Monday, July 31, 2017

The Soul of the Great Bell: A Reflection of Society




Introduction
               The story, The Soul of the Great Bell is a Chinese Legend. This story is written by Lafcadio Hearn. Lafciado Hearn is a journalist whowas very interested in Oriental culture, especially Chinese Myths, Legends and etc. What’s amazing is he actually knew almost nothing about the Chinese Language and still completed all the Chinese legends he made.
My blog will be talking about the proofs and what’s behind this story. If the bell really existed and how is it helping the Chinese society and also how is it affecting it.  It will tell you some of their traditions, how is it important to them.  It will also talk about their emperors, rulers, dynasties and also their belief on astrology. It will show you how intriguing it really is.

This is the Yongle Bell of China
Body
                The Chinese Society considers the Yongle Bell as the great bell in the story. It is called the Yongle Bell after Ming Emperor Yongle who ordered it to be cast about 600 years ago and is probably Yung-Lo or the son of Heaven in the story. There are actually some rumors that Emperor Yongle was guilty of his deeds. The Yongle Bell is located in Beijing and Beijing was previously called as Pe-King according to the story and also in other references and they have been also displaying it at the Ancient Bell Museum of The Great Bell Temple and also have been calling it as the King of Bells in China because of its size.
This is how the Chinese women used to bind their foot.

                  Foot Binding, Foot binding is one of the famous Chinese traditions before. It also relates to the story for it to show how important it is to Ko-Ngai. According to Wikipedia.org, Foot Binding is the custom of applying tight binding to the feet of young girls to modify the shape of the foot. Foot binding became popular as a means of displaying status. Such as women from wealthy families, who did not need their feet to work, could afford to have them bound and was correspondingly adopted as a symbol of beauty in Chinese culture. Its prevalence and practice however varied in different parts of the country. Feet altered by binding were called lotus feet. And it was very important to Ko-Ngai for it was like a part of her and was their tradition and it symbolizes that her father’s greatness and hardwork.
The Astrological Signs
              Another Chinese belief is Astrology. The Chinese Society have a huge belief on astrology. Chinese astrology is based on the traditional astronomy and calendars. The development of Chinese astrology is tied to that of astronomy, which came to flourish during the Han Dynasty. Zodiacs, Zodiacs is part of astrology.  Zodiacs are also known as astrological signs.  There a lot of legends explaining where zodiacs come from. There are 12 zodiac animals, named as the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep or goat, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig. And each every single one of them has their own explanation of how they started and etc.
The Ming Dynasty
                Dynasties, Dynasties was very famous in ancient China. There were 13 dynasties that ruled ancient China. The Xia Dynasty, the Shang Dynasty, the Chou Dynasty, the Qin Dynasty, the Han Dynasty, the Six Dynasty, the Sui Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty, the Five Dynasty, the Song Dynasty,  the Yuan Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty and lastly, the Ming Dynasty. These are the 13 Dynasty. In the story they mentioned that Yung-Lo, one of the emperors, was a part of the Ming Dynasty. The last of the great Chinese dynasties is the Ming dynasty. The Ming Dynasty finished the Great Wall and built the Forbidden City, which is an enormous palace for the Emperor. The Ming dynasty was also known as the Empire of the Great Ming for about 276 years which was 1368 until 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty which only survived until 1683. The Ming dynasty came into power by overthrowing the rule of the Mongols. The Mongols was an invasion of China. The Mongols Invasion of China was a series of major military efforts by the Mongols to invade China proper. It spanned six decades in the 13th century and involved the defeat of the Jin dynasty, Western Xia, the Dali Kingdom and the Southern Song. The Mongol Empire under Genghis Khan started the conquest with small-scale raids into Western Xia in 1205 and 1207. By 1279, the Mongol leader Kublai Khan had established the Yuan dynasty in China and crushed the last Song resistance, which marked the onset of all of China under the Mongol Yuan rule. This was the first time in history that the whole of China was conquered and subsequently ruled by a foreign or non-native ruler, but was still overthrown by the Ming Dynasty and gave them the power.
           The story left us a quote, “Gold and brass will never meet in wedlock, silver and iron will never embrace.” This quote meant that not all things are compatible. Things should not be forced to do certain things, that is almost impossible. Not all things should be forced to be done if you can’t but always remember, “If there’s a will, there’s a way” and Ko-Ngai was able to believe in that and she was able to save her own father for it.



Conclusion
             I realized that each and every person has somebody. Somebody who cares, somebody you could lean on and somebody who is willing to love you no matter what, and will do everything for you. An example of that somebody is Ko-Ngai. She loves her father unconditionally and is willing to do anything for him.  For in the end, love will always win in different ways. The way you expect it to be or the way you are not expecting.

References

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