Culture of Asia

The culture of Asia is diverse. The different kinds of cultural heritage of many nationalities, societies, and ethnic groups in the continent of Asia. The continent is more commonly divided into more natural geographic and cultural subregions, including Central Asia, East Asia, North Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia and West Asia. 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, Judaism 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.

Nationalities and ethnic groups

There are an abundance of ethnic groups throughout Asia, with adaptations to the climate zones of Asia, which can perate, subtropical or tropical. The ethnic groups have adapted to mountains, deserts, grasslands, and forests. On the coasts of Asia, the ethnic groups have adopted various methods of harvest and transport. Some groups are primarily hunter-gatherers, some practice transhumance (nomadic lifestyle), others have been agrarian/rural for millennia and others are becoming industrial/urban. Some groups/countries of Asia are completely urban (Singapore and Hong Kong). The colonization of Asia was largely ended in the twentieth century, with national drives for independence and self-determination across the continent.

East Asia

East Asia is usually thought to consist of China, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam. The dominant influence historically has been China, though in modern times, cultural exchange has flowed more bi-directionally. Major characteristics of this region include shared Chinese-derived language characteristics, as well as shared religion, especially Buddhism and Taoism. There is also a shared social and moral philosophy derived from Confucianism.

The Chinese script is the oldest continuously used writing system in the world, and has long been a unifying principle of East Asia, as the medium for conveying Chinese culture. It was historically used throughout the region, and is still used in by ethnic Chinese throughout the world, as well as in Japan and to a small and waning extent in South Korea. Within China, the meanings of the characters remain generally unchanged from region to region, though their pronunciations differ. This is because Classical Chinese was long the written language of all China, and was replaced by Mandarin as the national written language in the twentieth century.

Chinese writing was passed on to Korea, Japan and Vietnam. In Japan, the set of Chinese characters used are called Kanji and form a major component of the Japanese writing system. In the 9th century, Japanese developed their own writing systems called Kana (Hiragana and Katakana) which support Kanji script to suit Japanese language. Today, both ideograph Kanji and syllabary Kana is used in mixture in Japanese. In Vietnam, Chinese script (Han Tu) was used during the millennium under the influence of China, with the vernacular Chu Nom script are also used since 13th century. However, this has now (since the early 20th century) been replaced completely by the Latin Alphabet-based Quoc Ngu. In the 15th century, Korea developed an alphabet system called Hangul to make writing and communication easier for its commoners.

Though Korea, Japan and Vietnam are not Chinese speaking regions, their languages have been influenced by Chinese to some extent. Even though their writing systems have changed over time, Chinese is still found in the historical roots of many borrowed words. Though in modern times, Chinese is also influenced by other Asian languages, especially modern technical and political terms created in Japan to represent western concepts. For example, 文化 (culture), 文明 (civilization), 人民 (people), 経済 (economy), 共和 (republic) and 哲学 (philosophy) are borrowed words from Japanese to Chinese, known as wasei-kango.

Apart from the unifying influence of Confucianism, Buddhism, Chinese characters, and other Chinese Cultural Influences, there is nevertheless much diversity between the countries of the region such as different religions, national costumes, languages, writing systems, cuisines, traditional music and so on.

South Asia

Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and Islam are the major world religions founded in South Asia. Islam. While about 80% of Indians and Nepalis are Hindus, Sri Lanka and Bhutan have a majority of Buddhists. Islam is the predominant religion of Afghanistan and Maldives (99%), Pakistan (96%) and Bangladesh (90%).

