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Though Asia has become Westernized to a large degree, it is still possible to witness its traditions and cultures. Travelers to Asian nations will enjoy the opportunity to see people wearing their traditional garb.

China and Hong Kong

Traditional outfits that can be seen in China and Hong Kong today include the qipao or cheongsam for women and the hanfu, which can be worn by either men or women. The qipao/cheongsam is the dress popularly associated with Chinese clothing. It can be either long or short and has the high clasped collar. The hanfu is a robe similar to a Japanese kimono. Slip-on cloth shoes are worn by men and women.

Japan

Though Japan is a highly Westernized Asian nation, its people are still likely to be dressed in more traditional garb. Clothing worn by both men and women include the kimono robe, wide leg pants known as hakama, silk jackets called haori, overcoats or michiyuki and several types of sandals. Women will be seen with brighter-colored and patterned clothing than men.

Korea

Korean traditional dress is similar for men and women. Both wear baggy blouses called chigori. Bottoms are the baggy and wide ch'ima skirt for women and the wide leg pants called paji for men. Darumagi are robes similar to kimonos and worn for special occasions. Gat-chogori are rabbit fur-lined silk jackets for cold weather.

India

Indian attire can vary by state, but most common are the sari and the kurta pajama. Women wear the sari, colorfully patterned pieces of cloth draped around the upper body and worn over a long blouse and pants. Men wear the kurta pajama, a long -- to the knee or longer -- blouse with loose drawstring pants. Footwear is either sandals or slip-on shoes.

Philippines

In the Philippines, traditional outfits consist of a blouse for men and women, and pants or a skirt depending on gender. Men also wear reed hats known as sakalot.

About the Author

Linnea Tanner began her freelance writing career in 2009 after earning a Bachelor's of Science in nutrition and dietetics from the University of North Flordia. Her areas of expertise scientific and creative writing.

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Though Asia has become Westernized to a large degree, it is still possible to witness its traditions and cultures. Travelers to Asian nations will enjoy the opportunity to see people wearing their traditional garb. Traditional outfits that can be seen in China and Hong Kong today include the qipao or cheongsam for women and the hanfu, which can be worn by either men or women.

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The Muslim year is based on Lunar calendar.

(Ramadhan)
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, and a time when Muslims across the world will fast (do not eat) during the hours of daylight.

The Muslim year is a lunar (moon) year, so Ramadan moves forward by ten or eleven days each year. The day Ramadan begins is decided by the sighting of the new moon.

Muslims believe that the gates of Heaven (Jannah) are open and the gates of Hell (Jahanam) are locked for the duration of Ramadan.

During Ramadan, Muslims celebrate the time when the verses of the Qur'an were revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Ramadan is a time of worship and contemplation. A time to strengthen family and community ties.

Every Muslim is expected to fast from sunrise to sunset. Muslims must not eat or drink during daylight hours. During Ramadan Muslims get up early before dawn (Fajr) and have a light meal. This time is known as Suhoor.

At the end of each day (Maghrib), Muslims traditionally break their fast with a meal called the iftar. Following the custom of Prophet Muhammad, the fast is often broken with dates, then followed by a prayer and dinner.

Ramadan concludes with the celebration of Eid al-Fitr.

(Id-ul-Fitr)- The festival for the first day after Ramadan.
Eid-ul-Fitr marks the breaking of the fast for Muslims at the end of Ramadan. Lasting three days, it is a time for family and friends to get together, for celebrating with good food and presents for children, and giving to charity.

The Festival of Sacrifice which occurs 70 days after Eid-al-Fitr.Eid ul-Adha is the second most important festival in the Muslim calendar. It is to remember the time when Abraham was going to sacrifice his own son to prove obedience to God and marks the end of the Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Makkah (Mecca). It takes place on the 10th day of Dhul-Hijjah, the last month of the Islamic calendar.

Dhu Al-Hijja:
The month of pilgrimage during which all Muslims, at least once in their life, should try to make the pilgrimage to Mecca.

Al Hijra:
The Islamic New Year begins on the day Muhammad left Mecca to travel to Medina.
Calendar of Religious Festivals 2008

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The Muslim year is based on Lunar calendar. (Ramadhan) Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, and a time when Muslims across the world will fast (do not eat) during the hours of daylight. The Muslim year is a lunar (moon) year, so Ramadan moves forward by ten or eleven days each year.

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Buddhist worship at home or at a temple. Worshippers may sit on the floor barefoot facing an image of Buddha and chanting. It is very important that their feet face away from the image of Buddha. They listen to monks chanting from religious texts and take part in prayers.
Home
Buddhists will often have a shrine. There will be a statue of Buddha, candles, and an incense burner.
Temple
Buddhist temples come in many shapes. Perhaps the best known are the pagodas of China and Japan. Another typical Buddhist building is the Stupa (upside down bowl shape). All Buddhist temples contain an image or a statue of Buddha.

Buddhist Temples in Thailand
How to Buddhists Worship?
Buddhist worship is called puja. People chant to show their love for the Buddha. They make offerings of flowers, candles, incense and pure water at a shrine. People thank Buddha for his teachings.

When Buddhist worship alone they usually meditate and read from the Buddhist holy books.

Every month. most Buddhists have special religious days. These are often days when there is a full moon. Many Buddhists go to temples to worship on these special days.

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Understanding Buddhism for Children doing their homework

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most other major religions, Hinduism has no single founder like Jesus or Mohammad or a central leader like the Pope-because of this, people worship in VERY different ways. Hinduism is the third largest religion in the world, with about 1 billion followers world-wide, most of whom live in India.Hinduism provided the belief structure for all other South Asian religions that followed such as Hinduism is considered to be the oldest "living" religion in the world, since it began at least four thousand years ago and people still follow it today.What we call Hinduism is a huge collection of belief systems that have been influenced and changed over history.Unlike Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism.Just as Judaism provided the structure for Christianity and Islam.

Ancient writings teach the Hindu religion.The spoken or sang.The Vedas (holy books) are the most ancient Hindu holy books.For hundreds of year, the Veda teachings were never written down-they were onlyUpanishads are another collection of holy writings.The Upanishads were written down maybe 500 to 1000 years after the Vedas and contain most of the ideas about Hinduism and how to practice the religion.

Most Hindus believe in one supreme spirit called Brahman.Hindus believe God is all things in the world-not just a spirit in the sky.Brahman does not just exist; it IS existence.Brahman can be worshiped in many forms, such as other "gods" such as Vishnu, Shiva, Ganesh or Krishna, so many people think Hindus worship many gods, but actually all other gods represent Brahman in different forms.This is similar to Christianity.Christians worship Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit.They call this the Holy Trinity in Christianity-not three different gods, but three forms of the same God.

A major different from Abrahamic religions is the view of life and death. Most Hindus believe in (reborn) into a new form.The soul may be reborn in many different forms such as another human or an insect.What they are reborn as depends on their Dharma is a life path of truth, duty, religion and good behavior. If a person lives the dharma they will have good karma and be reincarnated into a higher form. reincarnation ( rebirth of the soul)-the belief that when the body dies, the spirit is reincarnated karma. Karma is the belief that everything that people do in life determines what will happen to them in the future.If a person follows thedharma, he or she can expect to be reincarnated into a higher form in their next life, or have good luck in the future.

Another major part of Hinduism and life in South Asia is the .The Indian caste system is an unfair way to organize society into classes of people.Everyone falls into one of 4 or 5 major castes.Later, major castes were divided into over 3,000 sub-castes.Different castes didn't marry, work together, or socialize.People were permanently locked into their caste.Castes were usually linked to a certain job.The Brahmins were the highest caste; they were priests and scholars.Kshatriayas were kings or warriors.Vaishyas were merchants, trader, or farmers.Shudras were peasants who worked the land.Another group of people existed who were looked at as being so low, they were outside the caste system-the Dalits or " caste system untouchables".Hindus believed if there karma was good, they would move up in caste when they were reincarnated. Today, the caste system is illegal, but still followed in some places, especially rural areas.

The ultimate goal for Hindus is to end their reincarnation cycle and reach Moksha.Moksha is a "one-ness" with God.When Hindus are finally reborn as Brahmins, and if they live a life of

perfection, they will finally end their birth, death, and rebirth cycle and become part of the spirit of Brahman (reaching Moksha).One way Hindus work toward spiritual Moksha is through Today, yoga has become a form of yoga.In Hinduism there are 5 types of yoga.Yoga is a combination of breathing exercises, physical postures, and meditation that try to discipline the mind. physical and mental exercise around the world.All South Asian religions practice some form of yoga.

Water is the most important resource on our planet regardless of religion. However, to followers of Hinduism some water is sacred. The river Ganges in northern India is Gaṅgā. They believe that bathing in the Ganges helps to wash away sin and move toward Moksha. When most Hindu's die, they cremate (burn) the body. Sometimes the ashes are put into the Ganges. Hinduism's most holy river. Hindu's personify the Ganges River with the goddess

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most other major religions, Hinduism has no single founder like Jesus or Mohammad or a central leader like the Pope-because of this, people worship in VERY different ways.

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The Islamic Calendar has 12 months but, unlike Western calendars, has only 354 days. This is because the Islamic Calendar (or Hijri Calendar) follows the movements of Earth's Moon.

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The Shaolin Monastery is the most famous temple in China, renown for its kung fu fighting Shaolin monks. With amazing feats of strength, flexibility, and pain-endurance, the Shaolin have created a worldwide reputation as the ultimate Buddhist warriors.

Yet Buddhism is generally considered to be a peaceful religion with an emphasis on principles such as non-violence, vegetarianism, and even self-sacrifice to avoid harming others - how, then, did the monks of Shaolin Temple become fighters?

The history of Shaolin begins about 1500 years ago, when a stranger arrived in China from lands to the west, bringing with him a new interpretation religion and spans all the way to modern-day China where tourists from around the world come to experience displays of their ancient martial arts and teachings.

Origin of the Shaolin Temple

Legend says that around 480 A.D. a wandering Buddhist teacher came to China from ​ India, known as Buddhabhadra, Batuo or Fotuo in Chinese. According to later Chan - or in Japanese, Zen - Buddhist tradition, Batuo taught that Buddhism could best be transmitted from master to student, rather than through the study of Buddhist texts.

In 496, the Northern Wei Emperor Xiaowen gave Batuo funds to establish a monastery at holy Mt. Shaoshi in the Song mountain range, 30 miles from the imperial capital of Luoyang. This temple was named Shaolin, with "Shao" taken from Mount Shaoshi and " lin" meaning "grove" - however, when Luoyang and the Wi Dynasty fell in 534, temples in the area were destroyed, possibly including Shaolin.

Another Buddhist teacher was Bodhidharma, who came from either India or Persia. He famously refused to teach Huike, a Chinese disciple, and Huike cut off his own arm to prove his sincerity, becoming the Bodhidharma's first student as a result.

The Bodhidharma also reportedly spent 9 years in silent meditation in a cave above Shaolin, and one legend says that he fell asleep after seven years, and cut off his own eyelids so that it could not happen again - the eyelids turned into the first tea bushes when they hit the soil.

Shaolin in the Sui and Early Tang Eras

Around 600, Emperor Wendi of the new Sui Dynasty, who was a committed Buddhist himself despite his Confucianism court, awarded Shaolin a 1,400-acre estate plus the right to grind grain with a water mill. During that time, the Sui reunified China but his reign lasted only 37 years. Soon, the country once more dissolved into the fiefs of competing warlords.

Shaolin Temple's fortunes rose with the ascension of the Tang Dynasty in 618, formed by a rebel official from the Sui court. Shaolin monks famously fought for Li Shimin against the warlord Wang Shichong. Li would go on to be the second Tang emperor.

Despite their earlier assistance, Shaolin and China's other Buddhist temples faced numerous purges and in 622 Shaolin was shut down and the monks forcibly returned to lay life. Just two years later, the temple was allowed to reopen due to the military service its monks had rendered to the throne, but in 625, Li Shimin returned 560 acres to the monastery's estate.

Relations with the emperors were uneasy throughout the 8th century, but Chan Buddhism blossomed across China and in 728, the monks erected a stele engraved with stories of their military aid to the throne as a reminder to future emperors.

The Tang to Ming Transition and Golden Age

In 841, the Tang Emperor Wuzong feared the power of the Buddhists so he razed almost all of the temples in his empire and had the monks defrocked or even killed. Wuzong idolized his ancestor Li Shimin, however, so he spared Shaolin.

In 907, the Tang Dynasty fell and the chaotic 5 Dynasties and 10 Kingdom periods ensued with the Song family eventually prevailing and taking rulership of the region until 1279. Few records of Shaolin's fate during this period survive, but it is known that in 1125, a shrine was built to the Bodhidharma, a half mile from Shaolin.

After the Song fell to invaders, the Mongol Yuan Dynasty ruled until 1368, destroying the Shaolin once more as its empire crumbled during the 1351 Hongjin (Red Turban) rebellion. Legend states that a Bodhisattva, disguised as a kitchen worker, saved the temple, but it was in fact burned to the ground.

Still, by the 1500s, the monks of Shaolin were famous for their staff-fighting skills. In 1511, 70 monks died fighting bandit armies and between 1553 and 1555, the monks were mobilized to fight in at least four battles against Japanese pirates. The next century saw the development of Shaolin's empty-hand fighting methods. However, the monks fought on the Ming side in the 1630s and lost.

Shaolin in the Early Modern and Qing Era

In 1641, rebel leader Li Zicheng destroyed the monastic army, sacked Shaolin and killed or drove away the monks before going on to take Beijing in 1644, ending the Ming Dynasty. Unfortunately, he was driven out in turn by the Manchus who founded the Qing Dynasty.

Shaolin Temple lay mostly deserted for decades and the last abbot, Yongyu, left without naming a successor in 1664. Legend says that a group of Shaolin monks rescued the Kangxi Emperor from nomads in 1674. According to the story, envious officials then burned down the temple, killing most of the monks and Gu Yanwu traveled to the remains of Shaolin in 1679 to record its history.

Shaolin slowly recovered from being sacked, and in 1704, the Kangxi Emperor made a gift of his own calligraphy to signal the temple's return to imperial favor. The monks had learned caution, however, and empty-hand fighting began to displace weapons training - it was best not to seem too threatening to the throne.

In 1735 to 1736, the emperor Yongzheng and his son Qianlong decided to renovate Shaolin and cleanse its grounds of "fake monks" - martial artists who affected monks robes without being ordained.

The Qianlong Emperor even visited Shaolin in 1750 and wrote poetry about its beauty, but later banned monastic martial arts.

Shaolin in the Modern Era

During the nineteenth century, the monks of Shaolin were accused of violating their monastic vows by eating meat, drinking alcohol and even hiring prostitutes. Many saw vegetarianism as impractical for warriors, which is probably why government officials sought to impose it upon Shaolin's fighting monks.

The temple's reputation received a serious blow during the Boxer Rebellion of 1900 when Shaolin monks were implicated - probably incorrectly - in teaching the Boxers martial arts. Again in 1912, when China's last imperial dynasty fell due to its weak position compared with intrusive European powers, the country fell into chaos, which ended only with the victory of the Communists under Mao Zedong in 1949.

Meanwhile, in 1928, the warlord Shi Yousan burned down 90% of the Shaolin Temple, and much of it would not be rebuilt for 60 to 80 years. The country eventually came under Chairman Mao's rule, and monastic Shaolin monks fell from cultural relevance.

Shaolin under Communist Rule

At first, Mao's government did not bother with what was left of Shaolin. However, in accordance with Marxist doctrine, the new government was officially atheist.

In 1966, the Cultural Revolution broke out and Buddhist temples were one of the Red Guards' primary targets. The few remaining Shaolin monks were flogged through the streets and then jailed, and Shaolin's texts, paintings, and other treasures were stolen or destroyed.

This might have finally been the end of Shaolin, if not for the 1982 film "Shaolin Shi" or "Shaolin Temple," featuring the debut of Jet Li (Li Lianjie). The movie was based very loosely on the story of the monks' aid to Li Shimin and became a huge smash hit in China.

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, tourism exploded at Shaolin, reaching more than 1 million people per year by the end of the 1990s. Shaolin's monks are now among the best known on Earth, and they put on martial arts displays in world capitals with literally thousands of films having been made about their exploits.

