Chinese Culture

Chinese Culture

Culture is a broad and almost endless topic. It includes the social, family, educational and livelihood concerns of a civilization and the "artistic" aspects such as music, literature, painting and architecture. We are first going to discuss certain aspects of Chinese culture that are essential for understanding Chinese civilization and history. These include three elements of the social system: the family system, the position of women, and the role of education. We will look at the traditional family and educational systems and then the modern ones.

The Chinese Family System

The Chinese family system is patriarchal, patrilocal, and patrilineal. Patriarchal means that the oldest male in a family is the legal head and responsible for all aspects of the family, including finances and behavior of the other members. In an ideal family, the oldest male would be the grandfather, and his sons and grandsons and their families would all live with him. In reality, this seldom happened; once the father died the children divided the household and established their own residences. The eldest son, however, had primary responsibility for the welfare of his living parents, the worship of their spirits after death and the welfare of the other family members. Goods and money, however, were divided equally among the male siblings and each was entitled to an equal share of the parent's wealth. Daughters, of course, received their inheritance as dowry when they married and seldom received additional monies upon the death of their parents. However, the eldest brother was responsible both for arranging marriages and for providing dowries for any unmarried sisters; as the legal head of the family, he inherited his parents' responsibilities. While the eldest son assumed the stature of household head upon his father's death, he was also responsible for supporting his mother; because of the prevalence of the idea of filial piety, he often deferred to her wishes and always treated her with respect. For a women, being a widow with adult sons was the epitome of power and influence.

Patrilocal means that the family centered in the male's home location; women were never permanent members of the family but came and went into this stable male family as they married, divorced, were widowed and remarried. Women seldom remained in the natal families. As young girls they were "guests" in their parent's homes and at the appropriate age (15-19) they would marry out of their family and move into their husband's family. Thus the relations with daughters were seen as so different from relations with sons that there were different kinship terms to describe paternal and maternal relatives. For example, the husband's mother was the grandmother of his children; the wife's mother was the "outside" grandmother; each grandmother was seen to have a different relation with her grandchild. Thus, men and women had a completely different sense of family. The man stayed with the same family all his life, continued with the same habits and customs, revered the same ancestors, and felt a continuity with all his relatives of the past. Women, on the other hand, had a discontinuous experience of family: upon marriage, they left their natal families and moved into the families of strangers. Once in these new families, they were expected to adapt to the habits, food, customs of their new family and to consider the husband's parents, relations, and ancestors as their own. One common term to describe this experience was to say that a girl "came home" when she married.

Patrilineal meant that descent was counted only through the male line. Children had the surname of their fathers and belonged to that lineage; mothers could not pass on their lineage or names (except in rather unusual circumstances, described below). Only children of the male descent line could worship the parents and ancestors. To die without having a son was seen as the most unfilial of all acts. To have no father (to be illegitimate) meant that one had no lineage and thus no protection in case of need, and no one to sponsor entry to school or to jobs. It meant that essentially one was alone in a society in which connections, especially family connections, were essential for all acts of life. It also explains the preference of male over female children: only the males could continue the family line. The differences between the male and female descent lines was clear in the marriage laws. One could never marry anyone with the same surname as he/she was considered to belong to the same family and to marry would be incestuous. However, one could marry one's first cousins on the mother's side, as they were "outside" one's family. In fact, marriage between first cousins on the mother's side was quite frequent as these cousins were seen to be known quantities who could easily adjust to the family.

However, not everyone fit into this ideal scheme and the Chinese were very practical people. What does one do if one only has daughters and, in spite of having concubines or a second wife, one was unable to produce a male heir? The Chinese devised a clever solution to this problem. The parents "brought in" a husband for one of their daughters. That is, they found a man who would marry their daughter, move into their home, adopt their surname and treat them as his own parents. Why would a man do this? First, he would inherit all the family property as there were no sons to do so, so it might be financially advantageous. Second, he did not have to give the usual gifts to the brides family, thus again saving lots of money. The men who did this were often younger sons who saw little prospect for a decent inheritance form their own parents; often they were poorer than the families into whom they married so it was a social step up for them. In these cases, the man then had to make the same adjustments that women usually made in marriage.

