Confucianism is based upon the teachings of Confucius (Kongzi), a 6th-century BC philosopher who lived during a period of constant warfare and social upheaval. While Confucianism changed considerably throughout the centuries, some of the principal ideas remained the same – namely an emphasis on five basic hierarchical relationships: father-son, ruler-subject, husband-wife, elder-younger, and friend-friend. Confucius believed that if each individual carried out his or her proper role in society (a son served his father respectfully while a father provided for his son, a subject served his ruler respectfully while a ruler provided for his subject, and so on) social order would be achieved. Confucius’ disciples later gathered his ideas in the form of short aphorisms and conversations, forming the work known as The Analects (Lúnyǔ).
Early Confucian philosophy was further developed by Mencius (Mèngzǐ) and Xunzi, both of whom provided a theoretical and practical foundation for many of Confucius’ moral concepts. In the 2nd century BC, Confucianism became the official ideology of the Han dynasty, thereby gaining mainstream acceptance for the first time. This was of major importance and resulted in the formation of an educated elite that served both the government as bureaucrats and the common people as exemplars of moral action. During the rule of the Tang dynasty an official examination system was created, which, in theory, made the imperial government a true meritocracy. However, this also contributed to an ossification of Confucianism, as the ideology grew increasingly mired in the weight of its own tradition, focusing exclusively on a core set of texts.
Nonetheless, influential figures sporadically reinterpreted the philosophy – in particular Zhu Xi (1130–1200), who brought in elements of Buddhism and Taoism to create Neo Confucianism (Lǐxué or Dàoxué) – and it remained a dominant social force up until the 1911 Revolution toppled the imperial bureaucracy. In the 20th century, modernist writers and intellectuals decried Confucian thought as an obstacle to modernisation and Mao further levelled the sage in his denunciation of ‘the Four Olds’. But feudal faults notwithstanding, Confucius’ social ethics recently resurfaced in government propaganda where they lent authority to the leadership’s emphasis on ‘harmony’ (héxié).
Confucius Institutes around the world aim to promote Chinese language and culture internationally, while simultaneously developing its economic and cultural influences abroad.
Christianity
The explosion of interest in Christianity (基督教; Jīdūjiào) in China over recent years is unprecedented except for the wholesale conversions that accompanied the tumultuous rebellion of the pseudo-Christian Taiping in the 19th century.
Christianity first arrived in China with the Nestorians, a sect from ancient Persia that split with the Byzantine Church in 431 AD, who arrived in China via the Silk Road in the 7th century. A celebrated tablet – the Nestorian Tablet – in Xī’ān records their arrival. Much later, in the 16th century, the Jesuits arrived and were popular figures at the imperial court, although they made few converts.
Large numbers of Catholic and Protestant missionaries established themselves in the 19th century, but left after the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. One missionary, James Hudson Taylor from Barnsley in England, immersed himself in Chinese culture and is credited with helping to convert 18,000 Chinese Christians and building 600 churches during his 50 years in 19th-century China.
In today’s China, Christianity is a burgeoning faith perhaps uniquely placed to expand due to its industrious work ethic, associations with first-world nations and its emphasis on human rights and charitable work.
Some estimates point to as many as 100 million Christians in China. However, the exact population is hard to calculate as many groups – outside the four official Christian organisations – lead a strict underground existence (in what are called ‘house churches’) out of fear of a political clampdown.
Churches (教堂; jiàotáng) are not hard to find and most towns will have at least one. Cities like Shànghǎi, Běijīng, Dàtóng, Tàiyuán and Qīngdǎo (and many other large towns) have cathedrals, most of them dating to the 19th and early 20th centuries.
In signs of greater official unease at the spread of Christianity, authorities in Wénzhōu – a city in Zhèjiāng province known as 'China's Jerusalem' – demolished churches, threatened others with demolition and removed large crosses from some church spires in 2014. Officials argued they were enforcing building laws but Christian locals saw the moves as a deliberate attempt to undermine their faith.
