Chinaa cultural perspective

section six6Chinese arts,

crafts and food

AuthorJan Kiernan

EditorDamian Bester

Graphic DesignLewis Mathieson

First published in 2008. Copyright News Ltd.Photography and line drawings copyright Jan Kiernan Fair copying of this publication is permitted for the purposes of teaching, review or research.

Copyright inquiries should be addressed to:Education Services ManagerDavies Brothers Pty Ltd91-93 Macquarie StHobart TAS 7000Email: nie@dbl.newsltd.com.au

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Chinese Brush Calligraphy

Calligraphy is a highly respected art form in Chinese culture. So much so, that in ancient times it was one of the skills required to serve in the Imperial Court. It is a very exacting skill as the calligrapher must use a combination of technical skill and imagination to compose beautiful characters from standard strokes.

A Chinese ink stick, an ink stone, a brush, water and paper are all the tools a Chinese calligrapher requires.

The ink is ground on the inkstone, the brushes are made of animal hair and used in a straight-up-and-down manner. Coarse-textured, absorbent paper is needed and traditionally rice paper is used. There is a definite order to the way the strokes are made.

Chinese calligraphers concentrate on all aspects of their work as they deliberately control the amount of ink, the way the paper absorbs the ink and the way they manipulate the brush. In this way they can produce a boundless variety of styles and forms.

Calligraphy can be seen in poetry and artworksas well as on everyday items.

If you want to try creating your own calligraphy,the following website is very useful:

http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/china/language/callig.htm

Your task

Try your hand at Chinese calligraphy by writing the words found on the next page.

Use them to decorate a Hong Bao (Chinese New Year lucky red packet or envelope)

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Chinese character for listening

聽

ears

eyes

undivided attention

heart

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Health

Long life

Luck

Peace

Happiness

Prosperity

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Chinese Hanging Scroll Paintings

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Hanging scroll paintings like this one are painted on silk or paper. Traditionally they can depict landscapes, flowers, bamboo, dragons and birds.

The vertical shape of the painting allows for a perspective with the foreground at the bottom and middle a far distances progressing up the painting.

In Chinese painting it is not necessary to fill the whole painting. Patches of white and pale tints are often seen.

Notice that calligraphy and chop seal form an important feature of the painting.

Your task

Create a hanging scroll painting in a Chinese style. Your paper need to be positioned vertically and at least half the width compared to the height. Water colours will give you the best result.

As mentioned your painting can be of a landscape, flowers, dragons, birds or bamboo growing.

Remember you don’t have to fill the whole paper but try to use the style of perspective adopted by the Chinese.

Display your painting as a hanging scroll.

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Chinese Masks

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Mask making is a traditional Chinese pastime.

Masks can be made of a variety of materials. Traditionally they are painted in bright colours and symbolic designs. Lion and dragon masks are popular during Chinese Lunar New Year. Some, like these, have a human appearance.

Chinese opera masks are a form of facial painting used in traditional operas, which are based on Chinese myths and legends.

Did you know?

red symbolises bravery and loyalty

white symbolises treachery and cunning

green symbolises stubbornness and lack of self-control.

Your task

Look at Chinese mask photographs on the Internet. Make masks from papier-mâché or paper plates. Decorate them in a typical Chinese manner.

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Chinese Fans

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If you lived more than 3000 years ago you might have seen the Emperor of China cooling himself with a fan made of feathers. Dancers might have used them to add to their graceful movements. Folding fans were introduced much later and

materials such as sandalwood, ivory, gold, silver or jade were used to make them.

This fan, which is made of paper, has

been decorated with a traditional style of landscape painting,

calligraphy and a chop seal.

Your taskMake your own decorated fan using folded paper and pieces of wood. Cheap wooden chopsticks are ideal.

www.activityvillage.co.uk/chinese_fans.htm

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Your taskDesign and make your own chop. You could carve a design into: • softwoodorplasterblocksordiscsusing carving tools• corksusingaballpointpen• potatosusingaknife

Use your chop to stamp your ‘signature’ on your poems and stories as well as on your artworks.

A Chinese Chop Seal

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Chinese chop seals have been used in China for

many centuries and are still widely used. Traditionally, they were used as a form of signature for personal

identification. Though individuals can carve their

own chops, usually they are made by specialist chop carvers. Chops can be made of many materials including

stone, wood, copper, brass, jade and gold. Nowadays

chop engravers are kept busy by tourists and business people who

appreciate this traditional craft.

Chops can be seen on official and business documents and are used to sign Chinese calligraphy, literature and paintings. Easy

to use, the chops are dipped in ink and like stamps are pressed directly on to the papers

or artworks.

Each person might have a number of chops in different shapes — round, square or

rectangular. The chop pictured below is typical of the tourist souvenir. On the top is

a carved rooster representing the owner’s Chinese Zodiac symbol and the name of the

person is carved into the base.

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Kuai-Zi: Chopsticks

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Kuai-Zi is the Chinese word for chopsticks. It can be translated into English as “quick little fellows”. It is thought that the English word chopsticks might have come from the phrase “chop, chop” meaning “quick, quick”.

Did you know chopsticks were first used by the Chinese about 2000 years ago? From there, the use of chopsticks spread to other Asia countries such as Korea, Japan and Vietnam.

