are southeast asia, east asia and indian sub-continent related

[Mortimer]

i talked about it with chinese on chinese history forum, they seem not to be fond of the idea, they even denie the indian roots of buddhism they want that it is very different like european and chinese is different.

here is what i wrote

due to hinduism/buddhism and far eastern philosophies they share similarities, also the original indian music is similar to some chinese music (at least to my ear) and the architecture is a bit similar etc. i didnt said they look the same or are the same culture, they are vastly different cultures and especially phenotypes but i would place india rather in far east then in middle east. of course chinese and roma gypsies dont have a common identity and are not similar but it is good to see other non-whites except roma gypsies in serbia. i often eat at chinese restaurant, the atmosphere is nice with all the budda statues on the walls, the asian sounding music in the background and also the spices are strong, in india the spices are also strong eventhough the food is different but from china to thailand there is a commonality in food i believe for the taste of a european. i outline again there is a line of commonality from china to southeast asia (thailand, philipines etc.) in food, dress, architecture, philosophy etc. of course they are also vastly different.


I guess you are right but for my own biased reasons i wanted to think of them as related. Mainly because i like china, and want that they are related to my sub-continent of orgination and for geopolitical reasons because i think china and india would make good allies. i know that chinese and indians look very different and are different etc. but i still see some similarities maybe from a european cultural perspective only it is similar, like indians practice yoga and meditation and vedic medicine and martial arts chinese also meditate in their temples of worship, they practice kung fu, and have similar concepts about soul and afterlife, it is also vastly different but to me it is kinda "far east" culture or "asian"

traditional chinese music

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuHMCFYIC9E
traditional indian music

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoAoqT55Wos

chinese architecture
http://arts.cultural-china.com/chinaWH/upload/upfiles/2010-03/11/the_cultural_spirit_of_ancient_chinese_architectur e_part_2cabfeb63a63f87a53e14.jpg
indian architecture
http://www.crystalinks.com/india_architecture.jpg

traditonal chinese dress
http://www.topchinatravel.com/pic/china-guide/clothing/chinese-clothing-3.jpg

traditonal indian dress
http://hhh.gavilan.edu/mturetzky/Pols3/images/Kalam.jpg

maybe it is just me, i do see the vast differences but to me it is both "asian" as in contrast to "african" or "european" it gives me both "asian vibe" and i would like to give it the "far east label".

any thoughts

[Mortimer]

bump

[YeshAtid]

Nein

[sudonim]

Of course. The proximity of the countries obviously facilitated cultural exchange - especially on the silk road.

I know that in Korea with the introduction of Neo-Confucianism as the state 'religion' in around 1392 the Sino-centric views of the world supplanted the Buddhist influenced importance of India. I don't know if it was the same in China, because Chinese history has so many dynasties that were constantly c. There is a map of the world (minus the new world and anarctica etc) from this Neo Confucian period in Korea and India is completely reduced in size, whereas China is huge. Our lecturer told us this was pretty much on purpose.

However maybe this is just an orientalist view, exotifying the east. If you have an intimate knowledge of one culture it's a lot easier to say it's nothing like another culture, whereas to an outsider it appears similar. I know what Korean traditional music sounds like and when I went into an Indian restaurant with my mother she said that it sounded Korean to her. When to me clearly it was not Korean.

TLDR: maybe? definitely influence around silk road in that region. maybe not.