The Height of Chinese Culture

Traditional Chinese Culture reached its height during the Tang dynasty (618 – 907 CE). This was the golden age of Chinese civilization where the country actually tried to practice much of what the great masters taught. Taoism and Buddhism flourished, Confucianism was not yet a tool of repression, and women enjoyed many freedoms. Military technology reached a high point and the bureaucracy was well functioning and humane. International travel and trade facilitated the transmission of large portions of Chinese culture to Japan and other lands. Even the Tang Emperor adopted many practices which would later be associated with constitutional monarchy.

Unfortunately, things got worse after the Tang. The following dynasty, the Song, instituted neo-Confucianism, a bastardized version of the real thing focused on rigid societal control. This was great if you were in charge, but pretty much sucked for everyone else. It had a dramatic and detrimental impact on Chinese culture that endures to this day – a theme we may explore more in the future.

Succeeding dynasties were not better. Certainly there were brief periods of cultural revival, but the general trend was downward. This culminated in the Cultural Revolution of the 20th century, which went a long way towards wiping out most of the authentic traditional Chinese culture on the mainland.

That is why some of the best, most authentic Chinese culture is found outside of mainland China, especially in the case of the Chinese traditional martial arts. A word of caution is in order here though — It really pisses mainland Chinese off when you say stuff like this, even though it’s true. Keep in mind that, truth, especially when unpleasant, is not something anyone likes to hear. They know it, but don’t “lose their face” by pointing out what is obvious to anyone with a passing familiarity with history.

More recently, since the re-opening of China to the west, there has been a resurgence of interest in traditional culture. “Ancient temples” are being newly built, scholars are researching the classics, and Wushu is big. Unfortunately, most of the mainstream revival is only a caricature of the real thing. But what’s even worse is that the average person doesn’t realize it’s a caricature.

To be fair though, you can’t say there is no traditional Chinese culture left on the mainland. China’s a big place with a lot of people. Even the most brutal campaign of repression could not stamp it all out (although they did a pretty good job trying.) Real Chinese culture does survive in very small quantities, fairly well hidden. But this doesn’t change the fact that much what survived did so because it was spread overseas to Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, Southeast Asia, and to the West.