culture usually refers to a fuzzy set of basic assumptions and values, orientations to life, beliefs, policies, procedures and behavioral conventions that are shared by a group of people, and that influence each member’s behaviour and his/her interpretations of the ‘meaning’of other people’s behaviour.
western civilization or occidental culture, usually refers to the heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, belief systems, political systems, artifacts and technologies that originated in or are associated with europe and america.
the word “philosophy" is derived from the greek word “philosophia”, meaning “love of freedom”.
philosophy is a form of reflective thinking that critically questions and confronts established beliefs, customs, practices, and institutions of a society.
the four paradigmatic philosophers in human history are socrates, confucius, jesus christ and sakyamuni.
the axial age refers to a period from 800 b.c. to 200 b.c. in which many great thinkers appeared in persia, india, china and egypt.
plato is the father of western philosophy.
socrates wrote a lot of influential philosophical books when he was alive.
two charges against socraes were his heresy and his corruption of the youth with his teachings.
for socrates, true knowledge is unchanging and eternal truth inscribed within one’s soul. opinions, on the other hand, are changeable and offer only temporal views, ideas, and mere beliefs.
in about 500 b.c., the classic period of chinese philosophy (known as the contention of a hundred schools of thought) flourished, and the three most influential schools were established. they are confuciani, taoi and mohi.
confucius wanted to serve in high office in the hope that he could restore the ancient morality set by the founders of the zhou dynasty (1046–256 bc).
after realizing his political ideal in his own state of lu, confucius began to travel from state to state, trying to spread his teachings.
confucius influence on china is so great that he was hailed after his death as “the uncrowned king”.
in ethics, confuciani advocates the six constant virtues.
in politics, confuciani advocates benevolent government.
confucius is also the first educator who proposed that " there should be no distinction of classes in teaching".
both confucius and socrates put emphasis on virtue and self-improvement.
both confucius and socrates would often enlighten his students by directly providing his answers.
both confucius and socrates taught their students rather informally and used primarily a conversational style.
the name of britain came from a celtic tribe—the britons.
the anglo-saxons came to britain in the mide-5th century.
the bill of rights granted the townspeople freedom of trade and self-government, which is regarded as the foundation of the british constitutionali.
in 1066, duke william of normandy crossed the channel, defeated the english army at the battle of hastings, thus beginning the norman conquest of england which marked the establishment of feudali in england.
the hundred years’ war was a series of wars fought between england and normans for trade and territory.
black death spread through europe in the 14th century, and swept through england in 1348 without any cure, killing half of the population and causing enormous economic losses.
the end of the wars of the roses led to the rule of the house of anjou.
america was named after amerigo vespucci, who arrived on the new continent after columbus.
the second continental congress was held in philadelphia, and the continental army and navy were founded under the command of thomas jefferson.
the first english colony in america was founded at boston, massachusetts, in 1607, known as the mother state.
the first shots of the american war of independence were fired in lexington.
abraham lincoln issued emancipation proclamation to grant freedom to all slaves.
in gettyurg address, abraham lincoln said “government of the people by the people and for the people shall not perish from the earth”
the german air raid on pearl harbour was the direct cause for america’s entrance into the war.
president roosevelt applied new deal to deal with the problem of the great depression.
pilgrim fathers are a group of puritans who came to america to avoid persecution in england.
the first opium war, also known as anglo-chinese war was fought between britain and the qing dynasty of china. it marked the start of the century of humiliation.
the direct cause of the first opium war was chinese official seizure of opium stocks at canton to stop the banned opium trade.
the qing government adhered to the policy of emphasizing commerce and restraining agriculture, claiming that "commerce is the foundation of all ".
under a ban on the sea, officials of qing government were prohibited from going out to sea privately, but the civilians were allowed to conduct foreign trade.
in britain the accent you speak with, the clothes you wear and the schools you attend are all markers that identify your social class.
private schools in uk are somewhat confusingly called public schools.
the lectures provide the students with a platform for sharing their views on a given topic.
