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March 11, 2013

Peony Flower pattern

Filed under: Uncategorized — Jenny Kim @ 1:40 pm

The tree peony or mudan (牡丹) signifies the third month of the lunar calendar and symbolizes longevity, loyalty, happiness and eternal beauty.
Because of the way it sometimes grows as doubles, the peony appears to the Chinese like strings of cash coins and thus has come to symbolize prosperity and wealth.
For this reason, another name for the peony isfuguihua (富贵花) which means “flower of wealth and honor”.
A charm using the peony as a symbol for “wealth and honor” may be seen at  Auspicious Inscription.
A peony in a vase   (ping 瓶) has the hidden meaning of  “wealth and honor” (peony) and “peace” (because the vase is a rebus for “peace” (pingan 平 安).

 

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Red-crested White Crane

Filed under: Uncategorized — Jenny Kim @ 1:34 pm

Although a fairly common bird, people considered white cranes as holy and spiritual. An old document (sanghak kyonggi) described cranes as follows: “Feathers are snow white but it could not be tainted with even mud. Males and females meet in 160 years, and as soon as they look into each other’s eyes, they create a baby. They just drink for 1ears but not eat. It is a king of birds and wizard-like unworldly man rides on it.”

Many Asians believed that those who lived lives of lofty solitude became cranes when they died. A common phrase stated, “As arid-crested white crane lives thousands of years, a pine tree does 10 thousand of years”. So cranes were often painted with pine trees to symbolized longevity. Along with clouds, cranes can be found in many places: architecture, clothing, stationary, and a variety of other finely crafted objects.

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Dragon pattern

Filed under: Uncategorized — Jenny Kim @ 1:31 pm

Dragon is also a famous animal’s patterns for repelling evil spirits. According to history, a dragon was born from between a phoenix and a crane, so they all have incredible power and capability. It has snake’s head, deer’s antlers, ghost’s eyes, cow’s ears, snake’s neck, big clam’s belly, carp’s scale, hawk’s claw, and tiger’s sole of the foot.

Dragon has been believed to control natural phenomenon of floods and draughts, repelling evil spirits and giving good lucks on our lives. In palace, it was compared to a king, being used in things for a king.

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Chinese willow pattern

Filed under: Uncategorized — Jenny Kim @ 1:22 pm

The Willow Pattern is commonly known Blue Willow, It is a distinctive and elaborate pattern used on kitchen and house wares. The pattern was popular during 18th century; it is designed by Thomas Mintonaround 1790 and has been in use for over 200 years.

The design was inspired by the china England imported from China during the late 18th century. Amazingly, there is actually a story on this pattern. Without looking at these patterns on the plate or the cup, people would think it is just a background of somewhere or even just a random design. But after reading the story, people would deeply touched and feel sad and about it.

 

The Willow pattern is commonly known Blue Willow, It is a distinctive and elaborate pattern used on kitchen and house wares. The pattern was popular during 18th century; it is designed by Thomas Mintonaround 1790 and has been in use for over 200 years. The design was inspired by the china England imported from China during the late 18th century. Amazingly, there is actually a story on this pattern. Without looking at these patterns on the plate or the cup, people would think it is just a background of somewhere or even just a random design. But after reading the story, people would deeply touched and feel sad and about it.

 

There was once a Mandarin who had a beautiful daughter, Koong-se. He employed a secretary, Chang who, while he was attending to his master’s accounts, fell in love with Koong-se, much to the anger of the Mandarin, who regarded the secretary as unworthy of his daughter.

The secretary was banished and a fence constructed around the gardens of the Mandarin’s estate so that Chang could not see his daughter and Koong-se could only walk in the gardens and to the water’s edge.

One day a shell fitted with sails containing a poem, and a bead which Koong-se had given to Chang, floated to the water’s edge. Koong-se knew that her lover was not far away.

However, after the banquet, borrowing the robes of a servant, Chang passed through the guests unseen and came to Koong-se’s room. They embraced and vowed to run away together. The Mandarin, the Duke, the guests, and all the servants had drunk so much wine that the couple almost got away without detection, but Koong-se’s father saw her at the last minute and gave chase across the bridge.

The couple escaped and stayed with the maid that Koong-se’s father had dismissed for conspiring with the lovers. Koong-se had given the casket of jewels to Chang and the Mandarin, who was also a magistrate, swore that he would use the jewels as a pretext to execute Chang when he caught him.

One night the Mandarin’s spies reported that a man was hiding in a house by the river and the Mandarin’s guards raided the house. But Chang had jumped into the ragging torrent and Koong-se thought that he had drowned.

