Grantham University When a Highway Divides a City Public Participation MEMO Review When a Highway Divides a City and prepare a two-page memo making a recommendation for what public participation should look like going forward. Chinese People
1. Like any other people in the world, Chinese has its own mythology of human origin. Please
refer to the next slide to hear the Chinese story of Creation.
2~3. In Chinese mythology, the universe and mankind were created by a giant called Pangu 盘
古. I often ask students in class to guess which part of Pangu’s body became humans in Chinese
mythology of Creation. Before you go to the next slide, please give a try as well. You will find
the exercise is very interesting and revealing. It always surprises students that none of Pangu’s
vital organs is part of human creation. Instead, it is parasites on Pangu’s body that became
human beings. Obviously, from the Chinese perspective, we mankind have a parasitic
relationship with the nature. It is very different from the western perspective that places
human at the center. If there is a hierarchy in universe, in Chinese view, humans are at the
bottom, no more important than any other living things.
4. In Chinese tradition, Huangdi was believed to be the very first ancestor of the Chinese and
the very first of the five great pre-dynastic rulers who ruled China in the third millennium BC.
He was supposedly responsible for inventing all the important agricultural tools, cultivating
major crops, and breeding animals. He also devised the first calendar and transportation tools.
Supposedly, all the Chinese surnames came from the names he gave to his numerous sons. It is
my guess that since the Chinese civilization was originated in the Yellow River floodplain, yellow
is the color of earth, representing fertility and livelihood, thus the name of Yellow Emperor. Yao
lived frugally and cared for the people. He appointed capable and wise people to run the state.
Instead of passing his throne to his son, Yao selected Shun to be the successor. Shun
distinguished himself for his great achievement in ethics and morals. Shun survived several
attempts on his life by his step mother and step brother but never sought for revenge. His
reputation grew and many migrated to his tribe. Following Yao’s step, Shun gave up his throne
to Yu, a talented engineer who knew how to tame water. According to the legend, Yu was so
consumed by his task of controlling floods, he did not get married until he was 30 years old.
Only four days after his wedding, Yu was on his way back to work again. It was said during one
giant flood control project, so devoted he was that he passed his home several times without
stopping to greet his wife and children. When Yu died, people ignored his wish and made his
son to be the new leader. Historians believe that this was the beginning of Bronze Age that
features a hereditary political system. Yu and his son were believed to be the first two rulers of
the first Chinese dynasty Xia (2033~1562 BC), a dynasty so far has no archeological backing, but
was recorded in Chinese history.
5. Scholars agree that one can learn from these Chinese mythological stories about the way
ancient Chinese thought of themselves and where they came from and what their civilization
was about. Here are the main points of the summary.
6. These two examples are among the best documented evidences of early human beings on
the Chinese subcontinent over a million years ago. Beijing Man’s discovery and eventually its
disappearance is an intriguing story that could inspire Hollywood film script. In 1923, a foreign
paleontologist found a molar. Canadian doctor secured the funding to do the Excavation in
1927. By 1929, they discovered 200 human fossils, including 6 nearly complete skullcaps.
However, all this fossils were lost during the Japanese invasion of China in 1930s. You can
google “Beijing Man” to find more information.
7~8. By 5000 BC, Neolithic cultures with agriculture, pottery, villages, and textiles had emerged
in many of the river valleys in China. Two most well-known Neolithic sites are on so-called Loess
Plateau in the Yellow River valley. The technological level of the Neolithic villages was already
higher than that of most North American Indian tribes in the seventeenth century. Evidences
show that Neolithic communities in the Chinese subcontinent were various with different
languages and religious practices. They came to have contact with each other. By the time of
2000 BC when the son of the last pre-dynastic King Yu took the throne and established the first
dynasty of Xia, China entered a more complex bronze-age civilization.
9~12. Having discussed the real as well as the imagined origin of Chinese people, let us look at
the composition of the people who live in China today. Chinese society is not homogenous in its
ethnic composition as one might think. Han Chinese, as the overwhelming ethnic majority,
makes up 92 percent of the population. One of the most famous faces of Han Chinese is Jackie
Chan. In Beijing Olympic Opening ceremony a group of children, dressed in 56 ethnic costumes,
walk to the stage holding a Chinese national flag. It is no surprise, the expansion of the Chinese
empire to the west, north and south had brought within the scope of Chinese rule a variety of
“peripheral” peoples. Majority of the ethnic minorities live in remote and mountainous regions.
Even Han Chinese should not be considered as a homogenous ethnic group as one would
believe. It is more of concept than a reality. According to a recent report in China, the pureblood Han Chinese people completely vanished into the racial mixes from centuries of mass
migrations as well as racial integrations. Han Chinese characteristics couldn’t even be traced in
DNA tests.
Who are Chinese? This is a cultural and political question.
We understand that the great longevity of an empire the size of China presumes a high degree
of cultural unity. It is clearly identifiable the main traits of Chinese cultural distinctiveness. Over
the centuries, imperial elites were active in promoting a common culture and way of life as
expressed in dress, architecture, ritual (like marriage, birth, death, etc.) and etiquette, family
life, scholarship and public service. However, on the other hand, “Chineseness” is also created
by the activities of ordinary people in local variations and customs which reinforced strong
emotional ties to native places. It is very common for the Chinese to assume their major
identity on where they are born. A claim like “I am a ‘Shanghainese’” sends cultural signals to
listeners.
13. The map shows the location of five autonomous regions, areas with the concentration of
minority population.
14. The two sides of cultural identity is also reflected in Chinese government’s ethnic policies.
The Chinese state promotes national unity based on shared political and cultural identity like
any other states would do. For this purpose, it emphasizes Chineseness—a constructed
common way of life. The economic development has resulted in internal migration that
gradually break down the local distinctiveness. It is also called into question of whether
“Chinese Culture” simply means “Han” culture.
On the other hand, the government recognizes the importance of ethnic diversity to reduce
potential ethnic tensions and conflicts. It seems in recent years, more efforts have been spent
on retaining ethnic cultural heritages. Among all the ethnic groups, few has their own written
languages. To keep the balance is a delicate matter.
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