Helpful Chinese New Year-themed Keywords and Ideas
Hey there fellow Polycount buddies, Chinese New Year is around the corner and Valve recently announced their upcoming event which tied to this auspicious season! As a Malaysian Chinese, it's a tradition to celebrate CNY with family, similar to Christmas. To welcome our Dota 2 players from China into our Dota 2 Store and prevent cultural appropriation from happening (not cool), here are a bunch of resources and references I've compiled that are related to CHINESE NEW YEAR.
Summary:
Chinese New Year begins on the first lunar January and ends on the full moon 15 days later, a season where every Chinese ethnics held various activities to celebrate such as having a reunion dinner with family, spring cleaning, setting off firecrackers and visiting your relatives. The celebration was traditionally highlighted with a religious ceremony given in honor of Heaven and Earth, the gods of the household and the family ancestors. Most importantly it's all about prosperity.
Keywords:
Plants and Flowers
Symbolises growth and rebirth. Types of plants include plum blossom, bamboo, peony, orchid and lily.
Mandarin Oranges
An important etiquette when visiting your family and relatives, symbols of abundance and good fortune
Animals
This is the Year of the Horse, it's apparent that horses are well celebrated this 2014. It's not recommended to use other Zodiac animals. Dragon, phoenix, fish, Qi Lin are auspicious animal symbols.
Fireworks
It was believed the loud noises are able to scare the evil. Drums and gongs are used in a lion dance performance (see below)
Gold
Not the colour, I'm talking about the money money money. Often packed in red envelopes, a tradition for married couples to give to single adults or children. Getting money as presents, how awesome is that!?
Lion Dance
A form of traditional dance in which two dancers mimic a lion's movements in a costume. Often visits residential homes or offices to perform the "cai ching" custom, plucking vegetables oranges tied to a money packet. Dragon dance is similar to this performance.
Clothings
Just to inform you that Qipao (Cheongsam), a 1920 Shanghai gown for women are worn in the MODERN days. Traditional female clothings in the past are Hanfu. It's important to wear new clothes to celebrate CNY, avoid ragged or old designs.
Colours
Auspicious colours for the season are red, green, pink, yellow, orange and gold. Avoid the colour black and white.
Fortune Cookies [X]
Note that this DOESN'T belong to China nor related to CNY as it first appeared in California in the early 1900s, based on a Japanese cracker recipe and often consumed by Americans. We do not have such snacks in our culture, please refrain from relating this to the Chinese!!!
I think that wraps up most of the stuff! This is just a guideline for the CNY season. Let me know in the replies if you want to add more info! Your ideas shouldn't be limited to just CNY! If you feel like using the Chinese mythology feel free to give it a try! Make sure that you did a thorough research on the subject (applies to other culture as well) Should you have any questions related to the Chinese culture, do not hesitate to ask (especially Chinese characters). I'd be glad to help.
Have fun and good luck guys! ヾ(＾∇＾)
Summary:
Chinese New Year begins on the first lunar January and ends on the full moon 15 days later, a season where every Chinese ethnics held various activities to celebrate such as having a reunion dinner with family, spring cleaning, setting off firecrackers and visiting your relatives. The celebration was traditionally highlighted with a religious ceremony given in honor of Heaven and Earth, the gods of the household and the family ancestors. Most importantly it's all about prosperity.
Keywords:
Plants and Flowers
Symbolises growth and rebirth. Types of plants include plum blossom, bamboo, peony, orchid and lily.
Mandarin Oranges
An important etiquette when visiting your family and relatives, symbols of abundance and good fortune
Animals
This is the Year of the Horse, it's apparent that horses are well celebrated this 2014. It's not recommended to use other Zodiac animals. Dragon, phoenix, fish, Qi Lin are auspicious animal symbols.
Fireworks
It was believed the loud noises are able to scare the evil. Drums and gongs are used in a lion dance performance (see below)
Gold
Not the colour, I'm talking about the money money money. Often packed in red envelopes, a tradition for married couples to give to single adults or children. Getting money as presents, how awesome is that!?
Lion Dance
A form of traditional dance in which two dancers mimic a lion's movements in a costume. Often visits residential homes or offices to perform the "cai ching" custom, plucking vegetables oranges tied to a money packet. Dragon dance is similar to this performance.
Clothings
Just to inform you that Qipao (Cheongsam), a 1920 Shanghai gown for women are worn in the MODERN days. Traditional female clothings in the past are Hanfu. It's important to wear new clothes to celebrate CNY, avoid ragged or old designs.
Colours
Auspicious colours for the season are red, green, pink, yellow, orange and gold. Avoid the colour black and white.
Fortune Cookies [X]
Note that this DOESN'T belong to China nor related to CNY as it first appeared in California in the early 1900s, based on a Japanese cracker recipe and often consumed by Americans. We do not have such snacks in our culture, please refrain from relating this to the Chinese!!!
I think that wraps up most of the stuff! This is just a guideline for the CNY season. Let me know in the replies if you want to add more info! Your ideas shouldn't be limited to just CNY! If you feel like using the Chinese mythology feel free to give it a try! Make sure that you did a thorough research on the subject (applies to other culture as well) Should you have any questions related to the Chinese culture, do not hesitate to ask (especially Chinese characters). I'd be glad to help.
