History of China

[pandarunner]

While I'm not Mongolian, my grandmother's side of the family are Manchus, thus qualifying them as 鞑子. However, since my great grandfather, no one in the family knew a single word of Manchu language. They speak nothing but mandarin and in my case, Mandarin and Cantonese. The story told was that the family feared for their lives after the Qing dynasty was overthrown since Hans might decide to pay Manchus a little revenge, so the entire family took Han names and gave up everything Manchu.

Isn't 鞑子 a derogatory term?
I thought the modern Mandaris the Beijing dialect mixed with Manchu language, and Manchu language share a lot words with Mongolian, so it should be much easier for Mongols to speak Mandarin fluently.

 

[no_name]

鞑子 came from Tartars

 

[LetsGetRowdy]

ps. Chinese identity is cultural rather than purely racial. The day china loses her cultural heritage is when she falls apart because then people start to focus on the ethnic aspect, this won't be allowed to happen and chinese characteristics will be in everything china do. We won't simply follow anyone's system directly.

I feel that is already happening due to globalism.

 

[milvipes]

I feel that is already happening due to globalism.

Globalization isn't all bad. The problem is that the post-modern Anglosphere alone is calling the shot.
Ideally, I would like to see multiple global trend setters, instead of a single big shot choosing which race/culture is fully "human", be that the US, China, or India.

 

[no_name]

Globalization does not have to entail lost of local heritage. This is not an either/or option. It's only made to look that way by parties with interests.

 

[milvipes]

Playing devil's advocate here: ancient China was once a cultural hegemon (much like the US today). And today's mass media will only make the job even easier for a resurgent China.
While we should not allow the US to remain as the sole global cultural hegemon, China should not seek to supplant the US as the next global cultural hegemon, as any form of hegemony is bad.

 

[oct605032048]

hegemony brings order which is a need of people.

 

[hejsansvejsan]

I know this is rather off topic. But I tried to start a new thread and for some reason I could not do that although I was logged in. So I will gladly move this subject to a new thread if someone could help me.
Anyway I am most curious what our Chinese friends think of the way China has treated Ai Weiwei.


Ai Weiwei back in communication on Twitter - Telegraph

Ai Weiwei back in communication on Twitter

The Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei broke a month-long silence on Sunday, posting photographs of his weight on Twitter.

By Our Foreign Staff

6:18PM BST 07 Aug 2011
Mr Ai was one of China's most vitriolic activists until his sudden disappearance in April but has been mute since his release from detention, explaining that the terms of his bail do not allow him to speak out.


However, on Sunday he took to the internet, via his Twitter page @aiww, to inform his followers that he had enjoyed a modest Sunday lunch. "Lunch 10 dumplings, body weight regains 3kg," he wrote.


Mr Ai dropped a considerable amount of weight while in jail but otherwise appeared healthy. He also posted a photograph showing a scale reading 97kg (214lb).


Another message read: "Five cloves of garlic".


Meanwhile, Mr Ai also set up an account on the new Google social networking service, describing himself, tongue firmly-in-cheek, as "suspected pornography enthusiast and tax evader".
He also posted a number of black and white photos from his time in New York City in the 1980s and early '90s.

Mr Ai has accepted an offer to join the Berlin University of the Arts as a visiting lecturer, but it is not clear when or if he will be permitted to leave China.

 

[mil-avia]

Article about traditional Chinese Science and Medicine by a foreign writer

 

[oceanx]

Playing devil's advocate here: ancient China was once a cultural hegemon (much like the US today). And today's mass media will only make the job even easier for a resurgent China.
While we should not allow the US to remain as the sole global cultural hegemon, China should not seek to supplant the US as the next global cultural hegemon, as any form of hegemony is bad.

A man (I presume) after my own heart. In my mind, China's cultural decline began right after 221 BCE, after that semi-"barbaric" hegemon from Western China reigned supreme. Fifteen years of tyranny and the damage is ongoing ...

Yes, yes, the terra cota army is a fine collection ...

Without competition there is no progress.

Without a heart there is no use "winning" the competition.

 

[no_name]

^^^^ That's oversimplified. And there are plenty of time periods after that when China's society is very vibrant.

There are also plenty competition with her neighbours.

 

[oceanx]

That I "oversimplified" I acknowledge.

Nevetheless, milvipes got it more or less close to the mark.

 

[oceanx]

hegemony brings order which is a need of people.

Any Chinese person instinctively appreciates the "necessity" of the Leviathan.

Make no mistake, I don't blame most ills of China on the hegemon(s) of yore, and nor am I quick to fault the "benign hegemon" of our day.

Personally, I rather have an "aristocratic" hegemon who at least strives to be impartial, rather than a scheming hegemon who meddles everywhere while marketing its brand as "benign" ...

Anyway, I have not yet reconciled all of my own "cognitive dissonances" on this topic. So I must say no more.

 

[Twain Shakespeare]

Monotheism is an intellectually flawed system, and most monotheistic cults are designed as a means of controlling people by making them stupid.
Polytheism, at least these days is best represented by Hinduism, whose world view is dominated by the fact it is too hot or too wet to work most of the year, so one might as well stare at ones navel and enjoy the hallucinations that come from starving, and call THAT virtuous.
China, on the other hand, may have the sanest culture on Earth. Even its Capitalist seem to understand that one cannot simply loot forever, unlike the global kleptocrats

 

[Twain Shakespeare]

If you are ever visiting El Paso, or even Juarez, let me know