The Avatar of Mountain Nymph 山鬼

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I made a dance-drama MTV in partnership with a local green screen video production house using a 2,400 year-old ancient lyrics/poem, set in the ancient mountains of China that inspired Mount Hallelujah in Avatar. I thought of giving more historical and contextual understanding to this extremely ancient poem-song.

We generally assume that poems and lyrics to be two separate literary artforms, one being more ancient than the other. For the Chinese, poems and lyrics existed as one, just as music and dance. So when we look at ancient poetry today, it must be remembered that it used to be also sung with music and dance.

Shan Gui (The Mountain Nymph) was originally a dance-drama of the ancient Shamanistic Chu Chinese society. One of the most important part of the video was to capture the Priestess as a dancer in the mystic mountains.

I’ve made the MTV public on Youtube and you can watch it here (and come back for more contextual explanation):

The Mountain Nymph meant a lot of things to different people who interpreted this ancient song-poetry of 2,400 years ago by the famous Chinese poet Qu Yuan (whom we remember fondly for the dragon boat festival). Some saw her as the lovesick mountain spirit, others saw her as the elaborately dressed priestess who was sent into the depth of the mountain to welcome the actual mountain spirit. She was also referred to as the Nymph of Mount Wu (I did an article earlier with Sailor Venus crossing over as Nymph of Mount Wu), who was known for her ephemeral beauty. In a sense, the Priestess was the avatar of the mountain goddess/nymph.

I used Hmong silver hair accessories because it is also a large part of the Chu Chinese culture. In the video, I also added a pair of deer antler-looking head pieces because deer was also a greatly worshipped/admired animal in the very ancient past.

The Song-poem was part of a compilation titled The Ning Songs, and nobody can summarise it better than Princeton University Art Museum:

The Nine Songs is a set of eleven poems from the anthology The Songs of Chu, which is traditionally attributed to Qu Yuan (about 343–278 B.C.).

The poetry, which may represent ancient shamanistic dramas, consists of lyrics meant to be performed.

By the time Wang Chong transcribed The Nine Songs in the sixteenth century, the words and content of the poems could still be read and spoken, but the accompanying sounds and actions had long been forgotten.

Involving spirit journeys and the invocation of divine beings, one passage reads:

The singing begins softly to a slow, solemn measure:
Then, as pipes and zithers join in, the singing grows shriller.
Now the priestesses come, splendid in their gorgeous apparel,
And all the hall is filled with a penetrating fragrance.
The five sounds mingle in a rich harmony;
And the god is merry and takes his pleasure.(trans. David Hawkes)

Princeton University Art Museum

In Chinese traditions, they believed that there were 3 floating mystical mountains where the deities/gods/goddesses live.

You probably heard a lot about Taoism and Buddhism in China in my previous articles, but Shamanism is rarely discussed. This is partly because the Chinese identity is an extremely complex one which is not confined to the Han-Chinese culture, but also many other ethnic and cultural identities. The Chu culture of the central-southern area of China (Hunan, Hubei today) for example, had its very unique cultural identity and practised Shamanism extensively even during a period when the Han Chinese were more focused on Taoism.

Thus, you saw the mention of priestess. Most ancient civilisations saw women as having a special power to connect with the occult, the Chinese in their most ancient religion and beliefs had that too. Thus it was the priestess who would be decked in elaborate dresses, to perform rituals to welcome the various spirits of nature to descend onto her, possess her body for the duration to complete the blessing to mortals.

I picked a top blouse with a crane motif because cranes traditionally was also associated with longevity and immortality. Although that is more Taoist.

The Story of the Mountain Nymph/Spirit has been interpreted by many to have several symbolic meanings beyond the apparent love story of a mountain spirit waiting and longing for her lover, her inner dialogues and her changing emotions with the unpredictability of the weather in the mountain.

I added a musician in the video to kind of also reference another ancient Chinese story between two musicians who were soulmates.

It was also believed by some scholars that it was a metaphorical description of the ritual in which the priestess, magnificently dressed, went into the mountain to receive the mountain god/goddess in a joyous mood, only to lose her way in the wilderness. Filled with frustration, she lamented that she would not be able to bring blessings/longevity to her people, and sought comfort in the longevity herbs in the depth of the mountain. Before long, she became flustered and panicked that she might never get to receive the mountain god/goddess and lamented on her failed mission.

I also picked a outer blouse that is embroidered with flowers and vines, because the lyrics of the poem-song mentioned that the Priestess/Mountain Nymph was clad in them. Of course we can’t do an Eve of ancient China, because Chinese are always properly dressed in our artworks. It is a mark of respect for oneself and for your guests/people you meet.

I’ve translated the poem with help from my friend and online resources, and here’s the lyrics/poem with their translations and general interpretation of each stanza:

First Stanza of the poem takes a macro view of the mountains and zooming into the priestess/mountain nymph who coyly speaks about her beauty.

若有人兮山之阿，被薜荔兮带女萝。

Someone is there, in the mountain valley.

Adorned in vines, clasped by ivy.

既含睇兮又宜笑，子慕予兮善窈窕。

With adoring gaze and a gentle smile, she teased

“Does my beauty enrapture you?”

