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Culture of Asia

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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 Central Asia, East Asia, South Asia (the "Indian subcontinent"), North Asia, West 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 perate, 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, and Korea. 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 and Taoism. 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, but Koreans soon developed their own writing system called Han-gul which is considered the most convenient and efficient script to communicate, 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 and Japan 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 and Japan are not Chinese speaking regions, their languages have been influenced by Chinese to some extent. Even though their writing systems have changed over time, 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 article: Ethnic groups of South Asia
Language families in South Asia
Traditional Rajasthani garments from Jaipur, Rajasthan.

Some North Indian states and the nations of Pakistan and Afghanistan share a common heritage from the Indus Valley Civilization and the Maurya, Kushan, Gupta and Mughal empires. The four South Indian states and Sri Lanka share a Dravidian culture, due to the prominence of Dravidian languages there. Bangladesh and the state of West Bengal share a common heritage and culture based on the Bengali language.

Nepal, Bhutan, the states of Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Ladakh in the state of Jammu and Kashmir and parts of the states of Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal have a great cultural similarity to Tibet, Tibetan Buddhism being the dominant religion there. Finally the border states of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and Tripura have cultural affinities with South East Asia.


Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism, the four major world religions founded in the region that is today's India, are spread throughout the subcontinent. Islam and Christianity also have significant region-specific histories. While 80% of Indians are Hindus and Nepal is a Hindu-majority State, Sri Lanka and Bhutan have a majority of Buddhists. Islam is the predominant religion of Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Indo-Aryan languages are spoken in Pakistan and most of North, West and East India and Nepal. Dravidian languages are spoken in South India and Sri Lanka. Tibeto-Burman languages are spoken in the North and North East India.

Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia consists of Mainland Southeast Asia and Maritime Southeast Asia. Southeast Asia is usually thought to include Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, East Timor, Brunei and the Philippines. The region has been greatly influenced by the cultures and religions of India and China as well as the religions Islam and Christianity from Southwest Asia. Southeast Asia has also had a lot of Western influence due to the lasting legacy of colonialism. One example is the Philippines which has been heavily influenced by America and Spain due to the invasion.

A common feature found around the region are stilt houses. Another shared feature is rice paddy agriculture, which originated in Southeast Asia thousands of years ago. Dance is also a very important feature of the culture, utilizing movements of the hands and feet perfected over thousands of years. Furthermore, the arts and literature of Southeast Asia is very distinctive as some have been influenced by Indian, Hindu, Chinese, Buddhist and Islamic literature.

West Asia

West Asia largely corresponds with the term the Middle East. However, the usage of the term Middle East is slowly fading out due to its obvious Eurocentrism as the region is east of Europe but it is south of Russia and west of India. West Asia consists of Turkey, Syria, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Palestinian territories, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Oman and Yemen. The region is the historical birthplace of Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Today, the region is almost 93% Muslim and is dominated by Islamic politics. Culturally, the region is Turkish, Arab and Persian. Iraq is a unique example of both Persian and Arab culture. Many of the Arab countries are desert and thus many nomadic groups exist today. On the other hand, modern metropolises also exist on the shifting sands: Abu Dhabi, Amman, Riyadh, Doha and Muscat. The climate is mostly of a desert climate however some of the coastal regions have a more temperate climate. On the other hand, the Anatolian plateau (Turkey, Georgia, Armenia) is very mountainous and thus has a more temperate climate while the coasts have a distinct mediterranean climate. The Persian Plateau (Iran, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Iraq and Turkmenistan) has a diverse terrain, it is mainly mountainous with portions of desert, steppe and tropical forest on the coast of the Caspian Sea. West Asian cuisine is a fusion of Turkish, Arabian, North African and Persian cuisine. It is immensely rich and diverse. The literature is also immensely rich with Arabic and Persian literature dominating. One of the most famous literary works of West Asia is 1001 Arabian Nights.