Batuo's Legacy

It's hard to imagine what the first abbot of Shaolin would think if he could see the temple now. He might be surprised and even dismayed by the amount of bloodshed in the temple's history and its use in modern culture as a tourist destination.

However, to survive the tumult that has characterized so many periods of Chinese history, the monks of Shaolin had to learn the skills of warriors, most of important of which was survival. Despite a number of attempts to erase the temple, it survives and even thrives today at the base of the Songshan Range.

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The Shaolin Monastery is the most famous temple in China, renown for its kung fu fighting Shaolin monks. With amazing feats of strength, flexibility, and pain-endurance, the Shaolin have created a worldwide reputation as the ultimate Buddhist warriors.

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The ninja of movies and comic books-a stealthy assassin in black robes with magical abilities in the arts of concealment and murder-is very compelling, to be sure. But the historical reality of the ninja is somewhat different. In feudal Japan, ninjas were a lower class of warriors often recruited by samurai and governments to act as spies.

Origins of the Ninja

It is difficult to pin down the emergence of the first ninja, more properly called shinobi-after all, people around the world have always used spies and assassins. Japanese folklore states that the ninja descended from a demon that was half man and half crow. However, it seems more likely that the ninja slowly evolved as an opposing force to their upper-class contemporaries, the samurai, in early feudal Japan.

Most sources indicate that the skills that became ninjutsu, the ninja's art of stealth, began to develop between 600 to 900. Prince Shotoku, who lived from 574 to 622, is said to have employed Otomono Sahito as a shinobi spy.

By the year 907, the Tang Dynasty in China had fallen, plunging the country into 50 years of chaos and forcing Tang generals to escape over the sea to Japan where they brought new battle tactics and philosophies of war.

Chinese monks also began to arrive in Japan in the 1020s, bringing new medicines and fighting philosophies of their own, with many of the ideas originating in India and making their way across Tibet and China before turning up in Japan. The monks taught their methods to Japan's warrior-monks, or yamabushi, as well as to members of the first ninja clans.

The First Known Ninja School

For a century or more, the blend of Chinese and native tactics that would become ninjutsu developed as a counter-culture, without rules. It was first formalized by Daisuke Togakure and Kain Doshi around the 12th century.

Daisuke had been a samurai, but he was on the losing side in a regional battle and forced to forfeit his lands and his samurai title. Ordinarily, a samurai might commit seppuku under these circumstances, but Daisuke did not.

Instead, in 1162, Daisuke wandered the mountains of southwest Honshu where he met Kain Doshi, a Chinese warrior-monk. Daisuke renounced his bushido code, and together the two developed a new theory of guerrilla warfare called ninjutsu. Daisuke's descendants created the first ninja ryu, or school, the Togakureryu.

Who Were the Ninja?

Some of the ninja leaders, or jonin, were disgraced samurai like Daisuke Togakure that had lost in battle or had been renounced by their daimyo but fled rather than committing ritual suicide. However, most ordinary ninjas were not from the nobility.

Instead, low-ranking ninjas were villagers and farmers who learned to fight by any means necessary for their own self-preservation, including the use of stealth and poison to carry out assassinations. As a result, the most famous ninja strongholds were the Iga and Koga Provinces, mostly known for their rural farmlands and quiet villages.

Women also served in ninja combat. Female ninja, or kunoichi, infiltrated enemy castles in the guise of dancers, concubines, or servants who were highly successful spies and sometimes even acted as assassins as well.

Samurai Use of the Ninja

The samurai lords could not always prevail in open warfare, but they were constrained by bushido, so they often hired ninjas to do their dirty work. Secrets could be spied out, opponents assassinated, or misinformation planted, all without sullying a samurai's honor.

This system also transferred wealth to the lower classes, as the ninja were paid handsomely for their work. Of course, a samurai's enemies could also hire ninja, and as a result, the samurai needed, despised, and feared the ninja-in equal measure.

The ninja "high man," or jonin, gave orders to the chunin ("middle man"), who passed them on to the genin, or the ordinary ninja. This hierarchy was also, unfortunately, based on the class the ninja had come from before training, but it wasn't uncommon for a skilled ninja to ascend the ranks well beyond his or her social class.

The Rise and Fall of the Ninja

The ninja came into their own during the tumultuous era between 1336 and 1600. In an atmosphere of constant war, ninja skills were essential for all sides, and they played a key role in the Nanbukucho Wars (1336-1392), the Onin War (1460s), and the Sengoku Jidai, or Warring States Period-where they aided samurai in their internal power struggles.

The ninja were an important tool during the Sengoku Period (1467-1568), but also a destabilizing influence. When warlord Oda Nobunaga emerged as the strongest daimyo and began to reunite Japan in 1551-1582, he saw the ninja strongholds at Iga and Koga as a threat, but despite quickly defeating and co-opting the Koga ninja forces, Nobunaga had more trouble with Iga.​

In what would later be called the Iga Revolt or Iga No Run, Nobunaga attacked the ninja of Iga with an overwhelming force of more than 40,000 men. Nobunaga's lightning-quick attack on Iga forced the ninja to fight open battles, and as a result, they were defeated and scattered to nearby provinces and the mountains of Kii.

While their base was destroyed, the ninja did not vanish entirely. Some went into the service of Tokugawa Ieyasu, who became shogun in 1603, but the much-reduced ninja continued to serve on both sides in various struggles. In one famous incident from 1600, a ninja snuck through a group of Tokugawa's defenders at Hataya castle and planted the flag of the besieging army high on the front gate.

The Edo Period under the Tokugawa Shogunate from 1603-1868 brought stability and peace to Japan, bringing the ninja story to a close. Ninja skills and legends survived, though, and were embellished to enliven the movies, games, and comic books of today.

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The ninja of movies and comic books-a stealthy assassin in black robes with magical abilities in the arts of concealment and murder-is very compelling, to be sure. But the historical reality of the ninja is somewhat different. In feudal Japan, ninjas were a lower class of warriors often recruited by samurai and governments to act as spies.

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Saudi Arabia: the laws on what women can - and can't - do in 2025

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Rights for Saudi women are still far from equal but there have been big recent positive changes on clothing, education, employment and access to public spaces

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"Anime." Depending on who you are, the word can conjure up images of exciting adventures, stylized art, or your teenage daughter talking excitedly about her current obsession. In Japan, the word refers to any kind of animation at all, but the rest of the world has adopted it to mean animation specifically from Japan. Why the distinction? Isn't animation just a bunch of moving drawings no matter which country you draw them in? We don't have a specific, well-known word for animation from any other part of the world. How did anime come to be regarded as special and grow into the stylized medium we know and love today? The answer stretches back to just one year shy of a century ago...

1917: A Century Ago

The first animated film released in Japan, and therefore the first anime, was probably released in late 1916 or very early '17 by Shimokawa Oten, made with chalk, and less than five minutes long. The uncertainty comes from the fact that most early Japanese films were dismantled after the reels were finished. What survived that practice was largely lost with the destruction of many film studios and theaters in the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923, destroyed in the bombings of World War 2, or simply disintegrated over time. The nitrocellulose early films were printed on was extremely flimsy and incredibly flammable - not exactly a good recipe for preservation.

The first Japanese animated film we know for certain was commercially released was Dekobo Shingacho - Meian no Shippai (Dekobo's New Picture Book - Failure of a Great Plan) in February of 1917 - but 1917 saw the release of nearly twenty short animated films in Japan! It was the midst of World War 1 and animation was a new curiosity. Manga artists Oten Shimokawa and Junichi Kouchi and painter Seitaro Kitayama were fascinated by this new medium. Hired by existing film studios and working with very small crews, these three men were responsible for the remarkable output that first year and have been nicknamed "the fathers of anime."

The films they made did not look like the anime being made today. The runtimes were exceedingly short, usually in the five-minute range, and they did not use transparent cels or color. The earliest films were made with chalk on a board, erasing and re-drawing the lines in-between camera takes. This technique was quickly succeeded by the slightly less labor-intensive process of using paper cutouts - essentially 2D stop-motion animation. The films were silent, but probably accompanied by live music and certainly accompanied by "benshi," storytellers who stood by the screen and narrated the film for the audience.

But while the films looked different, the content would be familiar to anyone who watches anime today. They told funny stories about samurai, brought Japanese folk tales to life, and promoted the Japanese mail system. It's a line-up you could find in just about any year of the last decade.

The films of 1917 were made for existing film companies. In 1921, Kitayama left Nikkatsu, the company he had been working for, to found the very first anime studio, Kitayama Eiga Seisakujo. Kouchi followed his footsteps and founded his own animation studio, Sumikazu, in 1923. Neither studio survived the decade, unfortunately. It's difficult to make money with anime, and the Great Kanto Earthquake wiping out the Kitayama building so soon after establishment didn't help.

The 1930s and '40s: Technology and War

Despite difficulties with destroyed studios, low funding, and the laborious cut-out process, anime continued. In the 1930s, another pioneer rose to prominence: Kenzo Masaoka. He debuted the first anime with synced, pre-recorded voices (a "talkie") in 1933 after a year of production. Titled Chikara to Onna no Yo no Naka (Within the World of Power and Women), it was a rather salacious story about a man having an affair with his secretary after growing tired of his domineering wife. (Feminism was not a big concern in animation at the time.) Hot on its heels in 1934 came Masaoka's Chagama Ondo (The Dance of the Chagamas), the first anime made entirely with cels.

Animating with cels - characters and moving elements painted on transparent sheets of celluloid layered over each other and a background - was a vast improvement over chalk and paper cutouts, but it was a much bigger expense. Studios had to get more creative in finding sources of funding. Promotional videos made and paid for by the government flourished. As the military began gearing up for war, many animators turned their hands to propaganda. On the civilian side, educational films were made for children and advertising pieces were animated for commercial companies. All of these uses of anime continue today.

Propaganda proved particularly lucrative during World War II and the film studios grew larger with the additional funding. The first full-length anime film was Momotaro: Umi no Shinpei (Momotaro, Sacred Sailors), released in 1945. A propaganda film commissioned by the Japanese navy featuring anthropomorphic animals, its underlying message of hope for peace would move a young manga artist named Osamu Tezuka to tears. Remember that name; he'll prove to be fairly important in a few paragraphs.

The 1950s: Some Familiar Names Appear

After the war, we begin seeing names recognizable to even casual anime fans today. Japan Animated Films was founded in 1948, but you probably know them as Toei, the film company which bought Japan Animated Films in 1956 to create an animated division. They released Hakujaden (The Tale of the White Serpent) in 1958. With a runtime of 78 minutes, it was the first feature-length color anime film. It would come out in America three years later in 1961.

Hakujaden was not the first anime to cross the Pacific - film aficionados have been shipping each other reels since the beginning of the medium - but it emphasized that markets overseas could be lucrative sources of additional revenue. With its colorful characters and easily-replaced dialog, animation was especially easy to port across the seas. Depending on the hoped-for market, anime was and still is often deliberately set in places outside of Japan or otherwise downplays its national origin to make it more palatable to overseas audiences and wallets.

But remember Osamu Tezuka? By the late '50s he'd become a pretty popular manga artist - and by pretty popular, I mean he's now reverentially referred to as the "god of manga." In 1958, he began working with Toei to animate his series Boku no Son Goku (Son-Goku the Monkey King). During his time with Toei, Tezuka would prove to be a bit of a rabble-rouser, agitating for unionization. After his contract expired, he left to found his own studio, Mushi Production, a.k.a. Mushi Pro for short, and he took some of Toei's best animators with him. Included on that list was the first woman animator in Japan we know of, Kazuko Nakamura. She would later serve as the animation director for Ribon no Kishi (Princess Knight). Even if you haven't heard of Mushi Pro, if you've seen any anime at all it's very likely you've seen the work of at least one animator who cut their teeth at the famous studio.

The 1960s: Television

Prior to 1958, if you wanted to see animation, you had to go to a theater or have a wealthy friend with a projector and access to reels. Television changed that. The earliest animation to air on the fledgling medium was Mogura no Aventure (Mole's Adventure). It was in color, used paper cut-outs, and was nine minutes long. Two years later in 1960, an experimental animated anthology called Mittsu no Hanashi (Three Tales) was created and aired by NHK as a special. Comprised of three ten-minute segments telling fantasy tales, it would make the journey to the United States the next year, where it was the first anime to air on American television.

In 1961, the anime Otogi Manga Calendar began regularly airing on Japanese TV. Each episode explored "what happened on this day in history," sometimes supplementing its animation with historical photographs. The episodes were only three minutes long, but the series notched up an impressive 312 of them during its initial run. Three minutes, however, isn't what usually comes to mind when we think of an anime episode. We think twenty-five minutes, give or take time for commercials. What was the first anime in the format we know and love today?

In 1963, Tezuka and Mushi Pro debuted the very first anime TV series we would recognize as such, Tetsuwan Atom (Astro Boy). Based on one of Tezuka's most popular manga, the show starred a robot boy who lived with humans and regularly battled crime, aliens, and other robots. Anime had never been tried on TV in a half-hour timeslot before due to cost and deadline concerns. How could such a time-intensive process ever be used to profitably air a show a week? Tezuka used what is called "limited animation": techniques such as reducing the number of frames (images) per second of film, re-using cels, and putting different parts of a character, like the head or arms, on different layers of cels so that only the part of the body moving needed to be animated in each scene. He also saved time by using his original manga panels as storyboards, eliminating much of the need to write and layout individual episodes.

Tetsuwan Atom was a huge success with high ratings, merchandise galore, and syndication in dozens of countries. One of those countries was the United States, where it would be watched in black and white on TV by Todd Ferson. He'd go on to found Right Stuf with his friend Shawne Kleckner 25 years later on the strength of that robot boy with a big heart, but that's another story...

Many tropes we think of when we think "anime" today were codified by Tetsuwan Atom, including big eyes, robot battles, and stylized hair impossible to achieve in normal gravity. It was the coolest thing on TV and everyone loved it! ...mostly. Its popularity surprised many of the more "serious" Japanese animators. Limited animation is comprised of literally cheap tricks, so how can it compare to the fluid animation and artistry of carefully crafted films? Can limited animation be art? This argument about limited animation versus fluid animation is another aspect of anime that continues today.

Tetsuwan Atom proved definitively that anime could be made for TV and be profitable. Tele-Cartoon Japan (TCJ, or Eiken post-1969) jumped on the bandwagon with Sennin Buraku (Hermit Village) in the fall of 1963. Based on a popular manga, the story was a risqué romantic comedy set in historical China and aired in a late-night spot. Tetsujin 28-Go (Iron Man No. 28), also from TCJ and about a boy and his giant robot, hit the air just a month later in October, though you may know it by its American name, Gigantor. That's right: the first TV anime series for kids, the first TV anime series for adults, and the first giant-robot anime all came out over half a century ago in the very same year.

The next year in 1964, Tokyo Movie Shinsha (TMS) formed, and their first animated release was a TV series called Big X. You could say it was influenced by Tezuka - he wrote the manga it was based on ("god of manga," remember). Over the years, TMS and its subsidiaries, including A Production, Shin-Ei Animation, and Telecom Animation Film, would frequently supplement their original productions with outsourced work for other companies, most notably Disney.

Tetsuwan Atom's first year was done on a small budget from Fuji TV plus money from a candy sponsor, but the next year money came in from a surprising source: NBC in America, which was running an adaptation of the series to good ratings. This enabled better animation for later episodes of Tetsuwan Atom, but the bigger effect would be on an industry that had just discovered a new source of income. Animation studios trying to replicate the series' domestic and international success began popping up left and right - and sometimes closing just as fast when they learned even limited animation still takes a lot of work, and not every story is as popular as one of Tezuka's established manga properties.

NBC didn't need an endless number of Tetsuwan Atom episodes, but they liked Tezuka. They asked him for a new show, specifying that this series had to be in color or else American audiences wouldn't be interested. Cost? NBC would pay for the expense of converting Mushi Pro to color. Tezuka agreed (free color!), and despite some friction between the creator and the American company (Tezuka kept trying to slip in death scenes and continuity; NBC kept trying to edit them out), Jungle Emperor (Kimba the White Lion) debuted in the fall of 1965, the very first color anime TV series and a popular success.

