A:TLA Annotations

Tea! This post is Uncle-approved!

Toph’s father is drinking tea from a gai wan i.e. a lidded bowl. These kinds of teacups are generally preferred for tea with more delicate aromas, since the lid helps preserve them. The leaves are staying in the cup, the lid is used to keep you from accidentally drinking them.

Image source and more detailed information on how to brew tea using one.

A gai wan 盖碗 is a Chinese lidded bowl used for the infusion and consumption of tea and was invented during the Ming Dynasty.  It consists of a bowl, a lid, and a saucer.

Holding

Usually all three parts are held at once with both hands. Hold the saucer with the 4 fingers of your right hand and let your thumb rests on the edge of the bowl. Use your left hand to hold the lid, with which to brush away any tea leaves before bringing the rim of the bowl to your lips. As the liquid is hot it can take some practice doing this.

Greetings and showing of respect in the Avatar Universe

The atla universe uses several traditional Chinese greetings.

The Fire Nation style greeting shown in the atla pictures above closely resembles the greeting known as Bao Quan 抱拳 i.e. the Chinese martial arts style greeting.

The way Azuala’s soldiers greet her on the ship is known as a kowtow i.e. a show of respect reserved for high officials, nobility, royalty and religious practice.

Neither Bao Quan nor Gong Shou are done in Japan. They are uniquely Chinese greetings.

Gong Shou 拱手

Gong Shou is a common traditional practice of greeting among the chinese, notably during the traditional chinese festival such as Chinese New Year, marriage ceremony, between neighbours, friends, colleagues etc. It is polite way of representing respect, blessing and wishes. It is also practised when saying goodbye.To practise such greeting, the common way is to stand up with your upper body fully upright, extend your two elbows, then wrap your two hands/fists together as one in front of your chest (usually the left fist will be clenched, while the right palm will wrap the left fist). After wrapping the fist together, just shake the together up/down many times. (You will probably see this common practice in chinese kungfu movie or historical drama series).

Gong Shou is usually accompanied by traditional chinese greeting words such as “Gong Xi Gong Xi 恭喜,恭喜” (Congratulations! Congratulations! )，"Jiu Yang Jiu Yang 久仰、久仰" (Long Time No See)，"Qing Duo Duo Guan Zhao 请多多关照" (Please take good care) ，"Jie Ri Guai Le 节日快乐" (Happy Festival) ，"Hou Hui You Qi 后会有期" (see you later and in the future).

Martial Arts Greeting Bao Quan 抱拳

This is a common etiquette in Chinese Martial Arts. The etiquette is known “Bao Quan Li 抱拳礼” (literally translated as “Fist Wrapping Rite”. You will see this in Chinese Kungfu movie or in chinese martial arts sparring.

The common practice is as follow:

Stand Upright with the body straight. Clench your right fist. Straighten your left palm to have 4 fingers in plane, and your left thumb slightly bend. Wrap your two hands together (the left palm over the right clenched fist). Placed the two hands in front of your chest, but making sure that your two eldows do not come up.

There are philosophical martial arts meaning about this practice: The left palm (with 4 fingers) symbolizes Virtue, Wisdom, Health, Art, which are also called the “4 nurturing elements”, symbolizing the spirit of Martial arts. The left thumb is slightly bent to mean that one should not be arrogant or always attempt to be no.1 . The right fist symbolizes rigorous practice. Since the right fist is clenched, it means a form of ‘attack’ but with the left palm wrapping it, it means “discipline” and 'restraint/control in order not to abuse the martial practice".

Another explanation is that the left hand symbolizes the “5 lakes 五湖” while the right fist clenched symbolzies “4 sea 四海”). When the left hand is placed onto the right hand, it means that “people in the 5 lakes and 4 seas are all brothers” (五湖四海皆兄弟). It’s a practice to respect and prevent fightings among the different martial groups in the past.

Bowing (also known as “Ketou 磕头” or Kowtow)

Bowing was a form of ancient chinese practice when a commoner or an official greet an emperor. It was also practised when a commoner greet an official (such as magistrate or someone in the chinese bureaucracy). The common practice was to kneel down on the floor, and then bow with heads touching the ground and two hands landing on the floor.

Such practice was largely abandoned after Chinese imperialism ended in 1911. Today, chinese rarely bow, although it can be quite common 'knock the head’ as a form of slight bowing in greeting.

Kowtoy (bowing) is only practised today in Chinese religious ceremony/rituals such as ancestor worship, daoist ceremony, buddhist paying homage to the Buddha etc. The 90 degree bowing is however practised in Japanese culture.

Sources: One, two, three, four, five

Qin Village, Ladies’ hairstyles

Check out the rest of that blog, it has some cool real people examples of what ancient hairstyles look like on real people and not just paintings.