Pakistan is split with its two western regions of Baluchistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa sharing a greater Iranic heritage due to the native Pashtuns and Baloch people of the regions. Its two eastern regions of Punjab and Sindh share cultural links to Northwest India. Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal share a common heritage and culture based on the Bengali language. The Culture of India is diverse and a complex mixture of many influences. Nepal is culturally linked to both India and Tibet and the varied ethnic groups of the country share many of the festivals and cultural traditions used and celebrated in North and East India and Tibet. Nepali, the dominant language of Nepal uses the Devanagari alphabet which is also used to write many North Indian languages.^[1][2] Bhutan is a culturally linked to Tibet with significant influences from India. Tibetan Buddhism is the dominant religion in Bhutan and the Tibetan alphabet is used to write Dzongkha, the dominant language of Bhutan. Sri Lanka is culturally tied to both India and Southeast Asia.^[3] Sinhalese, the dominant language in the country is written in the Sinhalese alphabet which is derived from the Kadamba-Pallava alphabet and aspects of its cuisine, for example, show South Indian influences. Certain cultural traditions, festivals and Theravada Buddhism, the dominant religion in Sri Lanka, show a mainland Southeast Asian affinity.^[4]

Indo-Aryan languages are spoken in Pakistan, Sinhalese of Sri Lanka and most of North, West and East India and Nepal. Dravidian languages are spoken in South India and in Sri Lanka by the Tamil community. Tibeto-Burman languages are spoken in the North and North East India. Iranic Languages are spoken in Baluchistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan. The main languages of Afghanistan are Pashto and Dari.

Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia consists of Mainland Southeast Asia, and Maritime Southeast Asia. Southeast Asia is usually thought to include Myanmar (previously known as Burma), Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia, the Philippines and East Timor. As the crossroads of maritime Silk Road trade network since ancient times, the region has been greatly influenced by the cultures and religions of neighboring region of India and China as well as the religions Islam and Hinduism and Buddhism from Southwest Asia. The culture of Southeast Asian nations is diverse, ranged from tribal culture to sophisticated civilizations that created architectural wonders such as Angkor of Cambodia and Borobudur of Indonesia.

Buddhist culture has a lasting and significant impact in mainland Indochina nations; (Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam). In the case of Vietnam, it is more influenced by the culture of China. Before the 14th century, Hindu-Buddhist dominated in Southeast Asia. Thereafter, Islam became dominant in Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. Southeast Asia has also had a lot of Western influence due to the lasting legacy of colonialism. One example is the Philippines which has been heavily influenced by America and Spain, with Christianity (Catholicism) as the dominant religion. East Timor also demonstrate Portuguese influence through colonialism.

A common feature found around the region are stilt houses. Another shared feature is rice paddy agriculture, which originated in Southeast Asia thousands of years ago. Dance drama is also a very important feature of the culture, utilizing movements of the hands and feet perfected over thousands of years. Furthermore, the arts and literature of Southeast Asia is very distinctive as some have been influenced by Indian, Hindu, Chinese, Buddhist and Islamic literature.

West Asia

West Asia largely corresponds with the term 'Middle East', although some prefer 'West Asia' due to perceived Eurocentrism in the former. West Asia consists of Turkey, Syria, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Palestinian territories, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Oman and Yemen. The region is the historical birthplace of the Jews (including the Jewish diaspora), Assyrians, Arabs, Druze, Persians, Turks, and various other ethnic and national groups. It is also where the 3 Abrahamic faiths originated: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Today, the region is almost 93% Muslim and is dominated by Islamic politics, although one country (Israel) is mostly Jewish. Two countries are Christian, namely Armenia and Georgia. Culturally, the region is Arab, Persian, Azerbaijani, Turkish, and Hebrew. Many countries in the Middle East are desert and thus many nomadic groups exist today. On the other hand, modern metropolises also exist on the shifting sands: Abu Dhabi, Amman, Riyadh, Tel Aviv, Doha and Muscat. The climate is mostly of a desert climate however some of the coastal regions have a more temperate climate. On the other hand, the Anatolian plateau (Turkey, Armenia) is very mountainous and thus has a more temperate climate while the coasts have a distinct Mediterranean climate. The Persian Plateau (Iran, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Turkmenistan) has a diverse terrain, it is mainly mountainous with portions of desert, steppe and tropical forest on the coast of the Caspian Sea. The tropical forest, unique in West Asia, straddles the southern and southwestern shores of the Caspian Sea, and is shared between Iran and Azerbaijan. West Asian cuisine is immensely rich and diverse. The literature is also immensely rich with Arabic, Jewish, Persian, and Turkish dominating.

