Feng Shui Culture

China is very old.  Its culture is one of the most complex cultures in the world today.  People naturally have a lot of questions about it.  This is also true when it comes to the subject of Asian collectibles and home decor.  I would like to share some general facts with you about China's culture to help you comprehend the idea which are so distincitly "Chinese."  In doing this, you will hopefully gain a better understanding of the subject of Feng Shi home decor.

Let's start with the location of China.  The area in which China exists and is dominant covers a huge geogprahical region... unlike Japan.  It is a known fact that the customs and traditions vary greatly in this particular region of East Asia.  This is especially true between the towns, cities, and provinces.  So China is a large country with many distinctive traditions which date back thousands of years.  Chinese people are vey aware of their rich and deep history.  The sheer fact that China itself is such a large area with a common political heritage explains some of the pride that Chinese people share with each other.  Since customs are so different throughout China, it is nearly impossible to define a single, precise scheme to decoration or art.

Chinese is also a Sinitic language in a family of languages in East Asia.  It is distinguished by its high level or internal distinctions.  All varieties of the Chinese language family are tonal and analytic.  The official and standard language of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (Taiwan) is Mandarin.  In addition, today there are 57 different recgonized ethnic groups in mainland China.  The pre-eminent group is the Han Chinese.  One must realize that throughout China's history many people groups have been assimilated into other ethnicities, particuarly the neighboring ones.  Therefore, many people within the Han identification have maintained their own linguistic and regional traditions.  The term "Zhongua Minzu" has been used to describe the idea of Chinese nationalism.  This was necessary when so many ethnic groups all merged together into the "New China" we see today.  Many languages are spoken in China, but the nationalistic unity is preserved by the uniformity of the Mandarin official language.

So, China's large area with its shared political and cultural heritage combined with the standardization of Mandarin has helped to create a "Chinese" art culture that is loosely known as "Feng Shui."  This school of thought places objects (collectibles, for instance) within a home or office for practical and spiritual purposes.  Other decorating considerations cannot be described in further detail here because of the great diversity which is prevalent throughout China.  This reality is part of the Chinese experience.  It is very interesting to learn more about.  However, there is even more to know about China to gain a deeper insight!

Harlan Urwiler

For more information, please feel free to check out my website at:  http://www.myorientalgallery.com/.