One soil nurtures one people. The Northeast ancestors who lived in the midst of white mountains and black waters gradually formed a unique way of life and left significant symbols of life through generations of reproduction and growth. Nowadays, with the continuous development of technology, it is difficult for us to understand the wisdom of life contained in traditional Northeastern customs. But upon closer examination, we can still glimpse the wisdom of ancient ancestors’ diligence and resistance to nature in the details.
Today, let’s introduce one of the Eight Great Monsters of Northeast China, the interesting folk custom “Roasting Grandpa with a Fire Pot and Earth Kang”. It is rarely seen in real life, but the wisdom of the Northeast ancestors he represents in improving the living environment and fighting against the long-term cold winter is still praised by people! It has a similar form and fun to the current popular “boiling tea around the stove”!
In Northeast China, the winter is long and cold, so people’s first consideration when building houses is warmth. In order to achieve warmth, Northeasterners build their houses facing north and south, with large windows from the south. This allows more sunlight to enter during the summer, resulting in longer daylight hours inside the house. In winter, the main source of indoor heating is the heated kang. When it comes to the history of the Northeastern Hokage, it has been at least a thousand years. There are records that during the Liao and Jin dynasties, the Jurchen people built a kang as a bed in the “ring room” and “lit the fire below, ate and lived above it”. Later on, the Manchu people inherited the tradition of heated kang and made some developments in the structure of their houses.
The houses of the Manchu people, as soon as they enter the gate, are known as “outer houses” or “outer house land”. The main living room is designed on the east side, while the west side living room is called the “inner room”. A “revolving kang” was built in the house, connecting the south, west, and north sides, commonly known as the “ten thousand character kang”. Due to the warm sunshine on the southern kang and the location of the “kang head” near the stove, it is the hottest. Therefore, it is generally inhabited by the highest ranking master in the family. The Beikang, on the other hand, is used by the younger generations of the family for living or for drying food. In the past, several generations lived together in the same room, eating, drinking, and living on the kang. The residential buildings in Northeast China are arranged in a three room parallel layout facing north and south. The biggest advantage of this layout is that it can directly receive sunlight, which is beneficial for lighting and heating. The house is built with adobe, which is very thick and has great benefits for keeping the house warm.
The length of the houses in Northeast China corresponds to the length of the heated kang. When people rest, they sit cross legged on the kang. Cross legged sitting is also a unique feature in Northeast China. Men can sit however they like, while women are accustomed to pressing both legs under their buttocks, emphasizing that both knees should be aligned up and down. This way, women can have a beautiful sitting posture like a lotus leaf, just like a meditating Guanyin, which is really beautiful. Everyone sat on the kang, smoking baskets and drinking small wine cups, smoking and drinking at the same time, and the matter was settled.
