A brief introduction for Chinese culture
Cultural background
China, as one of the four homes of the world’s earliest civilization, has a recorded history of nearly 4,000 years. Through centuries of migration, merging and development, it has formed a distinctive system of language, writing, philosophy, art and political organization, which came to be recognized as Chinese culture.
It originated from Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasty, which was known as slave culture period. Xia culture represented the early Chinese culture and Zhou culture contributed to the form of more than 2000 years of feudalism culture in China. The May 4th Movement of 1919 was also an important date because it symbolized that it entered into a
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-collectivism
This means that Chinese, in general, is a collective society that strives for harmony and group belonging, whether to family, friends, work, or country. The Chinese are more willing to suppress their own feelings and needs for the good of the group. This value has been passed down the Chinese culture from folklores where martyrs sacrificed their lives for their community or country ever since the dynastical eras 5,000 years ago.
The arrival of western cultural value stroke Chinese traditional culture values and helped to discard some backward or bad parts of traditional values. Moreover, it also brought something new such as freedom, charity, democracy and etc.
Cultural norms
-saving face and losing face
‘Fcae’ stands for one’s position in a certain social group. It’s related to honor, good reputation or respect. Consequently, loss of face is not simply a form of embarrassment. Saving face is another concept. Chinese people respect a person who is friendly and who carefully avoids hurting the feelings of others. Loud, untactful or boisterous behavior is usually regarded as very poor taste.
- greeting
When meeting for the first time, a handshake is the most common greeting. In order to express some special esteem, to those elderly people or government officials, a slight bow might be given.
-gift
When visiting a family it is appropriate to
It seeks high values for individualism and respect of adolescents to others. Their culture always looks toward the future and never lets any short interests interfere with what they praise. Their values and ideas are which made this country a secure society and have been held together for thousands of years. China’s stable society is payable to the way they obey to their future commitments established by discipline practices that were taught at childhood.
Chinese Civilizations contributed massively to the development for future civilizations. Confucius developed a philosophy in which he explained how people should be live their lives. This philosophy teaches people that they should accept his/her role in society. Studying Confucianism is a very important for Chinese citizens. Chinese citizens have to take a “civil service” exams and the exam scores will determine whether or not they will get a good paying job (Doc 5). Confucianism is not a religion; it is a way of behaving. It also teaches how people should behave to develop moral
In Chinese culture, respect towards an authority figure is shown by giving a slight bow and to avoid making eye contact. If people of the opposite sex make eye contact, it may be considered as a flirtatious act. It is also inappropriate and rude to address an elder or person of higher status by their first name. They should be addressed by their designation ( i.e. Mr. Mrs. Miss) unless told other wise.
Tracing back the history of China, Xia Dynasty of the second millennium BCE was the earliest dynasty in China, which was centered along the Yellow River. Before China was unified, it was the time during which most of China's cultural tradition arose. Chinese civilization ascended and developed in a vast area, one-third larger than the United States if such dependencies as Manchuria, Inner Mongolia, and Tibet are included. For centuries China was almost completely isolated from the other centers of civilization by mountains, deserts, and seas. This isolation helps explain the great originality of China's culture. China has many mountain ranges and three river systems that rise close together on the high Tibetan plateau and flow eastward to
2. Albert M. Craig, William A. Graham, Donald Kagan, Steven Ozment, Frank M. Turner. “China‘s First Empire”. The Heritage of World Civilizations. 1: 1152 (2007, 2005, 2002) Pearson Education, Inc. New
Her perspective and personal experiences can help to drive in the point that there are two different generations of Chinese people and how one looks down on the other because of their birth place. Liu’s article is reliable because it is a personal experience of growing up Chinese American and shows the different perspective on how growing up with two different generations of Chinese shaped her life. Maria Liu is also a reliable source because she is a student and writer for the
Social challenges the Chinese experienced ranged from how they were treated in their jobs to how they would marry. Along with the occurrence of the coolie trade, the workers are upset at the employers’ abuse and how they cannot regulate the laws within their job. When the Chinese came over, the Americans were discriminating against them and their manner. The way Americans described Chinese revolved about how China’s culture is not “normal” because it is being compared to their American culture and racialized comments. When you move into a new town or city, it is harder to get comfortable when the ones that already resides in area are judgmental and puts down the newer people. The Americans called the Chinese hurtful and unkind words like: “cowardly”, “submissive”, “silly grunts”, and “menaces”. Interracial marriages were shunned and disapproved by many, it created problems in racial and family order. An example of how a Chinese man with a White woman relationship was ruined when Elise Sigel was murdered and Leon Ling was called out for the murder because there was a rumor that they were in an affiliation with one another. From this incident and others, there were laws that were created to separate whites and Asian individuals from getting into any sort of relationship or contact.
