Chinese Culture Essay Research Paper China consists

Chinese Culture Essay, Research Paper

China consists mostly of two major sectors of the economy: Agriculture and Industry. China’s oldest and biggest sector of economy is agriculture. According to Chinese statements, about 75 percent of the entire Chinese labor force as of 1980 was engaged in agriculture. The agriculture is organized primarily on the basis of collective ownership; over 90% of the arable land is owned by collective ownership. Due to the fact that modern technology had taken so long to spread across the country, the flow of modern supplies became inadequate and has caused the growth of the agricultural industry to be much slower compared to that of the industrial sector. In China, there is a hierarchy of agriculture. The people’s commune controls the production brigade, which in turn controls the production team. Each commune has an average of sixteen brigades, and each brigade controls about seven teams. There is currently about 50,000 communes that exist in today’s agricultural sector. The production team consists of thirty households and anywhere from 100 to 250 members. These production teams hold the rights to the land and controlled everything concerning their property. Each team is responsible for all costs encountered each year, and at the end of the year the net profit is divided among each member according to the amount of work they have contributed. The production brigades, in turn, control the production team. Each brigade provides several social services for the teams, ranging from schooling to basic health care. The brigade also supervises the activities of the teams, and reports to the people’s commune, which is in charge of the brigades. The people’s commune is responsible for coordinating and directing the work of its brigades, as well as carrying out large-scale activities. These activities include the mobilization of large amounts of peasants for construction projects and other activities that are altogether too large for brigades to carry out. The commune also serves as a link between the government and the people, such as enforcing procurement quotas and assessing taxes. China’s second largest economical sector is industrial sector, which is extraordinarily smaller than the agricultural sector. Employing about 10% of the labor force, this small sector accounts for more than 50% of China’s GNP. Unlike the agricultural sector, China’s industrial economy is ruled by three different groups of interest: state ownership, urban collective ownership, and rural collective ownership. In 1978, state-owned enterprises produced about 81% of national industrial output and held 91.8% of fixed industrial assets. China has always had three major “religions” as long as it has been a country; Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism have been in china since 1000 B.C.. Although Confucianism has become the official ideology of the Chinese State, Confucianism has never been an established religion. All temples built to Confucius are used more for places of celebration than places of worship. Chinese rulers agreed with its teaching of respect for authority, and Chinese education has been based on Confucian scriptures. In fact, candidates who applied for a government job often had to pass a test based on these scriptures. Unlike Confucianism, “Taoism urges the individual to ignore the dictates of society and seek only to conform with the underlying pattern of the universe, the Tao (’way’), which can be described in words nor conceived in thought.” Opposite most beliefs/religions, Taoism does not concentrate on politics or on a single political theory. Instead, Taoism influences Chinese hygiene, aesthetics, and religion. During certain parts of Chinese history, cults developed due to Taoism and its promotion of immortality sought through the use of magic and elixirs. Also similar to Confucianism, Taoism is more of a system of beliefs than a religion. China’s largest actual religion is Buddhism, which surprisingly enough began with no written body of thought. Buddha’s disciples and early followers created written texts based on his teachings. The basis of Buddhism consists of the Four Noble Truths: 1) Life is suffering. 2) All suffering is caused by ignorance of the nature of reality and the craving, attachment, and grasping of ignorance. 3) Suffering can be ended by overcoming ignorance and attachment. 4) The path to suppression of suffering is the Noble Eightfold Path, which consists of correct views, correct intention, correct speech, correct action, correct livelihood, correct effort, correct-mindedness, and correct contemplation. China is one of the most populated countries in the world, and one of the best aspects of their country is their education. At one point in Chinese history sixty million new students enrolled in local schools in a time period of just two years. The most radical developments in Chinese education took place between 1966 and 1978, when. the traditional K through 12 grade was reduced to a nine to ten year plan, and colleges were reduced from a 4-5 year to a three-year program. These programs were formed under Mao, a now-famous dictator of China. When Mao died in 1976, the education policy was once again changed, thus leading to an increased interest in the development of science. The educational was system reverted to its original form, which meant more years of education for the youth. Another significant change in the educational system has been the re