Chinese Culture

By: Alexander Cheng, Jonathan Velez, Amy Lin, & Nigel Carter

War: The Rise and Fall of Dynasties

• Most lasted about 100 years or less, with the exception of a few.

• The Han, Tang, Song, Ming, and Qing dynasties all last about 300 years or

more.

• All except Song Dynasty were at war very often

• During Qing dynasty includes the Boxer Rebellion

• Boxer Rebellion: Get the foreigners out of China.

Civil War and World War II

• The Chinese Civil war that erupted in 1926 was to decide what kind of government they would have.

• Chiang Kai-Shek wanted a democracy

• Mao Zedong wanted Communism

• Eventually they both had to cease fire and deal with the Japanese expansion in World War II

• The Japanese had taken over Manchuria, and eventually antagonized China into the war

• After the Japanese were defeated in 1945, China returns to civil war

• Chiang Kai-Shek and his followers are eventually forced into Taiwan, allowing Mao Zedong to institutionalize communism in China

Religious Traditions

• Daoism

• Indigenous to China

• Seeks balance, harmony with nature, and

immortality

• Taijichuan

• Buddhism

• Brought to China by missionaries and

traders

• Seeks to end suffering, cease the cycle of

Samsara, and enter Nirvana

• Shaolin gongfu

Religious Traditions

Daoism

• “The way”, or the ultimate truth.

• “The One which is natural,

spontaneous, eternal, nameless, and

indescribable. It is at once the

beginning of all things and the way

in which all things pursue their

course.”

Daoism

• Notable scriptures:

• Dao De Jing

• Zhuangzi

• Three treasures:

• compassion (cí)

• moderation (jiǎn)

• humility (bùgǎn wéi tiānxià xiān)

• Ying and Yang

• Chi

• The Five Phases

Buddhism

• Two main divisions

• Theravada Buddhism

• Mahayana Buddhism

Buddhism

• The Four Noble Truths

• To live is to suffer

• The 8-Fold Path

• Samsara and Nirvana

• The Six Perfections

Dragon Boat Festival (端午节)

The Dragon Boat Festival

(Duanwu Jie) occurs on the 5th

day of the 5th lunar month. The

festival commemorates the

patriotic poet Qu Yuan who

drowned himself in the river

rather than see his country

occupied and conquered by the

State of Qin.

Many traditional customs and activities are held such as dragon

boat racing, eating zongzi, wearing a perfume pouch, tying five-

colour silk thread and hanging mugwort leaves and calamus.

QingMing Festival (清明节)

QingMing Festival or also

known as Tomb Sweeping

Day occurs either on the

4th or 5th of April of the

solar calendar. On this day,

people pay respects to their

dead ancestors, and

celebrate the coming of

spring.

People pay their respects to their ancestors by cleaning the

tomb, bringing food offerings, and burning paper goods.

Calligraphy

• Shūfǎ書法

• The way / method / law of writing

• Chinese characters - 4000 BC

• Evolution of characters

• Oracle bone to modern

The Four Treasures

She inkstone (歙砚)

Inkstick (墨)Xuan paper (宣纸)

Ink brush (毛笔)

Definition of Quality

• Correctly written

• Legible

• Concise

• Context

• Aesthetically pleasing