Culture of China

Ornamental jar from the Kingdom of Wu (222-280 CE) of the Three Kingdoms period.

The Culture of China is home to one of the world's oldest and most complex civilizations, China boasts a history rich in over 5,000 years of artistic, philosophical, and political advancement. Though regional differences provide a sense of diversity, commonalities in language and religion connect a culture distinguished by such universally significant contributions such as Confucianism and Taoism. The culture of China is credited with shaping much of Chinese thought, Confucianism was the official philosophy throughout most of Imperial China's history, and mastery of Confucian texts provided the primary criterion for entry into the imperial bureaucracy.

With the rise of Western economic and military power beginning in the mid-19th century, however, non-Chinese systems of social and political organization gained adherents in China. Some of these would-be reformers totally rejected China's cultural legacy, while others sought to combine the strengths of Chinese and Western cultures. In essence, the history of 20th Century China is one of experimentation to find a new system of social, political, and economic organization that would allow for the reintegration of the nation in the wake of dynastic collapse.

Arts

Song dynasty (960-1279) Jian tea bowl (Metropolitan Museum of Art).

Chinese art has varied throughout its ancient history, divided into periods by the ruling dynasties of China and changing technology, as well as influenced by great philosophers, teachers and religion. Early forms of art in China were made from pottery and jade in the Neolithic period, to which was added bronze in the Shang Dynasty. The Shang are most remembered for their bronze casting, noted for its clarity of detail. Early Chinese music and poetry was influenced by the Book of Songs, Confucius and the Chinese poet and statesman Qu Yuan. Early Chinese music was based on percussion instruments, which later gave away to string and reed instruments.

In early imperial China, porcelain was introduced and was refined to the point that in English the word China has become synonymous with high-quality porcelain. Around the 1st century AD, Buddhism arrived in China, though it did not become popular until the 4th century. At this point, Chinese Buddhist art began to flourish, a process which continued through the 8th century. Around this period, several well-known Chinese poets influenced Chinese poetry, which included Cao Cao and his sons and Tao Qian. It was during the period of Imperial China that calligraphy and painting became highly appreciated arts in court circles, with a great deal of work done on silk until well after the invention of paper.

Buddhist architecture and sculpture thrived in the Sui and Tang dynasties, and the Tang dynasty was particularly open to foreign influence. Buddhist sculpture returned to a classical form, inspired by Indian art of the Gupta period. Toward the end of the Tang dynasty, all foreign religions were outlawed to support Taoism. Also during this period, Chinese poetry thrived and the Tang is considered the "Golden age" of Chinese poetry. In this period, the greatest Chinese poets, Li Po (李白) and Du Fu (杜甫) composed their poems. Late Tang poetry was marked by the influence of two poets, Li Shangyin (李商隱) and Li Yu (李漁), the latter of whom introduced the stanza form. Painting from the Tang dynasty period mainly consisted of landscape that was to grasp emotion or atmosphere to catch the "rhythm of nature." Also in the Tang dynasty, Chinese opera was introduced.

No. 4 of Ten Thousand Scenes. Painting by Ren Xiong, a pioneer of the Shanghai School of Chinese art; ca. 1850.

In the Song dynasty, poetry was marked by a lyric poetry known as Ci (詞) which expressed feelings of desire, often in an adopted persona. Also in the Song dynasty, paintings of more subtle expression of landscapes appeared, with blurred outlines and mountain contours which conveyed distance through an impressionistic treatment of natural phenomena. It was during this period that in painting, emphasis was placed on spiritual rather than emotional elements, as in the previous period. Kunqu, the oldest extant form of Chinese opera developed during the Song Dynasty in Kunshan, near present-day Shanghai. In the Yuan dynasty, painting by the Chinese painter Zhao Mengfu (趙孟頫) greatly influenced later Chinese landscape painting, and the Yuan dynasty opera became a variant of Chinese opera which continues today as Cantonese opera.

Late imperial China was marked by two specific dynasties: Ming and Qing. Of Ming Dynasty poetry, Gao Qi was acknowledged as the greatest poet of the era. Artwork in the Ming dynasty perfected color painting and color printing, with a wider color range and busier compositions than Song paintings. In the Qing dynasty, Beijing opera was introduced; it is considered the one of the best-known forms of Chinese opera. Qing poetry was marked by a poet named Yuan Mei whose poetry has been described as having "unusually clear and elegant language" and who stressed the importance of personal feeling and technical perfection. Under efforts of masters from the Shanghai School during the late Qing Dynasty, traditional Chinese art reached another climax and continued to the present in forms of the "Chinese painting" (guohua, ??). The Shanghai School challenged and broke the literati tradition of Chinese art, while also paying technical homage to the ancient masters and improving on existing traditional techniques.

