Chinese Culture Values

This is a Chinese book that introduces and reflects on Chinese family culture and morality.

筆者原先是讀電腦工程的，其後去研讀神學、宗教和哲學時有機會接觸中國文化科目，內容都是講中國儒、釋、道思想、中國的文學、藝術、心理等，上課時除了討論家庭和心理外，其他內容都有一份莫名的陌生感；自小長輩常告訴我﹕「我們中國人深受儒家思想影響」，但我自小並沒有讀儒家經典，當我成年後研讀時便出現莫名的陌生感，為甚麼我對這些內容如此陌生？難道我身處文化並非中國文化？直至過去幾年在香港理工大學專業及持續教育學院教通識科目「中國家庭與文化」，才突然有種強烈親切感：「這就是自小到大影響著我的中國文化！」很多討論中國文化或中西文化比較書籍都會討論哲學宗教、文學藝術、政治經濟等，但事實上一般人對儒家典籍、詩詞歌賦都認識不多，所以如果從哲學文學去討論中國文化，讀者會感到很陌生，甚至懷疑自己是否真的受中國文化影響，又或中國文化是否依然有價值。筆者在教導「中國家庭文化」的過程中深深體會到：我們不一定熟悉中國歷史和傳統典籍，但中國文化就在我們的家庭中，一代一代潛移默化地傳承下來，深深影響著我們的處事、思想和價值觀；另外有部分中國文化亦因近年西方現代文化和工商業化影響而作出了調適和轉變。這些教學經驗亦令筆者重新認識和反思自我和所處的文化。
筆者在備課時發覺找有關中國家庭文化參考書籍並不容易，大多都只是歷史進路，如家庭史或婚姻史，大多資料陳述，較少對傳統價值進行反思；又或只是社會學進路，多討論中國家庭現代化轉變和適應，對傳統家庭觀念只簡單概括及批評，缺乏對傳統的歷史視野和欣賞；至於中國家庭對於個人的價值觀、社會文化、甚至政治經濟文化影響的探討就更少。筆者原本只是想出版一本資料性的書籍，但因筆者的哲學訓練和教學背景的影響，在教授這一科目時總喜歡進一步發問、思考傳統價值和現代社會文化的優點和不足，以獨立批評性角度思考傳統和現代化問題，故一邊教學一邊進一步研究中國家庭文化。由於課堂需要每位同學交一份「家庭個案分析」，透過閱讀超過一千位同學的功課和課堂上的討論，再加上筆者過去在教會和一些非牟利團體結識的朋友，以及與中外學者的交流等等，都讓筆者有機會認識到很多真實家庭故事和文化，有助筆者對中國家庭文化進一步反思和產生一些看法。本書不單只是從歷史和社會學角度，亦涉及人類學、心理輔導、宗教和哲學的分析，偶然亦會與西方文化作比較分析，以及討論包含中國大陸、香港、台灣家庭現代化的發展分別，可謂一跨科際的進路，同時也有筆者不少獨特的研究心得，希望本書對有關議題能有所貢獻。筆者亦很感激羅國洪先生和蔣瑋茵女士對本書提出寶貴意見，若本書有甚麼錯漏，責任仍在筆者。
一般寫傳統中國家庭的書籍亦會討論到古代婚姻家庭起源、煩瑣的婚禮、父母之命、媒妁之言、三妻四妾、三從四德、貞烈觀等，這些觀念都備受現代人批評，但筆者發覺很多有關批評都太片面，並非不對，只是未能多角度去思考；但由於篇幅所限，未能在此討論。筆者不敢自跨書中內容有甚麼過人之處，只期望透過本書可與不同學人對中國家庭文化一起進行反思和交流。

