Death anniversary

A death anniversary is a custom observed in several Asian cultures including China, India, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam, as well as in other nations with significant overseas , , , and populations. Like a birthday, it is celebrated each year, but instead of on the date of birth of the individual being celebrated, it is celebrated on the day on which a family member or other significant individual . There are also similar memorial services that are held at different intervals, such as every week.

Although primarily a manifestation of ancestor worship, the tradition has also been associated with Confucianism and Buddhism or Hinduism .

China

In China, a death anniversary is called ''jìchén'' or ''jìrì'' . This type of ceremony dates back thousands of years in China and historically involved making sacrifices to the spirits of one's ancestors.

India

In India, a death anniversary is known as ''shraadh''. The first death anniversary is called a ''barsy''.

Japan

In Japan, a death anniversary is called ''meinichi'' , ''kishin'' , or ''kijitsu'' or ''kinichi'' . Monthly observances of a death are known as ''tsuki meinichi'' , while annual anniversaries are known as ''shōtsuki meinichi'' .

Korea

In Korea, ancestor worship ceremonies are referred to by the generic term ''jerye'' . Notable examples of ''jerye'' include ''Munmyo jerye'' and ''Jongmyo jerye'', which are performed periodically each year for venerated scholars and kings of ancient times, respectively.

The ceremony held on the anniversary of a family member's death is called ''gije'' , and is celebrated by families as a private ceremony. For such occasions, the women of the family traditionally prepare an elaborate set of dishes, including ''tteok'', '''', '''', and so forth.

Vietnam

In Vietnam, a death anniversary is called '''', ''ngày gi?'' , ''?ám gi?'' , or ''b?a gi?'' . It is a festive occasion, at which members of an extended family gather together. Female family members traditionally spend the entire day cooking an elaborate banquet in honor of the deceased individual, which will then be enjoyed by all the family members. In addition, sticks of incense are burned in honor and commemoration of the deceased person. It is not unusual for a family to celebrate several ''gi?'' per year, so the ceremony serves as a time for families to reunite, much like the Vietnamese new year, T?t. The rituals are the responsibility of whoever inherits the ancestral estates, typically the deceased's most senior descendant.

Although a ''gi?'' is usually a private ceremony attended only by family members , some are commemorated by large segments of the population. The commemoration of the in , the legendary founders of the first Vietnamese kingdom in Vietnam's remote past, and of the Trung Sisters are widely participated. In March 2007 ''Gi? t? Hùng V??ng'' became a . As in all traditional commemorations, the Chinese calendar is used.

In Vietnamese culture, certain special, traditional dishes are only prepared for death anniversary banquets. In addition, favorite foods of the deceased person being honored are also prepared. Chicken, a particularly prized meat in Vietnam, is often cooked as well. In Central Vietnam, small stuffed glutinous rice balls wrapped in leaves called ''bánh ít'' are such a dish. Because the preparation of so many complex dishes is complex and time-consuming, some families purchase or hire caterers to prepare certain dishes.

Zupu

Zupu is a Chinese clan's register , which contains stories of the clan's origins, male lineage and illustrious members. The register is usually updated regularly by the eldest person in the extended family, who hands on this responsibility to the next generation. Updating Zupu is a very important task in Chinese tradition, and can be traced back thousands of years. After several generations, the local clan lineage will often publish a compendium of these zupus. The overwhelming majority of zupus remain in private hands, though a large number may be found in the Beijing University, Shanghai Library , Cornell University and Toyo Bunko.

Zhongnanhai (cigarette)

Zhongnanhai is a brand of cigarettes in China; It is highly popular and holds a large market share in beijing. It is also popular in japanese market as well, for it's light flavor.

The name ''Zhongnanhai'' is also that of a central government complex in Beijing. Zhongnanhai cigarettes are generally produced in seven varieties: 1 mg, Menthol 1 mg, 3 mg, 5 mg, 8 mg, "Special" 8 mg, and 10 mg, referring to tar content. The official website refers to other varieties such as "12 mg" and "Red", which, however, are reported not to be widely available on the Chinese market. The pack text states that the cigarettes are made with "a choice blend of the world's finest tobaccos and herb".

Zhongnanhai cigarettes used to be special made cigarettes for Chairman Mao in late 60s.

Zhonghua minzu

Zhonghua minzu (: 中華民族; or Chinese nation, refers to the modern notion of a Chinese nationality transcending ethnic divisions, with a central identity to China as a whole. It includes peoples who have historically interacted, contributed and assimilated to various extents with Chinese civilization.

