We had our 2nd CID class this week, and we started our discussion with the word 'culture' and how 'forces' shape cultures.
What is culture? How do we define it? How are cultures shaped?
So we began class by defining culture using 4 words beginning with 'F': Food, Fashion, Festivals and Folks.
These are the most common and easiest ways of defining culture because most or all of them are just surface qualities that can be observed after a short period of time. Reading or watching videos can help assist in observations even without physically being there. However, cultures are not solely defined by these 4 aspects. It is more complex than that.
One has to look deeper into the local way of life in order to fully understand their cultures. Aspects like language, food, music, holiday customs, festivals are all but surface qualities, nothing but the tip of an iceberg. To fully understand, there are many 'deep cultures' in a nation. These 'deep cultures' are 'unspoken rules' on what to do and what not to do, or a set of expectations that people base their lives on, and to an outsider, is very hard to see without submerging him or herself in local life for a relatively long period of time. Some examples of 'deep cultures' are etiquette, social expectations, views on raising children, and attitude towards age (or hierarchy). These are cultural forces.
Singapore's own cultural forces include immigration, religious and ethnic composition. These aspects shaped our own culture and an example of that will be something like Singlish!
How do theses forces help understand China?
China's culture does not just consist of things that people see or hear. Rather, it is shaped by the ways that the people lead their lives and their beliefs that drive them. For example, the unspoken-but-often-emphasised hierarchy system demands respect from the younger generations to the older. There is no law that states that one must be respectful or take care of their parents, but in the same way, an unfilial child who does not take care of his aged parents is frowned upon. Subtle forces like that shape the Chinese culture.
Below is a photo I had chosen to represent Singapore's culture. It shows four shophouses.
Although they may be of different colours (different races, different beliefs, different languages et cetera), they can still stand side by side on the same street, not only to co-exist, but also to complement each other's colours and make them stand out. And in the end, everyone is equal; we are all human and are people who carry the cultures of Singapore.
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