Summary Blog

The Han culture has been very interesting to learn about. Through research I have found out many new things that I did not before. In terms of communication, you could say that I have broden my horizens and have a better understanding of the Han culture. The Han culture all started with a man by the name of Sun Yatsen and is not the national majority with 1.6 billion people. Most of the Han culture is centered in China but also is around Singapore, Australia, Malaysia, Thialand, North America, and countries in Europe.

There are many benefits and challenges when it comes to intercultural relationships. One challenge that many have to face is the different languages and the different dialects spoken by the Han culture. A few different dialects that the Han speak are Mandarin, Wu, Xiang, Gan, Min, Cantonese, and Hakka. Cantonese is the main dialect around the are of Hong Kong in which our foreign exchange student was from. She also spoke Cantonese and taught my family a few words. Some of them were main words like "hello" and "goodbye" but one word I will never forget is the word "fompay" meaning fart. There were at times where she did not know what a word meant but my family always did a good job at trying to explain things so she understood. She's a very smart girl so she always caught on very fast. She also taught us how to write our names in Cantonese but that their writing is very hard to remember so I can no longer do it.

One thing I also learned from our foreign exchange student Ping, was that their food is very different from our and its very different than the American Chinese you get at Panda Express or some little chinese joint down on Cornhusker Highway. I asked her what the dishes were called again but there is no way I can spell them out or even pronounce them correctly so describing them will be our best option. One dish she made us was like meatballs rolled in corn. It was good and defintely something my family has never had before. She also made us chicken fryed with peaches. That was a combo I would have never thought of but she said they eat a lot of fruit with their main dish. She also reminded me that they eat a lot of seafood like shark. Not something we are very accustumed to.

In this case, it was very easy for my family to get to know Ping. She was going to be living with us for about nine months and we were really the only people she somewhat knew when she came over to the United States. The situation made it very easy for us to have a good intercultural experience. She actually blended into our family quite well, she was my age, came from a close family like ours, had two sisters just like I did and so forth. Although there were times where she learned something knew, or taught my family something new, it was a great experience not only getting to know her, but getting to know her culture. To this day we are still close and she is just like a sister to me. I think this experience has also made it somewhat easier for me to be more open to getting to know other people of her culture.

Culture Shock

When transitioning into new cultural contexts, many people experience what is known as "culture shock". Culture shock is a relatively short-term feeling of disorientation and discomfort due to the lack of familiar cues in the environment. Many people may feel this way when entering a new cultural situation. They also may experience symptoms like irritability, anxiousness, or even excessive hand washing. By becoming more comfortable with the new culture, like learning the language or making friends of that culture, culture shock can be reduced or "recovered". You can adapt to the new cultural situation and feel more comfortable.
Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I spend about an hour sitting in the Union. Here I have been observing people and noticing the different cultures. One particular group I have been observing is people who are or look to be Chinese. Although I don't interact with them or talk to them, I assume that most of them are of the Han culture considering Han is the most popular culture of the Chinese. I notice that most of them sit together and interact with only those who seem to be the same culture. Most of them don't seem to have culture shock, but I believe that is because they have been studying abroad here, or have lived here for awhile seems how it is the spring semester. I can only imagine that when they first arrived here to study abroad that they did experience some culture shock.
I was fortunate enough to have a foreign exchange student live with me my senior year of high school. Her name was Ping Ki and is from Hong Kong and of the Han culture. I know for a fact that she experienced culture shock. When she first arrived she explained how she missed one of her flights and she was very scared because she was in a place that she didn't know and knew nobody. Of course she made it alright but she said that was the first major situation where she experienced culture shock. I called her to talk to her about culture shock and the times she experienced it. It turned more into a conversation just to catch up but we did reminisce about some of the times she experienced when she was here. For her, walking on grass barefoot was a big culture shock. It is "not normal" to walk barefoot on grass. In Hong Kong, which is a huge city consisting of grass only in parks; the grass was roped off so no one could walk on it. My family took Ping outside to walk on the grass barefoot and I remember her smiling and saying how funny it felt on her feet. Ping told me that at first she experienced a lot of culture shock but our family was very welcoming which helped reduce the shock. Also she was very fluent in the English language so it was easy for her to communicate and make new friends. She said the culture shock didn't last long, but there was still many things that came new to her. She stated "it's like that one saying; you learn something every day."
In thinking about the time she spent with my family, she also brought a lot of her culture to our home. My family experienced maybe a little culture shock in some of the things she taught us. One night she made chicken and oranges and we thought that was very strange, but we tasted it and thought it was delicious. Back to the grass experience, I was shocked because I remember growing up running around outside with no shoes on all the time. I couldn't imagine not knowing what that was like. I was also fortunate enough to stay with some of her family in New York where I experienced some culture shock. Her culture is very different than ours in which every time I entered the house, I had to take off my shoes and wear house slippers. I wasn't allowed to walk around barefoot in their home. My culture shock most likely wasn't as great as hers and it didn't last long. I can only imagine how different her culture is over in Hong Kong and would have great culture shock if I were to ever go over there.
Culture shock is a feeling that most everyone gets when entering a new cultural situation. You may have symptoms but if treated properly, culture shock can be recovered. By learning the customs and languages of the new culture, you can become more comfortable and reduce the feeling of disorientation and discomfort. By adapting to your new surroundings and meeting new friends, culture shock can be short term. Culture shock is a normal feeling people may get but can be reduced, if not recovered.