Then it zooms out again to describe the out-of-this-world beauty, imbued with nature. Really Pocahontas-like.

乘赤豹兮从文狸，辛夷车兮结桂旗。

She rides a red panther with trailing lynxes.

Her chariot of magnolia arrayed with banners of cassia.

被石兰兮带杜衡，折芳馨兮遗所思。

Her cloak made of orchids and her girdle of azalea.

Plucking a bloom to prepare for her groom.

The Priestess/Mountain Nymph finally arrived, but she was alone because she was late for her date. She explained why she was held back—She couldn’t tell night from day and had no idea of time, and the road was difficult to travel so she took some time as well.

余处幽篁兮终不见天，路险难兮独后来。

Deep in the bamboo grove I dwell,

The sky obscured.

The road hither is steep and dangerous,

I arrive alone and late.

So she is all alone now, and she stands atop of the mountain hoping to find her lover (or the priestess hope to find the mountain spirit), and also hope to be spotted as well but there were only the clouds beneath.

表独立兮山之上，云容容兮而在下。

Alone I stand now, atop of the mountain.

While the clouds tumble and gather beneath.

And then it starts to storm, and day is as dark as the night.

杳冥冥兮羌昼晦，东风飘兮神灵雨。

All gloomy and dark is the day,

The east wind brought the god-send rain.

She is hoping for her lover/the Mountain Nymph to stay with her and forget about going back, because she is not going to stay this beautiful forever. So carpe diem!

留灵修兮憺忘归，岁既晏兮孰华予？

Cajoling you to stay a while longer,

Time is running out with my fading beauty.

That failed, so meanwhile she was just passing time, waiting for the mountain nymph/her lover to return

While she is in the wilderness, she was gathering the longevity herb. It was a rather tough condition, definitely we romanticised her environment.

采三秀兮於山间，石磊磊兮葛曼曼。

I hunt for the longevity herb immured in impenetrable wilderness,

The rocks are craggy and the vines tangled. 

怨公子兮怅忘归，君思我兮不得闲。

She then comes up with all kinds of self-consoling excuses for the missing lover/mountain nymph. Maybe he’s busy? Even though she kind of gets frustrated and blames him for not returning.

I blame you for my sorrow. Have you forgotten to return?

Or do you miss me too, but you are entangled elsewhere

The poem then zooms out again, and looks at the Priestess/Mountain Nymph all by herself, beautifully sweet but alone.

山中人兮芳杜若，饮石泉兮廕松柏。

Deep in the mountain

she is

sweet as the perennial flower.

From the rocky spring

She drinks

Shaded by pines and firs.

君思我兮然疑作。

You long for me, yet you hesitate.

And zooms into her first person narration wondering if the lover/mountain nymph will ever turn up. She is still full of anticipation and hope even though the condition is extremely harsh and she is in extreme isolation. Eventually she relented and accepted her loneliness.

雷填填兮雨冥冥，猨啾啾兮又夜鸣。

The gibbons mourn and howl through the night,

The wind whistles and the trees are bare.

风飒飒兮木萧萧，思公子兮徒离忧。

I long so for you, yet I sorrow in vain.

I have always loved the song Shan Gui (Mountain Nymph) which is a modern composition by a Chinese singer-songwriter Winky诗 using the lyrics of Quyuan some 2,400 years ago. It was a hauntingly enchanting song which I had no way of understanding simply by listening due to the ancient language used. But I have always wanted to know more and do something like a Music Video to complement it.

Fast forward a few years, I received a cold call from the founder Spring Forest Studio, a local video production company specialising in 3D virtual set filming and green screen technology video production. And I started my artistic conceptualisation and creation of the entire project from identification of the virtual background of the mountains of Zhangjiajie (which inspired the floating world of Avatar), and incorporating the many possible layers of meanings of this ancient poem into the music video with help from my fellow Hanfugirls (Vocalist Vivien Lai, Dancer Li Ruimin and Guzheng Player Jiang Xinheng) who are incredibly talented and genuinely passionate about the project. All of these are done with zero monetary exchange and budget, which meant that it is truly a work of pure love.

The Fantastic Beasts of Ancient China

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It’s with great amusement that I realised that there’s an ancient Chinese creature in the latest Fantastic Beasts series—The Qilin 麒麟 (pronounced Chillin, Spoilers on Qilin in the show available HERE). In recent years we have seen how ancient Chinese/East Asian mythical creatures are being represented in many of the Western shows such as Shang Chi (Morris’ my favourite, naturally), and now Harry Potter.

9-tail fox and Morris

Shang Chi mythical creatures

Qilin in Fantastic Beasts

There are many extremely interesting records of fantastic beasts in ancient Chinese texts from thousands of years ago, of creatures far beyond our imaginations. If I have time, I will get to some of them but let me just state the most familiar strangers in the lot — the kind that you probably have heard of (if you’re into Chinese shows, or Fengshui) but not really quite sure what they really are.

These creatures were not only used by China, but the entire Sinosphere which extends to the rest of East Asia and some Southeast Asian countries with strong Chinese influences.

PRESENTING:

The Four Guardians 四象— Vermillion Bird, Emerald Dragon (this name is contentious and I will explaining due course why), Black Warrior and White Tiger.

