A Glimpse of the Chinese Culture [antikvár]

Chinese Civilization — Origin and Developmen- The Chinese civilization dates to more than 5,000 years ago. Among the four greatest of all civilizations in the world, only the Chinese civilization has enjoyed an uninterrupted development. Erasable is the imprint of China's traditional culture in the souls of the Chinese — wherever they are, in China or outside. Ever since remote antiquity, the Chinese nation has been a unified family comprising numerous ethnic groups. Time has changed the world beyond recognition - not the fundamental feature of China as a nation that is unified while diverse with a variety of ethnic groups and cultures. The Chinese use a unique ideograph. Though the same words may be pronounced in various local dialects, the written language is the same and is good enough to ensure communication between people in all parts of China and enable people of today to read and appreciate records in classical literary style. The Chinese people have had to their credit the "four great inventions" - paper, printing, compass and gunpowder which, along with porcelain and silk, once exerted a tremendous influence on the development of other cultures. The Silk Road, a web of land and sea routes in use for well over 1,000 years, bears witness to cultural exchanges between ancient China and countries to its west. The traditional lunar calendar used by the Chinese is closely associated with crop farming in different seasons of the year. Traditional festival activities of the country's various ethnic groups are, in fact, bring to Ufe those folkways they have been followed since ancient times. Architectural structures in classical Chinese style are also