Cultural differences caused by regional differences in China.

On the Differences of Regional Culture in China

First, regional culture is a historical accumulation.

In fact, it is "regional culture". Of course, in China's "regional culture", Wu culture and Suzhou culture occupy a particularly important position.

What is "regional culture"? Since our country has culture, why should we emphasize "regional culture"? In my opinion, the cultural type that best reflects a certain geographical area and a certain spatial scope is "regional culture". Because it is obviously different from other areas and other spatial ranges. More than two thousand years ago, there was a saying in Sima Qian's Historical Records, which was called "a hundred miles of different winds, a thousand miles of different customs". The concept of "custom" that we usually talk about has existed for more than two thousand years. The so-called "wind" I understand is the popularity today, and "vulgarity" has become a habit and a way of life. Not all the winds have become vulgar. Then, you must be very concerned about how the "regional culture" is formed. For example, how did Suzhou, as a typical place of Wu culture, come into being? What does it have to do with other cultures? The formation of a cultural district takes a long time, and once it is formed, it will have a long continuity. Why is Wu Culture District called "Wu"? As we all know, Taibo went to the State of Wu at the earliest, and later to the Qin and Han Dynasties, and there were others named after the State of Wu, such as Wu Jun and later the State of Wu, which continued to evolve. Similarly, the culture of Wu and Yue can be traced back to the earliest Yue people, Ningbo and Shaoxing, and the Yue State established by the Yue people. Later, the state of Yue formed Shaoxing House, which also had a long-term continuation process. Therefore, although the history of China is quite complicated, great changes have taken place in some places such as Wu, and even great changes have taken place in the local population, a "regional culture" can definitely be traced back to its historical tradition. All the places we call "regional culture" today are generally formed through long-term accumulation in history.

Second, the four characteristics of different regional cultures

Then, where is the most outstanding performance of "regional culture"? I think the most distinctive feature is dialect. Just as there are various dialects in modern Chinese, they are widely distributed. The differences between modern Chinese dialects are manifested in pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar, especially in pronunciation. But these dialects and homophones are not independent languages, because they have certain corresponding rules in pronunciation and have many similarities in vocabulary and grammar. According to the characteristics of dialects, the history of their formation and development, and the results of the current dialect survey, dialects of modern Chinese can be divided. At present, Chinese linguists have different opinions on the division of modern Chinese dialects. Most people think that there are seven dialects in modern Chinese: Northern Dialect, Wu Dialect, Hakka Dialect, Min Dialect, Cantonese, Hunan Dialect, Gan Dialect and so on. Because China has a vast territory and different geographical conditions, there will definitely be different living environments in the long-term development process. Under such circumstances, coupled with the influence of humanity and nature, communication between people is not convenient for a long time, so a region will form its own dialect. This affects not only daily life, but also political life.

The second characteristic is different diet. In the case that the social living standard is not very high, diet always comes before clothes. Eating habits vary from place to place. In order to meet their own needs, especially in private places, they try their best to make use of local specialties and improve their lives, thus forming a unique diet in many places. Just as southerners live on rice, they are smart. At the same time, "rice cultivation often promotes scattered centrifugal force rather than cooperative centripetal force" (Joyce White's language), so southerners' indifferent personality to politics is more prominent. Mr. Lu Xun once said: the advantage of northerners is massiness, and that of southerners is cleverness, but the disadvantage of massiness lies in stupidity, and the disadvantage of cleverness lies in cunning. From the appearance, it is better for northerners to face south or southerners to face north. Wang Guowei's evaluation of southerners and northerners is: "Southerners are indifferent and reclusive, while northerners are enthusiastic about joining the WTO." Southerners like fantasy, while northerners value practice. "

The third feature is the different customs of weddings, funerals and weddings, including festivals. The daily life of a place can be sloppy at ordinary times, but not during festivals. Therefore, in comparison, "regional culture" is also reflected in the custom of weddings, funerals and celebrations.

The fourth feature is reflected in the differences in folk beliefs. China is not a religious country, and we have never practiced the unity of church and state in the whole country. Because of this, people in China often have various beliefs, and this belief has folk characteristics.

The last important feature is reflected in the difference of folk houses. Just like southern buildings, residential courtyards are small and the surrounding houses are integrated. Houses in the south mostly adopt bucket structure, and the combination of houses is more flexible. In the south, the gable of the house is horsehead-shaped, and the buildings in the south are mostly white walls and tiles with elegant colors. The northern land is vast, the mountains and rivers are magnificent, and the population is relatively sparse. Therefore, settlements are often located in flat areas, and most of them belong to plain structures. The residential buildings in the same area are particularly unified in form, with a cold climate and need sufficient sunshine. The main rooms all strive to face south. The colder the climate is, the looser the land is, and the facade of the house facing the street is also very simple. Usually, the large-scale display of the courtyard wall or the back eaves wall of the inverted house depends on the different specifications and different degrees of decoration of the gate and gatehouse to obtain different facades of the house. Some of the original houses in Suzhou are different from those in the north, not to mention the south. Nowadays, people in some places want to change houses casually and introduce foreign construction methods casually, and nine times out of ten they will fail.

Three or six factors make regional culture different.

You have to ask, why are there different "regional cultures"?

