Qiang Writer: 周红令

周红令, Zhou, is a famous Qiang female writer, who also wrote a book “百年大震” (if translated directly: earthquake of the century) about the Sichuan earthquake in 2008. Zhou was born in 1970s, in southern Sichuan, and has four siblings. The place where Zhou was born is an area called “若尔盖大草原” in Tibetan Plateau. Zhou’s mother passed away when she was three, and then her father died when she just graduated from junior high school. After that, Zhou was raised by her two older sisters.

(Resource: www.mzb.com.cn)

Zhou started to learn literature, Chinesische Kalligrafie, and painting when she was in junior high school. To Zhou, those were something that she really enjoyed learning. In 1990, Zhou moved to Chengdu and started her carrier as a writer. In 2008, on May 12, right after Sichuan earthquake, Zhou went to Dujiangyan with desperateness wanting to find her husband. Luckily, she met her husband after eight hours searching. Then they were on the way to Wenchuan for their daughter and other families. However, this time, after 12 hours walking (no transportation available), the road to Wenchuan was broken by the earthquake, so Zhou and her husband had to stay in Yingxiu. When Zhou witnessed the rescue action, she then wrote the “走进震中映秀镇” – about the ruin, deaths, by the earthquake, and how the rescue was going in Yingxiu.

(Resource: gb.cri.cn)

On May 19, 2008, the “走进震中映秀镇” was published by a publisher in Shanghai called “新聞晨報“. After that, Zhou spent about two years researching on everything about earthquake and wrote the book “百年大震”, which was published in the United States. The book was to teach the readers how to correctly and safely escape in a earthquake. This book is now available in many schools in China for free.

-Culture Fanatic-

 

Qiang Culture Finale (2/2) – Culture Protection and Promotion

During 2008 Wen Chuan Earthquake, hundreds of thousands of Qiang villages and people are damaged and killed. Local and central government quickly reacts to initiate an emergency plan to restore this area and Qiang culture.

Almost eight years later, in 2016, Qiang region has been entirely different than it was eight years ago, highways are built, many young people from Qiang villages refuse to return to villages and moved into urban areas, minimal amount of tourists will come here because this is not a hot attraction spot. Given the fact that Qiang has so many beautiful and amazing cultural heritage, this is not a fair situation. But what can people do help protecting and promoting its culture? To me, it all starts with finding out flashing point of Qiang culture, I have already talked a lot of related stuff in this blog, such as Porcelains, paintings, crafts, music etc. Art investors and art event organizers should try to bring authentic and original cultural heritage to big cities for exhibition and show. Only in this way, more and more people will realize and experience beauty of Qiang’s culture. This will stimulates their willingness to explore Qiang culture by travelling to Qiang villages as well.

The whole purpose of this blog is to record precious culture of Qiang people and raise general public’s awareness towards appreciating this incredible culture and participating in the process of making it a better one.

Now it’s time to say goodbye, although I only did a small effort of showing grand picture of Qiang culture, I believe with the motivation of protecting and promoting Qiang culture in mind, I will definitely carry on and do more related endeavors in the future. We have to realize, there is no single standard of culture in society, like one of my favorite philosophers Bertrand Russell once said:” Diversity is essential to Happiness.”

 

-By Yang

 

 

Qiang Culture Finale (1/2) – What do I learn from Qiang culture

After three months of investigation and writing on Qiang culture, now it is a good opportunity to reflect on what I learned from Qiang culture and maybe these learning will inspire readers to further dig into this mysterious ethnic group of China  as well.

I always pertains a consistent interest into ethnic minority groups in China. I was born and raised as a “Han” group, which includes almost 92% of total Chinese population. “Han” people without any doubt dominates the culture and politics of this country, however, through my readings and talk with friends, I know there are some minority groups that play important roles in affecting china’s history and culture as well. Qiang is certainly one of the most important minority groups I am talking about.

