Western Influences on Folk-Custom in Shanghai

John King Fairbank, the renowned scholar of Chinese history from Harvard, in his essay ‘Footbinding’ talks in detail about the social malaise that dominated Chinese society for almost 1000 years. He says, “Foot binding spread as a mark of gentility and upper class status” and was a means to “preserve female chastity.” But I agree with his opinion that it was ultimately the manifestation of the oppression of women. Since ancient times, women in China were considered chattels, born to serve the men in their lives, their fathers, brothers, husbands then sons. Foot binding was a custom started possibly during the reign of the T’ang dynasty to reinforce their subjugation.

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.

Traditional formality and ideology continuously are affected by the previous generation. Another aspect westerner prefers free love, they not only can choose who they love, but also decide marriage with whom, and they can also what design in their wedding is, that why Hong Konger are more accept the western wedding. Hong Konger can get ready for their wedding with a theme or special concept. However, more and more couples want their wedding put in some particular theme, so that the Hong Kong wedding design changes in new direction. Hong Kong wedding design need to provide client a customize design, such as cartoon, animals, outdoor. Different theme can make the wedding more characteristic and unique. Therefore, the Hong Kong couples more yearn the western wedding. Since ancient times, Chinese traditional wedding culture use a strong color, it has been extended to today, and we can still see partially preserved traditional Chinese wedding customs in the couple's wedding process. With the increasingly open, Western wedding style influence our culture, in terms of the new styles of dress or wedding elements of the whole process, they are injected into unique Western wedding style. With the exchange of cultural integration and evolved. While retaining our unique Chinese cultural characteristics of the wedding at the same time into the part of Western wedding culture simplified aesthetic elements, making the moment formed a new wave of Chinese and Western

Firstly, the relationship expectations in Chinese customs and traditions were strongly held onto. The daughters of the Chinese

Most cultural values in Haitian and Chinese communities are observed as a sense of pride, identity, and respect to their cultures vital. In some instances however it is key to take a step back and evaluate how the respective cultures influence their general well-being. As it is important for the people to have peace of mind, and mundane that they be of great health. Some cultural practices observed in the Chinese culture such as

According to Lee Chew, a Chinese immigrant who arrived in the 1870’s , Chinese people had minimalistic life styles. They were unpretentious because they had an

Medieval China, as seen in the Stories from a Ming Collection, was characterized by distinct separations between men and women’s abilities, typical old fashioned family structure, and a desire to advance their social status. Throughout all the stories in this book, it dives deep into different aspects of how men and women are treated, how families were structured and how that affects their lives, as well as the values these people held. A very common trend in the stories was how different men and women were treated and the limitations they may or may not had.

In 1997, Dorothy Ko published an article in the Journal of Women’s History called “The Body as Attire: The Shifting Meanings of Footbinding in Seventeen-Century China”. The article is organized with a brief introduction as to what footbinding is, the negative outlook on this practice due to problematic archives, and then she discusses the examples she gives to support her thesis. Ko’s thesis was “Chinese elite males in the seventeenth century regarded footbinding in three ways: as an expression of Chinese wen civility, as a marker of ethnic boundaries separating Han from Manchu, and as an ornament or embellishment of the body.” Since Ko is a celebrated and established author on women in early East Asia, the article “The Body as Attire: The Shifting Meanings of Footbinding in Seventeen Century China” is an accurate and useful source if one is trying to study that area.

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.

In China today, slogans on public hygiene are everywhere, restaurants, subways, road sides, to name just a few. Literally, it is one of the priorities of the Chinese government to promote public hygiene and to encourage people to behave civilized in public. Yet here comes the question: why is personal hygiene associated with public in China, and why does it have to do with being civilized? Ruth Rogaski’s Hygienic Modernity provides perceptive answers to these questions. It traces the history of the word weisheng, hygiene in Chinese, through the late-Qing Tianjin, its Republican period, Japanese occupation, and until the first few years of New China. Rogaski argues that the changing meaning of weisheng in Tianjin provides a window to China’s conception of modernity and its emphasis of modernization projects; it is the implication of hygienic modernity in weisheng that marks China’s deficiency, internalized by the intellectuals in the pre-war era and used against imperialism after the establishment of the PRC. In other words, weisheng itself embodies China’s complex modern history represented in the semi-colonial condition of Tianjin as a treaty port. This paper aims to discuss China’s semicoloniality through Rogaski’s concept of hygienic modernity, or weisheng and compare it with the previous week’s reading, i.e. Rhoads Murphey’s and Bryna Goodman’s notions of Chinese

When it comes to defining the ‘ritual’ that is associated with Yuan Ming Yuan, one has to take its historical complexity and social relevance into consideration. As I consider, Yuan Ming Yuan in its hey-day represents the almighty power of the Qing imperial family. Being built as an exclusive place of resort for the imperial family, the site was dedicated to activities such as spiritual meditation and communication with the heavenly god took place. My speculation to their ritualistic practices is backed by the interpretation to the meaning of YuanMingYuan by the Qing emperors:

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.

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.

After the First Opium War and the Treaty of Nanjing, China had to open Shanghai, and four other cities, as a trade port to the Western powers. The British and Americans created a single International Settlement by 1863, leaving the French to maintain their own separate settlement. These settlements operated with “their own police force, justice system, and social customs” that resulted in an increasingly Westernized Shanghai. Additionally, the Chinese had a municipal government put in over Shanghai, the Chinese city. It became a major tourist attraction with its “Western-style buildings, the streets, shops, and public parks,” and influx of Shanghai courtesans. This rise in courtesans and prostitution was a reflection of “the city’s elaborate social structure” in the factors that were taken account, such as class background and native birth place. Furthermore, the emerging middle class and elite discussed current events, business deals, fears, and issues in the presence of prostitutes and courtesans, making them part of the inner workings of society despite being on the fringes. Courtesans were considered “skilled entertainers” either as musicians or as storytellers. Through an analysis of the role and social status of Chinese courtesans in the mid-nineteenth to mid-twentieth century, this paper argues that courtesan society reflected and affected Shanghai society.

Such was in the movie "The Forbidden City." In this movie it also showed how the customs of the concubines and unics were very constricting to their lives (3). In the book "Six Records of a Floating Life" tradition creates the impracticality of a test for magistrates that is purely literary but decides the head of a certain area of land (2). In China tradition and customs has done a lot but has hindered the life of many of its people. Finally after thousands of years, the withdrawn China was being seen by the western world.