Not to be outdone, Toei put out the first "shojo" (targeted at girls between 6 and 15) and magical girl anime in 1966. Based on a manga by Mitsuteru Yokoyama, who'd also written Tetsujin 28-Go, Mahotsukai Sally (Sally the Witch) starred young witch princess Sally, who accidentally teleported to Earth and then stayed to have fun with her new friends. The first episodes were produced in black and white, but episodes 18 onward were made in color and the show had success in numerous other countries.

The 1970s: Robots, Literature, and Art

Tezuka left Mushi Pro in 1968 to found Tezuka Productions. Mushi Pro, facing budgetary difficulties and without its founder, closed in 1973. Several of its former animators founded studios of their own, to the point where for a while it seemed that the Venn diagram between studios founded in the '70s and studios founded by Mushi Pro staffers was a neat circle. Two of these studios you might recognize: Madhouse and Sunrise, both founded in fall 1972.

In the years after Tezuka left and prior to closing, Mushi Pro had been contracted to produce animation for film studio Zuiyo Eizo. In 1974, Zuiyo Eizo began producing animation itself, most notably Alps no Shojo Heidi (Heidi, Girl of the Alps). Heidi was instantly popular, which might not surprise you if you recognize the names of its director, Isao Takahata, and layout director, Hayao Miyazaki. If you don't, don't worry, they'll be mentioned again later.

Despite Heidi's success, Zuiyo Eizo was in debt the next year and split into two companies. Company one, Zuiyo, got the debt, and company two, Nippon Animation, got the animation staff. Building on Heidi and other Zuiyo Eizo-produced works, Nippon Animation created World Masterpiece Theater, a long-running series adapting classic literature from around the world such as Dog of Flanders and Anne of Green Gables. Conveniently, these stories were also easy to export around the world, bringing in more money for Nippon Animation.

Anime continued to grow and define itself through the '70s, especially in regards to science fiction. The first space-opera series, Uchu Senkan Yamato (Space Battleship Yamato), debuted in 1974 from Group TAC, (yet) another studio formed by former Mushi Pro staffers. It told a serious and complex story and would be a huge influence on later Japanese sci-fi. In 1979, it was released in America as Star Blazers and sparked interest in American fans who liked this cartoon with more mature themes and over-arching plot than their Saturday morning cartoon offerings.

By the end of the '70s, anime was fully cemented as part of Japanese popular culture. Animage, a magazine devoted to anime and manga, debuted in July 1978, giving fans a place for the latest news and articles about their hobby. Soon, the term "otaku" would be coined to describe those who were especially "intense" about their hobby.

Two Japanese cultural institutions made their appearance in 1979. Sunrise released Mobile Suit Gundam, in which giant robots were given a take grounded in science and politics. The show wasn't actually too popular - until Bandai bought the merchandise rights and started releasing Gundam model kits. Since then, over 70 Gundam series, specials, and movies have been made and hundreds of millions of model kits sold.

Meanwhile, Shin-Ei Animation (a TMS subsidiary) decided to bring back Doraemon, a comedy series based on a manga about a time-traveling cat-robot that had previously been adapted to the small screen in 1973. That version lasted 26 episodes, but Shin-Ei's Doraemon would carry on for an astounding 1,787. It "ended" in 2005 only to be immediately replaced a month later with a new Doraemon featuring updated designs and voice actors, still produced by Shin-Ei and still going.

The 1980s: The Golden Age

The 1980s are considered the "golden age" of anime and saw a huge explosion of genres and interest. Many factors contributed to this, including the introduction of VHS and children who were inspired by Tetsuwan Atom twenty years ago, growing up and becoming nostalgic for their favorite shows.

Mamoru Oshii directed Urusei Yatsura in 1981 for Studio Pierrot, founded just two years later by former animators of Tatsunoko Pro and (you guessed it) Mushi Pro. The series based on Rumiko Takahashi's manga about a lecherous human, the playful alien he accidentally becomes engaged to, and their friends became a huge hit and introduced the now practically required practice of promoting pop songs via the show's opening and ending sequences.

The sports anime formula was codified in 1983 with Captain Tsubasa by Tsuchida Pro, a show about soccer (or football for non-American audiences), teamwork, and friendship. It inspired a generation of soccer players and manga writers and set the standard for anime sports moves of ever-increasing coolness and improbability.

VHS and other home recording/playing devices were coming onto the market in the early '80s and anime was at the forefront. Urusei Yatsura was available on VHS in late 1983, and the OAV (original video animation, Japan's version of a straight-to-DVD movie) was invented in the same year. No one was much interested in the first OAV, Oshii's Moon Base Dallos, but it wouldn't take long before more popular titles began driving the market upwards.

Another technological first in 1983 was CGI (computer generated imagery). TMS's Golgo 13 used CGI in several scenes, most notably to show helicopters circling a skyscraper. It was the first significant use of CGI in an animated film not just in Japan, but anywhere.

The biggest news of 1984 was Kaze no Tani no Nausicaä (Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind). Produced by Isao Takahata and directed and written by Hayao Miyazaki (those talented guys who worked on Heidi), it was the first film of what would become the prestigious Studio Ghibli. That same year, Daicon Films was founded in 1984 by a group of university students. Never heard of Daicon? That's because they changed their name the next year to Gainax.

But if auteur-driven OAVs and hugely influential movies and studios aren't quite your thing, 1984 saw another first. Now that people could buy anime and watch it in their own homes, circumventing the censors and public attention of TV and theaters, you can probably guess what industry was quick to step up. The first "hentai" (pornographic) release was Lolita Anime, though Cream Lemon from the same year is better known. More titles followed quickly and profitably.

In 1986, Toei animated Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball. The show proved incredibly popular, to put it lightly. If there's a "shonen" (targeted at boys around ages 6 to 15) series you've enjoyed in the last 30 years featuring drawn-out battles and ever-increasing hero power-ups, its author probably watched Dragon Ball or its successor Dragon Ball Z as a kid.

Anime sources were expanding. Manga, novels, and original stories continued to be as popular choices as ever, but video games (1986, Super Mario Brothers) and light novels (1988, Legend of the Galactic Heroes) would soon prove fruitful ground as well. The types of stories being adapted also expanded. The first BL ("boy's love," also known as " yaoi" or "shonen-ai" and featuring gay relationships targeted at women) anime was an OAV called Kaze to Ki no Uta (The Poem of Wind and Trees). It was animated by small studio Office Next-One in 1987.

Thanks to the money from home releases, licensing abroad, and the economic bubble Japan was in, budgets were increasing. Nowhere was this more evident than with Akira in 1988. Akira was lavished with money, and it showed on the screen in fluid animation. Where Tetsuwan Atom got by with 8 or less frames of animation per second, Akira used 24. It was the first anime to use pre-recorded dialog, where the dialog is recorded and then the animators match the mouth movements to the sound instead of the (much cheaper) other way around. For years after, it was the anime of choice to show friends how amazing this medium you loved could look.

The 1990s: Crash

Budgets never go up indefinitely, of course. Japan's economy crashed in 1991, and budgets were cut back and many anime film and OAV studios closed. Even in a recession, however, entertainment is always popular. Studio Ghibli weathered the storm on the strength of their latest hit, Majo no Takkyubin (Kiki's Delivery Service), and TV continued to be fertile ground for funding. Toei released Sailor Moon in 1992, for example, to huge commercial success.

In 1995, Gainax released Neon Genesis Evangelion, a deconstruction of the giant-robot genre full of intriguing iconography, dark themes, and broken but likable characters. It immediately caught the attention of the anime world, and would have an influence on robot shows going forward that cannot be overstated.

In addition to its takes on robot technology and the psychology of using teenagers as pilots, Evangelion's two main heroines left huge marks on the anime world. Asuka and Rei respectively characterized what would be come to known as the popular "tsundere" and "moe" personality types. (Tsundere refers to a character who initially acts cold but warms up later, while moe is approximately a cute character you feel intense protective feelings for.) Asuka and Rei weren't the first written in this mold ( Urusei Yatsura probably holds that distinction), but the amount of merchandise sold featuring the girls was and is a juggernaut that still rakes in the yen today.

The first anime based on a video game was Super Mario Brothers: Peach-hime Kyuushutsu Daisakusen (Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach) in 1986, but the genre came into its own spectacularly and profitably with Pokemon in 1997. It's still on the air and studios are still trying to replicate its international success. Video games, of course, aren't just demographically targeted at kids, and adult-oriented visual novel games (particularly, yes, the erotic ones) began to be mined for source material as well. The first of these was Sentimental Journey in 1998, and the genre boomed in the 2000s.

Anime was continuing to grow up and diversify. OAVs could be as gory, experimental, or esoterically random and comedic as writers could dream up. Late-night anime like Serial Experiments Lain in 1998 delved into serious philosophical themes with stylish and sophisticated animation. Speaking of style, Studio Bones was founded in 1998 by Sunrise staffers, and their first project was a collaboration with Sunrise to make the jazzy space romp Cowboy Bebop: Tengoku no Tobira (Knockin' on Heaven's Door).

The 2000s: Computers and a Bubble

Since the mid-1930s, anime had been almost exclusively animated on cels. During the '90s, CGI became increasingly commonplace as a supplemental technique. The ease with which computers could manipulate images even won over traditional-animation purist Miyazaki, who used CGI on 1997's Mononoke-Hime (Princess Mononoke) to animate demonic tendrils and a few other effects after his staff demonstrated how seamlessly they could blend the animation in.

The first completely computer animated anime, A.LI.CE., arrived in 1999. Being still relatively early CGI, it didn't look like "anime," and by this point in time the anime look we associate with the genre was very clearly defined. As more and more studios began making use of the new digital technology, most of them chose methods that blended well with hand-drawn cels. As computer processing capacity increased and prices went down, studios replaced cels altogether with digital ink and paint. In this method, after each frame is drawn it is scanned into a computer, then colored and composited digitally instead of being transferred to a cel and colored and composited by hand.

Being able to use a computer to quickly handle tedious work was, unsurprisingly, popular, and most studios had made the switch as soon as 2005. The last hold-out was Eiken with Sazae-san, the longest-running animated show in the world. If it ain't broke (and your graphics haven't evolved too much from your 1969 origins), why fix it? But even Sazae-san eventually bowed to modern convenience and made the digital switch in 2013.

In the early 2000s, anime was once again flourishing. A series of hits buoyed the market both at home and abroad. These included long-runners like One Piece (1999), Naruto (2002), and Bleach (2004) that cross-promoted manga sales, movies, video games, and merchandise with no end to their runs in sight. Overseas licensing boomed, and Studio Ghibli's Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (Spirited Away) took the Best Animated Feature Oscar in 2002.

The internet was facilitating global conversations between fans, who eagerly discussed their favorite (and not-so-favorite) shows in minute detail with each other. The increasing ease of sharing anime for free through the internet was a source of contention for producers worried about revenue, but like VHS before it studios began experimenting with ways to monetize this new distribution channel.

The first ONA (original net anime) came out in 2000. Produced by J.C. Staff, it was just four minutes long and adapted a short story from the four-panel manga Azumanga Daioh. The plan was to see if there was enough interest to create a series of episodes for the internet, but there was so much interest they made a traditional (or as traditional as comedy Azumanga got) anime TV series instead.

Short internet series came soon after, and the first full-length (22-episode) ONA anime series, Maho Yugi (Magical Play), debuted in 2002. It also made the jump to TV based on its success. Going in the other direction, however, of TV to online streaming would prove a little longer in coming due to concerns about licensing, revenue, and piracy.

In 2006, the market was oversaturated with choice. Just like the end of the 1980s, anime was in a bubble, and just like the end of the 1980s, the economy was about to crash. This time, it was America's market and then economy that went down first and hardest, but Japan was already in a long recession. Those ever-increasing foreign licensing fees had been forming no small part of many of the more esoteric and adult-targeted anime budgets. Series with alternate revenue streams like merchandise sales carried on just fine, but shows relying on DVD sales and commercial sponsors faced a problem.

The number of new series created each year dipped from a high point of 159 titles in 2006 to 118 in 2010. Just like the '90s, the surviving studios came up with new avenues to carry on. A popular solution was to cater to increasingly niche demographics, relying on the sale of very expensive DVDs and, later, Blu-rays to hardcore fans. Moe titles, which encourages viewers to want to protect (and obsess) over characters, proved effective at moving merchandise and inspiring fan devotion. Light novels (Japanese cheap pulp fiction) became especially popular for source material in 2006 after the enormous success of Kyoto Animation's Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya), and the trend hasn't stopped yet.

Another funding option was to find demographics that previously hadn't been targeted much and start offering them what they wanted, such as women who enjoy BL titles. 2007 would see a high point for the genre with five OAVs and a TV series released. A television timeblock targeted at adult women who usually didn't watch anime at all called Noitamina ("animation" backwards) had started before the crash in 2005 and continued afterwards to be a reliable source of good titles with solid ratings. And if you don't have a big new hit on your hands and don't want to risk experimenting, why not remake what worked in the past? 2009 saw popular remakes in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and Dragon Ball Z: Kai, and Hunter x Hunter got a successful revival in 2011.

Studios became extra-cautious with non-proven proprieties. Where once a picked-up show might get an order for 26 or 52 episodes (two seasons or a full year), now 13 episodes (one season) is far more common. If the series sells well enough on DVD or moves enough licensed merchandise, another 13 episodes can be ordered later, and so on until sales dwindle. While convenient for producers, it can be difficult for the staff, who don't know if they'll be continuing production after their current season. If a long amount of time passes between seasons, new staff may be needed who have to pick up where someone else left off years ago.

Studios are not homogenous monoliths, and friction has existed for a long time between those in charge and the staffers doing the grunt drawing work. Remember, Tezuka wanted unionization back at Toei in 1958. The 2000s crash put additional downward pressure on animators' salaries, which weren't high to begin with thanks to low budgets and foreign competition. While Japanese companies frequently animated American cartoons in the '80s, today Japan often outsources animation itself to countries such as India, China, and South Korea.

The work of decades finally paid off in 2007 and the very first union for Japanese animators was established: The Japan Animation Creators Association. Membership included animators new and old alike, with the first president being Toyo Ashida, who got his start all the way back in the early days of 1965 with Eiken. Along with better communication between colleagues in the field and support in bringing attention to low salaries and poor working conditions, the biggest benefit for members was access at long last to group healthcare.

In 2008, studio GONZO was suffering from financial issues and decided to aggressively begin courting the Western market. To this end, they partnered with Japanese digital entertainment company BOST and American website Crunchyroll to launch the very first anime "simulcasts." A simulcast streams episodes around the world (or at least to whichever regions the licensors have agreed to) on the same day they're broadcast in their home country. The first two titles distributed this way were GONZO's Druaga no To ~the Aegis of URUK~ (Tower of Druaga) and Blassreiter.

There were a couple restrictions - the simulcasts only had English subtitles and couldn't be watched from within Japan - but the response from Western fans was immediate and positive. The next year in 2009, Japanese television station and anime distributer TV Tokyo struck a deal with Crunchyroll to legally stream one of the most popular anime in the world, Naruto: Shippuden. Simulcasts and streaming are now ubiquitous to the point where it's surprising if an anime doesn't have an online option.

The 2010s: Today

Between increased global communication and Blu-ray regions putting Japan in the same region as North and South America, studios slowly have begun to tackle international releases themselves instead of relying on outside intermediaries. This has included creating their own online streaming sites, such as DAISUKI.net in 2013, and releasing Blu-rays simultaneously in Japan and North America, unfathomable just a decade ago.

Anime is recognized around the world as a reliable source of entertainment and art. Where early Japanese animators were inspired by the works of Disney, now Western shows like Avatar: The Last Airbender and Samurai Jack are taking their cues from Japan.

Studios continue to adapt to advances in the way stories are told. One of the most popular shows on the air right now, One-Punch Man, is based on a webcomic. Two different short anime series have been made for the express purpose of viewing on mobile phones. The barriers to animation are being lowered by programs like Flash and Maya, and amateur animators can put their work directly on the internet for fans without needing a TV deal or a distributor.

So much has happened in just 99 years. It's impossible to know where we'll be in another century, but by looking at the past we can make some pretty educated guesses. Studios will rise and fall, budgets will expand and contract, Sazae-san will keep running, and animators will innovate with the latest technology to tell timeless stories - or whatever their sponsors will pay for in the meantime. And because those stories will be rooted in the rich history of anime, using techniques of Japanese storytelling and animation passed from animator to animator, they will continue to win fans the world over.