The boundaries of ''Zhonghua minzu'' are fuzzy but most Chinese today use the term to include all peoples within the territorial boundaries of China integrated as one national, political, cultural and perhaps even ideological-moral group. It is sometimes also extended to overseas Chinese.

''Zhonghua'' refers to the concept of "China" and is the term used in the formal names for both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China. ''Minzu'' can be translated as "nation", "people", or "ethnic group".

Confusion can arise because the term "Chinese" in Western languages is often used to refer both to Zhonghua minzu and to the ethnicity, two concepts which are usually kept distinct among modern Chinese speakers.

History

The immediate roots of the ''Zhonghua minzu'' lie in the Qing Empire, a multi-ethnic empire created in the 17th century by the Manchus. Faced with the necessity to legitimize their rule over the different peoples that they had conquered, the Manchus sought to portray themselves as ideal Confucian rulers for the Chinese, Grand khans for the Mongols, and Chakravartin kings for Tibetan Buddhists. This involved developing clear ethnic or religious identities within the empire. Administratively, the empire was divided into the provinces of China and the territories of Mongols, Tibetans, and Muslims, which were not subject to the control of the Chinese bureaucracy. Settlement of Han Chinese in these territories was forbidden, the law was later revise to allow resettlement in areas of disputed border to solidify chinese claim. In this fashion, the Qing court intended and to a large part succeeded in gaining the loyalty of the large Han Chinese , whose cooperation was essential to govern China, as well as other groups such as the Mongols, who acknowledged the Qing as successors to Chinggis Khan. Qing policy on these territories only changed with the establishment of Xinjiang as a province of China in 1884.

In the late 19th century, the identities which the Qing promoted were modified under the influence of Western concepts of ethnicity and nationality. Chinese nationalists such as Sun Yat-sen initially planned to expel the Manchus as "foreign invaders" and establish a Chinese nation-state modelled closely after Germany and Japan. Fearing, however, that this restrictive view of the ethnic nation-state would result in the dismemberment and domination of the Qing empire by Western powers, Chinese nationalists discarded this concept and extended the scope of China to cover the entire territory of the Qing state. The abdication of the Qing emperor inevitably led to controversy about the status of territories in Tibet and Mongolia. While the emperor formally bequeathed all the Qing territories to the new republic, it was the position of Mongols and Tibetans that their allegiance had been to the Qing monarch; with the abdication of the Qing, they owed no allegiance to the new Chinese state. This was rejected by the Republic of China and subsequently the People's Republic of China.

This development in Chinese thinking was mirrored in the expansion of the meaning of the term ''Zhonghua minzu''. Originally coined by the late Qing philologist Liang Qichao, ''Zhonghua minzu'' initially referred only to the Han Chinese. It was then expanded to include the Five Races Under One Union, based on the ethnic categories of the Qing. Sun Yatsen further expanded this concept when he wrote,



The concept of ''Zhonghua minzu'' was first publicly espoused by President Yuan Shikai in 1912, shortly after the overthrow of the Qing Empire and the founding of the Republic of China. Facing the imminent independence of Outer Mongolia from China, Yuan Shikai stated, "Outer Mongolia is part of ''Zhonghua minzu'' and has been of one family for centuries" .

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the concept of ''Zhonghua minzu'' became influenced by Soviet nationalities policy. Officially, the PRC is a unitary state composed of , of which the is by far the largest. The concept of ''Zhonghua minzu'' is seen as an all-encompassing category consisting of people within the borders of the PRC.

This term has continued to be invoked and remains a powerful concept in China into the 21st century. In mainland China, it continues to hold use as the leaders of China need to unify into one political entity a highly diverse set of ethnic and social groups as well as to mobilize the support of overseas Chinese in developing China.

In Taiwan, it is invoked as a unifying concept that includes the people of both Taiwan and mainland China without a possible interpretation that Taiwan is part the People's Republic of China, whereas terms such as "Chinese people" can be, given that the PRC is commonly known as "China".

Implications

The adoption of the ''Zhonghua minzu'' concept has given rise to the reinterpretation or rewriting of Chinese history. For example, the Manchu Dynasty was originally often characterized as a "conquering regime" or a "non-Han" regime. Following the adoption of the ''Zhonghua minzu'' ideology, which regards the Manchus as a member of the ''Zhonghua minzu'', the distinction between non-native and native dynasties had to be abandoned. In the new orthodoxy, the Manchus, being as "Chinese" as the Han, could no longer be regarded as "barbarian conquerors", and the Qing empire could no longer be regarded as a "conquering empire".