It is an undeniable fact that China has basically succeeded in controlling the spread of the epidemic in China in the first half of 2020. Behind this success there may be several reasons, among which the cultural factors have certainly played an important role. What kind of cultural values helped Chinese to combat the COVID-19 Epidemic? This paper attempts to discuss this issue by analysing some data from the newly released results in Wave 7 of the World Values Survey and combining with the study of Chinese cultural concepts. It finds that, generally speaking, Chinese culture is characterized with the following cultural spirits and values which are relevant to Chinese people's responding to the crisis of COVID-19 outbreak: the value of the supremacy of human life, believe in science rather than religion, the preference of the value of security over the value of freedom, the idea that the fate of an individual is inextricably linked to that of a group, nation, and humanity, and the spirit of trust and obedience to political leadership. At a time when humanity need to unite in the face of a major disaster such as the Covid-19 pandemic, these Chinese cultural values clearly have some advantages that deserve to be summarized and studied.

Review of "Chinese Characteristics" by Arthur H. Smith (1894).  The American missionary who lived in China for 52 years described 26 "characterisics" of the Chinese people, drawn from observations of family and village life. This is a sociology of impressions, not data or fieldwork or surveys, which were hardly conceived of a century ago. Smith's introduction to the work addressed many of its potential shortcomings, so while there is generalization, Smith aimed to be free of dogmatism and arrogance. Readers can judge how successful he was.

DO NOT RE-PRINT WITHOUT PERMISSION.  This paper is designed to show the theoretical formulation on the left column, and demonstrate this formulation by cultural narratives on the right column. 

This is a pre-presentation draft for Asian Theological Association Theological Consultation 2018.  This paper argues that even with a new term in use (i.e., Contextual Theology), theological education in Asia needs to go through a process of decolonizing.  This will help the local context to identify the victimizing hegemonic consequences of an imported systematic theology from the west that is base in a philosophy of modernity.  Paulo Freire calls this “conscientization,” i.e., liberation, of the colonized local mindset.  This desired outcome allows the conscientized local mindset to “re-member” its colonized past.  As it moves forward, this liberated mindset engages in local theologizing that follows a new path, where it leaves behind the hegemonic control of its colonized experience.  Leny Strobel calls this decolonization. In the end, this paper will posit that Asian primal cultures are precursors to the western construct of postmodernity.

Challenging the Eurocentric misconception that the philosophy of history is a Western invention, this book reconstructs Chinese thought and offers the first systematic treatment of classical Chinese philosophy of history.

Dawid Rogacz charts the development from pre-imperial Confucian philosophy of history, the Warring States period and the Han dynasty through to the neo-Confucian philosophy of the Tang and Song era and finally to the Ming and Qing dynasties. Revealing underexplored areas of Chinese thought, he provides Western readers with new insight into original texts and the ideas of over 40 Chinese philosophers, including Mencius, Shang Yang, Dong Zhongshu, Wang Chong, Liu Zongyuan, Shao Yong, Li Zhi, Wang Fuzhi and Zhang Xuecheng. This vast interpretive body is compared with the main premises of Western philosophy of history in order to open new lines of inquiry and directions for comparative study.

Clarifying key ideas in the Chinese tradition that have been misrepresented or shoehorned to fit Western definitions, Rogacz offers an important reconsideration of how Chinese philosophers have understood history.

