Ways of Thinking: China

Mentality
collective, based on all Chinese cooperating
View of other cultures is disdainful: China is center of the universe, has all she needs, barbarians from outside possess little worth having

Religion
based on philosophy
also Buddhism, which is based on enlightenment and ones connection to all

Society
highly hierarchical class system, merchants at the bottom and emperor at the top

Economy
producer of food and luxury goods: rice, silk, porcelain, spices, jade
imports: clockwork and mechanical toys, gold and silver

Gender Roles
based on yin-yang: men dominant and women submissive; male children valued because son's wife moves in and raises family in husband's parents' house, providing old age security for them

Philosophy
Confucianism based on hierarchy of respect and family structure; the structure of state mirrors that of the family
Daoism emphasizes the role of the individual within nature and all life
Also yin-yang: the idea that yang (brightness, activity, masculinity) is balanced by yin (darkness, passivity, femininity).

History
cyclical: focused on the rise and fall of dynasties which usually last hundreds of years; dynasties which fulfill the Mandate of Heaven rule, then decline of dynasty and takeover of a new one indicate that Mandate has been taken away; continuity valued

Image by Jason McCartney, Jill Malone's CIS 246/Art 247 Photoshop class (S04)