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Beijing Culture
Traditional social organization revolved around the family, with three generations living under one roof. The 'work unit' (danwei) assigns housing, sets salaries, handles mail, recruits Party members, arranges job transfers, approves marriages, divorces, childbirth and overseas travel and keeps files on each unit member. Theoretically, every Chinese person belongs to one. Nowadays, however, many people slip through the net by being self-employed or working in the private sector.
Family 
The Chinese family is essentially a close-knit group that largely fends for itself in a country that does not offer across the board welfare. As with other modernizing societies, however, traditional family values are being tested as expanding personal incomes and freedoms weaken the reliance on the older generation. This is a sad development as the traditional Chinese family is an exemplary model.
The 'one child policy', inaugurated in 1979, has certainly slowed population growth, although the original target remains beyond reach.
With a rapidly ageing population the family structure has become four-two-one, with one child having to look after two parents and four grandparents. It is estimated that China will be looking after 400 million old people by the year 2040 that will constitute a vast economic drag.
Psychologists also argue that the experiment has created a generation of spoiled children ill prepared to deal with adult life. Growing up as the centre of attention and treated as 'little emperors' (xiao huangdi) has made the sharp edges of the outside world that much sharper. Some experts estimate a 20% rate of mental illness among this generation.
Traditional preference for male children has led to increasing infanticide, abortion and abandonment of female children, resulting in an enormous gender imbalance and a lucrative international adoption trade in Chinese baby girls.
Social Customs
While Chinese people will shake hands with Westerners, they rarely do it among themselves. They will, on the other hand, often ask if you've eaten: it's not an invitation to a meal, just a form of greeting.
If invited to a Chinese person's house, it's a good idea to take you shoes off- certainly check to see if there’s a pile of shoes near the door and if your hosts are wearing slippers.
Business cards are handed out enthusiastically, so get some made up if you don't have any; the Chinese will think it odd if you don't reciprocate.
Chinese pay much attention to 'face' Face can be loosely defined as 'status' and many Chinese people will go to great lengths to avoid 'losing face'. If you have to complain about something, like the hot water not working, try and do so in a fairly quiet tone. Confrontation causes loss of face and that leads to trouble. Venting your rage in public will cause Chinese people to dig in their heels and only worsen your situation.
Chinese men are very generous with their cigarettes and smoking is perfectly acceptable at mealtime. A gift of a carton of foreign cigarettes (Marlboro or 555) or a decent bottle of baijiu (white spirit) such as Maotai will be very well received by your host.
If giving someone your address or telephone number, write in any colour but red. Red ink conveys unfriendliness. If you're teaching, it's OK to use red to correct papers, but if you write extensive comments on the back, use some other colour.
Religion & Philosophy
While religions such as Islam and Christianity exist in large areas of China and in a few pockets in Beijing, Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism dominate. Ancestor worship is also widely practiced.
The three main religions have mutually influenced each other over the centuries. Confucianism, in effect state policy for the last two millennia, advocated loyalty to the emperor and to the patriarchal structure below him. Its main tenets were set out by Confucius in the 5th century BC. Taoism has existed in two forms: firstly in the philosophical outlook advocated by the semi- mythical Laotzu (6th century BC), which stresses acceptance of 'the way'; and secondly in a popular form, which has a pantheon of gods and devils. Originally imported from India, Buddhism spread throughout China from the 3rd to 6th centuries AD. Up to the present, the faith has suffered successive persecution and patronage, but the large number of surviving Buddhist temples in Beijing and the rest of China points to its pre-eminence as a popular faith amongst the general Chinese populace.
The Cultural Revolution devastated Chinese religion - it's yet to recover fully. Temples were destroyed, monks were sent to labour in the countryside, where they often perished, and believers were prohibited from worship. Surviving temples have today been restored and worshippers have returned.
While freedom of religion now exists in China, it's worth noting that membership in the CCP is not permitted for anyone practising religion.
The government is not overly concerned about religious groupings, unless they contend, in either a real or imagined way, with the primacy of state doctrine. In spring 1999, the Communist Party was caught off-guard by a congregation of thousands of practitioners of a quasi-Buddhist health system, called Falun Gong, outside the political headquarters of Zhongnanhai.
Falun Gong was branded a 'cult' (xiejiao), outlawed and declared public enemy number one, despite the fact that many of its adherents were middle-aged grannies.
The tussle between the party and Falun Gong quickly relocated to Tiananmen Square, where followers of the 'cult' routinely appeared with banners, only to be pounced upon by patrolling plainclothes police. Some members of Falun Gong even burned themselves alive in the square and foreign contingents of believers have started appearing in Tiananmen (to be thrown out of the country).
The party fights a ruthless war against Falun Gong via all state media in a bid to extirpate it from society, and many say that the group has effectively been menaced into obscurity.
Fengshui
The ancient laws of Fengshui cast their mysterious spells over each and every temple in town, their logic determining, most importantly, the sitting and location of all temples and graves (see the Ming Tombs section in the Excursions chapter). All temples, whether Buddhist, Taoist or Confucian, are south-facing, with their halls and shrines arranged along a north- south axis. Bodies of water are often incorporated into temples in the form of trenches or ponds, to frustrate bad spirits, which are unable to traverse water. Spirit walls (such as the Nine Dragon Screen in Beihai Gongyuan) were a further line of defence against unruly demons. Temples were often constructed on the slopes of hills, which afforded Fengshui protection (for example at Tanzhe Si).
Also significant is the relation between Fengshui, the Five Elements and the fabric of the temple. The Five Element-theory (Wuxing) is a primordial periodic table for the world, in which Fire, Wood, Earth, Metal and Water interact in a cycle of creation and destruction.
Fire, a common feature of temples, is generated from wood and destroys metal in this elemental cycle. The use of fire is probably best observed in the use of incense. Incense conveys prayers on smoke to the heavens, with surplus incense sticks cast into huge, bronze braziers. These are often "wildly aflame and commonly situated in the courtyard preceding the largest hall. Candles are also liberally used in temples. Fire, however, was a perennial danger, given the abundance of wood and other easily flammable materials choking temple interiors. The element relates to the direction south, is represented by red, a common colour in temples, and its associated animals are the snake and the horse.
Wood, an essential building material in temples is also a commonly used material in the gilded Buddhist statues and other attendant deities that occupy primary positions in temple halls. In the phase of the five elements, wood is created from water and destroys earth. The element relates to the east, is represented by green, also a common colour in Chinese temples and its associated animals are the rabbit and the tiger.
Earth produces metal and destroys water in the five-element cycle, and is an element that determines the location of the temple according to the shape of the land. The physical and spiritual links between the earth and temples are very powerful. Earth relates to the centre, is represented by the colour yellow and its associated animals are the dragon, the ox, the goat and the dog.
Metal is another vital element liberally used in temples, to the extent that a few temples throughout China are entirely made of bronze or copper. The element relates to the west, creates water and destroys wood in the elemental cycle, is represented by the colour gold (or white) and is associated with wind chimes, coins, lions, monkeys and roosters.
Water is a life-giving element that is much used in temples, either in ponds or moats to prevent the passage of bad spirits. Water springs from metal and destroys fire in the elemental cycle and is represented by the colour black and relates to the north.
Language
The official language of the PRC is Mandarin putonghua, based on (but not identical to) the Beijing dialect.
For general use, Lonely Planet's Mandarin phrasebook is a pocket-sized reference ideal for whipping out in an emergency. A small dictionary with English, romanisation and Chinese characters can also be very helpful. For a more thorough discussion of Mandarin Chinese and a small vocabulary, see the Language chapter at the end of this book.
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