1. Asian Peoples Population, Culture, and Religions

2. Asian Population • nearly 4 billion people

5. Asian Cities

6. Major Language Families • Sino-Tibetan • Chinese, Tibetan, Tai, etc. • Altaic • Japanese, Korean, Mongolian, Uighur, etc. • Mon-Khmer • Khmer, Vietnamese, etc. • Indonesian & Malay

9. Asian Religions • Buddhism • Confucianism (?) • Hinduism • Islam • Daoism (Taoism, or ``The Way”)

10. Buddhism • The ``Buddha” (the Enlightened One) taught in northern India in 6th century, B.C. • Desire is the root of unhappiness in human life • There are ways to achieve illumination • Meditation and compassion for all sentient beings

11. Migration of Buddhism • Hinayana (Theravada, ``Small vehicle”) • Sri Lanka and, across the Bay of Bengal, what are now Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, and Indonesia • Mahayana (``Large vehicle”) • China, Korea, Japan, and what we now call Vietnam

12. Theravada

13. In Cambodia, ...

14. Indonesia, ...

15. … and Myanmar

16. Mahayana

17. In China ...

18. Tibet ...

19. Korea ...

20. … and Japan … (Zen)

21. Confucianism • Confucius (551 - 479 B.C.) • late Zhou dynasty

22. Not exactly a religion • Concerned primarily with restoring social stability and order • a system of social and ethical philosophy rather than a religion • li (rituals, norms, institutions, or mores) • ren (humaneness, kindness, benevolence, or virtue)

23. Li and Ren • Li: affirmation of accepted values and norms of behavior in primary social institutions and basic human relationships • Ren: the relationship between "two persons," or co-humanity - the potential to live together humanely • Atheist: no god or a far-off heavenly realm

24. Spread of Confucianism • East Asia • promoted by rulers • reinforced by examination system • Southeast Asia • overseas Chinese

25. In today’s China

26. ``Asian Values” • Cultural explanation for the economic boom of the Newly Industrialized Economies (NIE’s) of Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, and Hong Kong (the ``Four Small Dragons”) • High savings rate, strong work ethic, respect for authority & education, etc.

27. Interpreted by politicians • Singapore: Lee Kuan Yew • Malaysia: Mahathir