The Dot of Discoveries

The world is just a dot in the universe but this dot contains people, emotion,
knowledge, wonders, discoveries, culture, beliefs and history that makes our world different. Our world
is divided into 7 continents: America, Antarctica, Australia, Europe, North America, South America,
Africa and Asia. Asia is the world’s largest continent consisting of 48 countries, 6 non-UN states, and 6
independent territories. You may wonder what do these countries differ from each other despite of
living in the same continent. First, these countries such as Philippines, Korea, Indonesia, Vietnam and so
on, were colonized by other countries as a result of which they were made to adapt and change some of
their beliefs, therefore their culture, values and beliefs is quite far from each other.

Second, their geography or location affects their way of living, literature, and culture. When you think of
Asia your minds suddenly went up to China given the reason that they are the majority but what about
the Philippines given the recent relationship with the president of these two country we could say that
the two of them is in good terms and given the history, Chinese people are mentioned in Dr. Jose Rizal's
novel which means the Chinese people is already part of our history because of their contribution to our
economy like bartering.

Every year we celebrate our own festivities, China has its own new year which they called
‘Chinese New Year”. Tied to the Chinese lunar calendar, the holiday was usually a time to celebrate both
the household and the celestial deities as well as the ancestors. It's celebrated every 12th of a year. Red
is the key color of the festival, since it is believed that red is an auspicious color.

Red Chinese lanterns are hanging on the streets; red couplets are pasted on the doors; banks and official
buildings are decorated with red New Year pictures depicting images of prosperity. Red couplets are set
up for the Chinese New Year. On the other hand, there are many different festivals in the Philippines
that commemorate the origins, life and beliefs of our ancestors, such as the Sinulog Festival. The Sinulog
Festival is held to celebrate one of the country's most famous historic relics: the Santo Niño de Cebú.
This was the statue of the baby Jesus that was handed over to Rajah Humabon of Cebu by the
Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan in 1521. It was one of the most important events in the
religious history of the Philippines as it paved the way for the birth of Christianity in the country

Traditions comes in many ways for example, having a hair combing ceremony as a wedding
tradition. It is Chinese tradition for the bride to wear a red dress, called a qipao and to cover her face
with a red veil on the wedding day. In Chinese culture, red symbolizes happiness, prosperity and good
luck. The bride and groom will shower with pomelo leaves to cleanse off bad spirits and change into new
red clothes and slippers. The respective parents will prepare a pair of red taper candles and scissors, one
stick of incense, a wooden ruler, a hair comb, and red yarn with cypress leaves, meanwhile Filipino
people prefer throwing rice to the newlyweds for wishing luck. This is also a way to shower the couple
with well wishes of happiness and prosperity all the days of their lives as husband and wife, in addition
lighting of a unity candle by two separate candles held by the bride and groom to represent the joining
of the two families and invoke the light of Christ. Exactly 13 Arras, or coins, are carried in a pouch and
brought to the altar by the coin sponsors. This is then blessed by the presiding priest for the groom to
gift his bride. This is symbolic in a way that the groom promises he will look after her and their future
family's welfare.
 Every country has its own unique dishes or delicacy that could open your mind to a
different horizon of foods. One of China's unique products is a century-old egg. Shiny dark grey or black
with s snowflake pattern, this unique egg product was created by Chinese people in the Ming Dynasty
(1368-1644). Besides its unique taste, it is said that the preserved egg is useful for on curing hoarseness
and dispelling the effects of alcohol, just like Philippines’ unique egg delicacy called "Balut” but instead,
it is a developing boiled duck embryo and eaten as a snack in the shell, often served with a splash of
vinegar

Values are important because they are the foundation of our attitude or behavior. Chinese
people believes that harmony, benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom, honesty, loyalty, and filial
piety are embodied in China's diplomacy, whereas Filipino people believe that Respect, Helping Others
Debt of Gratitude and Prioritizing Family is their main values as a Filipino. It mainly focuses on how we
act on others rather than ourselves.

Our world will just be a boring planet without the presence of art or entertainment. They say
anything that you do if it invokes emotion, has a purpose and/or it’s something you created, It’s art. In
China one of their theater art or performing art is the famous Kung Fu. Chinese martial arts also called
Wushu and Quanfa. It refers to any study, learning, or practice that requires patience, energy, and time
to complete. By comparison to the Philippines another performing art stemming from religious custom
is the Senakulo or Passion Play. This is the dramatization of the life and death of Jesus Christ and is
usually presented as a community activity during the Lenten season. This still endures to the present,
ranging from simple productions to more technically sophisticated and modernized version.

As Henry David Thoreau had said “Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books,
history is silent”. China’s famous literature are the Five Classics and The Four Books (The I-Ching, The
Classics of Poetry, The Classics of Rites, The Classics of History, The Spring and Autumn Annals, The
Analects of Confucius, The Works of Mencius) and Lasting Words to Awaken the World is a collection of
40 short stories based on earlier story-tellers' notes, compiled and rewritten by Feng Menglong 500
years ago. The tales are about love, loyalty and sacrifice, corrupt officials and landlords, and conflicts
within feudal families. Philippines’ literature “Noli Mi Tangere “and El Filibusterismo written by Dr. Jose
Rizal it does not have that much of a difference to Feng Menglong’s literature, for the reason that the
book aims to enlighten the society to open their eyes to reality that they are being oppress and abuse by
the Spanish government and fight to gain their total freedom.

Confucius is known as the first teacher in China to make education widely available and to be
instrumental in creating the art of teaching as a vocation. He has also established ethical, moral, and
social standards that formed the basis of a way of life known as Confucianism. Confucianism rests upon
the belief that human beings are fundamentally good, and teachable, improvable, and perfectible
through personal and communal endeavor, especially self-cultivation and self-creation. On the other
hand, Philippines celebrates a feast to commemorate their patron saints or their beliefs, the reason is
because the country was influenced and colonized by the Spaniards. There are about a hundred
different fiestas and festivals celebrated in the country every year. Every town, every city, every
province honors different patron saints, which means every fiesta celebration is unique and distinct.
 Chinese superstition had greatly influence the Filipino in the way that it also becomes Filipino’s
household beliefs like fen shui. One of the most prominent is that a family should never build a home
that faces north, rooted in the traditional belief that the north represents darkness, evil and bad luck.
"Fēng shuǐ (风水)" is all about arranging things so there is harmony in the shared "qì “. Meanwhile, in
the Philippines one of their famous superstition is called “pagpag” (the shaking off of dirt). In the context
of a wake, it means going elsewhere after attending the wake before heading home to shake off the
spirit of the deceased follows you home.

To conclude, everything here on Earth has a reason, it could either be an event, beliefs,
someone, something, anything that gives purpose to life and the reason why we do things the way it is.
China and Philippines have their own differences and uniqueness that may contribute to their identity.
Our world is just place where we can mark our beliefs and memories. In short, our world is just a unique
kind of dot for the next generation to seek and discover.