Culture of Jiangxi
Encyclopedia
The culture of Jiangxi refers to the culture of the people based in Jiangxi
Jiangxi
' is a southern province in the People's Republic of China. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze River in the north into hillier areas in the south, it shares a border with Anhui to the north, Zhejiang to the northeast, Fujian to the east, Guangdong to the south, Hunan to the west, and Hubei to...

. It has changed greatly over several millenniums, from the land's prehistoric period to its contemporary hybrid culture, which originates from Baiyue, inherits Ancient China and is modernly influenced by Western culture
Western culture
Western culture, sometimes equated with Western civilization or European civilization, refers to cultures of European origin and is used very broadly to refer to a heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, religious beliefs, political systems, and specific artifacts and...

.

Geographic situation makes Jiangxi distinguish from its neighbours, as high mountains separate it from Zhejiang
Zhejiang
Zhejiang is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. The word Zhejiang was the old name of the Qiantang River, which passes through Hangzhou, the provincial capital...

 to the east, Fujian
Fujian
' , formerly romanised as Fukien or Huguing or Foukien, is a province on the southeast coast of mainland China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, and Guangdong to the south. Taiwan lies to the east, across the Taiwan Strait...

 and Guangdong
Guangdong
Guangdong is a province on the South China Sea coast of the People's Republic of China. The province was previously often written with the alternative English name Kwangtung Province...

 to the south, Hunan
Hunan
' is a province of South-Central China, located to the south of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and south of Lake Dongting...

 to the west and Yangzi River forms a natural division between the South and northern China.

Language

The Gan language has always played a significant role in Jiangxi culture. The language is spoken mainly in Jiangxi but also in surrounding regions such as Hunan
Hunan
' is a province of South-Central China, located to the south of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and south of Lake Dongting...

, Hubei
Hubei
' Hupeh) is a province in Central China. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Lake Dongting...

, Anhui
Anhui
Anhui is a province in the People's Republic of China. Located in eastern China across the basins of the Yangtze River and the Huai River, it borders Jiangsu to the east, Zhejiang to the southeast, Jiangxi to the south, Hubei to the southwest, Henan to the northwest, and Shandong for a tiny...

, Fujian
Fujian
' , formerly romanised as Fukien or Huguing or Foukien, is a province on the southeast coast of mainland China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, and Guangdong to the south. Taiwan lies to the east, across the Taiwan Strait...

, etc. Modern Gan language is considered as one of Sinitic languages
Sinitic languages
The Sinitic languages, often called the Chinese languages or the Chinese language, are a language family frequently postulated as one of two primary branches of Sino-Tibetan...

, which derives from
History of the Gan language
-Old Gan:Old Gan or Proto-Gan corresponds to the Gan language from the beginning of Qin Dynasty to the latter part of the Han Dynasty...

 Old Gan
Old Gan
Old Gan or Proto-Gan corresponds to the Gan language from the beginning of Qin Dynasty to the latter part of the Han Dynasty....

 and still keeps some linguistic traces of ancient languages in South China
Northern and southern China
Northern China and southern China are two approximate regions within China. The exact boundary between these two regions has never been precisely defined...

.

The language is written in traditional Chinese characters with Gan variant. Many vocabularies are no longer used in Chinese, especially in Mandarin, while they remain daily words in Gan. For example, cooking utensils are called uoh
Wok
A wok is a versatile round-bottomed cooking vessel originating in China. It is used especially in East and Southeast Asia.Woks are most often used for stir frying, but can also be used in other Chinese cooking techniques, such as in steaming, deep frying, braising, stewing, smoking, or making soup...

(鑊) or tiang
Ding (vessel)
A ding is an ancient Chinese cauldron with legs, a lid and two handles opposite each other. They were made in two shapes with round vessels having three legs and rectangular ones four....

(鼎) in Gan which date back to Shang Dynasty
Shang Dynasty
The Shang Dynasty or Yin Dynasty was, according to traditional sources, the second Chinese dynasty, after the Xia. They ruled in the northeastern regions of the area known as "China proper" in the Yellow River valley...

