Oct
1
11:00pm
Profs & Pints Online: A Feast of China's Lore.
By Profs and Pints
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Profs and Pints Online presents: “A Feast of China’s Lore,” an autumnal exploration of the Chinese tradition’s myths, folktales, and Moon Festival, with Robert Daly, director of the Wilson Center’s Kissinger Institute on China and the United States and frequent lecturer on Chinese culture.
October 1st marks the day this year that China celebrates its Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival. It’s timed to coincide with the rise of a full harvest moon that, for centuries, has inspired the human imagination, and linked to a long list of tales dealing with love, a moon-dwelling rabbit, immortals, and at least one actual revolution.
It’s a perfect night to sit down to takeout or delivery from a local Chinese restaurant—or the festival’s traditional moon cakes, which you can easily order online if there’s no Chinese bakery or market nearby—and sample the rich tales that have made China an empire of stories.
Robert Daly, a nationally known expert on Chinese culture, will introduce you to Chang E, who flew to the moon and became a goddess, the jade rabbit who lives alongside her and makes medicine that keeps the immortals going, and the actual Moon Cake Uprising of 1368, in which calls for revolution were served up within a tasty seasonal treat.
Moving beyond the day’s celebration, Daly will fill you in on China’s foundational folktales and creation myths, tell you about generals, consorts, and bandits celebrated in Chinese culture, and toss in at least a little ancient Chinese wisdom.
Returning to our current day, Daly will discuss how October 1 marks a twofer for China this year, in that it’s also the anniversary of the 1949 founding of the People’s Republic. President Xi Jinping, who frequently draws on China’s traditions to buttress his rule, can be expected to make it a day of pride in both China’s ancient inheritance and its modern nationalism in a time of trade wars, tech wars, and both internal unrest and tensions with its neighbors. Haunting him, however, has to be a thought: If moon cakes toppled one of China’s past rulers, what can the Internet do?
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