Cultural differences between Chinese and western art

Speaking of oriental costume culture, people will definitely think of elegant Tang costumes and implicit cheongsam, but we know little about western costume culture. In addition to modern suits, what we can think of is the grand and gorgeous aristocratic costumes of the Middle Ages in Europe. In fact, the cultural differences between Chinese and western costumes are not so simple. The characteristics of a nation's costumes are permeated with a profound cultural heritage of a nation. After thousands of years of historical precipitation, Chinese and western costumes have formed their own unique styles and systems.

First, color.

A nation's preference for color, in a sense, just reflects its subconscious personality characteristics. In ancient times, black was considered by China's ancestors as the color of the god who dominated everything. In Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, the emperor's crown was black. Later, with the development of feudal centralization and autocracy, people turned their worship of the gods (black) to the worship of the earth (yellow), thus forming the traditional concept of "yellow is precious". The colors of traditional clothes are influenced by Yin and Yang and five elements, including blue, red, black, white and yellow. They are called positive colors, and other colors are intermediate colors. Positive color was reserved for the upper class in most dynasties, indicating nobility. In the folk, positive color is also the color that people like and pursue in clothing color matching.

In the west, the most popular colors in Roman times were white and purple. White represents purity and integrity, and purple symbolizes nobility. In the Middle Ages, the stained glass windows in exotic churches were richly decorated, which led people to pursue the colors of heaven, so the colors full of religious flavor in costumes were yearned for by people. Since the Renaissance in Europe, with the upgrading of luxury clothing, bright colors have been welcomed by people. French people especially like cloves and roses, and they are also obsessed with subtle sky blue and holy white. Spaniards advocate elegant rose red and gray tones; In Britain, black is considered a mysterious and noble color.

Second, shape.

In terms of appearance characteristics, the appearance of China traditional clothing emphasizes the sense of longitudinal direction, and mostly adopts drooping lines, long sleeves and tubular gowns and skirts. Vertical bar decoration makes the body look slender. Clothing in the Qing dynasty was bulky, with cuffs and hem spread out. The Gao Qi bun and flowerpot shoes of women in Qing Dynasty, together with the cheongsam hanging to their feet, made the flag bearer look slimmer than women in previous dynasties. The slender appearance of the clothing makes up for the short stature of the orientals, creates an optical illusion in the senses, and achieves perfect harmony in proportion. The smooth shape of clothes matches the softer contour lines of China people's faces.

The appearance of western classical clothing emphasizes the lateral sense, and often adopts the shoulder contour with lateral expansion, the huge skirt with expanded sleeves, overlapping lace and so on. , make the clothing lines exaggerated and radiate outward. The appearance characteristics of western clothing are compatible with the passionate temperament of westerners, the obvious ups and downs of facial contours, and the tall and straight figure compared with the orientals.

Third, the pattern

Chinese and western costumes also show a diversified trend in the choice of patterns. Hanfu likes to use patterns to express auspicious wishes. Since ancient times, auspicious patterns have been widely used, from noble silks and satins to folk printed fabrics. Such as dragon and phoenix, dragon and phoenix dance and dragon ball play. It is not only a metaphor for totem worship, but also expresses the feelings of "descendants of dragons"; The design of a crane and a deer in the same spring, a magpie climbing a plum tree and a phoenix wearing a peony reflect people's hope for a happy life.

The patterns on western European clothing are constantly changing with the changes of history. Many flowers and plants were arranged in ancient times, and gorgeous flower patterns were popular in Italy during the Renaissance. In the period of Louis XV in France, influenced by the decorative style of rococo, S-shaped or spiral rattan grass and light and soft garden flowers and plants were popular. Modern influential popular patterns include Du Fei pattern of Fauvism, opal pattern designed by geometric line vision principle, etc.

With the development of economic globalization, the integration trend of Chinese and western costume culture has been strengthened unprecedentedly. China clothing industry is trying to connect with the world, taking a road of fashion and national characteristics, and integrating western fashion elements into traditional clothing design, while China elements are affecting the development of international fashion industry. While discussing the cultural differences between Chinese and western costumes, we should also consider the importance of maintaining national characteristics under the impact of globalization. The key is to find this point and find the fusion point of national culture and Datong culture.

Cultural differences between China and the West from Dayu's flood control to Noah's Ark

Ancient civilization began with the struggle between human beings and floods. Both the legend of Dayu in China and the story of Noah's Ark in the west show that the struggle against floods began in ancient times. However, in the face of the flood disaster, Dayu not only summed up the lessons of his father's failure to build a dike, dredged the riverbed and dug channels, but also "waited for the thunder, put the people first, suppressed the flood for thirteen years and refused to enter the house for three times", and finally appeared in the western part of "Kyushu is sparse, Jiuze is sprinkled, and summer is in Ai 'an" (Biography of Historical Records). The story of Noah's Ark recorded in the Bible is widely known. The two stories spread in the East and the West through the ages, lasting forever, accumulating their own civilizations, full of cultural differences between China and the West, and deducing a colorful cultural world.

