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The Chinese view of the perception of the world

by marusia

In Chinese, their country is called “Zhongguo” (Zhong guo – the middle state), literally translated as “middle state”. There is no connection with the Russian or English name here – China or China.

This name is directly related to the fact that the Chinese believe that they are in the middle of the world, the very character of the symbol symbolizes the middle – a rectangle in the middle of which a line is drawn. The rest of the world is a fringe. And since China is in the center, all other countries, like planets around the sun, revolve around China. According to the Chinese, the center is stability and the whole environment is trying to adapt to a stable China, and China, in turn, also absorbs the “outskirts”, assimilates them to itself. Hence the absolute fearlessness and confidence of the Chinese that they will be assimilated by someone. Ubiquitous Chinatowns are the best proof of this.

Everyone knows that the compass needle always points to the north, this is a truism and a fact. On the Chinese compass, the arrow points to the South – another proof of Asian specificity. If the arrow points to the south, then, respectively, where we have the north, the Chinese have the south, where we have the south, they have the north, and so on – the opposite is true. Why is that? China calls itself the Celestial Empire – that’s how the Almighty sees our world from the heavens above China, as well as satellites. That is, Russia is in the east, Japan is in the west along with America, India is in the north, and Mongolia is in the south.

And another feature of the Chinese people is their perception of time. In European culture, it is customary to stand facing the future, with your back to the past – as if reaching forward to future achievements. In China, as you probably already guessed, the opposite is true. The Chinese are facing the past, doing lessons from the past, and their backs are turned to the future – the unknown. Looking for the key to the truth in history is one of the main characteristic features of the Chinese worldview.

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