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by senderista7 hours ago |
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upvoteby A_D_E_P_T6 hours ago|
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Yeah. You're probably familiar with the "Hanfu" revival -- a sort of resurgence in people adopting traditional clothing and makeup styles from the Han and Tang dynasties. It's entirely on account of the fact that those two dynasties were remarkably stable, prosperous, and peaceful, so they lend themselves to historical romanticism -- like the Chinese equivalent of the Renaissance Faire. Good vibes. Even popular in Japan, with e.g. The Apothecary Diaries and similar fare.

Shang, and all of the post-dynasty collapse centuries like The Spring and Autumn Period, were not great times to live in. Dismal and evil vibes, for the most part, unless you happen to be a mighty hero or bandit-lord who believes that he can conquer the age. Even so, most of them ended up in soup pots.

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upvoteby SllX6 hours ago|
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> Even popular in Japan, with e.g. The Apothecary Diaries and similar fare.

Notably the Tang Dynasty in China was concurrent with the Taika Reforms, Nara period & beginning of the Heian period in Japan.

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upvoteby A_D_E_P_T6 hours ago|
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And thus for a very long time, and even today to some extent, the Japanese (or their cultural theorists at any rate!) have viewed themselves as the inheritors of "true" Ancient Chinese culture -- unsullied by Mongol/Manchu/Communist influence.

There's some truth to this. The Japanese preserved certain Tang Dynasty customs which were lost to China, and they have some of the best collections of Tang-era artifacts.

This line of thought was, however, used in very unfortunate WWII-era propaganda, like "we have to invade China to rescue its civilization, only we can do this!"

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upvoteby geokon3 hours ago|
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In my experience the Chinese very much think this as well. Though it can be framed in a more derogatory way as "derivative" or "they just copied us"

I'd argue its difficult to find major aspects of Japanese culture that don't trace back to ancient China (maybe the language, eating raw food and sumo)

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upvoteby einichi2 hours ago|
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Shinto is a big one
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upvoteby samudrijan5 hours ago|
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They resent our freedoms!
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upvoteby toast02 hours ago|
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That was nice of them. I don't know if everyone would have sent them again!
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upvoteby ericmay4 hours ago|
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That’s really interesting. Thanks for sharing. I’m a big fan of clothing and architecture that are appropriate/historic for a given country or area. It’s unfortunate we’ve standardized on 5-over-1s and graphic t-shirts with sweatpants/leggings over time instead of maintaining some of that cultural and location based uniqueness. I understand why we have changed our clothing patterns, but we did lose a little bit of something in that change, in my opinion.
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upvoteby EdwardDiego6 hours ago|
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Your comment sent me to Wikipedia and this caught my eye [0], a Late Shang inscribed rhinoceros rib, which then deepened the wikihole [1], it's funny how even though I know of the Indian rhino and Sumatran rhino, it never occurred to me that they were even more widespread...

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late_Shang#/media/File:Shang_d...

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhinoceroses_in_ancient_China

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upvoteby mac3n4 hours ago|
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wait until you find about the Yana River people!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yana_Rhinoceros_Horn_Site

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upvoteby gloryjulio4 hours ago|
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Not exactly an issue though. Because the following Dynasty Zhou was portrayed as a protagonist, which rebelled against Shang and abolished human sacrifice and established the right Chinese civilization. And all the following dynasties are claiming that Zhou was the good old days and they are following Zhou's tradition.

Shang being an villain fits this narrative.

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