First of all, one reason is the difference in natural environment. "Regional culture" was formed in the historical period. If the traffic in history was as developed as it is today, many "regional cultures" would not exist. For example, there are many bridges, tunnels, trains, planes and cars on the Yangtze River today, so there will be no Jiangnan and Jiangbei, because it was not convenient to travel once before. Considering our country's long-term poverty and backwardness, culture has accumulated. In addition, transportation conditions limit the exchange of personnel and materials.

The second reason is immigration. When you go to a place, you can see that there are many people moving, and those who move have the initiative. Their immigrant culture will often become the mainstream culture of a place. Historically, Suzhou has been moved by immigrants from the north again and again. During the Southern Song Dynasty, a large number of immigrants moved south. Suzhou, Hangzhou, Jiaxing and Shaoxing are all immigrants. The emperor is also from Henan, and the minister is also from Henan. Monks and Taoists also settled here, so everyone learned Henan dialect, so a dialect island was formed in Hangzhou to learn northern dialect, which was different from the surrounding Wu dialect.

In addition, the third cause of "regional culture" is the influence of political power and administrative divisions. China's "regional culture" circle is not only related to the natural environment, rivers and mountains, topography and landforms, but also coincides with the enduring administrative regions. Between Suzhou and Changzhou, the usual exchanges are separate. Not only now, but before the Qing Dynasty in China, many things were usually based on administrative districts at the government level, including counties. Generally, there will be no such impact in a short time. I think these three aspects of China's "regional culture" are more important.

The fourth reason is nationality. We know that population migration is not necessarily racial migration. If it is a migration between ethnic groups, it will have a great impact on the distribution of ethnic groups.

In modern times, another reason is the influence of foreign culture. China is not a closed country. If we look at national culture and foreign national culture together, China has been influenced by foreign culture for a long time.

The last influence is religion. The influence of religion, Buddhism has been localized, Islam, Catholicism, Christianity, and some other religions, its influence is relatively great. In some special fields, the influence of religion cannot be ignored.

Fourth, protect the value of regional culture.

One of the important reasons why China's culture is rich and colorful and has such a strong vitality is the tenacious "regional culture", so foreign cultures have not systematically entered China in history. In history, some nomadic people entered the Central Plains, such as Xianbei people, Qidan people and Manchu people. They can conquer you militarily, but we will conquer you culturally in the end.

Second, "regional culture" has great development value and irreplaceable humanistic value. The characteristics of culture are diverse. If the "regional culture" seen in Suzhou is the same in northern Jiangsu and Shandong, what's the point? Because of the differences, it is very attractive to different parts of China. For example, Kunqu Opera and Pingtan, which Suzhou is proud of, have a great influence on people like us. There are many handicrafts, as well as food and festivals. If it is all a pattern, its appeal is limited. Now, if the "regional culture" of various places is developed, it will be very precious tourism and cultural resources, and it will also be conducive to the construction of local culture.

This "regional culture" also has many drawbacks and dross. What should we do? We should change these things, or we can stop advocating them, but we should also preserve them so that future generations can know that this culture has existed before and compare it. In the past, women in China bound their feet. If they haven't met before, how do they know why? We let everyone know that there has been such a thing, let everyone know the preciousness of today's culture and know its value. Or are there some pros and cons that we can't tell today? If it is cancelled, it will be too late to realize its value to human society. It is better to keep it first.

Five, the new regional culture needs guidance.

Is there a future for "regional culture"? The conditions just mentioned are gone now. The traffic used to be underdeveloped, but now it is developed. It used to be slow, but now it's faster. The original culture was relatively simple, but now it is rich. Will "regional culture" still exist if this goes on?

Of course, "regional culture" is indeed in the process of gradual weakening. For example, dialects, as well as delicious food, are now eaten in Suzhou and Shanghai, and everywhere else. At present, the characteristics of "regional culture" are becoming more and more negative. Is there a future? No matter how negative it is, it will also produce a new "regional culture." Although this "regional culture" will not be as different as in history, it is absolutely inseparable from local culture and local natural conditions. These cultures are also part of Chinese civilization and world culture, as long as they have their own vitality.

Now back to the beginning, what is "wind", wind is popular and fashionable, and what is "vulgarity"? Vulgar is an established habit. Today, we have many new "regional cultures", which are still a kind of "wind" to a great extent, so they change rapidly. How to turn it into a "custom" that is conducive to our development in all aspects requires the efforts of all of us. Culture is a process of free choice, and human nature cannot force it, but the government and the mainstream of society have the obligation to guide it. For example, we are all worried that the development of commodity economy will weaken the culture, but looking back at the history of Suzhou, we can say that Suzhou has been an economically developed place in China since the Five Dynasties, but the culture is equally developed and more and more developed. It can be said that the Qing Dynasty reached a new peak, which proved that the development of commodity economy was not completely contradictory to market economy and culture. What is the reason? It is a good tradition that people do not forget to improve their cultural quality after being relatively rich. On the other hand, the demand of culture also promotes economic development. In order to truly build a harmonious society in China and make Chinese civilization have lasting vitality, we must continue to seriously explore and carry forward the fine traditions and advantages of "regional culture" and carry it forward. We also believe that with China's reform and opening up, China will have a more splendid and diverse "regional culture".

Language, appearance, language, personality, diet, beliefs and customs

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