— Chinese Culture’s Influence on the West

By Chen Wei

A nation’s cultural consciousness and self-confidence is a reflection of that nation’s own understanding and relationship with its culture. A well-defined national identity is a good barometer of how a nation sees itself. In a bid to cultivate a high degree of cultural consciousness and confidence, we need to have a deep understanding and solid grasp of the socialist core value system, as well as an understanding of our own history and how to make the past serve the present. Promoting traditional Chinese culture and working to build the acknowledgement that classical Chinese culture has made great contributions to human civilization, including its influences on Western culture, is of great importance.

The Chinese were proud of their culture throughout most of history, but the sense of humility felt by some in modern times is a result of certain historical events in China’s recent past.

In ancient times, China’s economic and social development ranked top in the world. During that era the Chinese people were always confident and proud of their rich cultural traditions, values and influence of their nation had.

However, the sense of humility felt by some in modern times is a result of certain historical events in China’s recent past. After the defeat of China’s Qing Dynasty at the hands of the British Empire during the First Opium War in 1840, Western nations began to invade China, using force in the form of the guns and warships at their disposal. Traditional Chinese culture gradually declined, along with the ubiquity of the traditional Chinese value system. At that time, some Chinese advocated wholesale westernization and believed that traditional Chinese culture was inferior to the modern Western culture that they suddenly had contact with. Today that same sense of shame still carries on in the hearts and minds of some people.

With the rapid development of economic globalization, Western culture had a profound impact on the values, mindset and the aesthetic tastes of the Chinese people. Thus, some Chinese lost confidence in their traditional culture and neglected to uphold and work towards strengthening the influence of Chinese culture. Some people even began to feel ashamed of their own traditional culture.

Under these circumstances, in a bid to rebuild our confidence in culture, we must rediscover the broad and profound meaning and sense of inclusiveness in traditional Chinese culture, as well as research and develop systematic methods to promote traditional Chinese culture, in the process making scientific and objective judgments about the elements that constitute it and its inherent value. In particular, we must make a proper analysis and evaluation of the influence of Chinese culture on Western culture. This is a shortcoming among current academic circles. It is an aspect similarly overlooked by many common Chinese people. In fact, the influence of traditional Chinese culture on the West can be found as far back as when contact between the two cultures was first established, as exposure to Chinese culture even influenced the general development and direction of Western culture.

Chinese culture once had a profound influence upon the West, which was even more significant than the influence of Western nations on one another.

The evidence of Chinese culture’s influence on the West is mainly found on the reflections of ancient Chinese material progress and cultural and ideological progress experienced throughout history in the West.

It has been universally acknowledged that China’s silk and porcelain trade had a huge influence on Europe. This influence is not only seen in material terms but also in terms of culture. From 8th Century B.C. to the 2nd century A.D., China’s silk products were continuously transported to Europe along the ancient Silk Road. During this period, China for the first time exhibited an important influence upon the West through its silk trade. Around the 5th century B.C., China’s silk had become a material prized amongst the nobles of ancient Greece as a luxury, the clothes made from silk being symbols of status. At that time, the Greeks spoke highly of Chinese silk. They called China “Seres,” which means the land of silk. Silk is thin, soft, light and flexible. These features were in line with the ancient Greek philosophies that advocated a free and unrestrained human body. Thus, silk was the best material for displaying their aesthetic concepts in practice. From the Renaissance to early modern times, silk was always one of China’s primary export commodities exported to the West.

The development and status of porcelain also shows the great influence of Chinese culture on the West. China has a very long history of producing porcelain. For a long time, however, the best and most exquisite porcelain was extremely expensive in Europe because it was fragile and difficult to transport. As a result of its rarity, it too was used as a symbol of status amongst the European upper class. They used it to flaunt and display their wealth to others. Later, the major trade routes used to transport porcelain were changed from land to sea. After this it was able to import large amounts of Chinese porcelain via maritime trade. By the end of the 17th century, the export of porcelain wares from the Chinese ports of Guangzhou and Quanzhou had reached as many as 3 million pieces a year. Chinese porcelain, with its exquisite, fine and detailed ornamentations, advanced the rise of the famous late baroque Rococo style from France. Western scholars have noted that the parallels between Rococo and traditional Chinese arts is likely a cause of the influence of the painting style employed on the Chinese porcelain that the French nobility would have been importing at the time.

As for China’s influence of cultural and ideological progress on the West, it is well known that ancient Chinese philosophy and arts had an important influence. Ideological theories of the great Chinese scholars and philosophers, including Confucius, Laozi and Mencius on the Western world have existed since the period of the Enlightenment.

The influence of Chinese literature and art appears to be even more remarkable. In the 18th century, the Chinese opera of the Yuan Dynasty were once popular in Europe. At that time, many European playwrights employed elements of Chinese stories and culture in their works. For example, Voltaire, the great French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher, had promoted his advocacy of freedom and the rational spirit by means of a Chinese opera. In 1755, The Orphan of China, adapted by Voltaire was performed in France and caused a sensation all across Europe.

