It seems that this type of ‘Spring’ (New Year) Ritual dates to the Sui Dynasty (581-618 CE) – the same time-era that the Imperial Court of China is said to have made diplomatic (and cultural) contact with the King of the ‘Liu Qiu’ (琉球) Islands – known today as ‘Ryukyu’.
琉 (liu2) = sparkling-stone, jade, mining-stone (from previously uncultivated land), precious-stone, arriving, and breaking through (to a place far away – and situated on the fringes of the known world)
球 (qui2) = beautiful-jade, polished-jade, refined-jade, jade percussion instrument, earth, ball and pearl.
The Chinese Mariners must have been taken with the beauty of the Ryukyu Islands – as the term ‘玉’ (yu4) appears as the left-hand particle of both descriptive ideograms – and is, therefore, the dominant element of description.
Chinese Dragons inhabit water – but can fly through the air if they choose to. Northern Chinese people perform ‘Lion’ Dances (using ‘Lions’ which look like a shaggy-dog) – apparently originating from tales of lions living in India (when the Chinese Emperor asked His Officials what a ‘Lion’ looked like? – they described a ‘dog’ – because that is all they knew).
Hakka people – who are originally from Central and Northern China perform the ‘Phoenix’ Dance. A Chinese Phoenix looks like a Dragon (with different and darker colouring) – but has a central horn (like a Unicorn) on its forehead. Where this idea comes from no one is sure – but there is a rumour that Hakka people are a mixture of Han Chinese and the invading European ‘Hunnish’ Tribes that plagued the Northern borders of China thousands of years ago! The Hakka (Guest People) are responsible for the Qin and Han Dynasties and have spent their time migrating forever Southward over the centuries (bringing their Northern language, culture and martial arts with them).
Of course, the Chinese side of my family is Hakka Chinese – and my Chinese grandmother (born in an ancient Hakka village in the New Territories of Hong Kong) possesses exactly the same mDNA as an (Evenk) female living thousands of miles away in Siberia! This data was provided to me during an email exchange (probably about 18-years ago) with Prof. Sykes of Oxford University – who had overseen the processing of our DNA results. He contacted me due to the unusual DNA results we received. Interestingly, the colour preferred by Hakka people is ‘Black’ – and there are even interesting myths and legends of contact being made with Africa.
SANGHA KOMMUNE (SSR) 