Rewriting history also meant reassessing the role of many traditional hero figures. Heroes such as Yue Fei and Koxinga, who were originally considered to have fought for China against barbarian incursions, have been recharacterized by some as ''minzu yingxiong'' who fought not against barbarians but against other members of the ''Zhonghua minzu'' . At the same time, China exemplified heroes such as Genghis Khan, who became a "Chinese hero" by virtue of the fact that the Mongols are considered part of the ''Zhonghua minzu''.

Genghis Khan himself was an early precursor of some elements of the ''Zhonghua Minzu'', adopting the principle of meritocracy and employing a multi-ethnic contingent in his administrative entourage and military ranks, such as the Khitan statesman and Han Chinese general Guo Kan; the Mongol empire encompassed cultures and ethnicities from the Yellow Sea to the Black Sea. This concept was further extrapolated by Genghis Khan’s grandson Kublai Khan, who finally defeated the Southern Song, and unified China under the Yuan Dynasty with a multi-ethnic governmental administration.

The ''Zhonghua Minzu'' concept in practice is a model of affirmative action, in which Chinese nationals who are not of the ethnic Han majority, are entitled to preferential university entry status, favorable tax laws, non-compliance to the one-child policy, among many other preferential conditions under Chinese law for ethnic minorities.This has in fact led to a tremendous surge in the population of ethnic minorities in China, which number about 5% of the total Chinese population in the 1950s, to about 10% in 2006 of the total in the year 2007; a birth rate about three times that of the ethnic Han majority group in the last half-century.

Despite the superficial application of the ''Zhonghua Minzu'' concept to ethnic groups and history, the older concept of China as largely synonymous with the Han ethnic group is still widespread, even in China. For instance, discussions of Chinese cuisine usually refer to the culinary practices of and subdivisions within the Han majority, and do not seriously pretend to categorize "Chinese" food according to the theoretical framework of ''Zhonghua minzu''.

Controversy

The theory behind the ideology of ''Zhonghua minzu'' is that it includes not only the Han but also other within China, such as the Mongols, Manchus, , Tibetans, Tuvans, etc. Supporters of the separate historical identities of different ethnic groups reject the notion these ethnic groups are part of a single people with Han Chinese. Proponents of Tibetan independence or Uighur independence reject the concept of ''Zhonghua minzu'' as grounds for a unified nation-state, with some argue that their peoples have a culture, history of political independence, and sense of nationhood which is quite distinct from that of the Han Chinese or China.

The boundaries of who is or is not a member of the Chinese nation are not necessarily consistent. A person of Russian , Korean , Vietnamese , Kyrgyz , Hmong , or Mongol ethnicity with Chinese citizenship would be considered a full member of the Zhonghua Minzu. A Russian living in Russia, a Korean living in Korea, a Vietnamese living in Vietnam, a Kyrgyz living in Kyrgyzstan, a Hmong person living in Southeast Asia, or a Mongol living in Mongolia would almost universally be considered not to be. On the other hand, ''Cháoxiǎn Zú'' living and working in Korea or Mongolian from Inner Mongolia living and working in the independent state of Mongolia would be considered members of the ''Zhonghua Minzu'', which can give rise to potential issues of identity.

Whether ethnic Han Chinese living and not having Chinese citizenship are considered part of this Chinese nationality depends on the speaker and the context. More often than not, overseas Chinese in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore make a clear distinction between being Chinese in a political sense and being Chinese in an ethnic sense, making it unclear whether or not they belong to such a group that contains both political and ethnic connotations.

The conceptual boundaries of the ''Zhonghua minzu'' may be complicated by independent countries such as Mongolia and Korea, with their differing interpretations of historical peoples and states. For instance, the idea of as a "Chinese hero" is contested by Mongolia, which since the fall of socialism has explicitly positioned Chinggis Khan as the father of the Mongolian state. In opposition to this, it is common to point out that there are more ethnic Mongolians in China than in the state of Mongolia.

A dispute of a similar nature has arisen over the status of the state of Goguryeo in ancient history, with the Chinese claiming it as Chinese on the grounds that much of it existed within the current borders of China. Some of historical territories of the kingdom of Goguryeo were within current borders of China, and is on that Chinese nationalists say they are part of the heterogeneous origin of the Chinese nation in China. This claim is generally rejected outside of China.

