Start Learning Chinese in the next 30 Seconds with
a Free Lifetime Account

Or sign up using Facebook

Meaning of colours and flowers ?

bigal
Been Around a Bit
Posts: 49
Joined: February 15th, 2010 9:36 am

Meaning of colours and flowers ?

Postby bigal » November 21st, 2010 3:55 am

Do the Chinese puit any meaning to colours or the colour of clothing/buildings etc ?

Red is the colour for hapiness ?
yellow (similar to western use of red for redlight areas)
green for cuckold (same as the west - except doesn't seem to be worried about much these days)

what about dark blue/navy blue or khaki green(similar to army uniform colour) or black (colours I wear the most)

Also flower colours and meanings or uses of the colours ?

So say I wanted to give a friend(chinese) some flowers for her birthday any certain flowers or colours I should avoid ?

white - funeral colour and same for chrysanthemums ?

What about gifts ?

Been told never give an umbrella or pear to a couple or someone married.
Never give clocks
What else to avoid ?

Maybe be a couple of good topics for lessons - cultural faux pas' and meanings

Also when are you guys going to have lessons with more of a business focus ?

jane1000288416
Been Around a Bit
Posts: 26
Joined: September 8th, 2010 1:32 am

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

Get 40% OFF
kireto_93_44144
New in Town
Posts: 1
Joined: July 26th, 2018 9:18 pm

Re: Meaning of colours and flowers ?

Postby kireto_93_44144 » July 26th, 2018 9:20 pm

The chinees are the best peoples


---------------------------------------------
Greeting from Bulgaria
http://www.ladiesworld.eu

Return to “General Discussion and Help Learning Chinese”