Asian Literature
Every community in the world has a culture whose values govern the community’s behaviour in response to different situations. Depending on the culture of a specific community, despite the several similarities that may exist, the difference in cultures causes different communities to perceive the other communities as different from them. If the differences are not well handled, it may lead to racism or tribalism, which is not good for coexistence, especially now when the world has become one small global village. In this section of the paper, I will seek to understand the cultural values and attitudes of the Asian community and try and compare it with the contemporary U.S. culture.
Asian’s Values
According to Yeh, Carter and Pieterse, “Asian cultural values have been associated with the therapeutic intervention and case conceptualization, academic achievement, career interests, family dynamics, social relations, coping, counsellor cultural sensitivity, help-seeking and problem perception, counseling attitudes, and counselor preferences” (Yeh, Carter and Pieterse 1).
According to Dalton and Ong
The expansion of the right of the individual to behave or misbehave as he pleases has come at the expense of orderly society. In the East, the main objective is to have a well-ordered society so that everybody can have maximum enjoyment of his freedoms. This freedom can only exist in an ordered state and not in a natural state of contention and anarchy. (Dalton and Ong 2)
East Asian communities are described to be orderly; the community is paternalistic, its leadership is mainly hierarchical, and community-oriented. This means that the male gender is dominant in the community, and authority or leadership is inherited from one family or clan, and the problem of one household is the problem of the whole community. These values are a complete contrast to the U. S. community. In the U.S, the society is atomized, rights-based, liberal and individualistic (Dalton and Ong 2). Each person in the U.S. understands what their rights are, and somebody will fight for them till he or she feels they are met. Each person in the U.S. cares for themselves, and nobody cares what is happening to the other person not unless they are invited to help.
These differences have affected the communities politically in that; the Asians have not accepted the competition brought about by democratic governance that is a key political feature in the U.S. The Asian, community due to its cultural values on communalism with limited tolerance on the opposition are not the same as the American who embrace liberal democratic leadership. This has been the main limiting factor to Asia building social networks and accumulating social capital since the condition is not conducive for democratic development.
However, with modernization, there are parts of Asia where the values have been changing. Values like communalism have been affected by self modernization were some Asians have started thinking like individuals, taking care of the individual needs and minding about how they have been governed. Though it is projected to take some time for Asia to be like the U.S., there are projections that Asia will one day accept democratic leadership where what matters is the governance more than the clan or family where leadership seems to be originating from.
Asian Attitudes
Attitude is highly related to the orientation given to a community on specific issues. In Asia, the community orientation on leadership is based on the family. The attitude on respect for parents in both Asia and the U.S. is equal in both communities since the orientation in both communities is that parents are superior and deserve to be respected regardless of their faults. The cultural orientation of authority outside the family is one major orientation area.
In both cultures, authority is meant to be respected, and orders from authority are to be honored. However, Asians have little regard for obeying orders when one is not comfortable with them, for Asians community protection is basic than following wrong instructions.
With the social modernization and movement from rural to urban, that has been so much with the younger generation; the attitude towards authority has been so much affected. The support for democracy is higher in the older generation as compared to the younger in the economic and modernized communities. The family relationships are still stronger in Asia as compared to the U.S. where attitude is based on the individual.
In the Asian orientation of democracy, the average citizen has not understood the advantages and disadvantages of democracy. Through economic development, most Asians have the view of “democracy as an obstacle to growth and stability – even if they endorse democracy in principle” (Dalton and Ong 12). However, this is not uniform in the whole of Asia; Chinese and Vietnamese believe that democracy is the best form of government while Beijing will still criticize democracy. Democracy is highly welcome since every individual has the right to express themselves in the way that deems fit for them. Every individual is free to support the leaders they feel will offer them better leadership regardless of where the person comes from. They look for what fits them individually, not what fit the whole community.
Basically, values and attitude are governed by what one knows and have seen which is greatly controlled by social, culture and environment and are displayed differently in different individuals. Depending on the orientation given to an individual in a given setting, different people from different cultural backgrounds view the world differently even though as discussed earlier, there could be some similarities (Yeh, Carter and Pieterse 1).
Asian art, what it is supposed to represent and my reaction to the art
Art work is used to display the history of a given community. Most of the time, past events are well displayed through art work and there might, or there might not be an explanation besides the art of what it represents but looking at the art, one is expected to learn and come up with an explanation of what the art could be representing. The Asian community is one among many that have very rich art work that has been a great reserve for their culture. It ranges from sculptures, drawings, paintings, pictures, carvings, textiles and decoration. Though they have hidden meanings, the arts are so rich in meaning if only one gets to understand them.
