Contents
CHAPTER 1
Historical and Mythological Figures Who Still Matter Today
Highlights of Chinese History
Here Comes the West: The Opium Wars
Civil War and the Rise of the Communists
The Chinese Language
Mandarin or Cantonese?
China’s Many Religious and Philosophical Traditions
Chinese Buddhism and Other Beliefs
Famous Historical and Cultural Sites in China
CHAPTER 2
Traditional Chinese Arts
A Long Tradition of Chinese Silk
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)
China’s Martial Arts Traditions
Chinese Literature and Legends
To the Chinese, Food is Heaven
Regional Chinese Cuisines
What is Real Chinese Food?
CHAPTER 3
Building a Harmonious Society
Communicating Chinese Style
A Sea of Humanity
The Communist Party of China
Confucian Values and Family Life
Women and Children in China
China’s Millennial Generation
Internet and Cell Phone Culture
CHAPTER 4
Rise of the Chinese Middle Class
Doing Business in China
Working in a Chinese Office
China’s Education Boom
Architecture and Infrastructure
Being a Foreigner in China
Studying and Living in China
CHAPTER 5
Sports and Leisure Activities
Celebrating Chinese Style
China’s Newfound Love of Travel
The Evolution of Chinese Music
Modern Chinese Art and Artists
Chinese Books, Magazines and Comics
Chinese Cinema in China
Famous Actors and Actresses
Chinese Films You Should Watch
Television in China
CHAPTER 6
What to See in Beijing
What to See in Shanghai
What to See Outside Beijing and Shanghai
Main Sites in Other Parts of China
Off the Beaten Track in China
My Favorite Places in China
Getting Around in China
Visiting Taiwan
Visiting Hong Kong
THE CHINA FEW PEOPLE SEE
In a single generation, China has evolved from an ancient civilization into a modern nation. Reminders of the past are everywhere, from the Great Wall to the deference and respect with which people treat their elders. China has now stepped onto the world stage as a great power, but for a long time we knew next to nothing about it. And practically everything that we now touch in our daily lives comes from China, from the clothes we wear to the iPhones we carry.
A PLA soldier at the entrance to the Forbidden City.
China formally introduced itself to the world in 2008 when Beijing hosted the Summer Olympic Games. For many people, this was their first close look at China. Before this, their vision of the country centered around ping-pong, panda bears, kungfu and tea. In the past two decades, the West has witnessed an emerging world power that in some ways looks like any other modern nation but in others looks awfully foreign.
Since I first visited China in the early 1980s, things have changed dramatically. At that time, China was emerging from a xenophobic period when it cut itself off from the rest of the world and was deeply entrenched in Communist ideology. With Mao Zedong’s death and Deng Xiaoping’s economic reforms of the early 1980s, China began a slow transformation from a society where the central government owned and operated literally everything to a new hybrid society, the likes of which the world has never seen.
I have been traveling to China for almost 30 years now, and have spent many of these years training students to travel, work and study in China. Although China today looks superficially like a modern, Westernized country, under the surface it is very different. This includes things like humor, television and movies, cultural values, how the Chinese perceive and interact with the media, their history and daily practices, the kind of literature they value, social rules of conduct, what, how and where they eat, and so on. This book attempts to expose you, the reader, to the various things in China that make it quintessentially China. These are the things that all Chinese know and have grown up with. Understanding them will help to make your own experience of China much richer because you will understand why people do the things they do and think the way they think.
Old and new.