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Chinese Culture

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Chinese Culture
Chinese Culture China has about five thousand years history which is a very long period of time. Also, the Chinese civilization was growing with these periods of time and it will continues greater than ever. Many wars and unhappinesses were happening during this period. Although, the time has passed, the histories and the civilizations have not passed. These family virtues, serious, working attitudes, sense of justice and the great Confucian tradition have been deeply assimilated into the Chinese people. Some Chinese traditions are different from North American’s. The Chinese culture has many special characteristics which are very interesting for people to learn. The family life is very important for every Chinese. Chinese families are very close-knit. Children tend to stay with their parents even after they get married and have children of their own, so that you often see three or four generations living under the same roof. However, everyone is well organized within this compact family each member of the family help each other when there is any problem and they will suffer together. The family life is quite different from North American’s style, since the North Americans like to live alone when they are getting old. It is very dangerous for the old people, if there is any accident happened. Nobody can help them if the old people live alone. The elder Chinese people are not willing to spend their final years living in an old people’s home. Chinese have great respect to the old generations. They will not let their parents or grandparents live alone in another environment for the final years. They will live with the old people because they could like to look after them. This is quite important for Chinese family. Chinese believe that life goes b turn. The old people take care and raise the, when they are young. They should look after them when they are old. The Traditional Chinese houses have many differences in comparison with the North American houses. The building materials used in construction is the most distinct difference from North American’s. A typical Chinese farmhouse is built of sun-dried bricks or pounded earth, because wood is too expensive and scarce to use. On the other hand, many typical Northern American houses are built of wood. In addition to the variations of building materials used in constriction, the architectural planning of a traditional Chinese houses is also unique. A traditional Chinese house is built according to the “Court-yard System” where by houses are built around a courtyard which is invisible to the outside. Windows are covered by a thin oiled paper which is also invisible in order to protect robbery and keep privacy. Nowadays, the traditional housing system seldom appears in Hong Kong because it is too expensive and may cost millions of dollars. Moreover, the housing in Hong Kong is usually apartments and skyscrapers which is different from the ancient China. The Chinese language is one of the oldest and complicated language in the world. Chinese language is single syllable which is the special characteristic of Chinese language. Each word has one syllable and has its own meanings. It is totally different from North Americans’ language. Actually there are variations in Chinese languages. Each province has its own language in China, but the most popular one is Mandarin. Everyone should know how to speck in Mandarin because it is decided to be the country’s official language. The Mandarin dialect has about one thousand and six hundred syllabic forms in four tones variations. The confusion of Chinese language is that there are too many words with similar sounds and tones. Therefore, it is very difficult for North Americans to learn. The English dictionaries have twenty-six characters which are a to z. But, the Chinese dictionaries list over forty thousand characters. A Chinese student who need to memorize thousands of different characters in order to read and write. It is quite difficult for a person. Anyway, people have to memorize these characters in order to learn in the school. North Americans are most interesting in Chinese food. Chinese food has been famous for its unlimited varieties of style. The most important point of Chinese cooking is using fresh food. Also, each province has its own style to cook. Some provinces are famous in spice and hot. Some of them are famous in use of wheat and some of them are famous in using flour. However, there are a lot of favorites in Chinese food. But, the Chinese food is hard to cook well. Moreover, Chinese use chopsticks to eat. But North Americans use knives and forks to eat. Overall the cooking styles and eating styles, Chinese is very different from North Americans. The traditional Chinese culture has many other characteristics. If we have to discuss all the Chinese cultures, we have to take about ten days to finish it. However, Chinese cultures are worth a lots. China has about five thousand years of life and we can really learn something from the Chinese cultures and civilizations. Other countries also have cultures and civilizations which are waiting for us to learn.

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