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2฀ Culture and Food China i s a developin g country , i n fact , a rapidl y developin g countr y an d Liaoning Provinc e i s in it s mor e develope d eas t coas t region . China' s cours e of economi c developmen t ha s see n man y twist s and turns , reflectin g politica l shifts an d events , bu t provisio n o f sufficien t foo d an d adequat e nutritio n ha s remained a n importan t them e throughout . I n additio n t o bein g a biologica l necessity, foo d i s als o a n elemen t o f cultur e an d a centra l focu s — perhap s the central focu s — o f Chines e culture . This chapte r review s th e role s o f foo d in huma n live s an d th e principle s governin g wha t individual s an d cultura l groups select t o eat. We begin with th e concep t o f culture, which include s food , and cultura l contrast s and comparison s between cit y and countryside , and the n narrow th e focu s t o food itself , both a s a biological necessit y and a s an elemen t of culture . Culture Many definition s o f cultur e hav e bee n advanced ; Kroebe r an d Kluckhol n (1952) identifie d 16 0 fro m whic h the y distilled : Culture consists of patterns, explicit and implicit, of and for behavior an d transmitted by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievements of human groups, including their embodiments in artifacts; the essential core of culture consists of traditional (tha t is, historically derived an d selected ) idea s an d especially their attache d values ; culture systems may, on th e on e hand, b e considered product s o f action, and on th e other as conditioning element s of further action . (181 ) They di d no t en d th e debat e wit h thi s pronouncement , an d anthropologist s (e.g. Bryant et al., 1985 ; Hiebert, 1976 ; Hoebel, 1972 ; Keesing, 1958 ) continu e efforts t o defin e th e concep t mor e precisely . Scupi n an d DeCorse' s (1995 ) 8฀Changing ฀Rice ฀Bowl:฀Economic ฀Development ฀and ฀Diet ฀in ฀China฀ definition, " a share d wa y o f lif e tha t include s values , beliefs , an d norm s transmitted within a particular society from generatio n t o generation" ( 183), aptly states thre e importan t commonalitie s runnin g throug h th e debate : (1 ) culture include s a n entir e wa y of life ; (2 ) cultur e i s a grou p phenomenon ; and (3 ) cultur e i s learned b y each ne w generation fro m thei r elders . Urban and Rural Culture Since th e foundin g o f th e world' s firs t urba n place s i n ancien t times , differences i n the ways of life between city and countryside have been apparen t (e.g. the Biblical story of Sodom and Gomorra h in Genesis 18-9). Sociologists have studie d thes e contrasts , particularl y i n Wester n societie s undergoin g industrialization (e.g . Sorokin an d Zimmerman , 1929) ; anthropologists hav e inserted th e viewpoint o f non-Western, non-industrialize d societies . Rural (Folk) Societies Robert Redfield is credited with initiating the field of anthropological concept s into the study of complex societies. Based on fieldwork in Tepotzlan, Mexico , and drawin g o n dichotomie s o f predecessors , suc h a s Ferdinan d Tonnie s (1887) an d Emil e Durkheim (1933) , Redfield described an "ideal type" of folk society. Such a society is small, isolated, nonliterate, and homogeneous, with a strong sense of group solidarity. The ways of living are conventionalized int o tha t coherent syste m whic h w e cal l " a culture. " Behavio r i s traditional , spontaneous, uncritical , an d personal ; ther e i s no legislatio n o r habi t o f experiment and reflection for intellectual ends. Kinship, its relationships and institutions, are the type categories of experience and the familial group is the unit of action. The sacred prevails over the secular; the economy is one of status rather than of the...

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