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
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
• The Four Noble Truths
• To live is to suffer
• The 8-Fold Path
• Samsara and Nirvana
• The Six Perfections
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 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