Motif design on the eaves of roof tiles in China over 2,000 years ago were of the 4 guardians

CHINESE ARCHITECTURAL FEATURE—FANCY AND FUNCTIONAL ROOF

The Chinese roof is made up of quite a few different types of tiles, each serving a different function. The part where it has large surface for motifs, were mainly for the purpose of preventing rainwater from seeping into the wooden roof structures, and to prevent the water droplets from corroding the building base originally.

Then, they got fancier.

In case you are wondering, why are the roof tiles round, and how does it work? Here’s a quick view of the traditional Chinese roof:

There’s the circular shape tile cap that covers the end of the entire line/row of barrel tiles (bamboo or pipe-like shape), and there is the crescent shaped drip tiles between the circular caps (as in water droplet, which was literally meant for water to follow the tip and fall down in a line when raining).

This feature is not exclusive to the Chinese and we can see similar examples in Greek and Roman roof of similar period. They are called the antefix, and they served similar function as the Chinese eave-end tiles.

FANCIFUL HISTORY

The Eave-end Tile (cap at the end of the tile) has a history of over 3,000 years in China, from semi circular shapes to round shape by the Han dynasty (2,000 years ago).

The motifs too, evolved from the more stylised totem-looking designs of the Warring State to more naturalistic ones of animals, plants, insects around the Qin dynasty (slightly over 2,000 years ago). And by then, circular eaves tiles became increasingly common.

Left: Tao Tie beast with dragon motif from Warring State (circa 2,500 years ago). The Tao Tie beast is just mega foodie, something many of us can relate to.

The Four Guardians series of rounded Eaves Tiles were particularly popular and iconic of the Han dynasty, which was the peak of the Eaves Tile’s development. Later on in the 1,000 years that followed, with the popularisation of Buddhism from post-Han through Tang and Song Dynasty, lotus motifs also became key motifs on these tiles. NOTE: This is not to say that lotus motif did not exist prior to the introduction of Buddhism to China, just that the form and significance of the lotus, and the popularity of use were markedly different pre and post Buddhism.

In the last 500 years during the Qing dynasty, the focus was mainly on the imperial roof tiles, which were generally of dragon motifs. The roof tile design evolution also kind of stagnated as more focus went into the development of wall tiles used by the commoners.

This is my favourite Eaves Tile design so far, the deer one on top comes next in line.

ANCIENT CHINESE OLYMPIC RINGS?

From top, clockwise: Black Warrior, Emerald Dragon, Vermillion Bird, White Tiger

Like how the Olympic Ring symbolised all the colours of the world’s flags (hah, yes it’s not the 5 continents!), the Chinese used these four symbols and colours to give representative meanings and characteristics to the world and the natural order of things.

Deep. I know.

Everything in the Chinese culture is so connected and inter-referencing each other. And they sprung off to another system of symbolism and more self-referencing so you had to peel away a lot of those layers to get to the very core origin: I-Ching and Astrology.

While you’re reading your horoscope for the day, rest assured that the ancient Chinese thought that the stars and their alignment told them a lot about their world as well.

INDIGENOUS CHINESE ASTROLOGY

Of course, the Four Guardians (literally translated as the “Four Symbols” actually) held important, symbolic meanings, and was related to the Tai-Chi logo you are familiar with. The Tai-Chi logo further extended into the octagonal trigram that people always associate Taoists with:

I know, how is this remotely relevant to the animals?!?

Well, the animals came about when the ancient Chinese started mapping the stars they saw in the night sky, mapping them out, and dividing them into quarters. And there had to be a system of reference, so they referenced the I-Ching which a very profoundly complex book that supposedly summarises the world’s natural order. This book was henceforth referenced by the Chinese in every single thing they do, from fortune telling to medicine, and by extension, the Chinese sought to categorise and make sense of the world through the rules laid out in this book (different period, different interpretation, different manifestations).

And so… the night sky was sorted into 4 groups (yes, like harry potter’s sorting hat, they were given different characteristics, and animals were assigned to it). And that is how the 4 creatures got allocated a spot to represent a lot of the other symbolic meanings which I will go into in the respective articles.

Before the introduction and popularisation of horoscopy astrology as we know today in the 8th century China (brought to China from the ‘West’ i.e. Central Asia/Iran and India), Chinese had their own astrological practices and charts but it was off limit to the commoners. Due to trade and cultural exchanges on the silk road over 2,000 years ago, the Chinese gradually adopted Western astrological ideas (we had Indian astrologers in the Chinese imperial court around the 8th century.

Top left: Greek Terracotta gorgoneion antefix 580-570 BCE
Top right: Taotie motif from similar period
Bottom left: Capricorn motif of Emperor Augustus period some 2,000 years ago in Rome
Bottom right: Four beasts representing the 28 constellations in Chinese astrology

You can see the similarities between the Greek and Roman antefix motifs (left) and the Chinese ones (right) of similar period. The top row were over, 2500 years ago, and featured a gorgoneion, while the bottom row was about 2,000 years ago featuring animals which were representative of the constellations.