The artistic expression used in Chinese opera was appreciated by the Western world throughout the 20th century. The famous German playwright and poet Bertolt Brecht’s theory and practice of theatre were heavily influenced by his experiences of China’s Peking Opera. Brecht had always wanted to break through the barriers of existing drama theory, but he lacked the methods and inspiration to do so. In 1935, Brecht attended a Chinese opera performance and was introduced to the famous Chinese opera performer Mei Lanfang. When Brecht watched Mei’s performance, he was inspired by the techniques employed by traditional Chinese acting, particularly by the way in which they highlighted the stage performance and their extreme stylization. As a result, Brecht went on to develop the principal of Verfremdungseffekt (distancing effect), which formed on of the founding pillars of expressionism. Brecht believed, “Traditional Chinese acting… knows the alienation effect, and applies it most subtly.”

Chinese opera highlights expression while the Western opera attaches importance to experience. Brecht was fascinated by the way Chinese operas denied the spectator the sensation of being an objective observer, and how the constant direct engagement of the audience could force the audience into irrational judgment of characters’ actions and create emotional distance and disconnect.

When Western audiences were first exposed to traditional Chinese ink paintings, they were attracted by the unique Eastern fine art brushwork, which was particularly effective at portraying mountains and rivers, flowers and birds, as well as other animals. In contrast, the oil painting techniques of the West were best suited for portraits. The style of Chinese painting gradually influenced some of the French painters. French artists created many landscape paintings that were influenced deeply by the Chinese style of painting. It was between the 19th and 20th century that the Chinese painting style was most absorbed into Western aesthetics. The artists who were most successful in making revolutionary developments in the arts through their adaptation of Eastern techniques include Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso. Matisse fashioned his style of painting after the Eastern style of his master Gustave Moreau, a prominent Fauvist painter. Picasso’s Cubism, on the other hand, evolved from the Rococo style. In addition, many other Western artists who focused on the expressive language of color and form were more or less influenced by the Chinese painting style.

The West has similarly been aware of Chinese literature for a long time. Many Chinese legends and stories were brought westward by merchants who were traveling along the Silk Road. There are some Chinese stories in the famous Arabic work The Thousand and One Nights, which was written in the 10th century A.D. During the 18th and 19th century, as the trade between the East and the West flourished, a large number of Chinese novels were translated into foreign languages and sold to the Western countries. Hau Kiou Choaan (or The Fortunate Union) was one of most famous Chinese stories at that time. The novel was translated into over 10 different European languages. The famed German writer Goethe spoke highly of the novel for its advocacy of the harmonious relations between man and nature. He noted that nature was always together with the characters. Later on, many classic Chinese novels, including The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Water Margin and Dream of the Red Mansion were introduced to the West. With its succinct style and rich content, classical Chinese poetry also had a direct influence on the imagist poetry developing in the West.

Further more, ancient China’s scientific innovation had huge influence on the West. Along with the rise of Sinology in the West, Western scholars have interpreted the influence of Chinese culture upon the West more comprehensively and in much greater detail.

Cultural exchange is always mutual. Chinese culture will continue to make more contributions to the world just as external influences continue to contribute to it.

The influence of cultures on one another is similarly mutual. Different cultures may clash and exclude one another after first contact, but they will also absorb each other’s strengths and use them to better themselves. Different cultures are able to continuously exchange and blend together. The culture of the West has had a profound influence on Chinese society. By understanding the influence of traditional Chinese culture on the West, we also find that Chinese culture once played a significant role in the Western world. Even at the beginning of modern times, as Western thought and philosophy was introduced to China at an unprecedented scale and rapidity, we can see that traditional Chinese culture was influencing Western nations.

Since the 20th century, although the Western world has enjoyed an unprecedented leap forward in their scientific and technological progress, and has similarly seen major growth in their productivity, it has also been faced with the increasingly serious cultural challenges. The crisis has caused Western intellectuals to reconsider the disadvantages of Western culture and thought. Thus, many Western scholars gaze towards ancient Eastern civilization, hoping to find wisdom in Chinese culture in order to remedy their problems. During their well known dialogue, the British historian Arnold Joseph Toynbee and Japanese writer Daisaku Ikeda both placed high expectations on Chinese culture to usher in a new era for the human civilization in the future.

Understanding and acknowledging the influence of Chinese culture on the Western world is neither about blind arrogance nor the advocation of nationalism. Instead, we the Chinese people should give the deserved respect to traditional Chinese culture and take pride in it. Through cultural comparison and exchange, we can be confident of the strong vitality and the promising future of Chinese culture, as well as seeing the need to cultivate our cultural pride in order to shake of the remains of any cultural inferiority complex. We should not underestimate our own culture and similarly not worship the culture of others. We can seek common aspects while reserving differences during the exchange of Chinese culture with others. Through helping to overcome each other’s weaknesses we can improve ourselves and enhance the global influence of Chinese culture. It is believed that along with the increasing growth of China’s economy and society, China will further improve its international standing thus Chinese culture will contribute more and more to humanity as a whole.

(The author is a professor at Shanghai Normal University).