Examining the Differences

China v Japan v Korea: Examining the Differences: Part 1

In the West, when you sit down to eat, you will be guaranteed to see a fork and a knife as the given utensils. This trend goes for any Western country- the United States, England, Italy, Germany, France, and this list goes on. Since the conception of the table fork during the Roman Empire, it was Europe’s utensil of choice- still is, even passing the trend past Europe to other countries around the globe. However, where fork represents the West, chopsticks represent the East.

If you were to ask any person in America, excluding those of Asian descent, they most likely will not be able to tell you the differences between China, Japan, and Korea. The cultures, the food, the mannerisms, and the languages are each distinct and unique yet there are such generalizations found among a most diverse populace labelling everything as Chinese or saying it is all the same. Which is extremely inaccurate. While each of these countries have many similarities, they can count just as many differences. However, for now, we will cover just three.

Chopsticks are something people just regard as similar and universal in every Asian country. As a surprise to many people, there are differences in the shape, length, and material from which chopsticks are made in each country. In China’s case, they have the longest chopsticks which are typically made from smoothed wood (but now could also be found made from hard plastic), and are squared at the top and round at the bottom. Also, this design, just like all the other chopsticks, serves a direct purpose which corresponds to the type of food that it is used on. Chinese food is typically oily and made with lots of sauce. It is also served family style. Thus, the long shape of the chopsticks makes it ideal for reaching far, shared dishes, and the shape at the top and base of the chopsticks make it easier to grip the oily, saucy foods. China has also been the longest user of chopsticks- starting its use around 3,000 years ago.

In Japan, their modern chopstick use is a little bit newer- only starting around 400 years ago. Their chopsticks are the shortest in length in comparison with China and Korea and are similarly made with wood, like China. However, unlike China, their chopsticks are thin- making it ideal for their diet consisting of many different types of noodles. Japan also does not share their dishes like China or side dishes like Korea, opting for a more personalized meal, thus eliminating a need for far-reaching chopsticks.

Lastly, in Korea, the chopsticks are neither long like Chinese chopsticks but also not as short as Japanese chopsticks. They are also made from metal and flat in shape, quite different from the previous two. Different theories exist on as to why Koreans started using metal chopsticks- some ranging from the cleanliness of it to the way rice sticks less to metal as opposed to wood. Another theory all together suggests that it all started because of Baekje(18 B.C – 660 A.D) royalty who used silver utensils which would turn color if they came into contact with any poison in the food, a trend later that was adopted by the people. There seems to be no one answer, but it could be a combination of all three as to why Korea uses metal chopsticks as opposed to wood. Whatever its conceptions may be, Korea’s use of chopsticks began its journey on the peninsula around 1,800 years ago.

China v Japan v Korea: Examining the Differences: Part 2

In any culture, clothes play an important part in reflecting its values, its ideals, and its people. In China, clothing has had its changes over its thousands of years of history, however multiple aspects have remained fairly constant. Basic features of Chinese traditional clothing are cross-collar, wrapping the right lapel over the left, tying with sash and a form of blouse plus skirt or long gown. There are many different forms of clothing throughout the centuries, but the four most recognizable types are Hanfu, Cheongsam, Zhongsan (Mao) suit, and Tang suit. Hanfu, referring to the traditional clothing of Han people, has had many iterations among itself but the version we think of today came from the Western Zhou Dynasty (1046–771 BC) which used clothing as a strict indication of one’s status and hierarchical position in society. One’s rank was determined in the ornateness of the clothing, which included things such as the length of the skirt, wideness of the sleeves, and degree of ornamentation. Hanfu thus were typically consisting of long skirts called chang with wide sleeves of the upper garment called yi, and a sash around the middle.

Cheongsam, another type of clothing traditionally worn by women, is probably what most Westerners think of when they think of traditional Chinese clothing. Cheongsam is a body-hugging one piece dress and, also known by its name qipao, was first worn in China in the Qing Dynasty (1644 to 1912). However, the tight-fitting and stylish cheongsam we know of today was made popular by upper-class women in Shanghai in the 1920s. In terms of men’s clothing, styles have remained more consistent throughout the years, with the most recognizable renditions being the Zhongsan (Mao) suit and the Tang suit. The Zhongsan suit, known by Westerners as the Mao suit, didn’t actually come into use until 1949 with the establishment of the People’s Republic of China under Mao Zhedong who fondly wore the suit, making the garment closely associated with him in the West- hence the name Mao suit. Last on the list, the Tang suit or tangzhuang, has a little bit more history with the country, coming into fashion with the Qing Dynasty, along with cheongsam. Like the Zhongan suit, the Tang suit lapels down the middle and is worn with pants typically made from the same cloth.

