Contributor record · Wave 1, July to August 2026
Contributor CN-03
Chinese; student with family ties in the United States. Interviewed for 16 minutes (Recorded video interview, Mandarin). Favorite color: Blue, always. Deep-dive colors this session: Red, Pink, Blue.
Dublin Core record
- Identifier
- CTP-CN-03
- Title
- Interview with contributor CN-03
- Type
- Oral-history interview with rating card
- Creator
- Chloe Chen, interviewer and curator
- Contributor
- CN-03; attribution to be confirmed in writing
- Date
- Wave 1, July to August 2026
- Language
- cmn (Mandarin); eng (English)
- Format
- Recorded video interview, Mandarin; 16 min
- Coverage
- Chinese; student with family ties in the United States
- Subject
- Color meaning; deep dive: Red, Pink, Blue
- 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 | not captured cleanly on the recording |
| Blue | the sky |
| Green | summer mint |
| Yellow | food |
| Black | not captured cleanly on the recording |
| Pink | Hello Kitty |
In their words
From the recordingYou must never write a name in red ink. In China people take this seriously. Abroad, nobody worries about it.On red, translated from the recording
Growing up I always avoided pink, even pink stationery, afraid of being called girly. After going abroad the label faded. I skip pink now simply because I do not like it, not because the color does not suit men.On pink, translated from the recording
In China you cannot casually turn someone's photo black and white. I once used a black and white profile photo and thought it looked cool. In China you do not do that lightly. (Black and white portraits belong to funerals.)On black, translated from the recording
Sayings contributed
Romanized, with literal translation- hong yun dang tou: great red luck overhead
- lan tian bai yun: blue sky, white clouds
On color in film
The curator's own questionDisney color-codes its morality: heroes in bright, light palettes, villains in dark ones. In the palace drama Story of Yanxi Palace, one consort dresses in pale, plain colors until her fall; afterward her wardrobe turns dark blue and black as the heart darkens.
Generational note
Would the grandparents answer differently?Taboos would be answered much the same; elders would simply know more of the sayings.
Luck, taboo, belief
Custom versus convictionOrange lucky, white unlucky, and he believes none of it. His color for love is violet, a purple warmed with red: the only contributor not to answer pink or red.
Rating card
Five scales, six colors| Color | Like to dislike | Calm to energetic | Traditional to modern | Positive to negative | Strength of cultural meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red | 3 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 6 |
| Blue | 1 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 6 |
| Green | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 |
| Yellow | 5 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 4 |
| Black | 3 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 7 |
| Pink | 6 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 7 |
Cite this interview
Stable ID CTP-CN-03Contributor CN-03, interview by Chloe Chen, July to August 2026 (CTP-CN-03). The Color Testimony Project, wave 1, Global Color Meaning Database (Suse), 2026. Accessed [date]. https://globalcolormeaning.org/fieldwork/cn-03.html.
The identifier CTP-CN-03 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-03, interview, summer 2026. The contributor's name and consent record live in the private log, not in this archive.