Chinese Umbrella Culture, China Umbrella Museum

While umbrellas are accompanied by people’s lives, people also give their umbrellas their own emotions and concepts, as well as the symbolic meaning based on them. The cultural connotations formed by umbrellas in the historical accumulation are extensive, profound and complex. Its system, its form, its color, and even its Chinese character glyphs have aroused people’s infinite association. It is not only a part of the ceremonial system that separates the people, but also a medium that connects people with common aspirations. It brings joy and auspiciousness to people, but it is also an unspeakable taboo in the folk custom. . It is in this diversified mood that a rich and diverse umbrella culture has been formed.

4•1: Level and Ceremony
In ancient China, the use of umbrellas was strongly hierarchical and became a symbol of social identity. The Emperor used Huagai when he traveled; the Song Dynasty stipulated that: the people and the official umbrellas should all use cyan, and the emperor should use red and yellow; the Ming Dynasty stipulates that the public can only use paper umbrellas, and must not use Luo Yuliang. From the post-Wei period, the umbrella was officially used as an official instrument and became part of the royal etiquette. The etiquette and grading characteristics of umbrellas are not limited to China. In ancient Egypt and Babylon, as well as in Japan, Myanmar and Thailand in the east, this phenomenon is also common.

4•2: Thanksgiving and protest
Umbrellas are also symbols of ordinary people expressing their political opinions. In ancient China, the umbrella played at least in the form of a role that reflected the relationship between officials and the people, and interdependent. This subtle relationship is reflected in the umbrella of the people. When a close-knit official took office, the local people felt the blessings he brought, and sent him a “Universal Umbrella” to sign the names of the people as a souvenir to express gratitude. In the modern society, the role played by the umbrella has changed in the opposite direction and has become a prop to protest against government behavior. When the crowd wants to express different opinions on a certain government resolution, they hold black umbrellas and gather together. This phenomenon is known as the “black umbrella movement.”

4•3: Sacrifice and worship
The supernatural meaning of the structure of the umbrella gives the umbrella a mysterious religious color. The scorpion-shaped umbrella surface reminds people of the sky, and the twenty-eight ribs are considered to correspond to the twenty-eight lodges in the sky. This gives people reason to believe that the umbrella has a sacred nature, has a mysterious power, and also makes people feel mysterious feelings about the umbrella, resulting in a religious feeling of awe, gratitude and dependence. For a long time, the umbrella is not only a cultural carrier for people’s worship of the sky, but also a kind of mold for worshipping God.

4•4: Love and Marriage
The umbrella has the symbol of reunion, auspiciousness, multi-children, warding off evils, and praying for good fortune, which has enabled her to develop a symbolic meaning of centuries of love in the people. Under the influence of the Han nationality, some ethnic groups featuring rice farming in the south have followed suit. Umbrellas are widely used by ethnic minorities during weddings and weddings.

4•5: Celebration and Pleasure
The Chinese characters of “Umbrella” are composed of many people. The umbrella thus becomes a blessing for many descendants; the red umbrella represents joy and has the function of eliminating evil, evil spirits and auspiciousness. Because the umbrella is a must-have tool for the long-distance travel, the umbrella has become a blessing to the travellers, and the wishes of those who have gone to Beijing to study and go out to serve as officials.

4•6: Umbrella Dance and Umbrella
The light and beautiful umbrella has become the carrier of people’s emotions and enters the hall of artistic performance. In China, many regions and nations have their own unique umbrella dance. People use umbrellas as props to sing and dance and express their feelings. Umbrella is a skill show. Performers use umbrellas as props for complex and difficult performances. In the umbrella performance, the umbrella is both beautiful and pleasing to the eye, and is also a tool for the performers to maintain balance.

4•7: Umbrella in poetry
In China, the main function of the umbrella is its practicality. It has not become the object of poetry praise like the fan and the sword. Therefore, there are not many poems about umbrella in history. However, Dai Wangshu, a modern symbolist poet, wrote a book, “Rain Lane”, which presents the red oil-paper umbrella with unprecedented clarity and beauty in Chinese poetry, integrating the poetic and cultural symbolic meaning of the umbrella into the Chinese aesthetic vision. in.

Holding a paper umbrella, alone
Long and long
Lonely rain alley
I hope that every time
a lilac
a girl with a grudge
She is there
Lilac-like color
Fragrant scent
Sorrow like cloves
Grieving in the rain
Grief
She is kneeling in this lonely rain alley
Holding a paper umbrella
like me
Like me
Silently
Cold, clear, and sly
She approached silently
Approaching and throwing
Too much vision
She drifted
Dreamlike
Like a dream
Drifting like a dream
a clove
I am drifting around this girl.
She is far away, far away
Arrived at the fence
Going through this rain alley
In the rain of mourning
Disappeared her color
Dissipated her fragrance
Dissipated, even her
Too much vision
Lilac-like dragonfly
Holding a paper umbrella, alone
Long and long
Lonely rain alley
I hope to drift
a lilac
a girl with a grudge

Chinese Umbrella Museum
The China Umbrella Museum is located in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. The misty rain Jiangnan derives a unique umbrella culture. The aesthetics of the umbrella, the poetry of the umbrella and the symbolic meaning of the umbrella accompany this historical development wheel, and a unique cultural track is crushed.

The China Umbrella Museum is a world-first umbrella theme museum that combines umbrella culture, umbrella history, umbrella stories, umbrella crafts and umbrella art represented by China.

The exhibition area of ​​the China Umbrella Museum is 2411m2, and the temporary exhibition hall has a construction area of ​​527m2. Located in the historical and cultural district of the West Bridge of Gongyi Bridge, with the arched bridge as the landmark, the Hangzhou Arts and Crafts Museum, the Chinese Knives and Sword Museum, the Chinese Fan Museum, and the Handicraft Living Exhibition Hall form a museum full of rich history and culture. The community has become a new cultural landscape in the north of Hangzhou. Walking through the museums is a journey of nostalgia and love with a memory of the canal.

The umbrella is fascinated by the rain. The Chinese Umbrella Museum and the rain are inseparable. The virtual rain scene and small water mist of the multimedia interpretations are used as renderings. The entire venue is dominated by white-walled gray tiles, which reminds people of Dai Wangshu’s pen. In the long and lonely rain alley, the girl with a paper umbrella alone.

The museum also has an interactive area where you can assemble parts for the umbrella, draw umbrellas and repair umbrellas.