The products of art are either bought as gifts to friends and relatives, homemade for domestic use or displayed in museums for cultural heritage. Asian Art Museum is one of many museums that has a collection of arts. The display of the art work is so catching, and with understanding, one gets to learn a lot about the past of the Asian community. Exploring a few of the artwork and what they will make us understand them more.
A sculpture of an elephant carrying a vase takes us back to when Qing was in power in China where elephants carried vases on his birthday. The vase symbolizes peace and the elephant whose name means sign. The symbol represents that where there is peace, there are signs (Gach 1). In the wish that somebody’s son follows the footsteps of the father, a carving of a big fish and a small fish in a tidal position would suggest that the son will take the high position of the father and be productive. This is well indicated by the understanding that a fish lays many eggs which would symbolize high fertility in their children.
If somebody on the New Year receives a gift incorporating white cabbage, the interpretation could be the person is being wished to increase in wealth over the coming year since white cabbage evokes wealth in the Chinese culture. If on one’s wedding the person receives a gift of fish swimming in pairs, pair of ducks swimming together, the interpretation is that the couple is wished a happy marriage full of satisfaction (Gach 1). For the newly wedded, some gifts like melon or guard could be meaning many children because of their many seeds.
Considering religious symbols for Buddha, the Lotus symbol has so much meaning. In Buddhism, this flower is not only admired for its beauty, but it symbolizes the enlightenment to the people who have and will meditate on the law. The flower supports the world, Buddha as the flower supports the world above the waters. The symbol of a lion represents regality, strength and power. For Buddha, it was an important symbol since its tradition was that of a royal prince.
According to the View on Buddhism, “in Tibetan Buddhist art, lions are often depicted on the throne the Buddha sits on, but these are Snow Lions” (View on Buddhism 1). The art of drawing endless knots symbolizes that in nature, everything is interrelated and it also symbolizes wisdom of Buddha and the union of compassion and wisdom. Since it has neither beginning nor end, it also symbolizes long life.
Some of the household items used by the Chinese people could have different meanings from just being an item for use. For example, by having a “A gourd-shaped vase decorated with bats is more than just ornamental: it is a promising omen, as the gourd symbolizes fertility by virtue of its numerous seeds, and the imagery of bats implies the sentiment – blessings vast as the sky” (Gach 1). Many Chinese households would have the vase in hope that their wishes for many children and also that of being blessed beyond the sky will come true.
I believe in art is that they should represent history and should contribute to the cultural heritage for the sake of the future generations. The Asians are so rich in what they believe in and what they practice on day to day life. From the look of the arts, one may fail to know what they represent especially if you are not from Asia, but with a good interpreter and thorough study of their culture, you can always relate to them.
Going round the museum is more important especially if one does not came from Asia. Through art, one will get to understand where Asians have come from, their values, beliefs and wishes in life. This makes it easy to live with people from the Asian community having understood them better through their art work. For example, when one visits their homes and find household items that have some decorations on them, with understanding of the meaning, the person will be able to avoid making wrong judgments. If one gets a gift from a friend from the Asian community, even if the gift has no description on it, the person will understand the meaning of the gift if only the person had learnt the different meanings that the art works could be having through arts.
Asian Cultural Show
In the Asian cultural show, culture is well displayed through music, dances, drama, play games, narratives, fashion clothing and jewelry. The show displays a history and the current affairs that surround the Asian Community and gives somebody an opportunity to learn while he or she gets entertained. The Asian show enables one to experience the rich cultural heritage of the Asian community which makes one appreciate and understand the Asian traditions and practices. Since most of the presenters are youths, the show gives them an opportunity to participate in the culture, for them who are abroad, and an opportunity to show up their talents through arts.
According to Asianfair “the festival presents exemplary classical, folk and contemporary Asian art forms featuring local, regional, national and international artists”(1). For the purpose of balancing between the traditional and the professional show, there is need for proper choices to be made when selecting the groups to present. This also helps in ensuring that money is spent well to display the whole culture which will satisfy the viewers.
Each year, the show has a theme in relation to what is affecting the Asian community. For example, cancer epidemic that is facing the whole world, keeping focus on change agents and encouraging people to be the change they want to see and promoting healthy living practices which include food and exercise. HIV/Aids has been another theme that has been in use for quite some time especially in colleges and universities.
