Culture and Society

Culture and society are intricately related.  Culture is made up of the beliefs, behaviors, objects, and other characteristics that members of a group of society have in common.  It is through culture that people and groups define themselves and find a sense of conformity to society’s share values.  Culture includes many aspects of the society including language, customs, rules, technologies, and organizations.

Cultures vary from different parts of the world.  There are customs, traditions and values that vary from continent to continent.  For example, Chinese culture is very different from American culture.  The customs that the Chinese follow include their religion, art, food, and martial arts.  Within the country of China, there are 56 recognized ethnic groups.  The largest of these ethnic sub groups include the Han Chinese.  Traditional Chinese culture covers large geographical parts of China.  Within these geographical regions, there are many different sub cultures and traditions.  Each region is generally represented by some type of ancestral item.  For example, a region can be represented by bamboo, ginger, tea leaves, or a hickory nut.

The social structure of Chinese culture is based upon a supreme ruler known as a monarch.  Throughout history, the name of the highest social ruler in China has changed.  Government officials serve in a hierarchy of ranking to the monarch.  Every other person in society under them is considered under China law.

Chinese language consisted of Spoken Chinese for the first 4,000 years.  It started with both Old Chinese and Middle Chinese and then began to split into different types of dialects and languages within the last 1,000 years.  It wasn’t until the 1900s that the Republic of China began promoting a common unified language in China.

China’s ancient written language was Classical Chinese.  This language was used by Chinese scholars and intellectuals for thousands of years.  Millions of citizens outside of the monarch’s court were illiterate by the 20th century.  The May 4th Movement encouraged the use of Vernacular Chinese to help increase literacy within the Chinese culture.  This allowed common citizens to learn to read because the language modeled the linguistics and phonology of the spoken language.

As literacy rates increase, Chinese culture experienced a dramatic increase in their technology and social standing within the world.  China continues to be a country that is ruled by a monarch, but has empowered those beneath him with education which has strengthened their country.  China is considered one of the last socialist societies that play a major role in the world’s economy.  Their society and culture has withstood thousands of years of tradition and influence.  It is one of the oldest world cultures and continues to thrive despite the very structured social hierarchy that places the majority of its people under the laws and rules of a small amount of people.