CHINESE CULTURE
In this section, the reader will find articles related to Chinese culture in English.
Many of them are of our own production, elaborated throughout the more than 15 years that this page has been in operation, others are extracts from books or articles that we have dared to publish (generally after translating them) because of the interest they have for the English-speaking readers.
We are in the process of converting all the articles to a more modern format, but given the hundreds of articles in the different sections, it may take a few months.
The main sections are:
GENERAL ASPECTS OF CHINESE CULTURE
HOROSCOPE AND ANIMAL SIMBOLISM
MOVIES
Last posts about Chinese culture
Legends of the Mother Goddess: Intro
From Leyendas de la Diosa Madre. Pedro Ceinos Arcones. Miraguano, 2007. Anyone who approaches the literature of the minorities of Southern China will discover numerous works where the leading role is played by a female goddess or deity. Whether dedicated to the...
Buddha as a true man: a different tale
In the fourth chapter of India in the Chinese Imagination: Myth, Religion, and Thought (edited by John Kieschnick and Meir Shahar, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014), Nobuyoshi Yamabe contributes an article (Indian Myth Transformed in a Chinese Apocryphal Text:...
Yu garden in Shanghai: Archetype of Chinese garden
Pedro Ceinos Arcones. Yu garden in Shanghai: Archetype of Chinese garden. Dancing Dragons Books. 2019. (Excerpts from the book) The Yu Garden is Shanghai's main monument and the one that best summarizes the city's history over the past few centuries. A private garden...
The dog in China’s ancient tombs
Pedro Ceinos Arcones. La Magia del perro en China y el mundo. Dancing Dragons Books. 2019. (Excerpts from the book) The dog in China’s ancient tombs In China, dogs buried with their owners have been discovered in archaeological sites belonging to the most important...
Some philosophical schools in Buddha’s times
Peter Harvey. Buddhism: Teachings, History and Practices. Cambridge University Press. 2013. (Excerpts from the book. Page 11 and ff.) In its origin, Buddhism was a Samana-movement. Samanas were wandering ‘renunciant’ thinkers who were somewhat akin to the early Greek...
The origin of Chinese characters
The origin of Chinese characters in John C. Didier, “In and Outside the Square,” Sino-Platonic Papers, 192, vol. 1 (September, 2009) The technology of writing appears suddenly and morphologically fully developed on Shang oracle bones and, later, bronzes at about the...
The sacred Taishan mountain
Taishan Mountain, life and death in Chinese culture, according to the work of Edouard Chavannes Mountains are, in China, divinities. They are considered as nature powers who act in a conscious way and who can, therefore, be made favourable by sacrifices and touched...
A Taoist exorcism séance
'My friend is going to conclude an exorcism service this morning and, if you are really so interested, he hopes you can come and witness it.' He paused uncertainly. 'But I must warn 86 you that it is not a pretty sight. Really it is most unpleasant, disgusting and...
Chinese superstitions before the birth
To have five sons, rich, vigorous, literate and who become mandarins: this is the ideal of any Chinese family. From this matrix idea emerged the various types of popular images that are displayed in all households: Wu Zi Deng Ke (五子登科), Have five official children!...
Chinese characters
Chinese character for «snake»
Chinese character for "snake” The Chinese character to represent the snake has undergone over the centuries a curious evolution that, although seen from the cultural perspective of the XXI century may seem strange, it will not be so much if we remember the symbolism...
Ethnic groups
Life of Milarepa, the hermit poet
Life of Milarepa, the hermit poet. MiIarepa is one of the most beloved religious leaders of Tibet. His story, full of unique facts, has been told again and again over the centuries, and if the publishers did not warn that this is the autobiography written by the holy...
tRAVELS
What if modern science originated on the Silk Road?
What if modern science originated on the Silk Road? In one of his most striking works, Warriors of the Cloisters: The Central Asian Origins of Science in the Medieval World, Christopher Beckwith, as the title of the work indicates, proposes that modern, Western...
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