The Culture of China

China spared no expense celebrating
its arts and culture during the
opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing
Summer Olympics. Viewers at National
Stadium (the “Bird’s Nest”) in China and
in front of television screens across the
world witnessed dancers, acrobats, pianists,
drummers, and opera singers in
spectacular performance. Yet no matter
how cutting-edge or extravagant they
were, the performances remained steeped
in China’s ancient traditions. The events
as a whole were a reminder that China
is home to one of the world’s oldest continuous
civilizations, one that stretches
back millennia.
After the communist government
took over in 1949, the leaders undertook
extensive reforms. But pragmatic policies
alternated with periods of revolutionary
upheaval, most notably in the Great Leap
Forward and the Cultural Revolution.
During this period, the government prohibited
the practice of many traditional
arts. But by the end of the 1970s, China’s
leaders had started to renew economic
and political ties with the West and had
begun to once again invest in the arts.
Today, China’s cultural contributions
are once again being overshadowed,
this time by the country’s economic success.
Images of its billowing factories
and booming cities are the focus of the
world’s news media. Goods of all sorts
bear the label “Made in China.” This book
reorients readers to China’s powerful
influence in the arts and reveals how the
country’s rich cultural history has shaped
the lives of the more than 1 billion people
who live within its boundaries.
The book introduces readers to the
diversity of China’s people. About 92
percent of Chinese are Han. They speak
different dialects in different parts of the
country, but they are united by a common
writing system. The remainder of the
population includes some 55 minority
groups, many of whom speak languages
unrelated to Sino-Tibetan.
Of the Chinese dialects (or languages),
the most important is Mandarin,
the country’s official language. The
Beijing-based dialect is also known as
putonghua, or “common language.” But
it’s hardly the only Han dialect spoken.
In and around the city of Guangzhou in
southern China, people speak Cantonese.
The non-Chinese languages include
Uighur, a Turkic language spoken in the
Northwest, and Lahu, a Tibeto-Burman
language that is closer to Burmese than
to Chinese.
China’s cuisine is just as diverse as its
people. Beijing is famed for its pork buns,
fried tofu, and multicourse Peking duck.
Spicy hot peppers, peanuts, and garlic
dominate dishes prepared in central
China’s Sichuan province. Adventurous
diners in the Guangdong region savour
exotic ingredients such as snakes, eels,
and frogs—foods that do not appeal to
many other Chinese people. The special
preparation of food has deep and ancient
roots. By the 10th or 11th century, China’s
distinctive culinary style began to
emerge. It is a cuisine based on principles