Due to the passing of thousands of years, many things have been so intertwined that it takes some time to thoroughly explain the gist of them (oxymoron, I know). And I will do so in the coming posts!

PROCESS & CONCEPT

For this series, I have worked with someone in the Fashion industry to reinterpret these creatures with a modern twist AND Since I love juxtapositions, I also did a parallel series with more traditional aesthetics. I will be sharing each of them in single, detailed entries coming up as well.

Here’s a sneak peek of the traditional ones:

I think this is enough information for the long weekend.

Happy Labour Day! Have fun trying to make sense of this piece!

Ancient F4–Song Yu, the Enigmatic Mimasaka Akira (美作 玲)

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Think that F4 was just a pop culture invention? Think again.

Humanity has been around for so long, surely we’ve had many F4s across many civilisations and cultures before. In this series, besides shedding light on the F4s of ancient China (existing over 1500 yrs ago), I’ll also let you know how they are coincidentally remarkably similar to the F4s we know today.

The handles are on the two sides because the right way to drink was to hold the two handles with both hands. But if we were to do that in this picture, you wouldn’t see the handle then!

For a start, we’ll have the 2 sidekicks in the entire F4 series–Mimasake Akira (Meizuo) and Nishikado Syoijirou (Ximen). I’m going to refer to their bracketed names as this is also a tribute series to the 80s kid in all of us.

Song Yu is the oldest of the lot as he was in the records dating back to the Warring State era (298 BCE–222BCE). That makes him about 2,300 years old today, over 500 years older than the rest in the group.

Notice the bowl/dish with handles at the two sides that he is drinking from? It was the kind of lacquerware drinking cups that were used in those days from the kingdom of Chu (central China–there was no China as we know today yet at this point).

The booze-filled debauchery parties would be something that Mei Zuo would approve, and it is for this reason that I’m getting Song Yu to drink with this very unique drinking cup from his era.

I know everyone probably thinks ancient Chinese drinking cups looked like this because of TV shows:

This is a unique one made from white jade

Majority of what we are familiar with were bronze heavily oxidised to green colour (thus the Chinese call them green bronze).

These three-footed drinking cups from over 2,000 years ago are called Jue （爵）cups and were largely used by the aristocrats or top officials and existed far longer than the cup held by our male protagonist here. It was an extremely common find in archeological sites dating back to 3,500 years ago and continued to be used (although probably not as fashionable) during the Warring State. Ancient emperors would reward his best men with it and they often came with engravings of the noblemen’s titles.

Because our friend here was clearly a literati and a dreamer, he didn’t have much official title to warrant the Jue cup. However, he was well-connected and wrote many legendary ancient verses that the king of Chu really liked. So it is believable that he would be drinking from the fashionable loped handle cup AKA the cup of feathers/wings 羽觞 Yu Shang (probably because the two handles at the side looked like wings).

They were made up of a variety of materials as you can see above. The left were all from the Warring State era, made up of lacquer and bronze gilded gold. This type of drinking cup continued for over 500 years (from 3rd Century BCE till about 6th Century CE) after as well as evident in the right cup made up of shell from the Wei Jin era (3rd–6th Century CE).

The one Song Yu in the picture was using was replica lacquerware of an artefact found in the Han tombs of central China (about 3rd century BCE). As lacquerwares were hard to come by and required a lot of resources to create, they were also symbols of wealth and power. Yes, mainly aristocrats owned them. But with talent and looks like this, Song Yu could easily score a few gifts of this level from his admirers (men and women alike), or acquired during one of his ‘wild parties’ :P.

The Smooth Talker

If lawyers had a patron saint, it would have to be Song Yu. He was said to be so smooth with his words and arguments that he could sell ice to the Eskimos and convince anyone that the dress they see is blue and black when it’s gold and white.

You might find the term “Deng Tu Zi” familiar if you are following The Longest Day in Chang’An in Chinese. The female lead quite frequently used it to describe someone she thought was low and lecherous. Surprise! This term was invented by Song Yu to illustrate his fantastic debating skill and also his beauty.

In a record passed down from that period, written by Song Yu himself, there was a story entitled Tale of Deng Tu Zi, the lecherous. This person by the name of Deng Tu Zi was bitching about Song Yu to the king of Chu. He said that Song Yu was beautiful but lecherous, so the king should not let Song Yu set foot in his harem. When the king confronted Song Yu about this accusation, Song Yu argued that his good looks were merely blessings from heaven but he was not horny. To further illustrate this, Song Yu gave an example of how his neighbour’s daughter who was drop-dead gorgeous had been trying to flirt and seduce him for the past 3 years to no avail. ON THE OTHER HAND, turning the tables around to Deng Tu Zi, Song Yu pointed out that Deng Tu Zi‘s wife looked hideous yet they had 5 kids together, so this is proof that Deng Tu Zi was the horny one.

I fail to see this logic. But clearly, everyone else in those days did. As such, the term Deng Tu Zi was also used to refer to a horny person.

Trivia: Mao Zedong shared my logic. In 1958, he made a public speech talking about how Song Yu was twisting words and confounding logic. Deng Tu Zi was a good man who was a faithful husband.

A Forbidden Love

Song Yu never married–quite unusual for his time. So there was a story/theory that an extremely talented courtesan by the name of Mo Chou was his one and only love interest.

