Asian Cultural Comparison
Asian culture is a broad entity in nature. The East Asian countries including China, Japan, North and South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macau have a distinct cultural landscape from architecture, literature, languages, art, philosophy, religion, sports, politics and celebrations. Chinese is the central cultural influence in Asia with over fifty ethnicities and multiple subcultures. Similar to Asian culture, western culture is distinct in ideas, innovation, and aggressiveness. Although East Asian cultural traits are almost identical to each other, they have different traditions. As such, this essay focuses on traditional Chinese influences and how its culture is closer to nature as compared to Western culture.
Despite other countries in Asia influencing others culturally, Chinese is the most traditional. In Asia, Chinese is one of the oldest culture tracing its origin more than a thousand years ago, starting from the Qing and Tang Dynasty. As one of the ancient civilization, Chinese integrates rich history and culture with sophistication in arts, sculpture, and pottery. Their architectural techniques, languages, politics, and literature have a significant impact on the Japan and Korean communities (Rozman, 2014). According to, the Chinese ethnic group comprises about 56 subgroups with a healthy relationship and land sharing trait (Callahan, 2016). These groups have distinct language associating symbols, grammar, and phonological features. It is worth noting that Chinese has multiple languages, including Altaic, Austro Asiatic, Sino Tibetan, Austronesian, and Indo European language families.
Furthermore, Chinese religion is another element of its traditions that makes it most traditional. Chinese religion includes Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism (Ebrey, 1991). During the Zhou Dynasty, Confucius, a famous philosopher, introduced Confucianism religion which had several virtues including Li, Ren, Xin, Yi, and Xiao which advocates etiquette, kindness, faithfulness, integrity, and family values (Mark, 2012). Buddhism, on the other hand, originated from the Hand Dynasty thereby spreading throughout Asia. Another essential religion in China is Taoism which incorporates the unknowable unifying element. Taoism religion started due to philosophical prospects. Similar to Chinese belief, Chinese food is a significant factor in Chinese traditions. One of the most famous Chinese meal is Beijing roast duck. The meal dates back to Ching’ Dynasty and still is one of the most popular meals around the world. Therefore, between Chinese, Korean, and Japans, Chinese is the most traditional.
Additionally, Chinese culture is closer to nature than western culture. Chinese tradition advocates environment in multiple forms. According to the Department of Asian Art (n.d), early China dynasties incorporated gracing of both fictional and real nature creatures, including dragons, bovines, and the serpent. Other physical attributes, like the mountain in China, displayed nature’s vital energy. Also, the existence of Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism religions reinforced the valuation of nature by the Chinese culture. Today, both Chinese and Korean artists by having influences from their cultural practices have employed the appraisal of nature through arts like landscape art (Sadler, 2014). However, western culture considers nature as sublime, orderly, useful, and inferior (Barnhill, 2015). They believe that nature surpasses reality with two-divisions, including the intuitive and natural world, its action is orderly and useful through scientific principles application, and nature conceptualizes emotions, contemplation, and intuition. The western culture contemporary conceptualization of nature include conservationism, preservationism, and sense of place. Thus, despite the Western conceptualization of nature, Chinese is closer to nature than western culture.
Generally, Chinese, Koreans, and Japanese are East Asian, and they have joint cultural practices. However, Chinese tradition is the most influential. As one of the ancient civilization, Chinese culture has a rich history and traditions. Some of the cultural practices include their ethnic group, religion, and meals. In addition to this, Chinese is closer to nature compared to western culture. Chinese embraces life in various forms, including arts and religious practices.
References
Barnhill .D (2015). Four views of western nature. Japanese nature writing. Accessed from https://www.uwosh.edu/facstaff/barnhill/244/MAJOR%20WESTERN%20VIEWS%20OF%20NATURE.pdf
Callahan, W. A. (2016). China’s “Asia Dream” the belt road initiative and the new regional order. Asian Journal of Comparative Politics, 1(3), 226-243.
Collcutt, M. (1991). The legacy of Confucianism in Japan. The East Asian region: Confucian heritage and its modern adaptation, 111-54.
Department of Asian Art (n.d). Nature in Chinese Culture. In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/cnat/hd_cnat.htm
Ebrey, P. (1991). The Chinese family and the spread of Confucian values. Rozman (1991), 45-83.
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