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Yue and Chang'e

Yue (月-yue- moon) is visually based on Chang'e, but their stories differ.

Chang'e 嫦娥 is the Chinese goddess of the Moon. Unlike many lunar deities in other cultures who personify the Moon, Chang'e only lives on the Moon. As the “woman on the Moon”, Chang'e could be considered the Chinese complement to the Western notion of a man in the Moon.

One version of Chang-e’s story: Chang'e and her husband Houyi were immortals living in ‘heaven’. One day, the ten sons of the Jade Emperor transformed into suns, causing the earth to scorch. The Jade Emperor summoned Houyi for help. Houyi, using his legendary archery skills, shot down nine of the sons, but spared one son to be the sun. The Jade Emperor was obviously not pleased with Houyi’s solution : nine of his sons were dead.
As punishment, the Jade Emperor banished Houyi and Chang'e to live as mere mortals on earth.
 Chang'e felt miserable over her loss of immortality and Houyi decided to find the pill  of immortality so that they could be immortals again. Houyi brought the pill home and stored it in a case. He warned Chang'e not to open the case. Chang'e became too curious. She opened the case and found the pill just as Houyi was returning home.  Nervous that Houyi would catch her discovering the contents of the case, she accidentally swallowed
the entire pill and started to float into the sky/heaven because of the overdose.
Although Houyi wanted to shoot her in order to prevent her from floating further, he could not bear to aim the arrow at her.
Chang'e kept on floating until she landed on the Moon.

Image source: One, two,

Totem Poles in the Northern Water Tribe City

When we enter the city a row of totem line the water way, as well as the grand plaza outside the palace and the great hall inside the palace as well.

The totems consist of presumably bent ice, showing six parts, five animal faces and a sixths finalizing part with stylized clouds on top. (see picture)

These totems are a combination of Native American/First Nation totem poles* - the carved animal faces - and  huabiao  华表;  a type of ceremonial column used in traditional Chinese architecture. Huabiaos found in front of palaces and tombs - the cloud and the placement outside the palace. -

*Note: Inuit never carved totem poles.

The musical instrument Jee is playing in the ‘Waterbending Master’ episode is a pipa.

The pipa 琵琶 is a four-stringed Chinese musical instrument, belonging to the plucked category of instruments. Sometimes called the Chinese lute.

Third century Chinese texts from Jin Dynasty suggest that instruments called pipa existed in China as early as the Qin Dynasty (221 BC–206 BC),   although mention of the instrument did not appear until late in the Han Dynasty around 2nd century AD.  

The pipa is mentioned frequently in Tang Dynasty poetry, where it is often praised for its refinement and delicacy of tone. A famous poem by Bai Juyi’s Pipa xing (琵琶行), describes a chance encounter with a female pipa player on the Yangtze River:  

大絃嘈嘈如急雨

小絃切切如私語

嘈嘈切切錯雜彈

大珠小珠落玉盤

The bold strings rattled like splatters of sudden rain,
The fine strings hummed like lovers’ whispers.
Chattering and pattering, pattering and chattering,
As pearls, large and small, on a jade plate fall.

And this is what it sounds like: Enjoy the “Water Sleeve Dance” from the movie “House of the Flying Daggers”.

Ozai’s Court Warlocks

At the end of the episode ‘the Northern Air Temple’ the Fire Nation recovers the hot-air balloon from the forest. We see three officials present. Two of them are wearing 术士冠 shu shi guan.

Guan are headgear (usually for men) that used to denote station or rank in China.

术士冠 are worn by warlocks/alchemists. Yeah, yeah, alchemists is probably the better translation, but let’s be honest, is having court warlocks really OOC for someone who declares himself Phoenix King? See! Don’t judge, warlocks are awesome :P

Source: One, two

Sky-Bison Guardian Statues at the Northern Air Temple

The sky-bison statues we see at the Northern Air Temple are modeled on Chinese guardian lions.

Where the guardian lion would hold the xiù qiú 绣球 ball under its paw, the sky-bison is holding a globe of bent air.

