By Jun Zou
Folk Arts and Fine Arts
Music and Dance
Feng Shui
Traditional Festivals and Foods, Family Values, Conclusion
Every year around February at the Louisiana State University Student Union Theater, the Chinese community in Baton Rouge presents a vibrant production of Chinese performing arts, including singing, dancing, instrument playing, comedy, and martial arts to celebrate the Spring Festival, also known as Chinese New Year. Chinese New Year starts on the first day of the new Chinese lunar year containing a new moon and ends on the Lantern Festival fourteen days later, occurring around the time of the full moon. While the performers are mostly from China, and the programs are authentic Chinese, the targeted audience has always been the general public, and the goal has always been to introduce and share rich Chinese culture and traditions in order to promote diversity and cultural communication.
The Baton Rouge Chinese community organizes similar cultural events from time to time year round that are getting increasingly popular. They present a variety of exhibitions and demonstrations on Chinese traditional and/or folk arts.
Chinese immigrants in Baton Rouge keep their precious and diverse culture and traditions by practicing, sharing, and learning. Among many other forms, Chinese folk arts, Chinese feng shui, Chinese festivals, and Chinese family values are the primary vehicles that convey the culture and traditions of local Chinese immigrants are passed on to new generations to come.
Folk Arts And Fine Arts
Chinese folk and fine arts are flourishing in Baton Rouge. Baton Rouge is home to artists who practice paper folding, paper cutting, Chinese knotting, brush painting, dance, and classic music. A few also perform the tea ceremony. Some intentionally decorate their homes with fine collections of Chinese paintings, ceramics, and scholar's stones to make their American-style homes more familiar and more Chinese. For those who practice feng shui, these same items can take on additional meaning by bringing luck through their selection and placement. The photos illustrate the various artistic works created by Chinese artists in Baton Rouge.
Paper folding, also known as zhe zhi (translated from Chinese) and origami (translated from Japanese), represents about two thousand years of history. Since the first century A.D. in the Han dynasty (206 B.C. - 220 A.D.), the time when it is believed that paper was first invented in China by Cai Lun, people have been folding paper (zhe zhi) into various shapes. Historically, the Chinese developed some simple forms, some of which survive to this day. Today, master paper folders are found in many places around the world. New and improved folding techniques have produced models with many different variations including complex geometric shapes, animals, flowers, and even human figures.
The two most well known paper folding artists in Baton Rouge are Mr. Hwa Sze Kao and his student, Mr. John Hu. Mr. Kao and his wife came from Hong Kong and were mathematics professors at Southern University for 40 years. Mr. John Hu, a retired chemical engineer, originally came from Hebei province of China. Paper folding and paper cutting are their leisure-time hobbies. Most of their paper folding works are of geometric shapes, figures, and animals, and exhibit a strong mathematic skill. For instance, the creation of "Pineapple" involves in-depth understanding and application of mathematics that governs the geometric composition. Similar characteristics are found in many of their works.
"Crane" (Zhe Zhi by Kao Hwa Sze) |
"Figures" (Zhe Zhi by Kao Hwa Sze) |
"Pineapple" (Zhe Zhi by John Hu) |
Paper cutting is considered a traditional art form in China. There, people make colorful paper cuts to decorate windows and doors for major occasions such as wedding ceremonies and festivals. Paper cutting includes both geometric and organic shapes that can be either positive or negative. The most commonly-used color is red, and flowers, animals, and symbols are the most common images. For his paper cuttings, Mr. Kao uses classic Chinese symbols such as dragons, golden fish, and lotus flowers, but also will include figures. Each symbol has special meaning for the occasion. For example, in Mandarin Chinese the word for "lotus" sounds like "He" and symbolizes the wish of "harmony." As a result, it is used for a wedding ceremony.
"Girl and Lotus" (Paper Cutting by Kao Hwa Sze) |
Chinese knotting as an art has a long history and profound cultural connotations. Originating from practical purposes, it developed during the Tang and Song Dynasty (960-1229 A.D.) and was popularized in the Ming and Qing Dynasty (1368-1911 A.D.). Chinese knotting most often uses red or yellow cord and frequently incorporates additional pieces such as sculpture and symbols made of jade, bamboo, or other materials. Chinese knotting is also widely used in home decoration, clothing, and other ornaments such as key chains and necklaces. It is also often found in vehicles hanging from the windshield mirror. According to traditional belief, they bring good luck to the owners.
Mrs. Judy Huang and her friend Miss Mei Chung are two of the most well known artists who specialize in Chinese knotting in the Baton Rouge area. Their works include many different patterns and animals. While they get the cords as well as the bamboo plaques, jade sculptures, or bronze plaques from Taiwan, they carefully select objects and match the knotting style accordingly. Below are two examples that are often used as decorations in homes. On the left, Mrs. Huang and Miss Chung have combined a pair of bamboo plaques carved with the Chinese characters "Fortunate" (left) and "Satisfying" (right) to be hung on the two sides of a door. On the right, they used the Chinese character for "Blessing" in copper, the most widely used home decoration.
"Fortunate" and "Satisfying"
by Mei Chung and Judy Huang |
"Blessing"
by Mei Chung and Judy Huang |
Traditionally there are four basic types of knotting patterns that can be used to create an unlimited number of styles. Below are two examples. The pieces on the left, which one might attach to a purse or cell phone in order to bring luck to the bearer, utilize jade and traditional knotting patterns. The crawfish key chains on the right illustrate the artist's incorporation of Louisiana culture into this traditional Chinese art form.
Ornaments by Mei Chung and Judy Huang |
Crawfish Key Chains by Mei Chung and Judy Huang |
Brush painting has been practiced in China for thousands of years. Traditionally, it used simply water and ink to create black and white paintings. More recently, artists have added colors. The greatest purpose of Chinese brush painting is to present the emergence of life and deliver a certain message. The subject can be anything in nature.
Mrs. Ren Jen-gyi Koai, also known locally as Margaret Koai, is originally from Taiwan and learned Chinese painting techniques there. She has been practicing them for over 30 years. She often does demonstrations and delivers lectures in Chinese painting at various places including Louisiana State University. In addition to the practice of Chinese painting, Mrs. Koai also collects scholar's stones and performs the tea ceremony.
"Chat" by Ren Jen-gyi Koai |
Chinese scholar's stones, also known as scholar's rocks or viewing stones, are slightly shaped or naturally-occurring rocks appreciated by Chinese scholars from the Song dynasty onwards. The most well-known stones are from Tai Hu (Lake Tai) in southeastern China with the finest examples dating from the Ming dynasty. The most valued stones are all natural and subjected to no artificial carving at all. All the colors of the rainbow are possible, and colors should contrast with each other for the best aesthetic effect. The natural marks can resemble anything that can be imagined, from purely natural objects such as a dog, to completely abstract objects such as a Chinese character that says, "Blessing." The stone can weigh hundreds of pounds or can be small and weigh less than a pound. Collecting these stones has become a tradition, and they are highly prized. The following photos show some of Mrs. Ren Jen-gyi Koai's personal collection.
Taihu Stone |
Fongli Stone |
Jasper Stone |
Yingde Stone |
Next - Music and Dance
Jun Zou teaches interior design at Louisiana State University and has been in the United States since 2003. One of her research specialties is the Chinese aesthetic in interior design. She did this research as part of the New Populations Project.
