Favorite Asian Culture?

[Queequeg]

Taoism is generally a lot more comfortable with assimilating folk Chinese religion than Buddhism, and Confucianism is relatively secular.  Taoism is also associated with alchemy, folk-medicine and other esoteric practices. 

[Queequeg]

Mainland Chinese cinema is really meh. Even once vibrant Honk Kong has been dying since the reincorporation. Only Taiwan does interesting stuff anymore.

Korean and Japanese filmmaking is way more interesting.

Zhang Yimou's late 80s/early 90s stuff is classic.

Nah, he just aped Western "prestige" filmmaking, which is not that interesting on itself. His later, less westernish, films are actually more interesting. But they don't get nowhere near the stuff made in Taiwan or Honk Kong. Yay for free societies.

Raise the Red Lantern?  You think that's just aping western film making? 

[celedhring]

Mainland Chinese cinema is really meh. Even once vibrant Honk Kong has been dying since the reincorporation. Only Taiwan does interesting stuff anymore.

Korean and Japanese filmmaking is way more interesting.

Zhang Yimou's late 80s/early 90s stuff is classic.

Nah, he just aped Western "prestige" filmmaking, which is not that interesting on itself. His later, less westernish, films are actually more interesting. But they don't get nowhere near the stuff made in Taiwan or Honk Kong. Yay for free societies.

Raise the Red Lantern?  You think that's just aping western film making?

The themes are Chinese, the filmmaking is western.

Zhang Yimou isn't a filmmaker with a strong creative personality. One of my favorite films of his, Keep Cool, is a blatant Wong Kar Wai ripoff. And stuff like Hero and House of Flying Daggers, which I like a lot, drink straight from the well of swordplay Honk Kong films, which in turn drink from traditional Chinese Opera - to me, they feel culturally more authentic.

[katmai]

Why would i like any of them.

[Malthus]

What exactly do you mean by folk/popular taoism Malthus?

It's the religious current of Taoism, that comes complete with a pantheon of gods. If you see a "Taoist Temple" with statues of gods or demons in it, it is a creation of folk/popular Taoism (which is sometimes expressed in different sects, but just as often gets mixed up with Buddism and Confucianism in a sort of folk cultural mish-mash). Also has to do with things like alchemy, tantric-like sexual practices, etc.

http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/Philosophy/Taichi/religious-tao.html

This is in contrast with philosophical Taoism, which was only really of interest to a small group of intellectuals, and was "about" a philosophical form of mysticism akin to pantheism. 

For example, the taoism of Chuang Tzu said stuff about the taoist not worrying about death - essentially because a mystic who really 'felt' taoism understood, on an intuitive level, that being a part of creation (the "Tao") his body will of course die but what is essential about him or her - the Tao - is eternal. Folk/popular taoists took this to mean that Taoist sages knew the secret of immortality, like an elixer of life or the western "philosopher's stone", and that with the right practices or praying to the right gods a person can become immortal (something no doubt that caused the philosophical Taoists no end of amusement and exasperation). 

[Capetan Mihali]

pantheism. 

  Flashback to '04-'06 Languish, when you pantheists even managed to convert fahdiz to your religious non-religion religion!

[mongers]

Fear of Lettowism lowers the Japanese vote ... 

You know what, fair play to lettow - as idiosyncratic as he is, the Japan of his mind is at least constructed from exposure to the real thing. Sure he is selective in the parts he draws from (then again, who isn't) and he filters it through is own very specific lens, but at least it draws from something.

Well said.

He does deserve some credit, as he's gone out and almost literally chased a dream. 

Plus we should remember he's grown up/exposed his most vulnerable age, over the years hes been here, if you see what I mean.

[Maximus]

Hebrew.

Great thing about this is that it works for almost every continent.

[Neil]

Only one Asian culture ever produce a dreadnought battleship.  There was never any doubt who I would vote for.

[Malthus]

pantheism. 

  Flashback to '04-'06 Languish, when you pantheists even managed to convert fahdiz to your religious non-religion religion!

Heh, my days of discussing these things are past, probably for the best for all concerned. 

[Viking]

Nihon Bun

[Valmy]

Heh, my days of discussing these things are past, probably for the best for all concerned. 

Jews are terrible at proselytizing.  What a quitter.  Come on Malthus help the poor souls who have yet to find the one true faith!

[Queequeg]

Heh, my days of discussing these things are past, probably for the best for all concerned. 

Jews are terrible at proselytizing.  What a quitter.

I can think of a few Jews who were really quite wonderful at it. 

[CountDeMoney]

There's also substantially more diversity in China.

Compared to homogenous Japan, sure.  Compared to any other objective definition of the word "diversity", you're talking out of your ass as usual, cossacktard.

[Queequeg]

China was quite a diverse place before Mao.