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East Asian Traditions: fun facts and quiz
The essentials in 7 ideas, with fun facts, an illustrated story and a quiz to see how much you know.
The essentials
Shinto
Shinto is Japan’s native tradition. It honours kami, spirits found in nature, in ancestors and in special places, at shrines marked by torii gates.
Key fact
Many people in Japan take part in both Shinto and Buddhist customs.
Confucian Values
Confucian values, like respect for elders, family duty and learning, have shaped life in China, Korea, Japan and Vietnam for centuries.
Key fact
China’s imperial exams tested Confucian texts for over 1,000 years.
Yin & Yang
Yin and yang is the Chinese idea that opposite forces, like dark and light or cold and warm, are connected and balance each other.
Key fact
Each half of the symbol holds a small dot of the other.
Honouring Ancestors
Across East Asia, many families honour their ancestors with offerings, home altars and grave visits, for example during China’s Qingming Festival.
Key fact
Qingming is also called Tomb-Sweeping Day.
Lunar New Year
Lunar New Year, the biggest holiday in China and important across East Asia, brings family reunions, red envelopes of money and fireworks.
Key fact
Each year is linked to one of 12 zodiac animals.
Taoist Practices
Taoism inspired practices like tai chi, slow flowing movements meant to balance body and mind, and ideas about living in harmony with nature.
Key fact
Tai chi is practised by millions, often outdoors in the morning.
Feng Shui
Feng shui is a Chinese tradition of arranging buildings and rooms to be in harmony with their surroundings. Its name means “wind and water”.
Key fact
Some architects still consider feng shui in their designs.
Fun facts
Visitors to a Shinto shrine often rinse their hands and mouth at a stone water basin before praying.
In Taiwan, Confucius’s birthday, 28 September, is celebrated as Teachers’ Day.
The yin-yang symbol sits at the centre of South Korea’s flag.
At China’s Hungry Ghost Festival, people burn paper money and paper goods as offerings to wandering spirits.
The Lunar New Year travel rush is often called the largest yearly human migration.
Taoist alchemists searching for an elixir of long life are thought to have discovered gunpowder by accident.
In China, magnetic compasses were used for feng shui and fortune-telling long before they guided ships.
Story: Scaring Away the Nian
Scaring Away the Nian
An old Chinese legend tells of the Nian, a beast that came out every New Year’s Eve to eat crops, animals and even villagers.
One year, the villagers learned its weaknesses: the colour red, bright lights and loud noises.
So each New Year, homes are hung with red decorations, lanterns glow and firecrackers bang. “Guo nian”, celebrating New Year, also means “passing the Nian”.
True or false?
Tap your answer to see if you got it, and why.
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Question 1 of 10
Shinto honours spirits called kami.
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True. In mountains, rivers, trees and more.
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Question 2 of 10
Confucian values stress respect for elders.
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True. Along with family duty and learning.
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Question 3 of 10
Yin and yang describes balancing opposites.
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True. Each needs the other.
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Question 4 of 10
Qingming is also called Tomb-Sweeping Day.
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True. Families tidy and visit graves.
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Question 5 of 10
Red envelopes of money are a Lunar New Year custom.
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True. Given especially to children.
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Question 6 of 10
Tai chi is linked to Taoist ideas.
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True. Both prize balance and flow.
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Question 7 of 10
Feng shui means “wind and water”.
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True. Two forces of nature.
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Question 8 of 10
Shinto began in Brazil.
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False. It’s Japan’s native tradition.
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Question 9 of 10
Confucianism only influenced one small village.
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False. It shaped much of East Asia.
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Question 10 of 10
Yin and yang were two rival kingdoms.
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False. It’s a philosophical idea.
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KnowSoda learns what you know and brings back what you’re about to forget. East Asian Traditions has 6 more ideas at the Advanced and Expert levels.
Sources
- Encyclopaedia Britannica — Shinto, Confucianism, Taoism, feng shui, Qingming
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, Japan — Religious practice in Japan
- UNESCO — Tai chi (Intangible Cultural Heritage, 2020)
- Elman (2000), A Cultural History of Civil Examinations in Late Imperial China
- Encyclopaedia Britannica — torii, Korean shamanism, Mazu, Ise Shrine, Cao Dai, Bon festival
- Ise Jingu — Shikinen Sengu