Courtesan by ancient definition was more of an entertainer like Geisha, I will write about this in detail in future posts, but just bear in mind that the best courtesans were extremely talented in performing arts and literature, and they played an important role in popularising poems/music compositions through songs and dances like the celebrities and idols today.

So she actually played a crucial role in popularising poems by Song Yu and Qu Yuan (his teacher) by incorporating them as lyrics for her songs. But she died rather young, and it was said that Song Yu never got over her death.

He possibly transferred his love for her onto his literary writings of the ancient goddess/nymph–the nymph of Mount Wu, Yao Ji (I did an article earlier on her before as part of my Sailormoon series).

In the story of Yao Ji, the concept of fog and mist was extremely iconic, and he was known for his ballads/poems/songs about the nymph.

In his two songs about goddess Yao Ji, he wrote extensively and sublimely about the love affair between the king of Chu and the nymph as well as the breathtaking beauty of the nymph. He single-handedly created this really romanticised image of women and goddesses such that the most well-known ballads/poems/odes to women and goddesses from later periods on such topics were all modeled after his poems.

In a way, he created the image and idea of Venus in ancient China.

How is he Meizuo from F4?

If you know Meizuo, I think the link is pretty clear. Besides the clear apparent link that he is the sidekick as was Song Yu (always serving the emperor and never quite made it in the court life), Song Yu was also from a humble background so he wasn’t very well off (compared to the aristocrats), pretty much like how Meizuo‘s ranking amongst F4.

Song Yu‘s great orator and debating skill is also very similar to Meizuo who was known to charm women with his smooth talks. I guess you never know if what he’s saying is true.

There are so many things I wish to talk about this set of images, such as the dress he was wearing, the incense burner he was using, and the fan he was using etc. Also how he also inspired the Chinese idiom that are often used to describe High Art (阳春白雪)and Low Art (下里巴人) these days but they started out as just titles of two songs with no judgement made about the hierarchy of their artistic merits.

But for the purpose of this story, I will end here.

Stay tuned for the next one!

Chinese dance–much more than just ribbons & fans

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“Those who dance are considered insane by those who can’t hear the music”

In ancient times, yue 樂 referred to both dance and music, although the word is only reserved for music now. Back then, there wasn’t the concept of dance without music (but music performances without dance existed). Legends about the origins of dance can be found in ancient Chinese literature such as the Lüshi Chunqiu (Annals of Lü Buwei), Zhongxiaji (Mid-summer Records), and Guyue (Ancient Music).

With the popularisation of opera in the last 1000 years, ancient Chinese dance as an artform had been on a decline. This was further exacerbated by the widespread adoption of bound feet that greatly limited women’s mobility, rendering them unable to dance. In their places, were male dancers who brought a different aesthetics and Chinese dance was thus performed and passed down through the male body.

It is thus extremely apt that for our upcoming performance, we will be focusing on the 4 ancient beauties who lived in periods before the onset of decline in ancient Chinese Dance and the adoption of bound feet. With the exception of Wang Zhaojun who was not officially known for any particular dance (But she’s known for playing the pipa), all 3 beauties were said to have exceptional dance talents which helped them charm million and above all, the rulers of their times.

Guess who?

When Elizabeth and I first started working on this project, we were quite sure that it will not be a total re-enactment of the dances because it’s not possible. We could only reimagine them based on the artefacts and whatever was written about them. Also, the kind of music that went along with those ancient dances were all lost too, and we have limited resources and time. So getting new compositions was out of the question.

So I picked a few songs which I felt was representative of my feeling of the periods, the beauties and the stories of those dances they were famous for and worked with Elizabeth on fine-tuning the selection.

Being a nerd, I thought it’s only fair that I share a bit more background information about the dance choreography that Elizabeth has done such a great job in, so her effort and all those ancient knowledge are not gone to waste! Cos personally I find physical theatre and dance the hardest to understand. If you don’t want any spoilers, you can always skip this article and come back after the show to find out more!

Here we go….

Xishi (about 2500 years ago)

Elizabeth: During the Western Zhou dynasty, the category of Yayue (雅樂), or ‘elegant music’ was established. In it consisted of the Six Major Dances and Six Minor Dances. Yayue was mostly used for official rituals and to reinforce notions of proper decorum. Jiyue (伎樂), or ‘women music’, was more often seen in informal banquets and were often performed by professional dancers of the time. These music and dance pieces took more inspiration from folk music and dance forms and were more entertaining. As such, by the beginning of the Han dynasty, Jiyue gradually became more popular while Yayue declined.

Notice the foot in this (ok we didnt have the shoes on), it was not pointed downwards unlike in ballet or modern Chinese dance. This is a very traditional Chinese footwork, and you see such upturned feet in dance sculptures of the ancient past too!

Xishi’s dance was inspired by a modern interpretation《楚腰》(the Chu Waist), choreographed by Chinese choreographer Sun Ying (孙颖老师).

Dance forms in the ancient past were performed with women with ‘natural feet’ (unbound feet). For example, in the Dunhuang Mogao grottoes paintings, we can see that many of the dancers had feet that were sickled in or half pointed, rather than the fully pointed feet common in Chinese dance today.

