(Redirected from Asian culture):''For discussion of the area sometimes termed
southwest Asia, see
Middle East.''
The 'culture of Asia' is the artificial aggregate of the
cultural heritage of many
nationalities,
societies,
religions, and
ethnic groups in the region, traditionally called a continent from a Western-centric perspective, of
Asia. The region or "
continent" is more commonly divided into more natural geographic and cultural
subregions, including the
Caucasus,
Central Asia,
East Asia,
South Asia (the "Indian subcontinent"),
North Asia,
Southwest Asia and
Southeast Asia. Geographically, Asia is not a distinct continent; culturally, there has been little unity or common history for many of the cultures and peoples of Asia.
Asian art,
music, and
cuisine, as well as
literature, are important parts of Asian culture.
Eastern philosophy and religion also plays a major role, with
Buddhism,
Hinduism,
Taoism,
Confucianism,
Islam, and
Christianity all playing major roles. One of the most complex parts of Asian culture is the relationship between traditional cultures and the
Western world.
Nationalities and ethnic groups
There are an abundance of ethnic groups throughout Asia, with adaptations to the climate zones of Asia, which can be arctic, subarctic, temperate, subtropical or tropical. The ethnic groups have adapted to mountains, deserts, grasslands, and forests. On the coasts of Asia, the ethnic groups have adopted various methods of harvest and transport. Some groups are primarily
hunter-gatherers, some practice
transhumance (nomadic lifestyle), others have been agrarian/rural for millennia and others are becoming industrial/urban. Some groups/countries of Asia are completely urban (
Singapore and
Hong Kong). The colonization of Asia was largely ended in the twentieth century, with national drives for independence and self-determination across the continent.
===
East Asia===
East Asia is usually thought to consist of
China,
Japan,
Korea, but may also include
Mongolia and
Vietnam. Rarely, it includes the rest of
Southeast Asia.
The dominant influence
historically has been China, though in modern times, cultural exchange has flowed more bi-directionally. Major characteristics of this region include shared
Chinese-derived language characteristics, as well as shared religion, especially
Buddhism. There is also a shared social and moral philosophy derived from
Confucianism.
The
Chinese Script is generally agreed to be the unifying principle. It was historically used throughout the region, and is still used to some extent in most countries of the region. In most cases, the meaning of the characters remain unchanged, but the pronunciation differs between regions. Even within China, for example, a
Cantonese person and a person from
northern China probably cannot hold a conversation, but they can certainly understand each other by passing notes. The Chinese writing system is the oldest continuous writing system in the world (but by no means primitive). It was passed on first to
Korea, and was the main writing system there until the end of
World War II, and to
Japan, where it now forms a major component of the Japanese writing system. In Vietnam, classical Chinese (
Han Tu) was used during the millennium of Chinese rule, with the vernacular
Chu Nom script replacing it later on. However, this has now (since the early 20th century) been replaced completely by the
Latin Alphabet-based
Quoc Ngu.
In these cultures, especially in China, the educational level of person is traditionally measured by the quality of his or her
calligraphy, rather than diction, as is sometimes the case in the west.
Though
Korea,
Japan, and
Vietnam are not Chinese speaking regions, their languages have been heavily influenced by Chinese. Even though their writing systems have changed over time (with limited use of Chinese characters in Korea and none at all in modern Vietnam), Chinese is still found in the historical roots of many borrowed words, especially technical terms.
Apart from the unifying influence of
Confucianism,
Buddhism,
Chinese characters, and other
Chinese Cultural Influences, there is nevertheless much diversity between the countries of the region.
===
South Asia (Indian Subcontinent)===
Main articles: Culture of India
The nations of
India,
Pakistan,
Bangladesh,
Bhutan,
Nepal and
Sri Lanka share an ethnic background and all have similar cultures. This is largely due to the fact that before the 1947
partition, India included both Pakistan and Bangladesh in its borders. The reason they were separated was due to varying religious composition in various Indian states.
The
Indus Valley Civilization began on the
Indus River (now in Pakistan). In time, however,
Aryans settled down in the Indian subcontinent from the north. The Aryans also invaded the island of Sri Lanka and set up the Kingdom of
Sinhala. The people eventually mingled to form a common culture.
Hinduism,
Buddhism,
Jainism and
Sikhism, the four major world religions founded in the region that is today's India, are spread throughout the subcontinent. While 80% of Indians are Hindus and Nepal is a Hindu-majority State, Sri Lanka has a majority of Buddhists. South Asian culture was influenced somewhat by the arrival of
Islam, which based itself in the northwest of India (now Pakistan), near the borders of Afghanistan.
In
1947, India was split as part of the
Partition as a result of the
Indian Independence Movement. This partition was on the basis of religion, although Pakistani people and Indian people share a common language (
Urdu being very similar to
Hindi when spoken). Many Hindus and Sikhs still live in Pakistan while 10% of Bangladesh's population is Hindu.