Běijīng has also recently ratcheted up efforts to suppress fringe Christian groups such as the Church of Almighty God, an anti-Communist Party apocalyptic church which was designated a cult. Over a thousand members of the Church of Almighty God were arrested over a three-month period in 2014.
Believing he was the son of God and brother of Jesus Christ, Hakka rebel Hong Xiuquan led the bloody and tumultuous pseudo-Christian Taiping Rebellion against the Qing dynasty from 1856 to 1864.
THE CHURCH OF ALMIGHTY GOD
An unhealthy by-product of the recent explosion of interest in Christianity in China and the widespread number of unofficial 'house churches' has been the emergence of Christian heresies with large numbers of devoted followers. Chief among these is The Church of Almighty God, which teaches that a Chinese woman named Yang Xiangbin is the second Christ.
After being blacklisted in 2000, Yang Xiangbin and the founder of the cult, Zhao Weishan, fled to the US. It was only when some followers killed a 37-year-old woman in a branch of McDonald's in Shāndōng, after she refused to give them her mobile phone number, that the organisation came to greater public attention.
Directly opposed to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which it terms the Great Red Dragon, the organisation continues to aggressively recruit adherents in China, although its members live a largely underground and secretive existence.
Sharing features with the revolutionary Taiping, who believed that their leader Hong Xiuquan was the Son of God, the Church of Almighty God fuses elements of Christian belief with other faiths that contradict mainstream Christianity. The group also encourages members to turn away from their families and devote themselves to the church; however, it is the church's opposition to the CCP that singled itself out for a nationwide ban.
Promoting itself via a slick website and also known as Eastern Lightning, the church is one of 14 religious groups identified as cults by Chinese authorities. Strongly worded propaganda posters warning Chinese people of the cult can be seen in churches and on notice boards across China.
Islam
Islam (伊斯兰教; Yīsīlán Jiào) in China dates to the 7th century, when it was first brought to China by Arab and Persian traders along the Silk Road. Later, during the Mongol Yuan dynasty, maritime trade increased, bringing new waves of merchants to China’s coastal regions, particularly the port cities of Guǎngzhōu and Quánzhōu. The descendants of these groups – now scattered across the country – gradually integrated into Han culture, and are today distinguished primarily by their religion. In Chinese, they are referred to as the Hui.
Other Muslim groups include the Uighurs, Kazaks, Kyrgyz, Tajiks and Uzbeks, who live principally in the border areas of the northwest. It is estimated that 1.5% to 3% of Chinese today are Muslim.
An inspiring read, God is Red: The Secret Story of How Christianity Survived and Flourished in Communist China (2011) by Liao Yiwu, himself not a Christian, relates his encounters with Christians in contemporary China, set against a background of persecution and surging growth for the faith.
Animism
A small percentage of China’s population is animist, a primordial religious belief akin to shamanism. Animists see the world as a living being, with rocks, trees, mountains and people all containing spirits that need to live in harmony. If this harmony is disrupted, restoration of this balance is attempted by a shaman who is empowered to mediate between the human and spirit world. Animism is most widely believed by minority groups and exists in a mult
itude of forms, some of which have been influenced by Buddhism and other religions.
One of China's most historic mosques is the Great Mosque in Tóngxīn in Níngxià, which dates to the Ming dynasty and survived the destruction of the Cultural Revolution.
Communism & Maoism
Ironically (or perhaps intentionally), Mao Zedong, while struggling to uproot feudal superstition and religious belief, sprung to godlike status in China via a personality cult. By weakening the power of deities, Mao found himself substituting those very gods his political power had diminished. In the China of today, Mao retains a semideified aura.
Communism sits awkwardly with the economic trajectory of China over the past 30 years. Once a philosophy forged in the white-hot crucible of civil war, revolution and the patriotic fervour to create a nation free from foreign interference, communism had largely run its credible course by the 1960s. By the death of Mao Zedong in 1976, the political philosophy had repeatedly brought the nation to catastrophe, with the Hundred Flowers Movement, the Great Leap Forward and the disastrous violence of the Cultural Revolution.