References:
Martin, J.N., & Nakayama, T.K. (2009). Intercultural Communication in Contexts (5th. ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.

Han Culture Introduction

Han Culture Introduction

The Chinese culture is very complex and has many ethnic groups within the culture. Therefore, we will be focusing specifically on the Han nationality. We will look deeper into the history of the Chinese Han culture, the languages that are spoken along with the different dialects, traditions and holidays, religion, and the everyday lives of Han people.

It is first important to know a little of the history of the Chinese culture and where it came from. A man by the name of Sun Yatsen founded the Republic of China in 1912 calling it "The Republic of Nationalities". These consisted of the Han, Manchus, Mongols, Hui, and Tibetans. The Han is the Chinese ethnic group which forms the national majority with 1.6 billion people. This is nineteen percent of the world's total population making it the largest ethnic group in China and worldwide. While 99% of the Han people live in China, others live in places like Singapore, Australia, Malaysia, Thailand, North America, and countries in Europe. The Han people along with other Chinese ethnic minorities have lived mainly on agriculture, politics, philosophy, art, literature, and natural science.

The Chinese language is divided up into many dialects in which in different regions, the standard of Chinese varies. The dialects in which the Han people speak are Mandarin, Wu, Xiang, Gan, Min, Cantonese, and Hakka. In the Hong Kong region, Cantonese is the prime dialect, while in the Chinese mainland and Taiwan, Mandarin is the designated language. As you can tell, intercultural communication plays a big part in the Han culture. Different dialects have been formed and communications between the different regions differ. Chinese is also written in two different forms; traditional Chinese characters and simplified Chinese characters. Simplified Chinese characters are mostly used among the Han people.

There are three main religions practiced among the Han people including Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism. Taoism is based on a belief from Dao, a spirit of harmony that drives the universe and the main ideas are collected in a book called Daode jing. The teachings of Confucianism is from a man name Confucius in which he believed it is natural for human beings to be good to each other; to have respect for parents, teachers, and elders. Buddhism on the other hand did not actually originate from China but was brought from India. It focuses more on the state of mind rather than rituals. These are the tree major religions practiced by the Han but others belong to various Christian denominations due to the influence of western culture.

Rice, wheat, vegetables, pork, eggs, and freshwater fish are some of the major foods cooked and ate by the Han ethnic group. They also highly value cooking skills and like to serve tea and alcoholic beverages to their guests in their homes. Some traditional Chinese foods are dumplings, rice, spring rolls, and wanton.

Like most ethnic Chinese groups, the Han also value close interpersonal relationships with family and friends. The man is most likely to be the head of the household and many elders continue to live with the family. They also have feasts and festivals to strengthen individual and community relationships. These festivals are usually rich and colorful and some of the major festivals include the Spring Festival, Lantern Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, and Mid-autumn Festival.

The Han ethnic group is a part of the Chinese culture and has many similar identities. They have their own traditions, history, religious practices, and language dialects in which all of these make up their culture. Soon we will be digging even deeper into some of these topics and learning more about the Han cultural group.

References:

Chinese Han People, Han Nationality: Language, Religion, Customs. (n.d.). China Travel, China Travel Agency w/ Tour Packages 24/7 Service. Retrieved February 10, 2012, from http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/

Chinese-Introduction, Location, Language, Han dialects (spoken by 1.04 billion han). (n.d.). Countries and Their Cultures.Retrieved February 10, 2012, from http://www.everyculture.com/wc/Brazil-to-Congo-Republic-of/Chinese.html

Confucianism Orgins, Confucianism History, Confucianism Beliefs. (n.d.). Balanced Views of Religion and Spirituality with Faith/ Patheos. Retrieved February 10, 2012, from http://www.patheos.com/Library/Confucianism

Who I Am

Getting to Know Me

My name is Whitney Scholtes and I'm majoring in Communication Studies with a possible minor in Gerontology. I'm 21 and am from Ainworth Nebraska which is a really small town about five hours from here. I haven't ever taken an online class, so this will be my first. I am slightly concerned with this online class because I'm not very familiar with how online classes work. Hopefully I will be able to keep up and stay on task. I just delcaired my major in Communication Studies so this class will go towards my major. Also my advisor at the time recommended it to me. I hope to learn more about intercultural communication and can apply it later in life. Some of my interests are cooking, hanging out with friends, and being with my family. Some hobbies I enjoy are swimming, shopping, and golfing.