Sad to see China so disconnected with its own culture

[Liang Jieming]

Sad to see China so disconnected with its own culture

I find it very sad whenever I visit China to see the people so

disconnected with the culture of the place. This is in contrast to

the cities of Europe, India and every other ancient land. The history

of a place is seen in every aspect of life, from the monuments to the

practices of the people. Not so in China. There are numerous

examples of forts, palaces, temples and monuments but one gets a sense

of the people who live in or around the places only serve more as

caretakers instead of representatives of a continuous line of unbroken

culture.

Where are the noble houses of old, the great ancient houses of dukes

and warriors like those you find in Japan? Often you will see

elaborate houses of long dead officials or magnificent pagodas of past

glories but where are the people who's descendants once inhabited the

place? Who are the proud owners of their legacy? No where to be

found. Instead you find knowledgeable but ultimately disconnected

caretakers/tourist guides who merely point out what was and what used

to be. Go anywhere in Europe and you will see the difference. The

castles and towns boast a proud history with suits of armor and

banners belonging to a forgotten era, still fluttering from ancient

but lived in halls, carrying their legacy forward out of the middle

ages into the future.

Sadder still are the vandalized monuments of a past violent heritage.

Everywhere are slashed statues, headless monuments and lost heritage,

victims of a turbulent past. The mindless wastage and devastation of

the Great Leap forward and the Cultural Revolutions have helped erased

off more of our Chinese culture than all the "barbarian" hordes of the

past could ever hope to have done. We ourselves as Chinese have

helped lose our own culture and heritage to the point where we can no

longer stand on our own achievements but instead to need to emulate

the cultures of others, most notably that of the west. In Italy, you

can gaze at the ancient spendour of the Romans who lived 2000 years

before our time. Yet in China, the Han dynasty of the same era cannot

boast a single monument or structure which can still be seen today

except in crumbling far off desert and mountain outposts.

What legacy can anyone in China now, truly claim to have? How many of

our finest families and histories were lost or have been forced into

exile to Taiwan and abroad? How did we, as a culture, fall so far?

Liang Jieming

[Quest]

破四旧，立四新，新未成，旧尽毁。

I agree with what you said. Did you also write a Chinese version?

[Liang Jieming]

:-) No, this English version is the only one I've written.

Jieming

[geraldc]

How many of our finest families and histories were lost or have been forced into exile to Taiwan and abroad?

Fine families? You're not calling for a return of Royal and noble families are you? While they're nice for tourists, they don't tend to do much for the populous, and Taiwan's not exactly exile.

Every nation makes mistakes protecting it's cultural heritage, the West had the dark ages etc, the UK had the dissolution of the monasteries etc, so are they any better or any worse than the Chinese?

[yonglan]

Hi 梁傑明,

Well, yeah. Hmm. I would only disagree about Japan being much different. I think it's the same.

I would offer two thoughts, not meaning to be too picky.

Sure, some of the Roman ruins are still there (a small fraction, though), but there are plenty of other ancient cultures including "great" ones who have left us with little to see in the modern world.

In hindsight it can all look quite straightforward, but maybe it's a difficult point in time to see. But there's a brighter future, I think. What I mean is, aside from Mao's nonsense, you brought up the fact of Chinese people in the past (20th century I assume you mean) abandoning their own culture. Well, things were kind of crazy for a while. I bet the same thing would have happened in Europe if they had been confronted with a China so far ahead of them.

And yet in Taiwan anyway -- and I'm told in China, too -- people now are learning a lot of quintessentially Chinese things: calligraphy, seal carving, Chinese painting, all sorts of traditional Chinese instruments, etc.

I haven't been to Europe, but being a Westerner, I'm not sure if the West has kept as much as you imagine. Few people learn Greek or Latin or even read any of the classics in translation. Who practices the older european musical instruments? How many people know much about older European handicrafts and such? I've seen such things in documentaries, but no one I know does them. How many Westerners have you met who practice calligraphy in their own language? I keep meaning to, but never get around to it. But I've spent countless hours practicing Chinese calligraphy and related arts.

Maybe it's not such a big deal to me since I don't believe in the idea of heritage. I'm an American of Polish and Italian ancestry, but I don't care. My interests lie in China and Japan, though ancient Rome is kind of interesting, but not because of any idea of blood connection.

What am I saying? I don't know . . . Things seem to be looking up for now, no?

[Ian_Lee]

I guess there is a structural difference in why China is harder to preserve some of its cultural heritage than its European/Japanese counterparts.

Take fortress/castle for example.

In dynastic China, the residential neighborhood was built within the confine of the city wall (almost every big Chinese city was a huge fortress). So in modern China, the ancient city wall faced the plight of demolition when infrastructure was rebuilt to adapt to the ever-growing urban population.

But in feudal Europe/Japan, the aristocrats/daimyos didn't live with the populace together and the residential neighborhood was located outside of the castle.

So it is easier to preserve the castle intact in Europe/Japan while it is utmost difficult to do so in China.

[Liang Jieming]

Hehehe, I never said we should be like the west. I merely lament the loss of the 1/2 of our culture that is now so evidently missing.

Jieming

[bathrobe]

To have all those dukes and whatnot living in mouldy old halls you have to have a continuity of power and privilege.

A Japanese historian once pointed out to me a basic difference between China and Japan. In Japan, not only the old culture but also the old power relationships, privileges, etc. remain. They are not swept away every time a new government comes to power (a bit like the British public service). That means that in all sorts of nooks and crannies there are people who have some connection to the past. Each little region and area has its abiding power relationships and this its minutely preserved local culture.

Whether this is good or bad is another question. Many Japanese who moved to countryside during the student movement of the 1960s/70s can attest to the great difficulty they had when they encountered old established interests -- little things like water rights, etc., etc.

In China, on the other hand, each dynasty tries to sweep the preceding dynasty away, more like the American model of a president putting his own people into the bureaucracy when he wins power. The result is that the slate is swept clean again and again. Local cultures are swept away and so are many of the old power relationships.

I don't know how accurate this description is, but it might help address some of the things you mention.

[geraldc]

Japan was "lucky" that the Americans decided that they found the Imperial family useful after the war, otherwise the Japanese royal family would have just been a historical footnote. If Japan had had a complete regime change after WW2, i.e. if the head of state actually changed, and they'd become a republic etc, perhaps, it would have helped heal the rifts in Asia quicker. Imagine if the head of states of any of the other axis powers had survived and were allowed to remain in their positions of power after the war.

[Quest]

In Japan, they preserved and promoted the imperial high culture.

In China, they destroyed the imperial high culture and promoted the commoner peasant culture.

That's why Chinese are on average kind of unsophisticated right now.