Skip to main content
Home

Information for:

  • Alumni
  • Applicants
  • Current Students
  • Staff
  • Parents
  • Job Vacancies
  • Covid-19
  • Cymraeg
My country:

Main Menu

    • Study Options
      • Study Home
      • Why Study at Bangor?
      • Undergraduate Study
      • Postgraduate Taught Study
      • Postgraduate Research
      • Part-time Courses
      • January Start Courses
      • Degree Apprenticeships
      • Study Abroad
      • Work Experience
    • Study Advice
      • Apply
      • Already Applied?
      • Fees and Finances
      • Scholarships and Bursaries
      • Get Ready for University
    • Explore Bangor
      • Open Days and Visits
      • Virtual Student Experience

    Find a Course

    Order a Prospectus

    • Student Life
      • Student Life Home
      • Bangor and the Area
      • Social Life and Entertainment
      • Accommodation
      • Clubs and Societies
      • Sport
      • Virtual Student Experience
    • Your Experience at Bangor
      • Student Support
      • Skills and Employability
      • Study or Work Abroad
      • Fees and Finances

    Student Profiles

    Student Videos and Vlogs

    • Choose Bangor
      • International Home
      • Why Bangor?
      • Location
      • Accommodation
      • Student Support
      • Contact Us
    • Apply
      • Entry Requirements
      • Tuition Fees and Scholarships
      • How to Apply
      • Already Applied
      • Study Abroad
      • Exchanges

    Country Specific Information

    Join us on a Virtual Open Day

    Bangor University International College

    Covid-19 Information

    • Research
      • Research Home
      • About Our Research
      • Research in our Academic Schools
      • Research Institutes and Centres
      • Research Portal
      • Research, Innovation and Impact Office (RIIO)
      • Energy
      • Research News
    • Postgraduate Research Opportunities
      • Postgraduate Research
      • Doctoral School
    • Events and Training Opportunities
      • Researcher Development
    • The University
      • About Us
      • Our Mission
      • Strategy 2030
      • Annual Review
      • Our Location
      • Academic Schools and Colleges
      • Services and Facilities
      • University Management and Governance
      • Vice Chancellor’s Office
      • Working with Business
      • Working with the Community
      • Sustainability
      • Contact Us
    • Working for Us
      • Job Vacancies
    • University Management and Governance
      • Policies and Procedures
      • Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement
    • University and the Community
      • Pontio
      • Sports Facilities
      • Conference Facilities
      • Places to Eat and Drink
      • Public Events
      • Widening Access
      • Services to Schools
    • Business Services
      • Business Services Home
    • Collaboration Hub
      • Collaboration Hub
      • Funding for Collaborative Research and Development (R&D) & Innovation
      • Business Facilities and Networks
      • Consultancy, Specialist Expertise and Knowledge
      • Commercialisation and Intellectual Property (IP)
      • Student Placements and Internships in Business & Enterprise
      • Training and Continuing Professional Development
      • Degree Apprenticeships
    • Conferencing and Business Dining
      • Conferencing Facilities
      • Business Dining
    • Contacts
      • Research, Innovation and Impact Office (RIIO)
      • Get In Touch
    • News
      • Current News
      • Research News
      • Student News
    • Events
      • Events

    • Study Options
      • Study Home
      • Why Study at Bangor?
      • Undergraduate Study
      • Postgraduate Taught Study
      • Postgraduate Research
      • Part-time Courses
      • January Start Courses
      • Degree Apprenticeships
      • Study Abroad
      • Work Experience
    • Study Advice
      • Apply
      • Already Applied?
      • Fees and Finances
      • Scholarships and Bursaries
      • Get Ready for University
    • Explore Bangor
      • Virtual Open Days and Visits
      • Virtual Student Experience

    Find a Course

    Order a Prospectus

    • Student Life
      • Student Life Home
      • Bangor and the Area
      • Social Life and Entertainment
      • Accommodation
      • Clubs and Societies
      • Sport
      • Virtual Student Experience
    • Your Experience at Bangor
      • Student Support
      • Skills and Employability
      • Study or Work Abroad
      • Fees and Finances

    Student Profiles

    Student Videos and Vlogs

    • Choose Bangor
      • International Home
      • Why Bangor?
      • Location
      • Student Support
      • Contact Us
    • Apply
      • Entry Requirements
      • Tuition Fees and Scholarships
      • How to Apply
      • Already Applied
      • Study Abroad
      • Exchanges

    Country Specific Information

    Join us on a Virtual Open Day

    Bangor University International College

    Covid-19 Information

    • Research
      • Research Home
      • About Our Research
      • Research in our Academic Schools
      • Research Institutes and Centres
      • Research Portal
      • Research, Innovation and Impact Office (RIIO)
      • Energy
      • Research News
    • Postgraduate Research Opportunities
      • Postgraduate Research
      • Doctoral School
    • Events and Training Opportunities
      • Researcher Development
    • The University
      • About Us
      • Our Mission
      • Strategy 2030
      • Annual Review
      • Our Location
      • Academic Schools and Colleges
      • Services and Facilities
      • University Management and Governance
      • Vice Chancellor’s Office
      • Working with Business
      • Working with the Community
      • Sustainability
      • Contact Us
    • Working for Us
      • Job Vacancies
    • University Management and Governance
      • Policies and Procedures
      • Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement
    • University and the Community
      • Pontio
      • Sports Facilities
      • Conference Facilities
      • Places to Eat and Drink
      • Public Events
      • Widening Access
      • Services to Schools
    • Business Services
      • Business Services Home
    • Collaboration Hub
      • Collaboration Hub
      • Funding for Collaborative Research and Development (R&D) & Innovation
      • Business Facilities and Networks
      • Consultancy, Specialist Expertise and Knowledge
      • Commercialisation and Intellectual Property (IP)
      • Student Placements and Internships in Business & Enterprise
      • Training and Continuing Professional Development
      • Degree Apprenticeships
    • Conferencing and Business Dining
      • Conferencing Facilities
      • Business Dining
    • Contacts
      • Research, Innovation and Impact Office (RIIO)
      • Get In Touch
    • News
      • Current News
      • Research News
      • Student News
    • Events
      • Events