Another common feature of these states is the fact that all these countries maintain interests in the same world sports.
India and
Pakistan were both strong in
Field Hockey during the 80s while Cricket is by far the most popular sport in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. With the
Indian Cricket Team being one of the earliest International Cricket Teams to be created (after England, Australia and South Africa).
Despite their religious differences, the way of life is still similar in India and Pakistan, because of shared history; and Pakistan differs in some ways from the Middle East. Foods such as ''
chapatis'' are common in both nations. South Indian foods (from the states Kerala and Tamil Nadu) can be found in Sri Lanka. Bangladeshi ways of life are similar to the people in
West Bengal, the Eastern Indian State.
Architecture
In Japan, the temples of
Kyoto and
Nara might be over 1,000 years old in style, but be completely rebuilt, in the same style, every few generations or so. The primary reason for this was that the materials might be wood and thatch rather than stone and tile.
Other cultures might build from stone, but the jungles and forests might overgrow the buildings, as in
Angkor Wat.
Art
Visual arts
Crafts
★ ''See also'':
Vietnamese Embroidery Art
Performing arts
-->
Music
Main articles: Asian music
Harmonic music can follow the
pentatonic scale as well as the
twelve-tone scale;
percussive music can use cymbals as well as gongs, in Asia.
South Asia
Main articles: South Asian music
In the
Punjab region of India and Pakistan,
bhangra music is very popular.
East Asia
Main articles: East Asian music
Middle East
Main articles: Middle Eastern music
Central Asia
Main articles: Central Asian music
The music of
Central Asia is as vast and unique as the many cultures and peoples who inhabit the region. The one constant throughout the musical landscape is
Islam, which defines the music's focus and the musicians' inspiration.
Principal instrument types are two- or three-stringed
lutes, the necks either fretted or fretless;
fiddles made of horsehair;
flutes, mostly open at both ends and either end-blown or side-blown; and
Jews' harps, either metal or, often in
Siberia, wooden.
Percussion instruments include frame drums, tambourines, and kettledrums.
Instrumental
polyphony is achieved primarily by lutes and fiddles. On the other hand, vocal polyphony is achieved in different ways:
Bashkirs hum a basic pitch while playing solo flute.
Southeast Asia
Main articles: Southeast Asian music
Dance
In the
Punjab region of India and Pakistan,
bhangra dance is very popular. The bhangra is a celebration of the harvest. The people dance to the beat of a drum while singing and dancing.
In
Thailand which is never
colonized by
Western countries, has retained cultural connections with the two great centers of Asian civilizations,
India and
China.
Dances of Myanmar, a country which was colonized only for a brief period, also retain very strong influences from these cultures.
In
Southeast Asia, dance is an integral part of the culture; the styles of dance vary from island to island. There are courtly dances, found, for example, wherever there are
Rajahs and
princesses. There are also dances of celebration. For example, according to oral history, in 1212, when 10
Bornean datus left the rule of
Sri Vijayan empire on
Borneo, they sailed away and negotiated
settlement rights with the
chieftain of the
Negritos on the island of
Panay. In commemoration of the agreement, they danced; the Negritos danced as well.
Mythology and folklore
The story of
Great Floods find reference in most of the regions of Asia. The
Hindu mythology tells about an
avatar of
God Vishnu in the form of a
fish who warned
Manu of a terrible flood. In ancient
Chinese mythology Shan Hai Jing, the Chinese ruler
Da Yu had to spend ten years to control a deluge which swept out most of the ancient China and was aided by the goddess
Nuwa who literally "fixed" the "broken" sky through which huge rains were pouring.
The regions of Asia has a rich variety of
mythical fauna.
Japan has
Nekomatas, cats with two tails and having magical powers; whereas
Balinese mythology has child-eating
Rangdas.
Hindu mythology have
Pishachas haunting the cremation grounds to eat half-burnt human corpses, and
Bhuts hanting the desolate places. Asia has a rich tradition of
folklores and
storytelling. In the
Indian subcontinent, the
Panchatantra, a collection of fables
200 BC, has remained a favorite for 2000 years.
Languages
Main articles: Languages of Asia
Asia is a continent with great linguistic diversity, and is home to various
language families and many
language isolates. A majority of Asian countries have more than one language that is natively spoken. For instance, according to
Ethnologue over 600 languages are spoken in
Indonesia while over 100 are spoken in the
Philippines. The official figure of 'mother tongues' spoken in India is 1683, of which an estimated 850 are in daily use.
Korea, on the other hand, is home to only one language.
