CHINESE CULTURE

Identity

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IDENTITY

Many ethnic groups existed in China. However, the preminent group is the Han Chinese. From history, one can see that quite a number of groups have been transported to neighbouring countries or had disappeared into thin air. But, at that time, many in the Han identity have managed to maintain regional cultural traditions. Majority traditional identity of those in the community has much to do with distinguishing the family name. The term Zhonghua Mingzu has been used to refer the Chinese nationalism in general.

People in imperal China – Qing dynasty

Mythology and Spirituality

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MYTHOLOGY & SPIRITUALITY

A large part of the Chinese culture believes that a spiritual world or afterlife exists. Countless methods of divination have been said to help answer questions and even served as an alternative to medicine. Folk tale shave helped to fill up the gaps that the people could not explain. Although many deities are part of the tradition, some holy figures are the most recognised. one, for example is the Guan Ying. Some methods of fortune telling are still used today after thousands of years of modification and refinement.

Luohan one of the spiritual figures shared between Chinese and Indian culture across different types of Buddhism

Language

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LANGUAGE

Spoken Chinese consists of a number of Chinese dialects all through history. Standard Mandarin was standardised during the Ming dynasty. However, it wasn't until the Republic of China era where there was an obvious result in promoting a unified language in China. Classical Chinese was used for thousands of year but it was reserved only for scholars and intellectuals. Hence, by the 20th century, millions of the people were not able to read or write. It was only after the May 4th movement did the push for Vernacular Chinese begin. This allowed the locals to learn how ti read and write since it was modeled after the linguistics and phonology of a spoken language.

Chinese calligrahpy written by Song dynasty (1051-1108 CE) poet Mi Fu

Fashion

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FASHION

In China, different class in different era has different fashion trends. China's fashion history covers a few thousand of years with the most multi-coloured and diverse arragements. Many symbols, such as the phoenix, have been used for decorative and political purposes. Fashionable but questionable practices such footbinding were also part of the culture.

Health

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HEALTH

Majority of traditional Chinese culture involves finding the balance between the Yin and Yang in relation to the Qi, health and the meridian system to achieve harmony. Treatments includes Chinese herbolgy and acupucture while other less intrusive health improvements forms are qigong and meditation.

Art

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ART

Different forms of art have been created overtime, with creations from great philosophers, teachers, religious figures and political figures. Chinese art consists of all facets of fine art, folk art and even performance art. One of the first form of art in the Palaeolithic period was porcelain pottery. Chinese painting was a highly appreciated form of art in court circles, which consist of a large variety of Shan Shui with specialised styles like Ming Dynasty painting. String and reed instruments came about after the arrival of percussion instruments. During the Han Dynasty, paper cutting became a new form of art after paper was invented. Chinese opera was also introduced.

A Tang dynasty tri-colour chinese glazed horse circa 700 CE

Chopsticks

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CHOPSTICKS

The chopsticks are used by the Chinese and it is held between the thumb and fingers of the right hand, even by left-handers. However now it normal to see people holding chopsticks in the left hand. The chopsticks are use in a way that is almost similiar to tongs. They are are used to pick up portions of food, which is cut up into small convenient pieces and also to sweep rice and small pieces of food into the mouth from the bowl.

Food

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FOOD

The large variety of Chinese cuisine comes from mainly the emperors who host a banquet of a hundreds dishes per meal. Involved in the food preparational process are countless number of imperial kitchen staff and concubines. Many of the dishes becomes part of the everyday-citizen culture after a certain period of time.

Chinese meal in suzhou with rice, shrimp, eggplant, fermented toufu, vergetable stir-fry, vegetarian duck with meat and bamboo.

Spices

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SPICES

The Chinese uses different types of spices such as ginger, onion, garlic, spring onion, pepper, soy sauce and vinegar for purpose of improving the flavour of the food that they cook, and also for the purpose of killing and preventing the growth of the Pathogenic bacteria.

Architecture

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ARCHITECTURE

Chinese architecture has been a hallmark of the Chinese culture for a very long time. Regardless of the region or use, there has always been certain common features to Chinese architecture. The most important is the emphasis on width. On the contrary, Western architecture emphasis on height. although there are exceptions such as pagodas. Another significant value is symmetry, which underscore a sense of grandeur as it applies to everything from palaces to farmhouses. One obvious exception is in the designs of gardens, which tends to be as asymmetrical as possible. Like Chinese scroll paintings, the principle to a garden's composition is to create an enduring flow, to let the patron enjoy the garden without any interruptions. Feng shui also plays a important role in the structural developements of bulidings.

Forbidden city featuring classic contructional style

Martial Arts

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MARTIAL ARTS

Eastern martial arts came from China. Martial arts were either called Wushu, its first name, or Kung Fu. Martial arts started more for the purpose of defence and warfare than art. Over a period of time, some art forms were formed while others retained a clear Chinese flavour. However, China has also created some of the famous martial artist such as Wang Fei Hong. Martial arts has also co-exist with a variety of weapons including the 18 arms. Legendary moves like Dim Mak were also often praised and talk about in the Chinese culture.

Wu chien chuan demostrate a wu family posture known as STEP FORWARD DEFLECT, PARRY AND PUNCH

Leisure

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LEISURE

Quite a few games and past-times are very popular in the Chinese culture. The most common one is Mah Jong. Similar pieces are used for other games such as Shanghai Solitaire. Games like Pai Gow, Pai Gow Poker, Go Proverb, Xiangqi and bone domino games are also included. Ethnic games like Chinese yo-yo are also part and parcel of the Chinese culture.