To encourage competition and production of the best of arts, the fair comes up with a reward for the best so every group has to make sure they produce the best for the best education of people in attendance. The best performer gets something like a trophy, money, may win a trip to a given place and so on. All these are aimed at encouraging the artists to come up with the best while blending the tradition with the current style. The cultural shows are so rich in displaying the culture of the Asian people.
Though music and dances dominate in the cultural show, they communicate well the traditions and the practices of the Asian communities. Through dances which are a blend of the traditional and the current moves, the role of women and men are displayed and by careful following the songs. One gets to understand more the relationship that exist among the community members.
One of the cultural shows that have drama in them is the Asian American Student Cultural show. They try and create awareness of the life in college as well as warn the students against engaging in issues that may not benefit them. The purpose for the show for most of the time is to help the fresh men to be prepared psychologically for the things they may have to deal with, to help them make decisions beforehand so that their learning may not be interfered by engaging behaviors that may ruin their careers. Through the shows, themes like HIV/Aids are handled to encourage students to be responsible of their sexual life, Cancer the killer disease, to make students aware of the epidemics around them.
Asian Worship
Just like any other parts of the world, Asia is one of the places that have many religions under practice. Among the other religions are Confucianism, Hinduism, Lingayatism, Taoism, Christianity, Gnosticism, Islam, Judaism, Rastafarian movement, Buddhism and the list goes on. Looking at Buddhism, its religious practices, their meanings and their place of worship will help us understand the religion better.
Buddhism as a religion is built on two beliefs, rebirth and Karma. They believe that rebirth is based on how the mind lived when the body was alive. The religion believes that when somebody dies, the body and mind are disintegrated but the mind does not cease to live, it gets purified and transforms into the omniscient mind of Buddha. Karma is believed to be the law that governs our actions now which affects the future happiness. It is the “relationship between actions and their effects – virtue causing happiness and non-virtue causing suffering” (Meditate in London 1).
This law is the one that promotes morality among the Buddhist since their actions will determine their future happiness. The happiness is predicted after somebody’s death since it is believed that if the person’s life was full of vices, the person’s mind will experience terrifying visions which will lead to rebirth without choice. Karma dictates who gets rebirth and who does not, good karma will lead to a rebirth as god or human and a bad karma will lead to a rebirth in a ghost, as an animal or as a hell being (Meditate in London 1).
Buddhism focuses on the personal spiritual development. Buddhist religious endeavor is to get an insight into life and live it well practicing doing well for the purpose of securing a good rebirth after one dies. The Buddhist does not worship gods or deities since there is nothing permanent, everything keeps on changing from living to death and to living gain, hence making a circle. Since the religion is not fixed on believing in anything apart from morality, meditation and wisdom to do the right thing and worship can be done from either home or the temple.
Before a worship service begins in the temple, a bell is rung in order to gather the members living around the temple. During a worship service, a Buddhist’s attitude should be based on their sufferings and rejoicing in the knowledge that Buddha is able to deliver them from the sufferings. Worship can be done either before an altar or in any other place as long as the act accompanies the heart which is a sign of respect and adoration for Buddha.
In the worship service, chanting is done during the devotional services in the morning or in the evening. Thanks giving and praise for Buddha’s virtues are made during devotion either in a normal service or during the memorial service for the deceased. Chanting is done by reading the sutra which enables the rest of the people to hear the sutra and the person reading also gets to hear the sutra as he or she reads out aloud.
Holding of the two hands during worship is a way to symbolize harmony which is a sign of highest courtesy and respect (Terakoya 1). The Buddhist during worship shuffles the 108 beads stringed together which symbolizes the 108 cravings of man. This are done in reminding Buddha in efforts to seek deliverance from the many craving and through that the Buddhist believe the deliverance will help them to be wise in the decisions they make in life.
During devotion, incense broken into short lengths are burnt in the brazier as a way of purifying the air, this causes purity offered to Buddha since the worship place should not be desecrated in any manner. The procedure should be once the incense is placed the burn, hold two hands, say chant then bow.
When the worship service is done at home, the head of the family may lead but it is open to anybody else who is willing to lead the service. The leader should be dressed in the worship attire and should be well familiar with the chanting. During Chanting, the bell is truck twice at the beginning, once at the middle and thrice at the end of the chant to designate breaks and pauses during devotion and also to set the tone of the voice (Terakoya 1).
