Cultural heritage is something that is passed down from generation to generation. It is not necessarily something tangible, but something that brings pride and memories. I define cultural heritage as a set of artifacts, practices, and traditions passed down from our ancestors, that we collectively share as a community.
Cultural heritage can be beliefs that are practiced within a culture, such as Chinese people worshiping the guanyin and caishen, which are both gods of Chinese folk religion. Guanyin has roots in Buddhism and represents Avalokiteśvara. It shows how culture is shared between different communities and adopted to different cultural heritages. As Franchi stated in What is Cultural Heritage?, “cultural boundaries are not necessarily well-defined. Artists, writers, scientists, craftsmen, and musicians learn from each other, even if they belong to different cultures.” (Franchi) Cultural heritage does not have to be exclusive to a community as similar practices might be shared in another culture.
Food is what I often associate with my cultural heritage. Every Mid-Autumn Festival, my family would buy mooncakes and observe the moon to celebrate family reunion. Every Dragon Boat Festival, people in China would race on long boats to commemorate the death of the Chinese poet Qu Yuan, who drowned himself in the Miluo River. Interestingly, the reason why people eat zongzhi (rice dumpling) during Dragon Boat Festival is because when Qu Yuan drowned himself, people threw sticky rice balls into the river to prevent fish from eating his body. Behind every tradition and practice, there is a story that embraces the importance of unity, love, and hope. Cultural heritage is a way for people to feel connected to each other, to celebrate the joy of life, and to find a sense of belongingness.
Similar to Día De Los Muertos in Mexican culture, Chinese people also have a day where they celebrate the dead, called Qingming Festival. I vividly remember climbing up great slopes as a child, to visit my ancestors’ tombs in the mountains. On this day, the adults would carry a whole roasted pig and white sugar sponge cake to share with our ancestors. We would also burn precisely three red incense sticks and some joss papers, which connects us with our ancestors and brings them wealth and prosperity in the other world. Qingming Festival is a way for us to connect with our loved ones and give back to our ancestors for all the things they did for us.
There are also many traditional clothing we have, such as the qipao and hanfu, that originated from different time periods. There are architectures like the Forbidden City that highlights the rich history of imperial China. There are pieces of literature that showcases the beauty of the Chinese language and how the language has evolved over the years. In a country with 56 ethnic groups and thousands of years of history, there are simply way too many examples of cultural heritage to all be mentioned. However, the shared history, holidays, and practices make us feel evermore connected to our identity and the uniqueness of our culture.
I find it so interesting that there are stories behind each and every practice, such as the rice balls, because I feel that we often forget the origin of these traditions. However, these stories are incredibly crucial towards understanding why we do what we do. Knowing the history is such a big part of genuinely appreciating culture and it makes me wonder about all the things that I still don’t know.
Hi Yinglin! It just so happens to be that one of my favorite Chinese dish is zhongzi. I have eaten it for years but I never heard of the cultural story behind it. It’s really interesting to hear how the sticky rice balls were used by the Chinese people to prevent fish from devouring Qu Yuan. Can you elaborate more on Qu Yuan? What was he known for, and why was he so loved by the Chinese citizens? Do you prefer the sweet or salty zhongzi??
Actually, if you click on the link with Qu Yuan’s name, you can learn more about his story there. I grew up eating salty zongzi with meat and salted egg yolk, so I definitely prefer that more.
All the cultural foods that you have mentioned brought me feelings of familiarity. I love to eat every dish that you have mentioned and I thought it was very nice of you to write about the history and the meaning behind the dishes so that the cultural could be spread to more people. Food is a big part of cultural and one very important way of spreading and passing culture. You’ve mentioned a lot of dishes but I was wondering what is your favorite Chinese dish? Do you know how to make it?
I don’t necessarily have a favorite dish because I think they all taste really good. Out of the ones I mentioned in the post, I would say zongzi because there are so many memories attached to zongzi for me. My mom did actually teach me how to make zongzi, but I am really bad at wrapping it.