The main language families found in Asia, along with examples of each, are:
★ '
Austro-Asiatic':
Khasi,
Khmer,
Mundari,
Vietnamese
★ '
Austronesian':
Atayal,
Cebuano,
Cham,
Ilokano,
Indonesian,
Javanese,
Malay,
Paiwan,
Sundanese,
Tagalog,
Tetum
★ '
Dravidian':
Kannada,
Malayalam,
Tamil,
Telugu
★ '
Indo-European':
Armenian,
Bengali,
English,
Gujarati,
Hindi,
Kurdish,
Nepali,
Pashto,
Persian,
Portuguese,
Punjabi,
Russian,
Sanskrit,
Tajik,
Urdu
★ '
Japonic':
Japanese,
Okinawan
★ '
Sino-Tibetan':
Burmese,
Cantonese,
Mandarin,
Tibetan
★ '
Tai-Kadai':
Lao,
Thai
★ '
Turkic':
Azeri,
Kazakh,
Kyrgyz,
Tatar,
Turkish,
Turkmen,
Uzbek
Other languages that do not belong to the above groups include
Ainu,
Burushaski,
Georgian,
Hmong,
Korean,
Mongolian, various
Romance-based
creoles (
Chavacano,
Macanese, and
Kristang) and many others.
Literature
Classical Indian literature
Classical Chinese and Japanese literature
In
Tang and
Song dynasty China, famous
poets such as
Li Bai authored works of great importance. They wrote ''shī'' (
Classical Chinese: 诗) poems, which have lines with equal numbers of
characters, as well as ''cí'' (词) poems with mixed line varieties.
Early-Modern Japanese literature (17th–19th centuries) developed comparable innovations such as
haiku, a form of
Japanese poetry that evolved from the ancient ''hokku'' (
Japanese language: 発句) mode. Haiku consists of three lines: the first and third lines each have five ''morae'' (the rough
phonological equivalent of
syllables), while the second has seven. Original haiku masters included such figures as
Edo period poet
Matsuo Bashō (松尾芭蕉); others influenced by Bashō include
Kobayashi Issa and
Masaoka Shiki.
Classical Persian and Arabic literature
Modern literature
The
polymath Rabindranath Tagore, a
Bengali poet,
dramatist, and
writer who was an
Indian, became in 1913 the first Asian
Nobel laureate. He won his
Nobel Prize in Literature for notable impact his prose works and poetic thought had on
English,
French, and other national literatures of
Europe and the
Americas.He also wrote the
Indian anthem Later, other Asian writers won Nobel Prizes in literature, including
Yasunari Kawabata (
Japan, 1966), and
Kenzaburo Oe (
Japan, 1994). In
Pakistani literature,
Saadat Hasan Manto (
Urdu: سعادت حسن منٹو) was a
Punjab (Pakistan)-born
Kashmiri short story writer who was notable for confronting controversial topics — including incest and social injustice — with wit, humor, and
satire.
Philosophy
Main articles: Eastern philosophy,
Chinese philosophy
Asian philosophical traditions originated in
India and
China, and has been classified as
Eastern philosophy covering a large spectrum of philosophical thoughts and writings, including those popular within India and
China. The
Indian philosophy include
Hindu and
Buddhist philosophies. They include elements of non-material pursuits, whereas another school of thought
Carvaka, which originated in India, and was propuned by
Charvak around 2500 years before, preached the enjoyment of material world.
During the
20th century, in the two most populous countries of Asia, two dramatically different political philosophies took shape.
Gandhi gave a new meaning to
Ahimsa, and redefined the concepts of
nonviolence and
nonresistance. During the same period,
Mao Zedong’s
communist philosophy was crystallized.
Religions
Hinduism,
Buddhism,
Jainism and
Sikhism originated in India, a country of
South Asia. In
East Asia, particularly in
China and
Japan,
Confucianism,
Taoism,
Zen Buddhism and
Shinto took shape. Other religions of Asia include the
Bahá'í Faith,
Shamanism practiced in
Siberia, and
Animism practiced in the eastern parts of the
Indian subcontinent.
Today 30% of
Muslims live in the
South Asian region of
Pakistan,
India and
Bangladesh. The world's largest single Muslim community (within the bounds of one nation) is in
Indonesia. There are also significant Muslim populations in the
Philippines,
China,
Central Asia,
Iran, and
Russia.
In the
Philippines and
East Timor,
Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion; it was introduced by the
Spaniards and the
Portuguese, respectively. In
Armenia,
Armenian Apostolic Church is the predominant religion. Various
Christian sects have adherents in portions of the
Middle East.
A large majority of people in the world who practice a religious faith practice one founded in Asia.
Religions founded in Asia and with a majority of their contemporary adherents in Asia include:
Hinduism is the world's oldest existing religion. Shown here is a woman performing
Yoga.
★
Ahmadi (Qadiani):
Pakistan,
Bangladesh,
India.
