Probably you have heard Chinese red in news of various
international occasions. It not only has material representations (red clothes,
red china, red decoration etc.), but also has spiritual and emotional
reflections. Here in the following two blogs we are going to discuss the origin of Red element in Chinese
Culture, and some of the common red element in the daily life.
Based on various archaeological evidences, worshiping red
was quite common globally in primitive era, as red represents fire, sun and blood. Sun
comes with warm and light, and it is the driving energy powers everything. As you
know, worshiping Sun was well shared among different continents in
pre-history. Similar to worshiping sun, fire can not only bring light, warm,
and cooked food, but also retreat and defeat wild animals in primitive times.
There were quite a few recorded ancient religions worshiping fire. In ancient
China, one of the pioneering Emperors was called Flame Emperor, and he is
worshiped as god of fire even now in some places of China. Blood is red, and
blood means life, and blood worship was directly related with human's respect
to life. In Eskimo language, RED is the direct translation of blood-like.
Archaeological findings in Zhoukoudian China (Upper Cave Man Archaeological Sites) show that hematite (red color when
oxidized) was applied around the deceased. There are so many forms of blood
worship, including the well-known blood sacrifice. Aside from those worship
origins, red is also found in the form of ancient cave’s wall paintings, and
quite some red potteries were discovered in China.
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| Dawenkou red pottery |
