I’ve read elsewhere that many Chinese reject the notion that they evolved in Africa, here’s an excerpt from an article I just dug up:
Some Western researchers suggest that there is a hint of nationalism in Chinese palaeontologists’ support for continuity. “The Chinese — they do not accept the idea that H. sapiens evolved in Africa,” says one researcher. “They want everything to come from China.”
Chinese researchers reject such allegations. “This has nothing to do with nationalism,” says Wu. It’s all about the evidence — the transitional fossils and archaeological artefacts, he says. “Everything points to continuous evolution in China from H. erectus to modern human.”
They took the religion with them when they took over the islands of Japan. I used to date a Japanese Aborigine. She would openly mock Japanese people for their ignorance. Japanese are a mixture of Mongol, Korean, and ethnic Chinese as well as whatever aboriginal blood has gotten into their dna over the last 1300 years or so.
If you ate talking about the text that starts with 道可道非常道 名可名非常名, wouldn’t it be Daodejing? I mean you are already throwing the x in your spelling, why’s the first two syllables not in Pinyin as well?
I assume you’re talking about the Tao Te Ching and referring to Taoism? Buddhism comes from India, so how could the Tao Te Ching be the father of Buddhist beliefs? And while there was cross-pollination between Taoism and Confucianism, it would be pretty bizarre to call the Tao Te Ching the father of Confucianism.
And now you’re saying Tao was a living person? OK, this is just getting silly.
Tao, Baoxian (courtesy name Bi Yun) was a Warring States philosopher who lived from the 4th to the 5th Century B.C. A pessimist who advocated the end of human reproduction, he was persecuted for his view in an epoch in which population size was the key determinant of a state’s economic and political power. Tao fled to Taiwan with a handful of his followers by swimming the strait wearing inflated pig bladders as water wings. His philosophy soon died out.
Based on what they try to achieve or hope to happen in the future people can point out differences or similarities.
So let’s say starting with 1895 the people in Taiwan have developed a distinctly different culture from the one they have over in China. Now, if for whatever reason and in whatever way China and Taiwan would become one political entity again, cultural differences could easily decrease again over time, right?
Nothing is forever, and the trend worldwide is that cultures getting increasingly similar. Doesn’t mean countries start wishing to merge with each other, right?
To me, cultural differences are not a major point of consideration in determining the future of cross-strait relations.
Like many semi historical figures/Deities, there are lots of origin stories all as interesting as the next, probably made up from parts of different peoples lives and beliefs.
