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What takes brainpower, imagination to decipher?
By Zhang Ruoyu |
January 31, 2011, Monday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
CHINESE riddles are an ancient folk idiom especially popular during the Spring Festival season. Every year, Guyi Garden in Nanxiang Town, is festooned with colorful lanterns with riddles written on them. Guessing the metaphor behind each riddle is both fun and sometimes thought-provoking.
The custom of lantern riddles reaches its height on the 15th day of the first lunar month, which is celebrated as the Lantern Festival in China.
The custom always brings happy childhood memories back to me. Every family in our neighborhood would celebrate the Lantern Festival with colorful lanterns and fireworks. My elder brothers and sisters would write riddles on paper slips and paste them on lanterns.
Since riddles are an inspiring match for the festivity, the event would always attract crowds of people. Although some homemade lanterns might look a bit crude, they didn't detract from the air of excitement around them.
The end of the Lantern Festival also means the end of Spring Festival, after which people return to their daily routines with renewed vigor and spirit.
On each Lantern Festival, Guyi Garden hosts lantern riddle contests, where the revelry mounts in a crescendo of cheerful laughter and jolly drums.
Eight large sets of lanterns and sculptures, depicting auspicious themes like lotus fairies, leaping carps, dragons and phoenixes, lend radiance and beauty to the event.
There are also the "rolling lantern" dance shows, which boast stunning tricks and ingenious lantern designs capable of spurting fireworks.
I still remember my visit to Guyi Garden with my friends during last Lantern Festival. We were admiring the exquisite lanterns and trying to discern the answers to riddles along our winding pathway.
One riddle in particular caught our fancy and provoked a lot of discussion. The riddle asked what the metaphor is for the verse line by the famous poet Li Bai, "The Peach Blossom Pool is 1,000 feet deep, yet not as deep as Wang Lun's friendship to me."
Someone in our group suggested yi wang qing shen, or "deep-seated affection." No, that wasn't the right answer. We scratched our heads and came up with all kinds of guesses. Finally, I blurted out, "Wait a minute! I've got it. Wu yu lun bi," meaning "unparallel to Lun," because Lun was the first name of Li Bai's friend."
Everyone nodded in agreement. That was the right answer indeed. I felt so excited at having solved the riddle, not only because I won a small prize but because the brainstorming with my friends had been such great fun.
The custom of lantern riddles reaches its height on the 15th day of the first lunar month, which is celebrated as the Lantern Festival in China.
The custom always brings happy childhood memories back to me. Every family in our neighborhood would celebrate the Lantern Festival with colorful lanterns and fireworks. My elder brothers and sisters would write riddles on paper slips and paste them on lanterns.
Since riddles are an inspiring match for the festivity, the event would always attract crowds of people. Although some homemade lanterns might look a bit crude, they didn't detract from the air of excitement around them.
The end of the Lantern Festival also means the end of Spring Festival, after which people return to their daily routines with renewed vigor and spirit.
On each Lantern Festival, Guyi Garden hosts lantern riddle contests, where the revelry mounts in a crescendo of cheerful laughter and jolly drums.
Eight large sets of lanterns and sculptures, depicting auspicious themes like lotus fairies, leaping carps, dragons and phoenixes, lend radiance and beauty to the event.
There are also the "rolling lantern" dance shows, which boast stunning tricks and ingenious lantern designs capable of spurting fireworks.
I still remember my visit to Guyi Garden with my friends during last Lantern Festival. We were admiring the exquisite lanterns and trying to discern the answers to riddles along our winding pathway.
One riddle in particular caught our fancy and provoked a lot of discussion. The riddle asked what the metaphor is for the verse line by the famous poet Li Bai, "The Peach Blossom Pool is 1,000 feet deep, yet not as deep as Wang Lun's friendship to me."
Someone in our group suggested yi wang qing shen, or "deep-seated affection." No, that wasn't the right answer. We scratched our heads and came up with all kinds of guesses. Finally, I blurted out, "Wait a minute! I've got it. Wu yu lun bi," meaning "unparallel to Lun," because Lun was the first name of Li Bai's friend."
Everyone nodded in agreement. That was the right answer indeed. I felt so excited at having solved the riddle, not only because I won a small prize but because the brainstorming with my friends had been such great fun.
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