The family was the legal entity in Chinese law, not the individual. Thus, the family was collectively responsible for the welfare and actions of its members. It was the extended family's responsibility to provide food, jobs, and care for poor or indigent members: no one was to be left to fend for her or himself. Likewise, the family was blamed for any criminal act committed by one of its members: wives could be punished for husbands' misdeeds, parents for children's, and the entire family could have its assets confiscated for major crimes such as murder or treason. The Chinese felt that the family influenced an individual's actions and was responsible for the moral training and oversight of its members; so the whole family was to blame for crimes.

This type of family system had both positive and negative results. It meant that people were never alone, never solely responsible for their own welfare but always had others upon whom they could rely. However, it meant that individuals often had to sacrifice their own wants and desires for the welfare of the family, which was always paramount. Thus, parents arranged marriages for their children based on what was best for both the child and the family; parents decided on what education or jobs their children would follow based on what needs the family had, rather than on the aptitude of the children.
The family was thus adult-centered rather than child-centered. It saw itself connected with generations of ancestors who had shaped the current family; thus family members had a great sense of connectedness with generations past and future. The family could be both supportive and stifling. For example, men could go abroad to work and earn money, secure that their wives and children were cared for by the extended family. At the same time, individuals were often unable to pursue their dreams if they conflicted with family duty.

The Position of Women in China

The position of women in China has varied greatly over the centuries. Moreover, the legal and religious status of women seldom told the whole story of women's roles or status. In accord with the Yin/Yang division that animates most of Chinese thought, women were seen as the embodiment of Yin. Thus they were seen to have the qualities of weakness, taking the lower place, secretiveness, darkness, etc. From this, the Chinese, especially under Confucian thought, came to consider that the role of women was to be the keeper of the "inner Quarters", the household. In the division of labor that emerged, men were to control things outside the home such as the government, the military, etc, while women governed all things within the home. Thus, women had their own sphere of action and within this sphere they were in charge. They didn't just do the housework, but were responsible for raising the children, for their education, for managing the household finances, which, in wealthy households, meant overseeing land and businesses. Women were often active in family run businesses, but seldom directly involved in government. Women did, however, have employment opportunities outside the home and family business: they were seamstresses, servants in wealthy homes, silk growers and weavers, courtesans and prostitutes, healers and midwives, marriage brokers and religious specialists. Well educated women could become tutors to children, especially female children. Those who had such vocations, could become Daoist priests or nuns or could leave the home as Buddhist nuns.

From a legal standpoint, women had few rights: they, like the younger members of a family, were under the jurisdiction of the family head, the eldest male in the family. He was responsible for the family property (which belonged to everyone in the family), for paying the taxes, for security and behavior of all family members, including all the women. Since he had this responsibility, he also had the authority to determine how family members lived and what they did. While the law did not much concern itself with women, they did have a few protections. For example, while it was fairly easy for a man to obtain a divorce (he could do so if his wife was barren, talked too much, etc) it was much more difficult for a woman to do so (her husband had to be extremely abusive, have a loathsome disease, or refuse to allow her to have children). However, there were three circumstances under which a woman could not be divorced: if she had no parents or siblings to take her in, if she had mourned the death of her parent-in-law, and if her husband had been poor when she married but was now rich! Thus, the law protected women form being put into a situation in which they had no one to care for them; the assumption was that she could not care for herself.

