China v. Japan

So I've been on hiatus due to balancing laziness with studying asian and buddhist art history (I know, they're very VERY similar...in fact, some of you might think it's the same thing). I've especially been trying to get past India/Pakistan beginnings of Buddhist art into later versions of it from China and Japan (Korea hasn't peeked my interest yet even though they are a very key player in the history of Buddhism). Okay, now that I've given a background for my schpeel here it is.

I'm starting to find myself really shocked at how people in American culture praise all things Japanese yet think all things Chinese cheap and unappealing. I know American culture doesn't really help with things like cheap products from Chinese soil or the infamous slop we call Chinese food and all high priced trendy things such as sushi and video games coming from Japan but if you take a closer look at the two you'll notice quite the opposite.

For those of you not familiar with these two Asian superpowers, here's the lowdown. China is the vast empire that spans much of Asia with all those billions of people while Japan is a little fishing island that wasn't suitably populated for a few hundred years after China. Looking at their accomplishments, you'd see that China is the earliest known country to have created bronze and established cities and government centers. Japan is mroe famously known for innovating nintendo. China has given us movies like Hero, Once Upon a Time in China, and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. Japan is known for Pokemon. China is known for Bruce Lee. Japan is known for this guy...


Once upon a time in High School, I had a science teacher that absolutely hated the French because he said they stole all their good ideas from other countries (besides prostition all other things we know of as french are from other cultures if you think about it). Japan's the France of Asia. And China would most likely be Italy. You know, the place the reniassance happened in.

So to sum this rant all up, China is cooler than Japan in so many ways. At least China's DONE something besides make anime. I mean, it's pretty sad when the best film director you've had died ten years ago and no one has taken his place. So stop thinking Japan is chic, it should be China you're looking at.