for those people who have missed the opportunity for higher education, the open university provides a second chance.
admission to british university is by selection based on a-level results.
in britain, a master's degree requires three years of full time study
there is actually no definite area that can be called campus in oxford and cambridge university.
there is a national education system providing uniform standards for schools in all the states of america.
religious doctrine can be taught in american public schools.
inidualized instruction within a classroom is an important idea in american education and "learning by doing" remains a highly respected approach to child development
american schools stress the ability of memorization of facts rather than cultivating the students' independent thinking ability.
quite a number of american students work part-time during their school years.
in the wei and jin period and southern and northern dynasties, actually, local government authorities were given the task of selecting talented candidates, then categorizing them into nine grades depending on their abilities.
in ancient china the success of examination candidates was proudly called stepping into the dragon's door.
in ming dynasty, the imperial examination system reached its period of full bloom, which consisted of four levels: the county exam, the provincial exam, national exam, and the palace exam.
it was later realized that eight-part essay was harmful because it stifled both creativity and imagination.
co-educational schools or mixed schools are those schools where both boys and girls are admitted.
in us and uk, students beginning in a school are grouped into classes and they remain in those classes for the entire time in that school.
the western education system allows students to learn at their own pace, through trial and error, gaining experience by dealing with and overcoming problems.
based on regional feature, chinese cuisines have been ided into eight main schools: shangdong cuisine, sichuan cusine, guangdong cuisine, fujian cusine, jiangsu cusine, zhejiang cuisine, hunan cuisine, and shanxi cuisine.
food served on the eve of the lunar new year is usually full of symboli
noodles are the symbol of longevity in chinese culture.
there are five features of chinese food culture, they are nutrition, flavor, regionalization, variety and folk custom.
shen nong tasted herbs to distinguish the poisonous and edible ones.
yi yin admired lao zi for his governing a great nation just like cooking a all delicacy
the principle of homology of medicine and food is not used now in china.
red boiled eggs are usually cooked and served to celebrate the birth of a new baby.
the most popular dish in britain is fish and chips.
british afternoon tea is eaten from the top to the bottom.
high tea is usually served on high table at 6 p.m. in the living room.
pub is short for public house .
british people would like to go to the pub to have some drinks, play games and communicate with friends.
fast food and carbonated drinks are numerous in america, but there is no drive-in fast food stores.
as a nation of immigrants, there are erse types of food in america.
boston is famous for its roast potatoes and blue crabs.
the flavor of food in china basically includes sour, sweet, bitter, spicy and salty.
american people favor fast food like burger king, kfc, macdonald’s etc.
according to chinese food culture, food is the paramount necessity of people.
homology of food and medicine is a principle of chinese food culture, by which the nutrition of food is well perceived through traditional medicinal concept.
to understand the origin of chinese festivals, we may first know about the ancient chinese calendar system which is known as the agricultural calendar.
spring festival or the chinese new year falls on january 1st, and ends on january 15th.
the formation of the festivals actually has something to do with ancient people's beliefs.
april fool’s day originated in germany. when the german first adopted the gregorian calendar in 1564, some people continued to use the old calendar to celebrate new year’s day on april 1st, and these people were called april fools.
in 1863, abraham lincoln declared the last thursday in november to be thanksgiving day.
it is widely believed that halloween traditions originated from ancient celtic harvest festivals, particularly the gaelic festival samhain.
both chinese and western literature originated from oral poetry.
western tragedies originated from ancient rome.
shakespeare is recognized as the summit of the english renaissance.
oedipus the king is one of the works of aeschylus, father of tragedies.
the iliad is an epic that tells stories about the heroes in the trojan war
the odyssey is an epic that tells about achilles’journey back home after the trojan war.
literature tends to evolve from prose to poetry.
poetry still plays the major role in modern chinese literature.
the merchant of venice is a famous tragedy by william shakespeare.
toni morrison, the jewish american writer, adopts magic reali in her novel beloved.
shakespeare's four “great tragedies”are hamlet, othello, king lear and macbeth.