Related studies

* Afrocentrism
* American exceptionalism
* Anthropocentrism
* Ethnocentrism
* Eurocentrism
* Pan-European identity
* Orientalism
* Postmodernism

Zai sheng yuan

"Zhai Sheng Yuan" is a Mandarin phrase that means to be reborn close to someone in the next life because of a fierce, inter-soul connection between the two of you that was formed in the life before. The word "Yuan" literally means a spiritual bond between two individuals, and "Zai Sheng" means to be born again. Although other civilizations don't have terms for it, there has long been speculation that twins were the product of extreme closeness in their previous lives, and likewise is there the global idea of having "soul mates." The word in itself has a romantic quality but can refer to spiritual and emotional intimacy between family members and friends as well. In essence, "Zai Sheng Yuan" carries a connotation similar to the gaelic term "Anmchara," which means "soul-friend." The Mandarin phrase has enjoyed a muted popularity in Chinese culture.

Yuelu Academy

The Yuelu Academy is located on the east side of Yuelu Mountain in Changsha, the capital of Hunan , China, on the west bank of the Xiang River.

It was founded in 976, the 9th year of the Song Dynasty under the reign of Emperor Kaibao, and was one of four most renowned Shuyuan .

The renowned Zhu Xi and Zhang Shi both lectured at the academy.

In 1903 the academy became a university, and in 1926 it was officially named Hunan University.


As one of the four most prestigious academies over the last 1000 years in China, Yuelu Academy has been a famous institution of higher learning as well as a centre of academic activities and cultures since it was formally set up in 976 . The Academy, which has survived the Song, , and dynasties, was converted into Hunan Institute of Higher Learning in 1903. It was later renamed Hunan Normal College, Hunan Public Polytechnic School, and finally Hunan University in 1926.



The academy has witnessed more than a thousand years of history and is the only one of the ancient Chinese academies of Classical Learning to have evolved into a modern institution of higher learning. The historical transformation from Yuelu Academy to Hunan University can be seen as the epitome of the development of China's higher education, a change which mirrors the vicissitudes of . As a part of Hunan University, today the academy is a center of publication and research of the ancient Chinese language, and is one of the most important academic and centers in China.

Yuanfen

Yuan or Yuanfen is a Buddhist-related concept that means the principle that dictates a person's relationships and encounters, usually positive, such as the affinity among s or lovers. In common usage the term can be defined as the "binding force" that links two persons together in any relationship. The concept of synchronicity from the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung can be seen as similar to ''yuánfèn'', which Chinese people also believe to be a universal force governing the happening of things to some people at some places. ''Yuánfèn'' belongs to the family of concepts known in theology as determinism.

Some believe that the driving forces and causes behind ''yuánfèn'' are the actions done in the previous reincarnations. Therefore, it can be understood as the relational- as opposed to the physical- aspect of ''karma'' in Buddhism. However, while ''karma'' often refers to the consequences of an individual's actions on him- or herself, ''yuán'' is always used in conjunction with two persons.

The proverb ''yǒu yuán wú fèn'' , "Have fate without destiny," is sometimes used to describe couples who meet, but who do not for whatever reason stay together.

Unlike other Chinese social relations, which describe abstract, but easily noticeable, connections between people, nowadays, Chinese merely use this word poetically or to emphasize a meant-to-be relationship, and almost never in a serious business or legal situation.

Usage

* The proverbial saying "Have without destiny" refers to couples who were fated to come together, but not destined to ''stay'' together, and as such is sometimes used as a break-up line.
* Upon meeting a person who is hard to find, one might aptly exclaim: "It is ''yuánfèn'' that has brought us together!"
* When one encounters another repeatedly in various locations such that it seems to be more than coincidence, one can refer to ''yuánfèn''.
* As a counter-example, when two people know each other, e.g. as penpals, but never have the opportunity to meet face-to-face, it can be said that their ''yuánfèn'' is too superficial or thin.

The proverb: 百世修来同船渡，千载修得共枕眠

* Literally: It takes hundreds of reincarnations to bring two persons to ride in the same boat; it takes a thousand eons to bring two persons to share the same pillow. This goes to show just how precious ''yuánfèn'' is.

* An alternative of this proverb is: 十年修得同船渡，百年修得共枕眠 ,which means literally: ten years of meditation bring two people to cross a river in the same ferry, and a hundred years of meditation bring two people to rest their heads on the same pillow. It conveys the same message.

Translations

Often ''yuánfèn'' is said to be the equivalent of "fate" or "destiny". However, these words do not have the element of the past playing a role in deciding the outcome of the uncertain future. The most common Chinese term for "fate" or "destiny" is ''mìngyùn'' , literally "the turn of events in life".

"Providence" and "predestination" are also not exact translations, because these words imply that the things happen by the will of God or s, whereas ''yuánfèn'' does not necessarily involve divine intervention.