Ekwe Jọnal bụ otu n’akaọrụ ndị  Igbo Scholars Forum nke malitere site n’obi ịnụ ọkụ iji chịkọlata ụmụaka Igbo gụrụ akwụkwọ ka ha wee nwee ike ịmalite chewe echiche dịka ndị Igbo site n’idepụta akwụkwọ, na-ezukọ ma na-enwe ọgbakọ. N’eziokwu, ọ bụ Dr. Onukwube Alexander Alfred Anedo malitere  Igbo Scholars Forum nke bidoro mgbe ha wepụtere akwụkwọ ha dere maka nna ọkpụtọrọọkpụ nke otu a bụ Prof. Obed Mụọjekwu Anịzọba (Ọzọnwa), ka ọnwa Disemba nke afọ 2013 dị mkpụrụ ụbọchị iri na ise iji kwanyere ya ugwu. N’afọ ọma ya, Prof O. M. Anizoba kweere ha ọnya ikuku,  http://www.igboscholarsforum.com  ebe ha ga-esi na-agwa ụwa ndị ndị Igbo bụ, ihe gbasara ndụ ha na ihe ha kwenyere na ya. E mesikwa, ha ekwetekwa ọnya ikuku ọzọ nke bụ https://www-biafuluigboscholarsforum-com-ng.cm Jọnal ndị ọzọ nke ndị otu a chọrọ isi na ha na-eche Igbo n’ihu ndị ụwa bụ Ideal International Journal na Igboscholars International Journal.  bipụta ihe ọ bụla dị n'ime akwụkwọ a na-ebughị ụzọ nata ikike zuru oke n'aka ndị nwe ọrụ.

This chapter focuses on the popular Confucian revival that started at the beginning of the 21st century in Mainland China. After a presentation of its different phases, it analyzes how the actors involved in this revival perceive the predicaments of the present times and how they build upon resources offered by the past (here, the revived tradition of Confucianism) in order to fuel their imagination about the future. In so doing, it explores why Confucianism is considered by many, at different levels (grassroots level, authorities) and for different reasons, meaningful and relevant in the context of late modernity. The chapter is also a contribution to a broader reflection about the transformations of the “regime of historicity” (articulation between the different dimensions of time: past, present and future) that can be observed in today’s China.

This ahead of print version is uploaded on Academia.edu with the authorization of the volume editors. Final proofreading has not taken place.

Yaoi/BL Fandom Survey (only takes 10 mins to complete): https://leeds.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/blfandomsurvey

Yaoi or BL (Boys’ Love) is a genre of Japanese subculture presenting in comics, videogames, novels and fan art which describe the fantasy erotic and romantic relationships between men. This is a female-oriented subculture which originated in Japan in the early 1970s. It has spread globally and has become a phenomenon in China through websites hosting countless fan fictions.
This presentation will report on one potential explanation for the popularity Yaoi in China – that it creates an ideal romantic relationship for young women to enjoy. First, in contrast to heterosexual romance, that between two men might more easily be presented as a relationship between two equal individuals. This allows the romance to jettison or revise conventional gender roles. Second, most relationships in Yaoi avoid reproduction. This makes the relationship independent of family expectations for (grand)children and offers a challenge to pro-family rhetoric. Third, male-male romance establishes the hurdle of social disapproval that the partners must surmount together. Hence, theirs may be presented as a particularly strong love because it has to endure many sacrifices.
Although Yaoi as ‘ideal romantic relationship’ is likely to be attractive to women across the world, this may be particularly so in China. China has a strongly traditional culture while, on the other hand, has massively improved the education and life expectations of girls over the last 2 or 3 generations. Hence, many young Chinese women may see in Yaoi the kind of relationship they aspire to with a man while they are, at the same time, subject to social and family pressures to maintain tradition roles of wife and mother.

This essays analyzes the 2007 popular novel, Chronicle of Du Lala’s Promotion. A bestseller followed by three sequels, a film, a TV series, a stage adaption and so on, it narrates the success story of a young Chinese woman who paves a dazzling career in a multinational corporation. While the novel appears, at first sight, as a purely commercial product which is created by the market and simply talks about (life in) the market, I argue instead that the novel serves the function of educating its readers to the dominant ideological values and goals promoted by the Communist Party in this period, which are precisely those necessary to the construction of the “socialist market economy”. By highlighting how the novel draws from exemplary narratives of self-transformation of the Mao era, and how it reproduces many official ideological discourses of its time, especially those centered around the notion of “middle class”, I will show that the character of Du Lala in fact can be considered an exemplary model akin to those of the Maoist period, even though the type of personality she is intended to exemplify is completely different. Viewing the novel as part of a widespread phenomenon of popular literature and culture that ultimately aims at popularizing the teachings that the higher education system wants to transmit to the Chinese students and future professionals, this article also attempts to make some reflections on the modes of ideological dissemination and the evolution of exemplary literature in China during the age of the socialist market.