Three years ago, I made my visit to Szechuan province, and I was shocked as I drived my rental car through Qiang regions located hundreds of miles away from Chen Du(biggest city in SzeChuan). I saw mighty mountains standing beside endless highways, countless stone cabins were established on the edges of these cliffs. I was amazed by lifestyle of Qiang people, then I dig deeper into their religion, their music, food, and customs etc.

What I learned most is Qiang people are humble, they are kind and they stick to their tradition inherited from ancestors. Living in cities, it is hard to imagine their lifestyles, how they respect and worship nature. What they believe and how they act are not complex, but they are original and pure. Unlike most “Han” people, they are not affected by pace of modern society and they represent spirit of simplicity and freedom.

I remembered one night, I lived on Ruo Er Gai grassland with a Qiang family in their yurt, there is no pollution and when nigh falls, I stood alone on gigantic grassland and looked upon the sky, I saw Milky way, that is most sacred and quietest moment in my life by far, that moment satisfies me so well and relieves so much stress which makes me want to stay at part of Qiang’s culture forever.

When I look back to all posts I wrote in this blog, I feel like there are much more needed to be done to protect and promote this culture, as I talked with one of my local friends living in SzeChuan, he said: “It will be such a pity if Qiang’s culture is diminished from Chinese culture and ignored by “Han” people.”  To me, promoting qiang’s culture is not only a fun thing to do, it is also a mission to accomplish.

 

-By Yang

How Qiang Poeple Consume Starch (3/3)

“洋芋糍粑” is another common food that you can find in Sichuan. It’s made with potatoes. Potato is a crop that can be grown in “minimal space to grow when compared to many other crops.”  That’s why potato is on of the popular starch food to Qiang people since a big portion of them live in a very high altitude. After all, Mark Watney from the film The Martian did survived by eating potatoes for more than 200 days. (By the way, if you are going to space someday, besides potatoes, bring some beans with you too because that would be a good source of protein)

(Picture resource: www.collectspace.com)

The way to make 洋芋糍粑 is very similar to the way to make 攪團 – first, mix skinned potatoes with honey, sugar, and salt (you can also add some chili pepper oil, garlic, and Sichuan pepper if you want), and then you just smash those potatoes as hard as you can with a proper tool in a proper container (mostly you will need a 石臼), until the poor potatoes get soft and sticky. After smashing those potatoes, you can put them into any soup you want, or, you can fry them a little with vegetable oil.

Qiang people usually put 洋芋糍粑 (non-fried) into Chinese sauerkraut soup (how to make this soup).

(Picture resource: shop.bytravel.cn)

Or you can just dip those 洋芋糍粑 (fried) with honey (yes, more honey), sugar, or sesame oil.

(Picture resource: shop.bytravel.cn)

Now I am about to have my school final so wish me luck if you enjoy my post.

-Culture Fanatic-

How Qiang Poeple Consume Starch (2/3)

“金裹银”, if translated into English directly, it says gold covering silver. You will need corn (which is the “gold” here) and rice (“silver” here) to make 金裹银.

So how to make 金裹银?

Well, exactly the same way how you cook rice. You just add corn when you cook it. If you have more corn than rice, then you will make 金裹银. If more rice than corn, than it will be 银裹金 (Silver covering gold). We will call it “rice with corn” here. Don’t know how to cook rice?

You can also use the “rice with corn” to make fried rice, and that will be “gold covering silver fried rice”. Exactly the same way how you make regular fried rice. Your will need:

1. Rice (already cooked)
2. Welsh onion
3. Eggs
4. Carrots
5. Snow pea
6. Corn
7. vegetable oil (olive or peanut oil)
8. Salt
9. Pepper

Of course you can use different ingredients you like like chicken, pork, beef, or shrimp, but you will always need rice and corn.

So how to make “gold covering silver fried rice”?

1. Chopped carrots, welsh onion into small slices.
2. Put rice (already cooked) into a pan. Please remember to cook the rice already.
3. Add egg into the pan, and mix it with rice properly.
4. Use another pan to cook (fry) your corn, slices of carrots, welsh onion, and snow pea with vegetable oil for  2-4 minutes.
5. Add those corn, slices of carrots, welsh onion, and snow pea into the pan you put your rice and eggs. Add salt and pepper, and start to cook (fry) it for another couple of minutes (should be 5-7 minutes). And it’s done.

