Contributor record · Wave 1, July to August 2026
Contributor CN-01
Chinese (Nanjing); dance training split between China and Canada. Interviewed for 26 minutes (Recorded video interview, Mandarin). Favorite color: Pink, and it has always been pink. Deep-dive colors this session: Red, Pink, Green.
Dublin Core record
- Identifier
- CTP-CN-01
- Title
- Interview with contributor CN-01
- Type
- Oral-history interview with rating card
- Creator
- Chloe Chen, interviewer and curator
- Contributor
- CN-01; attribution to be confirmed in writing
- Date
- Wave 1, July to August 2026
- Language
- cmn (Mandarin)
- Format
- Recorded video interview, Mandarin; 26 min
- Coverage
- Chinese (Nanjing); dance training split between China and Canada
- Subject
- Color meaning; deep dive: Red, Pink, Green
- Relation
- Color records GCMD-001 to GCMD-006; wave 1 dataset
- Rights
- Record text CC BY 4.0; consent given on the recording
- Access
- Public tier: this record. Private tier: name key, recording, card scan, transcript
First associations
Quick-fire round| Red | intense, ardent |
| Blue | the sea |
| Green | life |
| Yellow | Chinese people |
| Black | boring |
| Pink | genuinely complicated |
In their words
From the recordingFew people can wear red well. When I wore red, my grandmother praised how it looked on me. Not a toned-down red: true red, full red.On red, translated from the recording
It is not that these colors are forbidden at a funeral. Their appearance there would be thought provoking. I would wonder whether the color held a special meaning for the person who died.On pink, translated from the recording
In the Toronto dance studios everyone wore black, white, and gray. Back in China I walked into a studio and everyone had pieces in every color. After that I started buying red pants, green pants, pink pants.On green, translated from the recording
Sayings contributed
Romanized, with literal translation- hong hong huo huo: red red fire fire, flourishing
- lü mao zi: a green hat, the mark of a cheated partner
On color in film
The curator's own questionThe Giver: a world drained of color where the first color seen is the red of an apple. Also Barbie, a film built from many different pinks.
Generational note
Would the grandparents answer differently?Elders hold red with a strong sense of nation and family, and are stricter about somber funeral dress.
Luck, taboo, belief
Custom versus convictionRed and orange lucky; the dark navy of her old school uniform reads unlucky to her. She does not believe it: colors are not lucky or unlucky, people are.
Rating card
Five scales, six colors| Color | Like to dislike | Calm to energetic | Traditional to modern | Positive to negative | Strength of cultural meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red | 1 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 7 |
| Blue | 2 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 3 |
| Green | 4 | 7 | 7 | 1 | 3 |
| Yellow | 2 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| Black | 3 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 7 |
| Pink | 1 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 4 |
Cite this interview
Stable ID CTP-CN-01Contributor CN-01, interview by Chloe Chen, July to August 2026 (CTP-CN-01). The Color Testimony Project, wave 1, Global Color Meaning Database (Suse), 2026. Accessed [date]. https://globalcolormeaning.org/fieldwork/cn-01.html.
The identifier CTP-CN-01 is permanent. The citation form follows the oral-history practice documented on the standards page; the exact date of the session is held in the private log and can be supplied to a researcher on request.
Quotes are transcribed from the recording, translated into English by the curator, and lightly cleaned for readability; the original-language transcript is held in the private tier. Short form: Contributor CN-01, interview, summer 2026. The contributor's name and consent record live in the private log, not in this archive.