Yaoi/BL Fandom Survey (only takes 10 mins to complete): https://leeds.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/blfandomsurvey

Yaoi or BL (Boys’ Love) is a genre of Japanese subculture presenting in comics, videogames, novels and fan art which describe the fantasy erotic and romantic relationships between men. Yaoi is a female-oriented subculture which, since its origins in the early 1970s, has spread globally, especially during the 1990s. In the 21st century, yaoi has become extremely popular in China. This presentation will explore the different preference for animal-related themes between Anglophone and Chinese fandoms comparing the results of a survey with an English version (n=2417) and Chinese version (n=1129). The survey includes 43 questions. Those relevant to animal themes appear in the options provided on ‘risqué sexual content’ and the options provided on ‘specific elements’ in yaoi. The survey results demonstrate that animal themes are popular for Chinese fans, whether or not associated with sexual content. On the other hand, the Anglophone survey results showed animal themes to be generally less popular, while demonstrating differences between simple animal elements (ears or tails) and animals as whole creations who can have sex with humans or who transform into human shape. Chinese yaoi - both original and fan work - has developed a particular style based on Chinese mythology, history, folktale. Animal themes are common in traditional Chinese mythology and folktale in which animals are presented as showing emotion, having sensations, and demonstrable intellect much like humanity. Although imported Japanese manga, anime, and video game brings many animal themed contents to an Anglophone audience, animal themes involving sexual contents may present an interesting cultural boundary.

深度的经济和社会变革在过去的四十年中重塑了中国。特别是新的建筑物，标志着中国的经济和社会有了一个新的发展。令人眩晕的城市扩张，以及新的艺术市场需求，给中国大地带来了强烈的视觉和情感影响。改革开放外交政策下的社会体制激发了中国与外部世界的有利交流，催生出文化和艺术的真正发酵。艺术家社群将村庄改造成为当代研究最具标志性的场所，他们不仅仅是作为中国“官方”艺术世界之下的亚文化而存在，同时也是相互依存的社群之间的关系网。他们将自己与国际市场相联，提供了在展场（及其历史重要性）、策展人、艺术家和观众之间进行互动的新途径。新媒体、新材料和新技术的降临在当代艺术的生产方面施加了巨大的影响。中国传统的理念——社群意识，完全适用于当代世界的新需求，朝着这一趋势，让我们一起努力，去建立一个真真正正的全球性艺术村。
China has been affected by profound economic and social transformations over the last forty years. New buildings, in particular, symbolise the economic and social developments of China, its vertiginous urban growth, as well as the new market demands in regards to artistic surveys, leaving a strong visual and emotional impact on the territory. The social system resulting from the diplomatic policy of opening the country (gaigekaifang 改革开放) has stimulated profitable exchanges with the rest of the world, giving rise to a real cultural and artistic ferment. Artists community transformed the villages into the most symbolic place of contemporary research and they functioned not only as subcultures of the ‘official’ Chinese art world but also as networks of mutually supportive communities. They have linked themselves to the international market, offering new ways of interaction between exhibition space (and its historical significance), curator, artists and audiences. The advent of new media, new materials, and new technologies has produced a tremendous effect on contemporary art production. The traditional Chinese concept, community awareness, is fully adapted to the new needs of the contemporary world. Toward this trend, let us work together to build a truly global art village

Chinese learners have frequently demonstrated academic achievement that outshines their Western counterparts; but research has suggested that various nurturing, teaching, and learning conditions in the Chinese context are often considered unfavorable to learning in the West. Against this background, the chapter revisits the paradox of Chi-nese learners by drawing upon research and current theories of motivation and learning. Through a cultural lens, the authors discuss pertinent personal and social-contextu-al factors influencing Chinese learners' academic success. In particular, attention is directed to learners' self-efficacy and connectedness. The chapter offers a consolidated picture of how Chinese learners are actually nurtured, and identifies some culturally sensitive notions in the research literature. The arguments here should alert researchers and practitioners to some key cultural differences when interpreting research and practice.

