The culture of Asia is the artificial aggregate of the cultural heritage of many nationalities, societies, and ethnic groups in the region, traditionally called a continent from a Western-centric perspective, of Asia. The region or “continent” is more commonly divided into more natural geographic and cultural subregions, including the Central Asia, East Asia, South Asia (the “Indian subcontinent”), North Asia, West Asia and Southeast Asia.
Geographically, Asia is not a distinct continent; culturally, there has been little unity or common history for many of the cultures and peoples of Asia. Asian art, music, and cuisine, as well as literature, are important parts of Asian culture. Eastern philosophy and religion also plays a major role, with Hinduism, Taoism, Confucianism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam; all playing major roles. One of the most complex parts of Asian culture is the relationship between traditional cultures and the Western world.
The main language families found in Asia, along with examples of each, are: * Austro-Asiatic: Khasi, Khmer, Mundari, Vietnamese * Austronesian: Atayal, Cebuano, Cham, Ilokano, Indonesian, Javanese, Malay, Paiwan, Sundanese, Tagalog, Tetum * Dravidian: Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu * Indo-Asiatic: Armenian, Bengali, English, Gujarati, Marathi, Hindi, Kurdish, Nepali, Pashto, Persian, Portuguese, Punjabi, Russian, Konkani, Sanskrit, Tajik, Urdu * Japonic: Japanese, Okinawan * Sino-Tibetan: * Sinitic: Mandarin, Gan, Hakka, Min, Wu, Xiang, Yue Tibeto-Burman: Tibetan, Burmese * Tai-Kadai: Lao, Thai * Turkic: Azeri, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tatar, Turkish, Turkmen, Uzbek * Afro-Asiatic: Arabic, Aramaic, Canaanite, Berber, Hebrew Other languages that do not belong to the above groups include Ainu, Burushaski, Georgian, Hmong, Korean, Mongolian, various Romance-based creoles (Chavacano, Macanese, and Kristang) an Literature Main article: Asian literature Tang dynasty Chinese poet Li Bai, in a 13th century depiction by Liang Kai. [edit] Classical Indian literature Main article: Indian literature
The famous poet and playwright Kalidasa wrote two epics: Raghuvamsha (Dynasty of Raghu) and Kumarasambhava (Birth of Kumar Kartikeya); they were written in Classical Sanskrit rather than Epic Sanskrit. Other examples of works written in Classical Sanskrit include the Panini’s Ashtadhyayi which standardized the grammar and phonetics of Classical Sanskrit. The Laws of Manu is an important text in Hinduism. Kalidasa is often considered to be the greatest playwright in Sanskrit literature, and one of the greatest poets in Sanskrit literature, whose Recognition of Shakuntala and Meghaduuta are the most famous Sanskrit plays.
He occupies the same position in Sanskrit literature that Shakespeare occupies in English literature. Some other famous plays were Mricchakatika by Shudraka, Svapna Vasavadattam by Bhasa, and Ratnavali by Sri Harsha. Later poetic works include Geeta Govinda by Jayadeva. Some other famous works are Chanakya’s Arthashastra and Vatsyayana’s Kamasutra. [edit] Classical Chinese literature Main article: Chinese literature In Tang and Song dynasty China, famous poets such as Li Bai authored works of great importance. They wrote shi (Classical Chinese: ? poems, which have lines with equal numbers of characters, as well as ci (? ) poems with mixed line varieties. [edit] Classical Japanese literature Main article: Japanese literature In the early eleventh century, court lady Murasaki Shikibu wrote Tale of the Genji considered the masterpiece of Japanese literatures and an early example of a work of fiction in the form of a novel. Early-Modern Japanese literature (17th–19th centuries) developed comparable innovations such as haiku, a form of Japanese poetry that evolved from the ancient hokku (Japanese language: ?? ) mode.
Haiku consists of three lines: the first and third lines each have five morae (the rough phonological equivalent of syllables), while the second has seven. Original haiku masters included such figures as Edo period poet Matsuo Basho (???? ); others influenced by Basho include Kobayashi Issa and Masaoka Shiki. [edit] Classical Persian literature Main article: Persian literature [edit] Classical Arabic literature Main article: Arabic literature [edit] Classical Turkish literature Main article: Turkish literature [edit] Modern literature Rabindranath Tagore, the first Asian Nobel laureate.
