Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Monday, January 23, 2012
Enter the Dragon!
Happy Lunar New Year! Today we began our Chinese New Year festivities by going to Jackson's preschool with some of the other families that are also celebrating the lunar new year. We dressed in the clothes we bought in China. And we brought mandarin oranges from our tree for all the kids (symbolic of good luck) -- and read a book about the holiday. All the kids know Eliza and she fits right in with Jackson's class. This girl is ready for school.
 |
| getting ready/playing together |
In case you were wondering...
2012: The Year of the Dragon. The legendary Dragon Year of the Chinese zodiac should bring us all new beginnings and good fortune. The Dragon's influence will shower the blessings of dynamic opportunity in all spheres of life. While celebrated for its power and wealth, the Dragon is also the vigilant guardian protecting all that we hold dear. The Dragon Year magnifies and amplifies all things - both good and bad. So, it is cautioned in this Dragon Year to plan well and wisely. The element of this year is "water" so this is a Water Dragon Year. The Energy of this Water Dragon Year will favor optimum expansion and growth, being less imperious and power-hungry than the other Dragons. This year favors the art of negotiation, progressive ideas with an eye to reinforcement of foundations for all we plan to build for the future. While Fire Dragons Years can be fiercely unforgiving and Metal Dragon Years may present as combative and intractable, the power of the Water Dragon Year is all about flowing over or around obstacles. At the same time, the Water element energy nourishes new beginnings, innovation and successful growth.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Florida visits CA
It only took a few moments for Grandma and Sandy to arrive for everyone to be instructed to put on silly hats (Jackson's orders!). It was a super-fun weekend filled with lots of playtime, dancing, hugs, and high fives. Thanks G and S for a great 5 days!
Monday, January 9, 2012
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
The Hakka People
The Hakka people are said to have migrated South from north central China in as early as the 1400s due to times of war and famine. Not being the original people of the lands they came to inhabit; they were known as the "guest people," which is the meaning of Hakka (in Chinese 客家 Kejia). Hakka communities can be found in Guandong, Jiangxi (Eliza's provence), Fujian, as well as other parts of China (including, of course, Hong Kong), all around the South China Sea, and even in Australia and the US. In some articles they are referred to as the gypsies of China. The Hakka of the mid-1900's were a unique people... due in part to speaking their own dialect, not practicing footbinding of women, in a fondness for education, and in their unusual living structures and cuisine. Though known for their hospitality, some Hakka clans previously resided in round fortress-type multi-story, earth homes called tulou. A tulou could house hundreds of individuals all sharing a common family name. The Hakka people were typically farmers, though there may have been fisherman among them as well. Hakka women worked the fields while the men sought jobs in the cities or as soldiers.
Hakka cuisine traditionally reflect the lifestyle of the ancestors. Being migrants, they were constantly on the move, so they used salt to preserve their food, hence salt features strongly in their dishes. A classic Hakka dish is salt-baked chicken. Rice wine is another common ingredient in Hakka dishes. Rice wine was a popular beverage of the Hakkas in northern China as it helped them fight the blistering cold of the north. Hakka cuisine also features many meat dishes, which reflects the fact that many Hakkas were farmers and they ate a lot of meat to provide nourishment and to bolster their strength for the back-breaking work on the farm. Certain dishes are also specific to the province that the Hakka immigrants came from. For example, suan pan zi or "abacus seeds", a dish consisting of flattened pieces of yam fried with tiny pieces of shrimp, mushrooms, beancurd strips and minced pork, originated from Dapu in southeast China. This and other traditional Hakka dishes would often be served at the Lunar New Year reunion dinner. If the Hakka family practices a Chinese religion or ancestral worship, the dishes would be placed at the ancestral shrine (or on a table at the entrance of the house if the shrine is too small) for the ancestors as well. Families would usually spend the afternoon on the eve of the Lunar New Year, just before the reunion dinner, paying their respects at the shrines.
Some internationally recognized Hakka include actor Chow Yun-Fat and former government leader of the People's Republic of China Deng Xiaoping. There are actually many others as well. These "guest people," though often left with the least desirable land, living in poverty, and looked down upon; seem to have a persistent, patient will to triumph over their circumstances.
