The Three Dimensions of Culture

Material Institutional Spiritual Chinese culture can generally be approached/divided into three dimensions: Material Institutional Spiritual

Material such as architecture and historical sites Institutional such as folk customs and rituals Spiritual such as philosophy, ethics and morality

Institutional such as folk customs and rituals

Spiritual such as philosophy, ethics and morality

such as architecture and historical sites Material culture: such as architecture and historical sites

Guess which countries these traditional forms of architecture are from. Thailand

Japan

Egypt

Greece

China

China

China

Now guess which countries these buildings are from Now guess which countries these buildings are from. Notice their distinctive forms.

Thailand

Egypt

China

Japan

Greece

Write a paragraph to express your ideas. When thinking about the first set of pictures of material culture (traditional architecture) How/why do you think these buildings are good examples of culture? How/why do you think these are not good examples of traditional culture? Write a paragraph to express your ideas. It may be helpful to think about how someone visiting the country might think.

What about material culture has changed in some of these countries What about material culture has changed in some of these countries? What has been kept the same? Make a mind-map of factors which you think contribute to some of the changes (and preservation) that we see in some material culture, especially in China.

What about historical sites? Homework Your homework is to research a form of Traditional Institutional Culture that has been preserved in China. You are to explain where that tradition originates from, and describe the factors that you think lead to it’s being preserved. This can be done on printed paper with a picture.