The Chinese charade (traditional and simplified Chinese: 字 花, pinyin : zìhuā, Cantonese ( jyutping ): zi 6 faa 1 , Spanish as chifá , chi fa or chifa ) is a series of one hundred numbers that indicate different entities, from animals to objects , with which you play in the ball , a kind of lottery based on bets made on these numbers, on the basis of having dreamed or seen the thing indicated by each one.
Summary
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- 1 Origins
- 2 List with the 36 original bugs
- 3 Banknote denomination (in Havana’s marginal speech)
- 4 Original Chinese charade and other variants
- 5 References
- 6 Sources
- 7 External links
origins
The original charade was thirty-six numbers or bugs . It spread on the island of Cuba after the arrival of Chinese coolies from the year 1847 , brought in semi-slavery especially from southern China, where this was a very popular game until its prohibition in the People’s Republic of China . Currently it appears to be widespread in Southeast Asian areas with strong Chinese communities.
Some of these words associated with a number have been incorporated into Havana’s marginal speech to designate above all the corresponding note of value (see below). On the other hand, the extensive meaning of superiority that the number one possesses, which in turn corresponds to horse , an animal loaded with positive connotations in Chinese culture, has led to this word having such connotations in Cuban Spanish, in opposition to its derogatory traditional connotative use in Spanish.
In the popular culture of the Italian city of Naples there is a system that bears curious similarities to that of the charade, the so-called Neapolitan smorfia .
List with the 36 original bugs
Charade Chinese (with the representation of the thirty-six original numbers or bugs )
- Horse
- Butterfly
- Sailor
- Cat Mouth
- Nun
- Jicotea
- Snail
- Dead
- Elephant
- Big Fish
- Rooster
- Harlot
- Peacock
- Tiger cat
- Dog
- Bull
- Moon
- Small Fish
- Worm
- Fine Cat
- Maja
- Toad
- Steam
- dove
- Fine stone
- Eel
- Wasp
- Goat
- Mouse
- Shrimp
- Deer
- Nasty
- Tiñosa
- Monkey
- Spider
- Hookah
Banknote denomination (in Havana’s marginal speech)
- nun: five peso bill
- fish: ten-dollar bill
- tibor: twenty dollar bill
- fine stone: twenty-five pesos
- shrimp: thirty pesos
- spider: thirty five pesos
Original Chinese charade and other variants
Charade Chinese (table for playing chifa in US communities)
As it was played in China, the charade was based on divination. Overseas Chinese communities also played the lottery using a chifa system , such as the one shown in the illustration to the right. It also has thirty-six names, grouped into nine categories: [1]
- The Four Chong-Un(Traditional Chinese: 狀元, Simplified Chinese: 状元, Pinyin : Zhuàngyuan) (highest grade achievable on exams for the Hanlin Academy )
- The seven successful merchants
- The four Buddhist monks
- The five beggars
- The five generals
- The four ladies
- The four with good luck
- The nun
- The two Taoist monks
