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The culture of China has been influenced by China's long history and by its diverse ethnic groups. Chinese civilization is said to have begun 5,000 years ago. Chinese culture, despite all of its regional diversity, was dominated by the Confucian value system. Throughout the history of imperial China, Confucianism was the official philosophy, and mastery of Confucian texts was the primary criterion for entry into the imperial bureaucracy.
Moreover, the Chinese people have been unified for over two millenia by the commonalities of their languages which, although generally mutually unintelligible in their spoken forms, share a common structure as analytic languages, where each concept is represented by a different word. This has allowed China to develop a common ideographic, calligraphic script which, although much more difficult to learn than a phonetic, written language, allows speakers of different dialects to communicate with the same script.
With the rise of Western economic and military power at the turn of the last 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
Main article: Chinese art
Architecture
Main article: Chinese architecture
I. M. Pei
Cinema
Main article: Cinema of China
For many years Hong Kong has been a center of filmmaking. Traditionally, 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 at various points in time, 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 recent years Mainland China has also become a hotbed of filmmaking with such films as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hero, and House of Flying Daggers being popular not only in China but 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.
Dance
dragon dance - lion dance
Music
Main article: Music of China
Opera
Chinese opera
Visual arts and design
Calligraphy - Chinese painting
Handicraft
Joinery - Silk - Chinese paper art
Language and literature
Chinese astrology - Chinese calendar - Chinese classic texts - Chinese constellation - Chinese dragon - Chinese mythology - Chinese New Year - Chinese philosophy - Confucianism - Confucius - Eastern philosophy - Five Elements - Futs-Lung - I Ching - Qilin - Lao Zi - Listing of noted Confucianists - Listing of noted Taoists - Lung - Lunisolar calendar - Mohism - Qi - Taoism - Yin Yang - Zhang San Feng
Language
Main articles: Chinese language, Languages of China
Chinese character - Chinese input methods for computers - Chinese numerals - Chinese written language - Classical Chinese - List of Chinese dialects - Pinyin - Zhuyin
Literature
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations by or about:
Chinese proverbs
Main article: Chinese literature
Chinese classic texts - Chinese poetry - List of Chinese language poets
Clothing
Han Chinese clothing - Qipao - Ming official headwear - Manchu official headwear - Mandarin square
Cuisine
Main article: Chinese cuisine
American Chinese cuisine - Boba milk tea - Cantonese cuisine - Cardamom - Chinese Buddhist cuisine - Chinese food therapy - Chinese Islamic cuisine - Chiuchow cuisine - Chopsticks - Chop suey - Dim sum - Double steaming - Fingerroot - Five-spice powder - Fortune cookie - Ginger root - Hakka cuisine - Hot salt frying - Hot sand frying - Hunan cuisine - Longan - Lychee - Mandarin cuisine - Monosodium glutamate - Shanghai cuisine - Soy sauce - Stir frying - Szechuan cuisine - Szechuan pepper - Taiwanese cuisine - Tofu - Wok
Society
Main article: Chinese society
Education
Ethnic groups and regionalisms
Social relations
Main article: Chinese social relations
Qi Qiao Jie
Games
Che Deng - Chinese dominoes - Go (board game) - Go proverb - Gwat Pai - Kap Tai Shap - Keno - Mah Jong - Pai Gow - Pai gow poker - Shanghai solitaire - Tangram - Tien Gow - Tiu U - Xiangqi
Government
Chinese nationalism - Communism - Cultural genocide - Cultural Revolution
History
Main article: History of China
Origins of Chinese Civilization - Chinese prehistory - Dongyi - Hunn-Xianpi - Khitan - Jurchen - Tabgach - proto-Sino-Tibetan - Shang-Chu Kingdom - Yuezhi - Yue Kingdom - Nanyue Kingdom - Wu Kingdom
Hobbies
Chinese tea culture
Martial Arts
Main article: Chinese martial arts
Jeet Kune Do - Kung Fu - Leung Sheung - Martial arts - Nei chia - Nunchaku - Pakua Chuan - Qigong - Shaolin - Tai Chi Chuan - Wing Chun - Wing Tsun - Wong Fei Hung - Wushu - Yip Man
Mass media
Main articles: Media in China, Media in Hong Kong
Religion
Main article Religion in China- Hopping corpse -
Bodhidharma - Buddhism - Dalai Lama - Falun Gong - Gedun Drub - Guanyin - Mahayana Buddhism - Shang Ti - Shaolin - Sonam Gyatso - Tibetan Buddhism - Vajrayana - Yami - Zen
Technology
Main article Chinese Four Great Inventions
Chinese often say that they are proud of their four main inventions. They are Compass, Gunpowder, Paper and Printing
Abacus - Celestial globe - Counting rods - Traditional Chinese medicine
Tourism
Main article: Tourism in China
Popular tourist locations in China include the complex known as the Forbidden City, located in Beijing which was once the center of Chinese Imperial power. The most popular tourist attraction in China however, is the Great Wall of China, a massive stone wall built along China's borders. It is one of the few structures that can be seen from outerspace. Also often visited is the archaeological find commonly known as the Terracotta Army, which is a vast collection of terracotta statues of Chinese Imperial soldiers constructed by one of China's emperors during its Imperial period.
Grand Canal of China - Marco Polo Bridge - Mount Huangshan - Mount Jiuhuashan - Mount Tianzhu - The Temple of Heaven - The Summer Palace
Other, to be inserted above
Eunuch - Fists of Righteous Harmony - Ganqing - Giulio Alenio - Jean Joseph Marie Amiot - Jiang Hu - List of famous Chinese people - National Palace Museum - Sima Guang - Sima Qian - Triad - Zhang Heng - Zhu Shijie - Da Shan (Mark Rowswell) - Zun - Chinese unit
Communist Culture
Maoism - Mao suit - Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong -
- This article or section should include material fromCulture of mainland China
Important cities
- Beijing - Currently the capital of the People's Republic of China and traditionally the seat of Imperial power.
- Shanghai - Currently one of the major business and commerce centers in the Easter hemisphere and the de-facto business capital of the People's Republic of China. Traditionally a culturally important location and important trade location.
- Hong Kong - Throughout it's history culturally tied to China although it spent centuries under British rule. It has recently returned to the People's Republic of China as a Special Administrative District which allows it to thrive as a major center of Capitalism and economy. It is also one of the most densely populated cities on the planet Earth.
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See also
External links
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