Chinese Culture and Chinese food is Like an Enigma
By lilichinese
Many friends of ours who have grown up in Western countries are attracted by the mystic colors of the Eastern countries. China, with her ancient civilization, is by far the most enchanting of all countries in the Eastern world.
What is culture? What does culture consist in? This question is really a hard nut to crack. Culture has no shape; it’s not susceptible of description. Culture has no scope; it’s hard to set bounds to. Culture is like air. We live in it every day, we can’t leave it for a moment, but when we hold out our hands and try to “take hold of” it we’ll find that it is ubiquitous and is with us all the time—only not to be taken hold of by us. A cultural phenomenon, whatever it is, cannot occur at random, by accident, and with no reason at all. The task set for the science of culture is to find the reasons and explicate them.
If we say that a Chinese is an enigma and Chinese culture is also an enigma, then the ideological core of Chinese culture is the most enigmatic of all enigmas.
The core of culture, the ideological nucleus of a nation, is the general program of the existence and development of the nation. Once we seize hold of the general program, everything falls into place. Only when we have taken full command of the ideological core of a nation’s culture, can we have a comparatively deep and thoroughgoing understanding of the nation’s cultural characteristics, cultural personality, cultural behavior and cultural psychology. That is to say, only when a Westerner has mastered the ideological core of Chinese culture can he/she look at a Chinese with understanding, with penetration, and with precision. It is for this reason that in previous articles I have introduced you to the influence that Chinese classical philosophy has had on her culture. Philosophy is abstruse, while culture in itself is concrete, vivid and lively. Thus, the core of culture can be no other than a highly abstract philosophical generalization. Moreover, this kind of abstract generalization must be shown as true by the vivid, concrete, and lively cultural phenomena. It is difficult to derive the abstract from the concrete. It is even more difficult to return from the abstract to the concrete. Culture is doubtless made up of a great multitude of cultural phenomena. These phenomena, like biological cells that contain the secrets of life, contain the genetic code, so to speak, of a nation’s culture. A conclusion that naturally follows is: A nation’s culture embodies the nation’s cultural personality. For example, a Chinese traditionally bows or bows with clasped hands in greeting because, as some researchers think, Chinese people have “introvert” character. Westerners shake hands or embrace on meeting, because Westerners are “extroverted” in character. Extroversion causes one to extend his hand to grasp the other person’s hand. Introversion makes one stretch out his hand to hold the other hand of his own.
China has an abundant supply of foodstuffs. She is famous for her refined art of the cooking and preparation of food. In this country great attention is paid to the naming of the immense variety of dishes that may be laid on the table. High store is set by the shape and color of the ultimate product to be presented for consumption and also for appreciation. The duration and degree of heating or cooking and the flavoring of the foods involved are also resolved meticulously. All this has rich philosophical implications and a solid historical background. For example, from remote past down to the present time, the Chinese culinary art lays emphasis on the need to preserve the natural shape of the foodstuff being processed if it is very beautiful, to preserve the original color if it can arouse an exquisite sense of delight, and to preserve the original taste if it is unique and flawless. The underlying principle is that food processing should only enhance, not reduce, the merit of the raw material.
Chinese culture and chinese symbol is an Enigma
Chinese food culture
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Chinese food,dietary history
