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Confucius
To learn Chinese culture, it is better to learn some Confucianism since it has been well integrated in Chinese culture and is the official state philosophy for over 2000 years.
Chinese Lucky Symbols
There are many traditional auspicious patterns or symbols in Chinese culture. The lucky patterns are widely used in Chinese New Year Pictures to express people's desires for a lucky and happy new year.
Year of the Animal
The Chinese New Year for 2007 is the Year of the Pig. It is on 2/18/2007. We have many articles about Chinese new year.
Chinese Tattoo Culture
Tattoo has a long history in China. Chinese tattoo was probably originated from a punishment to prisoners in ancient China, which was a type of tattoo on one's face.
Chinese Name Culture
Chinese names are usually composed of two or three Chinese characters. The first Chinese character of a Chinese name is the surname of the name, or xing4 in Chinese.
Chinese Stamp Art
Chinese stamps are unique in Chinese culture, which not only have practical functions, but also are works of art themselves and an indispensable part of Chinese painting and calligraphy.
Town God TempleIn almost every large and medium-sized city in China, one can find a Chenghuang Temple or Town God Temple. In the temple, sits a statue of the town god. Usually, there are one or two sacrificial ceremonies each year. The ceremonies are important occasions for both old and young.
The Gate Gods
In China, there used to be a custom to put drawings of the gate gods on gates during the Chinese New Year. The door or gate is very important for Chinese since it is the way to get in and out for the family. Then it is believed it is also the way for ghosts, monsters or other evil things to get in and out. Thus it is important to have the door guarded, especially for the new year.
Chinese Kitchen God
The Chinese New Year or the Spring Festival is the most important event for the Chinese. Traditionally the Spring Festival actually begins its course a week before the Chinese New Year (the 24th of the last month from Chinese lunar calendar), with the practice of offering a sacrifice to the Kitchen God.
Chong Yang Festival
The Chinese Chong Yang Festival falls on the 9th day of the 9th month of the Chinese lunar calendar. People celebrate the festival the traditional way, climbing hills, drinking chrysanthemum wine, and eating Chong Yang cakes.
Performing Arts
The Chinese have mastered
the art of precision in the performing arts. Famed for their folk art,
opera, aerobatics, special forms of dance and puppetry, Chinese performers
are trained from childhood and devote their entire lives to the perfection
of their art.
Visual Arts
The visual arts of China, now
imitated en masse in the rest of the world, set apart by their delicacy
and intricacy. Translucent Chinese porcelain and rich embroidered silks
formed the backbone of 19th century trade along the famed Silk Route.
Chinese calligraphy and traditional paintings adorn the walls of many a
home in the West, and chop stick engraving, macram and paper cutting are a
unique contribution of Chinese artisans to the world of craft.
Music
Chinese music has a different tone and
cadence. Unlike western music, which uses the eight-tone scale, Chinese
music uses the unusual five-tone scale, and produces a vibrancy and rhythm
unfamiliar to western ears.
Literature
Through history, literature has
not been regarded as a separate art form in China; rather every cultured
individual was expected to develop a skill in elegant writing. Chinese
literature dates back to 1100 B.C. Small wonder then, that Chinese
literature is a repository of the most exquisite poetry and prose in
civilization, and is highly regarded by Oriental scholars. Unfortunately,
most of this is not accessible for Western readers.
Cuisine
The best known of all Chinese
exports, is its varied cuisine. Two distinct style of cooking have evolved
- the heavier pasta dominated dishes of the Northern style traditionally
prepared in the Peking, Tientsin and Shantun styles; and the spicier,
better known rice based Southern styles of Szechwan and Hunan, the Kiangsu
and Chekiang styles, and the sweet Cantonese food. Chinese cooking lays
great emphasis on color, aroma and flavor, all designed to be
aesthetically appealing to all the senses. Stir-frying, stewing, steaming,
deep-frying, flash frying and pan-frying are the most popular methods of
cooking, with the ultimate aim being preservation of the freshness of the
food. Sugar, soya sauce and vinegar are the usual seasonings added to an
exotic combination of scallions, fresh ginger root, garlic, peppers, wine,
star-anise, cinnamon, pepper, sesame oil and black mushrooms to provide a
unique blend of flavors.