shakespeare's four “great comedies”are a midsummer night’s dream, the merchant of venice, as you like it, and the tempest.
it is believed that the ancient greek tragedies evolved from the chorus (合唱) on the festivals in honor of apollo.
the homeric epics are recognized as the origin of the western literature.
freud sees in oedipus the king the hidden human desire in the unconscious and names it oedipus complex.
myth derives from the greek word mythos, which means “speech, story or tale.”
mythology refers to a collection of independent myths.
in greek mythology, zeus was the god of the sky and ruler of the olympian gods.
in greek mythology, athena was zeus' wife and sister, the queen of all the gods, the goddess of marriage.
achilles was the strongest and most fearless warrior in the greek war against the trojans.
perseus killed gorgon medusa while watching her eyes directly.
greek heroes were most popular because they were human and because they would exhibit weakness, and make mistakes. these are characteristics that all humans can identify with.
cerberus was a huge and powerful three-headed dog owned by poseidon, god of the dead, who guarded the entrance to the underworld.
the bible and greek mythology are two cornerstones of western culture
in solar system, all the major planets are named after greek gods and goddesses.
the four treasures of the study are brush pen, ink stick, ink slab and paper.
chinese calligraphy can be generally ided into 7 styles.
oracle bone inscriptions are characters scripted onto bronze wares.
the bronze inscription appeared from shang to qin dynasty.
the seal character is the earliest form written with brush.
the regular script has 8 basic strokes which can be traced in one chinese character-永.
the most famous master of running hand is mifu.
famous calligraphers of cursive hand are wang xizhi and monk huaisu.
traditional chinese painting is also called danqing, dan is for red and qing is for cyan.
according to the painting techniques, chinese painting can be ided into gongbi and landscape painting
according to the painters, chinese paintings can be ided into scholar painting, court painting and folk painting.
chinese calligraphy and painting are inseparable, not only because many great painters are also great calligraphers, but also because they are of the same origin.
the most famous masterpiece of running hand is the preface to the orchid pavilion collection by wang xizhi.
couplets and tablet are artistic forms of calligraphy in chinese people’s daily life.
the pursuit of art in ancient greece is to reappear the beauty of human body.
the three great masters of renaissance are da vinci, michelangelo and raphael.
in the 19th century, impressionist painters are known as people who pursue light in nature.
the word “philosophy” is derived from the greek word “philosophia”, meaning “love of freedom”.
the four paradigmatic philosophers in human history are socrates, confucius, jesus christ and sakyamuni.
the axial age refers to a period from 800 b.c. to 200 b.c. in which many great thinkers appeared in persia, india, china and egypt.
for socrates, true knowledge is unchanging and eternal truth inscribed within one’s soul. opinions, on the other hand, are changeable and offer only temporal views, ideas, and mere beliefs.
in about 500 b.c., the classic period of chinese philosophy (known as the contention of a hundred schools of thought) flourished, and the three most influential schools were established. they are confuciani, taoi and mohi.
after realizing his political ideal in his own state of lu, confucius began to travel from state to state, trying to spread his teachings.
confucius influence on china is so great that he was hailed after his death as “the uncrowned king”.
confucius is also the first educator who proposed that " there should be no distinction of classes in teaching".
both confucius and socrates would often enlighten his students by directly providing his answers.
both confucius and socrates taught their students rather informally and used primarily a conversational style.
the name of britain came from a celtic tribe—the britons.
the bill of rights granted the townspeople freedom of trade and self-government, which is regarded as the foundation of the british constitutionali.
in 1066, duke william of normandy crossed the channel, defeated the english army at the battle of hastings, thus beginning the norman conquest of england which marked the establishment of feudali in england.
the hundred years’ war was a series of wars fought between england and normans for trade and territory.
black death spread through europe in the 14th century, and swept through england in 1348 without any cure, killing half of the population and causing enormous economic losses.
america was named after amerigo vespucci, who arrived on the new continent after columbus.