-Lisa Marie Cooper
You may recognize Lisa as Marie from the Anime Today podcast or as the tireless promotion-pusher and question-answerer RightStufSpecialsMinion on the AnimeNewsNetwork and Fandom Post forums. Her latest works can be found at PositivelyEditorial.com, where she writes about writing.

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"Anime." Depending on who you are, the word can conjure up images of exciting adventures, stylized art, or your teenage daughter talking excitedly about her current obsession. In Japan, the word refers to any kind of animation at all, but the rest of the world has adopted it to mean animation specifically from Japan.

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CHOOSE ONE TOPIC/ASPECT OF THEIR CULTURE

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Family and people are at the heart of the culture of Japan, which is famous for its many rites and traditions.

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A traveler's introduction to the samurai, the Japanese warriors and member of the military class of feudal Japan.

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About the common elements found in Japanese gardens.

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Tahara Castle (also known as Hako Castle) was a Japanese Castle in Tahara Aichi Prefecture. Munemitsu Toda constructed Tahara Castle in 1480. Today the Tahara Municipal Museum is on the site.

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Tahara Castle (also known as Hako Castle) was a Japanese Castle in Tahara Aichi Prefecture. Munemitsu Toda constructed Tahara Castle in 1480. Today the Tahara Municipal Museum is on the site.

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The Korean martial arts have a judo equivalent. The style's name is hapkido, and it is a throwing art designed to put people on their backs quickly and effectively. The art also relies on strikes.

Hapkido means "the way of coordination and internal power." It has been traced to two Korean men: Suh Bok Suh and Choi Yong Sul.

One day, Suh watched a man (Sul) fight off multiple attackers. A judo black belt, Suh invited Sul to train with him. Sul did, exposing Suh to the style of Daitô-ryû Aiki-jûjutsu.

The style gained prominence after Suh defeated one of his father's political adversaries with the art in hand-to-hand combat. The fact that the adversary was much larger than Suh only added to the discipline's appeal.

Later, Ji Han Jae helped to popularize hapkido. He taught Korean President Park Jung Hee's body guard the style. In 1965, he started the Korea Hapkido Association. He tweaked the martial by adding more Korean punching and kicking techniques. The unique style he created was called sin moo hapkido.

Jae controversially claimed in 1986 that he founded hapkido, but his assertion has been highly disputed. More "

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What You Should Know About the Korean Martial Arts

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The Korean martial arts have a judo equivalent. The style's name is hapkido, and it is a throwing art designed to put people on their backs quickly and effectively. The art also relies on strikes. Hapkido means "the way of coordination and internal power."

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Rummage through a South Korean student's knapsack and you'll see the usual textbooks, pens, and post-it notes. But dig a little deeper and you'll also find everything from seat cushions to toothbrushes, silverware to curling irons.

For public schools, classes typically begin at 8am and let out around 5pm, said Joo Yeongju, a third-year student at Eunpyeong public high school in Seoul. In addition to that, most students participate in "evening self-study" sessions, where they're monitored by teachers, until 10 or 11pm making the total hours at school each day 14-15.

To accommodate such demanding days, students bring cushions to soften their seats (in Korea, high school teachers rotate classrooms, which means students don't need to get up after every class). They also bring the following:

cellphone chargers

basic toiletries

brushes

hair curlers

makeup

silverware for packed dinners

indoor slippers

neck pillows

blankets

"In the summer, those sitting by the air conditioners use the blankets," said Joo. And in the winter, girls who wear skirts as part of the uniform, use them to shield their legs, she added.

While Joo's school is trying to lengthen evening study sessions to 11pm, some schools are trying to curtail the amount of time students stay at school and relieve them of academic pressures. There are schools in South Korea's Busan that are now prohibited from enforcing (in Korean) mandatory evening studying, which officials say should bring down these evening periods by 80-85% in the region.

With the average South Korean high school student spending 1,020 hours in school a year (pdf) according to a 2012 OECD study (134 hours more than the OECD average), it's easy to understand how school becomes more than a second home. And while countries like France and Mexico require more hours than Korea, students in Korea tend to do more studying once school is over.

In a culture where attending the best universities is a hefty measure of success, high school is where there's the most pressure.

"[Excessive studying] is a very true aspect of the nature of learning in South Korea," said Rahul Choudaha, a senior director of strategic development at World Education Services, an NGO that evaluates credentials for those wishing to study or work in the US. "And that is the function of a couple variables: one, the desire to be among the best in terms of job and institutions, which they will be enrolling into." The second part is that Koreans believe in the importance of education for socioeconomic and person growth creating a bubble that pressures students to spend an inordinate amount of time studying from an early age.

But for Joo, despite Korea's bad reputation for extreme studying and late night hours, those sessions can also be fun: "It's a time of memories. Our school is in the mountains so at night you can see the stars. Sometimes we make ramen cup noodles. It's really about how you look at this situation."

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What South Korean high school students carry in their backpacks may surprise you

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Rummage through a South Korean student's knapsack and you'll see the usual textbooks, pens, and post-it notes. But dig a little deeper and you'll also find everything from seat cushions to toothbrushes, silverware to curling irons. For public schools, classes typically begin at 8am and let out around 5pm, said Joo Yeongju, a third-year student at...

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Contemporary Culture of South Korea - New World Encyclopedia

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South Korea's contemporary culture has been shaped by the passionate pursuit of modernization. Since the end of the Korean War, South Korea has sought to improve its economy, shrugging off the effects of Japanese colonial rule and the devastation of the Korean War.

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ONLY USE SOCIAL CUSTOMS AND ETIQUETTE SECTION OF THE WEBSITE

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여보! (Hello) and Welcome to our Guide to South Korean Culture, Customs, Business Practices & Etiquette

In a country where almost half the population have the same last name, you may be forgiven for becoming a little confused about who is who and what is what.

That is why we have published our free guide to South Korea!

Valuable for anyone researching Korean culture, customs, language, society, manners, etiquette, values, business norms and essentially wanting to understand the people better.

TAEGUKKI:SOUTH KOREA'S FLAGThere are four different black trigrams from the ancient I Ching (Book of Changes) in each corner of the white field. White is a traditional Korean colour and represents peace and purity; blue represents the negative cosmic forces of the yin, while the red symbolises the opposite positive forces of the yang; each trigram (kwae) denotes one of the four universal elements, which together express the principle of movement and harmony.
Whether visiting South Korea on business, for tourism or even hosting Korean colleagues or clients in your own country, this guide will help you understand your South Korean counterparts, improve communication and get the relationship off to the right start. How do we know all this information? Well, we are experts in cultural awareness training courses on Korean culture!

FACTS AND STATISTICS

Location: Eastern Asia, southern half of the Korean Peninsula bordering the East Sea and the Yellow Sea

Capital: Seoul

National anthem: Aegukga

Nationality: Korean

Ethnic Make-up: Homogenous (except for small percentage of the population who are from elsewhere but reside in the country permanently). It is one of the most racially pure countries in the world.

Population: 50,924,172 (July 2016 Est.)

Population growth rate: 0.53% (2016 Est.)

Climate: temperate, with rainfall heavier in summer than winter

Time Zone: Korea Standard Time UTC (UTC+09:00)

Currency: South Korean 'won'

Government: Republic

Internet penetration: 92.1% (2016)

LANGUAGE IN SOUTH KOREA
Koreans share one language, with approximately seventy million people around the globe speaking Korean.
The language structure, grammar and vocabulary are similar to Japanese. Dialects are regional; differing mainly in accent, but are so similar that comprehension for speakers, or listeners, is not an issue. Key difference in dialect are also attributed to social status.

Korea has one of the highest literacy rates in the world due to the phonetic nature of the written language which was invented in the mid-fifteenth century to give one language to Koreans.

WARNING! Remember this is only a very basic level introduction to Korean culture and the people; it can not account for the diversity within South Korean society and is not meant in any way to stereotype all Korean people you may meet!

[ Songgwangsa Temple in Suncheon, South Korea]

SOUTH KOREAN CULTURE & SOCIETY

Religion & Beliefs

South Korea supports religious freedom

Confucianism, Buddhism and Christianity are the main formal religions

Many Koreans believe in the ancestral spirit and observe Confucian rituals

Confucianism is a political and social philosophy that pervades Korean culture

Major Celebrations/Secular Celebrations

There are two main national holidays

New Year's Day (second full moon after winter solstice)

Chuseok (the eighth full moon)

Celebrations for these festivals are based around ancestors, family, games, harvest festivals and food.

The Family

Social Stratification

Since the Kabo Reforms of 1894 there has been no traditional gentry

60% of Koreans considered themselves to be middle class

Class position is often linked to educational attainment

Industrialisation and urbanisation contribute to class difference

Family, upbringing, wealth, education and occupation contribute to social standing

Symbols of status include; large homes, chauffeur driven cars, dress, membership to certain clubs, and higher educational degrees

Urbanisation is 82.5% of total population (2015)

Language is hierarchical and one must address social superiors in a fitting manner

Gender Roles

Equality of the sexes is constitutional

Daily life is dominated by male guidance within a primarily patriarchal society

Social organisation is influenced by gender and age

47.7% of adult females worked outside the home (1998)

Women occupied 2.3% of provincial and local seats in (1999)

Women dominate Shamanism as priestesses but have limited roles within Christian and Buddhist religions

Women are expected to be submissive in public situations and at informal gatherings

Women are considered more independent than their male counterparts

Socialisation

Daily care of infants is primarily parent based for at least the first two years with little, or no, separation from the mother

Patriarchal obedience, cooperation, respect for elders, and familial piety are imbued into early childhood

Gender specific roles are encouraged within the family and education system

Sons generally receive the best education and remain more dependent upon their family, even into marriage

The Economy

South Korea changed from an underdeveloped country, to the 11th largest economy globally, within one generation

South Korea is heavily dependent upon exports for its GDP; almost half of its business is exported through products or services

48% of all exports are electronic

31% of exports are transport related (cars, boats, etc)

Food

Korean cuisine is based on rice, vegetables and meat

'Kimchi' is the national dish and is eaten with most meals

Kimchi is made from a variety of vegetables which are then fermented and can be stored for long periods of time

Banchan are side dishes - these are often made in large numbers and are served along with the main dish

Food is used in ceremonies, especially at weddings, birthdays and to honour ancestors

Arts, Humanities & Popular Culture

Historically, Chinese and Japanese influences were seen in South Korean art; aesthetic concepts and motifs were shared

Korean music and arts were linked to natural cycles and religion, giving rise to a folk culture in rural areas that are still considered popular

'Gangnam Style' by Psy, a South Korean musician, achieved worldwide fame in 2012. The song refers to the Gangnam District of Seoul, a trendy, classy area, equated with London, Paris or Hollywood

Foreign influences have produced a fast food and coffee culture in recent years, especially within Seoul

Language has altered with the introduction of some Western phrases such as 'eye shopping' (window shopping)

[ Ladies at a Kimchi competition in Seoul show off their personal recipes]

SOCIAL CUSTOMS & ETIQUETTE TIPS FOR SOUTH KOREA

The Concept of Kibun

Kibun is a word with no literal English translation; the closest terms are pride, face, mood, feelings, or state of mind.

If you hurt someone's kibun you hurt their pride, cause them to lose dignity, and lose face. Korean interpersonal relationships operate on the principle of harmony.

It is important to maintain a peaceful, comfortable atmosphere at all times, even if it means telling a "white lie".

It is important to know how to judge the state of someone else's kibun, how to avoid hurting it, and how to keep your own kibun at the same time.

In business, a manager's kibun is damaged if his subordinates do not show proper respect. A subordinate's kibun is damaged if his manager criticizes him in public.

Nunchi is the ability to determine another person's kibun by using the eye.

Since this is a culture where social harmony is crucial, being able to judge another person's state of mind is critical to maintain the person's kibun. Nunchi is accomplished by watching body language and listening to the tone of voice as well as what is said.

Naming Conventions

In South Korea names operate in the reverse of Western cultures; Family name (surname), a second family name shared by all of that generation, and finally their given name.

It is considered very impolite to address a Korean with his or her given name. They should be addressed using their professional titles, or Mr, Mrs Etc, until permission is given otherwise.

Meeting & Greeting

Bowing is the traditional way to greet in South Korea

Handshakes often accompany the bow among men

Your left hand should support your right forearm when shaking hands

Korean women do not always shake hands and may slightly nod instead of a full bow

Always bow to individuals when departing

Communication style

[ Cooling off at Cheonggyecheon, a large recreation space in Seoul]

Personal Space

It is insulting for Koreans to be touched by someone with whom they are unfamiliar; don't pat them on the back or hug them

Prolonged, direct eye contact can be inferred as a challenge and is seen as impolite, especially when dealing with others of a higher social standing

Keep your body within its own personal space; avoid extended or crossed legs and limit arm movements when explaining something so as to evade others' personal space

If calling someone over to you do not point with your index finger, instead use your hand palm down in a claw movement

In cities (especially Seoul) pushing, shoving and touching are regular occurrences - don't be offended by the lack of apologies

Friends, of both sexes, will often walk arm in arm together, especially teenagers and the younger generations

Gift Giving Etiquette

Koreans are generous people and enjoy giving gifts

Accept the gift with both hands - but never open the gift immediately, wait until the giver is absent

Return the favour and offer something of a similar value. Koreans enjoy Western gifts and items so be prepared before leaving home

If giving gifts be sure to wrap and present them in an attractive way. Avoid using dark wrapping paper, especially red, instead choose bright yellow/green

If invited to a Korean home always take the hostess a gift; chocolates, sweets, cakes or flowers but preferably not alcohol

Gifts are often given at the first business meeting and the host should present his first. To reciprocate, give good quality alcohol such as scotch, or desk accessories

Do not give overly expensive gifts as Koreans feel indebted to give as they receive

Avoid gifts such as knives, scissors, sets of four, and red writing (these are seen as 'cutting ties' and signifying death respectively)

Dining & Food

Always wait to be seated by your host. If given the seat of honour (looking at the front door) it is polite to demonstrate a slight objection

Elders are served first and begin the dining process

Food and dining are important parts of Korean culture and are used to build relationships. Be sociable and work at shaping good associations for pleasure and business as they are interlinked

Don't pour your own drink, although it is considered good manners to pour another's. Women often pour for men but not for other women. Rather than refuse more drink (remember, Koreans don't like outright refusal) simply leave your glass part full, as opposed to empty

Do not tip if you see a 'no tipping' sign

There are often prolonged periods of silence during Korean meals - socialising can happen once everyone has feasted

Don't forget to pass and receive food with two hands or with just your right if it is supported by your left

When it comes to settling the bill, the invitee may offer to pay but the host will generally pay for everyone.

If you are invited to continue after dinner with drinks or a party, don't refuse this invitation.

On occasion you may be asked to sing a solo after dinner. Try not to refuse this request, instead sing with enthusiasm and spirit

Do not point with your chopsticks, or leave them sticking out of your bowl

The national drink of Korea is 'Soju', a clear vodka-like drink that is generally 18-25% alcohol

Visiting a home

Always remove your shoes before entering a Korean home (in recent years there has been an increase in Western culture and this may not always be the case - follow the lead of your host if unsure)

It is possible to arrive up to thirty minutes late without causing offence but punctuality is highly respected

Remember, never pour your own drink. The host will do this in your presence

Being invited into a Korean's home is considered an honour (especially if it is for a meal) so it is essential to treat it as such. Be polite, respectful and observe their customs

Bring a gift to reciprocate your host's kindness

Once the party is over you will usually be escorted to your car or the gate by the host. This is a sign of respect

Taboos in South Korean Culture

[ Offerings to the ancestors prior to the opening of a new complex. South Korea blends business with spirituality seemlessly]

BUSINESS CULTURE, ETIQUETTE AND PROTOCOL IN SOUTH KOREA

If you are considering doing business in South Korea, or with a South Korean, it is essential to understand their culture and business etiquette to maximise your potential and avoid any unnecessary awkwardness.

Korean culture is profoundly influenced by Confucian principles and this pervades not only personal lives, but also business. Confucianism supports group harmony, respect for elders and authority, the importance of family, friendship and ancestors, and also, tradition. Kibun (equivalent to face, or honour) is highly significant to Koreans and they will always attempt to maintain their Kibun, or personal dignity. Confrontation is to be avoided at all cost as once Kibun is lost it cannot be regained.

