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A Cultural Group

The Chinese culture is the oldest and the most complex culture in the world. They refer themselves as the sons of Hans. They have diverse cultural languages, religions, music and art that have legal rights, which protect their cultural beliefs. Among the multiple cultures in India, Chen is one of the ethnic groups in China that have unique cultural ways of dancing, composing music, which is difficult to understand. Consequently, they have religious beliefs, traditional foods and ceremonies that are unique too. According to the novel China’s Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution: Master Narratives and Post-Mao Counternarratives, in this cultural group, the common group that became well known in traditional music composition is Chen Yi and her family. Chen’s family performed the Chinese traditional music that influenced many people. She played a variety of Chinese instruments and she was given more freedom to perform her music because she influenced many people in China.

The reason for selecting this incident on the novel is the way cultural artists such as Chen Yi and her family composed their music (Chong 212). Not only are they cultural artists but also have different cultural beliefs. For instance, they believe that they are sons of Hans and their religious practices are different from other religious beliefs. China has a variety of cultural dancers who play traditional opera troupes where Chen Yi was the concertmaster of the operas. Moreover, during the Cultural Revolution in China, many people suffered but this novel is so interesting because of the way Chen performed her cultural music. The novel expresses the way Chen Yi became popular in the art of traditional music. However, she was interested in the western music and culture but she really loved to sing for her country.

My experience on this story is about the cultural beliefs of the Chinese whereby they belief in many religions including Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism. In addition, many Chinese are good artists especially in traditional dances and folk songs (Chong 306). They have diverse cultural ways of composing traditional music and they have traditional musical instruments such as bowed stringed, which they use in making their musical dances. Moreover, different cultures have their own cultural ways and customs. There is need to understand that Chinese culture is unique, yet amicably intermingle and it presents itself as an invaluable asset globally.

            From the experience of Chinese cultural practices in comparison to my own values and their cultural beliefs system, I can comment that cultural beliefs vary from one ethnic group to another. I believe in Christianity and only one God. However, this is different in China because many of them believe in gods and destiny and they do not have religious inclination. However, there are those who believe in God but most of them are atheist. Even though the temples exist in their country, they consider them as cultural relics. Consequently, they have their own values attached to their own religious values and beliefs. Furthermore, Chinese have their way of dressing styles when attending church services and this is different from my own beliefs. For instance, the Muslim women in China cover their bodies as a sign of respect and it is a way of honoring their men.

My reactions towards the experience of religious beliefs are that one gains a lot when interacting with other people of different cultures. Understanding people’s different culture is essential because it enables one to learn other things he or she does not know. Moreover, these will reduce the stereotypes that some people develop in their mind towards other cultures. Consequently, learning other people’s culture such as music composition style may create a positive effect towards people. In fact, the cultural differences between people or other ethnic groups are real and they can sometimes add richness to the society. My contention is that people have one thing in common such as association, love and participation but this differs from one ethnic group to another.

Sometimes I heard people generalizing about the Chinese people are conservative and they have been characterized as pluralistic since the civilization period. Ever in my life, I have never known if Chinese can even compose good classical music or Chinese women can be great singers. However, after reading the story of ChinYi who became a popular singer in the classical music and choral pieces, I now appreciate that every culture has powerful musicians or people who can perform better in a certain field. This has made me not rush into a conclusion or make judgments before making a clear observation or getting enough information.

Certain lessons are learned in a hard way. I have learned that some cultural differences within China’s cultural group can do more harm than good. However, some cultural practices are inspiring like the way ChinYi influenced many people with her traditional music composition (Chong 233). However, others can do a great damage especially the different cultural beliefs. For instance, someone who has lived in foreign country such as in the United States may find it difficult to adapt to China’s cultural practices. However, this requires one to adapt such diverse cultural beliefs because some cultural beliefs are essential though there are those ones, which are hard to understand or adopt.

Cross-cultural experience is valuable because observations about cultural differences are based on scientific observation. The research study reveals that in some cultures, making eye contacts is one way of non-verbal communication. The eating habits and believes signifies differences meanings in different societies. Much of cultural differences are experienced in areas such as food preparation, music composition, religious beliefs and what that certain culture considers important in the society. For instance, Chin Yi and her family became good musical performer and this was through cultural interactions with other societies where they gained experience from them. Moreover, they were influenced by other people from both China and the Western ends.

 

 

Works Cited

Chong, Woei. China‘s Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution: Master Narratives and Post-

            Mao Counternarratives. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2002. Print.