Buddhists are encouraged to recite the daily creed every day in the morning and in the evening. For memorization purposes, it is meant to be posted where one can view it more easily at any time of the day and to be recited either by an individual or in gathering. This is to facilitate constant personal or group devotion to Buddha without necessarily waiting for the time of worship to go to the temple or at home where the Alter is set. This constant recitations and devotion is believed to keep a worshiper I a closer relationship with Buddha who offers guidance and such a person is considered not prone to making errors in actions which affects his or her rebirth.
Asian Film
Asia as a continent has gone through tough times. One of them is during the colonial times which have never been a sweet time in any given country. India being part of Asia also had its time of colonization. It was out of this that the movie Passage to India has been written and acted to Passage to India show what the Indians went through during the time. India was colonized by the British people; the movie is coming at a time when the colonial period was coming to an end.
The movie features friend from the British and the Indian sides whose friendship is breaking because of their differences in race and attitude to each other. The friendship is between an old English woman who met an Indian widow one evening when they met in a mosque and they discovered they had things in common. The friendship grows to the point of the woman getting confident of Aziz being a different Indian apart from the many racist stories she had gotten from the other English people about the Indian people. In her craving to know more about India, she requests Aziz her and the young woman she had come with from England for walks.
The friendship grows to the level of doing wild excursion together. In the company of an old woman, a young lady both British and Aziz an Indian they go for an outing to explore the caves. The exploration was to give the women a feel of the Indian in the rural villages apart from the ones they had interacted with in the cities. These explorations are brought to a stop by the wrangles between the Indians and the colonials after the young lady was harmed and Aziz was jailed for attempted rape.
The colonial team was for the idea that Aziz was responsible for the predicaments that landed on the young lady, this was out of the accusation by the English woman that he followed him to the cave and attempted to rape her, but according to the old woman, Aziz was a volunteer who had offered to take them around and help them through getting a guide in India. Aziz gets so much traumatized by the incident, the degradation of his respect in the community and this affects his further relationship with the colonial team. He develops mistrust for all the British apart from the old woman who stood with him as a witness.
Due to the firm stand of the old woman that Aziz was innocence leads her to problems with the rest of the British people, she is ordered to go back to England where she dies on her way of heart attack.
In the court, the young lady sets Aziz free by telling everybody in the court that Aziz was innocent, the accusation was false. This was the greatest moment of embarrassment to the Colonials team but much victory to the Indians. This embarrassment causes the young lady to leave India and breaks her engagement.
The film portrays the English mismanagement of India through racist attitude that the colonial people had on the Indians. During this time, the native Indian was oppressed and the only way out was to team up through the Indian Independence Movement. The only people who believed that Aziz was innocent were Mrs. Moore and Fielding who offered to help him out, the rest of the colonial administration including the head of police believes that the Indian character is inhibited by criminal acts and that they are capable of doing anything. Every bad thing and mistakes done in the streets is assumed that Indians are involved. The word of a white person was more trustworthy than that of an Indian (Topham 1).
Due to the conditions that the Indians had been subjected to, this leads to the Indians concern of each other and they thought as a community. Their support for one another was so strong to overcome the powerlessness and alienation that the colonial administration had instilled in them. This was a great point of gaining strength to carryon despite the hard times they faced in every day of the colonial error.
To the colonial administration, Indians were a bunch of criminals and to Indians the British were rude and heartless. These attitudes were the results of why friendship could not be sustained between people from both sides and anytime it happened, condition paralyzed the friendship.
With this many limitations the question is whether the Indians and the English people could ever make friends and remains strong friends. It affects the easy they relate to each other even in times of economic developments. The Indians take of anything from the west which includes civilization as faulty and a way to drain resources from the community for the benefits of a few people in the community. Cultural mistrust is evident even in this day where Indians would rather listen to any other people but not the British.
Asian Cuisines
Asians are among the communities that are known for eating delicious and highly flavored foods. Their foods are spiced up and every meal is comprised of more than one type of food. Doe to the communal type of the community the Asians live-in, their foods are made several women from different households and there after divided to be eaten by every members of the community. This trait of communal cooking to women is passed from one generation to the other. Older women are given younger women and girls to train how to cook given foods so that they too will be able to participate in the community responsibility of feeding them.
Asian cuisines are so many and they are all related with the religion in which they originate from. Depending on the region, all of them are different and they taste differently. Asians cuisines are the most tried kind of food in the whole world. With modernization and people getting busy, the Asian cuisines are found in restaurants and anybody can access them in any place they are as long as there is a restaurant offering cuisines in their menu.
