Taoism and Chinese Culture

China is the fourth largest country in the world with the largest population as well. It is also the home of the Giant Panda. Beijing is the capital city of China with quite a few historical and beautiful attractions. Places to see, not only in Beijing, would be The Great Wall of China, the Forbidden City, Terracotta Army and much more. The Great Wall of China is the longest structure that is built by humans. It was built along the north with the purpose of protecting China from invaders and attacks over 2000 years ago. The Forbidden City, being almost 600 years old and located right in the middle of Beijing, is considered to be the world’s largest palace that took almost 15 years to build. Jiang’s home town is Suzhou, a beautiful city of water; think Venice but with a Chinese twist.

This country is filled with interesting festivals, traditions, and abundance of languages and religions. The official language is Mandarin or just standard Chinese. There are many more language dialects in China, in fact, there are so many that it is hard to come up with an exact number. As for religions, there are five that are considered to be official; Buddhism, Taoism, Catholicism, Islamic, and Protestantism. Tao Te Ching, or Laozi, was a philosopher and the founder of the religion, Taoism, who lived almost 2000 years ago. It is the belief in achieving harmony, especially with nature, and also in unity and opposites (Yin and Yang). Yin Yang is a principle that understands there are complementary forces in the world that fit together, work in perfect harmony and do not make sense alone, such as light and dark, wet and dry, or action and non-action. Taoism is derived from “the Tao” which is translated to “the Way” and Taoists practice things like fe...

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...y would include the six etiquettes. The proposal, which would be negotiated by the groom’s parents and told to a matchmaker; the matchmaker would then contact the bride’s parents to allow them to refuse or accept the marriage. Birthday matching would be when the bride’s parents accept the proposal and are asked for her date of birth and time of birth. This information would then be taken to a fortune teller would who predict whether there is astronomical conflict or not. Betrothal gifts would be when the bride’s parents are awarded with gifts and the betrothal letter, before the marriage is accepted. Wedding gifts are more gifts presented to the bride’s family once the betrothal gifts and letter were accepted. Next choosing the date would involve, once again, an astronomical view. Once the date is chosen, the final step is, of course, the wedding ceremony itself.