Communism remains the official guiding principle of the CCP. However, young communist aspirants are far less likely to be ideologues than pragmatists seeking to advance within the party structure. In real terms, many argue that communism has become an adjunct to the survival of the CCP.
Chinese Communism owes something to Confucianism. Confucius’ philosophy embraces the affairs of man and human society and the relationship between rulers and the ruled, rather than the supernatural world. Establishing a rigid framework for human conduct, the culture of Confucianism was easily requisitioned by communists seeking to establish authority over society.
With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989, Běijīng became aware of the dangers of popular power and sought to maintain the coherence and strength of the state. This has meant that the CCP still seeks to impose itself firmly on the consciousness of Chinese people through patriotic education, propaganda, censorship, nationalism and the building of a strong nation.
Communism also holds considerable nostalgic value for elderly Chinese who bemoan the erosion of values in modern-day China and pine for the days when they felt more secure and society was more egalitarian. Chairman Mao’s portrait still hangs in abundance across China, from drum towers in Guǎngxī province to restaurants in Běijīng, testament to a generation of Chinese who still revere the communist leader.
Until his spectacular fall from power in 2012, Chinese politician and Chóngqìng party chief Bo Xilai launched popular Maoist-style ‘red culture’ campaigns in Chóngqìng, which included the singing of revolutionary songs and the mass-texting of quotes from Mao’s Little Red Book. President Xi Jinping has also faced accusations of attempting to build a personality cult, allowing himself to be nicknamed Xi Dada (Big Daddy Xi), a kind of perennially good, sympathetic and paternal figurehead for the nation, with his citizens' best interests always at heart.
Kāifēng in Hénán province is home to the largest community of Jews in China. The religious beliefs and customs of Judaism (犹太教; Yóutài Jiào) have died out, yet the descendants of the original Jews still consider themselves Jewish.
Nationalism
In today’s China, ‘-isms’ (主义; zhǔyì or ‘doctrines’) are often frowned upon. Any zhǔyì may suggest a personal focus that the CCP would prefer people channel into hard work instead. ‘Intellectualism’ is considered suspect as it may ask difficult questions. ‘Idealism’ is deemed nonpragmatic and potentially destructive, as Maoism showed.
China’s one-party state has reduced thinking across the spectrum via propaganda and censorship, dumbing down an educational system that emphasises patriotic education. This in turn, however, helped spawn another ‘-ism’: nationalism.
Nationalism is not restricted to Chinese youth but it is this generation – with no experience of the Cultural Revolution’s terrifying excesses – which most closely identifies with its message. The fènqīng (angry youth) have been swept along with China’s rise; while they are no lovers of the CCP, they yearn for a stronger China that can stand up to ‘foreign interference’ and dictate its own terms.
The CCP actively encourages strong patriotism, but is nervous about its transformation into aggressive nationalism and the potential for disturbance. Much nationalism in the PRC has little to do with the CCP but everything to do with China; while the CCP has struggled at length to identify itself with China’s civilisation and core values, it has been only partially successful. With China’s tendency to get quickly swept along by passions, nationalism is an often unseen but quite potent force, most visibly flaring up into the periodic anti-Japanese demonstrations that can convulse large towns and cities.
Mainland China has some astonishing historic churches, including the impressive Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Tàiyuán, St Joseph's Church in Běijīng, Dàtóng Cathedral, and St Ignatius Cathedral in Shànghǎi.
Chinese Cuisine
Cooking plays a central role in both Chinese society and the national psyche. When Chinese people meet, a common greeting is ‘Nǐ chīfàn le ma?’ (‘Have you eaten yet?’). Work, play, romance, business and family all revolve around food. The catalysts for all manner of enjoyment, meals are occasions for pleasure and entertainment, to clinch deals, strike up new friendships and rekindle old ones. To fully explore this tasty domain on home soil, all you need is a visa, a pair of chopsticks, an explorative palate and a passion for the unusual and unexpected.
