How much of Japan's traditional culture comes from China ?

[Haivart]

Chinese, Indian or Arabic cultures are quite "pure" if you ask me.

No, Indian culture is not "pure" -- whatever that means. Are you referring to the north or the south? Before the Aryan migration, or after? Before Islam, or after? And neither is Arabic, even with the influence of Islam.

[Maciamo]

No, Indian culture is not "pure" -- whatever that means. Are you referring to the north or the south? Before the Aryan migration, or after? Before Islam, or after? And neither is Arabic, even with the influence of Islam.

But still "quite" pure (not completely of course). I meant after the Aryan invasion as before that civilisation wasn't really India. It was even purer before the arrival of Islam, but only 12% of India's population is now Muslim, despite the numerous monuments left by former rulers. Anyhow, we can safely say that the Muslim architecture of India is original and "Indian" enough to be different from other Muslim countries. It's not like China, Korea and Japan where it is sometimes hars to tell from a picture from which country is a Buddhist temple.

For me religion itself is not "culture"; it is the local culture that fashions religion to fit the mindset of the local population. This can several centuries, but eventually one same religion splits in various branches and is practised differently in different culturl areas. That's why "Christianity" does not have the same meaning at all for American and Europeans, and between them, for Catholics, Anglicans, Protestants and Orthodox. One thing unique about India is the number of religion that sprang from its original culture, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and even Sikhism by fusion with Islam. What makes it "pure" or "unique" is that 3 of these 4 religions are almost exclusively found in India (emigrants notwithstanding, of course), and we could also add the Zoroastrian, originally from Persia, but only found in India (and Pakistan and Sri Lanka) nowadays.

Then, if you have been to India, you know it's a totally different place from almost anywhere else in the world. East Asian and South-East Asian countries share a lot in common, so that while in Japan you sometimes feel like it could be Thailand or China. I have never felt like I was on a different planet in East Asia, while I did in India (and only in India, not even Nepal). Maybe that is because India has resisted "cultural westernisation" more than East Asian countries. It has kept its 5000-yera old class system well alive, while Japan got rid of its 250-year old class system in the late 19th century. No McDonalds, no Italian or Chinese restaurants, almost no clothes, food, cars or other consumer products imported from Western countries... That's in this regard that I saw Indian culture as "purer" than Japan's, or that of most other countries in the world. The only major cultural import from India is cricket, and it has almost died out in its country of origin...

We could try and make a list of cultural stuff imported by India, but apart from a bit if Islam and Christianity, and cricket (which are really leftovers of invasions and colonisation, rather than "imports"), there isn't much...

[GablurW]

Are Chinese culture(s) really that 'pure'? What we know as the Han Chineses are actually a complex mix of many different ethic groups, each with their own unique cultures. The Hakkas for instance orginated from the Northen China, currently settled largely in the Southen Guandong province, Fujian, Taiwan, Hong Kong and also many South East Asian countries. They were also said to be genetically more similar/much closer to the Koreans and Japanese compared that any other ethnic groups of China, now all assimulated under a common 'Han' ethnicity. The orginal language which they used to speak were also a lot more similar with Japanese than Chinese (and other dilects) with Japanese. Only comparatively recent were the Hakkas assimulated and accept as 'Han-Chinese'. This goes to show that 'Chinese' culture isn't that homogeneous or 'pure' as some might think, but is composed of a wide range of cultures and ethnics living in China. That's even though a large group of these different people were all lumped up as simply 'Han' Chinese. Kind of 'Borg' like if you'd ask me.

[Maciamo]

Are Chinese culture(s) really that 'pure'? What we know as the Han Chineses are actually a complex mix of many different ethic groups, each with their own unique cultures. The Hakkas for instance orginated from the Northen China, currently settled largely in the Southen Guandong province, Fujian, Taiwan, Hong Kong and also many South East Asian countries. They were also said to be genetically more similar/much closer to the Koreans and Japanese compared that any other ethnic groups of China, now all assimulated under a common 'Han' ethnicity.

So you are saying that Chinese culture isn't so pure because China is not ethnically uniform ? I believe there is such a think as British culture or American culture, yet these countries are even less ethnically "pure". Culture is something that develops over time in a common society (whatever its ethnic composition) and evolves constantly. In China's case, most of the culture developed on the territory of present-day China, even if there were movements of ethnicities within that territory over time. Apart from Buddhism, almost everything we associate with traditional Chinese culture (Taoism, Feng Shui, Confucianism, Chinese zodiacs, festivals, clothes, architecture...) originally comes from China, if I am not mistaken. If 5 or 10% of traditional Chinese culture was imported, in Japan's case it is more like 90%. And interestingly, most of the Japanese imports do not come from Korea (where the population originated), but from China. This shows that ethnicity and culture are not related.

[ricecake]

The Hakkas for instance orginated from the Northen China, currently settled largely in the Southen Guandong province, Fujian, Taiwan, Hong Kong.

They were also said to be genetically more similar/much closer to the Koreans and Japanese compared that any other ethnic groups of China, now all assimulated under a common 'Han' ethnicity.

The orginal language which they used to speak were also a lot more similar with Japanese than Chinese (and other dilects) with Japanese.

Han is a cultural identity.

Historically true," genuine " Hakka people were originally of indigenous Hua-Xia agricultural tribes occupied upper band of Yellow River.Our ancestors fled their homeland due to successful military conquests of Northern China by various Mongol and Tungus tribes with massive migrations southward to Guandong and Fujian provinces occured during later Song Dynasty.

Partially factual,modern day " Northern " Hakkas are either Hua-Xia origin partly mixed with Mongol/Manchu or Sinicized Xiongnu/Xian-Bei nomadic tribespeoples assimilated into Hakka Han Chinese.Overwhelming majority of today's northern Han Chinese have " Nomadic genes ",therefore they're genetically related to most Japanese and Koreans of northern Asian nomadic heritage.

Both Hakka and Cantonese dialects are 2 ORIGINAL Northern tongues,with Cantonese retained much of classical Chinese conversed in Tang's royal court.Japanese has a percentage of Tang loanwords like
suicide/world/cancel/simple/attitude/purpose/etc share SAME PRONOUNCIATION as Chinese Cantonese-dialect.Hakka dialect branched out from old Mandarin,Japanese language also has many Chinese loanwords like trust/grand opening/in love/fresh with pronounciation same as Mandarin-Chinese.

[ricecake]

Japanese has a percentage of Tang loanwords like
suicide/world/cancel/simple/attitude/purpose/etc share " same pronounciation " as Chinese Cantonese-dialect and trust/grand opening/in love/fresh with pronounciation same as Mandarin-Chinese.

Japanese romanji " On-yomi " meaning Chinese pronounciation.