Culture Is Born Out of Its Land

By Han Shaogong

Not all cultural phenomena evolve independently.A good example would be food culture,which could be impacted by the development of the economy and technology,but not always to a high degree.

Many Chinese people nowadays are rich enough to afford Western food every day.Yet,despite their deep pockets,they just don’t like Western food.Instead,they love their Lao Gan Ma Chili Sauce,and prefer tofu over cheese,tea over coffee.How do we explain that?

It’s not about money,nor about economic development.Food culture,specifically a person’s taste buds,reflects more upon particular geographical and cultural characteristics.For example,many Chinese people have migrated to Europe and the United States and have lived there for nearly half of their lives.Yet their stomachs and taste buds miss their home country more than their minds.Despite their fine suits,leather shoes,and good English,they frequent Chinatown and Chinese restaurants more often than they realize it.

Comparatively,clothing culture is less stable and changes more easily.China has always been an agricultural country due to its suitable climate,with abundant rain in the hot season.As a result,cotton planting and silkworm breeding were very common.Therefore,traditional Han clothing was made of either silk or cotton,which are soft and light,making even official uniforms look like casual clothes.

并不是所有文化現象都是迭代演進的，比如餐飲。餐飲文化與經濟和技術有一定關系，但沒有太大關系。

現在不少中國人有錢了，可以天天吃西餐，那不是什么難事，但有些人即便腰纏萬貫，還是不愛吃西餐，偏偏愛吃“老干媽”，你怎么辦？他們不愛吃奶酪，就要吃豆腐，不愛喝咖啡，就愛喝茶，你怎么辦？

這不是錢的問題，與什么發展階段也沒關系。餐飲文化，特別是口味習慣，更多體現出一種地緣性的文化特征。很多人去了歐美，幾乎在那里生活了大半輩子。他們思想上不一定愛國，但腸胃肯定愛國，哈喇子肯定愛國。一個個西裝革履飆英語，一不留神，還是會奔唐人街，奔中餐館。

相對而言，服飾文化沒那么頑固，是比較容易變的。中國是農業國，很長一段時間里，靠的是雨熱同季等宜農條件，種棉養蠶很普及。因此傳統漢服非綢即棉，連官員的制服都像休閑裝，軟綿綿的一身。

這不同于歐洲。作為以游牧為主業的地區，歐洲盛產羊毛和皮革，所做成的服裝不一定柔軟舒適，但特別御寒，也容易做得挺括有型，比中國的棉鞋和布鞋更多幾分光鮮。這種服飾美學后面，其實都有地緣條件的源頭。

Europe is another case.Nomadic animal husbandry prevailed on this land,which mainly produced wool and leather.So instead of being soft and comfortable,their clothing has been more stiff,crisp,and coldproof—it appears more shiny and stylish than cotton shoes and cloth.As you can see,there are always particular geographical conditions behind every clothing aesthetic.

Architecture has the greatest correlation with geography and climate.Why are there so many arcades in Hainan? Because Hainan is a tropical region,with scorching sun and abundant rainfall all year round,making it hard for people to go out.The arcade-style buildings provide corridors on both sides of the street,which are perfect shade and rain cover,benefiting everyone.It is said that this arcade style is actually adopted from Mediterranean Europe,which is a rainy zone as well.Similar geographical conditions generate similar cultural elements,which can be found both in the West and in the East.Therefore,architecture must go along with geo-culture.A few years ago,some property developers in Qionghai did not take this element into account.They abandoned arcades and built a lot of Nordic-style houses.Yet Hainan is not bothered by the problem of accumulated ice and snow on house roofs.So peak roofed houses were useless here and easily blown into a mess after a few typhoons.

Now let’s talk about literature.China has a long and profound history of farming,which made the invention of paper possible.Paper made of grass and trees was invented in China a thousand years earlier than in Europe.Some scholars claim that there were no epics in ancient China because history was written down in works like theShiji (The Records of the Grand Historian),and theHanshu(The History of the Han Dynasty).Paper and pen annulled the need for word of mouth,hence there was no need for epics.Yet,in fact,Tibet,Inner Mongolia,Xinjiang,and other ethnic minority areas of China do have epics,such as theEpic of King GesarandBangel.The reason for this is the same as that in Europe:where agriculture was not developed,and therefore paper and writing would be used later;without paper and writing,word of mouth became the main channel of cultural inheritance.As writing tools and words are born from their geographical conditions,the epic of a particular ethnic group depends on its geographical conditions as well as its local products.

(FromFrontiers,Issue 3,2021.Translation:Lu Qiongyao)

建筑呢，與地理和氣候的關聯度最大。海南為什么有這么多騎樓？海南是熱帶地區，太陽很厲害，大家受不了。海南又多雨，大家出門不方便。那么蓋成騎樓這種樣式，街兩邊都有固定走廊，既可遮陽，又可避雨，方便了自己也方便了別人。據說這種騎樓風格其實是外來的，最早源自南歐——那是地中海地區，也是一個多雨地帶?？梢娭灰鼐墬l件相近，有些文化就不分東西，東方里可以有西方，西方里也可以有東方。建筑得講究地緣文化。前些年，瓊海有些開發商就沒考慮這個元素，蓋了很多北歐式的尖頂房，哪知道，海南從無冰雪積壓，尖頂房不適用。三五個臺風下來，全被吹得亂七八糟。

還可以說說文學。因為中國有深厚的農耕史，前人很早就發明了草木造紙，比歐洲早了近一千年。有專家說，中國古代不是沒有史詩，是因為歷史都寫進了《史記》《漢書》那樣的作品，不需要口耳相傳，因此就不需要史詩了。其實，中國的西藏、內蒙古、新疆等少數民族地區也是有史詩的，《格薩爾》《江格爾》等都是，其原因與歐洲一樣：如果農業不發達，如果紙張和文字運用得晚，運用得不夠，口耳相傳便成了文化傳承的主要手段。一個族群有沒有史詩，取決于當地的物產等地緣條件，書寫工具和文字載體隨地緣條件而生。

（摘自《天涯》2021年第3 期）