Our Fears

Gengcheng: frightened, scaredThe Chinese use lion dancing to celebrate many special holidays and festivities.  Businessmen believe a lion  will bring them prosperity, so they hang up a cheng (lit. green), a stalk of vegetable with a red envelope as a prize.  With gongs and drums in the background , the lion dancers will reach for the cheng, sometimes with one man standing on the shoulders of the other.  The expression gengcheng comes from the spectators being afraid that the dancers will … [Read more...]