Qing

I have an old suitcase that I use for storage of notes I take during travel.  I am old-fashioned: on trips I write on paper and yes, I use a pen! Somehow it helps me think before I write, just like an old mechanical camera helps me frame what I see before depressing the shutter. It is all about becoming one with the experience rather than impersonally, like typing on a laptop or using a digital “image maker”, record impressions and store them in the Cloud.

This morning, I needed that suitcase as a last resort for transporting household materials. So, dusted it off and proceeded to emptying the content. A lot of handwritten papers for which I did not have time to read so stored them in a duffle bag. But one notepad got my attention. It s pages had chronicles from a trip to Taiwan, especially from a visit to its first capital Tainan.   It read “September 24, 2001.” I took it out of the pile of papers and read the first line.

“qing chu yú lán er sheng yú lán” I had transcribed phonetically, and in parenthesis wrote “A student could surpass his teacher just as the Qing can surpass its color identity.”

Hmm.  Thirteen years later I had no recollection of this saying but vividly remembered my first visit to Tainan which I visited since I was invited as an educator. Indeed, Tainan’s Confucian Temple was Taiwan’s first official school built by Koxinga’s son in 1666. It is also among the oldest Confucius temples and rich in inscribed Confucius ‘philosophical legacy and his teachings. 

I recall the inscription above the door of one its sections “Anyone can be taught”, but vaguely recall what Qing represented.  So I read more through my notes.

“Qing is not a color but the essence of color. It can be green, gray, blue or black. I do not know of an equivalent word or concept in the languages I understand.” I reread a couple of times what I had written and thought “well, that is helpful!’

Then, and to my surprise, I started recalling a conversation about Qing with the wife of Tainan’s hospital administrator’s wife who was my guide on tour. Qing associated with another color can take on a philosophical or descriptive meaning. A few lines later I had written “Seeing my excitement about the temple and Confucius, she said that I was Qing-Green meaning very youthful.

… I stopped reading and thought about the essay I had written about the color black^*. I understand what black represent both as a photographer and a student of sociology and cultural diversity. Black is the deepest of colors, it is the color of the universe even when illuminated by zillions of stars, and it is the color we Westerners rarely associate with joy and beatitude. But black, or any other color, do not need an “identity adjuster” like Qing to acquire a new meaning.

However, it may be that adding black (or any other color) to a word changes the meaning and message of the word. Consider “Black Friday”, “Blackmailing”, “White lie”, “Red handed”, “Blue murder”… While languages used in the West may not have Qing, do we still associate color to feelings, reactions, and events the same way? And when we go a bit deeper than the syntax and mode of expression, do we describe our surroundings and especially our inner selves with the same fears, love and willingness to celebrate discoveries and virtues?

I am not even close to understanding the introduction to Chinese culture, but I fancy to think that indeed “anyone can be taught” and that my curiosity to learn is a good first step….

PS/ As I was hopping, a colleague from China wrote back with additional clarification-- many thanks! Here is her note:
"Qing, it is the word we use for the color of indigo. As you know a rainbow is composed of seven colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. You can see the indigo comes from blue but darker than blue. It means "surpass". So, "Qing chu yu lan sheng yu lan" means something surpasses its matrix. A child might be much more excellent than his/her parents; the young generation is more capable than their ancestors, and a student could surpass his/her teachers, etc. 

Qing, also means "young". In Chinese, the youth is "Qing Chun (Chun means spring)", Youth, is the spring of life if we chronically define our life periods by seasons. Childhood is the early spring. The color of baby green vegetables is "Qing"; in this case, it is fresh green."

* http://vahezen.blogspot.com/2014/07/black-sheep-and-doctors-white-coat.html

July 12, 2014 (original blog) and July 14, 2014 (revised page)

© Vahé Kazandjian, 2014