Real Chinese Food
Because the nation so skilfully exported its cuisine abroad, your very first impressions of China were probably via your taste buds. Chinatowns the world over teem with the aromas of Chinese cuisine, ferried overseas by China’s versatile and hard-working cooks; Sundays often see diners flocking to them for ‘yum cha’ and feasts of dim sum. Chinese food is indeed a wholesome and succulent point of contact between an immigrant Chinese population and everyone else.
But what you see – and taste – abroad is usually just a wafer-thin slice of a very hefty and wholesome pie. Chinese cuisine in the West is lifted from the cookbook of an emigrant community that originated mainly from China’s southern seaboard. In a similar vein, the sing-song melodies of Cantonese were the most familiar of China’s languages in Chinatowns, even though the dialect finds little traction in China beyond Hong Kong, Macau, Guǎngdōng, parts of Guǎngxī and KTV parlours nationwide. So although you may be hard-pressed to avoid dim sum and cha siu in your local Chinatown, finding more ‘obscure’ specialities from elsewhere in China may still be a challenge, or an expensive proposition. The ‘Peking duck’ at your local restaurant, for example, may be at best a distant relative of the fowl fired up over fruit-tree wood in the ovens of Běijīng kǎoyādiàn (Peking duck restaurants).
To get an idea of the size of its diverse menu, remember that China is not that much smaller than Europe. Just as Europe is a patchwork of different nation states, languages, cultural traditions and climates, China is also a smorgasbord of dialects, languages, ethnic minorities and extreme geographic and climatic differences, despite the common Han Chinese cultural glue.
The sheer size of the land, the strength of local culture, and differences in geography and altitude mean there can be little in common between the cuisines of Xīnjiāng and Tibet, even though they are adjacent to each other. Following your nose (and palate) around China is one of the exciting ways to journey the land, so pack a sense of culinary adventure along with your travelling boots!
Search on www.bbcgoodfood.com for a mouth-watering selection of Chinese recipes and full instructions on throwing together some classic and lesser-known dishes from around China.
Regional Cuisines
The evolution of China’s wide-ranging regional cuisines has been influenced by the climate, the distribution of crop and animal varieties, the type of terrain, proximity to the sea, the influence of neighbouring nations and the import of ingredients and flavours. Natur
ally seafood is prevalent in coastal regions of China, while in Inner Mongolia and Xīnjiāng there is a dependence on meat such as beef and lamb.
Another crucial ingredient is history. The flight of the Song court south of the Yangzi River (Cháng Jiāng) from northern Jurchen invaders in the 12th century helped develop China’s major regional cuisines. This process was further influenced by urbanisation, itself made possible by the commercialisation of agriculture and food distribution; this led to the emergence of the restaurant industry and the further consolidation of regional schools. Further impetus came from the merchants and bureaucrats who travelled the land, and from improved transport options such as the Grand Canal, which allowed for shipping ingredients and recipes between Běijīng in the north and Hángzhōu further south.
Many Chinese regions lay claim to their own culinary conventions, which may overlap and cross-pollinate each other. The cooking traditions of China’s ethnic minorities aside, Han cooking has traditionally been divided into eight schools (中华八大菜系; zhōnghuá bādàcàixì):
Chuān (川; Sìchuān cuisine)
Huī (徽; Ānhuī cuisine)
Lǔ (鲁; Shāndōng cuisine)
Mǐn (闽; Fújiàn cuisine)
Sū (苏; Jiāngsū cuisine)
Xiāng (湘; Húnán cuisine)
Yuè (粤; Cantonese/Guǎngdōng cuisine)
Zhè (浙; Zhèjiāng cuisine).
Although each school is independent and well defined, it is possible to group these eight culinary traditions into northern, southern, western and eastern cooking.
A common philosophy lies at the heart of Chinese cooking, whatever the school. Most vegetables and fruits are yīn foods, generally moist and soft, possessing a cooling effect while nurturing the feminine aspect. Yáng foods – fried, spicy or with red meat – are warming and nourish the masculine side. Any meal should harmonise flavours and achieve a balance between cooling and warming foods.
Lonely Planet China Page 202
