Chinese Culture

Today's China is a big hodgepodge of old and new, you can see commercial high rise buildings everywhere in metropolitan cities and old houses and cottages in ancient alleys not far away from these skyscrapers. In Chinese minds, especially the elderly and the middle-aged people, the old ideas are still rooted deeply. The younger generation is filled with strong passion in pursuing new, or to a greater extent, westernized lifestyle and having modernized ideas in love and family relations. However, the Chinese youths' creative power is very strong. They are very outstanding in many fields.

   

  

 The belief that has been followed by the Chinese people traditionally is the Confucius' philosophy, which is to urge people to value importance of family, practice self-restrain and emphasis on hard work. The worship in Confucius had been declined since the beginning of the 20th Century, because the tumultuous time that had made many young people to think twice about their traditional beliefs. At the same time, the Western ideas were coming, which were brand-new things for the Chinese people. The Western scientific achievement and the change of thinking among the younger generations have greatly transformed the ideas in Chinese people's minds, and their behavior as well.

 

However, the traditional beliefs and values are coming back in a silence way these days, people are getting bored with the chaotic modern society and the wasteful lifestyle. More and more people are like to become Buddhists or Christians and study in the Confucian philosophy. Nowadays, the traditional beliefs do not affect the rapid pace of development of this great nation. 

  

 

China's diverse population serves up a variety of ethnic groups. The majority of the Chinese population is of Han ethnic descent, which makes up 92 percent of the population (1.2 billion), the remaining 8 percent are 55 minority groups. The Han have ruled China through most of its ancient history except during the Yuan Dynasty where the Mongols had control of China for less than 100 years and in the Qing Dynasty where the Manchu's held power for almost 300 years. The Qing Dynasty is responsible for solidifying China's boundaries in the early 17th Century.

 

The ethnic groups are Mongolian, Hui (called as Muslim People in Chinese), Tibetan, Uygur, Korean and Manchu, with other less populous minorities living all over China. Although most of the ethnicities can be seen as ethnic groups, the correspondence is not one to one. For example, many Hui are indistinguishable from Han Chinese except for the fact that they practice Islam. Conversely, Hakka are often thought of as an ethnic group, but they are generally considered members of the Han ethnicity.

 

With the Han Chinese makes up the vast majority of China's total population, the distribution is highly uneven with large parts of western China having Han Chinese as a minority. In certain areas, to some extent, people in ethnic groups are to be assimilated into Han Chinese culture and lifestyle.

 

Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the government has implemented favorable policies to the ethnic minorities. For example, the "One Child" policy doesn't affect them strictly as to the Han Chinese. Local People's Representative bodies are established in order to speed up the economic development in these remote regions. Since the 1950s, the growth rate of the ethnic minorities has been higher than that of the Han Chinese. The living standard of these groups has improved greatly also.

    

 

 

The native language of the Chinese people is the Han and the official spoken language is Mandarin (the Putonghua) with many regional dialects. Over 50 minority languages are spoken only by 6% of the population.

 

China is divided into seven main dialect zones : Northern (which is very akin to the official Mandarin), Wu (Anhui, Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces), Min (Southeastern China), Cantonese (spoken in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau), Hakka (Fujian and Guangxi Provinces), Jiangxi and Hunan.