W(e)aves is an ongoing research-creation of a solo performance work that investigates migration, transcultural identity, queerness, and spiritual philosophies using digital technologies, audiovisuals, text, contemporary dance, and qi-gong.
Inspired by the change in the Chinese character dance "舞", the W(e)aves research sparked from exploring the concepts of Shamanism, Cultural Evolution, and Ancient Chinese pictograms in the past-current sociopolitical context. The investigation extends to shifts in power dynamics through cultural evolution, asking questions like "who gets to erase the meaning of the text and who gets to decide what culture is?"
To develop the basis of these questions, first, we would have to delve back into the role of shamanism in ancient Chinese culture.
Ritualistic acts and reading fortune are deep-rooted in Chinese culture. From reading oracle bones to deciphering books written by the deities, methods of predicting the future are traced back to tales as old as time.
黄帝地母经 The Earth Mother Sutra also known simply as 地母经(Di Mu Jing) is an ancient Chinese prediction/foretelling of earth's events in a 60-year cycle. According to legend, the original copy of the book was written by Huangdi (Yellow Emperor), one of the deities and emperors that helped create China. And the shared legend author of origin is the reason why 地母经(Di Mu Jing) was heavily influenced by the Yellow book 黄历 and shares many incorporated aspects with it. In other words, they work with one another to bring predictions to the calendar scale, which explains why both books are commonly utilized for Fengshui readings.
The predictions work on a 60-year cycle. Chinese zodiacs run in the rotation of 12 animals, beginning with the year of the rat. Every 5 rotations complete the 60 years and dawn the golden rat year. Which is predicted to be extremely bad luck, bad fortune, and hostile for survival.
<aside> 💡 庚子年 = 5 x 12 years = 60 years = and every 60-year cycle a big disaster happens
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<aside> 💡 地母经(Di Mu Jing) tells the way of the world from ancient knowledge and predicts everything from the environment changes, natural disasters, farm yieldings, diseases, population size to people's spirits.
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The 2020 prediction explains:
太岁庚子年，人民多暴卒。
A large number of people dying from diseases,
春夏水淹流，秋冬多饥渴。
Flooding in rivers during spring and summer times, drought in the fall and winter.
高田犹及半，晚稻无可割。
Crops have a worrying yield
秦淮足流荡，吴楚多劫夺。
Migrations of people moving, unsettled, unsafe with dangers