Chinese language and customs
1 min readChinese language and customs
The Chinese have created the single most extensive and enduring civilization in the world. Their language, written in the same form over nearly 4,000 years, binds their vast country together and links the present with the past, expressing a unified culture unmatched elsewhere.
In contrast, the land of China is one of great geographical diversity. Bordered by mountains, steppes and deserts, the immense central plains are watered by great rivers, supporting a dense population, a large part of which has always been tied to the land, but which has also proved itself extraordinarily skilled in the production of material goods of a high quality.
In spite of the vast size of the country, and the periodic eruptions of social unrest within or invasion from outside, China’s rulers have always sought a single, strong, and unified state administered by an educated elite.
The bonds of society have been held in place by language, codes of law, custom and ceremony, as well as by the wide distribution of the products of the arts and manufacturing.
