Clarity,
Office 17622,
PO Box 6945,
London.
W1A 6US
United Kingdom
Phone/ Voicemail:
+44 (0)20 3287 3053 (UK)
+1 (561) 459-4758 (US).
Usually, big tings had rings...
That's the ting about it. I strive to please...
Me too.
(Don't read this, Lindsay - it'll make you crazy...)
(dobro tunes up his old banjo...plinka plinka plink...plinka plinka plink)
Okay, here we go...
I need a ring for my big ting
Oh won't you help me out
I need a ring for my big ting
Gonna fry me up some sprouts
Gonna ask the Yi to answer me
And clarify my doubts
But I need a ring for my big ting
Can't you help me out?
(Everybody!)
I need a ring... etc
Strictly speaking, food is of course not cooked in the ting but is served in it after being cooked in the kitchen;...
Yeah, you know what they say about those who who draw attention to their Ting....
Hey that picture that Topal posted of his ting gave me an idea. Look at the handle on the ting - it's curved, right? Maybe the old Chinese tings had a similar handle. See, this whole ting is coming from my wondering about xuan4, which is variously translated. Xuan4 is the thing that goes through the ears/handles of the ting. But what was it? 50.5 says it was metal, and 50.6 says it was jade. A jade bar? That would be a TON of jade. Seems unlikely to me. Also seems unlikely that it was a handle like in Topal's self-portrait. Maybe something smaller? Maybe something that was more decorative than functional? Jade breaks easily. I wouldn't use it for toting heavy things with.
Hi Dobro,
Isn't the point of the Ting that it is a sophisticated ritual serving vessel, to be used to hold prepared food that is then distributed by the Head of the Household to the assembled folks at table. The beauty and value of the material ornamenting the rings and their impressiveness as a table decoration seem more important than their strength for hauling heavy carcasses about so Luis' Dragon can BBQ them.
What is really, truly so disconcerting you?
So, okay, the ting is a ritual serving vessel, and the rings are ornamental, and not actually used to carry the damn thing to the table. Okay, now I understand.
By the way, have you ever seen a picture of ting rings?
By the way, have you ever seen a picture of ting rings?
Don't be too sure about the not cooking part. I know Wilhelm asserts this, but the authors of the Commentary on the Decision on 50 had a lot to say about cooking, and the Image too speaks of 'consolidating', which also means 'congealing' - OK, that's not appetising, but it seems to me to be a reference to the changes that come about through cooking.
Also, the structure of the thing seems designed to stand in the fire. I can imagine a design that started out practical eventually becoming for ritual use only - especially given those truly massive ones - but retaining its symbolic associations of cooking, transformation etc.
I've puzzled over a jade bar being too brittle to lift a full ding, too, at least the huge ones. Maybe at this point we're meant to understand that the ding will stay in place? (Jade is good for things you intend to endure forever, as it never corrodes. Also see zhi gua.)
Thus, not likely your ting would be hot or otherwise a burden to pick up, most of its weight would be in the bronze not the ribs or other BBQ put inside for ritual dinner delight.
Frank, what's with the barbeque theme of late? Just the nice weather? I'm getting jealous.
we just bought a George Foreman very simple electric BBQ grill
Have you seen my website? I finally got everything basic I have to say out in almost intelligible English.
Aha...
Yes, it looks great, and thank you for the typed-out Gia-Fu. Interesting and in some parts anxiety-inducing (like the elections). I get lost from some of the zodiac content because I don't know enough of that.
I'll bet the early ones were used for cooking, and I'll bet the holes in the ears had a pole put through to lift it up and move it around. I'll bet that if the more recent, fancy jobs were ritual vessels, their design and at least part of their function was based on a real prototype, a real cooking vessel.
Back in the early days in Europe, we used to spit whole pigs and serve them up table central, complete and whole on a platter with an apple in their mouth. My point is that early diners were rather more primitive in some ways (or less fastidious) than we are. A lot of us still eat pig, but we don't like it looking back at us from the table before we tuck in. Dining fashions evolve. Maybe tings do too.
Dobro, when one sings out and jokes around, that is usually an expression of some inner upset or disconcerted-ness though Meng (from other threads) expresses his inner upset through the other end of the alimentary canal...
Clarity,
Office 17622,
PO Box 6945,
London.
W1A 6US
United Kingdom
Phone/ Voicemail:
+44 (0)20 3287 3053 (UK)
+1 (561) 459-4758 (US).