Chinese civilization is one of the oldest cultures in the world, from where it has radiated to many East Asian and Southeast Asian countries. Its language, script, art, military science, and countless customs, such as eating with chopsticks, spread to many of the neighboring countries, where they rooted and developed in varied ways.
However, we cannot say that China possesses a single culture, uniform and monolithic, because in its vast territory there are diverse groups that speak different dialects, have dissimilar social structures and are governed by different customs and habits.
After the tenth trial in the last of the courts of the underworld, the soul is free, ready to be reincarnated in one of the six realms of existence (liùdào 六道). But to do this it must cross the so-called River of Oblivion (忘川 Wàng Chuān)…
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One idea that has troubled the Chinese mentality throughout its history is that of wrongful death or “death in vain” (枉死 wǎng sǐ). It is an premature death in which the soul of the deceased cannot follow the normal course of transit to the underworld.
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Upon arriving in the dark regions (yīnjiān 陰間), the soul of the deceased is to pass through the Ten Courts of the Underworld (十殿閻羅 shí diàn Yánluó), and submit to trial for his actions in life. These courts originate around the ninth century as a crystallization of a series of ideas that appear before gradually.
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The Chinese conception of the afterlife has been gradually formed over centuries by mixing indigenous and foreign ideas, the latter coming from Indian Buddhism. Despite referring to the other world, these ideas profoundly affect the lives of the living and condition behaviours, rituals and daily festivities.
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The city of Cháozhōu 潮州, in Cháoshàn 潮汕, is one of the cradles of Chinese tea culture, where some believe the gōngfū chá (工夫茶 or 功夫茶) ceremony originated several hundred years ago, and from where it would have spread to the rest of China. But the Cháozhōu ceremony has some peculiarities that reflect the values and hospitality of its inhabitants.
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Wén 文 and wǔ 武 are, in Chinese philosophy and thought, a pair of dichotomous and complementary concepts, which refer to the civil and military spheres of culture and politics, respectively.
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Sūn Wùkōng 孫悟空 is the main character of the classic novel “Journey to the West” (西遊記 Xī Yóu Jì), one of the most important works of Chinese literature. However, this odd monkey-character is not an original invention of the author of the Xī Yóu Jì, in fact, we find several literary antecedents that were gradually shaping his image.
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Poetry has always been one of the most appreciated arts in China. In the past, its appreciation extended to all layers of society, and already in ancient times there were poetic contests (dǒu shī 鬥詩) that were practiced at festivals and banquets and adopted different forms, usually involving the consumption of wine among the participants.
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Within calligraphy and ink painting, there are four tools that are known in China as the Four Treasures of the Study (文房四寶 wén fáng sì bǎo), as they had to be present on every scholar’s desk. These four treasures are: ink (墨 mò), brush (毛笔 máobǐ), paper (纸 zhǐ) and inkstone (砚台 yàntái).
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The Three Sage Kings are semi-legendary characters who are credited with creating Chinese civilization. They are regarded as exemplary sovereigns, who held high moral values and under whose mandate people lived in harmony. These three emperors are Yáo 堯, Shùn 舜 and Yǔ 禹.
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