Similarities between Indian and Chinese culture

India and China are home to the oldest human civilizations in the world. These two neighbours has the largest human populations and are two of the most notable superpowers. People of both nations do not know a lot about each other. India and China have a love-hate relationship when it comes to politics. But here, we are going to focus on similarities between Indian and Chinese culture; or India and China as a whole. Let’s dive in.

Family-oriented cultures

Both Indian and Chinese cultures are family-oriented in contrast to most western cultures. Families play a key role in most of the important decisions in an individual’s life. Parents are considered the most important figures in life because they acknowledge the fact that their parents brought them to existence. In general, rural Chinese culture is much more similar to Indian culture than the urban.

Along with the positive similarities, they share some negative similarities too. For instance, expecting a male child more than a female child to be born in the family. In China, it could possibly be because of the one child policy they had at one point in time. But these primitive thoughts are slowly disappearing with modernization.

Religion

Buddhism is a common religion between the two. Roots of Buddhism can be traced in India and Nepal. Buddhism entered ancient China via the Silk Roads around 1st or 2nd century CE. A large population in both countries practice Buddhism. This is why both countries share a lot common cultural beliefs which you’ll get to know about as we continue reading. So, stick with us.

Superstitions

Superstitions are common among many people in both countries. Superstitions hold a unique value and history.

• In both countries, twitching of one of the eyelids has some meaning. In China, if left eyelid jumps suddenly, this means good luck and fortune, while twitching of right eyelid means bad luck. In India, it’s somewhat similar but depends on the gender of the person. For males, the superstition is opposite to that of China in terms of which one of the two eyelids is twitching. Whereas its same for females as that of China.
• Numbers are associated with good or bad luck in both countries. In India most even numbers are considered lucky while odd numbers are considered unlucky, but 7 is believed as the luckiest number and 8 as unlucky in most Indian cultures (considering the diversity). Whereas in China 4 is seen as very unlucky number because it is related to death. Contrary to India, the lucky number in china is 8. The Chinese phone number +86 28 88888888 was sold for more than 2 million Yuan. But the key idea here is that both countries share this common belief of giving importance to numbers in day to day life.

Chinese community in India

By Chinese community, we don’t mean to refer to the people who recently moved to India on temporary basis, but the ethnic Chinese people who have been living in India for generations. A lot of Chinese people, mostly Hakka Chinese, moved to India centuries ago and identify themselves as Indians. They are mostly called “Chinese-Indians”, but it doesn’t necessarily means that they are mixed or something. Chinese-Indians have heavily influenced the Indian cuisines. Currently, Indo-Chinese cuisines are most loved in India. This brings us to-

Food

As discussed above, Chinese and Indo-Chinese cuisines are very popular in India. Indian food is also getting popular in China recently. Indo-Chinese cuisine is a distinct cuisine formed through the adaptation of Chinese cooking methods and seasonings to Indian tastes. Rice is a staple in most parts of both countries. Fusion of Indian and Chinese food or Western and Chinese food is very popular in India, say the noodle-filled Burgers in Punjab (India) and Schezwan Dosa in southern India. The list is endless.

Not only the food, but the eating methods have similarities as well. Majority of people in North-East India use chopsticks, just like Chinese.

Additional similarities

• Yoga is famous and practiced by many people in both countries. Not only Indians, but the Chinese people too believe that yoga is beneficial for physical and mental health. Chinese martial arts are also very popular in India
• Bollywood has managed to win hearts of a number of Chinese people. Many Indian movies are popular in China including 3-idiots and Dangal. Aamir Khan is the most famous Indian celebrity in China.
• Both Hindu and Chinese calendars are lunar based calendars unlike the Georgian calendar which is solar based.
• Education policy in both countries is very demanding and somewhat similar. There is sense of competition among students considering the size of population. In nutshell, we can say both Chinese and Indians are very hardworking.
• There is a famous phrase in India – “Hindi-Chini bhai-bhai” (Indians and Chinese are brothers), popularised by first PM of India.

Even after having so much in common, Indians and Chinese seem to be less aware about each other. This gives rise to a lot of stereotypes. They need to understand each other better and resolve their conflicts.

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