China a realm between Harmony and contrast

Lonely plateaus and rough coasts, insurmountable mountains and impenetrable Forests, vibrant modern urbanity and traditional Life in the village, Chinese as well as the varied Culture of 55 other ethnicity shape the image of China. Whether culture, nature or Adventure: The Middle Kingdom just about anyone.

"Sooner or later, I am convinced, will all of China, like the phoenix, rise from its large depth. These
Millions of peaceful, hardworking people neither stifled and even completely suppressed
be, nor can this great nation be blotted out. Sooner or later must find these people again and share
to the west the fate of World determine. "(Ernest Henry Wilson," When Naturalists in West China ", 1913) The Middle Kingdom was resting in itself, was a world apart, so kept and keeps
partly still the center of the World par excellence. The Chinese world, Chinesischsein, is for the average Chinese the only possible and desirable
Existence around at all. The outsiders
West has this seemingly in
self-contained picture of the structure of China
adopted. Most people from
the West appears as a giant empire
strangely homogeneous unit with a long in
then flowing ruling dynasties leisurely
Story. The rulers united
in his person the function of the church and
State, was moral leader and took the
all mankind against the forces of nature.
He was the carrier of the whole social
and political framework held together. The
Humanity, were the Chinese who
Rest uncivilized barbarians who under certain
Conditions on the Chinese world
were allowed to participate. The central myth of
Chinese state is the belief in the
inherent unity of the Chinese empire
- Tianxia Everything under heaven. Indeed
but China was only two-thirds of
historical time - and there is often only on the
Paper - united. But always remained the unit
the ideal, and the people always felt
as a unit. It had the Chinese
Provinces immemorial the size of European
States. They developed enough
Proper character to political self constantly
function. They were by your own
Culture and history, separated languages,
own economic and strategic
Geography, own kitchens and traditions
defined.
The clash with the West center
19th Century. brought the myth of the natural
Unity and superiority over
all other cultures first into
Totter. An almost 120 years ending, extremely
violent disintegration process began:
Boxer Rebellion, Russo-Japanese War,
Fall of the Empire, the sell China
the Western powers and Japan and
the fall in the chaos with the subsequent
Agony of the Republic, which were events
which the clash with the West
triggered. In this case, the decay should the
Country initially accelerate: division
the country in individual territories,
were dominated by warlords, occupation
China by Japan, civil war and renewed
Unification of the country under communist Roommate rule, with its devastating
Mass campaigns such as land reform, Large
Leap and the Cultural Revolution, millions
cost of human existence and life.
The result was isolation and self-imposed
Depletion, the China of progress
exclude definitively seemed. But with
the coming to power of Deng Xiaoping In 1978
a new experiment, the achievement
ending an already 200 years
Dream, China again big and powerful to
do. More than three decades later has
China realized that dream and stands
powerful since than ever before in its history.
Once again, the Middle Kingdom is therefore,
that it is one of those countries that the
have remarkable property as his
Tell figures and mythical ruler old
to be born, and throughout this,
mysteriously repeatedly
rejuvenate. Often sleeping, sometimes wavering, but
Never dying, has become the kingdom of
Center a now nearly 3000-year-long
get high culture. Time enough, a
Culture full of contradictions and fascination
to develop.
China is no longer the east, just as you would
understood in the West, but it is not
> West <and certainly not Marxist. It
is nothing of the kind, but rather a mixture
out of everything. is For the traveler
the country therefore an experience full of contradictions:
Here the negative headlines
on human rights violations and corruption,
there the modern facade emerging
Large cities; on the one hand the
always stressed love of nature, on the
other hand, the apparent indifference
to the environment. The country experiences
a structural change, its pace
overwhelmed even many Chinese people, and what
still valid today, may tomorrow
be obsolete. But who is willing to
engage in these incompatibilities and
your packed China image again
to rethink who is unforgettable
Impressions from the Middle Kingdom with by
take home.