Tiffanny Bugarin CHI 221-1001 Midterm Essay October 22, 2014 Film-Based Cultural Analysis Part 1: The Qing dynasty was the last imperial dynasty in China that was founded by semi-sedentary people. During the beginning, the court carried several policies to recover the social economy and lessen the class ambiguity. Central to the 18th century, also known as the Golden Age, both culture and science were much more appreciated when introduced compared to other time periods. This also opened doors to all kinds of social contradictions that the Qing was slowly at its decline. After a long period of peace and prosperity, China entered the 19th century through incursions of the Western powers, which shook the empire. The first of many …show more content…
At first, many of the passerby's were not welcomed to the idea of a “white man” showing them a inventions from a different country, In particular, the West. They thought that the introduction of moving pictures would steal away from the Chinese art traditions they were accustomed to, like the famous Chinese drama, the opera. The people of China were loyal to Lord Tan when they would see his performance of his opera number. Before the film was presented, the Chinese people previously thought that the American people were like soldiers and did not see them as normal humans. It was a sense of propriety, the quality of conforming to accepted standards of behaviors or morals, the people of China wanted to maintain. The queue, is an example of a type of propriety. It is a Manchu hairstyle that was commonly represented as the life force of strength and vitality. The removal of this hair would represent treason that often lead to punishments or even death. This can lead to what type of relationships that would be formed. Typically, they were more hierarchical, where the lower classes of ordinary people were divided into two …show more content…
China was insulated from critical developments in Europe, known as the Scientific and Industrial Revolutions in the 18th and 19th centuries. With the superiority of sea power and military technology, it mostly favored Europe during the 1800’s. Amusingly, the successful powers of Europe would use some of China’s own inventions against them such as gunpowder and cannons (Mike). Throughout the movie, China’s process of adaptation to a modern society was eventually dominated by the Westerners ideas that still continue on in today’s world. They believed that China was a self-sufficient empire that the West had nothing of special value to offer them. China is seen as more as a collectivist country where they place their value on group cooperation and individual modesty compared to Americans where value is heavily weighed on freedom. Early in the period, the Chinese government would divide people into classes. Over centuries, this method was used to declare social order that would define an individuals role and privileges. Members know accordingly to where they stand and to whom owes respect, not to mention