Chinese culture and society
Contents
- 1 Society and culture in China
- 2 Chinese culture religion
- 3 Chinese culture architecture
- 4 Chinese culture art
- 5 Current Chinese Society
China is an amazingly fascinating fascinating country. We owe this fact above all to the impact it caused during the Middle Ages and since then the publication of The Travels of Marco Polo.
The Venetian merchant was not the first Westerner to come into contact with the Far East, the veracity of Marco Polo's deed is not even proven, but his legend inspired other explorers. , as in the case of Christopher Columbus, who had a copy of Marco Polo's book carefully written down.
Recently, National Geographic and the BBC unveiled new historical findings that show that the West and China would have maintained contact long before Marco Polo's travels, until 1500 before. . Westerners could have arrived in China around the 3rd century BC, which would reinforce the hypothesis of the fascination caused by Chinese culture and society throughout the world.
The key to this finding is based on the famous Xian Terracotta soldiers, discovered more than 40 years ago. Among the almost 8,000 terracotta soldiers there are no two alike, something unusual for Emperor QuinShi Huangdi's China , the First Emperor of China . Several archaeologists argue that Greek artisans could have been training local sculptors in the times of the First Emperor.
During the last excavations to the Huangdi mausoleum, figures very similar to those carved in Ancient Greece and Egypt have been found. In addition, scientists have found specific mitochondrial DNA from Europeans in human remains unearthed in Xinjian, northwest of the country.
It is clear therefore that Chinese culture and society has always caused a great impact in the West , the question is, why does this phenomenon occur?
Society and culture in China
Chinese culture is one of the oldest and most complex in the world, it encompasses a wide variety of customs and traditions in a very large geographical area that incorporates towns, cities and regions. The most important cultural manifestations of Chinese civilization are shown through its mythology, its philosophy, its music, its art or its gastronomy.
As for Chinese society , it has always had a predominantly agricultural character , and is based on four major social strata with a very hierarchical structure. The Chinese agricultural society has always been governed according to the teachings of Confucius, an important Chinese philosopher of the 5th and 6th centuries BC
After the emperor and his court, the so-called Chih stood at the top of the pyramid , which included landowners and state officials.
Following this first social group are the Nong, who are the farmers , most of the population. Despite lacking power and having a high level of poverty, according to Confucianism, agriculture is the most important economic activity with the highest moral height.
A third social group was that of artisans, the Kongs , who did not pay taxes, but who showed high competition among themselves due to their proliferation. The last social group was the merchants, who received the name of Chang.
At present, these social groups do not reproduce as such in the Asian country and blogger Pan Caifu has dared to divide the current Chinese society into seven social groups, which we will discuss next.
Chinese culture religion
In Chinese civilization, religion has always been considered more as a set of cultural practices or systems of thought rather than as a religion practically as such. The scope of religion in China is very family oriented and exclusive adherence to these forms of thought was never imposed.
The most predominant religions of China in any case are: Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism and traditional Chinese religion . On many occasions all these beliefs or religions are practiced together , which forms a kind of religious syncretism.
The term religious syncretism referred to culture or religion refers to the character of fusion and assimilation of different elements. Although most of the Chinese declare themselves atheists or agnostics, this form of religious syncretism that they practice with the belief in these Eastern religions is another example of their pluralism in these aspects.
Of the three dominant monotheistic religions in the world: Christianity, Islam and Judaism, the most professed is Christianity, is going to the peak in recent decades . Islam represents approximately 1% of the population and they were persecuted during the Mao Revolution while in Judaism the presence of the Kaifeng Jewish community stands out for centuries.
A 2012 study revealed that 42% of the population declared themselves atheists or agnostics, 30% followed traditional religions, 18% were Buddhist, 4% Christian, 1% Muslim and another 4% professed minority ethnic religions.
Chinese culture architecture
Chinese architecture is the style of architecture that has taken shape in East Asia since the first century of our era. Everyone, seeing a Buddhist or Eastern temple we can think that reproduces the Chinese architectural style, but now, what are its characteristics?
Chinese architecture is characterized by distributing space in rectangular units that come together to form a whole . Rectangles of different sizes and in different positions are combined to clearly distinguish the elements. The result is spectacular , dynamic and mysterious exterior temples . A good example of this is the pagodas, a typical construction of Southeast Asian countries that is built primarily as a Buddhist temple.
Among the materials, the most frequent are wood and adobe . Wood for beams and pillars and adobe for walls. In the case of wood, the Chinese have been using this material for thousands of years, wood represents life and is used even today. In some areas of China, such as Taiwan, it is common to carve wood as a decorative element, in addition to traditional polychrome murals.
Among the most famous landmarks of Chinese architecture we can highlight two that each year receive millions of visitors from all over the world: the Forbidden City in Beijing and the Great Wall of China.
Chinese culture art
The art in China has as its main elements its simplicity and elegance , nothing is done because yes, but all actions are aimed at achieving balance . Any art form in China aims to integrate all the senses.
In addition to architecture, art in China can be seen in painting, ceramics, sculpture or writing. Unlike the West, in China art has presented a more orderly, more uniform evolution , and always marked by the dynasty that reigned at that time in the empire.
Watercolor, porcelain or origami are art forms that began in China , although they have colonized other territories since then. We also have the case of feng shui , a doctrine that studies the flow of energy or Chi in the landscape to determine how they influence homes and people who inhabit them and that has become a very current trend in all aspects related to architecture, decoration and interior design.
Dragons deserve a special mention, fantastic beings that in Eastern culture who are considered bearers of water and time and who also represent imperial power. Currently, dragons are still present in many Chinese cultural traditions, such as the Chinese New Year.
Current Chinese Society
The current Chinese society is far from reproducing the patterns that Confucius established by establishing four social groups. Blogger Pan Caifu has dared to show up to seven different social groups.
The powerful officials are all those people who are part of the structures of the Chinese Communist Party, which exercises the power of the country. A second stratum would be state officials who occupy relevant positions within the administration: judges, prosecutors, union leaders, directors of state-owned companies, etc.
These two social classes have significant economic income and a fairly high quality of life and have in common the fact of belonging to state structures in one way or another.
A third place is occupied by elites , who are people with high economic income and social relevance but who do not have direct contact with the powers of the State, so they have to show some affinity for the previous classes.
In a fourth and fifth place would be the middle classes , but with a difference between the two: the state middle class enjoys fixed employment and better working conditions although less independence to travel for example, the middle class as such are people with jobs not directly related to the State that in recent years has seen its growth stalled due to the economic crisis.
The last two places of this relationship, we find the peasants and the proletarians, are the lowest and most unprotected social classes . It is about the poorest workers and the unemployed. In the case of the peasants, it is the most numerous social groups, some 800 million people.