Chinese Culture： Festivals and Customs in Three Gorges

Area （ 4 ）

( 第四讲：中国文化之三峡文化与习俗）

Lectured by Betsy Hu Xiaoqiong( 胡晓琼）

Tujia: A Minority Ethnic Group in Three Gorges Area

Major Contents:General introduction Population Dialect Clothing Food EmbroideryUnique customs (wedding, funeral)

Population

Around 8 million people, mainly in Hubei, Hunan, Chongqing and Guizhou in China.

Dialect

毕兹卡 (pi tsi ka) – the name for themselves

Only 300,000 of 8 million people still use it in their daily life now.

S+O+V e.g. “ 伢值嘎”（我吃饭） I eat my meal. ---- I meal eat.

The clothing

FoodDiet: ciba ( 糍粑 ) 、 Smoked bacon ( 烟熏腊肉）、 bean rice( 土家豆饭 ) Corn powder rice( 苞谷饭 ) 、 Steamed pork( 粉蒸肉） etc

The embroidery

Weeping/crying Wedding

Reasons

Thanks to parents

Uncertainty about future life

Difficulty coming back for visits

交通全靠走，信息全靠吼。

A mark of adulthood

Asking for more dowry

Forms of crying wedding

Forms of crying wedding

Crying along

With family, esp. parents

With nine close female friends

Funeral dance

“ 撒叶儿嗬”（ sɑ je er huo ）

When someone dies, all the relatives and neighbors will get together, and stay around the deceased’s coffin for the whole night. A team of professional performers are invited to the funeral. One leads singing songs, some dance, some beat the drums and others watch the performance. Very noisy. Why?

Meanings of funeral dance1) to say goodbye to the deceased. 2) to express condolence to the family

of the deceased 3) to praise life and achievements of

the deceased; daily life in general4) to worship ancestors5) two kinds of happiness: red and

white

Features of funeral dance Singing, dancing, drum beating

together Powerful, wild and vigorous Only men performers ( 女人跳丧，家破

人亡 )

Funeral dance

Bertrand Russel

Some old people are oppressed by the fear of death... The best way to overcome it …. is to make your interests gradually wider and more impersonal, until bit by bit the walls of the ego recede, and your life becomes increasingly merged in the universal life.

An individual human existence should be like a river – small at first, narrowly contained within its banks, and rushing passionately past rocks and over waterfalls. Gradually the river grows wider, the banks recede, the waters flow more quietly, and in the end, without any visible break, they become merged in the sea, and painlessly lose their individual being.

The man who, in old age, can see his life in this way, will not suffer from the fear of death, since the things he cares for will continue. And if, with the decay of vitality, weariness increases, the thought of rest will not be unwelcome. I should wish to die while still at work, knowing that others will carry on what I can no longer do and content in the thought that what was possible has been done.

Bashan dance

Chinese style Disco Based on the funeral dance, and now

a public activity.

Bashan dance

Bashan dance

Folk song

People in the Three Gorges area, especially in mountain regions, like to sing folk songs.

They work and sing.

Folk songs

junchao

Tujia style scenic spots in Three Gorges area

Chexi

Sanxia renjia

Qingjiang hualang

Summary

General introduction

Unique customs (wedding, funeral)