Читать книгу Asia Past and Present - Peter P. Wan - Страница 16

The word culture suggests several possible subjects. It can refer to microorganisms in a Petri dish, to people with good “taste” who enjoy haute cuisine and classical music, to the literate elite (high culture) as opposed to the “great unwashed” (i.e., the masses), or to modern nations compared to the developing world. In this study of Asia through the centuries, culture indicates human culture, which includes the innumerable ideas and practices the people of the continent have created over the millennia to meet their needs, both real and apparent. Thus culture encompasses—but is not limited to—such things as religious rituals, political institutions, economic arrangements, marriage customs, artistic creations, linguistic conventions, eating habits, and so forth.

Cultures evolve, interact with other cultures or remain isolated, expand or disappear. Since culture includes all behavior, different societies emerged, reflecting diverse approaches to social relationships in communities of shared values. Societies have ranged in size from small bands of several dozen to tribes, clans, or lineages of several hundreds or thousands; to villages of quite a few hundred to many thousands; to cities of more than a few thousand to several million; to regions of tens of millions; to nations of scores to hundreds of millions; or to entities such as “the West,” “Confucian Civilization,” “the Islamic World,” and “Hindustan,” each with at least hundreds of millions of inhabitants. Of course, differences will exist even among members of any culture, but one culture’s common beliefs, behaviors, and organizational techniques typically distinguish it as a separate society and set it off from others.

Societies have also reflected, as they do at present, a range of geographical and climatological settings. Thus, landlocked communities of the past did not likely engage in seafaring activities, while today’s natural‐resource‐poor nations need to rely on other assets in order to survive or prosper. Consequently, peoples across Asia (and around the world) created somewhat varied or even radically heterodox measures to cope with different physical circumstances. The practices of some cultures produced successful material results, such as peace and prosperity, while the ways of life in other cultures brought about psychological and spiritual comfort, while at the same time still other cultures achieved both material and emotional success, even as others failed in both material and psychological respects.