I visited a Chinese restaurant and ordered Cantonese cuisine. Having not taken it before, I was anxious to see how it looks like, taste what it feels like and learn how it is made. Cantonese cuisine being a general word, I ordered for steamed Siu mei. The cuisine was so appetizing especially looking at it from the wrappings. After taking the food the greatest question was the ingredients involved, and how it was made for somebody who would like to do it at home.
The ingredients are purchased and prepared the same day and cooked just before serving. Depending on what is being made and the time it will take to prepare and cook, it is advisable that timing be done well to facilitate people eating at the right time. Also the chef is advised make use of things like refrigerator to ensure that no time is wasted since the food is mostly taken by very busy people.
Ingredients for steamed Siu mei
From the Chinese chicken Recipes for Busy People:
- Wonton wrappings, 1 pack (Get the yellow wonton wrappings instead of the white ones. The white wrappings are ok, they are just thicker)
- Ground pork, ½ pound
- Shrimp, about 1/2 pound
- Dried shiitake mushrooms, 3 (or 5 or 6 fresh shiitake mushrooms)
- Egg white, 1
- Oyster sauce, 1 tsp
- Soy sauce, 1 tsp
- Chinese cooking wine, 1 Tbsp
- Garlic, 1 clove
- Sesame oil, 1 tsp
- Chicken powder, 1 tsp
- Sugar, 1/2 tsp
- White pepper, a dash
Steps
- Soak dried shiitake mushrooms in hot water for 30 minutes or until they are softened. Or you can pre-soak them and leave them in the refrigerator overnight. Or you can use fresh shiitake mushrooms instead. Dried shiitake mushrooms have strong mushroom taste as compared to fresh ones. Finely chop garlic, add it to the mixing bowl.
- Add ground port into the mixing bowl. Add soy sauce, oyster sauce, Chinese cooking wine, chicken powder, sesame oil, sugar and a dash of white pepper. Mix it well. Put it aside, you will embark on it latter.
- Peel and clean shrimp. Cut it into small pieces. You can then finely chop it if you prefer. It looks like a chunky paste. Add the shrimp to the mixing bowl.
- Break an egg, and just add the egg white to the mixing bowl. Mix everything well.
- Prepare a small bowl of water, put it aside.
- Prepare the steamer. Add enough water in the steamer. Start boiling the water.
- Prepare a plate that can fit into the steamer. Or you can use two pieces of aluminum foil and foil it like a container that will fit. Spray oil on the plate/foil to prevent the siu mei from sticking.
- While you wait for the steamer to get ready, you can start wrapping the siu mei. Get a piece of wonton wrapping; put it on your left hand. Then put one tablespoon of filing and put it in the middle of the wrapping. Leave a little space on the edge. Use your finger to dip a little bit of water on the edge of the wrapping. Then fold the edge of the wrapping up like a cup cake.
- Put each siu mei on the plate. For the best result, leave space between siu mei to avoid them sticking together.
- Put siu mei in the steamer. Steam with a lid on for 18 minutes on high heat. Serve hot. You can serve it with a little bit soy sauce or chili sauce on the side. This can also be served with rice.
This is just but one kind of Asian Cuisine that one can try in any of the Chinese restaurant.
Conclusion
Through this review, it has been shown that the Asian community is different and similar is many aspects from the society in the U.S. The Asian artwork is rich and offers useful lesson on life. Family life is highly esteemed in the community and religion is used to ensure that the members of the society coexist peacefully. Though there are many religions in Asia, all of them support the view that people should love each other and coexist peacefully. The Asian food is quite diverse. Globalization has made the world closer and this has been reflected in the Asian community. For instance, there is an element of the members of the Asian community adopting democracy among other elements which are associated with the western communities.
Works Cited
Asianfair. “19th Asian Trade, Food Fair & Cultural Show; 12” Asian Fair, 2011. Web.
Dalton, Russell and Ong, Nhu. “Authority Orientations and Democratic.” Japanese Journal of Political Science 6(2) 1-21.
Gach, Gary. “Hidden Meanings Symbols in Chinese Art.” Asian Art Museum, 2006. Web.
Meditate in London. “Buddhist beliefs.” Meditate in London, 2011. Web.
Terakoya. “Worship Services.” Terakoya, n.d. Web.
Topham, James. “A Passage to India’ Review.” About.com, 2011. Web.
View on Buddhism. “A View on Buddhism.” General Buddhist Symbols, 2011. Web.
Yeh, Christine., Carter, Robert and Pieterse, Alex. “Cultural Values and Racial Identity Attitudes among Asian American Students: An Exploratory Investigation.” Education Resource Information Center, 2004. Web.