Information for:

  • Alumni
  • Applicants
  • Current Students
  • Staff
  • Parents
  • Job Vacancies
  • Covid-19
My country:

Search

Close

Breadcrumb

Share this page:
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Cymraeg

Share this page:
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn

Turning Red’s portrayal of ancestor worship highights an important part of Chinese culture

This article by Sasha Wang, lecturer in Chinese Studies is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Disney’s new Pixar film, Turning Red, follows Meilin “Mei” Lee, a 13-year-old living in Toronto, Canada. She’s an average teenager contending with all the things girls her age do (boys, friends, school). However, she has the added pressure of making her strict and overprotective mother.

Family is particularly important to the Lees, who run a temple (祠堂 ci tang in Chinese) dedicated to their ancestor, Sun Yee, who is said to have had a mystic connection to red pandas. As it turns out, this connection is much more literal than is touted to visitors to the temple. In fact, every woman in the family is cursed to become a giant red panda as they come of age – a blessing that now is viewed as curse.

Chaos and confusion ensues as Mei navigates this change. It’s a wonderful story about navigating culture and familial expectations as well as finding out who you are within all of that. As Mei says herself:

Honouring your parents sounds great, but if you take it too far, well, you might forget to honour yourself.

Ancestor worship has a long-standing tradition in Chinese culture that extends beyond the dead and also includes living elders, like parents. While many elements of the film are fantastical, much of Disney’s portrayal of this tradition stands true.

Filial piety (孝 xiao), meaning loyalty and deference to your elders, is one of the most important moral tenets in Chinese society. At the beginning of Turing Red, Mei is seen kneeling before her parents and offering them tea as a sign of honour and respect, as the ones who have provided a roof above her head and food on her plate.

We also see her mother praising her elders as she hears of Mei’s achievements. Whether great or small, she does not take the credit but rather says: “Our ancestors will be very proud of you.”

In China, particularly in rural areas of the south and north, ancestral temples are not only places to honour and remember deceased ancestors but also function at different levels within a local community. They can sometimes be used as a place of disciplining and punishing wicked or misbehaving family members in the presence of all the ancestral tablets and shrines. They also sometimes function as a place for electing the head of clans or villages.

This also echoes Mei and her family members in Turning Red. Generations meet with local elders in their ancestral temple to discuss Mei’s bittersweet ability to turn into a red Panda and how to control this monster. It is also portrayed as a centre for the local community.

Chinese traditional festivals of ancestor worship

Ancestor worship goes beyond the temple, however, and in China there are several festivals devoted to this practice.

Zhong Yuan festival (also known as the Hungry Ghost Festival) is a typical example closely associated with ancestor worship in China. Falling on the 15th night of the seventh month, the Chinese worship their ancestors by offering different items, ranging from burnt paper money for use in heaven, to other paper effigies such as houses, cars and clothes. By doing so, the living communicate with their buried ancestors.

As well as Zhong Yuan, other Chinese festivals such as the Spring Festival (known as Chinese new year, 春节 Chunjie), and Qing Ming festival (known as Tomb-Sweeping Day, 清明节 Qing Mingjie), also involve honouring and worshipping ancestors. In 2008, Qing Ming festival was officially identified by the Chinese government as a public holiday, so that individuals could be off work and visit their ancestors’ tombs.

Publication date: 24 March 2022

Home

About Us

Academic Schools and Colleges

  • School of Arts, Culture and Language
    • Home
    • About the School
      • Our Location
      • Bangor & the Area
      • Community Engagement
      • Studying in Welsh
    • Our Staff
    • Undergraduate Study
      • Year Abroad Options
        • Contacts and Blogs
        • Your Options
        • Before you leave
        • Living Abroad
          • Living in France / Belgium / Switzerland / Martinique
          • Living in Germany / Austria
          • Living in Italy
          • Living in Spain and Latin America
        • Studying Abroad
        • Supporting You
        • Employability and the Year Abroad
        • Year Abroad Forms
      • Language Links
    • Postgraduate Taught Study
    • Postgraduate Research Study
      • Overview
    • Order a Prospectus
    • Creative Bangor
    • Languages for All
    • English Language Centre for Overseas Students (ELCOS)
      • About ELCOS
      • 中文
      • اللغة العربية
      • Courses
        • Pre-sessional courses
        • Language Improvement Courses
        • Summer courses
        • How to apply
      • How to apply
      • Useful Information
      • Modules for overseas students studying at Bangor
      • News
      • Events
      • Staff
      • Contact us
    • Research
      • Languages Research
        • Staff Research Specialisms
        • Research Forum
        • Centre for Galician Studies in Wales
          • Research
          • Staff
          • Galicia 21 Journal
        • European Travellers to Wales
      • Literatures Research
        • Conferences
      • Linguistics Research
      • Research Seminars
      • Research Ethics
    • Videos
    • Events & Conferences
    • News
    • Contact Us
Home

Follow Us

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn

Bangor University

Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2DG, UK

+44 (0)1248 351151

Contact Us

Visit Us

Maps & Directions

Policy

  • Legal Compliance
  • Modern Slavery Act 2015 Statement
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Privacy and Cookies
Map

Bangor University is a Registered Charity: No. 1141565

© 2020 Bangor University