Borders between Europe and China: Why do Europeans (mis)understand Chinese culture?

Abstract

The article goes deeper into the dialogue of inter‐cultural Chinese and Western civilizations. It is analyzed how the Westerners perceive Chinese civilization and culture. The methods used here are the comparative and hermeneutical ones, as it is aimed to compare two different cultures and to penetrate the problems of understanding. The problems of understanding are not new, they have been analyzed a lot. The novelty of this article is determined by the fact that these problems are investigated in the outlooks of the understanding of Chinese culture and, especially, landscape aesthetics. Thus, the objects of this research are an inter‐civilization dialogue and an inter‐civilization conflict. The author of this article discusses why often it is difficult to develop a meaningful cultural dialogue between China and Europe, why this dialogue is relevant and how it could help Europeans to understand the Other and themselves. The idea presented in the article is that the Westerners are often mislead by a Chinese traditionalism, which is ambivalent and closely related to creativity and constant change, thus it should not be identified with stagnation and dogmatism. One more aspect of Chinese culture, which Europeans find difficult to understand, is its unity, which has deep philosophical implications and ability to connect the opposites. The author assumes that Western‐Eastern Europe has many distinctive features, but the inhabitants of this region view classical Chinese culture and an art in a similar way as the inhabitants of the rest of Europe: all Europeans have similar stereotypes and difficulties to understand separate aspects. This allows us to speak about a common European approach.

Santrauka

Straipsnyje gilinamasi i tarpkultūrini kinu ir Vakaru civilizaciju dialoga. Nagrinejama, kaip vakariečiai suvokia kinu civilizacija ir kultūra. Čia taikomi komparatyvistinis ir hermeneutinis metodai, nes siekiama palyginti dvi skirtingas kultūras ir ižvelgti supratimo problemu. Supratimo problemos nera naujos, jau yra daug tyrinetos, bet šio straipsnio naujuma lemia tai, kad jos gvildenamos kinu kultūros ir ypač kinu peizažines estetikos supratimo perspektyvoje. Todel šio tyrimo objektai yra tarpcivilizacinis dialogas ir tarpcivilizacinis konfliktas. Straipsnio autore svarsto, kodel dažnai sunkiai sekasi pletoti prasminga kultūrini Kinijos ir Europos dialoga, kodel jis yra aktualus bei kaip jis galetu padeti europiečiams suprasti Kita ir save pati. Išsakoma mintis, kad vakariečius dažnai klaidina kinu tradicionalizmas, kuris yra labai ambivalentiškas bei glaudžiai susijes su kūrybingumu ir nuolatine kaita, todel neturetu būti tapatinamas su sastingiu ir dogmatizmu. Kitas europiečiams sunkiai suprantamas kinu kultūros aspektas yra gilias filosofines potekstes turintis jos vientisumas, gebejimas jungti priešybes. Autores manymu, šiaures rytu Europa turi daug savitu bruožu, tačiau šio krašto gyventojai i klasikine kinu kultūra ir daile žvelgia panašiai kaip ir likusios Europos dalies gyventojai ‐ visiems europiečiams būdingi panašūs stereotipai ir del ju kylantys sunkumai suprasti paskirus aspektus. Tai leidžia kalbeti apie europiečiams bendra pasauležiūra.

Keywords:

• Chinese culture
• otherness
• inter‐civilization dialogue
• problems of understanding
• landscape aesthetics

Reikšminiai žodžiai::

• kinu kultūra
• kitoniškumas
• tarpcivilizacinis dialogas
• supratimo problemos
• peizažine estetika