★
Bahá'í Faith: slightly more than half of all adherents are in Asia
★
Buddhism:
Cambodia,
China,
Japan,
Korea,
Laos,
Malaysia,
Mongolia,
Myanmar,
Singapore,
Sri Lanka,
Thailand,
Vietnam, parts of northern, eastern, and western
India, and parts of central and eastern
Russia (Siberia).
★
★
Mahayana Buddhism: China, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam.
★
★
Theravada Buddhism: Cambodia, parts of China, Laos, mainly northern parts of Malaysia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, as well as parts of
Vietnam.
★
★
Vajrayana Buddhism: Parts of China,
Mongolia, parts of northern and eastern
India, parts of central and eastern
Russia and
Siberia.
★
Hinduism:
India,
Nepal,
Bangladesh,
Sri Lanka,
Pakistan,
Malaysia,
Singapore,
Bali.
★
Islam:
Central,
South and
Southwest Asia,
Indonesia,
Malaysia,
Philippines, and
Brunei.
★
★
Shia Islam: largely to specific
Iran,
Azerbaijan, parts of
Iraq,
Bahrain, parts of
Afghanistan, parts of
India, parts of
Pakistan.
★
★
Sunni Islam: dominant in the rest of the regions mentioned above.
★
Jainism:
India
★
Shinto:
Japan
★
Sikhism:
India,
Malaysia,
Hong Kong
★
Taoism (Daoism):
China,
Korea,
Vietnam,
Singapore, and
Taiwan
★
Zoroastrianism:
Iran,
India,
Pakistan
★
Shamanism:
Siberia
★
Animism: Eastern
India
Religions founded in Asia that have the majority of their contemporary adherents in other regions include:
★
Christianity (
Lebanon,
Syria,
Palestine,
Armenia,
Georgia,
South Korea,
Singapore,
Malaysia,
Indonesia,
East Timor,
Pakistan,
India and the
Philippines)
★
Judaism (slightly fewer than half of its adherents reside in Asia;
Israel,
Iran,
India,
Syria.)
Festivals & celebrations
Asia has a variety of festivals and celebrations. In
China,
Chinese New Year,
Dragon Boat Festival, and
Mid-Autumn Moon Festival are traditional holidays, while
National Day is a holiday of the
People's Republic of China. In
Japan,
Japanese New Year,
National Foundation Day,
Children's Day,
The Emperor's Birthday, and
Christmas are popular.
Buddhist festivals include
Vesak and
Asalha Puja.
In
India,
Republic Day and
Independence Day are important national festivals celebrated by people irrespective of faith. Major
Hindu festivals of
India include
Diwali,
Dussehra or Daserra,
Holi,
Makar Sankranti,
Pongal,
Mahashivratri,
Ugadi,
Navratri,
Ramanavami,
Baisakhi ,
Onam,
Rathayatra,
Ganesh Chaturthi, and
Krishna Janmastami. Islamic festivals such as
Eid ul-Fitr and
Eid ul-Adha, Sikh festivals such as
Vaisakhi, and Christian festivals such as Christmas, are also celebrated in India.
In the
Philippines, there is a very strong
Spanish influence in their festivals, thus making the Philippines, distinctively occidental.
Fiesta is the term used to refer to a
festival. Most of these fiestas are celebrated in honor of a patron Saint. Some prime examples include
Sinulog from
Cebu and
Ilo-Ilo's
Dinagyang.
Food & drink
Thai seafood curry
In many parts of Asia,
rice is a staple food, and it is mostly served
steamed or as a
porridge known as
congee.
China is the world largest producer and consumer of rice. In
India, people often eat food with their hands, and many
spices are used in every dish. Most spices originated around India or neighboring countries such as
Sri Lanka.
Durians are a common fruit in
Southeast Asia, which,
Alfred Russel Wallace, attested to its delicious flavor as worth the entire cost of his trip there.
Culture by people
★
Ainu people
★
Afghan people
★
Armenian people
★
Assyrian people
★
Aryan
★
Baloch people
★
Burmese people
★
Chinese people
★
Cambodian people
★
Dravidian people
★
Filipino people
★
Iranian people
★
Japanese people
★
Kazakh people
★
Korean people
★
Kyrgyz people
★
Mongolian people
★
Tibetan people
★
Russian people
★
Tajik people
★
Taiwanese people
★
Thai people
★
Uzbek people
★
Vietnamese people
See also
★
Culture of Africa
★
Culture of Europe
Notes
John Lindley (1889), ''Treasury of Botany'' vol 1. p.435. Longmans, Green, & Co; New and rev. ed edition (1889)
External links
★
'' Yin Yu Tang: A Chinese Home '' showcases Chinese culture through a detailed examination of a family residence located in the Anhui province of East China.
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