In South Korea, good relationships are crucial to success both in personal and business circles, and these are assimilated within the business world. Korean's make friends first, and clients second. To make the most of your business acumen you must also appear trustworthy, honourable and respectable in a social and business setting.
Korean business is founded upon relationships; even large corporations are often family managed with members still acting in executive positions. The Confucian principles regarding respect for age, family, rank and tradition have ensured the continuance of this system. There have been recent calls for reforms, due to economic downturns, in Korea but this will take time due to the entrenched systems in place.
Alongside the formal power structures in place within a company one must learn to recognise, and assess, the informal structures which may be based on long-standing family ties, personal relationships and allegiances. Insight into these practises will ensure a greater comprehension of Korean business etiquette.

What to wear?

Titles

As discussed previously, Koreans have three names; they are used in order of surname, generation name, and then given name.

If unsure address people as Mr_____ (surname) or surname ______ and then their title (teacher, professor, etc)

Generally, Koreans will offer you their name, which may be a westernised version of their Korean name

Business cards

Business cards are considered important and ritualistic in Korea

It is advisable to have one side printed in English and the other in Korean

Give and receive cards with both hands, with the Korean side uppermost for ease of reading

Take time to read and examine the cards you are given - it is respectful

Place cards in a holder to keep them safe and show you are treating them well

Never write on or mark the cards you are given

Meetings

Organise your meeting ahead of time, giving plenty of notice

Arrive punctually and be prepared

The most senior Korean will enter and be seated first

As Koreans live and conduct business within a Confucian framework, initial meetings are often used in an introductory fashion and business may be instigated later

Do not show impatience at this stage as these pleasantries are a way of getting to know you

Only remove your jacket once the senior Korean does

Choose delegates who are on par with their Korean counterparts - this shows respect and knowledge

Exchange business cards in a respectful manner after the initial introductions

Ask open ended questions that do not require a yes or no answer as Koreans dislike refusals

Negotiating

Management

Korean business and personal lives are based upon strict hierarchical structures

Confucianism supports this structure within the family and workplace

Older and senior delegates should be deferred to at all times

'Sonsaengnim' means "respected person" and is frequently used when addressing someone of a higher position

In South Korea managers take a paternalistic role with employees and may be familiar with staff in a personal manner

This allows for a mutual respect and understanding so don't be put off if asked questions of a personal nature

For more management specific information visit Being a Manager in South Korea

Thank you for reading our guide to South Korea. We hope you found it useful. If you have anything to add to our country profile please contact us as we are keen to ensure accuracy.

Quiz: Test Your Knowledge of South Korean Culture!

Take the Culture Vulture's Quiz on South Korea and see how much you have learnt about the country, its people and culture.

If you can score above 85% then you know your stuff! You have 3 minutes to complete it - go on, test yourself!

Buy an In-Depth Country Report for South Korea
For those needing a more detailed and comprehensive overview of South Korea we have published an expert Report on South Korean Society, Culture & Business. The 46-page document has been authored by one of our South Korea country specialists and provides readers with much more detail that our free guide above. Topics include:

An introduction to the country, its history, politics, people and culture

Insights into the country's values, customs and etiquette

Tips on preparing to work with new colleagues from South Korea

Expat-orientated information on daily life

Guidelines and tools on adapting and dealing with cultural differences

All for only £4.99. Order via the button below to receive your South Korea Insight in seconds or read more before buying!

Read our Blogs on South Korea

Below are some of our blogs which look at South Korea:

1. How different are North and South Korean Cultures?

2. Killing Your Family: Why Kim Jung-'s Cultural Taboo Might Spell the End of North Korea

3. 10 Very Cool Facts About South Korean Culture

If you enjoyed our guide to South Korea then please share it with others!

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South Korea - Language, Culture, Customs and Etiquette

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In a country where almost half the population have the same last name, you may be forgiven for becoming a little confused about who is who and what is what. That is why we have published our free guide to South Korea!

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Korean alphabet, pronunciation and language

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Korean is a language isolate spoken mainly in South Korea and North Korea by about 63 million people.

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How did a country with a relatively small population, living in an area only a little bigger than Indiana, become a popular culture giant, influencing global habits from hairstyles to fried chicken?

Euromonitor's experts have studied South Korea's outsize impact on consumer goods, discovering the strategies that pushed the Asian nation to the forefront of cool and supported the sales of its consumer products.

Here's how Korean FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) companies built their brand cachet:

Celebrity endorsement

Product placements in trendsetting Korean dramas has helped boost sales of everything from food such as fried chicken to beauty products.

"The most unique and interesting strategy for South Korea manufacturers and government is South Korea's pop-culture, from the hit song, 'Gangnam Style' to the latest popular drama series, 'Descendents of the Sun'," wrote Singapore-based Euromonitor International research manager Warangkana Anuwong.

"K-Pop has increased awareness regarding Korean products and lifestyles among audiences around the world. This soft approach has helped the Korean government set up companies and brands to succeed in other countries, since consumer demand is already prevalent globally,"

International expansion

Asian countries are the top choices for South Korean companies to expand into, with emerging market Vietnam topping the list as only few international brands have set up shop in the Southeast Asian nation so far.

About 33 percent of the 400 South Korean companies Euromonitor surveyed said they had expanded their brands into Vietnam.

Thibault Camus | AFP | Getty Images

While economic giant China ranks second on the list for expansion targets, with 28 percent of 400 companies expanding into the country, its market size in terms of value terms dwarfs other markets, noted Euromonitor.

Other developing economies also feature heavily in the top 10 list for South Korean companies. These include Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia and Russia.

South Korean companies are also moving into the U.S. and Europe. In 2015, Samsung phones had a 8 percent lead in the share of retail volumes over Apple's iPhone in Western Europe.

Fast product development

Beauty companies such as AmorePacific and LG Household and Health Care thrive on short product-development cycles in order to keep up with the latest trends, such as stamping Line characters on packaging and plastering gingerbread men on products over the Christmas season.

Localization

While Korean pop culture may be successful in penetrating certain markets and consumers groups, companies are quick to customize products to cater to certain markets.

Samsung, for instance, offers different apps for its smart TVs in the UK, France and Germany.

A smaller example is kitchenware company PN Poong Nyun, which in 2013 launched a line of frying pans specially made for cooking everyday Indian dishes such as curry and naan. Two months after the product launched, the company had 10,000 of the pans.
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K-Pop to fried chicken: 5 ways SKorea influences what you buy

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How did a country with a relatively small population, living in an area only a little bigger than Indiana, become a popular culture giant, influencing global habits from hairstyles to fried chicken? Euromonitor's experts have studied South Korea's outsize impact on consumer goods, discovering the strategies that pushed the Asian nation to the forefront of cool and supported the sales of its consumer products.

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South Korea: Breakdancing Capital of the World?

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South Korea: Breakdancing Capital of the World?

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If you're looking for the world's best breakdancers you won't find them in New York.

Although hip-hop is now a globalized culture, breakdancing - also known as b-boying - still brings to mind images of kids spinning on cardboard on Bronx sidewalks. But the art form's current epicenter is the other side of the world in Seoul, South Korea.

B-boying first arrived here via American soldiers shortly after its genesis in the US, but it wasn't until the late 1990s that it really took hold. That's when a Korean-American named John Jay Chon gave a breakdancing video to some of Seoul's urban dancers, spawning a surge in new interest, according to Benson Lee, director of the documentary "Planet B-Boy."

A couple years later, says Mr. Lee, "John Jay came back and found out that video was copied like hundreds of times and just passed around dance circles. Basically, that one video was instrumental in inspiring a lot of young dancers."

Korean b-boying's breakthrough moment came in 2002 at breakdancing's most prestigious event, the Battle of the Year. In the country's second appearance at the event a Korean crew won, an unheard of accomplishment.

Now, South Korea's government is seizing the opportunity to increase Korea's global profile.

The fifth annual R16 World B-Boy Championships, were hosted over the weekend by the Korean Tourism Organization and supported by the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism.

Breakdancing's popularity here has even spread to the world of theater performances. A show called "Ballerina Who Loves B-boy" will complete a two-year run in December, and SJ B-Boys Theater claims to be the world's first theater devoted exclusively to breakdancing.

This increase in visibility has been spurred by Korean crews' dominance of international events. Korean crews had won three of the four R16 championships prior to this year and six of the past 10 Battles of the Year, including the past two, and finished runners-up three other times.

Why Korea?

So why has a dance form so closely associated with New York City reached its current zenith halfway around the world?

Lee believes it's a combination of social pressure and sweat. B-boying, and hip-hop in general, offers an outlet for individual expression rare in Korean society. "Here's a form of art for these kids where they excel because they're really passionate about it, and then they're recognized for their talents.

"It's also part of the Korean psychology of 'We've got to really succeed. We've got to make something of ourselves.' And they took that attitude and applied it to b-boying and as a result they excel."

Kim Heon-woo's crew, Jinjo Crew, has excelled like no other. Winners of 2010's Battle of the Year, they came into the 2011 R16 as defending champions.

Despite sitting at the apex of international b-boying, Mr. Kim, a soft-spoken 20-something with a conservative brush of hair, spoke before the event as if his crew - and Korean b-boys in general - still had something to prove.

"Still, there are some countries that don't know about Korea," he says. "This is a world competition and a lot of people will come, so I want to show my best."

He did. Jinjo Crew defeated France's Vagabonds in the final. The world's best appeared to feel very much at home.

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South Korea: World breakdancing capital?

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If you're looking for the world's best breakdancers you won't find them in New York. Although hip-hop is now a globalized culture, breakdancing - also known as b-boying - still brings to mind images of kids spinning on cardboard on Bronx sidewalks.

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Music Styles and Instruments - South-Korea - korea4expats

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The music of the common people, Sogak, tends to be loud and rhythmic with percussion instruments dominating. Jeongak, on the other hand, features more string and wind instruments. Samulnori, meaning four, was developed in the 1970's but is now viewed as being representative of Korean music.

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Ask any Chinese parent and you are likely to get the same response, education in China is crucial, the ticket to a better life. The importance of education is drilled into Chinese kids from the craddle.

Education in China has long been regarded as the single most important aspect to determine a person's future and success.

It goes way back to ancient times when government officials were selected based on their performance on the civil service examination.

Likewise nowadays, the Gaokao, or College Entrance Exam, determines who makes it into the top universities in the country. The GaoKao has been seen as the chance to change your life with children spending years preparing for it.

Attitudes are beginning to change as the rigorous system and raw test scores are not seen any more as the only answer. It is becoming clear that in order for China to succeed on a global scale and bring about innovation, it will need more than engineers and technicians, and many other skills like creative thinking and risk-taking are necessary that are not being measured in test scores.

The School System in China

Access and quality of education in China is unevenly spread in the country. While in the rural areas schools are often poor and with limited resources, schools in the top tier cities are modern with computer facilities and the highest standards in education which consistently top the rankings in the OECD's PISA test given to 15 year-old high school students around the world.

Children attend Kindergartens and Pre-Schools in their early years. These are not compulsory but seen as a way for kids to get a head start.

In kindergarten and pre-school, kids start learning some English, go on field trips, participate in sports events, etc. just like all kindergarteners around the world.

Compulsory education begins at around 6 - 7 years old when children start primary school.

By the time first grade comes around, learning to read and write takes over and memorization and discipline kicks into high gear. It is of course more than learning your a-b-c's to put words together. In Chinese, each character for each word must be memorized. There are thousands of characters to memorize to be able to read a simple newspaper.

It is this early on that children are conditioned to memorize. This culture of memorization continues on for the rest of their school years.

After the first 9 years of compulsory primary and middle school come three years of high-school.

The high-school years revolve around the preparation for the Gaokao examination, the college entrance exam which tests proficiency in four subjects: Chinese, math, English and a fourth subject chosen by the student among physics, chemsitry, geology, biology, political science or history.

This is a very stressful time for students with many attending "cramming schools" in the evenings adding to their already heavy loads.

The Gaokao is given once a year in early June. More than 9 million students take part on this two-day exam which will determine where they will go to University and in a way, their future.

China's education system even though far from perfect, has been instrumental to China's rise. It produced the needed work force and strict work ethic and discipline to lift the country after the rubble left from the Cultural Revolution.

As mentioned before, reforms are on the way in the Gaokao system. In the meanwhile, many more private colleges are emerging and studying overseas is also an alternative for some. Many parents that have gone through the system don't want that kind of pressure for their kids.

Here are some facts and figures about education and schools in China, including literacy rates, investment in education, higher education, as well as interesting and fun statistics: www.china-mike.com/facts-chinese-education

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Education in China has long been regarded as the single most important aspect to determine a person's future and success. The system that highly emphasizes memorization and test scores is beginning to change as it becomes more evident that for China to succeed in the future other skills like creative thinking and risk-taking will be essential.

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Traditional Chinese Medicine - Balancing Yin and Yang Qi

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Though the ideas and techniques of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) are thousands of years old, they are still commonly used in China and around the world.

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Tea is an important part of Chinese tradition. As Chinese society developed and progressed, tea production has played a role in driving economic development while tea consumption has remained a practice of daily life.

The practice of tea culture can bring the spirit and wisdom of human beings to a higher orbit. Tea has an extremely close relationship to Chinese culture, and its study covers a wide field and has very rich content. It not only embodies the spirit of civilization, but also the spirit of ideological form. There can be no doubt that it has been beneficial in enhancing people's social accomplishments and appreciation of art.

History of Chinese Tea

The history of Chinese tea is a long and gradual story of refinement. Generations of growers and producers have perfected the Chinese way of manufacturing tea, and its many unique regional variations.

Picking Tea Leaves

The original idea is credited to the legendary Emperor Shennong, who is said to have lived 5 000 years ago. His far-sighted edicts required, among other things, that all drinking water be boiled as a hygienic precaution. A story goes that, one summer day, while visiting a distant part of his realm, he and the court stopped to rest. In accordance with his ruling, the servants began to boil water for the court to drink. Dried leaves from a nearby bush fell into the boiling water, and a brown substance was infused into the water. As a scientist, the Emperor was interested in the new liquid, drank some, and found it very refreshing. And so, according to legend, tea was created in 2737 BC.

Chinese Tea Types

The main varieties of Chinese tea are classified as green tea, black tea, Oolong tea, white tea, yellow tea, and dark tea. Read more on Chinese tea types.

Chinese Tea Culture

Tea Performance

Drinking tea ：Tea is taken as a beverage to quench thirst.

Tasting tea: The quality of the tea is judged by the color, fragrance and flavor of the tea, the water quality and even the tea set. When tasting tea, the taster should be able to savor the tea thoroughly.

Tea art: While drinking attention is paid to environment, atmosphere, music, infusing techniques and interpersonal relationships.

The highest ambit-- tea lore : Philosophy, ethics and morality are blended into tea activity. People cultivate their morality and mind, and savor life through tasting tea, thereby attaining joy of spirit.

Chinese tea lore is several hundred years, possibly even thousands of years, older than that of Japan. It is said that Chinese tea lore places an emphasis on spirit and makes light of form. Tea lore had different representations at different historical periods. Teas are also various, but all embody the tea spirit of "clearness, respect, joy and truthfulness".

Tips of Effective Tea Drinking

Drinking tea offers numerous benefits. It refreshes the mind, clears heat within the human body and helps people lose weight. As you add a cup of tea to your daily routine, please check the following tips which help you reap the maximum health benefits.

1. Drink it hot. Tea oxidizes quickly after brewing, and its nutrients diminish overtime. It is suggested that you drink it hot to get the best out of tea.

2. Do not drink too much strong tea. It is likely to upset your stomach and cause insomnia if you make the tea too strong. Usually you can mix 4 grams (0.13 ounce) of tea leaves with 250 milliliters (0.44 pint) to make a cup of tea. An overall amount of 12 - 15 grams (0.4 - 0.5 ounces) of tea leaves is suitable for daily consumption.

3. The best time to drink is in between meals. Do not drink tea soon after or before meals. Otherwise it may quench appetite when your stomach is empty, or cause indigestion when your stomach is full.

4. Do not drink with medication. Tea contains large amount of Tannin, which will react with certain elements in the medicine, thus reduce medical effects. You can drink tea a couple of hours after you take medicine.

