Li 1 Yufei Li Professor Dutta Writing and Inquiry in Academic Context I 4 May 2013 Analysis of Artifacts in Professor Zhous House

I have never thought that I could feel at home in a foreign country before I came to the U.S.A. Thanks to Professor Zhou, she gives me motherly love and helps me reduce anxiety. My life has become much easier because of her. We met in a welcome party hosted by UNCC Chinese Students and Scholars Association. She wore a warm smile and introduced me to a group of students who have already been in the university for more than a year. From our conversation, I knew she is a professor in the college of Belk Business at UNC Charlotte and a devout Christian. Every Friday she invites several students who are willing to know about Christianity to her house, cooks dinner, and holds a Bible study. Frankly speaking, I am curious about religion, so I joined their group and made many friends there. Although the Bible study brought us students together, I found it is the harmonious atmosphere and wonderful friendship more than anything else that keep us tight. The place I choose to study is Professor Zhous cozy house. It is a shelter for a good many Chinese students who study at UNCC. The artifacts I would like to analyze are also from her house. They are presented as follow.

Li 2 1.

Professor Zhou lives with her husband. There are two living rooms in her house. This is the living room where entrance is. There are three carvings of bamboo on the wall. Professor Zhous husband is from Sichuan province which locates in the southwest part of China. Sichuan province is abundant in bamboos. Thats well explains why it is pandas hometown. In China, bamboo symbolizes a man of noble character. Putting carvings of bamboo in the living room shows the hosts good virtue and the essence of Chinese culture at the same time. It is easy to identify that the wood they used for carving is yellowwood. According to Professor Zhou, yellowwood is hard to erode, so they bought this material for the carvings. Additionally, gold is the color that represents wealth, and also represents their wish for a prosperous future. The space limit on the wall determines that three carvings are proper. What is more, three is a number meant for completeness in China. As I was told, they were made in Zhejiang province where is famous for wood carving. After all processes had been done, they were shipped to the U.S.A. These carvings have cost thousands of dollars,

Li 3 so they pay special attention to preserve the carvings. 2.

This picture shows the other living room which is connected to their dining room. As we can see in the picture, there are two porcelain vases on both sides. The ceramic arts could date back to the Neolithic Age which is about 5000 years from now. This is the heritage passed on from Chinese ancestors. It is also the proof of the wonderful Chinese culture. Additionally, the birth place of ceramic arts is Jingdezhen which locates in Jiangxi province, southeast part of China. That is where I come from. I am always proud to hear the praise of ceramic arts. On the porcelain vases, Chinese ink and wash paintings have been printed. These two paintings are all about mountains. The painter stood on the top of the mountain and depicted the lush trees and the floating cloud creating a wonderland. On the right side, there are also several bamboos on the vase. It is obvious that bamboo plays an important role in their hearts. Although they are not antiques, they show the couples love of and pride in Chinese culture. In the middle of the picture, there is a special handwriting. It is Psalm 23 from the Old Testament in Bible. The main idea is to praise God, and to show their great

Li 4 gratitude towards God. The couple is devout Christians. This calligraphy is hanged on their front wall in the living room. Everyone can see this clearly when stepping into the room. As far as I am concerned, this is a combination of Chinese and western culture. Many people transform themselves to complete Americans when they have lived in the U.S.A for a long time. However, they two never forget their identity though they became Christians. They never forget that they have the obligation to carry on Chinese culture even they are not in China. 3.

This is a typical Chinese calendar that I gave to this couple as the gift for Chinese Spring Festival. She hanged it on the door of her balcony. In the middle of the upper part, there is a big which means bless. This is the most auspicious character in Chinese culture and there is a story behind it. The Qing Emperor Kangxi was raised by his grandma Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang. When he was twenty years old, his beloved grandma suffered from a deadly disease. At that time, there was a saying that writing a big on a delicate tiffany can prolong ones life span. Once Emperor Kangxi heard this, he searched for the finest tiffany in the country and wrote

Li 5 the character out with strong love and pure sincerity. What is more, he put the mark of imperial jade seal which represented the emperor s supreme power right above the character. This act was done to make sure that bless would be given to Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang from head to foot throughout the whole body. When she got this character, Xiaozhuang recovered quickly and lived for another fifteen years. Since then, has become an indispensable part of every Chinese house. In the lower part, it is the real calendar. Chinese calendar is a combination of solar and lunar calendar, so in every small square, it is convenient for people to see two different dates in two different numbers. One is in Arabic number which is solar calendar, and one is in Chinese character which represents lunar calendar. This design is not special. The most amazing design is the characters that are written respectively in black and red. They are the suggestions for Chinese people about what they should do and should not do in that day. Take April 22nd for example. The red words said it is good to travel, trade, have a haircut, and get married. The black words said it is better not to bury the dead, start building, and practice rituals. This sounds like magic, but this divination has been inherited from Chinese ancestors since 770 BC. For thousands of years, Chinese people live and predict future in the light of this divination. This knowledge came from the book I Ching, which reveals the development of universe and the order of the changing nature based on materialistic dialects.

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This is the door leading to their garage. There are a lot of fridge magnets on the door. They said they never buy any souvenir except fridge magnets when they were still students. Now they can afford more expensive collections, but they will continue to buy fridge magnets because it has become their habit. These fridge magnets came from different parts of the world like the U.S.A., Canada, Brazil, Australia and China, and contributed a lot to the attractive door display in their house. Looking at the door, I feel motivated because I also want to see the wonderful scenery all over the world like them. They keep remind me to work hard. Besides fridge magnets, there are also many menus on the door held by a little toy paw. These menus give them detailed instruction on how to cook delicious and authentic Chinese dishes. It is fun to read those menus for they not only tell the amount of raw material people should prepare and how to cook, but also clearly state why these dishes should be cooked in certain ways. The instruction is especially useful for students like me. As a result, whenever I go her home, I will surely visit this

Li 7 door. Sometimes we cook dinner together in her house. It feels great that dozens of people prepare the meal at the same time. Especially when we make dumplings, everyone is assigned a certain task and we work together to make delicious Chinese food in a foreign country.

Before I visited Professor Zhous house, I have imagined that one day I will have a big three-floor house with American style furniture and decoration in the U.S.A. if I have enough money. However, I changed my mind. I found that it is so warm and comfortable to decorate the house with Chinese elements. Wherever I go, or whatever I do, I will feel at ease with something about my lovely motherland. I am so lucky that I can have a group of friends to share my happiness and sorrow and a shelter to rest myself. I enjoy the pure friendship and they remind me of the importance of union and social intercourse. After the contact with them, I am impressed by their common quality: an open-minded heart. They open arms to embrace novel ideas, and they are always ready to try new things. I am fascinated by their passion towards life, and I know it is the time to make a difference. At last, I would like to say that I love this house.