There was one basic path in which all women were assumed to find happiness and fulfillment: that of wife and mother. It was through carrying out this role that a woman could achieve power, prestige, emotional satisfaction, and financial security. Things which interfered with her fulfilling this role (such as inability to conceive a son, a hateful mother-in-law, too many concubines, her own unwillingness to marry) created problems as there was no good, socially acceptable alternative. Most unfortunate was the woman who wanted children but couldn't have them; barrenness was always blamed on the wife. Widows were also in difficult positions: especially after the 12th century with the advent of New-Confucianism, it was frowned upon for women to remarry; widows were to remain single and chaste, devoting themselves to their children and families.

The role of mother, however, was honored and esteemed; successful men gave credit for their success to their mothers. Chaste widows were honored by the government which built "chastity arches" commemorating their lives of goodness and sacrifice. Once her children were grown a woman had greater freedom and power; her word was listened to by the younger generation and her adult children were supposed to listen and obey her. Thus, the system of sacrifice for the family had rewards for women, who often looked to growing older as the best and freest time of their lives.

A mention should be made ere of foot binding, a custom which arose in China in the 12th century first among the class of female entertainers, later among the upper classes, and by the 17th century had spread to the working classes. This practice, of tightly binding a young girl's feet so that the foot, when she was grown was between 3-4 inches long, was a painful and crippling process. It endured for 600 years for a number of reasons. First, bound feet had sexual overtones, similar to those given to the breast today. Second, it reinforced the "inner" nature of women, as it was more difficult for them to travel out of the house. Third, it demonstrated to the world the wealth of the family, in that the women didn't need to work, or didn't need to work a great deal. This custom, of course, was discontinued in the early 20th century with the rise of the "natural feet" movement, spurred by Western disdain for the practice and the resulting conviction that foot binding was backward.

Modern Family System

The change in the Chinese family system and the position of women is perhaps one of the greatest changes which have taken place in China in the 20th century. Between the movement for liberation from the old educational and family systems in the early 20th century, and the years of Communist rule in the middle of the century, the family system was totally transformed. No longer is the family the legal unit; the individual is the legal unit. Men and women are equal in law, in education, in business. Many laws exist to protect women's rights and to guarantee them equal access to education and jobs. The extended family is a thing of the past and young people today marry and start their own family; however, they often still have a parent living with them, or live temporarily with parents because of a housing shortage. With the adoption in 1979 of the limited birth policy, which rapidly changed from a three to a two to a one child per couple policy, China became a child-centered culture rather than an adult-centered one. The only child is indulged by parents and grandparents and is often spoiled; this is known as the "little emperor syndrome." At the same time, education, which used to be restricted to those who could afford to pay, is now open to all, and, in fact, China has compulsory education in the lower grades. There is not a great deal to distinguish the Chinese form the Western family system at present except for the lingering Confucian stress on family ties and respect for elders. However, in 1997, to counter the growing problem of lack of retirement pensions caused by the dismantling of the "iron rice bowl" communist system, the government passed a law mandating that children have financial responsibility for aged and indigent parents. Thus, a small element of the traditional concern for filial piety, still remains in the now child centered nuclear family of China.

Education Past and Present

Education has played a vital role in China for well over 2000 years and perhaps no country has constantly put such a high value on education as the Chinese. The particular political system which was adopted in the Han dynasty (200 BC to 200 AD) stressed that only educated men could enter the governmental system at every level. Moreover, these positions were open to educated men, regardless of the wealth or class origin. Thus, for over 2000 years, the educational system of China served as the basic tool for social mobility. Not only did the educated have access to government positions, they had special exemptions from punishments and, at certain times in history, access to government maintenance funds. Educated people automatically became local leaders of their communities and enjoyed prestige and power just by virtue of being educated. As a consequence of the status and social mobility which came with education, it has always been valued by the Chinese who sought it for their children. The "Abraham Lincoln"-type stories, of poor but gifted children who listened outside school windows when unable to afford to attend, who struggled to attain an education and then gained high office, are a staple of Chinese literature. Education for women was also important, especially among the upper classes and often educated women were desirable on the marriage market. Educated women not only taught their children but used these skills in running the family, managing family property, keeping accounts, etc.

