Mamalayan, Anabel A.

BSSW- First Year

China
China’s government is regarded as a one-party communist dictatorship, in which
the communist party of China has a monopoly on power. The communist party of
China has approximately 90 million members. Also, China have other smaller
political parties but they are all affiliated with the communist party. China is divided
into twenty two (22) provinces, five (5) autonomous regions, and four (4)
municipalities under the direct control of the central government. China has
approximately 1.4 billion of population, and is considered as the worlds most
populous country. It is approximately 9.6 million square kilometer, and also
considered as the worlds third or fourth-largest country by area.
Chinese culture is one of the worlds oldest culture, tracing back to thousands of
years ago. Important contents of Chinese culture includes ceramics, architecture,
music, literature, martial arts, cuisine, visual arts, philosophy and religion.

 Ethnic Groups of China

There are fifty six (56) ethnic groups in China, and some of them are the Han
group and Miao minority. Han Chinese being the largest group in the country
maintained distinct linguistic and regional cultural traditions. Even within one ethnic
group there are probably diverse group of people. Miao minority, speak different
dialects of the Hmong Mie languages, Tai- Kadai languages and Chinese, and they
practice a variety of different cultural customs. Typically each minority group has
their own costumes, festivals and customs. The Hanfu, Zhongshan suit or the Mao
suit, Tang Suit and cheongsam [qipao] are the four famous suit in China.

The Chinese New Year-on which the Chinese people pasting scrolls, with the
character “Fu” and paper cuts, setting of fire crackers and fireworks, paying new year
visits, and eating jiaozi, is one of the famous festival in China. Wherein it was
celebrated during the first 15th of the first lunar month. Another is the Lantern
Festival, where the Chinese are watching lanterns and fireworks, guessing lantern
riddles and, performing folk dances.
 Religion
Confucianism and Taoism, latter joined by Buddhism, are the three common
religions in China that historically have influenced Chinese culture. Folk or popular
religion, the most widespread systems of beliefs and practices has evolved and
adapted since at least Shang and Zhou dynasties. During that period fundamental
elements of a theology and spiritual explanation for the nature of the universe
emerged. Basically, it consist in allegiance to the “Shen”,a character that signifies a
variety of Gods and immortals, who can be deities of the natural of environment of
ancestral principles of human groups, concepts of civility, cultural heroes, many of
whom feature in Chinese mythology and history. Recent surveys estimated that some
80% of Han Chinese practice some-kind of Chinese folk religion and Taoism; 10-16%
are Buddhist; 3-4% are Christians; and 1-2% are Muslims.

 Chinese Medicine
Traditional Chinese medicine is built on a foundation of more than 2,500 years of
Chinese medical practices that includes various forms of herbal medicine,
acupuncture, massage, exercise, and dietary therapy. In this case, some of these
practices are already adapted here in the Philippines nowadays because of some
Chinese who are already here and became a Filipino citizen. They share their culture
and customs with the Filipinos.
In general, disease is perceived as a disharmony or imbalance in the functions or
interactions of yin-yang, meridians etc., between the human body and the
environment. And as stated, traditional Chinese medicine is widely used in China and
is becoming increasingly prevalent in Europe and North America.

 Chinese Family
Family has been a key component in society for thousands of years in China.
Today, many aspects of Chinese life can be tied to honoring one’s parents or
ancestors. It is common for the Chinese that even they are already grown up, that they
should have many living generations of a family living under the same roof. The
family structure of Chinese is hierarchical. Still most parents and grandparents
expects that their children/grandchildren to do what they have told. Now many young
workers have been drawn to bigger cities in China to find better jobs with higher
salary. And that young workers tend to give a certain part of their salary to their
parents who may still resides in small towns with much lower salaries. And when
they reaches the age of 30, they are forced by their parents to go back to their
hometown to get married.

 Chinese Food
The “eight cuisines” of China are Anhui, Cantonese, Fujian, Hunan, Jiangsu,
Shandong, Sichuan and Zhejiang cuisines. These cuisine are distinctive from one
another due to factors such as availability of resources, climate, geography, history,
cooking techniques and lifestyle. Hairy crab is a highly sought-after local delicacy in
Shanghai. Peking duck and dim-sum are other popular dishes well known outside of
China.