Culture of China
Zhuozheng Garden in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, one of the largest gardens in China.Confucianism was the official philosophy throughout most of Imperial China's history, and mastery of Confucian texts was the primary criterion for entry into the imperial bureaucracy. The literary emphasis of the exams affected the general perception of cultural refinement in China, e.g. the view that calligraphy was a higher art form than painting or drama. China's traditional values were derived from various versions of Confucianism and conservatism. A number of more authoritarian strains of thought have also been influential, such as Legalism. There was often conflict between the philosophies, e.g. the individualistic Song Dynasty neo-Confucians believed Legalism departed from the original spirit of Confucianism. Examinations and a culture of merit remain greatly valued in China today. In recent years, a number of New Confucians have advocated that democratic ideals and human rights are quite compatible with traditional Confucian "Asian values".[12]
With the rise of Western economic and military power beginning in the mid-19th century, non-Chinese systems of social and political organization gained adherents in China. Some of these would-be reformers totally rejected China's cultural legacy, while others sought to combine the strengths of Chinese and Western cultures. In essence, the history of 20th century China is one of experimentation with new systems of social, political, and economic organization that would allow for the reintegration of the nation in the wake of dynastic collapse.
The first leaders of the PRC were born in the old society but were influenced by the May Fourth Movement and reformist ideals. They sought to change some traditional aspects of Chinese culture, such as rural land tenure, sexism, and Confucian education, while preserving others, such as the family structure and obedience to the state. Many observers believe that the period following 1949 is a continuation of traditional Chinese dynastic history. Others say that the CPC's rule and the Cultural Revolution have damaged the foundations of Chinese culture, asserting that many important aspects of traditional Chinese morals and culture, such as Confucianism, Chinese art, literature, and performing arts like Beijing opera were altered to conform to government policies and communist propaganda. The institution of the Simplified Chinese orthography reform is controversial as well.
Today, the PRC government has accepted much of traditional Chinese culture as an integral part of Chinese society, calling it an important achievement of the Chinese civilization and vital to the formation of a Chinese national identity.
Chinese films have enjoyed box office success abroad, introducing both exotic and mundane elements of Chinese culture across the world. In the last two decades, China has become a hotbed of filmmaking with such films as Farewell My Concubine, In the Mood for Love, 2046, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Yi Yi (Taiwan), Hero, Infernal Affairs, Suzhou River, The Road Home and House of Flying Daggers being critically acclaimed around the world.
美式文化，教育，歷史：
Education
Main articles: Education in the United States and Educational attainment in the United States
The University of Virginia, designed and founded by Thomas Jefferson, is one of 19 World Heritage Sites in the United States and one of many highly regarded universities supported by the state level of government.Education in the United States is a combination of public and private entities. Public education is the responsibity of state and local governments, rather than the federal government. The Department of Education of the federal government, however, exerts some influence through its ability to control funding. Students are generally obliged to attend school starting with kindergarten, and ending with the 12th grade, which is normally completed at age 18, but many states may allow students to drop out as early as age 16. Besides public schools, parents may also choose to educate their own children at home or to send their children to parochial or private schools. After high school, students may choose to attend universities, either public or private.
There are also renowned private universities in the U.S., such as Stanford University.Public universities receive the bulk of their funding from the state governments, in contrast to most other countries where they are the responsibility of the federal government. Alumni donations and other sources also contribute large amounts of funding to both public and private universities, and most of the top university endowments in the world are owned by universities in the United States. Many students take out low-interest student loans that they are required to pay back after graduation (the interest paid on such loans is tax deductible). Tuition at private universities is generally much higher than at public universities.
There are many competitive institutions of higher education in the United States, both private and public. The United States has 168 universities in the world's top 500, 17 of which are in the top 20.[88] There are also many smaller universities and liberal arts colleges, and local community colleges of varying quality across the country with open admission policies.
The United Nations assigned an Education Index of 99.9 to the United States, ranking it number 1 in the world, a position it shares with about 20 other nations.[89] The United States has a basic literacy rate at 98%[90] to 99%[91] of the population over age 15. As for educational attainment, 27.2% of the population aged 25 and above have earned a bachelor's degree or higher, and 84.6% have graduated high school.[92]
Health
Main article: Health care in the United States
The overall performance of the United States health care system was ranked 15th by the World Health Organization.[93] The United States far outspends (combined private and public expenditures) any other nation in healthcare, measured in terms of both per capita spending and percentage of GDP.[94] However, spending has not correlated with a high ranking in many public health metrics. Information provided by the CIA World Factbook indicate that the United States had a higher infant mortality rate and slightly lower life expectancy than other post-industrial western nations such as Sweden,[95] Germany[96] or France.[97][98] The average salary of a physician in the US is the highest in the world.[99] Obesity is also a public-health problem, which is estimated to cost tens of billions of dollars every year.[100]
Unlike in many Western countries, the healthcare system is not fully-publicly funded but is a mix of public and private funding. In 2004, private insurance paid for 36% personal health expenditures, private out-of-pocket payments were 15%, while federal, state, and local governments paid 44%.[101] In 2005, there were 41.2 million people in the U.S. (14.2 percent of the population) who were without healthcare insurance for at least part of that year.(ibid) However, approximately one-third of these without insurance live in households with an income over $50,000, with half of these having an income of over $75,000.[102] Also, one third are people who are eligible for public health insurance programs but have not signed up for them. Health insurance in the United States is traditionally a benefit of some kinds of employment. However, emergency care facilities are required to provide service regardless of the patient's ability to pay. Medical bills are the most common reason for personal bankruptcy in the United States.[103] The nation spends a substantial amount on medical research, mostly privately-funded. As of 2000, non-profit private organizations funded 7% (such as the Howard Hughes Medical Institute), private industry funded 57%, and the tax-funded National Institutes of Health funded 36% of medical research in the U.S.[104]
Culture
Main article: Culture of the United States
Elvis Presley in 1957
American cultural icons, such as apple pie, baseball, and the American flag.The culture of the United States began as the culture of its first English colonists. The culture quickly evolved as an independent frontier culture supplemented by indigenous and Spanish–Mexican cowboy culture and by the cultures of subsequent waves of immigrants, first from Europe and Africa and later from Asia. Overall, significant cultural influences came from Europe, especially from the German, English and Irish cultures and later from Italian, Greek and Ashkenazi cultures. Descendants of enslaved West Africans preserved some cultural traditions from West Africa in the early United States. Geographical place names largely reflect the combined English, Dutch, French, German, Spanish, and Native American components of U.S. history.[75]
There are two dominant sociological models of cultural assimilation. The traditional melting pot model describes a form of homogenization. Immigrants from other cultures bring unique cultural aspects which are incorporated into the larger American culture, but then the immigrant populations gradually adopt the unified culture, forming a single "alloy". A more recently articulated model is that of the salad bowl, in which immigrant cultures retain some of their unique characteristics. Instead of merging with a unified American culture, they intermingle, forming a heterogeneous mixture, not unlike a salad composed of different vegetables.[105][75] There is considerable contemporary political debate over the merits of cultural assimilation versus pluralism or multiculturalism.
An important component of American culture is the American Dream: the idea that, through hard work, courage, and self-determination, regardless of social class, a person can gain a better life