Chinese traditional education was based on the Confucian classics and involved rote memorization of these classics and then the practical application of the ideas of these books to political, economic, international and family problems. Chinese education thus stressed ethical transformation of the individual as much as the acquiring of specific skills. Students were expected to master a body of humanistic knowledge, including history, literature, philosophy, rhetoric, language, ritual, etc. It was felt that study of the writings of scholars in these areas would a priori have a transformative effect by inculcating the students with social values and correct ways of thinking and acting. They then had the moral and intellectual tools to solve the problems with which they were confronted.

The specific books that were read varied over the centuries but, by the 14th century had coalesced into the "Five Classics" and the "Four Books." The Five Classics were five ancient texts, which Confucius edited and considered to be the most important records of the past. They included the Book of Songs, a book of ancient poems, the Book of Changes, a book of divination and philosophy, The Book of History, an early history text, the Spring and Autumn Annals, another ancient history text, and the Book of Rites, a ceremonial ritual book. Zhuxi, a 12th-13th century New-Confucian scholar, added the Four Books to this collection. These consisted of the Golden Mean, and the Great Learning, two selections from the Book of Rites; the Analects, a book supposedly written by Confucius, and the Mencius, the book written by one of Confucius's main disciples. These were the main texts used by schools, by private tutors, and in the colleges. The Civil Service exams, which selected men for government positions, were based on these texts.

There was no public school system in China. However, there were many private schools and academies established by wealthy men, sometimes as profit making endeavors, other times as charitable enterprises. Many families also hired private tutors for their children, especially for their daughters who seldom ventured out to schools. Thus, there was no officially sanctioned school curriculum except that necessary to sit the Civil Service exams and apply for government positions. However, since all schools were essentially geared towards this aim, all students studied the same body of classical literature.

This school system was abandoned in the 20th century and a modern, Western-style system set up. China today has compulsory education, high achievement among young people and a highly competitive high school and university system. The contemporary educational system is divided into Primary (grades 1-6), Middle School (grades 7-9) and high school (grades 10-12). Admission to particular high schools is dependent upon a very competitive national exam. Certain schools in each major city are designated "key schools" with more funding and better resources than other schools. A nationwide university system was implemented in the 20th century, with undergraduate and graduate programs similar to those in the US. Again, admission is by highly competitive exams. Today schools in urban China rate with the best in the world. Students are highly motivated and teachers are well trained. In rural areas, education is available but schools vary greatly; some are excellent, others have few trained teachers. Many boarding schools exist as students from rural areas often must travel and board in order to attend better schools or, sometimes, to attend high school at all. Education is one of the government's top priorities and most Chinese see education as the key to a better life. Many students choose to study abroad as this is also viewed as a good way to obtain top jobs. Today English is the second language most often taught in schools, replacing Russian which was taught in the 50's and 60's, and most urban Chinese high school students have some exposure to English, although most often they are not taught by native speakers.

Chinese Cultural Activities

In its 5000 years of existence, China has developed distinctive cultural forms in all areas. Poetry, literature, art, crafts, music, drama, opera, architecture, etc are all highly developed and in many ways, different from these forms in the West.

An excellent website exists which has good descriptions and lovely pictures of the following cultural aspects of China: Buddhist art, calligraphy, military technology, painting, homes, gardens, clothing and graphic arts. For those subjects, please click on the following link: http://depts.washington.edu/chinaciv/. Once you are into this course website, click on contents and a list of the topics will come up. There is also information for teachers on this website and questions to ask students.

Another good website, although a little more difficult to use as it has information in both Chinese and English, is the following: http://www.chinapage.com/main2.html. This site has readings from Chinese poetry, novels, and short stories, excerpts from Beijing opera (Peking Opera) plus information on the Chinese zodiac, calendar, dragons, festivals and many other topics. Once you are into the site, you can click on any of the sidebars for different topics. Be sure and click on the "stars" to get the English version.