Central Asia

Central Asia consists of five former Soviet Socialist Republics: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. However, Afghanistan is sometimes included. The predominant religion in Central Asia is Islam. Central Asia has a long rich history mainly based on its historic position on the famous Silk Road. It has been conquered by Mongols, Persians, Tatars, Russians, Sarmatian and thus has a very distinct, vibrant culture. The culture is influenced by Chinese, South Asian, Persian, Arabian, Turkish, Russian, Sarmatian and Mongolian cultures. The people of the steppes of Central Asia have historically been nomadic people but a unifying state was established in Central Asia in the 16th century: The Kazakh Khanate.

The music of Central Asia is rich and varied. Central Asian cuisine is one of the most prominent cuisines of Asia, with cuisines from Pakistan, India, China and Azerbaijan especially showing significant influence from the foods of Central Asia. Some of the most famous Central Asian foods are manti and pilaf.

The (ancient) literature of Central Asia is linked with Persian literature as historically the region has long been part of the Persian Empire. Furthermore, being at the junction of the Silk Road it has numerous Chinese, Indian and Arabian literary works. However, Kyrgyz has the longest epos in the world Epic of Manas ″

North Asia

For the most part, North Asia (more widely known as Siberia) is considered to be made up of the Asian part of Russia solely. The geographic region of Siberia was the historical land of the Tatars in the Siberia Khanate. However Russian expansion essentially undermined this and thus today it is under Russian rule. There are roughly 40 million people living in North Asia and the majority is now Ethnic Russians while Indigenous Siberians have become a minority in North Asia.

Architecture

Asia features many distinctive styles of architecture. A number of ancient and symbolic structures still stand, such as Islamic mosques and the castles of Japan. Angkor Wat in Cambodia is perhaps the most iconic structure in Asia and is represented on the country's flag. However, many traditional architectural styles have either been destroyed, lost, or replaced by Western contemporary architecture for new development and construction.

China

Chinese architecture refers to a style of architecture that has taken shape in East Asia over many centuries. The structural principles of Chinese architecture have remained largely unchanged, the main changes being only the decorative details. Since the Tang Dynasty, Chinese architecture has had a major influence on the architectural styles of Korea, Vietnam, and Japan.

Many Buddhist temples are well-known examples of Chinese architecture.Chinese architecture refers to a style of architecture that has taken shape in East Asia over many centuries. The structural principles of Chinese architecture have remained largely unchanged, the main changes being only the decorative details.

India

Indian architecture is that vast tapestry of production of the Indian Subcontinent that encompasses a multitude of expressions over space and time, transformed by the forces of history considered unique to the sub-continent, sometimes destroying, but most of the time absorbing.The result is an evolving range of architectural production that nonetheless retains a certain amount of continuity across history.

Indonesia

The Indonesian architectute reflects the diversity of cultural, historical and geographic influences that have shaped Indonesia as a whole. It ranges from native vernacular architecture, Hindu-Buddhist temples, colonial architecture, to modern architecture.

Indonesian vernacular architecture is called rumah adat. The houses hold social significance in society and demonstrate local ingenuity in their relations to environment and spatial organisation.^[5]:5 Notable examples include Rumah Gadang, Tongkonan, Balinese houses and Javanese Joglo. Hindu-Buddhist temple monument called candi, with the best example are Borobudur massive stone mandala-stupa and Prambanan Hindu temple dedicated to Trimurti gods. By 16th century, the Portuguese followed by the Dutch colonize Indonesian archipelago, and developed European architecture technique and developed colonial architecture.

Japan

In Japan, some wooden temples from the Nara period are over 1,000 years old. Although some parts have been replaced, much of the original structure is said to be intact. During the era of feudalism in Japan, many castles were constructed. Wooden castles were often destroyed or dismantled during the shift from feudalism during the Meiji Restoration. Intact examples include Himeji Castle (14th century) and Hikone Castle (17th century). Reconstructed examples include Osaka Castle. Japanese architecture is distinctive and recognized throughout the world.

