Introduction to Chinese History,

Cultures, Traditions,
and Beliefs

Presented by:

ANGELO K. LAHINA, LPT, MAT

Instructor III
China’s Quiz
Bowl
What is the National Flag of
China?
a.) Five-Stars Red Flag
b.) Blue-Diamond
Flag
c.) Three-Moons Red Flag
d.) Two-Stars Pink Flag
 Answer:
a.) Five-Stars Red Flag
Who is the current President
of China?
a.) Me Yen Gao
b.) Hu Jintao
c.) T’ao Ti Ch’in
d.) Chu che
Tsik
Answer:
b.) Hu Jintao
The territorial seas of
China are the following
except
a.) for:
Bohai Sea
b.) Yellow Sea
c.) Red Sea
d.) South
China Sea
Answer:
c.) Red Sea
This religion is originated
from China and it is one of
the Chinese religion.
a.) Hinduism
b.)
Buddhism
c.) Confucianism
d.) Jainism
Answer:
c.)
Confucianism
What is the first dynasty
in China?
a.) T’ang Dynasty
b.) Chou Dynasty
c.) Yuan Dynasty
d.) Shang Dynasty
 Answer:
d.) Shang Dynasty
(China)
Zao Shang
Hao
People’s Republic
of China
The word "China" is derived from
the Persian word Cin ( ,)‫ن یچ‬which
is from the Sanskrit word Cīna.
 Location

China officially the People's

Republic of China (PRC), is a
sovereign state located in East Asia.
Peoples’ Republic of China

National Flag:
Five-Stars-Red-Flag
 The flag of China was officially adopted
on October 1, 1949.
 The red of the Chinese flag symbolizes
the communist revolution, and it's also
the traditional color of the people.
Peoples’ Republic of China

National Flag:
Five-Stars-Red-Flag
 The large gold star represents communism.
 The four smaller stars represent the social
classes of the people.
 In addition, the five stars together reflect
the importance placed on the number five
in Chinese thought and history.
People’s Republic of China

National
Emblem
People’s Republic of China

National
Anthem:
March of the Volunteers

Capital City:
Beijing
People’s Republic of
China

Largest
City:
Shanghai

Official Language:
Mandarin Chinese
Peoples’ Republic of China

Recognized Regional
Languages:
 • Mongolian

 • Tibetan

• Uyghu
r
• Zhuang

• various others
Official Written
Language:
Vernacular Chinese
People’s Republic of
China
PEOPLE:
Han
Chinese (93.3%),
plus 55
ethnic
groups like
Miao, Li,
Mongolian
Government:

Single-party people's republic

Legislature:

National People's Congress

People’s Republic of
China

Total Area : 9,596,961 𝑲 𝒎 . 𝟐

Water: is about 0.28 % of the total

Area.

Population: 1.35 Billion

(World's most populous
country)
People’s Republic of China

Territorial Seas:

Bohai Sea, Yellow Sea, East

China Sea, and South China
Sea.

Climate:

Continental monsoon

(Tibet: vertical climate zone).

People’s Republic of
China
Religions and Beliefs

Atheist
C
o
n
f
u
c
i
a
n
i
s
m
People’s Republic of
China
Religions and Beliefs
People’s Republic of
China

Curre
ncy:
Renminbi (yuan)(¥)
People’s Republic of
China
Administrative Demarcations
Provinces: 25

Autonomous Regions: 5

Municipalities: 4

(Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing)

Special Administrative Regions: 2

(Hong Kong and Macau).

People’s Republic of
China

Chinese
President:

Hu Jintao
Chinese history is generally
divided into dynasties or
periods during which
particular family or group
of people reigned.
 Chinese states were
unified into a large
empire with a central
government.
The Chinese empire lasted
for over two thousand
years surviving periods of
internal turmoil, attacks
from outside invaders and
the rise and fall of
numerous dynasties.
 The poet T’ao Ch’ien lived
during the period
known as the Six
Dynasties (220
A.D – 581 A.D), one of the
most tumultuous eras in
the
Chinese History.
Chinese Literature
1000 b.c. – a. d. 1890

Know contentment
And you will suffer no disgrace ;
Know when to stop
And you will meet with no
danger.
You can then endure.
-the Tao Te Ching
 Literary Context

