The Chinese Culture Company
It might be the Year of the Rabbit but at Cultural Keys we’ve been inspired by our two recent rescue dogs, Teddy and Mr. Percy, to look in more detail at the dog in Chinese history, art and legend. Each month we’ll look at a different aspect of the dog in traditional Chinese culture as well as introduce you to a few special pups who need your help!
This week we’ll look at some paintings of dogs that were created over the last 2000 or so years.
March is the month when Beijing starts to warm up and spring arrives! What else is happening? Of course it’s Women’s Day on March 8th, but there are two more traditional events of note this month too – ‘Insects Awakening’ and Guanyin’s birthday.
Read on to find out more about these two noteworthy dates in March!
Continue reading “Noteworthy Dates in the Chinese Calendar – March 2023 Edition!”
“Fu Hao’s childbearing will be good . . . After thirty-one days, … she gave birth; it was not good; it was a girl.”
Among many divinations that king Wu Ding of Shang (1250-1192 BC) made about his beloved spouse Fu Hao, the one about her childbearing was predicted to be good. But it wasn’t; she gave birth to a girl. Why was having a daughter with his beloved wife (also a military general and priestess) so bad, in spite of the fact that her mother was so powerful? This may have to do with the fact that Fu Hao was the exception, not the rule.
By Ilina Tatiana (edited by Nic Doering)
Continue reading “Fu Hao: an exceptional woman in early China”
While Cultural Keys can be considered your go-to for a variety of traditional Chinese culture activities, there are of course plenty of other fun and interesting cultural events happening around the capital every month!
Here’s our round-up of activities connected with Chinese language, culture and history for February in Beijing! Continue reading “Language and Culture Events in Beijing – February 2023”
It might be the Year of the Rabbit but at Cultural Keys we’ve been inspired by our two recent rescue dogs, Teddy and Mr. Percy, to look in more detail at the dog in Chinese history, art and legend. Each month we’ll look at a different aspect of the dog in traditional Chinese culture as well as introduce you to a few special pups who need your help!
China’s relationship with the dog is a long one. In fact, dogs may have been domesticated in East Asia as long as 25,000 years ago – long before China even existed. It’s well known that China is the home of several famous dog breeds such as the Pekingese and the Chow Chow, but what else do you know about the dog in traditional Chinese culture?