English For Students

The Chinese New Year Dragon has a colorful history. The emblem of guardianship and vigilance, it was consecrated in the earliest religion of the Chinese people.

In ancient days the dragon was regarded as a most sacred animal, and used to be the imperial emblem of Chinese emperors. It is the first of the four Divine Creatures to Chinese-the others being the unicorn, the phoenix and the tortoise. Unlike the evil dragon the West, the Chinese Dragon is a beneficent and gracious creature and is worshipped as the divine ruler of Lakes, Rivers and Seas. It is the powerful yet gentle ‘Loong" that brings rain to the earth, hasten the crops and cools the toiling framer. It is one of the most popular of Chinese art motifs, being sculptured on stone pillars of Chinese temples and embroidered on beautiful gold and silk tapestries.

As imagined by the Chinese, the dragon has the head of a camel, the horns of a deer, fiery eyes and a long beard. Its ears are like those of a cow, its paws like the tiger’s and its claws sharp like an eagle’s. Its neck is serpentine; it has the belly of a frog and the scales of a carp. The Dragon first appeared in the sky, legend tells us, while an heir to the throne was born, and the country was blessed with peace and prosperity for many generation thereafter. Thus, the Dragon also served as a symbol of good fortune.

In parade appearance, the dragon performs its gyrations in pursuits of a costumed figure who holds aloft a pole with a ball on the end called the "Precious Pearl." The creature’s movement and tempo are controlled by this leader who manipulated the "pearl" according to plan, accompanied by drums and gongs.

According to the Chinese calendar, the dragon is the animal for those who were born this year and every 12 years before or afterwards. The year you were born is believed to influence your personality. Thus, for the dragons, they are soft-hearted, healthy, respected, energetic, and eccentric.

Dragon history by Thomas W. Chinn
Source: www.moonfestival.org

Chinese Fable Stories

In the Warring States period, the Chu State had a very capable minister called Zhao Xixu. He was well respected and held in awe by the people of other countries as well as his own. One day, the king asked his ministers "I hear every state in the north is afraid of our minister Zhao Xixu, is that so?" At the question, almost all the ministers kept silent except one called Jiangyi, who liked to curry the king's favor very much. He lost no time to seize the opportunity and said, "Your Majesty, you know, it's you who people awe and respect, not him! Have you ever heard the story The Fox Borrows the Tiger's Terror?" Well, here is the story.

One day a tiger was hunting around in a forest. An unlucky fox was met and caught by the tiger. For the fox, the inescapable fate was very clear -- death. Despite the danger, the fox thought hard to find a way out. Promptly, the fox declared to the tiger, "How dare you kill me!" On hearing the words the tiger was surprised and asked for the reason" The fox raised his voice a bit higher and declared arrogantly: "To tell you the truth, it's I who was accredited by God to the forest as the king of all the animals! If you kill me, that will be against the God's will, you know?" Seeing that the tiger became suspicions, the fox added: "Let's have a test. Let's go through the forest. Follow me and you will see HOW THE ANIMALS ARE FRIGHTENED OF ME." The tiger agreed. So the fox walked ahead of the tiger proudly through the forest.

As you can imagine, the animals, seeing the tiger behind, were all terribly frightened and ran away. Then the fox said proudly: "There is no doubt that what I said is true, isn't it?" The tiger had nothing to say but to acknowledge the result. So the tiger nodded and said: "You are right. You are the king."

When Minister Jiangyi finished the story above, he added to the king: "It seems as if the northern neighbors were afraid of Minister Zhao xixu. In fact, they are afraid of Your Majesty just as the animals were afraid of the tiger not of the fox." The king was very pleased at Minister Jiangyi's words. And never doubted its truth.


http://chineseculture.com

Folklore from West Java

RATU Ayu Panyidagan was a queen of Panyidagan Kingdom. The queen was beautiful and wise. She led the country peacefully. Many men from other kingdoms fell in love with her. However, the queen was not interested in them. Actually the queen was restless. She wanted to get married and have a baby soon. She wanted her child to be the next leader. She was still waiting for the right man.

The queen had a dream. A handsome man came to the kingdom. However a disaster came along with the arrival. The queen asked her advisors to interpret her dream. The advisors asked the soldiers to guard the border of the kingdom.

Fortunately, there was a big river at the border. People had to cross the river if they wanted to enter the border of the kingdom. The soldier were standing by to monitor anyone crossing the river.

Days and nights the soldiers were standing by the river. And one day, they saw a man was rowing a sampan. The soldiers were getting ready at the river side. And when the man arrived, the soldiers asked him, "Who are you? and why are you going to our kingdom?"

"I came from Cirebon Kingdom. My king asked me to meet your queen."

The soldiers did not want to take a risk. They asked the man to return and go back home. However the man refused and the fight between them was unstoppable.

The man had great skills in martial arts. He was able to defeat the soldiers. One soldier, escaped. He wanted to tell the queen that the man was coming to the palace.

The whole soldiers were protecting the queen. But the queen asked them to welcome the man. She was really curious why he was sent to meet her.

Later the man arrived the palace. He talked to the queen politely.

"Your majesty, I'm here because my king sent me. Our kingdom is in great problem. People are suffering from strange illness. They are dying and many of them have died. The medicine to cure the illness is maja fruit that groe in your kingdom. Therefore I would like to have your kindness to give me some of the maja fruits."

The queen was silent. She was thinking very hard. She was not thinking whether she would give the fruits or not. It was not a problem for her. There were a lot of maja fruit trees in her kingdom. Giving some of the fruits would not be a problem.

However, she was thinking something else! She was thinking how handsome the man was. He was also powerful. He was able to defeat the soldiers. And he was also very loyal. He did his duty from his kingdom to find the fruits.

The queen than said,"You can get the fruits as many as you like. But there is one condition. You have to marry me."

"I'm sorry, Your Majesty. I cannot do that. I cannot marry you. I'm married and have a wife," said the man.

The queen was angry. She asked the soldiers to put the man in the jail. This time the man could not win the fight. There were too many soldiers fighting him.

Not long after the man was in the jail, rain fell down heavily. There was also big storm! People were only staying in their houses. and in the morning, sun was shining brightly, suddenly people were screaming.

"The palace is gone! The queen is gone!"

Other people were also screaming, "Maja langka! Maja Langka!"

It means maja fruit are rare. People were very confused. They did not know why the palace, the queen and the maja fruits suddenly disappeared. They kept on talking about that and later they named the place as Majalangka. Slowly it became Majalengka.***
Source: http://indonesianfolklore.blogspot.com