5. Green tea is the best option for office workers. Green tea contains catechins that help prevent computer radiation and supplement moisture content of the human body.

Experience Tea Culture with China Highlights

Meijiawu Tea Plantation in Hangzhou

may be you are a tea drinker, but you would never get clear how the tea grow and how is it made.

We especially designed tours for tea lovers to have an in-depth tea culture experience in China. Travel with us to learn more about Chinese tea.

Here is one of the most popuar tours for inspiration:

Our tour is flexible. If you would like to make any modifications to it, please feel free to let us know and we are glad to tailor-make a tour for you.

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Chinese Tea, Discover Chinese Tea Culture and History

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Tea is an important part of Chinese tradition. As Chinese society developed and progressed, tea production has played a role in driving economic development while tea consumption has remained a practice of daily life. The practice of tea culture can bring the spirit and wisdom of human beings to a higher orbit.

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Chinese Language, Learn Chinese, Chinese Lessons

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Chinese language offers Chinese lessons, Chinese phrases, Chinese characters, Chinese Pronunciation and FAQs of learning Chinese.

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Chinese food is famous all over the world, but you may be shocked by its surprising range and variety of ingredients if you've only eaten in Chinese restaurants abroad. Chinese food has countless delicious and fantastic dishes. And people from different areas have different cuisine types, which can be bland, sweet, salty, spicy, or sour.

What the Chinese Eat

Find out about some of the unique dishes of a nation who are willing to eat just about anything. Also see...

China's Regional Food Types

China can be divided into several regions with distinct styles of cooking. The ingredients used are based on the natural and agricultural products of each region.

The main features of China's regional cuisines can be described as follows:

China's Religious and Health Food Cuisines

What You Should Know About Eating in China

Chinese Dining Etiquette and Culture

As an ancient civilization, China pays great attention to established etiquette. With thousands of years' development, China has its own unique dinning culture and etiquette, which foreign visitors may find quite different from what they are used to, and even consider weird.

Chinese Cooking - Recipes and Instructions

Chinese cooking is renowned throughout the world. Chinese food has a distinctive culinary style all its own. The emphasis is on fresh, seasonal ingredients, prepared with a minimum of fuss and beautifully balanced for color, texture, and presentation. See The 7 Top Chinese Cooking Methods.

Our Chinese cooking recipes teach you how to cook delicious Chinese dishes, more cooking recipes.

Travel with China Highlights and Taste Delicious Chinese Food

Want to taste authentic Chinese food? China Highlights tours provide you an opportunity. See our most recommended Chinese food tours, which combine must-see attractions in China with meals in carefully selected restaurants.

Or you can contact us and we can tailor-make a Chinese food tour for you based on your interests and requirements.

Our Most Popular Chinese Food Articles

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Chinese Food/Cuisine: Culture, Ingredients, Regional Flavors

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Chinese food is famous all over the world, but you may be shocked by its surprising range and variety of ingredients if you've only eaten in Chinese restaurants abroad. Chinese food has countless delicious and fantastic dishes. And people from different areas have different cuisine types, which can be bland, sweet, salty, spicy, or sour.

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Shaolin Kung Fu

Chinese kung fu, also known as wushu or Chinese martial arts, is an important part of traditional Chinese culture. It is probably one of the earliest and longest lasting sports, which utilizes both brawn and brain. Different from self-defense and boxing, kung fu is more holistic, developing internal discipline with external technique.

Chinese Kung Fu History

The theory of kung fu is based upon classical Chinese philosophy. Over its long history it has developed as a unique combination of exercise, practical self-defense, self-discipline, and art.

It is estimated that Chinese Kung Fu can be dated back to primeval society. At that time people used cudgels to fight against wild beasts. Gradually they accumulated experience in self defense. When the Shang Dynasty (1600-1046 BC) began, hunting was considered as an important measure of kung fu training... More on kung fu history.

The Theory of Kung Fu

Chinese kung fu is a large system of theory and practice. It combines techniques of self-defense and health-keeping.

In sports like track and field, ball sports, weightlifting, and boxing, an athlete typically has to retire from full participation in his 30s. Injuries sustained during years of active sport participation at a young age can affect our ability to continue exercising in later life.

In Chinese kung fu however, a distinction is made between "external" and "internal" kung fu. It is said that "In external kung fu, you exercise your tendons, bones, and skin; in internal kung fu, you train your spirit, your qi, and your mind." And so internal kung fu can continue later in life, when the external body weakens.

Top 3 Kung Fu Styles

Taijiquan

You too can practice tai chi in China!

Taijiquan (/tie-jee-chwen/), i.e. tai chi, is a Taoist internal martial art. One account of the history of taijiquan credits its development to the Taoist immortal Chang San-feng, who is said to have drawn the inspiration for the art by watching a fight between an snake and an aggressive eagle. More on taijiquan

Chinese Qi Gong

"Qi gong" (literally 'breath exercise') is an invaluable component of traditional Chinese medicine that has its origin in ancient times. Its primary stimulus was the search for longevity, with the ultimate aim of immortality, which has so enchanted the Chinese mind for centuries. More on qi gong.

Shaolin Kung Fu

Shaolin Kung Fu is well known in China and abroad. The original purpose of Shaolin shadowboxing was keeping health, treating illness, protecting famous mountains, safeguarding ancient temples, self-defense, and repelling enemies. It boasts diverse patterns, plain forms, and rich internal and external kung fu. More on Shaolin Kung Fu

Places to Learn Kung Fu

Shaolin Temple

Because of kung fu TV series in the 1970s and movies about Shaolin Kung Fu, this Buddhist temple in Henan Province became known around the world. The temple has a long history. It was destroyed or closed and reopened and rebuilt over and over. Read more on Shaolin Temple

Tagou Shaolin Martial Arts School of Henan Dengfeng 河南登封塔沟少林武术学校

Tagou Shaolin Martial Arts School of Henan Dengfeng was founded in 1978 by Mr. Liu Baoshan, who was born in a martial arts family. It has over 400 classes. In order to develop and disseminate Shaolin martial arts better, the school's martial arts performing group was invited to over 60 countries for martial arts performances and teaching.

Courses include: martial arts routine, Sanda, boxing, taekwondo, and martial arts performances.

Location: East of Dengfeng Songshan Shaolin Temple, Zhengzhou City, Henan Province. 河南省郑州市登封嵩山少林寺东

Other Famous Chinese Kung Fu Schools

Zhonghua Martial Arts School of Shandong Laizhou 山东省莱州中华武校

Zhonghua Martial Arts School of Shandong Laizhou is located in the beautiful Jiaodong Peninsula, in East China's Shandong Province. The famous Mantis and Wu styles of taijiquan originated there.

The school is a large international civil and military school with world-class facilities and excellent coaches, and one of China's top ten martial arts school.

Courses include: international athletic competition routine, traditional martial arts, kickboxing, self-defense, and ancient weapons.
Location: Shahe North District, Laizhou, Yantai Prefecture, Shandong Province 山东省烟台市莱州市沙河北区
Songjiang Martial Arts School of Shandong Yuncheng 山东郓城宋江武术学校

Songjiang Martial Arts School of Shandong Yuncheng was founded in 1985. The school has over 3,600 students from China, America, Australia, and South Korea. From primary school to high school there are 50 arts classes and 60 martial classes.

Courses include: Sanda, boxing, taekwondo, karate, judo, martial arts routine, and film television.

Location: Yuncheng, Heze City, Shandong Province 山东省菏泽市郓城县

Beijing Shaolin Martial Arts School 北京少林武术学校

Beijing Shaolin Martial Arts School is a modern martial arts school with nationally accredited qualifications for elementary, middle, and high school education. Coaches are talented graduates from famous martial arts academies, with both theoretical knowledge and practical experience.

The school is also a domestic and international film shooting base.

Location: 386 Changping Road, Changping District, Beijing 北京德外西三旗回龙观昌平路386号

Zhao Changjun Martial Arts School of Xi'an 西安赵长军武术学校

Zhao Changjun Martial Arts School of Xi'an is a full-time (boarding) martial arts school, providing both martial arts training and normal education. The school has a number of martial arts and education experts.

Zhao Changjun Martial Arts School of American was set up in New Jersey. The school has established friendly relations with more than ten well-known foreign colleges, and attracted more than 20 friendly groups from countries like Britain, Canada, Germany, and France to visit in the past.

Location: Middle Yanhuan Road, Southern suburbs of Xian 西安市南郊雁环中路

Dongling Shaolin Martial Arts School of Shenyang 沈阳东陵武少林术学校

Dongling Shaolin Martial Arts School of Shenyang was founded in December 1, 1990. In the first 15 years 4,500 students graduated there. It has 600 students and 62 martial arts coaches.

Dongling Shaolin Martial Arts School of Shenyang is also the training base for sports colleges in Beijing, Shenyang, Wuhan, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Shanghai and other cities. It has fostered more than 400 undergraduates, including some professional athletes. It combines normal eduction with kung fu training, with typically half a day spent on each.

Kung Fu Shows

"The Legend of Kung Fu" Show in the Red Theater, Beijing.

The Legend of Kung Fu

The show "The Legend of Kung Fu" tells the story of a young boy who dreamed of becoming a kung fu master, and how he overcame difficulties and temptations on the road to enlightenment.

The actors are excellent kung fu artists found from all over China. The actors do not speak, and the narration is shown above the stage with English subtitles.

This spectacular show is a combination of kung fu, acrobatics, and dancing, and is produced to international standards by China's leading performing arts production company. It is a show not to be missed for kung fu fans, or families with kids.

Showing: 7:30-8:50 p.m. daily
At: The Red Theater, 44 Xingfu Dajie, Chongwen District, Beijing

Shaolin Temple, Dengfeng City, Henan Province

The cradle of Shaolin Kung Fu, Shaolin Temple, is a majestic place to watch authentic kung fu. The kung fu performance hall of Shaolin Temple offers incredible performances by its kung fu practitioners. The performance team has demonstrated their skills for millions of people from China and abroad, including many state leaders.

There are half-hour daily shows at 9:30am, 10:30am, 1:30pm, 2:30pm, 3:30pm, and 4:30pm.

Experience Kung Fu in China

Our tours are customizable, so you can discover more of what you're interested in.

Enjoy a kung fu show in Beijing, practice tai chi with the locals on Shanghai's Bund, visit the Shaolin Temple and meet the monks who practice kung fu...If you want to learn more about kung fu, let us know and we will tailor-make your trip.

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Chinese Kungfu, Shaolin Martial Arts and Taijiquan

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Introducing Chinese kungfu (Martial Art), including tai chi, Shaolin Kungfu, Chinese kungfu stars, kungfu shows and places to learn kungfu during your trip to China.

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General themes of ancient Chinese art

From the earliest Stone Age art to the Ming Dynasty in 1500 AD, Chinese artists took up the same themes over and over again. They were interested in swirling lines. They were interested in nature: animals, trees, flowers, rocks, water. Chinese artists wanted to express the relationship between people and nature.

Pottery, bronze jars, and lacquer boxes

But there were also big changes in Chinese art, some caused by new ideas within China, and some by new ideas coming from India, Central Asia, or West Asia. In the Stone Age, Chinese artists experimented with pottery. They used swirling brushwork to decorate the pots - that continued throughout Chinese art. Beginning in the Shang Dynasty, artists also cast bronze jars in molds with designs of dragons, elephants, and other creatures. During the Zhou Dynasty, Chinese artists also began to make all kinds of lacquered boxes.

Painting landscapes, animals, and people

But painting people and landscapes came very late to China, spreading slowly east across Asia; while people were painting images in 30,000 BC in Europe, and by 9000 BC in Egypt and Mesopotamia, and by 500 BC in Iran, paintings of people and trees only reached India with the rise of the Silk Road about 300 BC, and came to China about the same time, with the first Eastern Zhou paintings on silk cloth.

Buddhism and ancient Chinese art

When Chinese people learned about Buddhism, under the Han Dynasty, they also learned about Buddhist art styles in India, and these new styles had a huge effect on Chinese art. Chinese sculptors learned to make life-size stone statues. About the same time, traders on the Silk Road began to bring Roman blown glass to China. Chinese potters, perhaps trying to imitate blown glass, soon created porcelain. Around the same time, Chinese artists invented paper and began to use it for painting on.

Taoism and Chinese line drawing

By the time of the Three Kingdoms, Chinese painting became much more important. Artists worked with swirling brushstrokes to create striking line paintings. T'ang Dynasty paintings depict people, horses, and elaborate landscapes colored with green and blue paints. Song Dynasty paintings, influenced by Taoism and Confucianism, often show tiny people dwarfed by nature. Artists became concerned with economy of line: one simple line makes us see the whole cliff, or flowers, or birds. They began to draw just one flower, or one bird.The Mongol invasions brought a new energy and enthusiasm to painting, but then under the Ming Dynasty artists began to explore still-life painting, and to reconsider and revive the styles of the past.

Did you find out what you wanted to know about ancient Chinese art? Let us know in the comments!

Bibliography and further reading about Chinese art:

The British Museum Book of Chinese Art, by Jessica Rawson and others (1996). Rawson is a curator at the British Museum, and she uses the collection of the British Museum to illustrate this book. Library Journal calls it "easily the best introductory overview of Chinese art to appear in years".

Art in China (Oxford History of Art Series), by Craig Clunas (1997). Not specifically , but a good introduction to the spirit of Chinese art. Warning: this one is not arranged in chronological order. Instead, it has chapters on sculpture, calligraphy, and so on.

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Ancient Chinese Art - Early China - History of Art

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From the earliest Stone Age art to the Ming Dynasty in 1500 AD, Chinese artists took up the same themes over and over again. They were interested in swirling lines. They were interested in nature: animals, trees, flowers, rocks, water. Chinese artists wanted to express the relationship between people and nature.

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The official emblem of Beijing 2008 entitled "Chinese Seal-Dancing Beijing" cleverly combines the Chinese seal and the art of calligraphy with sporting features, transforming the elements into a human figure running forward and embracing triumph. The figure resembles the Chinese character "Jing", which stands for the name of the host city and represents a particularly significant Chinese style. The artwork embodies four messages: * Chinese culture, * the color of red China * Beijing welcomes friends from all over the world * to challenge the extreme and achieve the perfect and promote the Olympic motto of "Citius, Altius, Fortius (Faster, Higher, Stronger).

For the first time jade is used for the Beijing Olympic medals. The medals have been designed with inspiration coming from "bi", China's ancient jade piece inscribed with a dragon pattern. The medals symbolise nobility and virtue and are the embodiment of traditional Chinese values of ethics and honour, emitting a strong Chinese flavour. The winners' medal is made of gold weighing not less than six grammes each. The medal for the runner-up is made of pure silver. Noble and elegant, the medals are a blending of traditional Chinese culture and Olympism. On their obverse side, the medals reflect the Greek character of the Olympic Games: the goddess of victory Nike pictured in the Panathinaikos Stadium. While on their reverse side, the medals are inlaid with jade with the Beijing Games emblem engraved in the metal centrepiece. The design inspiration of the medal hook derives from jade "huang", a ceremonial jade piece decorated with a double dragon pattern and "Pu", the reed mat pattern.

Bei Jing Huan Ying Nin

Each name rhymes by repeating the same syllable: a traditional Chinese way of showing affection to children. Linking the five names forms the sentence "Welcome to Beijing" (Bei Jing Huan Ying Nin). The mascots form the "Fuwa", which translates as "good-luck dolls".

Number of torchbearers: 21 800 including 630 in Greece
Total distance: 137 000 km including 1 528 in Greece and 97 000 in continental China
Countries crossed: Almaty, Istanbul, St. Petersburg, London, Paris, San Francisco, Buenos Aires, Dar es Salaam, Muscat, Islamabad, New Delhi, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Canberra, Nagano, Seoul, Pyongyang, Ho Chi Minh City, Macao. The 2008 Olympic Flame also reached the summit of Mount Everest

The "Official Report of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games" was published in English as a four-volume set. A French version exists, but this was published only in electronic form. The set consists of three printed volumes (Bid documents and analysis; Ceremonies and competitions; Preparation for the Games) and a multimedia volume, which had now become standard. This contained a CD-ROM and four DVDs, featuring the results, films of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies and key documents.