Twentieth-century Chinese art was heavily influenced by the New Culture Movement, which adopted Western techniques, introduced oil painting and employed socialist realism. Twentieth-century Chinese poetry was also influenced by the Cultural Revolution but several poets attempted to resist the Cultural Revolution by incorporating pro-democratic themes. Contemporary Chinese artists continue to produce a wide range of experimental works, multimedia installations, and performance "happenings" which have become very popular in the international art market.

Architecture

Mix of old and new at Jing'an Temple in downtown Shanghai.

Chinese architecture, examples of which can be found over 2,000 years ago, has long been a landmark of Chinese culture. There are certain features common to Chinese architecture, regardless of specific region or use.

The most important is its emphasis on the horizontal. In contrast to Western architecture, which tends to grow in height and in depth, Chinese architecture stresses on the width of the buildings. The halls and palaces in the Forbidden City, for example, have rather low ceilings when compared to equivalent stately buildings in the West, but their external appearances suggest the all-embracing nature of imperial China. This of course does not apply to pagodas, which in any case are relatively rare.

Another important feature is its emphasis on symmetry, which connotes a sense of grandeur; this applies to everything from palaces to farmhouses. One notable exception is in the design of gardens, which tends to be as asymmetrical as possible. Like Chinese scroll paintings, the principle underlying the garden's composition is to create enduring flow, to let the patron wander and enjoy the garden without prescription, as in nature herself.

Feng shui designed architecture plays an important role in Chinese Culture. For example, Paifang is a Feng Shui designed gate of China town.

Cinema

Movie poster of the recent Wong Kar-wai film 2046.

Shanghai was the original center of Chinese filmmaking, giving birth to 1940s and 1950s Chinese movie stars such as Zhou Xuan, Ruan Lingyu and Hu Die. After the Communist takeover, the movie scene transferred from Shanghai to Hong Kong, where it has remained a center of Chinese filmmaking. In Hong Kong, the majority of films made centered around the common themes of martial arts (Wu-xia films), organized crime (in particular Triads), and other traditionally Chinese themes. While these films were always popular in the domestic Hong Kong market, they were also popular around the globe, and especially in the United States. This reached its zenith in the 1970s, when martial arts films were very popular in the United States. Now, in the 2000s, Asian-made films seem to be having a resurgence in popularity abroad. In the last two decades, Mainland China has also become a hotbed of filmmaking with such films as Farewell My Concubine, 2046, Hero, Suzhou River, The Road Home and House of Flying Daggers being critically acclaimed around the world. American filmmaker Quentin Tarantino plans to shoot his next film, a traditional Wu-Xia movie, in China and have its dialogue in Mandarin Chinese.

Another genre of films that become better known internationally is those depicting the exotic past of China with remarkable traditional and nostalgic symbols, notably under the directors Wong Kar-wai (Mandarin: Wang Jiawei) and Zhang Yimou.

 

Contemporary Culture of China

Cool Fairyland concert. The band combines traditional Chinese instruments and musical elements to their rock music.

Especially beginning in the late 1980's and early 1990's, China became exposed to more western elements, notably pop culture. American cinema is very popular in China. Young people tend to gather late at night at bars and nightclubs. The obsession with brand names is becoming more apparent by the day, and teen slang is incorporating more and more western language elements.

Language

The majority of people in China speak one form or another of the Chinese language. In addition to their native local dialect, nearly all can speak Standard Mandarin. There has been ongoing debate as to whether "Chinese" is actually a defined "language" or in fact a family of many languages. The fact this debate exists is not only for political and unity reasons, but also partly due to the fact that written Chinese is a common standard throughout China. For example a person who only speaks their local dialect is able to communicate with another person from a different area by using written Chinese. Although this written Chinese is itself based on one variety of spoken Chinese; Standard Mandarin or putonghua/guoyu. The written script across China is largely unified, and is the last of its kind that survives as a major language in the contemporary world.

 

People's Republic of China culture

Chinese propaganda poster saying: "Shatter the old world / Establish a new world." Classical example of the Red art from the early Cultural Revolution. Worker crushes the crucifix, Buddha and classical Chinese texts with his hammer; 1967

During the early years after the establishment of the People's Republic of China, traditional Chinese culture was tolerated to some extent. When the Cultural Revolution began, all forms of traditional Chinese culture were suppressed. Initially only eight (8) "Sample Acts", or propaganda performances, were allowed, along with a Maoist cult of personality and a large number of revolutionary songs such as The East Is Red. At the end of the Maoist era in the late 1970s saw Deng Xiaoping's economic reform, since then, China has enjoyed a successful revival of traditional Chinese culture, although it currently faces some increasing competition from the emerging popularity of western pop culture.

 

 

 

 

 

Top