Shanghai Culture And Modern Chinese Culture In The Late 19th Century

Shanghai Girls is written in the atmosphere of 1937 Shanghai, ‘the Paris of Asia’ . Where the Chinese were influenced by the westernization. The developing Shanghai features the rapidly growing influence of the west over traditional Chinese beliefs.

The Chinese immigrants faced a tremendous hostility, despite amounting to only a small fraction the total. foreign-born population in the United States in the late 19th century. They were charged with taking away jobs, corrupting white women, and threatening American civilization. In 1882, the U.S. passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, which barred Chinese laborers, prohibited all Chinese immigrants from becoming naturalized citizens.

The origins of tea are rooted in China (Food Timeline). According to legend, the beneficial properties of tea were first discovered by the Emperor Shen Nung in the year 2737 B.C. He drank only boiled water for hygienic purposes, and one day while he drank a breeze rustled the branches of a tree and a few leaves fell into his cup. Creating the first cup of tea. It is challenging to know whether or not the emperor was real or just a part of the spiritual and cultural development of ancient China. China was not unified as an empire until the third century, so it is unlikely emperors existed back then. One thing that is known is that tea was popular in China thousands of years ago. The first written reference of tea is in the third century B.C. A famous surgeon recommended the beverage to patients to increase concentration and alertness. Tea was first written as “tu” in ancient texts. This caused a good deal of confusion because the same Chinese character was used for both tea and Chinese sow thistles. Between 206 B.C. and A.D. 220 a Han Dynasty emperor ruled that when referring to tea, the characters should be pronounced as “cha”. From here on, tracing tea’s history became easier because tea acquired its own individual character (Food Timeline).

1 in 6 adults residing in what was once among the most literate nations in the world have been deemed “functionally illiterate”. During the 1800s, over 90% of the former nations population could speak our native tongue. Currently, only about 0.2% of our population is fluent in the indigenous language. Welcome to Hawaiʻi!

"A revolution is not a dinner party or writing an essay or painting a picture or doing embroidery; it cannot be so refined, so leisurely and gentle, so temperate, kind, courteous, restrained and magnanimous"- Mao said in 1927 to a youth activist

Sze states, “Under changing political contexts that reshaped the literal spatial development in Shanghai, its residents faced immense changes in the physical and ideological landscapes of the city.”(p. 111) She then goes on to say that even though the city was supposed to be a landmark in cultural renovation and cutting edge Chinese architecture, that it looked similar to the western building. Skyscrapers like the ones in Shanghai, “But the Shanghai Tower and Dongtan are not as different as their architectural rendering would imply.” (p. 91) Sze’s view of Dongtan was similar to that of a Californian city in the United States. The fact that the same American developers that made many cities in the U.S. also built these buildings leaves no doubt that the building are similar intentionally. The feelings that Sze has on this seems a bit misplaced seeing how she is an American with dethatched Chinese ancestry. She makes the inferences that it makes her mad and upset that her home island was made to be an alternate American city. One with whites models all over the street signs and American companies. To me this seems like a cultural push, whether it was intentional by the Chinese government or not, to force our culture upon the Chinese. An article by Gizmodo state, “When we talk about China, we're usually talking about megacities like Beijing and Shanghai. But China has

The classical civilizations of China and India were two of the most important and extant civilizations with major political development. The advanced technology like the ox-drawn plows, paper, silk roads, etc shaped China’s development. India was manifested by artistry, trade, and exceptional advances in mathematics. There were three main dynasties in classical China known as the Zhou, Qin, and Han Dynasty while India was founded by three empires: the Mauryan, Kushan, and Gupta empires. Even though these civilizations evolved around the same time, there are crucial differences and similarities. Religion, beliefs, hierarchical and patriarchal systems, and government reveal the distinction between the two civilizations.

During the time of the initial 20th century, many foreign nations saw China as weak, militarily and politically. Of these foreign nations, America was one that was prepared to capitalize Chinese resources, turning it into a trading post. Around 1898, a coalition of regular civilians got together in hopes of driving away foreign influence in China. They were thoroughly convinced that foreign presence in China would disassemble their way of life. This group, more like a chinese militia, were named “boxers” as they often used varying martial arts’. Around 1900, the empress Dowager publically endorsed the boxers, and their ideology. She ordered the execution of all foreigners within China, including many American families. This action was infuriating

The Cultural Revolution was an event in China that made the children gain power over the adults and sometimes made the children go against their own parents. The idea of the Cultural Revolution was to remove old ideas and move on, creating a better future. The old ideas, old customs, old habits and old cultures were called the Four olds and they were banned. By placing those rules, that made the rich people the targets because anything foreign or valuable was considered the Four Olds. During that time period, families were torn apart and relationships were weakened.

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.

As everyone knows, Chinese people are all around the world, and they do not like living with local people, so there is a place for them to do everything, such as work, live, and entertainment, its name is Chinatown. There are many Chinatown in this world; Chinatown may be located in London, UK, Chinatown may be located in Australia, also Chinatown may be located in New York. Whereas, today I want to write about the Chinatown of San Francisco, because there are many historic things I can illustrate. The Chinatown of San Francisco has much historical significance. “The Chinese who immigrants in San Francisco, who came firstly from the city of Zhongshan and Thasishan regions of Guangdong province of mainland China, they did not want to live in a poor place, and they wanted their family had better and wealthier life”( Tour Docent). There were many of old immigrants who came from Guangdong, China; some of them who came here to dig gold, some of them who came here to build a railway, and they settled their home as soon as they first arrived in San Francisco. Now the Chinatown of San Francisco is a famous tourist attraction, and it appears to be routine for foreign travelers to visit Chinatown when they prepare to have a trip in San Francisco. It is now more and more famous than ever before, even the Chinatown is as famous as Golden Gate Bridge. There is enough information that boosts numerous valuable records of old Chinese immigrants, they are worthy of admiration and respect

The 19th century had sparked a time period of bloody revolution, social and political reform, and both economic and financial problems for China. Though the cause of many of these problems could be rooted to internal conflict, foreign influence on Chinese ways proved to be disastrous. During the early 19th century the population was growing, the economy seemed stable and generally people seemed content with China’s economic progress. However these feelings of success would soon end as overpopulation would cause widespread poverty and famine. At that point in time China’s rulers had been Manchu; the Qing dynasty had been in rule but even its

Time orientation in the Chinese culture is another phenomenon related to Confucianism principles. The Chinese culture is very past-oriented, which according to Sagar means they “honor tradition and are respectful of elders” (2012, p. 59). This past-time orientation began because Confucius lived in a time where there were many wars and an overall decline in social morality, so he decided to look to the past for a better model to help reform society (Li, 2008). Confucianism, and therefore a large majority of Chinese culture, have been very past-oriented and looked to those that came before them with great respect and esteem ever since.

Throughout the 20th century, mainland China had gone through numerous changes. There was a large cultural revolution and vast famine that affected many people at the time. Many Chinese people were being internally displaced, and they were seeking potential opportunities elsewhere. The main flow of immigration was to Hong Kong (HK) because it was seen to open up many opportunities of financial growth and travel. There were some who wanted to immigrate to the United States (US), but the Chinese Exclusion Act and restrictions from the People’s Republic of China prevented mainland Chinese people from traveling outside of the country. Even with the Immigration Act of 1965 that opened up pathways for non-European immigrants, it was still difficult

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.