Also: Booze XD (meaning ‘bar’)

Image source

Li and Lo’s Official Court Headdress

The headdress we see Li and Lo wear on Azula’s ship, and later when Azula and Zuko are welcomed back to the Fire Nation in season three, is inspired by the Manchu headdress called a liangba tou and the Chinese Long Horn Miao minority hairstyle.

The shape of Li and Lo’s hairstyle seems to be inspired by the Long Horn Miao’s hair, the decoration and execution remind more of the Manchu liang ba tou.

The Miao  苗are an ethnic group recognized by the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as one of the 55 official minority groups.

One particular tribe, centred on the village of Longga, is the Changjiao Miao. Changjiao or “Long Horns”, when directly translated, reflects the custom of animal horns being worn as head ornaments by tribe women for special occasions.

Liang Ba Tou

On non-official occasions, Manchu women wore an unusual headdress called a liang ba tou, with batwing-like shapes formed from false hair or black satin arranged over a frame which was anchored with haiirpins to the natural hair (fig 89). Literally “two handfuls of hair”, the hair itself was originally set and shaped this was, but during the nineteenth  century was replaced by black satin as being more practical and easier to maintain.

Image sources: One, two, three,

Episode Four: The Swamp

Chinese villages tend to have communal fish ponds (see picture).

The wagon passing Uncle and Zuko say: Happy Vagrant (Beijing) Opera Troupe.
Taunting Zuko we are, animators, aren’t we XD

Fire Nation Colony Spa: Incense Burner

At the spa, at the beginning of season two, we see two incense burners in the background. Incense is not only burned at temples for worship but also has medicinal uses.

Incense in China is traditionally used in a wide range of Chinese cultural activities including, religious ceremonies, ancestor veneration, traditional medicine, and in daily life. Known as xiang  香 (literally “fragrance”), incense was used by the Chinese cultures starting from Neolithic times with it coming to greater prominence starting from the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties.

Image source: One

Nice Underwear

Sokka is wearing a combination of the Japanese Etchū Fundoshi 越中褌
and the Chinese Di Bi Kun 犊鼻裈. You’re welcome.

Image source: One

What girls wore.

Cave of Two Lovers - Elephant Trunk Hill

The river dent where Aang, Katara and Sokka meet the hippies is modeled on Elephant Trunk Hill in Guilin in the south of China.

The Elephant Trunk Hill 象鼻山is a landmark and tourist attraction in Guilin, Guangxi, China.

Elephant Trunk Hill is the symbol of the city of Guilin. It got its name because it looks like an elephant drinking water. The round opening that would be under the elephant’s trunk is known as Water-Moon Cave because at night the reflection of the moon can be seen through the arch and it looks like it is under the water and floating on the surface of the water at the same time. Elephant Trunk Hill and Water-Moon Cave are located at the confluence of the Taohua River and the Lijiang River.

Note: The opening sequence is also modeled on the Li river scenery. 

Image source: One

Money, money, money!

The money Aang tries to buy the Waterbending Scroll with, and the stone coins the Earth Kingdom army uses to fight are both based on ancient Chinese coins.

Note the other cool coins shapes.

Earliest Chinese round coins:

The earliest round coins appeared in 350 BCE. These coinds are called 半兩 ban liang, which means half a liang. A liang is the Chinese ounce, consisted of 24 銖 zhu, and was the equivalent of about 16 grams.

“When Qin united the world, it made two sorts of currency:
that of yellow gold, which was called yi and was the currency of the higher class; and that of bronze, which was similar in quality to the coins of Zhou, but bore an inscription saying Half Ounce, and was equal in weight to its inscription.”

Not to be confused with the sycee - also known as yuanbao 元宝 -  the Chinese gold or silver ingot. 

Fang is a Chinese Dragon (as are Ran and Shao)

How to build a dragon:

The horns of a deer.

The head of a camel.

A demon’s eyes.

The neck of a snake.

A tortoise’s viscera.

A hawk’s claws.

The palms of a tiger.

A cow’s ears.“

Shake well before use!

Note: Imperial dragon have FIVE claws, lesser dragons only three or four.

Other recipes include:

belly of a clam

scales of a carp,

wings of a bat,

and claws those of an eagle 

What’s different?

Chinese dragons are associated with water, not fire:

Initially, the dragon was benevolent but the Buddhists introduced the concept of malevolent influence among some dragons. Just as water destroys, they said, so can some dragons destroy via floods, tidal waves and storms. They suggested that some of the worst floods were believed to have been the result of a mortal upsetting a dragon.

Chinese dragons are occasionally depicted with bat-like wings growing out of the front limbs, but most do not have wings, as their ability to fly (and control rain/water, etc.) are mystical and not seen as a result of their physical attributes.