. The Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...

 was also translated into some Gan dialects as the Christianity was introduced into Jiangxi as early as the 16th century, with the arrival of Marco Polo
Marco Polo
Marco Polo was a Venetian merchant traveler from the Venetian Republic whose travels are recorded in Il Milione, a book which did much to introduce Europeans to Central Asia and China. He learned about trading whilst his father and uncle, Niccolò and Maffeo, travelled through Asia and apparently...

.

Visual arts

Performing arts

Nuo opera

Nuo opera, which is said to have some relations with Baiyue culture, is a popular folk opera in Jiangxi and it develops into various styles in different cities. They all have martial scenes involving combat and non-martial scenes narrating ordinary stories, which differs Jiangxi Nuo from other Nuo operas in southwest China.

From late Qing Dynasty to now, there were about 150 Nuo opera performing groups. A temple
Temple
A temple is a structure reserved for religious or spiritual activities, such as prayer and sacrifice, or analogous rites. A templum constituted a sacred precinct as defined by a priest, or augur. It has the same root as the word "template," a plan in preparation of the building that was marked out...

 for the nuo god, which was built in the Ming Dynasty, is still in good function today for people to worship the nuo god. About 80 nuo opera programs date from the past still exist today. The number of nuo opera masks in Jiangxi is over 2000, and there are approximately 2000 professional nuo opera performing folk artists.

Architecture

Jiangxi architecture is heavily influenced by Fengshui theories of Taoism
Taoism
Taoism refers to a philosophical or religious tradition in which the basic concept is to establish harmony with the Tao , which is the mechanism of everything that exists...

, one of whose birthplaces is located in Mount Longhu
Mount Longhu
Mount Longhu , is located in Jiangxi, China. It is famous for being one of the birthplaces of Taoism, with many Taoist temples built upon the mountainside...

. It pays much attention to the harmony between inhabitants and the building and can simply make details to fix the direction of the bed in order to be coordinated to the background of the inhabitant
Four Pillars of Destiny
Four Pillars of Destiny is a Chinese and Japanese conceptual term that describes the four components creating a person's destiny or fate. The four components within the moment of birth are year, month, day, and hour...

. The Buddhism is also prosperous in Jiangxi, and traditional religional architecture are found in each city.

Cuisine

Jiangxi cuisine favors overtly spicy flavors, an important feature of many southern cuisines. Chili peppers are directly treated as vegetable instead of as a flavoring and sometimes they are also used in some traditionally unspicy dishes. Stir frying
Stir frying
Stir frying is an umbrella term used to describe two Chinese cooking techniques for preparing food in a wok: chǎo and bào . The term stir-fry was introduced into the English language by Buwei Yang Chao, in her book How to Cook and Eat in Chinese, to describe the chǎo technique...

 is one of key techniques in Jiangxi cooking and fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...

 are common ingredients due to numerous rivers within Jiangxi.

People in the culture

Jiangxi people or Jiangxinese (贛人, Gonnin) believe in the bottom-line Chinese values
Chinese philosophy
Chinese philosophy is philosophy written in the Chinese tradition of thought. The majority of traditional Chinese philosophy originates in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States era, during a period known as the "Hundred Schools of Thought", which was characterized by significant intellectual and...

 of "family solidarity", "courtesy" and "saving face" that carry significant weight in the culture. Equally, mountainous geography and abundant population have the people learn to be contented being basically well-off (小富則安), sort of Neo-Confucianism
Neo-Confucianism
Neo-Confucianism is an ethical and metaphysical Chinese philosophy influenced by Confucianism, that was primarily developed during the Song Dynasty and Ming Dynasty, but which can be traced back to Han Yu and Li Ao in the Tang Dynasty....

 developed by Zhu Xi
Zhu Xi
Zhū​ Xī​ or Chu Hsi was a Song Dynasty Confucian scholar who became the leading figure of the School of Principle and the most influential rationalist Neo-Confucian in China...

 and Lu Jiuyuan
Lu Jiuyuan
thumb|200px|Lu JiuyuanLu Jiuyuan was a Chinese scholar and philosopher who founded the school of the universal mind, the second most influential Neo-Confucian school...

.
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