Medicine
Traditional Chinese medicine
believes in the holistic cure of diseases and uses folk based remedies of
animal, plant and mineral products. Although ginseng-in-a-pill is very
popular in today's health conscious world, traditional Chinese medicine
has been using remedies such as these for over 3000 years. Chinese medical
treatises date back to the pre-Chin 221 BC.
Clothing
Traditional Chinese clothing is
characterized by the dualities of external elegance and internal
symbolism. Each item of clothing and the materials that comprise carries a
significance of its own. Fighting peasant feathers on the headwear of
warriors were supposed to imbue the wearers with a war-like spirit.
Ornamentation in Chinese clothing dates back to almost 18,000
years.
Festivals
Traditionally an agricultural
society, the Chinese people, with their reverence for nature, mark the
passage of time with such festivals such as the Spring Festival, the
Dragon Boat Festival, the Mid-Autumn Festival and the Winter
Solstice.
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Chinese History
The warring principalities and kingdoms of ancient China were unified under the Qin dynasty. (221-206 BC) Qin Shihuangdi, the first 'emperor' of China, best known for building the precursor to what we now know as the Great Wall of China.The Han dynasty (206 BC to 220 AD) gave China its administrative model, a model of bureaucracy that ruled the world's most populous kingdom according to Confucian principles. The Han dynasty, after ruling for over 200 years saw its downfall with the invasions of barbarian tribes from the north, which lead China into chaos for about 350 years. This period of infighting saw the rise of the Three Kingdoms and the Dynasties of the North and the South, and gave the Chinese one of their enduring insights - the importance of having 'one emperor over China, like one sun in the sky'. This period also saw the 'barbarian' tribes taking over the North and being assimilated into Chinese society, while the Han were being pushed further south. Surprisingly, this period of chaos saw the spread of Buddhism in China, which quickly overtook Confucianism as a cultural force.
The Sui (589 - 618) subsequently reunified China, as did the Tang dynasty (618 - 907). The Tang dynasty extended the borders of China to Siberia in the North, Korea in the East, and even extended up to modern day Afghanistan in the West, establishing the Silk Route, which became the main conduit for trade between the Orient and the West.
The Song dynasty (ranging from 960 - 1279) saw great economic, technological and cultural advances. During this era, efficient agricultural methods together with the import of a fast-growing Vietnamese strain of rice saw a boom in food production in China. This system of farming exists in some parts of China even today. Politically however, the Song dynasty saw repeated upheavals in the North, leading to a disintegration of the country, and subsequent conquering of the country by the Mongols. The Mongol Yuan dynasty occupied China from 1279 - 1368.
The otherwise undistinguished Ming dynasty (1368 - 1644) oversaw the fortification of the Great Wall of China as we know it today, built the Forbidden City (Beijing as it is known today) and saw the handover of Macao to the Portuguese. 1516 saw the establishment of the Portuguese in China, with Britain, France and Japan slowly making inroads into Chinese property. The crumbling of imperialist China came with the Qing dynasty (1644 - 1911), which with its restrictive, inflexible and head in the sand attitudes refused to acknowledge changing international scenarios. The collapse of the Qing dynasty in 1911 and World War-I saw an end to imperialist China and the subsequent rise of Communism.
Republican China (1911 - 1949) saw utter chaos and sweeping changes. Dr. Sun Yatsen of the Nationalist Party (KMT) forged alliances with the emerging Communist Party, and started the task of unifying China. After his untimely death in 1925, the Nationalist Party, under Chiang Kaishek tried to break the back of Communism with a countrywide persecution of their former allies.
1930 saw the rise of Mao Zedong as a Communist leader with a guerrilla army of about 40,000 people. Chiang's concerted efforts to exterminate Mao and his forces lead to the Communists retreat . the Long March of 1934. The Long March allowed the Communists to retreat and regroup - they armed peasants and redistributed lands, and spread their tentacles through the countryside. Mao was aided by the Japanese invasions of Manchuria, which eventually saw the downfall of the Nationalist Government. Chiang Kaishek fled to Taiwan by the end of World War II, and with the Japanese defeat by the allies, Mao Zedong and his Red Army were undisputed rulers of the newly declared People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949.
