A pair of suan ni, with smoke coming out of their mouths!
Like the Tao Tie, Suan Ni is one of the sons of the dragon (the 8th son). Unlike the Tao Tie who adores food, the Suan Ni is a patient creature that loves the smoke from the incense. He can be found on the large incense burners and also as a carrier for the Bodhisattva Manjusri.
These Suan Ni are a pair of incense burners, flip open the head, place the incense, light it, flip the head back and enjoy their smokey conversations.
Today, the 14th Feburary and the 15th day of the Chinese New Year is the meeting of St. Valentine’s day of the Gregorian calendar and the Yuan Xiao (Chinese Valentine’s day) of the lunar calendar. While there is gift, flower, kissing on St. Valentine’s day, Yuan Xiao is a more subtle affair. In the past in China, girls are kept at home, out from the sight of the suitors. On Yuan Xiao, for the final celebration of the Chinese New Year festivity, there will be lantern festival in town, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls are free to attend. Almost like a high school party, romantic encountering take place.
On Chinese New Year (31st Jan 2014) begins the Year of the Horse.
It is quite easy to work out one’s zodiac animal, snake is 2013, goat is 2015 and back to the horse again in 2026. So it is also easy for someone to work out your age too, for the ladies who don’t want to tell everyone your age, when you are prompt with the question what is your Chinese zodiac sign, you can always say that you are a Cat…
According to the legend, the Jade Emperor has a Flying Horse that he adores. The Flying Horse was full of himself, one day he went fooling around at the Dragon palace, he killed the Turtle Saint who came to stopped him. When the news traveled back to the Jade Emperor and the Flying Horse was punished with his wings cut off and press under the Kun Lun mountain. The poor Horse was all alone under the mountain until 200 years later when the human walked passed, the Horse swept and said, “please help me, kind human, in return I will work hard for you.” Out of pity, the human cut down the peach tree that was on top of the mountain and the Horse was released. A bond was developed between the two species, the Horse became a carriage for the human, paired up and went to war. When the selection for the zodiac animals came up, the human voted for the Horse.
For the Year of the Horse, we have a horsey toy made of cotton felt.
Li Bai, the famous Romanticist poet of the Tang dynasty which brought poetry to a new height during his time. In the “300 Tang Poems”, now seen as the canon of poetry, Li Bai had 34 entries. Equally famous was his enjoyment of the Chinese wine. He enjoyed a carefree life in youth, worked briefly for the court he was cast away for being out spoken, in later years he came a Taoist and continue a life of wandering. He wrote over a thousand poems, on the subjects of nature, solitude, friendship and drinking.
Li Bai’s character was portrayed in a Beijing opera “Tai Bai Zeoi Se”
The story begins with the 2 corrupted generals, Yang and Gao who are in charged of the court examination, both were hoping to make some money out of it. Li Bai had been recommended by the court scholar He to enter the exam. Upon seeing the scruffy clothes Li Bai was wearing, sensing there would be no money out of him, the examiners gave him a hard time. Without looking at his paper, he was teased and mocked; feeling unjust Li Bai vowed to give equal humiliation to the two and walked out of the examination hall.
Then one day, the Tang Emperor received a letter from the neighboring country, the letter was written in their own language and nobody in court could read it. Feeling embarrassed by their own failure, the officials wanted to take the blame out on the messenger. The messenger replied, if the Emperor wanted to be friend with their country, he should seek a way to read the letter, then the two countries could become friends, otherwise they would be at war. Among the hundred scholars at court, nobody could read a word of it and Li Bai was recommended by scholar He. “But Li Bai was not an official.”, said Yang, “and he drinks too!”. The Emperor said he himself drinks as well and award Li a grand title so he can help out in the palace. Li finding his new earned power, took his chance to played tricks on the two. Here is what happened.
Bamboo shoot, the sprout of the bamboo plant, is a great delicacy. It is harvested when it has barely seen from the soil, when its texture is still fruit like before turning woody. If it is left a night too long the bamboo shoot will be too hard to be consumed. It is not comparable to another other vegetables and the tin version is nothing close to the real thing.
This shadow puppet came from a set we acquire from Indonesia, curiously the contained Indonesian characters as well as Chinese ones. Like this particular puppet, the head gear, the costume, the bounded feet, the facial features all points to a Chinese diva. I wonder if the set of shadow puppets were commissioned by a Chinese immigrant in Indonesia who is a bit home sick for Chinese shadow puppet. It became a fusion of the two, just as today’s wayang kilt some of which has departed from the traditional story of the Ramayana to include everyday events such as karaoke.
W90xL200xH180, China
Mountain Folkcraft 