Hakka cuisine traditionally reflect the lifestyle of the ancestors. Being migrants, they were constantly on the move, so they used salt to preserve their food, hence salt features strongly in their dishes. A classic Hakka dish is salt-baked chicken. Rice wine is another common ingredient in Hakka dishes. Rice wine was a popular beverage of the Hakkas in northern China as it helped them fight the blistering cold of the north. Hakka cuisine also features many meat dishes, which reflects the fact that many Hakkas were farmers and they ate a lot of meat to provide nourishment and to bolster their strength for the back-breaking work on the farm. Certain dishes are also specific to the province that the Hakka immigrants came from. For example, suan pan zi or "abacus seeds", a dish consisting of flattened pieces of yam fried with tiny pieces of shrimp, mushrooms, beancurd strips and minced pork, originated from Dapu in southeast China. This and other traditional Hakka dishes would often be served at the Lunar New Year reunion dinner. If the Hakka family practices a Chinese religion or ancestral worship, the dishes would be placed at the ancestral shrine (or on a table at the entrance of the house if the shrine is too small) for the ancestors as well. Families would usually spend the afternoon on the eve of the Lunar New Year, just before the reunion dinner, paying their respects at the shrines.
Some internationally recognized Hakka include actor Chow Yun-Fat and former government leader of the People's Republic of China Deng Xiaoping. There are actually many others as well. These "guest people," though often left with the least desirable land, living in poverty, and looked down upon; seem to have a persistent, patient will to triumph over their circumstances.
Hakka Women: China's Feminists
For some time, I've been meaning to post some of Eliza's history on the blog. I belong to a yahoo group of families who have also adopted children from the same SWI (orphanage) as Eliza. Someone posted this about the Hakka women (we can assume Eliza is probably a descendent of the Hakka, an ethnic minority in China) --
The book is Four Centuries of Silver: Personal Adornment in the Qing dynasty and After by Margaret Duda.
"A Hakka man often ventured to another country for better wages, leaving his wife to run the farm and weave the fancy silk ribbons, which she sold along with her produce and livestock. Celebrated for their hard work and home remedies, Hakka women did not bind their feet or breasts, did not prostitute themselves, and never hired wet nurses for their children. The Hakka women were also renowne as warriors. During the 1850 Taiping revolution, led by a Hakka man named Hong Xiuguan, Hong's sister fought by his side against the Manchus. She also unbound the feet of all the women who came under Taiping rule during the war. Often called 'the only feminist symbol in China,' the Hakka women--rendered in silver-represented courage, perseverance, and industriousness. Such an amulet was probably worn to encourage diligence and insure success and wealth....Whether simple or detailed, each Hakka woman wears a knee-length tunic coat over long trousers, or a long skirt. (The word for "trousers" in the Hakka language is fu, a homonym of the word for"good fortune.")...."
From time to time I will fill in as much as I can about Eliza's past and general history about the area where she was found.
The book is Four Centuries of Silver: Personal Adornment in the Qing dynasty and After by Margaret Duda.
"A Hakka man often ventured to another country for better wages, leaving his wife to run the farm and weave the fancy silk ribbons, which she sold along with her produce and livestock. Celebrated for their hard work and home remedies, Hakka women did not bind their feet or breasts, did not prostitute themselves, and never hired wet nurses for their children. The Hakka women were also renowne as warriors. During the 1850 Taiping revolution, led by a Hakka man named Hong Xiuguan, Hong's sister fought by his side against the Manchus. She also unbound the feet of all the women who came under Taiping rule during the war. Often called 'the only feminist symbol in China,' the Hakka women--rendered in silver-represented courage, perseverance, and industriousness. Such an amulet was probably worn to encourage diligence and insure success and wealth....Whether simple or detailed, each Hakka woman wears a knee-length tunic coat over long trousers, or a long skirt. (The word for "trousers" in the Hakka language is fu, a homonym of the word for"good fortune.")...."
 |
| Hakka Women photo by Grant Gouldon |
From time to time I will fill in as much as I can about Eliza's past and general history about the area where she was found.
Monday, January 2, 2012
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)