Some days later the guards returned to search the house again. While Koong-se’s maid talked to them, Chang came by boat to the window and took Koong-se away to safety.

They settled on a distant island, and over the years Chang became famous for his writings. This was to prove his undoing. The Mandarin heard about him and sent guards to destroy him. Chang was put to the sword and Koong-se set fire to the house while she was still inside.

Thus they both perished and the gods, touched by their love, immortalized them as two doves, eternally flying together in the sky.

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Fish pattern

Filed under: Uncategorized — Jenny Kim @ 1:08 pm

Since fish lay many eggs, fish patterns often contained a wish for many children. Fish were also often used to decorate doors or wooden furniture because fish sleep with their eyes open, serving as a mythical guardian against thieves. Finally, since fish live in water, public buildings often have representations of fish as protection against fire.

I liked fish pattern since I was a kid, but I didn’t know it actually has a thoughtful meaning. To me, fish is the most distinctive animal, because it has a lot of different amazing patterns and colors, and they have a lot of interesting shape. fi1 fi22 fi33

Five Fortunes Surround Longevity

Filed under: Uncategorized — Jenny Kim @ 1:03 pm

This is one of  the famous Chinese symbols, but it is also being used as patterns.

Five bats grouped together create the extremely auspicious and popular motif of the “five good fortunes.”

These five good fortunes are: Wealth, Health, Longevity, Love, and Virtue. The red bats are especially meaning lucy because, red is believed to be the color that wards off evil. The embroidered bat motif around the symbol of longevity is a hugely powerful symbol.

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March 9, 2013

KOI Fish

Filed under: Uncategorized — Jenny Kim @ 1:45 pm

In Japan, they are seen as a symbol of good fortune, luck, friendship, and love. Within the Buddhist religion they symbolize courage. There is a legend about the fish climbing the falls of the Yellow River. This is an old Chinese legend that points to the fish being symbolic of advancement. Still today they are considered to be symbolic of advancement materially and spiritually. If you think about these legends and the rich symbolism behind the koi, they’ll definitely mean a lot more to you when you add them to your own garden pond.

Koi colors can relate to families. After all, they are symbolic of friendship and love, which is important in families. With regards to families, the koi fish color meaning has to do with various family members. Certain colors represent certain members of a family. For example, fish that are white and blue stand for a son in the family. Then you have the beautiful red and pink koi. The koi fish color meaning of the red and pink one is the daughter of the family. The vibrant flame red koi is symbolic of a mother within the family, and the father is represented by the black koi. Some even come with a belly that is colored red. These koi are one of the most colorful options and the koi fish color meaning in this case is that your life and everything in it is going to be good.

 

 

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March 8, 2013

Bamboo pattern

Filed under: Uncategorized — Jenny Kim @ 1:47 pm

When I first came to China, I received a umbrella with bamboo’s pattern on it. I didn’t know that it actually has a meaning of it. But after my friends told me what the meaning was, I was really happy about it. um1

In China, a gift of bamboo (“zhu”) is a gift of good fortune that can also ward off evil spirits. The bamboo is very resilient throughout the four seasons and is symbolic to the Chinese for courage in the face of hardship. It is also a symbol of a noble and strong character. Gifts of bamboo can be made in the form of furniture, garden accessories, clothing, jewelry and even health and beauty products.

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March 7, 2013

Mugunghwa Flower

Filed under: Uncategorized — Jenny Kim @ 1:54 pm

In Korean, mugunghwa means “immortal flower.” The flower’s tenaciousness, seen it’s ability to survive even insect attacks, makes it an appropriate symbol for country that has fought throughout history for it’s very existence. Despite wars and occupation, the Korean culture and people have persevered and endured. It is really interesting that flower can represent a country, and it has deeper meaning of it.

 

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This is one of the famous Korean fan dance. They always like to make Mugunghwa Flower patterns on the fan in order to show their own culture and history’s deep message, and let people   look back on the past.

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Double Happiness Pattern

Filed under: Uncategorized — Jenny Kim @ 6:42 am

There are lots of characters in China have deep meanings. One of the famous characters, symbols, and patterns is The Chinese Double Happiness. It is composed of two standard characters that mean happiness.

It usually sticks around someone’s wedding or any parties.

 

Each half of the symbol is the standard character for happiness, written “Hsi” or “Xi” and pronounced something like “she” in Mandarin Chinese. Two “hsi” graphs together represents the wish for the two young newlyweds to have happiness together. The double happiness symbol (pronounced “shuan-hsi” in Mandarin Chinese) is a special Chinese character used for marital happiness.

 

I like the way they desgin the character in diversity ways, just like the below pictures.

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