In the midst of this great wave of sinological fervor we are experiencing, I believe it is necessary to take a critical look at Confucianism as a philosophy. Modern China is exhibiting a well-documented crisis of public morality. Most people choose to explain this as a result of over-rapid economic development with no accompanying spiritual guidance; some even offer up Confucianism as a remedy to these social ills. I however put forth here an argument that these social ills are caused in part by Confucianism itself. As many proponents of Confucianism and in particular Confucian role ethics like to point out, Confucianism helps inform us in or moral decisions when dealing with definitive roles and relationships in our lives. I argue, however, that Confucianism is conspicuously silent when it comes to moral responsibility in the face of strangers and society at large. (Chinese language)

La science politique peine à voir dans le temps un objet digne d’étude pour sa discipline, et ce, en dépit du fait que nombre de phénomènes politiques sont inscrits dans la durée, voire dans une stratégie temporelle. De nombreuses disciplines du savoir ont étudié la question du temps : le plus proche de la science politique est la sociologie, qui l’a beaucoup travaillée. Les politistes aussi peuvent apporter quelque chose à la compréhension du temps, en y voyant, dans les phénomènes qu’ils étudient, un enjeu entre des acteurs engagés dans une compétition de pouvoir ou d’influence. S’il n’existe pas certainement une « perception occidentale » du temps, unique et qui n’ait pas varié dans les temps et dans l’espace, la culture chinoise traditionnelle a cependant insisté plus systématiquement que l’Occident sur la notion de moment opportun dans son approche du temps. De l’étude du sens profond du caractère 時 peut découler une incitation à voir le temps comme milieu d’action où l’acteur peut guetter le moment opportun pour agir, une approche qui peut être très féconde pour l’approche politique du temps.

La culture française est l'un des domaines étrangers les plus étudiés dans l'enseignement secondaire chinois. Le but de cet article est de comprendre les choix effectués par les rédacteurs de manuels chinois. S'il semble que l'idéologie d'état, d'ailleurs plus nationaliste que communiste, puisse expliquer la plupart d'entre eux, des liens entre certains textes ou événements historiques français et la culture chinoise peuvent également être à l'origine de l'apparition des premiers dans les manuels chinois. Cet article tente enfin de montrer quelle est l'importance, dans la société chinoise actuelle, de la littérature et de l'histoire françaises, entre gloire passée et opportunités d'investissements en Afrique francophone.

In World Bank’s study “Women, Business and the Law 2019: A Decade of Reform”, Latvia is among 6 countries in the world, that scored 100 points in the gender equality index, while China got 76,25 points, slightly above the average global score of 74,71. Therefore current research analyzes historical, cultural and psychological factors that are forming perception about gender equality in both countries, gender equality and women leadership perception in business and working environment, as well as women's role in gender inequality, to be fair to men. As not only men are participating in creating of gender inequality, but women, as major influential tradition keepers, are doing so at greater scale, following the outdated patterns set by their female ancestors thousands of years ago. Both genders are contributing to the development of humanity and interaction within a social framework, but certainly, responsibility for any bias in this respect lies in women in greater proportion, than on men.
In this thesis, the author analyzes the similarities and differences in China and Latvia explaining the historical, cultural, traditional and psychologcal backgroung for gender equality in both countries, as well as why it is so important for modern society to understand the crucial value of the topic and to develop gender equality legal, social and especially family base not only for empowerment and motivation of women to assume a leadership position and become more active members of the society according to their talents, desires and capabilities, but also the empowerment of men to switch their traditional role of obligatory providing for the family towards their talents, desires and capabilities.
The methodology of the current research consists of two research stages: the first stage (literature review), and the second stage (first-hand data collection and analysis of the opinion of men and women in China and Latvia). Significance of the study: prior to this research, the author has reviewed the literature in Latvian, English and Russian languages and believes that the research of this thesis and it’s findings is a valuable input and grounds for further academic researches about the gender equality perception in China and Latvia. Main findings of this research cover the following areas: family background, childhood and role model influence in China and Latvia; gender equality perception including family, education, working environment. In conclusion, based on the research findings, the author provides policy recommendations including such aspects as parental leave for man, gender equality promoting activities at school in China, minimizing the salary gap between working men and women, flexible working hours in China and Latvia, and returning to some traditional values in Latvia.

