Chinese religions and Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Chinese religions and - Essay Example Secondly, Chinese used the concept of Yin and Yang to explain the way the universe works. That is Yan describes the negative forces of nature while Yang the positive forces. Thirdly, Chinese people stand out for their filial piety and ancestral worship. Every Chinese home has a small shrine or altars to offer sacrifices to old generation and ancestors. Fourthly, divination is common in Chinese religion and they believe that unity of the universe allowed future events to be predicted. For instance, heating of a shell and divining the future through the cracks that occurred. In the eleventh century B.C.E political unrest through rebellion of Chou affected the Chinese religion. Chou rulers suggested existence of one god called Shang Ti who they asserted to be more than an ancestor. A great confusion after this rebellion resulted to three main Chinese religions the Confucians, the Legalists, and the Mohists. Shinto is the oldest native Japanese religion that describes formation of Japan as a land superior to other lands with its shrines commemorating its great heroes. The word Shinto comes from Chinese words Shen and Tao, which mean the way of the gods. Shinto was developed to distinguish native Japanese from other emerging religions form China like Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism. In the sixth century C.E, Buddhism introduced by the Chinese and the Koreans made Japanese collect their myths and rituals in the name of kami-no-michi. This created a distinction between the native religions with the foreign. The myths allowed for a limited number of gods, goddesses, spirits, ancestral worship, and forms of animism. Although Chinese religions had a great influence on Japanese religion, Japanese used Shinto to depict their own revelation of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. They developed their own Buddhism, distinctive form other Buddhism. Mahayana Buddhism is one of these religions that included a

China and Japan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

China and Japan - Essay Example It has evolved and changed, during the 20th century. Many ethnic groups have existed in China. The pre-eminent ethnic group is the ‘Han Chinese’. Most social values are derived from Confucianism and Taoism with a combination of conservatism. Reincarnation and rebirth is the connection between real-life and the next-life. Spoken Chinese consisted of a number of Chinese dialects. The ancient written standard was Classical Chinese and it was used for thousands of years, but was mostly reserved for scholars and intellectuals. A large part of Chinese culture is about finding the balance of Yin and Yang in relation to Qi, in order to find harmony. Chinese medicine consists of a number of treatments including Chinese herb logy and acupuncture. Other forms of health improvement include meditation. Japanese culture has evolved from the ‘Jomon’ culture, which combines influences from Asia, Europe and North America. Archaeological research indicates that people were li ving on the islands of Japan as early as the upper paleolithic period. Japanese is written with a combination of three different types of scripts: Chinese characters ‘Kanji’ and two syllabic scripts, ‘Hiragana’ and ‘Katakana’. The Hindu-Arabic numerals are generally used for numbers, but traditional Sino-Japanese numerals are also commonplace. Japanese sculptures mainly settled on the subject of Buddhist images. Wood has traditionally been used as the chief material. The oldest sculpture is a wooden statue of 'Amitabha'. 'Chanoyu' and 'Ikebana' are the traditional rituals. The most popular professional sports are Sumo, Judo, Jujutsu and Kenjutsu. Political view of China and Japan:- The deadlock of the Chinese Civil War has resulted in two political states: the People's Republic of China (PRC), known as China, which controls "China proper" as well as Tibet, Inner Mongolia, Xingjian, Hong Kong, and Macau; and the Republic of China (ROC), known as Taiwan, which controls the island of Taiwan and its surrounding islands. The PRC is governed under the one-party system by the Chinese Communist Party, but the ROC has moved towards democratic government. After the founding of the PRC, both states claimed to be the sole legitimate ruler of all of "China". The ROC had more international support but most international diplomatic recognitions have shifted to the PRC. Both regimes use diplomatic and economic means to compete for recognition in the international arena. Currently, the PRC is recognized by most world organizations such as the World Health Organization and the International Olympic Committee. Today, there are 24 U.N. member states that maintain official diplomat ic relations with the ROC while the majority of the U.N. member states maintain official diplomatic relations with the PRC. Japan is recognized as a liberal democracy with free and fair elections, has operated with a dominant-party system known as the Liberal Democratic Party. It takes place in a framework of a parliamentary- representative- democratic- monarchy, whereby the Prime Minister of Japan is the head of government. Executive power is exercised by the government. Japan is generally considered a constitutional monarchy, based largely upon the British system with strong influences from European continental civil law countries such as Germany and France. The Emperor of Japan is "the symbol of the State and of the unity of the people" and exercises a purely ceremonial role without the possession of sovereignty. The constitution is called "the Pacifist