As an Asian who claim to be a culture expert, the questions
I was often asked by non-Asians is "What is the common
language in Asia?" There is no common language. Chinese
speak Chinese, Koreans speak Korean, Thais speak Thai.
However, there are more Chinese than others, so you could
say Chinese is the most-spoken. And Mandarin is the common
language among the Chinese. (You know there are like
thousands of Chinese dialects, do you?)
When it comes to the looks and culture, it's also somewhat
different. Let's have a look into these 3 close nations
in the Far-East -- China, Korea, and Japan.
These are three big countries in the Far East. The people
of the three share similar looks and characteristics that I
was often asked to distinguish one from the 2 others.
If the English, Irish, and Scotsmen are different; so are
the Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans.
Chinese written history begins in 2697 B.C. The Han people
were regarded as the progenitors of the Chinese race. They
lived and practiced agriculture along the Yangze river.
In 219 B.C. Emperor Chin Si (who built the Great Wall),
having become too powerful without anything else better to
do, sent Shufu, a learned man of his court, out the Eastern
sea to find a herbal treat to confer immortality. Shufu
cruised out with 1,000 pure maidens and youths. They'd never
returned. It's believed that they launched on an island,
which had become today's Japan. The 1,000 children, taught
and taken care by Shufu, were legended to be the ancestors
of modern Japanese. Many Japanese believe this despite the
Imperial house's preferred version of them being descendents
of the Sun God. Though.
On Korea, Chou Emperor had claimed it as a Chinese territory
since 1121 B.C. Then they freed it as an independent
country before Japan colonized it in late 1800s. However,
the stubborn Koreans (how they called themselves) are proud
that they have managed, against great odds and many
invaders, to maintain a surprisingly high degree of racial
homogeneity.
Therefore, the people of these three nations are closely
related. They share similar values and cultures/philosophy.
Nevertheless, there are great differences.
I guess it's the geography that contributes the differences.
China is a vast landmass while Japan is a tiny island, and
Korea is on a peninsula on the fringe of the vastness of
China. Japan and Korean do not enjoy the abundance of
natural resources that China does. And that makes them more
aggressive when it comes to economic survival while the
Chinese are much more easy-going.
When Chinese always have somewhere to run, the others
don't. A Chinese maxim says, "A wise man does not fight a
losing battle". The Chinese seem to see a long range goal,
and have no problems retreating and hiding in order to
regroup and attack at a right time. The Japanese, nowhere
to run, have a sense of honor that they would rather die
than surrender. Koreans are somewhere between the two
extremes.
Probably the Japanese are really descendents of Shufu's
crews. They act like sailors in the same ship. Bounded by a
deeply felt sense of common destiny, they place enormous
importance on the concepts of duty, loyalty, and
cooperation. At the same time, they have very little
tolerability to individualists.
The Koreans are known as the Irish of Asia for their fast
temper. They are said to be the only Asian to let the public
see how they feel. While others try to hide their emotion
Koreans let go their anger, tears and laughter all the
time.
Note: When we talk Asians, we do not include the Filipinos
for the culture is far too different from other Asians due
to Western influences, different religion and philosophy,
and vast migration in the past.
Introduction to Chinese, Japanese and Korean Computing
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