Dayu's flood control and Noah's Ark embody different world views between Chinese and western cultures. Noah relied on the revelation of God to escape the disaster that God brought to people through the ark, while Dayu regarded the flood as a natural phenomenon and led the people to dredge together to overcome the flood. Noah also left seeds for human reproduction, but it also provided a precedent for human beings to confess their sins to God, while Dayu left human beings with the idea of living in harmony with and fighting against nature. These two fundamentally reflect the difference between world outlook and cosmology. In China, the origin and development of the universe is generally regarded as a dynamic natural process, and man is an organic part of the universe. People should adapt to the process of the universe, that is, "the unity of man and nature." It is this view of the universe that made Dayu face the flood, guided by the situation, not "blocked" but "sparse", and made the ancient emperors of our country unite the people along the river basin in the struggle for water control, forming a great nation, casting a great era of water control and creating an ancient oriental civilization. In the west, they try to find an unchanging absolute existence for the universe, and stipulate the basic properties of everything from this absolute existence. As one of the sources of western civilization, Judaism-Christianity theology regards God as the creator of time and everything, and God saved Noah, thus deducing western civilization.

Dayu's flood control and Noah's Ark embody the differences between Chinese and western cultures-radical and steady, vigorous and demure, analysis and synthesis. Facing the "evil" of human beings, the way God takes is to destroy human beings. This breakthrough in the original balance has produced a new leap and mutation, which is a prominent feature of western culture. Therefore, it is full of agitation and reverie in philosophy, praising chivalry in literature, and publicizing the beauty of sportsmanship and masculinity in art, which is a one-sided excavation in the way of thinking and a split in the language of philosophers, seeking common ground while reserving differences. Therefore, God doesn't need to think as a whole. Only by grasping one end, human beings can reproduce. Philosophers and thinkers can forge their own theoretical buildings, form their own schools and theories, and have only one focus, thus reproducing the typical characteristics of western culture-analysis. On the contrary, in the face of flood disaster, the ancient emperors of China made waves after waves, and Dayu finally found a water control strategy in the contradictory thinking of "blocking" and "dredging", and comprehensively used all kinds of original knowledge and skills at that time to successfully control water. This embodies the typical comprehensive thinking characteristics of oriental culture and accumulates the stable and dignified core of oriental culture. In the words of philosophers, it is to be one, seeking common ground while reserving differences. Therefore, the overall concept of China's philosophy has lasted for a long time, China's culture has become indifferent, quiet and far-reaching, and the feminine beauty of China's aesthetics has become advocating. It's like the depths of the sea, with beautiful corals, floating algae and leisurely marine fish. Compared with the rough sea, it forms a quiet and colorful picture. This is the realm of oriental culture.

Dayu's flood control and Noah's ark reflect the differences between Chinese and western ethics. On the surface, these two stories have formed the difference in water control thought between western countries to evacuate people and eastern countries to divert water, but in a deeper level, they reflect that western culture attaches importance to natural human rights, emphasizes individual standard and publicizes subjectivity, while eastern culture emphasizes etiquette, collective standard and ethical responsibility. In the story of Noah's Ark, although we can't see the trace of Noah's struggle for mankind, we can see his elaborate plan to build the Ark, feel his main spirit of seizing the opportunity and persevering in building a big ship, and realize his contingency thought of coping with the crisis by using external conditions and making progress by retreating. In the long-term development of western culture, from the democratic thought of ancient Greek culture to the extreme of Renaissance, it depicts a picture of pursuing independent personality, liberating individuality and emphasizing individualism. On the one hand, it has promoted the sudden emergence of western culture, with talented people and outstanding achievements; On the other hand, it has also caused ideological confusion, the infinite expansion of individualism, and formed the individualism values of self-expression. Dayu's spirit of water control has been passed down from generation to generation, which has cultivated China's thought of introspection and self-discipline and his cultural view of valuing righteousness over profit, and formed an excellent national cultural tradition of China people's modesty, courtesy and social responsibility. The long-term accumulation of this culture has resulted in the social structure and ethical responsibility of "being loyal to the monarch and ministers, loving the father and filial piety, and singing with the woman". On the one hand, it ensures the harmony of interpersonal relationships, promotes national unity and social stability, and enables the great nation to last for thousands of years. On the other hand, it also limits people's individuality and creativity, which is not conducive to the establishment of democratic ideas and systems. In addition, the west attaches importance to the horizontal relationship between husband and wife, while the east attaches importance to the vertical blood relationship. Noah took his wife to avoid water, and Dayu inherited his father's career. After four days of marriage, he went to water conservancy, which also reflected the ideological and cultural characteristics of the east and west being closed and open.

There are many reasons for the cultural differences between the East and the West, and the differences are brilliant. Noah's Ark and Dayu's flood control show us the beautiful landscape of Chinese and Western cultures, guide us to the source of cultural differences between China and the West, inspire us to think about the characteristics and essence of Chinese and Western cultures, and urge us to learn from each other and "discard the useless" each other. China's "quiet" traditional culture and the "vigorous" culture in the West are in harmony, and the sense of responsibility in the East and the thought of rights in the West complement each other, thus creating a beautiful picture of human civilization.