Malay Peninsula

Various cultural influences, notably Chinese, Indian and Europeans, played a major role in forming Malay architecture.^[6] Until recent time, wood was the principal material used for all Malay traditional buildings.^[7]However, numerous stone structures were also discovered particularly the religious complexes from the time of Srivijaya and ancient isthmian Malay kingdoms.

Art

Middle Eastern dance has various styles and has spread to the West in the form known as bellydancing. In the Punjab region of India and Pakistan, Bhangra (dance)bhangra dance is very popular. The bhangra is a celebration of the harvest. The people dance to the beat of a drum while singing and dancing.

In Southeast Asia, dance is an integral part of the culture; the styles of dance vary from region to region and island to island. Traditional styles of dance have evolved in Thailand and Burma. The Philippines have their own styles of dance such as Cariñosa and Tinikling; during the Spanish occupation of the Philippines, practitioners of Filipino martial arts hid fighting movements into their dances to keep the art alive despite the fact that it was banned by the occupiers.

Martial arts

Martial arts figure prominently in many Asian cultures, and the first known traces of martial arts date from the Xia Dynasty of ancient China from over 4000 years ago. Some of the best known styles of martial arts in the world were developed in East Asia, such as karate and judo from Japan, taekwondo from Korea and the various styles of Chinese martial arts known collectively as kung fu. Many other styles of martial arts originated in Southeast Asia, including muay Thai from Thailand, Vovinam from Vietnam, Arnis from the Philippines, and Silat from Indonesia. In addition, popular styles of wrestling have originated in Turkey and Mongolia.

Development of Asian martial arts continues today as newer styles are created. Modern hybrid martial arts systems such as Jeet Kune Do and Krav Maga often incorporate techniques from traditional East Asian martial arts. Asian martial arts are highly popular in the Western world and many have become international sports. Karate alone has 50 million practitioners worldwide.^[8]

Languages

Asia is a continent with great linguistic diversity, and is home to various language families and many language isolates. A majority of Asian countries have more than one language that is natively spoken. For instance, according to Ethnologue over 600 languages are spoken in Indonesia while over 100 are spoken in the Philippines. The official figure of 'mother tongues' spoken in India is 1683, of which an estimated 850 are in daily use. Korea, on the other hand, is home to only one language.

The main language families found in Asia, along with examples of each, are:

• Austroasiatic: Khasi, Khmer, Mon, Santali, Vietnamese, Wa
• Austronesian: Bicolano, Cham, Ilocano, Javanese, Kapampangan, Kedayan, Malay (Indonesian & Malaysian), Minangkabau, Pangasinan, Sundanese, Tagalog, Tetum, Visayan (Cebuano, Hiligaynon, Waray)
• Dravidian: Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu
• Indo-European:Assamese, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Dhivehi, Gujarati, Hindustani (Hindi, Urdu), Kashmiri, Kurdish, Maithili, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Pashto, Persian (Tajik and Dari), Punjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Sinhala, Armenian, Russian, Greek
• Japonic: Japanese, Ryukyuan
• Sino-Tibetan: Hakka, Hokkien (Taiwanese), Mandarin, Wu (Shanghainese), Yue (Cantonese), Burmese, Dzongkha, Lepcha, Meitei, Nepal Bhasa, Tibetan, Tshangla
• Tai–Kadai: Bouyei, Isan, Kam, Lao, Shan, Thai, Zhuang
• Turkic: Azeri, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Turkish, Turkmen, Uyghur, Uzbek
• Afro-Asiatic: Arabic, Aramaic, Hebrew
• Georgian
• Korean
• Miao–Yao: Hmong, Iu Mien
• Mongolic: Buryat, Mongolian
• Romance-based creoles: Chavacano, Macanese
• Dagestanian: Chechen, Ingush
• Circassian: Kabardian
• Tungusic: Manchu
• Uralic: Khanty, Mari, Nenets, Permics

Literature

Classical literature

Arabic

One of the most famous literary works of West Asia is 1001 Arabian Nights.

Chinese

In Tang and Song dynasty China, famous poets such as Li Bai authored works of great importance. They wrote shī (Classical Chinese: 詩) poems, which have lines with equal numbers of characters, as well as cí (詞) poems with mixed line varieties.

