Chinese society
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Chinese society refers to the social structure of China.
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[edit] Demographics
Many ethnic groups have existed in China. In terms of numbers, however, the pre-eminent ethnic group in China is the Han, which is a group so diverse in its culture and language that some conceive of it as a larger overarching group bringing together many smaller, distinct ethnic groups sharing common traits in language and culture. Throughout history, many ethnic groups have been assimilated into neighbouring ethnicities or disappeared without a trace. Several previously distinct ethnic groups have been Sinicized into the Han, causing its population to increase dramatically; at the same time, many within the Han identity have maintained distinct linguistic and cultural traditions, though still identifying as Han. Many times in the past millennia many foreign groups have, in turn, shaped Han language and culture, for example the queue is a pig tail hairstyle strictly enforced by the Manchus on the general populace during the Qing Dynasty. The term Zhonghua Minzu is also used to describe the notion of a "Chinese nationality" transcending ethnic divisions.
The government of the People's Republic of China now officially recognizes a total of 56 ethnic groups, of which the largest is the Han Chinese. China's overall population is 1.3 billion. With the global human population currently estimated at about 6.4 billion, China is home to approximately 20%, or one-fifth of the human species, homo sapiens.
The lack of birth control and promotion of population growth during the rule of Mao Zedong resulted in a demographic explosion, culminating in over 1.3 billion people today. As a response to the problems this is causing, the government of the PRC has enacted a birth control policy, commonly known as the One-child policy.
The Han speak several mutually unintelligible tongues, classified by modern linguists as being separate languages, but regarded within the Chinese languages as "dialects" or "area languages" within a single Chinese language. The various spoken varieties of Chinese share a common written standard, "Vernacular Chinese" or "baihua", which has been used since the early 20th Century and is based on Standard Mandarin, the standard spoken language, in grammar and vocabulary. In addition, another, more ancient written standard, Classical Chinese, was used for writing Chinese by the literati for thousands of years before the 20th Century. Classical Chinese is no longer the predominant form of written Chinese, though it continues to be a part of high school curricula and is hence intelligible to some degree to many Chinese people. Other than Standard Mandarin, spoken variants are usually not written; the exception is Standard Cantonese, which is sometimes written as Written Cantonese in informal contexts.
[edit] Culture
China's traditional values were derived from the orthodox version of Confucianism/conservatism, which was taught in schools and was even part of imperial civil service examinations. However, the term Confucianism is somewhat problematic in that the system of thought which reached it high-water mark in Qing Dynasty imperial China was in fact composed of several strains of thought, including Legalism, which in many ways departed from the original spirit of Confucianism; indeed by the height of imperial China, the right of the individual ethical conscience and the democratic right of criticizing bad government and demanding change had largely been prohibited by "orthodox" thinkers. Currently, there are neo-Confucians who believe that contrary to that line of thought, democratic ideals and human rights are quite compatible with traditional Confucian "Asian values".
[edit] Gender
Mencius outlined the Three Subordinations. A woman was to be subordinate to her father in youth, her husband in maturity, and her son in old age.
A cliché of classical texts, which is repeated throughout the tradition, is the familiar notion that men govern the outer world, while women govern the home.
In the Han dynasty, the female historian Ban Zhao wrote the Lessons for Women, advice on how women should behave. She outlines the Four Virtues women must abide by: proper virtue, proper speech, proper countenance, proper merit. The "three subordinations and the four virtues" is a common four-character phrase throughout the imperial period.
As for the historical development of Chinese patriarchy, women's status was highest in the Tang dynasty, when women played sports (polo) and were generally freer in fashion and conduct. Between the Tang and Song dynasties, a fad for little feet arose, and from the Song dynasty onwards footbinding became more and more common for the elite. In the Ming dynasty, a tradition of virtuous widowhood developed. Widows, even if widowed at a young age, would be expected not to remarry. Their virtuous names might be displayed on the arch at the entrance of the village.
There was a significant liberation of women under Mao. Famously he said "Women hold up half the sky" to show his support for gender equality. When the communists came to power they banned various traditions which were seen as inhumane, such as footbinding and the right of a family to sell their daughters as concubines.
Many see a symptom of patriarchy in the 20th c. and in contemporary China in the immense pressure many women still feel to get married before the age of 30.
[edit] Hong Kong
[edit] Socio-economic development
Hong Kong fully urbanised during the post-war period and has developed into a major financial centre and a world city. As one of the "Four Asian Tigers" it saw a high growth rate and rapid industrialisation between the early 1960s and 1990s. Today, economic reforms on mainland China appear to have succeeded financially and have resulted in a booming economy in the last two decades, resulting in, among other things, a rising class of nouveau riche and middle class; whereas Hongkongers may be seen as "old money".
[edit] Culture
Hong Kong is generally considered to have preserved elements of ancient feudal and Confucian thought-systems and attitudes, similar to the situation in Japan and Korea, whereas in mainland China the trauma of the Cultural Revolution rendered people more "progressive." This is perhaps ironic, as mainland China is the birthplace of such thought systems. Similarly, religious rituals, folk traditions and other spiritual beliefs, such as ancestor worship and feng shui, are more common in Hong Kong than in many parts of mainland China.
[edit] Individualism and collectivism
In Chinese society, collectivism has a long tradition based on Confucianism, where being a 'community man' (qúntǐ de fènzǐ) (群体的分子) or someone with a 'social personality' (shèhuì de réngé) (社会的人格) is valued. Additionally, there is the shìgu (世故) personality type, who is worldly and committed to family.
Individualist thinking in China was formed by Lao Zi and Taoism. He taught that individual happiness is the basis of a good society and saw the state, with its "laws and regulations more numerous than the hairs of an ox," as the persistent oppressor of the individual, "more to be feared than fierce tigers." He was an opponent of taxation and war, and his students and the tradition that followed him were consistently individualistic. [edit]
[edit] Social relations
Chinese social relations are social relations typified by a reciprocal social network. Often social obligations within the network are characterized in familial terms. The individual link within the social network is known by guanxi (关系) and the feeling within the link is known by the term ganqing (感情). Social relations are often expressed by the exchange of gifts. An important concept within Chinese social relations is the concept of face and many other Oriental cultures. A Buddhist-related concept is yuanfen (缘分) (see also love).
Unlike other societies, the Chinese tend to see social relations in terms of interweaving networks rather than discrete categories ("boxes"). Hence, people are perceived as being "near" or "far" rather than "in" or "out". Another prevalent conceptualization relates to belonging: "self-person" or "one of us" (自己 ziji ren or tzu-chi-jen) as opposed to "outsider" or "not one of us" (外人 wairen or waijen; 外地人 waidi ren is often used in one place for people who come from elsewhere.
[edit] Civil society
Scholars from both China and the West have sought to analyze the place of "civil society", a concept which first arose in the West, in Chinese society, seeking to know whether it existed in China, and if so, what role it played. US scholar Thomas Metzger writes that China throughout history "has only exceptionally developed a civil society" and that "current Chinese writing using this term has typically conflated it with indigenous assumptions." Metzger's view is that the Western structure of a "bottom-up" civil society of elites outside the state regime who seek to check an imperfectable state is less prominent than a "top-down" structure according to which "moral-intellectual virtuosi" rule a perfectible state or "at least are allowed by the latter to guide society." [1]
[edit] See also
- Asian values
- Chinese tea culture
- Collectivism
- Face (social custom)
- Individualism
- Kowtow
- Social issues in the People's Republic of China
[edit] External links
- USC Center on Public Diplomacy Nation Profile - Constantly updating Wiki, includes look at Blogging & China
