Postby jane1000288416 » November 22nd, 2010 7:04 am
Hi Bigal,
It's a very interesting topic you mentioned. In Chinese culture, we do have some special meanings attached to certain colors. For example, red is traditionally associated with good luck and happiness because it's the color of the sun---the origin of the world. Plus it's also the color of our national flag, so it has became a particularly auspicious color for Chinese people. It is the major color used on Chinese wedding. Yellow especially golden yellow is traditionally a Chinese royal color. In the old days, only the emperor and empress can wear the color yellow. And you are also right on that the yellow is related to sex.Similar to yellow, the color purple is also somehow related to the royal family or the heavenly god in Chinese folk story. That is why the forbidden city in Chinese is called "紫禁城" purple forbidden city. Purple is also associated with the only religion that is native to China --- the Taoism. White is traditionally a funeral color and it's considered unlucky so people try to aviod it in certain situations (although wearing the white wedding dress came from western culture has become very popular in China in the past two decades.) Black color is a more interesting color for it seemed that it had been given two contradictory meanings in Chinese culture. On the one hand, black is the color for being fair and honest which is used in Beijing opera face painting. On the other hand, it is also associated with evil and dark power. Green is another color that has a double meaning in Chinese culture. Traditionally, those "Robinhood" type Chinese men in the ancient time were called "绿林好汉" (green forest good men). It is also a color associated with low social class and cuckold since the yuan dynasty.
Thanks for asking about this so I could look up and read up on this topic. Maybe this is not too much.
Jane