Beijing 2008

The "Official Report of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games" was published in English as a four-volume set. A French version exists, but this was published only in electronic form. The set consists of three printed volumes (Bid documents and analysis; Ceremonies and competitions; Preparation for the Games) and a multimedia volume, which had now become standard. This contained a CD-ROM and four DVDs, featuring the results, films of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies and key documents.

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The official emblem of Beijing 2008 entitled "Chinese Seal-Dancing Beijing" cleverly combines the Chinese seal and the art of calligraphy with sporting features, transforming the elements into a human figure running forward and embracing triumph. The figure resembles the Chinese character "Jing", which stands for the name of the host city and represents a particularly significant Chinese style.

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The Great Wall of China is on the list of 100 endangerd sites issued by the World Monuments Fund. The renovated walls open as tourist sites can not stand for the whole wall. In fact, less than 10% of the wall is visible to ordinary tourists. The real majority, more than 90%, are crumbling walls snaking between the mountains, undeveloped and poorly protected.

The length of the walls built by different dynasties totaled 50,000 km, while the existing Great Wall is 21,196 km, according to the National Cultural Heritage Administration of China. That means, half of the walls has disappeared in the course of history.

What's more serious is that the current number of 21,196 km is not constant. Instead, it keeps reducing! 30% of the Great Wall is disappearing at an alarming rate, mainly for two reasons. One is natural weathering. For thousands of years, the Great Wall has endured the ravages of the gobi desert. Plants growing into some walls accelerate its decay. Some walls and watchtowers are tumbledown, likely to be destroyed by just a storm. Another is reckless human behavior. Before 2000, people in remote areas, lacking the awareness to protect the Great Wall, knocked down bricks to sell, stole them to build houses, or even dug holes in the walls to raise livestock.

Substantial measures to protect the Great Wall began in the 1980s, and until 2006, the State Council of China promulgated the Regulation on the Protection of Great Wall, effectively strengthening the conservation of the walls, forts, passes, and beacon towers, and standardizing the development and utilization of the Great Wall. However, are you aware now? Regulations can only regulate human activities, but weathering is inevitable for walls exposed to the vast natural environment. We can and will do our best to make it stand longer, but hurry up to go and see it before it disappears!

Current Situation of Great Wall
Regulation on the Protection of Great Wall
Great Wall Protection Stories and Reports

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The Great Wall of China is on the list of 100 endangerd sites issued by the World Monuments Fund. The renovated walls open as tourist sites can not stand for the whole wall. In fact, less than 10% of the wall is visible to ordinary tourists.

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Always keep a close eye on China's vibrant religious, ethnic and seasonal festival calendar, when you can catch either the entire nation, or a...

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Modern China's modern overlays - a curious amalgam of communism, epic traffic jams and Yves Saint Laurent - cannot disguise the nation's compelling...

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China is modernising at a head-spinning pace, but the slick skyscrapers, Lamborghini showrooms and Maglev trains are little more than dazzling...

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Architecturally speaking, anything goes in today's China. You only have to look at the Pudong skyline in Shanghai to find a melange of competing...

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Of all the Chinese festivals, Chinese New Year is for kids of all ages the most loved and anticipated.

In China, planes, trains, buses, boats, donkeys, and any means of transportation you can imagine, are jammed packed with people returning home to enjoy the celebrations with their friends and family.

And all over the world, wherever there is a Chinatown or a large Asian community, the festivities are a colorful display of dragon dances, lantern festivals, feasts, and of course firecrackers!

The History of Chinese New Year

This traditional fest has been celebrated for more than four thousand years.

It came about from ancient celebrations to mark the end of the long winter season and the beginning of spring.

It celebrates the earth coming back to life and the beginning of the growing cycle.

This is why it is also called the Spring Festival.

For Chinese people all over, the Lunar New Year is the celebration of the year, a time for happy reunions, family and friends, rich in colorful traditions and customs.

When is Chinese New Year?

In western countries, New Year's Day always falls on January 1st. In China, New Year's Day is also the first day of the first month of the Lunar Calendar! Therefore, Chinese New Year dates vary each year and could fall at the end of January or in February.

Chinese New Year 2023 starts on January 22, 2023

The New Year celebrations begin on New Year's Eve, the big party is on New Year's Day, and the action continues for the next 15 days.

It all ends with the first full moon of the year, fifteen days later with the Lantern Festival, another great carnival and the perfect ending to this great holiday season.

As per long-standing Chinese customs, each year is assigned an animal according to the Chinese Zodiac. Click here to learn more about theChinese Zodiac and the animal that corresponds to the year you were born.

The Traditions and Celebrations...

There are many Chinese traditions associated with the New Year celebrations, here are a few of the most popular ones:

And around town, businesses decorate their shops, offices and restaurants. Red and gold garlands and lanterns line the streets, lucky mandarin trees and plum blossoms are set about for good fortune and is overall a very festive atmosphere everywhere you go.

The celebrations are ongoing, for the next fifteen days, and the noisier, louder and roaring, the better! Here's what to watch out for:

So let's get a head start with those preparations! These links will take you to some of our most popular pages to get ready for the celebrations:

This is a great time if you happen to be in China. Just beware that traveling during and around these times is very difficult and planning ahead is essential.

Send a FREE Chinese New Year e-Card!

It's easy and it's free! Choose from more than 60 great designs, customize and personalize your greeting.

Chinese New Year Around The World

Chinese and Asian communities all around the world get together and celebrate the most important of festivals. The parades, the fairs, the lion dances, the fireworks displays... These places all around the world really go all out to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Here's what, when and where is happening this year. If you have a chance to visit any of these cities you really are in for a smashing event!

Chinese New Year Celebrations Around The World

Chinese New Year Books For Children

You can learn more about how this festivity is celebrated in China and around the world, the different customs and traditions with these short stories and easy to read books, here's a selection, look them up at your local library!
China Books for Children - Festivals and Chinese New Year.

Let's Celebrate!

More Chinese New Year Traditions and Celebrations

Most Popular Excursions

Book with confidence! Free cancellation: Cancel up to 24 hours in advance to receive a full refund

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Chinese New Year is on January 22, 2023, the Year of the Rabbit. The lion dances, the feasts, the parades, the lanterns, the firecrackers! Of all the Chinese festivals, Chinese New Year is for kids of all ages the most loved and anticipated...

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The People of China, all 1.3 billion of them, call home the most populous country on earth. People born in China with at least one parent of Chinese descent is considered a Chinese national.

As with many large countries, in China there are many ethnic groups that make up the population, however, the great majority of the people and what you would typically recognize as "Chinese", roughly 93%, are from the Han Chinese group.

There are over 50 ethnic minorities that account for the remaining 7%, each one with its own set of customs, language, traditions and heritage.

What is life in China like?

Being such a diverse land, you will find that lifestyles and customs in China vary greatly. When you visit China, you are first aware of a country dealing with a rapid pace of modernization and at the same time a country that is struggling to maintain its traditions and heritage of thousands of years. Cities pop up from one day to the next, but the ancient traditions, festivals and beliefs are still very much a part of every day life. So in a way you can say that things are changing overnight and at the same time in some respects it is like time is standing still.

In this section, we will attempt to give you a tiny view of what we have found and observed in our travels and interactions through the years, what life in China is like from our perspective.

On a recent trip with my parents, we brought our kids to the old village where our ancestors are from, it was a very special trip for us, specially for grandma and grandpa who loved showing the grandkids around their old stomping grounds.

We tried to capture the essence of "non-tourist" China and how normal every day people go about their daily routines. We will talk about:

Megacities vs. the Village

The Eastern coastal areas are lined with modern cities, bustling ports and booming factories. Life is fast-paced and urban growth came so quick, masses of apartment buildings are being erected in epic proportions and traditional low-rise housing is being replaced by glitzy high-rises.

Beyond the large megacities, you find just about everything from very modern housing with the latest ammenities...

...to the old more traditional and modest dwellings...

You can still find some of the very unique and time-honored housing styles typical to some areas like they existed thousands of years ago, such as the Hutongs or alleways found in Beijing, the stilt houses in the old fishing villages, the water towns along the waterways, and the unique types of homes typical of the minority groups like the yurt camps in the Inner Mongolia grasslands. In many cases, these types of dwellings are considered national treasures, efforts are being made to preserve their traditional essence and cultural heritage.

But regardless of how humble or lavish the lifestyle, some things remain always true and are very much ingrained in Chinese Culture. Old traditions like paying respect to the ancestors, celebrations during the Chinese New Year, the importance of education and tight family bonds, are practiced and observed whether you live in the village or one of the big metropolis.

The Local Market

Another staple of Chinese every day life is the local market. Of course you find supermarkets and department stores in the cities, even Walmarts, but not far from them, you will always find the local market or shopping alleys, which is not necessarily just for shopping, folks come to socialize, these are essential meeting places for the local communities.

Here's a picture tour of the local market, just down the street from the main street with the modern buildings in Jiu Jiang.

Family Life in China

Chinese families have always lived very closely together. It is not uncommon to find several generations of the same family sharing a home. The grandparents typically move in with the children and grandchildren and are an invaluable asset for the younger couples in taking care of children during the pre-school years while both mother and father work. In turn, the grandparents are cared for in their old age by their children and grandchildren.

That is why, traditionally, it used to be essential for Chinese to have a male heir, as the family of the first son would be the one assuming the responsibility for taking care of the parents. This was very important due to the lack of a safety net for elderly people, there was no such thing as nursing homes or Social Security in China.

Although trends are towards the younger generations opting to move further away or to the cities in search for better jobs and careers, the strong family ties and reverence to the ancestors still remain. You can see a massive migration during the major Chinese Festivals which are always celebrated as big family affairs as everyone is trying to get home during these periods.

China's Ethnic Minorities

China's ethnic minorities congregate mainly in the South, West, and North of the country. Each with its own set of customs, traditions and language, there are even sub-groups within these ethnic groups.

In the South, the Zhuang is the largest minority group with over 15 million people, they live mainly in the Autonomous Region of Guanxi and are known for their colorful festivals and beautiful handicrafts.

The South-West is home to the largest number of minorities, including the Tibetans in the Tibetan Plateau and the Bai people in Yunnan, Sichuan, Guizhou and Hunan Provinces.

In the North-West, minorities that inhabit this area are mostly Islamic. Their territories are mainly desert and mountains. The dominant minority here are the Uighur, also known for their horsemanship are the Kazakhs.

The North-East is home to the Mongols and the Manchus.

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The People of China, all 1.3 billion of them, call home the most populous country on earth. Being such a diverse land, you will find that lifestyles and customs in China vary greatly and the clash between modernization and traditional heritage is highly evident.

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When bemoaning the United States' comparatively low test scores on international assessments, some are quick to point to one factor that sets Chinese students apart from their American peers: the length of the school day. Unlike in America, where the length of the school day general stays constant from first grade through high school (if not shortening in the final year or two of school), the Chinese public school year grows as students get older. And the competition also increases, said Yao Zhang, a Chinese native who co-founded Minds Abroad, a company that coordinates study-abroad opportunities in rural China. Zhang is completing her Ph.D. in Economics and Education at Columbia University. She recently walked The Hechinger Report through a day in the life of Chinese students at public elementary, middle and high schools.

Elementary school starts at age seven for students in China. In the country's mega-cities, like Beijing and Shanghai, where transportation is a large factor, students will go to school from 8 am to 3 pm with only a short break for lunch. But in most areas around the country, there's a break from school for lunch and, often, a lunch-time nap at home. In primary school, students learn Chinese, math, geography and the basics of the natural sciences. English starts in third grade. There are also music, painting and physical-education classes, and one class that translates to "education of thoughts and morality," Zhang said. This class covers a bit of political science and history, with stories about Chinese heroes.

By middle school, the competitive pressure to get into any high school-not just the top ones-is palpable. Admission is determined almost exclusively by performance on a single test, and only about 70 percent of students who finish middle school go on to high school. Even in primary school, parents start investing money in math Olympiads or musical-instrument training for children whose test-scores might make them borderline candidates for acceptance; extraordinary talent in math or music could be just enough to make the difference. Moving to different neighborhoods to get into better schools is a common strategy, as are hiring private tutors and making $1,000 "donations" to magnet-like middle schools.

And the workload ratchets up in middle school, too. Students spend from 7 am to 8 am at school reading, either in English or Chinese, and reciting to teachers. School ends at 5 pm, but the dinner break is shortened for an hour of "play time"-or physical fitness-beginning at 6 pm. After that, students stay at school for "evening sessions," which function like study halls or tutoring periods. Students do homework and study, while teachers assist them. Physics, chemistry, biology and political science are tacked on to the elementary school course-load, as well as electives like calligraphy and computer science.

With under 30 percent of high-school graduates getting into college-based entirely on how students do on a "one-shot, one-kill test," as Zhang put it-most students spend almost all waking hours studying. The subject areas of high-school courses don't differ much from those in middle school, though phys-ed typically ends after 10th grade. Evening sessions at the high-school level conclude at 11 pm. And, for the many students who attend public boarding schools far from their hometowns, most of their lunch and dinner breaks are spent hitting the books. "Lack of sleep is very common for Chinese high-school students," Zhang said.

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When bemoaning the United States' comparatively low test scores on international assessments, some are quick to point to one factor that sets Chinese students apart from their American peers: the length of the school day.

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Being a highly spiritual country, festivals are at the heart of people's lives in India. The numerous and varied festivals that are held throughout the year offer a unique way of seeing Indian culture at its best. Don't miss these popular festivals in India for an unforgettable experience.

Holi, often referred to as the "Festival of Colors", is one of the best known festivals outside of India. The festival is centered around the burning and destruction of the demoness Holika, which was made possible through unwavering devotion to Lord Vishnu. However, the really fun part involves people throwing colored powder on each other and squirting each other with water guns. This is associated with Lord Krishna, a reincarnation of Lord Vishnu, who liked to play pranks on the village girls by drenching them in water and colors. Bhang (a paste made from cannabis plants) is also traditionally consumed during the celebrations. Holi is a very carefree festival that's great fun to participate in if you don't mind getting wet and dirty.

Navaratri, Durga Puja and Dussehra

The nine nights of the Navaratri festival honor the mother goddess Durga in all her incarnations. The tenth day, called Dussehra, celebrates the defeat of demon king Ravan by Lord Ram and monkey god Hanuman in northern India. It also coincides with Durga's victory over the evil buffalo demon Mahishasura. In eastern India, the festival is observed as Durga Puja. It's the biggest festival of the year in Kolkata. Huge statues of the Goddess Durga are made and immersed in the river there. In Delhi, nightly Ramlila plays are held around the Red Fort, recounting episodes from the life of Lord Ram.

Diwali honors the victory of good over evil and brightness over darkness. It celebrates Lord Ram and his wife Sita returning to their kingdom of Ayodhya, following the defeat of Ravan and rescue of Sita on Dussehra. It's known as the "Festival of Lights" for all the fireworks, small clay lamps, and candles that are lit to guide their way. For Indian Hindu families, Diwali is the most anticipated festival of the year.

Krishna Janmashtami (Govinda)

Krishna Janmashtami, also known as Govinda, commemorates the birthday of Lord Krishna. An extremely fun part of the festival involves teams of guys climbing on each other to form a human pyramid to try and reach and break open clay pots filled with curd, which have been strung up high from buildings. This activity, called dahi handi, falls on the second day. It's best experienced in Mumbai.

Essential Guide to Krishna Janmashtami Festival

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Being a highly spiritual country, festivals are at the heart of people's lives in India. The numerous and varied festivals that are held throughout the year offer a unique way of seeing Indian culture at its best. Don't miss these popular festivals in India for an unforgettable experience.

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One of the first things you will notice when traveling to India is the spectacular patterns and colors of Indian women clothing. Women's types of clothing in this country vary widely depending on climate, local culture, and religion, as well as urban or rural settings.

In urban settings, western clothing is becoming more common, as well as the combination of western and eastern clothing. For example a kurti (or kurta) with jeans is a common sight in Mumbai and Pune. In rural areas, women wear more traditional clothing.

India has a great diversity of fabrics, weaves, and colors that make every piece of clothing unique.

"Colour codes are followed in clothing based on the religion and ritual concerned. For instance, Hindu ladies wear white clothes to indicate mourning, while Parsis and Christians wear white to weddings." source

Four Types of Indian Women Clothing:

Sari (or saree)

The saree (sari) is a long unstitched cloth, usually patterned, which drapes around and over the body. It is worn with a tailored blouse and sometimes over a petticoat. This garment ranges from 4 to 9 meters in length and we can see it in women widely across India in urban and rural areas. I would consider this to be the staple of Indian women clothing.