The fully pointed foot became one of the aesthetic ideals in Chinese dance today due to the influence of ballet line and technique during the institutionalisation of Chinese dance as an official discipline in the 1940s and 50s.

Hanfugirl: The story of the Chu waist came from a book by an ancient political-philosopher–Han Fei. As with many things in Chinese literature, a spade is never called a spade. The story talks about how the ruler of the Kingdom of Chu loved to see his court officials with tiny waists. So all of them start starving themselves to strive to have the tiniest waist possible, in order to gain his favour. Over time, they all became really frail and could barely stand up straight, let alone provide sound advice to him. Han Fei used this story to caution leaders against favouring policies or people based on his own private and personal preferences, as this would cause the entire political climate to slant towards currying flavouring instead of doing what’s best for the country.

While it was a story, the mention of the tiny waist is likely to be reflective of the existing aesthetics during the period, otherwise the reference would have been lost on the readers. During that period, the wooden clogs were already invented and worn by people like Confucius as well. I had a special request that Xishi wore clogs to dance because she was known for her clog dance. It was said that the king even built a hollow hallway just for her to dance her bell and clog dance. As such, the moves of the dancer would have to be adapted to work around the constraint of the clogs.

Zhaojun (about 2000 years ago)

Elizabeth: During the Han dynasty, there was a type of performance called “Variety Shows” (百戏) which existed both in the courts and in folk villages. These performances included wrestling performances, acrobatics, wushu, magic shows, comic performances, as well as music and dance performances. There were many different kinds of dances performed, including silk dance, sleeve dance, drum dance, as well as dances of animals and social dances.

For Zhaojun, I used the sleeve dance, sometimes called the 翘袖折腰 style, which includes making curvy or bendy shapes with the body and the extra-long sleeves.

In the Han dynasty, besides sleeve dances, there were also many plate and drum dances, dances with silk and with the duster (拂尘) and the bell dance.

Hanfugirl: Personally, this is my favourite dance because of how close it is to the artefact and my idea of Han dynasty dance*squeal*. hahahahahah IRONICALLY, Zhaojun is the only one who didn’t have a dancer identity. But I do think that since she’s said to be a concubine of the emperor, she must have known some dance to some extent.

What I also love about this is that her dress is made based on the Western Han tomb in Hunan, and the dancer herself is also from there. Zhaojun in history was from Hubei, which is north to Hunan. In ancient China, this entire region (both Hunan and Hubei) were known to be the kingdom of Chu. So in my wildest imagination, she could be playing/dancing like her ancient relative or some sorts!

Zhaojun’s dance is a more sorrowful, departure dance. She was bidding farewell to her home to a kingdom far far away. Yes, in a cartoon sense of the word, she was marrying a Shrek of her time. But the Shrek proved to be quite a good catch eventually. Still, at this point in the story, she was supposed to be sad and sorrowful.

Diaochan (about 1800 years ago)

Elizabeth: The period from the three Kingdoms through Wei, Jins, to the Southern and Northern Dynasties, was a time torn by wars, a time of the changing of the dynasties, and a time of shifting nationalities. The main feature of this period was the migration and intermingling of the different peoples’ dances. The dancing system of the Tang dynasty which followed was rooted in this period.

Well-known dance pieces include 《白纻舞》(Dance of white ramie) and 《春江花月夜》(Moonlit night on spring river)which came from the 清商乐 (Qing Shang Yue, a type of music popular amongst the literati of that period). Diaochan’s dance was inspired by 《白紵舞》which was originally a folk dance from the lower-Yangtze area, and took its name from the costumes which were made from white ramie.

The dance is gentle and light with a stress on dancing with the sleeves. Among the five to six hundred years from the Jin to the Tang dynasty, this dance became a staple repertoire of banquet arts and was one of the dances praised by different poets across dynasties.

Hanfugirl: The music chosen for this piece is more of a risque, femme fatale feel one because of the story of Diaochan. I wanted to show the seductiveness of Diaochan, and at the same time, the danger that comes with such a two-faced woman. I wonder how the men she was seducing was feeling while watching her dance, and if they would be as captivated as I was when I was taking these pictures.

This is Elizabeth, our choreographer for the show. Now you know why this entry uses her picture as the key visual. It’s important to support local talents and people who are passionate about the art.

Yang Guifei (about 1300 years ago)

Elizabeth: The Sui dynasty which preceded the Tang was a period of unity, and the rulers amassed the traditional songs and dances of the Han ethnic people, as well as those of minority nationalities and those which had been introduced from abroad.

The well-known court banquet music, the “Seven Books of Music” and later, the “Nine Books of Music” were founded there. For the first time in Chinese history, the music and dances of different nationalities and of different areas were listed in an equal state as part of court rituals.

Thus, there were many styles of dances in the Tang dynasty: “Nine Books of Music”, “Ten Books of Music”, Zuobu Arts”, “Libu Arts”, Jian and Ruan Dancers, the Folk Song and Dance dramas, the Grand Song and Dance Compositions as well as religious dances.