Hebrew and Diaspora Jewish

Hebrew literature consists of ancient, medieval, and modern writings in the Hebrew language. It is one of the primary forms of Jewish literature, though there have been cases of literature written in Hebrew by non-Jews.^[9] Without doubt, the most important such work is the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh). Many other ancient works of Hebrew literature survive, including religious and philosophical works, historical records, and works of fiction.

Indian

The famous poet and playwright Kālidāsa wrote two epics: Raghuvamsha (Dynasty of Raghu) and Kumarasambhava (Birth of Kumar Kartikeya); they were written in Classical Sanskrit rather than Epic Sanskrit some other examples of his plays are Abhigyanam Shakuntala . Other examples of works written in Classical Sanskrit include the Pānini's Ashtadhyayi which standardized the grammar and phonetics of Classical Sanskrit. The Laws of Manu is an important text in Hinduism. Kālidāsa 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.

Japanese

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: 発句) 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 Bashō (松尾芭蕉); others influenced by Bashō include Kobayashi Issa and Masaoka Shiki.

Korean

Korean literature begins in the Three Kingdoms Period, and continues through the Goryeo and Joseon dynasties to the modern day. Examples of Korean poetric forms include sijo and gasa, with Jeong Cheol and Yun Seon-do considered to be the supreme Korean poets. Examples of renowned Korean prose masterpieces include the Memoirs of Lady Hyegyeong, The Cloud Dream of the Nine and the Chunhyangjeon.

Pakistani

Pakistani literature has a rich history, and draws influences from both Persian, Muslim and Indian literary traditions. The country has produced a large number of famed poets especially in the national Urdu language. The famous Muhammad Iqbal, regarded as the national poet, was often called "The Poet of the East" (Shair-e-Mashriq).

Persian

Turkish

Modern literature

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 literature of Europe and the Americas. He also wrote Jana Gana Mana the national anthem of India as well as Amar Sonar Bangla the national anthem of Bangladesh. Moreover, translation of his another song “Namo Namo Matha" is the national anthem of Sri Lanka. This song was collected by his student Mr. Ananda Samarakoon and M. Nallathamby translated in Tamil language. Other Asian writers won Nobel Prizes in literature, including Yasunari Kawabata (Japan, 1966), and Kenzaburō Ōe (Japan, 1994). Yasunari Kawabata wrote novels and short stories distinguished by their elegant and spartan diction such as the novels Snow Country and The Master of Go.

Family

Families in Asia has a very strong family value. They teach their kids that the family is their protection and the major source of their identity. They expect loyalty from their children. Parents define the law and the children are expected to obey them. This is called filial piety, the respect for one's parents and elders. ^[10] They are expected to have self-control, thus making it hard for them to express emotions, they are also expected to show respect through their motions and the way they speak. Children are expected to look after their parents when they grow older. ^[11] Sons are expected to stay home, while daughters go and live with their husband's family.

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. They include elements of non-material pursuits, whereas another school of thought Cārvāka, which originated in India, and was propounded by Charvak around 2500 years before, preached the enjoyment of material world. Middle Eastern philosophy includes Islamic philosophy as well as Jewish and 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.

Religions

Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism originated in India, a country of South Asia. In East Asia, particularly in China and Japan, Confucianism, Taoism, Zen Buddhism and Shinto took shape. Other religions of Asia include the Bahá'í Faith, Shamanism practiced in Siberia, and Animism practiced in the eastern parts of the Indian subcontinent.

Today 30% of Muslims live in the South Asian region, mainly in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and the Maldives. If Afghanistan is counted, this number is even higher. The world's largest single Muslim community (within the bounds of one nation) is in Indonesia. There are also significant Muslim populations in the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, China, Russia, Central Asia and West Asia.

In the Philippines and East Timor, Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion; it was introduced by the Spaniards and the Portuguese, respectively. In Russia, Georgia, and Armenia, Orthodox Christianity is the predominant religion. Various Christian sects have adherents in portions of the Middle East and East Asia.