Have fun and good luck guys! ヾ(＾∇＾)
Replies
Even among the Chinese, it's sometimes confused with the Vermilion Bird (Zhu Que), which is usually depicted with peacock feather tails and bird-of-paradise-like plumes. In Japan, the Zhu Que is called 'Suzaku':
The original Fenghuang is not as fancy as the Zhu Que so people just go with elements of the latter. Laymen is more familiar with what's more popular, after all.
Is Lotus flower related too? I concepted a set for ember with this theme
And just figured out that I have a ogre magi set with phoenix thematic in progress <O>
MagnoHusein> It's related not only for Chinese but Indians and Asian religions. Lotus flower is a divine symbol of purity.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Chinese_melee_weapons
http://www.pinterest.com/bunnyparty/dota-2-workshop-inspiration/
Here's a sweet website with some real basic start information on styles of dress, architecture and other facts about alot of the minorities. Hope it helps as a spring board
https://www.google.com.sg/search?q=chinese+gold&espv=210&es_sm=93&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=O4uzUrXKGsj_rQfn3IDgDw&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1280&bih=908
The boat-shaped ingots and coins with the square hole in the centre are very traditional. Similar wealth themed motifs might include chinese words for prosperity (upside down during chinese new year):
http://www.foreigners-in-china.com/images/chinese-new-year-symbols-Fu_.jpg
This is the same chinese word upright:
http://brianlinton.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/good-luck-fu-chinese-calligraphy.jpg
Also worth considering are lanterns. There are various sorts, the round ones which actually light up, and those made from "ang bao" (red packets) or various papers that are purely origami (sorta):
https://www.google.com.sg/search?q=chinese+new+year+lantern&espv=210&es_sm=93&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=HIyzUuCXG4myrge7woGYBg&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1280&bih=908
Ang bao are one of the strongest motifs related to Chinese New Year, though they are also given at special occasions like weddings, birthdays etc. As mentioned by cottonwings they usually contain money, in even values, avoiding the number 4. (4 is translated as "si" with different pronunciations, generally equivalent to the chinese word for death). On a similar note avoid white.
https://www.google.com.sg/search?q=chinese+new+year+lantern&espv=210&es_sm=93&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=HIyzUuCXG4myrge7woGYBg&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1280&bih=908#es_sm=93&espv=210&q=ang+bao&tbm=isch
Finally don't forget that the chinese dragon is more snake than western dragon. The dragon is a traditional symbol of strength, so will be popular regardless of the year. The symbolism is so strong that parents want babies born in the dragon year over those born in the other years, just to illustrate.
As for the themes of wood, metal etc that come with the zodiac creatures, they are useful for adding themes to work with, but are generally not expressed as Chinese New Year visuals. How dragons, lions etc look between New Years does not change.
And yes, fortune cookies are a massive western stereotype that don't exist in traditional Chinese culture. If you're looking for a food related motif, consider something like pineapple tarts or various snacks:
https://www.google.com.sg/search?q=chinese+new+year+lantern&espv=210&es_sm=93&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=HIyzUuCXG4myrge7woGYBg&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1280&bih=908#es_sm=93&espv=210&q=pineapple+tart&tbm=isch
If you meant the Chinese guardian lion as a mask for him, I wouldn't recommend it unless you can find a good way to combine the elements with his demonic base.
Question, I was born in the year of the rabbit so I want to make a set centered around that. Is this considered bad form, to celebrate your animal on a different year?
Beautiful! My only suggestion make the frames of the glasses darker so it doesnt look like he is eyeless from afar. Otherwise great concept!
i was going to work on a jiang shi TA set
I see this trend in a lot of the Chinese themed items where it's just taking the Chinese theme but not taking into consideration the character for which it's made. You have to put the thing that you're making into the context of the character, not the other way around. Instead, many of these Chinese themed items attempt to put the character into the context of Chinese culture which looks awkward at best and unfitting at worst. The same goes for courier, except that here it's in the context of the established art style. What I'm trying to say is: How would this traditionally Chinese item look in the world of Dota, specifically how would the character that's wearing it have made it his own - Where's the connection between the character and the item?
What not to do: take X from Chinese mythology, port it to Doto - it just doesn't fit. The two styles are vastly different and it's our job to somehow bring them together. Really study how Valve did this with Earth, Storm and Fire Spirit to see great examples of this.
chinese like number 8. not 4.... that;s why when you enter chinese building normally their fourth floor normally labelled as 3A... sometimes floor 14 will labelled as 13A...
sometimes whole floor list will become like this if they take number 13 as bad luck number too...
1,2,3,3A,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,12A,12B,15,16,17 etc....
also i notice they quite like Octagon shape too
fun question: who is chinese in this thread? :P
so far exclude me, i know 2 people in here.
haha me to but i have at least proper chinese education in my country :P
malaysia
try use "馬" for the text. then should be great!
there is ... horse word embedded on the plane. just not square shape... i personally prefer a proper written word in square shape too :P
http://rlv.zcache.com/chinese_zodiac_horse_symbol_postcard-rc43f652b6adf4cb8a33212bcb4b9d025_vgbaq_8byvr_512.jpg
http://www.chinesenames.org/chinese-symbols/images/horse-4.gif
http://www.belzmuseum.org/web/media/images/character_horse.jpg
those 3 words are horse, correct. chinese word, in case you want copy and paste in google for search purpose: 马 (simplified character)， 馬 (traditional character)