Eastern culture

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Jain faiths. It is a part of the state insignia of India, Indonesia and Thailand. The Indonesian official coat of arms is centered on the Garuda, and as the symbol of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
.

Eastern culture, also known as Eastern civilization and historically as Oriental culture, is an umbrella term for the diverse

.

While there is no singular and catch-all "Eastern culture", there are subgroups within it, such as countries within East Asia, Southeast Asia, or South Asia, as well as syncretism within these regions. These include the spread of Eastern religions such as Buddhism or Hinduism, the usage of Chinese characters or Brahmic scripts, language families, the fusion of cuisines, and traditions, among others.

Terminology

The East, as a geographical area, is unclear and undefined. More often, the ideology of a state's inhabitants is what will be used to categorize it as an Eastern society. There is some disagreement about what nations should or should not be included in the category and at what times. Many parts of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire are considered to be distinct from the West and therefore labelled as eastern by most scholars. The Byzantine Empire was primarily influenced by Eastern practices due to its proximity and cultural similarity to Iran and Arabia, thus lacking features seen as "Western". Both Eastern and Western European authors have often perceived Byzantium as a body of religious, political, and philosophical ideas contrary to those of the West.

It is difficult to determine which individuals fit into which category, and the East–West contrast is sometimes criticized as relativistic and arbitrary.[1][2][3] Globalism has spread Western ideas so widely that almost all modern cultures are, to some extent, influenced by aspects of Eastern culture. Stereotypical views of "the East" have been labeled Orientalism, paralleling Occidentalism—the term for the 19th-century stereotyped views of "the West".

As Europeans discovered the wider world, old concepts adapted. The area that had formerly been considered the

Greater Persia
—is now used synonymously with "Near East" in most languages.

Traditions

The spread of Syriac Christianity to East Asia.
Distribution of Eastern religions (yellow), as opposed to Abrahamic religions (violet).
East Asia cultural region
Southeast Asia cultural region
cultural and linguistic map of the Indian Subcontinent
Map of Central Asia
Map of the Middle East

While there is no singular Eastern culture of the Eastern world, there are subgroups within it, such as countries within East Asia, Southeast Asia, or South Asia, as well as syncretism within these regions. These include the spread of Eastern religions such as Buddhism or Hinduism, the usage of Chinese characters or Brahmic scripts, language families, the fusion of cuisines, and traditions, among others. Eastern culture has developed many themes and traditions. Some important ones are listed below:

Religion

Cinema

Cuisine

Cultures

Medicine

Gallery

See also

Notes

  1. ^ British archaeologist D.G. Hogarth published The Nearer East in 1902, which helped to define the term and its extent, including Albania, Montenegro, southern Serbia and Bulgaria, Greece, Egypt, all Ottoman lands, the entire Arabian Peninsula, and Western parts of Iran.

References

Bibliography