The draping style varies depending on the area of the country. The most common style is wrapping the fabric around the waist with one end then draped over the shoulder. Sari blouses are often "backless" with a halter style string drape.

Salwar Kameez

The Salwar Kameez is mostly worn in Northern parts of India like Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. It consists of the salwar (loose trousers that are narrow at the ankles), and the kameez (a long shirt or tunic). In Southern India, this style is called the "Punjabi suit" or simply " shalwar ". This dress is worn a lot by teenage girls and many Bollywood actresses.

A salwar kameez is often paired with a. A dupatta is a scarf that is traditionally used to cover the head and the shoulders. Or it is more commonly drawn over the shoulders and drawn back over the bosom, but nowadays it is widely used as a fashion accessory. The material depends on the one used for the suit and varies between cotton, georgette, silk, chiffon, and others.

Lehenga Choli (or Ghagra Choli)

The Lehenga Choli (or Ghagra Choli) is the traditional dress in Northern India like Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh.

The lehenga is a long skirt which is embroidered and pleated. A choli is a midriff-bearing blouse worn also with a sari; it is tailored to tightly fit the body with short sleeves and a low neck. Finally, women wear a dupatta to finish the look. It is tucked into the skirt then wrapped at the waist and then draped over the shoulder similar to a sari.

There are different styles of lehenga cholis ranging from cotton types for daily wear, embellished ones for festivals, or fully embroidered ones for marriage ceremonies.

Kurti (or kurta)

A kurti is simply a long shirt or blouse that falls below the waist and sometimes below the knees. This one is good for casual daily use or even as office-wear. Many times it is also accompanied by a dupatta (which we learned is the "Indian scarf").

A kurti is often paired with salwar pants (wide at the thighs and narrower at the ankles), churidar pants which are usually narrow throughout the leg, leggings, or even jeans.

Some kurtis have two sewn openings on the sides where the fabric falls in the thighs.

All of the pieces of clothing above except for the saree are from Triveni. I chose two of their items, the salwar kameez and the kurti. They looked amazing on the website, but when they arrived at my door, they did not disappoint. In fact, I was out of town when they arrived and I gave permission to my husband to open the package (I love mail and opening it). This is what he texted me:

Holy shit babe I opened your package.

Jason and Diane and I are going crazy over it

there are "diamonds" all over one

and the other is stunning

I've not seen anything like this even in that big mall we went to in India

I'd pay $400 for the set.

I think that says it all.

The grand total for both items including shipping was only $52.32 USD. The items are constantly going on sale, in fact the price on the two items I ordered has reduced. They ship internationally and even accept Paypal! Which makes my life easier.

My favorite was the kurti, probably because it is more wearable than the salwar, but both are very beautiful. It is all in the details.
As an Indian woman, which is your favorite to wear? As a non-Indian woman, have you ever worn any of these types of clothing? Which one was your favorite from the pictures?
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above with no charge in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. All opinions are mine.

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Different Types of Indian Women Clothing | A New Life Wandering

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One of the first things you will notice when traveling to India is the spectacular patterns and colors of Indian women clothing. Women's types of clothing in this country vary widely depending on climate, local culture, and religion, as well as urban or rural settings.

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Maureen Katemopoulos, Leaf Group

Indian cuisine is a worldwide favorite. (Photo: chicken tikka ii image by Umair Mohsin from Fotolia.com )

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A typical Indian meal combines salty, sweet, creamy, spicy, hot and pungent flavors. The basic menu usually comprises starch, a meat or fish main dish, vegetables, and chutney. Traditionally, Indian flatbread or basmati rice complements the other dishes to highlight a balanced spectrum of flavors. Many regional specialties are enjoyed throughout India, and worldwide.

Starch Complements

In northern and central India, roti or phulka are popular, unleavened flatbreads. Chapati is also an unleavened flatbread, but somewhat thinner than roti. Puri is a deep-fried flatbread. An exception to the customary unleavened breads is naan, which is a leavened, oven-baked bread. Wholewheat flour or atta is the main ingredient used to make Indian bread. Basmati rice (Basmati chawal) is a fragrant, long grain rice, and is the preferred rice for Indian cuisine.

Worldwide Favorites

Punjabi cooking favors milk in various forms, including dahi (yogurt), makhan (white butter) and ghee (Indian clarified butter). Other basic ingredients are onions, tomatoes, cumin, turmeric, mustard, garlic and ginger. Famous Punjabi dishes are tandoori chicken, makki ki roti (Punjabi corn bread) and kheer (Indian rice pudding). Tandoori chicken is made with spicy yogurt and curry sauce in a traditional tandoor earthen oven heated with coal.

South Indian Classics

Like the Punjab, many South Indian dishes are available in other areas of the country and the world. South Indian cuisine includes many vegetarian dishes, liberally seasoned with spices such as cardamom, black pepper, and cinnamon, and coconut, mustard seed, curry leaves and dried red chilis. Fish and steamed rice are staples, as are spicy kebabs, idlis (steamed rice cakes) and dosas (crispy savory pancakes). Poppadoms or papads are crispy wafers served on the side or as a snack. Other snacks are banana chips and jackfruit chips.

Flavorful Spices

Among the most popular Indian spices is cumin (Cuminum cyminum), also called jeera or jira, which flavors curry. Cumin has a bitter and nutty taste. It dates back to ancient Egypt and Greece. About 4,000 years ago, the ancient Indian culture of Vedic first popularized turmeric (haldi), which flavors almost every Indian vegetable and meat dish, adding a bright, yellow color. Turmeric is comparable to ginger, except that it is in powder form.

Desserts

Indian cuisine offers a rich array of nationally enjoyed desserts. Rasgulla or rasbari is a dessert made of soft cheese balls in a sugary syrup. Perfected in Bengal, rasgulla came originally from Orissa. Kulfi or Indian ice cream includes several spices such as cardamom, saffron and cinnamon. Its consistency is similar to that of frozen custard. Burfi is Indian cheesecake made of milk and with a spicy taste, a marked difference from regular cheesecake.

About the Author

Based in Northern California, Maureen Katemopoulos has been a freelance writer for more than 25 years. Her articles on travel, the arts, cuisine and history have appeared in publications such as "Stanislaus Magazine," "Orientations," "The Asia Magazine" and "The Peninsula Group Magazine." She holds a Baccalaureate degree in journalism from Stanford University.

Photo Credits

chicken tikka ii image by Umair Mohsin from Fotolia.com

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A typical Indian meal combines salty, sweet, creamy, spicy, hot and pungent flavors. The basic menu usually comprises starch, a meat or fish main dish, vegetables, and chutney. Traditionally, Indian flatbread or basmati rice complements the other dishes to highlight a balanced spectrum of flavors. Many regional ...

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India is known as the land of spices! From north to south, east to west, there is a large variety of food found in India.
Mughlai food is a famous North Indian cuisine made with a blend of spices, cream and vegetables or meat. It is enjoyed best when eaten with Indian breads called Naan and Tandoori Roti or white rice. Flour pancakes called Paranthas made with a choice of potatoes, cauliflower, or minced meat stuffing is a popular food for breakfast and lunch. Chhole bhature is a tasty combination of spicy chickpeas and deep fried dough famous all over the country. Biryani is an-all time favorite (pilaf) rice amongst many Indians. It can be made with mixed vegetables or meat.
Dosa and idli are famous rice based South Indian dishes that are usually eaten with a lentil soup called sambar. Indian sweets like bread or rice puddings called kheer, sweetened milk rolls called rasgulla and sweet fried dough called gulab jamun are a treat to the sweet tooth.
Clothes:
The sari is the most traditional piece of clothing worn in India. It is 9 yards of cloth elegantly draped by most Indian women. It comes in a variety of colors, design and fabric so it can be worn on all occasions as well as weddings.
Kurta-pajama or salwaar-kameez is a traditional two-piece set of tunic with pants and a scarf worn casually by many Indian men and women. Children and younger adults usually wear western outfits.
Festivals, holidays, Celebrations:
Diwali is the biggest Hindu celebration in India and marks the beginning of the Indian New Year. It is called the festival of lights and celebrates the victory of good over evil.
Besides Diwali, Holi and Rakhi are popular festivals. Holi is the celebration of colors and Rakhi is the celebration of the brother-sister relationship. Many more such festivals like Ganeshchaturthi, Navratri, Karwachauth, Onam, Baisakhi, Lohri, etc are celebrated in India that spread the message of love, peace and happiness. Many Indians celebrate Eid and Christmas as well.
August 15 - Indian Independence Day, January 26 - Indian Republic Day, October 2 - Gandhi Jayanti (Gandhi's birthday) are official holidays in India. One special school holiday celebrated is on the birthday of India's late Prime Minister Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru (November 14) who was very fond of kids.
Famous Stories or Epics:
Ramayana and Mahabharata are the oldest and most well known religious epics of India. Ramayana is the story of Lord Rama and his heroic deeds. Mahabharata is a tale of two families, namely the Pandavas and the Kauravas who fight a battle against one another to be the next king. Both stories are extremely long and detailed filled with drama, action and a moral that explains karma, which means, good things happen to people who do good to others and bad things happen to those who do bad to others.

Children's Game:
One very popular Indian game played by all ages in India especially Indian children is the game of Antakshari. It is a music-based fun game that involves singing Indian movie songs. Two or more teams sing in turns starting from the last letter of the previous song sung by the other team. It is point based and the team that earns maximum points wins the game.
Verbal or nonverbal communication:
Namaste is a common form of greeting used by most Indians with both hands joined together as in prayer. Touching the feet of elders is considered a form of paying respect. India is the birthplace of Yoga. Yoga is the oldest and most popular form of meditation now practiced all over the world. It involves making a series of postures that are good for the body and mind.
Values:
Indians generally are God fearing and religious people. They strongly believe in the existence of God and His divine powers. Hindus worship idols of many Gods and Goddesses and follow various rituals and superstitions.
Also most Families in India live together as one big family. For example, children live with their parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins all in one house. Indians believe that joined families provide love, respect, help and support amongst the family members.
Fun facts:
There are 26 states in India and almost each of them has their own language. Hindi is the national language of India and there are 15 other regional languages spoken in the rest of the states. Each state also has its own dress, food, custom, dance, music and art. India is a country of all kinds of people from many different backgrounds and cultures.
The Indian movie industry called Bollywood is perhaps as big as Hollywood today. The interesting thing about Indian movies is that they are mostly musical each including a variety of songs and dances.
Famous places:
The Taj Mahal of Agra, built by Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his beloved wife, is one of the Seven Wonders of the World and India's most famous tourist attraction. It is a monument built completely in lovely white marble. Jaipur located in the state of Rajasthan commonly known as the Pink City of India is famous for its beautiful palaces. These palaces are massive and mostly built in pink and red stone. Guests who stay in some of these palace-like hotels are also treated like Maharajas and Maharanis (kings and queens of India). Mumbai situated in the state of Maharashtra, is one of the most important and popular cities in the world. It is compared to New York City of the United States for various reasons. Mumbai offers the best of shopping, food and entertainment. It is a must visit for tourists as well as Indians.

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Credentials
Indian Culture for Children By DinoLingo Writer: Stuti Jaggi Khanna

Dinolingo.com - 2011 - All rights reserved

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Indian Culture for children - Hindu fun facts, food, music, language & more

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India is known as the land of spices! From north to south, east to west, there is a large variety of food found in India. Mughlai food is a famous North Indian cuisine made with a blend of spices, cream and vegetables or meat.

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There are four main sects within Hinduism: 1. Shaivism (in which Shiva is worshipped as the main god); 2. Vaishnavism (in which Vishnu worshipped as the main god); 3. Shaktism (in which the female aspects of god are primarily worshipped); and 4. Smartism (in which six main gods are worshipped: Shiva, Vishnu, Shakti, Ganesh, Murugan and Surya).

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Photo courtesy of Carolyn Brown Heinz

These girls, who belong to the Untouchable caste, make dung patties which are used for fuel and heat by members of all the castes. This job was considered so unclean that other castes did not associate with the members of society that performed it.

If a Hindu person were asked to explain the nature of the caste system, he or she might start to tell the story of Brahma - the four-headed, four-handed deity worshipped as the creator of the universe.

According to an ancient text known as the Rigveda, the division of Indian society was based on Brahma's divine manifestation of four groups.

Priests and teachers were cast from his mouth, rulers and warriors from his arms, merchants and traders from his thighs, and workers and peasants from his feet.

What does "Caste" Mean?

Even today, most Indian languages use the term " jati" for the system of hereditary social structures in South Asia. When Portuguese travelers to 16th-century India first encountered what appeared to them to be race-based social stratification, they used the Portuguese term " casta" - which means "race" - to describe what they saw. Today, the term "caste" is used to describe stratified societies based on hereditary groups not only in South Asia but throughout the world.

Others might present a biological explanation of India's stratification system, based on the notion that all living things inherit a particular set of qualities. Some inherit wisdom and intelligence, some get pride and passion, and others are stuck with less fortunate traits. Proponents of this theory attribute all aspects of one's lifestyle - social status, occupation, and even diet - to these inherent qualities and thus use them to explain the foundation of the caste system.

The Origins of the Caste System

According to one long-held theory about the origins of South Asia's caste system, Aryans from central Asia invaded South Asia and introduced the caste system as a means of controlling the local populations. The Aryans defined key roles in society, then assigned groups of people to them. Individuals were born into, worked, married, ate, and died within those groups. There was no social mobility.

The Aryan Myth

The idea of an "Aryan" group of people was not proposed until the 19th century. After identifying a language called Aryan from which Indo-European languages are descended, several European linguists claimed that the speakers of this language (named Aryans by the linguists) had come from the north - from Europe.

Thus, according to this theory, European languages and cultures came first and were therefore superior to others. This idea was later widely promoted by Adolf Hilter in his attempts to assert the "racial superiority" of so-called light-skinned people from Europe over so-called dark-skinned people from the rest of the world - and thus provide justification for genocide.

But 20th-century scholarship has thoroughly disproved this theory. Most scholars believe that there was no Aryan invasion from the north. In fact, some even believe that the Aryans - if they did exist - actually originated in South Asia and spread from there to Europe. Regardless of who the Aryans were or where they lived, it is generally agreed that they did not single-handedly create South Asia's caste system.

Thus, it has been impossible to determine the exact origins of the caste system in South Asia. In the midst of the debate, only one thing is certain: South Asia's caste system has been around for several millennia and, until the second half of the 20th century, has changed very little during all of that time.

Time for Class

In ancient India, the ranked occupational groups were referred to as varnas, and the hereditary occupational groups within the varnas were known as jatis. Many have immediately assumed that ascribed social groups and rules prohibiting intermarriage among the groups signify the existence of a racist culture. But this assumption is false. Varnas are not racial groups but rather classes.

Four varna categories were constructed to organize society along economic and occupational lines. Spiritual leaders and teachers were called Brahmins. Warriors and nobility were called Kshatriyas. Merchants and producers were called Vaishyas. Laborers were called Sudras.

The Untouchables

In addition to the varnas, there is a fifth class in Hinduism. It encompassed outcasts who, literally, did all the dirty work. They were referred to as "untouchables" because they carried out the miserable tasks associated with disease and pollution, such as cleaning up after funerals, dealing with sewage, and working with animal skin.

Brahmins were considered the embodiment of purity, and untouchables the embodiment of pollution. Physical contact between the two groups was absolutely prohibited. Brahmins adhered so strongly to this rule that they felt obliged to bathe if even the shadow of an untouchable fell across them.

Struggling against Tradition

Although the political and social force of the caste system has not disappeared completely, the Indian government has officially outlawed caste discrimination and made widespread reforms. Particularly through the efforts of Indian nationalists such as Mohandas Gandhi, rules preventing social mobility and cross-caste mingling have been loosened.

Gandhi renamed the untouchables Harijans, which means "the people of God." Adopted in 1949, the Indian Constitution provided a legal framework for the emancipation of untouchables and for the equality of all citizens.

In recent years, the Untouchables have become a politically active group and have adopted for themselves the name Dalits, which means "those who have been broken."