, plastic, or ivory, and are typically used with red ink or cinnabar paste (). The word 印 ("yìn" in Mandarin, "in" in Japanese and Korean, "ấn" and "in" in Vietnamese) specifically refers to the imprint created by the seal, as well as appearing in combination with other morphemes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nu Shu
Nu or NU may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Nu metal, a heavy metal fusion genre * Nu jazz, a jazz fusion genre * Nu-disco, a genre of dance music * Nu gaze, a shoegaze fusion genre * Nu prog, a subgenre of progressive rock * Nu-funk, a genre of dance music Other media * Nu-13, a fictional character from the ''BlazBlue'' video game series * Nu (Chrono Trigger), a fictional species from the video game ''Chrono Trigger'' * ''N.U.'' (film), 1948 documentary film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni * Mr. Nu, a fictional character from the novel '' Hitman: Enemy Within'' * Nu Gundam from the anime ''Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack'' * Nickelodeon Universe, an indoor theme park at Mall of America * ''Nu'', a 1934 collection of essays written in Romanian by ''Eugène Ionesco'' Businesses and organizations Universities United States * National University (California), a private nonprofit university in La Jolla, California, United States * Niagara University, a Ro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lisa See
Lisa See (born 18th February 1955) is an American writer and novelist. Her books include ''On Gold Mountain: The One-Hundred-Year Odyssey of My Chinese-American Family'' (1995), a detailed account of See's family history, and the novels '' Flower Net'' (1997), '' The Interior'' (1999), ''Dragon Bones'' (2003), '' Snow Flower and the Secret Fan'' (2005), '' Peony in Love'' (2007) and '' Shanghai Girls'' (2009), which made it to the 2010 New York Times bestseller list. Both ''Shanghai Girls'' and ''Snow Flower and the Secret Fan'' received honorable mentions from the Asian/Pacific American Awards for Literature. See's novel, '' The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane (2017)'', is a story about circumstances, culture, and distance among the Akha people of Xishuangbanna, China. Her 2019 novel '' The Island of Sea Women'' is a story about female friendship and family secrets on Jeju Island before, during and in the aftermath of the Korean War. ''Flower Net'', ''The Interior'', and ''Dragon B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wayne Wang
Wayne Wang (; born January 12, 1949) is a Hong Kong–American director, producer, and screenwriter. Considered a pioneer of Asian-American cinema, he was one of the first Chinese-American filmmakers to gain a major foothold in Hollywood. His films, often independently produced, deal with issues of contemporary Asian-American culture and domestic life. His best known works include '' Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart'' (1985), '' Eat a Bowl of Tea'' (1989), the Amy Tan literary adaptation '' The Joy Luck Club'' (1993), '' Chinese Box'' (1997), and ''A Thousand Years of Good Prayers'' (2007). Other films include the Harvey Keitel and William Hurt–starring comedy '' Smoke'' (1995), the family film '' Because of Winn-Dixie'' (2005), the romantic comedies '' Maid in Manhattan'' (2002) and '' Last Holiday'' (2006), and the controversial erotic drama ''The Center of the World'' (2001). He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including a Bodil Award, a Silver Bear, two ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Women In Ancient China
Women in ancient and imperial China were restricted from participating in various realms of social life, through social stipulations that they remain indoors, whilst outside business should be conducted by men. The strict division of the sexes, apparent in the policy that "men plow, women weave" (), partitioned male and female histories as early as the Zhou dynasty, with the ''Rites of Zhou'' even stipulating that women be educated specifically in "women's rites" (). Though limited by policies that prevented them from owning property, taking examinations, or holding office, their restriction to a distinctive women's world prompted the development of female-specific occupations, exclusive literary circles, whilst also investing certain women with certain types of political influence inaccessible to men. Women had greater freedom during the Tang dynasty, however, the status of women declined from the Song dynasty onward, which has been blamed on the rise of neo-Confucianism, and res ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chinese Social Relations
Chinese social relations are typified by a reciprocal social network. Often social obligations within the network are characterized in familial terms. The individual link within the social network is known by ''guanxi'' (关系/關係) and the feeling within the link is known by the term ''ganqing'' (感情). An important concept within Chinese social relations is the concept of face, as in many other Asian cultures. A Buddhist-related concept is '' yuanfen'' (缘分/緣分). As articulated in the sociological works of leading Chinese academic Fei Xiaotong, the Chinese—in contrast to other societies—tend to see social relations in terms of networks rather than boxes. Hence, people are perceived as being "near" or "far" rather than "in" or "out". See also * Culture of China ** Chinese tea culture ** Kowtow ** Red envelope ** Chinese marriage ** Sifu Shifu () in Mandarin, or sifu in Cantonese, or sai hu in Hokkien, is a title for, and the role of, a skillful person or a ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Women's History
Women's history is the study of the role that women have played in history and the methods required to do so. It includes the study of the history of the growth of woman's rights throughout recorded history, personal achievement over a period of time, the examination of individual and groups of women of historical significance, and the effect that historical events have had on women. Inherent in the study of women's history is the belief that more traditional recordings of history have minimized or ignored the contributions of women to different fields and the effect that historical events had on women as a whole; in this respect, women's history is often a form of historical revisionism, seeking to challenge or expand the traditional historical consensus. The main centers of scholarship have been the United States and Britain, where second-wave feminist historians, influenced by the new approaches promoted by social history, led the way. As activists in women's liberation, dis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chinese Culture
Chinese culture () is one of the world's oldest cultures, originating thousands of years ago. The culture prevails across a large geographical region in East Asia and is extremely diverse and varying, with customs and traditions varying greatly between provinces, cities, and even towns as well. The terms 'China' and the geographical landmass of 'China' have shifted across the centuries, with the last name being the Great Qing before the name 'China' became commonplace in modernity. Chinese civilization is historically considered a dominant culture of East Asia. With China being one of the earliest ancient civilizations, Chinese culture exerts profound influence on the philosophy, virtue, etiquette, and traditions of Asia. Chinese characters, ceramics, architecture, music, dance, literature, martial arts, cuisine, visual arts, philosophy, business etiquette, religion, politics, and history have had global influence, while its traditions and festivals are celebrated, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Culture In Hunan
Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human Society, societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.Tylor, Edward. (1871). Primitive Culture. Vol 1. New York: J.P. Putnam's Son Culture is often originated from or attributed to a specific region or location. Humans acquire culture through the learning processes of enculturation and socialization, which is shown by the diversity of cultures across societies. A cultural norm codifies acceptable conduct in society; it serves as a guideline for behavior, dress, language, and demeanor in a situation, which serves as a template for expectations in a social group. Accepting only a monoculturalism, monoculture in a social group can bear risks, just as a single species can wither in the face of environmental change, for lack of functional responses to the change. Thus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