Central Asia

Central Asia is deemed to consist of the five former Soviet Socialist Republics: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. However, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan are sometimes included. The predominant religion in Central Asia is Islam. Central Asia has a long rich history mainly based on its historic position on the famous Silk Road. It has been conquered by Mongols, Persians, Tatars, Russians, Sarmatian and thus has a very distinct, vibrant culture. The culture is influenced by Chinese, Indian, Persian, Arabian, Turkish, Russian, Sarmatian and Mongolian cultures. The people of the steppes of Central Asia have historically been nomadic people but a unifying state was established in Central Asia in the 16th century: The Kazakh Khanate.

The music of Central Asia is rich and varied and is appreciated worldwide. Meanwhile, Central Asian cuisine is one of the most prominent cuisines of Asia, with cuisines from Pakistan, India, China and Azerbaijan showing significant influence from the foods of Central Asia. One of the most famous Central Asian foods is the kebab.

The literature of Central Asia is linked with Persian literature as historically it has been part of the Persian Empire for a lot of its history. Furthermore, being at the junction of the Silk Road it has numerous Chinese, Indian and Arabian literary works.

North Asia

For the most part, North Asia is considered to be made up of the Asian part of Russia solely. The geographic region of Siberia was the historical land of the Tatars in the Siberia Khanate. However Russian expansion essentially undermined this and thus today it is under Russian rule. There are roughly 40 million people living in North Asia.

Architecture

In Japan, the temples of Kyoto and Nara might be over 1,000 years old in style, but be completely rebuilt, in the exact same style, every 20 years. The best example would be the Shinto Shrine. 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

Detail of Dragon Throne used by the Qianlong Emperor of China, Forbidden City, Qing Dynasty. Artifact circulating in U.S. museums on loan from Beijing

Visual arts

Crafts

Performing arts

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Music

Main article: 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 article: South Asian music

In the Punjab region of India and Pakistan, bhangra music is very popular.

East Asia
Main article: East Asian music
West Asia
Main article: Middle Eastern music
Central Asia
Main article: 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.

Gongs from Indonesia
Southeast Asia
Main article: 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 of the great centers of Asian civilizations, India and China. Dances of Burma, 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.

Martial arts

Main articles: Martial arts, History of martial arts, Asian martial arts (origins), and Modern history of East Asian martial arts

Mythology and folklore

Vishnu as Matsya.

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 article: 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:

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

Main article: Asian literature
Tang dynasty Chinese poet Li Bai, in a 13th century depiction by Liang Kai.

Classical Indian literature

Main article: Indian literature

Classical Chinese and Japanese literature

Main articles: Chinese literature 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: 詩) poems, which have lines with equal numbers of characters, as well as cí (詞) 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

Main articles: Persian literature and Arabic literature
Rabindranath Tagore, the first Asian Nobel laureate.

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 article: Eastern philosophy
See also: Indian philosophy and 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 Cārvāka, which originated in India, and was propuned by Charvak around 2500 years before, preached the enjoyment of material world. Middle Eastern philosophy include Islamic philosophy as well as Persian philosophy.

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

A stone image of the Buddha.

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, mainly in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and the Maldives. 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, Brunei, Malaysia, China, Russia, Iran, Central Asia and West Asia.

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.

Judaism is the major religion of Israel.

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:

Religions founded in Asia that have the majority of their contemporary adherents in other regions include:

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 Pakistan EID-MILAD-UN-NABI is also celebrated with zeal and zest. other festivals are basant. Pakistan also celebrates its independence day on 14 August. Pakistan celebrates its resolution day on 23 March.

The Philippines is also tagged as the "Fiesta Country"" because of its all-year-round celebrations nationwide. 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. To summarize it all, at least every municipality has a fiesta. Some prime examples include Sinulog from Cebu and Iloilo's Dinagyang.

Food & drinks

File:Unidentified thai food.jpg
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.

Durian

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.

In every special Filipino banquet, people will see a unique set of dishes compared to other Asian cuisine. Because of the country's long years of colonization and interactions with other neighboring cultures and nations, it has inherited Latin, Malay, Chinese, and American influences to its people's local blend.

Culture by people

See also

Notes

^ John Lindley (1889), Treasury of Botany vol 1. p.435. Longmans, Green, & Co; New and rev. ed edition (1889)

  • 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.
  • Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize was established to honor the outstanding work of individuals or groups/organizations to preserve and create unique and diverse cultures of Asia.
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