Yang Yu Huan, or Yang Guifei’s dance was inspired by the Hu style, which was a name given to folk dances from Central Asia or Western regions of China. They have sharp rhythms, with rapid changes to the movements and rich expressions. She was also known for being well-versed in the Dervish Dance from Samarkand.

Today, Hu style influences can be seen in the folk dances of Mongolia and Xinjiang.

Hanfugirl: I didn’t have the right lighting and space to capture more images which I’m satisfied with but I’m pretty happy with this image because of that Hu (central asian/nomadic tribe) type of shoulder movement and posture. I have ALWAYS been fascinated with the Tang dynasty for its cultural diversity and cosmopolitan society. The well-known Yang Guifei was also said to be one of the most brilliant dancers of her time. There were two dances in particular that were closely associated with her–the Swirling Hu dance （胡旋舞）, and the Rainbowed-skirt, feathered-dress dance （霓裳羽衣舞）.

The first dance was just a generic type of dance that many Tang dynasty party goers (men and women) would learn and dance (a bit like the clubbing dance of our time).

The second one was a music piece specially recorded and composed by the emperor of that time (also the husband of Guifei). He was inspired by the foreign Hu music composition from India. The music was hailed as one of the gems of Tang dynasty music, and Guifei was said to have danced to it while the emperor played it. After the An Lushan rebellion and death of Guifei, it was never played again. 

That particular music doesn’t quite suit the mood and duration of my show, so I found another piece that has a bit more foreign music element for the purpose of performance. And our dancer Serene is an authority in ethnic Chinese dance, so Elizabeth gave her free reign in the parts where ethnic dance influence is to be showcased. So this piece combines both the swirling Hu dance and the Rainbowed-skirt, feathered-dress dance.

This article is jointly written by Hanfugirl and Elizabeth Chan (Dance choreographer).

If you’re interested to watch the performance, which is part of Moonfest 2018, details are as follows:

There’re tonnes of other programmes at Moonfest, you may visit the official Esplanade website HERE.

Ceci n’est pas Chinese Cinderella（我不是迪斯尼版西施）

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Now that we’re counting down to the final two, and also arguably the hardest to distinguish. Before I got started on this series, I really couldn’t tell the two apart!

My sister, the avid reader, was the one who told me Xishi has big feet! A fun fact that was to become a central idea in the development of Xishi’s character. I was tempted to call her Xi-nderella, but was told that I’d be judged for being corny. Ah well.

There’s a short English animation on youtube that does a good job at telling the story–you can watch it HERE. But of course nothing beats seeing a real person in storytelling, so here we go~!

Beauty from an underprivileged background

When the model’s mom saw her look, she immediately burted out Xi Shi because having a cloth around the hair was very iconic of Xi Shi’s ‘peasant girl’ look.

Not all princesses were born with a silver spoon. But unlike Cinderella who was relegated to doing chores by her evil stepfamily, Xishi was born into a peasant working class family with her dad as a firewood peddler and her mom as a weaver. She would often go to the river to wash the silk yarns to help with the family income and chores.

It’s been said that the ultimate test of one’s beauty is how one looks when you shave off your hair. Similar things could be said about women from an underprivileged background with limited resources to doll themselves up–they often have beauty so remarkable that they don’t need any other accessories or make-up to shine.

There’s no way Xi Shi is going to be blonde, so the nearest thing I could think of was that iconic head scarf!

Xishi’s beauty was described to be so impossibly perfect according to some Chinese literature that if you add one centimetre to her height she would’ve been too tall and removing one centimetre she would’ve been too short. If you add one ounce to her weight she would have looked overweight, and remove one ounce she would’ve been too frail and skinny! Pretty sure this was written to exclude everyone from passing off as Xishi, and thus she would become this unattainable icon for beauty.

No official ranking was done amongst the 4 beauties, but supposedly it was between her and Diaochan (the last beauty whom I will cover in a week or two’s time) as to who would be the most gorgeous looking.

And of course, their beauty is so universal that even fishes sank to the bottom of the river in shame when they saw her washing her dirty laundry silk yarns by the river. I would too if I were the fishes, with the level of pollution these days.

Damsel-in-distress

Opps, she’s got headache in this shot, not chest pain! GAH~

Alright, alright. The most anticipated moment in all fairytales–the damsel-in-distress moment. So Xishi apparently had some health/heart issues, and she would often clutch her chest and frown in pain. Now that I mention it, I realise that none of the princesses in Disney has any health issue–they’re often healthy, cheery, outgoing, and full of positivity.

Naturally, such a health feature exists for a reason–to further illustrate how beautiful Xishi is, in sickness or health. Or in the case of Cinderella, her extreme helplessness is to accentuate the spectacularity of her wonderful transformation later on.

Trust the Chinese to have some humour moral story injected into this as well, as told by Zhuangzi (an influential Chinese philosopher who lived some 1,000 years after Xishi’s time). He created a woman by the name of Dong Shi (Ms Shi in the East), who is an antithesis of Xi Shi (literally translating to Ms Shi in the West).

So Dong Shi was supposedly really vulgar and uncouth, but deep down she really wanted validation for her looks. One day, she saw Xi Shi walking by the village. Xi Shi’s heart problem relapsed and she clutched her chest with a slight frown. Dong Shi noticed that all the villagers were mesmerised by Xi Shi’s tiny upturned brow, and decided that it’s going to be THE killer look which Dong Shi would sport henceforth to look beautiful.

