East Asia Culture - Research Paper Example

This definition brings to light the fact that shared behavior in culture helps distinguish one set of people from another. It implies how culture makes people unique, how their shared experiences create patterns of interaction, and how these patterns eventually affect all aspects of their lives. This paper shall define culture and shall describe five major characteristics that help define a culture. It shall also describe common cultural characteristics of East Asia, particularly China and describe how some characteristics have been shaped by the history of the region.

One of the characteristics of culture is that, it is subjective (Routledge, 2006). In relating this characteristic to the Chinese culture, subjectivity may be seen in the way the Chinese people and the rest of the world perceive the Chinese culture. For example, initially, a person from the West may perceive the Chinese people and their culture as conservative. This perception of conservatism may also be expressed as a degrading assessment of China’s economic progress. However, to the Chinese, this conservatism may be viewed as a positive, but not degrading, description of their culture.

Chinese conservatism can be attributed to their agricultural economic freedom and their artistic way of life. Their largely agricultural lifestyle has made them very much attached to the earth, and as a result, they have an increased sense of permanence. “This sense of permanence, being a built-in Chinese way of perception, sees the ‘eternal truths’ in the sayings of their ancient sages, and thus prevents any arbitrary progression into novelty” (Wu, n.d). New ideas presented by philosophers are not easily accepted as ‘new ideas’, but they are seen as modern interpretations of existing truths from ancient sages.

The artistic way of life for the Chinese gives them a profound devotion and respect for