“Face” (面子2) is an important commodity for the Chinese.3 One of the many Chinese concepts for shame is 失面子, 4 literally “loss face.” When one feels ashamed, one cannot face other people because of this “loss of face,” the face being a representation of oneself. While shame is a universal phenomenon, it is deeply ingrained in the psyche of Chinese Filipinos, or Tsinoys, 5 both in individuals and in groups.6 Whenever Tsinoys, or any of their family members, have any disability they are even more inclined to develop shame.

The Pandemic of Covid-19 Crisis has tested how fragile countries can be if the government system doesn't uphold People lives first. People's lives are the life force for everything to move forward, without healthy people the country and economy will be in danger.The Covid-19 Pandemic doesn't care about how much money one can have in their pockets, neither what rank and social class one may have. The Covid-19 virus is educating us how we should live and thrive in together living in a common environment in the whole system of biodiversity. The virus is still educating human kind on how we should protect our economic system, our essential supplies, to how ensure our lives will not be jeopardized. The world we live in is a big pool of living-organism, and each of the cultures of organism has a big role in taking up responsibilities to channel support to one another, this is pure science and it is the nature and the way of life living in this little Blue Planet we called EARTH. Human, is living as Earthlings in the entire bioecological system. Let's ask ourselves these two questions; What is a country if without a good government system for the people? What makes good governance? The answer is pure simple, a good government is capable to gather the unity power of its people and a country can only survive when it has a strong and healthy government system that is able to inspire the lives of it's citizens to work together as one for a common good purpose to build better lives and better living conditions for everyone. Therefore, class, race, discrimination doesn't exist. It's the People for the People for wellness and equity, progressing together, sharing and taking responsibilities together as One Spirit for Mankind. Can the world order works, if governments leaders between countries don't work together hand in hand with open hearts to learn from one another to progress together? This is the reason why we MUST have a world vision of a "Community of a Shared Future For Mankind" and with real multilateralism. Humankind talks lots about nature, to protect animals, trees, rivers, land, this and that but they have also forgotten that humans themselves are part of the natural system in the entire biodiversity of the world in this Blue Planet. There is no power that is greater than the force of nature. No amount of money can be greater than the force of nature.

With a burgeoning economy and one of the world’s largest populations of consumers, the growth and opportunities for graphic design in Mainland China seem endless. Western design and advertising agencies are eager to capture the imaginations of the Mainland audience. The visual communications strategies proposed by western advertising agencies however, often display an inadequate understanding of the historical relevance of symbols and long held value sets of the Chinese consumer. Some agencies take the viewpoint that the Mainland audience wants a copy of things ‘western.’ This can be observed in the shopping districts of most major cities in China where billboards displaying oversized images of Caucasian models dominate the visual environment. Another commonly used strategy is to use a mix of visually interesting Chinese symbols without understanding the full meaning and implication of those symbols. The above illustrates that design educators must begin the process of cross-cultural awareness at the undergraduate level to assure that more effective creative strategies can be achieved in the future. This paper explores cultural confusion in design and the possibilities of overcoming these misunderstandings through cross-cultural collaboration.