•Poetry is a part of everyday life throughout the

history of China
•Poets have been among the most highly regarded
members of Chinese Society.
•2nd – 12th centuries A. D. the main Chinese
poetic form was the Shih Ching (The Book of
Songs).
*Even the number of lines , each of which has the
same number of words.
*Often expressed personal emotions.
*Many have brooding or trouble tone , but can
express contentment.
 Chinese Philosophy

•Contrast between Chinese and Western modes of

philosophic thinking.
•Western philosophers seek out of being of things ,
the essential reality lying behind appearances.
•Chinese principal and establishment and cultivation
of harmonious relationships within their social
structures.
•Chinese thinking is far more concrete , this worldly
and above all, practical.
 Cultural Context

Chinese attitudes and beliefs were shaped by

3 religios and philosophical schools :

Taoism

Confucianism

Buddhism
 Taoism

•Tao- path or the way

•Stresses freedom, simplicity and the

mythical contemplation of nature
(“Tao”).

•Force that controlled the universe

•Beyond the scope of human concerns ,

but can see its working by observing
nature.
 Taoism

•Avoid human desires

•Not educating

•Not honoring men of worth or

encourage cleaver to act
*Cause jealousy and greed
*Opposites of Confucianism
 Confucianism

•How people act – moral behavior

•Social relations based on

subordination: family ruled by
authoritarian father, state ruled
authoritarian king.

•However , governed by the concept

ren – with a loving attitude towards
others.
 Confucianism

•Tried to teach students to become

true gentlemen – morally and
spiritually.

•Must conduct oneself in a virtuous

manner, those in power serve as
models.

•Heaven is the supreme moral

authority , which dictates how one
must live.
 Buddhism

•To lead a moral life

•To be mindful and aware of
thoughts and actions
•To develop wisdom and
understanding
•Life is sorrow and sorrow is
caused by desires
•Rid self of desires
•Does not claim to be God
•Attain enlightenment through
meditation
 Buddhism

•Solutions to our problems are

within ourselves

•Beliefs are incorporated into

poetry through symbols, imagery
and language of Chinese
Literature

•Quite and calmness is a central

notion in Buddhist thought.
TRADITION
AND

CULTUR
E
 Chinese Wedding Traditions
Red is the Color of Weddings
in China

Red is central to
the wedding theme of
China. It signifies
love, joy and
prosperity and is
used in variety of
ways in Chinese
wedding traditions.
 Chinese Wedding Traditions
The bride's wedding
gown is often red,
as are the wedding
invitations, and
wedding gift boxes
or envelopes for
cash gifts. Even the
bride and groom's
homes are decorated
in red on the
wedding day.
Chinese Wedding Traditions
Before the Chinese
Wedding Day

A Chinese bride
traditionally goes
into seclusion
with her closest
friends. This
Chinese custom
gives the bride-
to-be some time to
symbolically
mourn the loss of
her friends and
family.
 Chinese Wedding Traditions
Some time before the
couple are married, the
groom’s family carries
wedding gifts in red
baskets and boxes to the
bride’s house.
One of the basket contain
“uang susu” or “milk
money”. Others will
contain personal things
for the bride, so that on
her wedding day all of
her personal belongings
will be in the groom’s
house.
Chinese Wedding Traditions
The bride takes the
gifts to another
room where they are
sorted through.
Three days before
the wedding day,
women from the
bride’s family
reciprocate, bearing
gifts– including
some returns in red
wrapping to the
grooms family.
 Chinese Wedding Traditions
The Day of the Wedding
Ceremony
Wedding
anniversaries in
China, are carefully
chosen according to
astrological signs.
It is also customary
for couples to be
married on the half-
hour or their
wedding day rather
than at the top of
the hour.
 Chinese Wedding Traditions
In this way, the
couple begins their
new lives together
on an “upswing”,
while the hands of
the clock are moving
up, rather than
down.
Activity 4. (10 points each) 1 whole sheet of
paper
Directions: Answer the following questions:
1. Discuss the Chinese Wedding Traditions.
2. Differentiate Buddhism vs Taoism in terms of
principle and belief.
3. Discuss the Chinese Festivals and its impact
to the Filipinos.
4. What is all about Chinese cuisine?

To be submitted on or before March 3, 2021.

