Chinese Culture and History with Pictures and Descriptions

This book contains hundreds of images depicting some of the basic components of Chinese culture such as the 5 Elements: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water and their relationship to the ancient Greek elements of Air, Fire, Earth, Aether and Water. The 5 Elements of ancient China relate to the days of the modern Japanese week and illustrations of these are included. The 7 Chinese Luminaries are also depicted showing Fu Xi as a sun god and Nu Wa as a moon goddess as well as an ancient female version of Tai Bai Jin Xing the Chinese equivalent of Venus. Then images of the animals of the 28 Chinese Lunar Mansions form a lunar month of 28 days while the 12 months of the year are represented by the monthly flowers on Japanese Flower Cards. Images of the 12 Earthly Branches, represented by 12 animals related to the year of a person's birth, are also shown. The 10 Heavenly Stems combined with the 12 Earthly Branches give us the 60 year cycle of the traditional Chinese calendar. Events in China during a sixty year period from 1864 to 1924 give us glimpses of China's turbulent history. There are also the 24 Chinese Solar Terms which for centuries have been essential tools for predicting the weather and deciding when to plant and harvest crops. Then the almost exact correlation between 12 of the Solar Terms and the 12 signs of the Western Zodiac give us a different perspective. The 5 Seasons, 5 Directions, 5 Emperors and 5 Mountains of Daoism are also illustrated and the 10 Suns which were thought to travel across the sky from east to west in a 10 day week during the ancient Shang Dynasty are depicted together with the 9 Northern Dipper Stars and the 6 Southern Dipper Stars. Illustrations of the 8 Trigrams, known in Chinese as the Ba Gua, show the Earlier Heaven, Later Heaven and Martial Arts variations with their topographical and climate features such as Marsh, Mountain, Wind, and Thunder together with their animals. Then we progress to the Chinese concepts of good luck, fortune and wealth with depictions of the Five Stars of Good Fortune, and their symbolic animals the Bat, Deer, Magpie, Crane, and Fish. Following these are the Five Auspicious Animals and more than a dozen Gods of Fortune including Cai Shen and Zhao Gong Ming who rode a tiger. There are also images of the Nine Sons of the Dragon which bring protection and good fortune. The 8 Auspicious Buddhist Treasures are symbols depicted in public places not only for their artistic and aesthetic value but also as signs of good luck and prosperity. The Temple Door Guardians Heng and Ha give protection, and statues of the Four Great Heavenly Kings stand further inside a temple symbolizing defence of religious beliefs and doctrines. There are also warnings to believers such as that symbolized by the Pig, Snake and Bird in the hub of the Tibetan Wheel of Life. Mythical, quasi-historical figures such as the Lord of Millet Hou Ji and his Mother Jiang Yuan are also depicted. And the sage emperors Yao and Shun are followed by Yu the Great, the founder of China's first dynasty. The full set of animals on the roofs of Beijing's Imperial Palace are clearly depicted and so are the many spirit way animals and figures from the Ming Tombs, the tomb of General Li Jie in Nanjing and the tomb of Empress Wu Ze Tian west of Xi An. Then the concept of rank is displayed with the 12 Ranking Symbols on Imperial Costumes. Following this we see vivid depictions of Military and Civil rank badges from Imperial China and there are also images of the military and civilian suits of the game of Chinese dominoes. Finally the Chinese game of Chess is illustrated with appropriate images such as military generals, horses, soldiers and cannons. Images of a full pack of a newly-created Chinese version of Tarot with some Mahjong borrowings have also been included. The hundreds of pictures as well as legendary and historical figures are all listed in a 10 page index so that items of interest can be quickly found.