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Chinese Culture
The culture of China is the result of over 5,000 years of artistic,
philosophical, political, and scientific advancement. Though regional
differences provide a sense of diversity, commonalities in language and religion
connect a culture distinguished by such contributions as Confucianism and
Taoism. Confucianism was the official philosophy throughout most of Imperial
China's history, and traditional Chinese culture is heavily influenced by it.
With the rise of Western economic and military power over China beginning in the
mid-19th century, however, non-Chinese systems of social and political
organization gained adherents in China. Some of these would-be reformers totally
rejected China's cultural legacy, while others sought to combine the strengths
of Chinese and Western cultures.
In essence, the history of 20th century China is one of experimentation to find
a new system of social, political, and economic organization that would allow
for the reintegration of the nation in the wake of dynastic collapse.
The history of China is told in traditional historical records that go back to
the Three sovereigns and five emperors about 5,000 years ago, supplemented by
archaeological records dating to the 16th century BC. China is one of the
world's oldest continuous civilizations. Turtle shells with markings reminiscent
of ancient Chinese writing from the Shang Dynasty have been carbon dated to
around 1500 BC. Chinese civilization originated with city-states in the Yellow
River valley.
221 BC is the commonly accepted year when China became unified under a large
kingdom or empire. Successive dynasties in Chinese history developed
bureaucratic systems that enabled the Emperor of China to control the large
territory.
The foundations of Chinese civilization were the Qin Dynasty Emperor's
imposition of a common system of writing in the 3rd century BC and the
development of a state ideology based on Confucianism in the 2nd century BC.
China alternated between periods of political unity and disunity, with
occasionally conquests by foreign peoples, some of whom were assimilated into
the Chinese population.
Cultural and political influences from many parts of Asia, carried by successive
waves of immigration, expansion, and assimilation, merged to create Chinese
culture.
Today's development
In the 50 years since the founding of the PRC, culture and art have
experienced many ups and downs. Soon after the founding of the PRC, culture and
art started to develop smoothly, and remarkable achievements were made. However,
beginning in the late 1950s, especially during the ten years of the .cultural
revolution,. culture and art suffered enormously, and literary and artistic
productivity was greatly hampered.
Since the initiation of the reform and opening policies in 1978, cultural and
artistic work has made a sturdy revival. Since 1987, China has regularly held
the Chinese Art Festival to introduce outstanding literary and art works. The
cultural market is developing rapidly, and breakthroughs have been made in the
construction of cultural facilities.
Chinese acrobatics, songs, dances, Peking opera, local operas and symphonies
have been well received in many countries. Exhibitions of Chinese cultural
relics and handicrafts attract swarms of visitors wherever in the world they are
staged.
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