in gettyurg address, abraham lincoln said “government of the people by the people and for the people shall not perish from the earth”
the first opium war, also known as anglo-chinese war was fought between britain and the qing dynasty of china. it marked the start of the century of humiliation.
the qing government adhered to the policy of emphasizing commerce and restraining agriculture, claiming that "commerce is the foundation of all "
private schools in uk are somewhat confusingly called public schools.
admission to british university is by selection based on a-level results.
there is actually no definite area that can be called campus in oxford and cambridge university.
there is a national education system providing uniform standards for schools in all the states of america
religious doctrine can be taught in american public schools.
inidualized instruction within a classroom is an important idea in american education and "learning by doing" remains a highly respected approach to child development.
quite a number of american students work part-time during their school years.
in the wei and jin period and southern and northern dynasties, actually, local government authorities were given the task of selecting talented candidates, then categorizing them into nine grades depending on their abilities.
in ancient china the success of examination candidates was proudly called stepping into the dragon’s door.
based on regional feature, chinese cuisines have been ided into eight main schools: shangdong cuisine, sichuan cusine, guangdong cuisine, fujian cusine, jiangsu cusine, zhejiang cuisine, hunan cuisine, and shanxi cuisine.
food served on the eve of the lunar new year is usually full of symboli
red boiled eggs are usually cooked and served to celebrate the birth of a new baby.
british afternoon tea is eaten from the top to bottom.
british people would like to go to the pub to have some drinks, play games and communicate with friends.
shen nong tasted herbs to distinguish the poisonous and edible ones
the principle of homology of medicine and food is not used now in china.
the most popular dish in britain is fish and chips.
the flavor of food in china basically includes sour, sweet, bitter, spicy and salty.
homology of food and medicine is a principle of chinese food culture, by which the nutrition of food is well perceived through traditional medicinal concept.
to understand the origin of chinese festivals, we may first know about the ancient chinese calendar system which is known as the agricultural calendar.
april fool’s day originated in germany. when the german first adopted the gregorian calendar in 1564, some people continued to use the old calendar to celebrate new year’s day on april 1st, and these people were called april fools.
in 1863, abraham lincoln declared the last thursday in november to be thanksgiving day.
it is widely believed that halloween traditions originated from ancient celtic harvest festivals, particularly the gaelic festival samhain.
in 1863, abraham lincoln declared the last thursday in november to be thanksgiving day.
both chinese and western literature originated from oral poetry.
shakespeare is recognized as the summit of the english renaissance.
the odyssey is an epic that tells about achilles’ journey back home after the trojan war.
poetry still plays the major role in modern chinese literature.
the merchant of venice is a famous tragedy by william shakespeare.
shakespeare’s four “great tragedies” are hamlet, othello, king lear and macbeth.
shakespeare’s four “great comedies” are a midsummer night’s dream, the merchant of venice, as you like it, and the tempest.
the homeric epics are recognized as the origin of the western literature.
myth derives from the greek word mythos, which means “speech, story or tale.”
perseus killed gorgon medusa while watching her eyes directly.
greek heroes were most popular because they were human and because they would exhibit weakness, and make mistakes. these are characteristics that all humans can identify with.
the bible and greek mythology are two cornerstones of western culture.
in solar system, all the major planets are named after greek gods and goddesses.
the four treasures of the study are brush pen, ink stick, ink slab and paper.
the regular script has 8 basic strokes which can be traced in one chinese character-永.
according to the painting techniques, chinese painting can be ided into gongbi and landscape painting.
chinese calligraphy and painting are inseparable, not only because many great painters are also great calligraphers, but also because they are of the same origin.
the most famous masterpiece of running hand is the preface to the orchid pavilion collection by wang xizhi.
traditional chinese painting is also called danqing, dan is for red and qing is for cyan.
the three great masters of renaissance are da vinci, michelangelo and raphael.
famous calligraphers of cursive hand are wang xizhi and monk huaisu.
couplets and tablet are artistic forms of calligraphy in chinese people’s daily life.