 Chinese
Festivals
Event: Chinese New Year
Date: The first day of a
year in lunar
calendar, usually
between the late
January and early
February.
Activities: fireworks
display, visiting and
greeting, Yangke
dancing, lion and
dragon dancing,
holding temple fairs
and many other great
folklore-inspection
events.
 Chinese
Festivals
This was the time for
the Chinese to
congratulate each
other and themselves
on having passed
through another year,
a time to finish
out the old, and to
welcome the new year.
Common expressions
heard at this time
are: GUONIAN to have
made it through the
old year, and BAINIAN
to congratulate the
new year.
 Chinese
Festivals
Event: Lantern Festival
Date: 15th of the first
lunar month
Activities: Lanterns
expositions, garden
parties, firework
display and folk
dances.
The New Year
celebrations ended on
the 15th of the
First Moon with the
Lantern Festival.
 Chinese
Festivals
In the legend, the
Jade Emperor in
Heavens was so angered
at a town for killing
his favorite goose,
that he decided to
destroy it with a
storm of fire.
 Chinese
Festivals
Event: Dragon Boat
Festival
Date:5th day of the 5th
lunar month
Activities: Dragon Boat
races and eating Zong
Zi(pyramid shaped rice
wrapped in reed or
bamboo leaves).
 Chinese
Festivals
Event: Mid-Autumn
Festival
Date: 15th of the 8th
lunar month
Activities: Dragon Boat
racing, enjoying
moonlight and eating
moon cakes.
Probably the second
most important
festival in the
Chinese calendar,
Zhong qiu has ancient
origins.
 Chinese
Festivals
Abundant meals are
eaten during the
festival and moon
cakes, round pastries
filled with nuts,
dried fruits,
preserved flowers,
sesame and or
marinated beef or
bacon are eaten.
 Chinese
Festivals
Event: Qingming
Date: 12th of the 3rd
lunar month, usually
around April 4th or
5th.
Activities: Cleaning
ancestors graves and
holding memorial
ceremonies, spring
outing, and flying
kites.
 Chinese
This isa Festivals
time when
ice and snow has gone
and plants are
beginning to grow
again, and is a time
for respect to
ancestors. Qingming is
often marked by an
indulgence of the
Chinese passion for
kite flying.
Chinese food
• Chinese cuisine includes styles originating from
the diverse regions of China, as well as from
Chinese people in other parts of the world. The
history of Chinese cuisine in China stretches
back for thousands of years and has changed
from period to period and in each region
according to climate, imperial fashions, and
local preferences. Over time, techniques and
ingredients from the cuisines of other cultures
were integrated into the cuisine of the Chinese
people due both to imperial expansion and
from the trade with nearby regions in pre-
modern times, and from Europe and the New
World in the modern period.
• Over ingredients from techniques
the
time, cuisines a
other cultures were integrated into n
the cuisine of the Chinese people d
due both to imperial expansion and of
from the trade with nearby regions
in pre-modern times, and from
Europe and the New World in the
modern period.
• Styles and tastes also varied by class,
region, and ethnic background. This
led to an unparalleled range of
ingredients, techniques, dishes and
eating styles in what could be called
Chinese food, leading Chinese to
pride themselves on eating a wide
variety of foods while remaining true
to the spirit and traditions of Chinese
food culture.
 The Chinese Language
• Chinese ( 漢 語 ) comprises of seven
main dialects, Mandarin ( 官 話 ),
Cantonese ( 廣 州 話 , 廣 府 話 ),
Hakka ( 客家話 ), Wu ( 吳語 ), Min
( 閩語 ), Xiang ( 湘語 ), and Gan ( 贛
語 ) (Fig. 1). The variety of Mandarin
based on the speech in the capital
Beijing is the official national language
of mainland China and is termed
Pŭtōnghuà, Common language ( 普通
話 ). The de facto common language
in Hong Kong and overseas Chinese
communities is Cantonese. Amongst
the official languages of Taiwan are
Mandarin, Taiwanese, and Hakka (Fig.
1).
Chinese alphabet
• There are and have been several
Chinese alphabets, that is pre-existing
alphabets adapted to write down the
Chinese language. However, the
standard Chinese writing system uses a
non-alphabetic script with an alphabet
for supplementary use.[1] There is no
original alphabet native to China. China
has its Pinyin system though sometimes
the term is used anyway to refer to