So inspired by Xi Shi, Dong Shi started frowning in agony everywhere she went. But instead of being mesmerised by her, the villagers were freaked out. They thought she had gone mad (quite understandably) and rushed to take cover from her, locking their doors and windows. It’s a look that would put Ben Stiller’s Blue Steel to shame.

So the Moral of the story was to not follow fashion trends blindly.

The special-size dancing shoes

Wooden clogs were popular footwear more than 2500 years ago in China. It became even more popular later on as people even wore it for formal occasions as an act of rebellion against the repressive society that codified and dictated what one should wear and not.

It’s funny to note that the ancient Chinese weren’t the only one obsessed about small feet as in the case of Cinderella’s original story where her small feet was her express ticket to being a royal bride! However, in the case of Xi Shi, her feet was said to be large, because of her background growing up as a labourer and small feet would render her inmobile to carry out those chores.

As such, instead of wearing the dainty embroidered shoes, Xi Shi was said to be wearing wooden clogs everywhere she went and she even choreographed an iconic Wooden Clog dance. But of course, this is a completely made up story by people from Song dynasty because there was no such thing as bound feet back in the Spring and Autumn period which was about 1,500 years before the custom of foot binding started!

Transforming weakness to strength

Today, we still can see traces of such clogs worn by the ancient Chinese in Japan although the Chinese themselves no longer wear these. I tried walking one day in it, and my soles hurt. I think I can never be Xi Shi.

Ancient stories often take on different trajectories and spin-offs based on the prevalent beliefs of the time. For Xi Shi, she turned her supposed flaw of big feet into her strength with her dance talent. She nailed that dance like how Cinderella did! Nevermind the shoes!

Xi Shi basically choreographed a special clog dance which the King of Wu loved so much that he especially built a long hallway that had hollow ground laid over with wooden planks so that when she performed her wooden clog dance, the sound of the clogs could be heard loud and clear.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the original tap dance… (umm…)

With some enhancements…

Growing up, I’ve always found the jingling bell sound to be mesmerising, and it might’ve been a universal charm since Xi Shi and the King of Wu who lived 2,500 years ago believed so too. Xi Shi was said to add bells to her waist when she danced, so there is an additional jingle sound from the bells when she does her clog dance. She was basically a human tambourine! Unfortunately, she wouldn’t have claims to be the inventor of it since she would have to fight with the Greeks for that claim!

Plottwist

Xi Shi Two-Face

While all the Disney princesses were generally straightforward figures, Xi Shi was, in fact, a Helen of Troy disguised as Cinderella. Yes, two western myths for the price of one in China!

She was actually a spy, talent-spotted by the ruler of an enemy kingdom to seduce the King of Wu. The king of the enemy kingdom was held hostage and made a horseman in the Kingdom of Wu for many years before being released to return to his own Kingdom, the Kingdom of Yue. Determined to take revenge, Gou Jian the Yue King (whose sword is so perfectly preserved with no hint of rust despite its long existence of 2,500 years!) sent men to find a beautiful woman to be presented as a distraction for the King of Wu.

After getting talent-spotted, Xi Shi was sent to learn dancing and posture for 3 years before she was presented to the King of Wu. You see, women of the past needed to be well-versed in the arts in order to be considered holistically beautiful and desirable. Just a pretty face is not going to cut it, especially since the king had no lack of pretty women.

I really like the freshwater pearl waist belt that dangles around Xi Shi. All the dangly accessories she has adds to her daintiness.

Needless to say, her mission was accomplished and the King of Yue defeated the King of Wu eventually as the Wu King got distracted by Xi Shi and neglected his rule and country.

Association with Dream of the Red Chamber’s No. 1 beauty–Lin Daiyu

Remember Daiyu? I deliberately chose the same model for Xi Shi because Daiyu was closely associated with her. In the novel Dream of the Red Chamber, when the male protagonist Baoyu first saw Daiyu, he gave her the nickname Pin pin (颦颦) because she was constantly frowning and she frowned so beautifully, just like in the legend of Xi Shi. The author also wrote that Daiyu was sicky and fragile like Xi Shi, perhaps even more so than Xi Shi (病如西子胜三分).

On insecurities and Beauty

An interesting coincidence between the model herself and Xi Shi was the model’s frustration with the size of her eyes. She wanted a bigger and rounder eyes and contemplated going through procedures to make her eyes bigger, and turns out Xi Shi was also unhappy with her own small eyes!

Xi Shi was said to want bigger eyes, and had low self-esteem because of her big feet. It was only after her BFF Zheng Dan (another gorgeous beauty overlooked by history) made really long skirts for her to cover her legs while dancing, and brought her to see her own reflections and using fishes to illustrate how fishes of different sizes are still beautiful just like different shapes and sizes of eyes can be beautiful too, that Xi Shi finally had more confidence in herself!

Oh yea, did I mention the best part of the story–While Wang Zhao Jun and Yang Gui Fei are both real, Xi Shi might not be. =] Still a better love story than Twilight.