 

(Picture resource: www.douguo.com)

You can also use the 银裹金 you already made to make this “gold covering silver fried rice”. There is only one difference, and it’s when you add the corn.

I am writing this blog right after my evening class was over. Now I am starving while writing about how to make this fry rice with all those food pictures. Hope you enjoy it.

-Culture Fanatic-

How Qiang Poeple Consume Starch (1/3)

Most people know that rice is very common in Asia, especially in China. But to Qiang, it is very difficult to grow rice because of the high altitude and extreme weather. Now it’s not very hard to buy rice from some near area, also, potato, wheat, and corn, too. 

Some of the way they eat these starch crops are making “煮土豆”, “搅团”, “金裹银（银裹金）”, “洋芋糍粑”, and buck wheat noodle. (These were not originally from Qiang but is very common and popular to Qiang people.) I am going to talk about “煮土豆” and”搅团” in this blog post.

“煮土豆”

If we translate “煮土豆” to English directly, it means “cooked potato”. So basically it is plain steamed potato, with hot sauce or honey.

“搅团”

This can be made of corn flour (or corn starch), wheat flour, or potato, in many different shapes. “搅团” is a main source of starch to Qiang people.

The way to make 搅团 is that you need to stir your starch very hard, in a big pot. You need to:

1. Add water in a pot and cook it until boiled.
2. Slowly add the starch you want in the pot while unstoppably stirring it.
3. Remember, the more you stir, the better the result will be.
4. If you choose to use potato for this 搅团, make sure to turn the potato into one soft and flexible particle so that you won’t find it difficult to stir your potato 搅团. You will need a 石臼 to deal you potato first. If you really choose potato, first you will have cook it with water and then put the potato into a 石臼. Then, literally smash it. If you do it right, you will be able to stir the potato thing afterward. In brief, you – a. cook the potato (with water), b. smash it (in a 石臼), then c. stir it (in a pot).
5. You need to stir it at least a hundred time, in different directions.
6. You need to stir it hard, at the level before you can break the pot.
7. You can also choose buck wheat for your 搅团, if you don’t like corn, potato, or wheat that much.

(“石臼”)

After you have done, you can enjoy your 搅团 with any sauce you want (Usually Qiang people eat 搅团 with hot chili pepper sauce). Or you can put your 搅团 into soup. It’s basically a starch food like noodle or rice, but in a hard way to make.

(Picture and information resource: baike.baidu.com)

-Culture Fanatic-

 

 

Horn Flower(羊角花)

We all know that Qiang is a minority that worships Goat. They even spread this respect to plants and flowers. One of flowers that means a lot to Qiang people is called Horn Flower. Horn flower is actually just one type of rhododendrons flower. 

Horn flower’s name simply comes from Goat horn because the shape of flower looks much like a goat horn:

（Pink Horn Flower）

(White Horn Flower）

(Red Ones)

As you can see, horn flowers can have various colors, but they all come with same shape like horn flowers. However, what they mean to Qiang people is not only limited to their beautiful appearance, they also serve to a higher purpose in Qiang people’s life.

Before marriage,groom must receive a horn flower from bride in the symbol of bride’s agreement on their marriage.

During 2008 Sichuan Earthquake, one of china’s most famous singers, Xijun Liu(刘惜君）composed a song called “Horn Flower blossom again” (羊角花又开） in order to express her sympathy and best wish to Qiang area and whole Sichuan Province, because horn flower also means continuity of life and happiness.

羊角花又开

Horn Flower represents and conveys so many emotion of Qiang people from generations to generations. Next time if you go to Qiang village, do not forget to go to any mountain or field to see blossom of horn flowers.

 

-By Yang

Special Qiang painting on porcelain

One of the greatest Qiang’s art tradition is painting on Porcelain. It has been a history of at least 1000 years, and the skill has never been taught outside of qiang people.

