Showing posts tagged Chinese history
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... View high resolution

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. 

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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... View high resolution

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... View high resolution

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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

The Fire Temple on Roku’s island is based on the “ Yellow Crane Tower first built in the year 223 AD, the current structure however, was rebuilt in 1981. The tower stands on Sheshan (Snake Hill), at the bank of Yangtze River in Wuchang District,... View high resolution

The Fire Temple on Roku’s island is based on the

Yellow Crane Tower first built in the year 223 AD, the current structure however, was rebuilt in 1981. The tower stands on Sheshan (Snake Hill), at the bank of Yangtze River in Wuchang District, Wuhan, in Hubei province of central China. Yellow Crane Tower is considered one of the Four Great Towers of China.

There are some legends regarding it, too:

There are at least two legends related to Yellow Crane Tower. In the first, an Immortal (仙人) name Wang Zi'an (王子安) rode off on a yellow crane from Snake Mountain. A tower was later built in commemoration.

In the second, after becoming an Immortal, Fei Wenyi (费文祎) would ride a yellow crane and often stop on Snake Hill to take a rest.[1]

Also: See the official art book, page 52.

Everyone loves Longshan pots!

Zuko’s got four, Aunt Wu at least one… even Zhao got one.

The Longshan culture ( 龙山文化 pinyin: Lóngshān wénhuà; meaning “Dragon Hill”) was a late Neolithic culture in China, centered on the central and lower Yellow River and dated from about 3000 BC to 2000 BC.

Source: One, two, three, four, five, six

Aunt Wu’ divination method is based on the Oracle Bones, on the Jia Gu

Oracle bones  甲骨 are pieces of bone normally from ox scapula or turtle plastron (underside) which were used for divination chiefly during the late Shang Dynasty 1600 BCE–1046 BCE.

The bones were first inscribed with divination in oracle bone script (Chinese: 甲骨文; pinyin: jiǎgǔwén) by using a bronze pin, and then heated until crack lines appeared in which the divinations were read.

Aunt Wu’s name:

There are two possible puns for her name. The first one, Wu - 巫 meaning witch or shaman, is, given her occupation, rather obvious.

The second one, a reference to Emperor Wu Ding - 武丁 from the Shang Dynasty, who not only practiced divination via oracle bones, but also via dream divination:

In the third year of his reign he had vivid dreams about the way to rule his kingdom.

Besides Gan Jin meaning ‘clean’ and Z(h)ang meaning 'dirty’ there is another pun/reference hidden in this episode: Jin Wei - Wei Jin “ Jin and Wei are both countries from the Warring States era. By about 550 there were only four major powers: Qin... View high resolution

Besides Gan Jin meaning ‘clean’ and Z(h)ang meaning 'dirty’ there is another pun/reference hidden in this episode:

Jin Wei - Wei Jin

Jin and Wei are both countries from the Warring States era.

By about 550 there were only four major powers: Qin (west), Jin (west-center), Qi (east) and Chu (south). Most of the remaining small states were between Jin and Qi.

  • circa 450-350 BC: Affairs are dominated by the three fragments of Jin, especially Wei.
  • circa 350-250 BC: the main period of conflict. The states ruined each other in increasingly violent conflicts, leaving only Qin.
  • circa 250-221 BC: Qin conquers all the other states, founding the Qin Dynasty.
  • In more detail: 453: Jin (center) splits into Zhao,Wei and Han; 383: Zhao vs. Wei; The states were seriously defeated in the following years: 340: Wei (center); 284: Qi (east); 278: Chu (south); 260: Zhao (north-center). 256: Zhou kingship abolished; 230-221: Qin conquers all the other states.
And then the Fire Nation Attacked The Air Nomads - Tibet; Dalai Lama - Avatar parallel cannot be denied. Let’s compare, for one thing, the architecture and recent history in that region. “ The destruction of most of Tibet’s more than 6,000... View high resolution

And then the Fire Nation Attacked

The Air Nomads - Tibet; Dalai Lama - Avatar parallel cannot be denied. Let’s compare, for one thing, the architecture and recent history in that region.

The destruction of most of Tibet’s more than 6,000 monasteries happened between 1959 and 1961.Of the 6,259 monasteries in Tibet before the Chinese occupation, only eight remained in 1976.

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I will get more into that later, for now, let’s just take a look at the burning temple we see in the opening sequence. I am aware that that is not the exact temple, but the style and the fact that it is located on top of a mountain are not coincidental and are creating an intentional parallel between the Air Nomads and the Tibetan Monasteries.