Japanese clothing history is long, but has produced 2 distinct and recognizable clothing styles. One is kimono, and the other yukata. Kimono, which literally translates to “wear thing”, refers to both the men and the women’s clothing. Women’s kimono is an ankle-length, straight-lined dress with long, open sleeves. It is assembled by wrapping the fabric around the body, then tied with a large sash or obi around the middle. Women’s imonos can be quite colorful whereas men’s kimonos are typically black or gray. Men’s kimono also typically consist of three parts- a loose and baggy skirt, a wrapped upper garment tucked into the skirt, and a thin over coat. The kimono has faced few changes over its years but the kimono we know of today reached its look during the Edo period (1603–1867 AD). The second type of Japanese clothing, yukata, is similar in appearance to the kimono, however it is made from thin material and worn in the summer to fare the hot temperatures as the traditional kimono can be quite heavy. Men’s yukata is more similar to the women’s yukata as it is a one-piece dress wrapped around the wearer with a sash to tie in the middle. However, the colors for their yukata remain similar to the muted colors of their kimono, whereas the women’s yukata remains more colorful.

Korean clothing or hanbok traces its origins to nomadic clothing in the area, but the basic features of hanbok has its earliest recording in 3rd century BCE. Since then, the basic hanbok design as remained relatively unchanged. Although hanbok refers to both women and men’s clothing, they are vastly different in appearance. Women’s hanbok consists of a top orjeogori, and a skirt or chima. The top or jeogori is short, coming to just below the chest area, and is tied by an attached ribbon in the front. The skirt or chima is a long, ankle-length bell-shaped skirt that is tied up right underneath the underarms by wrapping it around the person and tying it in the front, underneath the jeogori. Men’s hanbok consists of an upper garment that is tied to the side and pants or bajithat are loose and baggy, and tied around the waist, allowing for easier sitting on the floor. The upper-class traditionally wore hanbok made from silk whereas the lower-class wore cotton versions. Rank and marital status were also reflected in hats for men and hairstyle for women. The more beads a man wore on his hat, the higher status the man was in society. For women, unmarried women would wear their hair in a long braid down the back with a ribbon, whereas married women wore their hair pinned up and status reflected through ornate hair pins used to decorate the hair.

China v Japan v Korea: Examining the Differences: Part 3

The Chinese, Japanese, and Korean languages are each vastly different from each other. Both the spoken and the written languages have their differences, but the easiest way to distinguish a language is by its writing. Chinese script or Hànzì, consists of around 50,000 known characters, however a typical well-educated person knows around 4,000. These glyphs’ components may depict objects or represent abstract notions instead of just sound, and is written without spaces between words like in Western writing. Sentences are also written in SVO or subject-verb-object order, similar to English.

Japanese script consists of 3 separate alphabets used together. Kanji consists of around 2,000 characters and is borrowed from Chinese script, however they have their own 2 distinct alphabetical systems used alongside the kanji. Under the overarching term Kana, Hiragana and Katakana each consist of 46 characters and represent sounds. Hiragana can be used in combination with a kanji character to make a word, however katakana is more reserved for writing foreign words and names in Japanese script. Japanese, like Chinese, is written without spaces between words, but unlike Chinese, their sentences are written in SOV or subject-object-verb. This would mean, instead of the sentence “I eat sushi”, one would say “I sushi eat” or instead of “I read books”, one would say “I books read”.

Korean script or Hangeul consists of 24 characters in total, and each character represents sound but is arranged into block syllables. Korean used to be written with no spaces between words but have since adopted a Western style of writing and now write with Western spacing as well as Western punctuation- a clear difference from their Chinese or Japanese counterparts.

Written by: Lacey Bonner

Originally from the Washington DC metropolitan area, 3rd year student and Candidate for a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a Candidate for Bachelor of Arts in the Korean Language at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa, current exchange student for a 1-year period at Korea University and intern at VANK (Voluntary Agency Network of Korea)