The most special part of this painting is the fact that entire process is undertook under water. In Chinese, it is called “Shui Mo”(水磨）. Means painter has to immerse porcelain under water and conduct the painting, and let water to mix with paintings to come up with a blurred image. Here is how it looks like:

Pretty impressive, right?

And this is how painter will do their painting work:

(Source: http://www.scol.com.cn)

All of the activities are conducted by hand. There are up to 100 steps to finalize the product. The complexity of this painting process makes Qiang porcelain expensive than normal porcelains. Small plates and bottles start from $100, and large furniture such as table and chair can be sold at $50000.

Although Qiang people never teach other ehnic groups of this skill, their products have been commercialized and sold everywhere in China. Especially in Sichuan province, owning a set of Qiang’s porcelain and furniture at marriage will be considered as an honor and great social status.

In traditional Qiang’s painting on porcelain, there has been an respect to ancient totems and imitation towards nature, there are patterns such as phoenix and dragon, goats, goat ear flower(羊角花) etc.

One of the biggest challenge though, is young people from Qiang villages resist to learn how to paint porcelain anymore, they want to go to big cities and refuse to stay at rural areas to spend years learning how to paint porcelain. This tradition has been put on the edge of disappearance right now.

 

-By Yang

 

Qiang Flute

Qiang people are really good at making crafts of their own creativity. Qiang Flute is among the most delicate crafts they make. Qiang Flute is a vertical flute that is made of two 15cm to 20cm bamboo pipes with holes on each side of the bamboo pipes and bounded together with silk threads. It looks like this:

Looks like an iron man toy, right?

This bamboo flute is mainly used for solo performance, Qiang artists can use flute to create many forms of different music. Qiang people are really good at using music as a way of telling their story. There are stories of sadness, and happiness expressed by Qiang flute. However, most of all, people express homesickness through flute.

Qiang flute has a special sound that will immediately reminds you of the emotion associated with wishing and missing home. Popular songs include Breaking off a Willow Branch, Missing You and Salang’s Tune etc.

When playing the instruments, qiang artist will take a deep breath at first, and blowing the flute with the movement of his/her cheek muscle, in this way they can play the flute for few minutes with only one breath. Playing the flute also requires high throat skills and finger skill, you have to utilize all parts of your body to let them work in an harmonious way.

Since Qiang people do not have written characters, they use flute to record and pass down history and culture. Flute plays an important role in Qiang’s culture as a bridge tied for generations after generations.

 

-By Yang

王安兰 – The Representative Of Qiang

王安兰, (we’ll just call her “Wang” here), is the representative of all Qiang people right now. She was born in Septmeber, 1987 (now 29). As a Qiang member, Wang also likes dancing very much. Especially “锅庄舞“. In 2011, Wang got her college degree at Southwest University of Science and Technology, majored in Mechanical Manufacturing and Automation, started worked as a technician in Mao County, Sichuan, China. In less than two years, Wang’s outstanding performance helped her received applause from her colleagues. At the same time, Wang also became the representative of Qiang ethnicity  in 2013.

(Picture resource: tf.sctv.com)

When Wang was first interviewed by many journalists, she had a small note book in her hands. The notebooks wasn’t about the lines for Wang to speak in front of cameras. Wang had written everything down, about the future policies of Qiang culture protection and development, in her notebook. As another down-to-earth leader, Wang had paid a lot of attention to her colleagues, about the real needs of most bottom workers.

(Picture resource: 83133.com)

As representative of Qiang, Wang worried about that Qiang culture may slowly disappear, especially the language. Qiang language is no longer spoken frequently in Sichuan, most people there speak Mandarin. Even Wang herself was not able to speak Qiang in a complicated level. In order to prevent Qiang language from permanent disappearance, Wang asked every elementary school to have at least one Qiang language class per week in Mao County. Facing many different ethnic cultures that come to Sichuan and might replace the Qiang culture, Wang is trying very hard to protect her culture.

(Picture resource: news.xinmin.cn)

-Cuture Fanatic-