Where Are We From Chineese culture and society - Essay Example

? Where Are We From It is always your environment and surrounding that helps an individual todevelop and the physical and moral attributes that one possesses is generally a sheer manifestation of the region and location that individual lives in. In my case, China has contributed a great deal in my personality development as discussed further in this essay. The landmass of East Asia is covered with what we call China. We can broadly understand the country in two parts, one being the Eastern and the other being the Western half. The Eastern region can be seen as mostly low fertile lands with mountains and deserts, also including certain subtropical areas (Haggett, pp. 2746-2747). The deserts of this region are quite expansive spread over hundreds of miles. However, its counter region has rolling plateaus that are famous the way they cover that land area. Tibet is present in this part of the world. Talking about the climate of China, many people find it strange when the tops of the mountains in South-Western China remain covered with heavy snow and that too in summer season. During winters, the area is certainly very cold as much as - 40 degrees of Fahrenheit. Being there in this season of the year is a trouble for anyone who belongs to other countries. Nevertheless, the area can be extremely hot in the summer season in the same way. This means that the temperature reaches to 100 degrees of Fahrenheit in extreme summers. In China, it is usual to find panda bears in the part of the country making mountains as their homes. The desert part of the country experiences the same kind of weather, being extremely hot in summers while vice versa in wintertime. In the Southern part of the country, where many people live, they find a plant called Ginseng that they use for medicines. Most people specially women like Durian as a must part of their meals, which they describe as having strong taste but not a very preferred odor. The element of being traditional and rigorous in practicing the traditional values of ancestors remains alive within Chinese communities and people. A short period that I have spent among Chinese people, I have found them quite cooperative and polite, however, they are reluctant to change. I can explain this citing some personal experiences that I had with a Chinese family living in my neighborhood that had been there for quite a long time. The kids in that family were very friendly and they expressed their interest in learning foreign languages, however, their parents never showed their preference towards this. They wanted to communicate with each other merely in Chinese language and wanted no other culture to have any kind of influence over their day-to-day practices. However, these are very co-operative people, but having a long history of minority groups within their culture, some conflicts might be seen between the Han-dominated communist group of people and the Mongols of the country belonging largely to the Western part of China (Haggett, pp. 2836-2837). Due to a large number of divisions in a multitude of ethnic groups that they are segregated in, all want to have a prestigious place within the society but many of them remain low profile and they have considered their groups as underprivileged and ignored. Moreover, in my neighborhood, I found most of the people being superstitious. They believed in ancient myths and stories and largely depended upon the consultations of fortunetellers in order to set their future goals or make a decision about their career. The elders in my neighbor used to ask fortunetellers about what career their kids should choose in order to excel and this largely influenced the direction their kids subsequently chose in educational and professional context. Analyzing the whole time that I spent with them, I have certainly adopted and rejected some of their traits. The values of belonging that they show to their own culture and community are something that influenced me the most. Earlier, I seldom bothered about my surrounding or my family traits but during that time, I learnt how to care about and love one’s culture, traits, and values and how to embrace. I consider my family background and ethics as something that I could cherish and boost about. Furthermore, in my opinion, change is indisputable and change is something that develops and evolves the person within oneself. The attitude that I saw among my neighbors manifested negativity towards the idea of change, making it evil and something that they do not acknowledge. My own understanding tells me that depending upon the nature of change; one can always accept or reject it. Apart from that, the culture of dependence on fortunetellers to direct you on leading your own life did not impress me much. In my opinion, it is the individual only who can make or ruin his future and it depends on how much you know and believe in yourself and your capabilities to make your future decisions rather than someone else doing that for you. I believe that they are reluctant to change because they have a long history of dependence and communism and they have always awaited influential people’s stance to rule their lives and set directions for them. Their governors not only govern them politically but they also shape their social and family lives advising them on how many children they can have in their families and likewise (Friedman, pp. 32-34). Thus, the behavior and culture that I have seen among their communities have a strong relationship with the past and history they have lived in. Besides these aspects of China, I particularly belong to the Southwestern province of China, Sichuan. One of the most famous features of my province is its cuisine that has been representing the country in the East, as well as in the West. One can understand the diversity of Sichuan with this statement, “one dish, one shape, hundreds of dishes, hundreds of tastes” (Sage, pp. 23-59) that indicates the assortment existing in cultural cuisines of this Chinese province. Besides cuisine, along with friendliness, it has been an understanding that our people are very curious, and this curiosity has enabled the Chinese people to learn new things while remaining with fundamental cultural and social basics of Chinese culture and society. Moreover, I believe that in comparison to other countries, people of China have been having very little confrontation with Western people; however, still, due to curiosity, Chinese people are now engaging in learning English language to compete with this competitive world. As discussed earlier, history and culture of China stands very important for Chinese people, and thus, it is very important for an outsider to understand and respect our culture, in order to understand people of China. Furthermore, socializing is an interesting aspect of Chinese people, as besides working hard all day, they love to socialize at bars and restaurants. Lastly, family structure enjoys a significant importance in Chinese culture and society, as families exist in close and extended structures in China and grandparents play a dominating role in nurturing a child whereas parents usually perform the responsibilities of bringing income for the home. In this regard, Chinese people are very complex to understand due to their long and multifaceted history and culture, however, when once understand, Chinese people are very friendly, helpful, and interesting to communicate and socialize. Works Cited Friedman, Edward. National Identity and Democratic Prospects in Socialist China. M.E. Sharpe, Inc., 1995. Haggett, Peter. Encyclopedia of World Geography: China/Taiwan. Marshall Cavendish Corporation, 2002. Sage, Steven F. Ancient Sichuan and the Unification of China. SUNY Press, 1992. Read More