All About Chinese Culture

Book excerpt: Are you curious about the diversified views in “Contention of the Hundred Schools of Thought”? What's the origin of the Chinese zodiac signs? Or the history of the Chinese tea culture that is popular around the world? As one of the few ancient civilizations in the world, China features her a multidimensional cultural deposit in consistency and unification, endowing her history with a sense of perplexity and enchantment. Would you find it quite difficult to study Chinese culture? Well, relax. Together in this book, we shall follow the historical trace of 50 national treasures of the museums through the time tunnel, and enjoy their stories buried in the past 5000 years. They would be your company to explore the magnificent world of ancient China. In this book, the Chinese history is divided into eight periods. The treasures selected as samples are precious collections from museums around the world, including ceramics, jades, bronze wares, paintings, bamboo slips, sculptures, gold wares and silver wares. Rich in photographs and illustrations, the book introduces the most representative academic thoughts, moral education, religious beliefs, and folk customs in every period of the ancient China, and describes the interaction of Chinese and foreign cultures, as well as the spirit of the times and the cultural characteristics hidden behind them. In this way, the most crucial social concepts and the most attractive anecdotes in history will be revealed, and a sketch of Chinese culture will be unfolding in front of you through the rising and falling of those ancient dynasties. The treasures will no longer be resting in silence, as they are about to tell their own stories and present you with a journey of knowledge and visual feast. Let's take a stroll along the glory years to unveil the Chinese culture.