A Brief Survey of Chinese Popular Culture

Zhiyuan Zhang
and
Shaorong Huang

Culture was born together with mankind. China was one of the
birth places of mankind and therefore of human culture. The ancestors of
the Chinese people began their path-breaking work two million years
ago, thus laying a foundation for the splendid and colorful Chinese
culture. Chinese popular culture grew with the development of Chinese
culture.
Today, the term “popular culture” is somewhat new to the Chinese,
not as familiar as such terms as popular literature, folk literature, local
culture and mass culture. The term “folk literature” is customarily
applied to either “folk or “mass” literature. And we are accustomed to
define “folk” and “mass” culture as “folk literature.”
In socialist China, either folk or mass, the culture is characteristic
of the people or, to be more exact, it is the people’s culture. China is a
multinational country with a long history, so its culture is naturally
stamped with these two features. Besides the Huns,China has 55
national minorities, the populations of which vary greatly. Before the
founding of the People’s Republic of China, many of these minorities
still remained in the last phase of primitive society, in serfdom or feudal
serfdom society. Their political systems also were vastly different one
from another. Apart from the county-district administrative division,
there was league division, government-religion division, clan division,
headman division, and remnant primitive democracy. They believed in
various religions, Buddhism, Islam and Christianity, and many of them
were still greatly interested in nature-worship and multiple god worship.
Therefore, their popular cultures were influenced by their own social
systems and religious beliefs; each had its own characteristics. Some of
their popular cultures were very colorful and world famous, and others
remained obscure. Here we would like to take the following three
minorities for examples, the Huis,the Mongolians,and the Zang (the
nbetans) .
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The Huis believe in Islam. From birth to grave, their life is
influenced by Islam in many ways, such as marriage, food and clothing.
They never eat pork, dead flesh or animal blood. They do not drink
either. They have a special way of carrying on business, usually engaged
in such ways as street peddling, push-cart or basket peddling.
The Mongolians believed first in Shamanism, but later were
converted to Lamaism. The Mongolians are good at singing and dancing.
“Haolaibao,” their most loved folk performance, is popular among them.
The traditional Saber dance, Orduous dance, and Chopstick dance have
been known to all. The horsehead-shaped fiddle is their favorite musical
instrument, and is played with a special local flavor. Living on the
grassland, they are chiefly engaged in animal husbandry. They excel in
horsemanship, marksmanship and wrestling, without which a festive
occasion or celebration would be incomplete.
All the members of the Zung (the ‘IIbetans) nationality have always
believed in the sole religion-Lamaism, which permeates their politics,
economy, culture and customs. The Zang people are mostly named from
Buddhist Scripture, hence many names are duplicated. To distinguish
one from the other, they add Sen., Jr., physical feature, place of birth, or
residence to the duplicate names. They never kill wild animals. Poor or
rich, every family has its own niche. The chief form of their burial is
celestial, but Living Buddhas or Lamas are cremated. Executed or killed
criminals were buried in the ground. The Zangs are always cheerful and
humorous, and they like to use proverbs and saying in their
conversation. They excel in singing and dancing, a typical way of
showing their joy and vigor. Men wear trousers; women wear skirts; and
all wear leather boots. Both sexes wear their hair in braids with lots of
ornaments. Their staple food is Zanba (roasted highland barley flour)
mixed with buttered tea. The Zang language, with a long history, is
alphabetical writing with four vowels and 30 consonants, and
grammatically perfect. It is written from left to right with bamboo bush
and ink. The Zang language is rich in literature, philosophy, historical
records, geography, astronomy, mathematics and art, which are known to
the world.
As a people, the Chinese nation has witnessed many dynasties. In
different historical periods, people have their own popular culture, and
apart from the influence of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism, they
are permeated with their own times, ruling nationalities and local
flavors. The following is a brief introduction to Chinese popular culture,
which is classified according to the traditional time divisions.
 A Brief Survey of Chinese Popular Culture 3
In c. 2000 B.C., the first empire in Chinese history, Xia (2100 B.C.-
1600 B.C.) was founded. Records show that the Xin had its own