Judaism is the major religion of Israel.

Religions founded in Asia and with a majority of their contemporary adherents in Asia include:

• Bahá'í Faith: slightly more than half of all adherents are in Asia
• Buddhism: Cambodia, Nepal, China, Japan, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Burma, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Taiwan, Vietnam, parts of northern, eastern, and western India, and parts of central and eastern Russia (Siberia).
  • Mahayana Buddhism: China, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, 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: Bhutan, 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.
• Judaism: Israel
• Islam: Central, South and Southwest Asia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, and Brunei.
  • Ahmadiyya Islam: Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka.
  • 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)

Festivals and 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 Janmaashtami. 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.

The Philippines is also tagged as the "Fiesta Country" because of its all-year-round celebrations nationwide. There is a very strong Spanish influence in their festivals, thus making the Philippines distinctively "Western", yet retaining its native Asian characteristics. Fiesta is the term used to refer to a festival. Most of these fiestas are celebrated in honor of a patron saint. To summarize it all, at least every city or municipality has a fiesta. Some prime examples include Sinulog from Cebu and Dinagyang of Iloilo. Other famous Philippine festivals include the MassKara Festival of Bacolod and Panagbenga Festival of Baguio.

Sports

Due to the vastness of Asia, popularity of sorts varies greatly across the continent.

Association football is widely popular in Asia. Boxing, badminton and table tennis are very popular in East Asia. Baseball is popular in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. Cricket is especially popular in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Cuisine

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. While grain flatbread were consumed in Middle East to Indian subcontinent.

Traditionally, many Asian eats using their bare hand, this is common practice in Arabia, India and Indonesia. However, western cutlery such as spoon and fork are currently common and widely available. In Indonesia and the Philippines, people usually use western cutlery such as spoon, fork and knife. While in China, Japan, Taiwan, Korea and Vietnam, people usually use chopsticks to eat traditional food, but shapes of chopsticks are different in these countries. For example, Chinese chopsticks are long and squared; Vietnamese chopsticks are long, thick at one end then gradually get thinner and are made of wood or bamboo; Japanese chopsticks are rounder, short and spire to eat bony fish easily; Korean chopsticks are short, flat and made of metal. It is said that wood is rarer than metal on the Korean Peninsula and metal chopsticks can prevent poisoning. An island nation surrounded by ocean, Japan has various fish dishes. Especially, fresh raw fish cuisines are very popular in Japan and around the world, such as sushi and sashimi. Additionally, there were infected by two major culture, one is Chinese and the other is Japan; Taiwan is an island nation surrounded by ocean, full of mountains and forest than Japan, so their chopsticks types are paralleled by materials such as bamboo, wood, metal, and material combined.

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.

The cuisine of Indonesia possess rich and diverse collection of dishes and recipes with regional cooking tradition flourished, such as Minang Sundanese to Balinese. Most Indonesians consumes steamed rice with flavourful meat, fish and vegetables in one serving such as in Nasi Padang and nasi campur. Notable example include rendang, satay, soto and nasi goreng.

In Filipino banquet, people will see a unique set of dishes. 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.

• 
  Chicken tikka, a well-known dish across the globe, reflects the amalgamation of South Asian cooking styles with those from Central Asia.
• 
  Philippine cuisine
• 
  Kabsa also called Majboos, famous in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, and United Arab Emirates

Culture by people

See also

• Culture of Africa
• Culture of Europe
• Culture of North America
• Culture of Oceania
• Culture of South America

Notes

^ John Lindley (1889), Treasury of Botany vol 1. p. 435. Longmans, Green, & Co; New and rev. ed edition (1889)

References

^{[1] [2]}

External links

• Yin Yu Tang: A Chinese Home showcases Chinese culture through a detailed examination of a family residence located in the Anhui province of East China.
• Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize was established to honor the outstanding work of individuals or groups/organizations to preserve and create unique and diverse cultures of Asia.

1. ↑ http://www.dimensionsofculture.com/2010/10/cultural-values-of-asian-patients-and-families/
2. ↑ http://asiasociety.org/education/value-and-meaning-korean-family