The polymath Rabindranath Tagore, a Bengali poet, dramatist, and writer from India, became in 1913 the first Asian Nobel laureate. He won his Nobel Prize in Literature for notable impact his prose works and poetic thought had on English, French, and other national literatures of Europe and the Americas. He also wrote Jana Gana Mana the national anthem of India as well as Amar Shonar Bangla the national anthem of Bangladesh. Later, other Asian writers won Nobel Prizes in literature, including Yasunari Kawabata (Japan, 1966), and Kenzaburo Oe (Japan, 1994). edit] Philosophy
Main article: Eastern philosophy See also: Indian philosophy and Chinese philosophy Asian philosophical traditions originated in India and China, and has been classified as Eastern philosophy covering a large spectrum of philosophical thoughts and writings, including those popular within India and China. The Indian philosophy include Hindu and Buddhist philosophies. Middle Eastern philosophy include Islamic philosophy as well as Persian philosophy. During the 20th century, in the two most populous countries of Asia, two dramatically different political philosophies took shape.
Gandhi gave a new meaning to Ahimsa, and redefined the concepts of nonviolence and nonresistance. During the same period, Mao Zedong’s communist philosophy was crystallized. religios Religions founded in Asia and with a majority of their contemporary adherents in Asia include: * Baha’i Faith: slightly more than half of all adherents are in Asia * Buddhism: Cambodia, China, Japan, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Burma, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, parts of northern, eastern, and western India, and parts of central and eastern Russia (Siberia). * Mahayana Buddhism: China, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam. Theravada Buddhism: Cambodia, parts of China, Laos, mainly northern parts of Malaysia, Burma, Sri Lanka, Thailand, as well as parts of Vietnam. * Vajrayana Buddhism: Parts of China, Mongolia, parts of northern and eastern India, parts of central and eastern Russia and Siberia. * Hinduism: India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Malaysia, Singapore, Bali. * Islam: Central, South and Southwest Asia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, and Brunei. * Ahmadiyya Islam: Pakistan, Bangladesh, India. * Shia Islam: largely to specific Iran, Azerbaijan, parts of Iraq, Bahrain, parts of Afghanistan, parts of India, parts of Pakistan. Sunni Islam: dominant in the rest of the regions mentioned above. * Jainism: India * Shinto: Japan * Sikhism: India and Malaysia * Taoism (Daoism): China, Vietnam, Singapore, and Taiwan * Zoroastrianism: Iran, India, Pakistan * Shamanism: Japan (Itako), Korea, Siberia * Animism: Eastern India Religions founded in Asia that have the majority of their contemporary adherents in other regions include: * Christianity (Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Armenia, Georgia, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, East Timor, Pakistan, India.
Vietnam and the Philippines) Judaism (slightly fewer than half of its adherents reside in Asia; Israel, Iran, India, Syria. ) (see Mizrahi Jews Festivals & celebrations Asia has a variety of festivals and celebrations. In China, Chinese New Year, Dragon Boat Festival, and Mid-Autumn Moon Festival are traditional holidays, while National Day is a holiday of the People’s Republic of China. In Japan, Japanese New Year, National Foundation Day, Children’s Day, O-bon, The Emperor’s Birthday, and Christmas are popular.
According to Japanese syncretism, most Japanese celebrate Buddhism’s O-bon in midsummer, Shinto’s Shichi-Go-San in November, and Christmas and Hatsumoude in winter together. In India, Republic Day and Independence Day are important national festivals celebrated by people irrespective of faith. Major Hindu festivals of India include Diwali, Dussehra or Daserra, Holi, Makar Sankranti, Pongal, Mahashivratri, Ugadi, Navratri, Ramanavami, Baisakhi, Onam, Rathayatra, Ganesh Chaturthi, and Krishna Janmastami.
Islamic festivals such as Eid ul-Fitr and Eid ul-Adha, Sikh festivals such as Vaisakhi, and Christian festivals such as Christmas, are also celebrated in India. Food ; drinks Chicken tikka, a well-known dish across the globe, reflects the amalgamation of Indian cooking styles with those from Central Asia. In many parts of Asia, rice is a staple food, and it is mostly served steamed or as a porridge known as congee. China is the world largest producer and consumer of rice.
In China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam, people usually use chopsticks to eat traditional food, but shapes of chopsticks are different in these countries. For example, Japanese chopsticks are spire to eat bony fish easily. Korean chopsticks are made of metal. It is said that wood is rarer than metal in Korean peninsular and metal chopsticks can prevent to poison. An island nation surrounded by ocean, Japan has various fish dishes. Especially, fresh raw fish cuisines are very popular in Japan and well-known as Sushi and Sashimi. In India, people often eat food with their hands, and many spices are used in every dish.
Most spices originated around India or neighboring countries such as Sri Lanka. Durians are a common fruit in Southeast Asia, which, Alfred Russel Wallace, attested to its delicious flavor as worth the entire cost of his trip there. In every special Filipino banquet, people will see a unique set of dishes compared to other Asian cuisine. Because of the country’s long years of colonization and interactions with other neighboring cultures and nations, it has inherited Latin, Malay, Chinese, and American influences to its people’s local blend