inscription on pottery, and institutions of education came into being.
Such art forms as music, dance and sculpture were part of the people’s
life. The offer of sacrifices was a common practice in daily life.
Handicrafts were under development with the founding of the Shang
Dynasty (1600 B.C.-1066 B.C.), in which the brilliant Bronze Culture
was born. Divination (for fortune-telling) was the main form of early
superstition. In the Western Zhou Dynasty (1066 B.C.-770 B.C.), the use
of tortoise-shells and animal bones as tools for divination was gradually
replaced by the use of alpine yarrow. Thus inscriptions on bones or
tortoise-shells began to decline.
The Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States Period (770
B.C.-221 B.C.) saw the upheaval of society. The monopoly of academics
by empire officials began to disintegrate, and there appeared a stage of
free thoughts. Culture and academic research flourished in a way
unparalleled in Chinese history. Different schools of learning came up
one after another, of which Confucianism, Monism and Legalism were
the biggest. The flourish of folklore nurtured a great many poets. The
local musical style made an indelible contribution to the development of
Chinese music.
During the Qin and Hun Dynasties (221 B.C.-220 A.D.),
Confucianism was at its peak. In the reign of Hanwu Emperor folklore
was collected by officials, so that many of the best folk songs of that
time were preserved. Stone inscription and mural painting were typical
art forms of that period. The life-like stone carved figures of man, horse,
ox, etc. at the grave yard of Huo Qubin (a great general of that dynasty)
in Xingping, Shaanxi Province, are representatives of the carved art of
the period. Stone tablets for the dead were commonly seen. The
traditional Wushu (marshal arts) cultivated for building health and self
defense to be prevalent.
During the periods of the Wei,J i n , Southern and Northern
Dynasties (220-581)’ the whole nation believed in Buddhism and
Taoism. Calligraphy, an art in which the Chinese have excelled, came
into existence. Wine culture was popular then. Buddhist grotto art
marked the peak of art development.
During the period of the S u i , Tang Dynasties and the Five
Dynasties (581-960), Christianity, Islam and Manichaeism from Persia
were brought in, which greatly influenced the spiritual and cultural life
of the Chinese. Carved printing came into wide use. People liked to draw
4 Journal of Popular Culture
mural paintings in Buddhist caves, temples and tomb passages. Folk
operas began to draw the interest of officials. Common folklore and
narrative literature were typical of the popular literature of the day. The
world famous tea culture came into being.
In the Song Dynasty (960-1279), officials were appointed through
imperial examinations. Paper money began to circulate. Story-telling
literature, which had been converted from common folklore telling and
narrative literature in the Tang Dynasty, appealed to the townspeople. In
the south China provinces, various forms of operas with local flavors
were warmly received by local people. At that time foot-binding (the
foot being made small by deforming it with long bindings, in keeping
with the then aesthetic standards) was the vogue to women.
The rulers of China in Liuu, Eastern Xkz, Jin and Yuan Dynasties
(916-1368) were minority nationalities. Besides Confucianism, 'Pdoism
and Buddhism, primitive religions were still in vogue. Lamaism was
believed in the Yuan Dynasty. Like the Hans, the Mongolians like to
drink wine and tea. Fresh and lively verse with tonal patterns modeled
on tunes drawn from folk music was popular, and gradually replaced
elite literature. Paintings were mainly Buddhist portraits.
During the Ming and Qing Dynasties (1368-1911), many secret
religions such as White Lotus, Lao, Hongyang and Huangtian appeared.
The Italian missionary Matteo Ricci (1552-1610) came to China,
bringing in Western ideas, thoughts and culture, and producing a great
impact. Short stories in the vernacular became popular. Architecture was
unique to this period, mainly gardening and pagoda building.
The contemporary popular culture has come to a new stage of
development with the changes in ideology and politics. Its main features
are affinity with the people and with patriotism. Especially after the
founding of the new republic in 1949, public culture actually meant the
people's culture. Picture posters, news pictures and cartoons were typical
of patriotism and popularity. On the other hand, many cultural organs (or
institutions) were set up. They included ideological, literature, musical,
art, physical educational and religious organizations.
Popular culture in China has a long history and a rich field. The
articles collected here are merely a drop in the ocean.

Zbiyuan Zbang is on the faculty of Hefei College of Education. Hefei, Anhui,

P.R.C.
Shaorong H u n g is a graduate student at Bowling Green State University. He
is on leave of absence from Xian Institute.