more appropriately
used,though,logographicforphonemic
Chinesecharacters
transcriptions such as pinyin.
(sinograms). It is
• Chinese Currency – Renminbi (RMB)
• Chinese yuan, also known as Renminbi, is used
throughout in mainland China, while in Hong Kong and
Macau, Hong Kong dollar and pataca are respectively
used. The basic unit of Renminbi is Yuan and the sign
of Yuan is ￥ .
• The metric conversion about Chinese Yuan is :
• 1Yuan=10jiao 1jiao=10fen
• In some parts of China, yuan is called kuai and jiao is
referred as mao. Chinese money is issued by the
People's Bank of China in denominations of one, two,
five, ten, twenty, fifty, and one hundred yuan. The jiao
and fen coins are both issued in ones, twos, and fives.
• For many travelers, exchanging money is frequently
needed along their trip, which is particularly true for
businessmen along their China business travel. In
China, currency exchange could be available in large
banks, hotels and airports..
• China education is the largest education system in
the world. On June 2013, there were 9.12 million
students taking the National Higher Education
Entrance Examination (Gao Kao) in China.
Investment in education accounts for about 4% of
total GDP in China

•
The higher education sector has growth as well.
China is seeking to improve the quality of
education through a major effort at curriculum
reform. China has increased the proportion of its
college-age population in higher education to
over 20 percent now from 1.4 percent in 1978
• China has a consistent teacher development system. Teaching
has historically been and remains today a highly respected
profession in China. Teachers have strong preparation in their
subject matter and prospective teachers spend a great deal of
time observing the classrooms of experienced teachers, often in
schools attached to their universities. Once teachers are
employed in school, there is a system of induction and
continuous professional development in which groups of
teachers work together with master teachers on lesson plans
and improvement.
was the founder of
the humanistic
school of philosophy
known as the Ju or
Confucianism, which
taught the concepts
of benevolence,
ritual, and propriety.
 • Confucius
• Kong Qui, better known as Confucius, was
born in 551 B.C. in the Lu state of China.
He died in 479 B.C. Confucianism later
became the official imperial philosophy of
China, and was extremely influential
during the Han, Tang and Song dynasties.
His teachings, preserved in the Analects.
 focused on
creating ethical
models of family
and public
interaction, and
setting educational
standards.
 • The Analects of Confucius
孔子的“論語”
• An anthology of brief passages that present
the words of Confucius and his disciples.
• Describe Confucius as a man, and recount some of
the events of his life.
• The Analects includes twenty books, each generally
featuring a series of chapters that encompass
quotes from Confucius, which were compiled by
his disciples after his death.
Po Chu-i was a
gentleman poet and
government official
during the golden
age of the Tang
dynasty in China.
Po Chu-i eventually retired to a
monastery when he was in his 50s. One
of his legs was paralyzed at the end of
his life.
• His poetry often has the easy, retiring
quality of Chan poetry of the time.
Lao Tzu ("old man"
or "old sage") was
the ancient author
of Tao Te Ching, the
most widely
translated Chinese
work of all time and
the classic book of
the religion or
philosophy known
as Taoism.
• A general history of China from the
first century B.C. describes Lao Tzu as
an older contemporary and teacher
of Confucius (551-479 B.C.).

• It says he wrote the two-volume Tao

Te Ching at the request of the keeper
of a "pass" while on a westward
The most important
concept developed in the
Tao te ching is tao. Tao
literally means "road" or
"way."
The Tao te ching itself is a
collection of sayings
expounding the principal
Taoist teachings.
T'ao Ch'ien (365-
427) was one of
China's foremost
poets in the five-
word shih style,
and his influence
on subsequent
poets was very
great.
Also known as T'ao
Yüan-ming
One of T'ao's best-known
poems is a debate among
"Substance, Shadow, and
Spirit, " who speak
respectively for hedonism,
Confucian fame, and a kind
of Taoist stoicism which
accepts life in its totality.
Tu Fu was a great
Chinese poet of
the T'ang dynasty,
a family that
ruled China from
618 to 907.
• He is known as a poet-historian

for his portrayal of the social and

political disorders of his time and

is also noted for his artistry and

craftsmanship.
• His poetry introduces an

intense, dramatic, and

touching personalism through

the use of symbols and

images, irony and contrast.

 References
:
www.onlinedictionary.com

www.wikianswers.com
www.slideshare.net
www.china.gov
www.googleimages.com
www.theodora.com/maps
www.wikipedia.com