Chopsticks can be made of bamboo, wood, bone, jade, plastic, ivory and even silver and gold. Bamboo and wood chopsticks are sometimes painted or lacquered. Chopsticks are tapered and are about 23-25cm long with larger ones used for cooking.

The Chinese style of cooking often requires food to be cut into small pieces. This suits eating with chopsticks as there is no need for a knife. The steamed rice that accompanies the meals is prepared so it sticks together and is easier to eat using chopsticks.

How to use chopsticks:

1. The upper part of one chopstick rests in the hollow between the thumb and index finger.

2. The other chopstick is held lightly by the tips of the thumb and index finger. It rests against the middle finger, which is used for control. The upper chopstick should move freely.

3. When you pick up something, only the upper chopstick should move. The other one remains still.

There are certain rules about using chopsticks:

• Traditionallytheywereusedwiththerighthand.

• Itisimpolitetospearfoodsodon’tpickup your beans by jabbing into them. The chopsticks should be used like pincers.

• Youshouldnotusethemtoservefoodfromshared bowls of food.

• Youshouldneverplaywiththem,pointthemup in the air or directly at another person.

• Youshouldavoidbitingyourchopsticks,moving dishes with them or touching anyone else’s chopsticks with yours.

Your taskImproving your chopstick performance

If you feel your patience and finger coordination are up to using chopsticks, this drill should improve your performance rating considerably.

Put two plates on a table. Pour about 100 beans on to one of them. Use chopsticks to pick up each bean and move it to the empty plate.

After repeating the process you may feel confident enough to challenge a friend to a chopstick contest.

If you have had enough of beans, try:

• Smallblocks,e.g.Legoblocks• Cottonballs• Smarties• Paperclips• Anyothersmallitems

Practise transferring the blocks, cotton balls, Smarties or paper clips from one bowl to another using only chopsticks.

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Chopsticks A maths activity

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1. Find photographs of people using chopsticks in countries such as China, Japan, Vietnam and Korea.

2. Provide a display of different chopsticks and invite students to bring chopsticks from home. (The success of the task depends on a large and varied collection. Many families may have sets of chopsticks that students can bring to school.) Otherwise chopsticks can be bought from outlets such as kitchenware shops and Chinese emporiums.

3. Divide the class into groups and supply each group with varied sets of chopsticks. Ask the students to order them according to different attributes (e.g. by length, mass, diameter, colour, attractiveness)

4. Encourage students to use comparative language when describing their arrangements.

5. Ask students to make an accurate as possible pictorial representation of one of their arrangements. Students should be encouraged to adopt tactics such as tracing around the chopsticks, colouring the chopsticks appropriately…

6. Give students a piece of paper and ask them to fold it in half lengthways. Then ask students to estimate the length of chopsticks in their collection (how many centimetre cubes long is each chopstick?). Ask them to record their estimates in the first column. Then ask them to use centimetre cubes to measure the accurate length of the chopsticks and record this next to their estimates in the second column.

7. Ask students to arrange their chopsticks in order of the estimated mass of the chopsticks. Ask students to use weighing scales to refine their estimations.

8. Ask students to arrange their chopsticks according to diameter. Provide each group with a knitting needle diameter measurer and ask them measure their chopsticks and make changes to their arrangements if necessary.

9. Revisit the photographs of people using chopsticks and ask questions about how the people hold the chopsticks. Ask students to practise using chopsticks to pick up objects such as centimetres cubes, erasers, beads, straws. Encourage students to try holding their chopsticks at different places to see where is most efficient. Ask them to use language such as “halfway”, “more than halfway”, “a quarter of the way from the top” to describe the position of their fingers on the chopsticks. Ask them to draw a diagram showing the most suitable way to hold chopsticks.

10. Use centimetre cubes and chopsticks and a minute timer to see how many cubes students can move from one bowl to another in one minute. Ask students to record their achievements of a chart they devise together.

11. Provide each group with a ball of plasticine. Ask them to see how firmly they can press the plasticine using chopsticks. Compare their efforts with different chopsticks and holding chopsticks in different ways.

12. Ask students to work individually or in pairs to prepare an illustrated report about their investigation of chopsticks for a class display and to share that report with students from another class.

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Collecting

Chinese Recipes

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Collect and publish a selection of Chinese recipes. Here is one to start with.

Fried Won Ton

Ingredients

250g minced pork4 dry Chinese mushrooms 2 spring onions1 tablespoon sesame oil1 tablespoon Soy Sauce1 teaspoon salt1 250g pack of Won Ton wrappers1 egg

Method

• Soakmushroomsinboilingwaterforthreeminutes.

• Drainandsqueezemushroomstoremoveexcessliquid.

• Removestemsandchopfinely.• Combinealltheingredients,excepttheegg,andmixthoroughly.

• Placeaheapedspoonfulofthemixtureinthecentreofeachwrapper.

• Moistentheedgesofthewrapperwitheggandbringthemtogetherlike

a parcel.• Heattheoiltoveryhot.• DeepfryWonTonsfor5-7minutes.

1. As a class create an electronic cookbook.

2. Select one or more of your recipes and prepare a Chinese meal.

3. Create a Chinese theme with objects and decorations.

4. Create an illustrated menu that describes the dish you have prepared.

5. Serve Chinese jasmine tea with the food.

6. Where appropriate use chopsticks in the preparation and eating of the meal.