Note the similarities in fur carving and posture.

The guardian lions 石獅 are always presented in pairs, a manifestation of yin and yang, the female representing yin and the male yang. The male lion has its right front paw on an embroidered ball called a “xiù qiú” (绣球), which is sometimes carved with a geometric pattern known in the West as the “Flower of life” The female is essentially identical, but has a cub under the closer (left) paw to the male, representing the cycle of life. Symbolically, the female fu lion protects those dwelling inside, while the male guards the structure.

When Aang, Katara and Sokka run away from the guards in the Fire Nation colony in The Deserter, they run down a series of small side streets and get stuck by a blocked alley.

These side streets are called hutong 胡同.

Hutongs 胡同 are a type of narrow streets or alleys, most commonly associated with Beijing, China. In Beijing, hutongs are alleys formed by lines of siheyuan, traditional courtyard residences.   Many neighbourhoods were formed by joining one siheyuan to another to form a hutong, and then joining one hutong to another. The word hutong is also used to refer to such neighbourhoods.

Source: Beijing Hutongs I, Beijing Hutongs II

Dragon Dance and Lion Dance

The performance we see in ‘The Deserter’, when Aang, Katara and Sokka visit the Fire Nation colony, is a combination of the Lion Dance and the Dragon Dance.

As in the Lion Dance, the performers we see in that episode, are covered under the costume, yet the head of the costume closely resembles the Chinese dragon from the Dragon Dance, not a lion. It does, however, lack the pearl that would make it a true dragon.

The flaming pearl under the dragon’s chin or in their mouth is associated with wealth, good luck, and prosperity.

The Lion Dance

The Lion dance  舞狮 is a form of traditional dance in Chinese culture, in which performers mimic a lion’s movements in a lion costume.

The story goes that once upon a time a monk had a dream in which there were many sorrows and evils plaguing the land. The monk prayed and asked the gods how he could prevent these evils from occurring. The gods told him that a lion would protect them and fight back the evils. The Chinese people had never seen a lion before, but had heard stories that the lion was the king of all the other animals, so the monk combined all the lucky or magical animals he could think of and so made a lion.

If you look closely at any lion, you can see a red sash tied on its horn. It is told that the lion was disrespectful to the Jade Emperor. This of course caused the Jade Emperor to get very angry, so as a punishment he chopped off his horn (The source of his life) and the lion died. The Goddess of Mercy (Guan Yin) felt bad for him so she tied his horn back on with a red sash with golden leaves and chanted to the lion and he came back to life.

The lion dance is often mistakenly referred to as dragon dance. An easy way to tell the difference is that a lion is operated by two people, while a dragon needs many people. Also, in a lion dance, the performers’ faces are covered, since they are inside the lion. In a dragon dance, the performers can be seen since the dragon is held upon poles.

The Dragon Dance

The Dragon dance 舞龙is a form of traditional dance and performance in Chinese culture. Like the lion dance it is most often seen in festive celebrations. 

In the dance, a team of people carry the dragon — which is an image of the Chinese dragon — on poles. A dragon can be composed of up to 50 people. The dance team does mimic the supposed movements of this river spirit in a sinuous, undulating manner. The movements in a performance traditionally symbolise historical roles of dragons demonstrating power and dignity.  

Image source: One, two

Wu: “Your future is full of struggle and anguish. Most of it, self-inflicted

When Sokka kicks a stone after leaving Aunt Wu’s house it bounces off a sign with the character for ‘luck’ on it and hits him in the head.

While that is funny in itself, it is even funnier when you take the usage of auspicious symbols in Chinese culture into consideration.

When the stone hits the sign, the sign swings, turning the character upside down.

The character (dao 倒) "upside-down” and the character (dao 到) “to have arrived” are both pronounced dao. This pun is commonly used to give symbols of luck, prosperity etc.an even more auspicious meaning. 

The joke here is that Sokka’s happiness 'arrives’ in the form of a stone to the head. XD