The Cultural Revolution had an enormous impact on the people of China From 1965 to 1968. The cultural Revolution is the name given to the Chinese Communist party’s attempt, under the leadership of Mao Zedong, to reassert its authority over the Chinese government. The main goal of the revolution was simple: the Chinese Communist party wanted to reform the Chinese people so that they believed and followed the communist ideology of absolute social equality. The group of people that the CCP, under Mao, wanted to help most was the rural people or the peasants. Mao’s man desire was to create a China which had peasants, workers and educated people all working together for the greater good of China. No class of people was more privileged
The empires of this time period had some innovative ideas and discoveries that permanently changed their nations and in some cases, the world. Both Rome and China had two unique and important cultural characteristics that completely changed their nations. For the Romans, their unique cultural characteristics were new ideas. The first of these new ideas, their unique Judicial System is the basis for many current judicial systems around the world, the other new idea, Christianity is now one of the worlds most practiced Religions. Whereas the unique cultural characteristics of China, namely the creation of paper and the formation of the “silk road” were more practical cultural characteristics, but no less impactful for both their
Chinese culture is truly one of the great civilization our world has come across. It boasts a vast geographic expanse, over 4000 years of written history, as well as a rich and profound traditional society. Many aspects of Chinese civilization can be traced back many centuries. It is so diverse and unique, yet harmoniously blended, and presents itself a priceless benefit to the world.
China has about five thousand years history which is a very long period of time. Also, the Chinese civilization was growing with these periods of time and it will continues greater than ever. Many wars and unhappinesses were happening during this period. Although, the time has passed, the histories and the civilizations have not passed. These family virtues, serious, working attitudes, sense of justice and the great Confucian tradition have been deeply assimilated into the Chinese people. Some Chinese traditions are different from North American’s. The Chinese culture has many special characteristics which are very interesting for people to learn.
Confucianism has easily been influential in the development of the Chinese state through history. In fact, the core ideals of Confucianism have evolved. Despite the harsh repression of Confucianism by Marxist revolutionaries during the second half of the twentieth century, Confucian values continues to be influential in Chinese society and recently, Confucian political philosophy has resurfaced again. In addition, the political ideas and social ethics of Confucianism can provide the basis for a new, functional form of government in China. Confucianism can be a viable political philosophy for China in the twenty first century because many intellectuals have turned to Confucianism to make sense of such social
China is a highly collectivist culture where people turn in pursuit of the group and not necessarily themselves, therefore in-group scrutiny is favored among the culture. These in-groups benefit from association with one
When I was on middle school, I spent my holiday vacation with my family to go to China. I went to some part of China such as Beijing, Luoyang, Shanghai and the others, but I only remembered the one in the Beijing mostly. I was really surprised that China got many cultures that I had not known before. These cultures include food, history and some local tradition. In this essay, I will tell my experience in China and some China’s culture that I have gotten in my trip.
The unique guanxi culture in Chinese society sets its societal framework distinctively apart from the West. Although guanxi is often portrayed as one’s social network, it is much different from the so-called “connections” in Western society. Guanxi is a special social phenomenon in the Chinese societal context. It has survived throughout history and continues to be a prevalent trend because it has its Chinese characteristics and attributes that are not found in other societies. The existence of guanxi in Chinese society originated from the core Chinese value of collectivism. Since centuries ago, Chinese society’s group life and social organization has been based on collective interests. “Familial sentiments and obligations, [which were regarded as ethical relations], extended from the family into society [later on]”. The unofficial, informal networks of familial and kinship obligations provided the social support mechanisms through which peasant families survived in the economy of transition and hardships” (Bian, 2001, p.276). The twin themes of guanxi and the sense of hierarchy mutually enhance each other because private networks thrive through the existence of the principle of giving and reciprocating, which highlights that there is a dependent on a more resourceful party in the relationship. The future of the twin themes in China will continue to be built upon mutual reliance and the looked upon generous favour giver in bridging the connections between multiple parties.