Tag: China

Authentic Asian helps non-Asians better understand Asian culture

Wuhan is the greatest WordPress theme ever. Wuhan is the theme I use for this website. While changing a few minor bits here and there, I’ve noticed a README file in the theme directory. Here is what it said:

I don’t have a wishlist. I don’t need donations. If you enjoy this, please consider putting a link to
my website on your blog. It’ll be greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance!

Meng

P.S: To make it even easier for you, here’s the code:

<a href=”http://www.authenticasian.com”>Authentic Asian</a>

=)

*******************************************************************
Theme Name: Wuhan
Theme URI: http://wuhan.authenticasian.com/
Description: Inspired by Macromedia website. Built based on Kubrick.
Version: 0.4
Author: Meng Gao
Author URI: http://wuhan.authenticasian.com/

The CSS, XHTML and design is released under GPL:
http://www.opensource.org/licenses/gpl-license.php
*******************************************************************

Of course I could not NOT link to the site. While at it I decided to check it out and see what this guy was all about. I expected nothing more than just another blog with a bunch of posts about everything and anything and mostly computers and WordPress. But what I found was totally different. I found something I was looking for for some time now – a high quality blog about Asian (Chinese mostly) culture. Here is an excerpt from the About page:

Asian culture is becoming increasingly prevalent in America and Europe in the recent years. Yet people who use chopsticks, practice kungfu or eat sushi do not necessarily understand Asian culture better than an average American. To this end, I hope to start a website that will help non-Asians better understand Asian culture.

I recognize that there are many ways in which Asian culture can be explained and demonstrated. After much contemplation, I decided to start off with something specific: tattoo or t-shirt designs featuring Asian art or calligraphy.

…

Apart from that, I also plan on writing articles to showcase certain Asian cultural products, such as martial arts, musical instruments or Asian cuisine.

Everyone knows how much I love Chinese culture, so it is almost needless to say that not only did I link to it from this post, but I also subscribed to the RSS feed.

I love China

I have realized something today. I love China. I never thought I do. Actually, I never thought on the subject. Neither about China, nor about any other country. (Well, maybe Cyprus, but that doesn’t count since I am living in this country).

Before you start looking for a different blog to read, let me tell you that I have never been to China. Nor have I read any books about China. I have met a few Chinese people, but I haven’t been really close with anyone of them. At this point you might be wondering how did I arrive to the conclusion.

Well, I was sitting there doing nothing when this Chinese girl popped up in my ICQ. Her English was good enough for us to talk so we did. She asked me if I ever visited her country or if I knew anything about it. I started thinking. And here is what came to my mind.

  • I am one of the greatest fans of Chinese martial arts movies. There is a special place in my heart for all of them collectively and few of them individually.
  • I really enjoy Chinese cuisine. Of course, all those places that I have tried might have nothing in common with the real meal in China, but as far as I went and as far as my imagination can take me, I really like Chinese food.
  • I like Chinese art. Especially paintings, but anything works. Some of the best decorations that I have seen were embroideries on Chinese silk. And, of course, the china porcelain dishes. Those are really cool, though I haven’t seen many of them. But I liked those that I have seen.
  • I like Chinese dragons. Dragons have a special place in Chinese culture and I totally dig them. Dragon dances, pictures, fairy tales and all the other dragonware – I like it.
  • I like Chinese architecture. I haven’t seen any in real life, but those that come on pictures and in the movies look really cool. If you can’t think of any, I’ll remind you of Imperial palaces, Great Wall of China, and monasteries.
  • I like Chinese people. I met a few. I didn’t get very close to any of them, as I have already mentioned above. But all of them seemed like decent people. What I liked about them was that they knew how to have some real fun without crossing too many of cultural borders. This is a rare quality, if you ask me.

I was surprised by myself. First of all, I never knew that I knew so much about China. Secondly, I couldn’t believe that with all these positive emtions towards China I never thought about the country or culture separately. Strange. I am really glad I discovered all those feelings. Now that I’ve done that, I put a visit to China on my todo list. It is one of the first things to do after I fix my financial situation.