Defend this statement: "Korea and Japan have Chinese roots." How are Japan and Korea similar to China?

Question

How do they differ? Which country is more aligned with China today? South Korea or Japan (This will require research on the current relations between the countries)?

Answer 1

It is generally held by all Asians including the Chinese, Japanese and especially the Koreans that, anthropologically speaking, they are all descended from a common race found in Mongolia.

Religious people of all Asian countries will claim a divine origin, and the Red Chinese (communist) government insists that the Chinese race developed independently from all other races on earth (the Red Chinese government totally denies the out-of-Africa theory).

The Mongols had invaded and occupied vast terrories for over two hundred years, leaving behind their descendents. The great Kublai and Ghengis Khan had invaded Korea and used Korea for direct access to the invasion of Japan. Early Japanese history contained Korean and Mongolian swords and daggers of all types.

The islands of Japan were colonized by peoples from mainland China in Japan's early history. Korea has been a conduit for immigration and invasion for thousands of years. Japan had invaded and colonized Korea in the 1930s and Korea gained its independence from Japan in the late 20th century.

The larger civilization found on mainland China has had an enormous cultural impact on all Asian civilizations. For example: Japanese use 'Chinese characters' for the Japanese alphabet, Chinese meditation called 'Chan' was adopted into 'Son' in Korea, and from Korea turned into 'Zen' in Japan. The excellent classic: THE ART OF WAR by Sun Tzu (Tzu means 'master') has been studied and adapted by all Asian cultures: see THE BOOK OF FIVE RINGS by Minamoto Musashi. The Chinese board game of Wei Ch'i was brought to Korea and called 'Paduk' and went to Japan and called 'Go'. Today Japan has some of the best 'Go' players in the world.

Korea today can be seen as a mixture of Chinese, Japanese, and Mongolian descended people and culture. Japan, because of its 265 years of total isolation from 1600 to 1865 developed a unique and recognizable Japanese culture heavily influenced by Chinese philosophy and literature. China has an impressive 6,000 years of uninterrupted history a little distorted thanks to the Communist presence, but still recognizable as Chinese.

Despite the industrialization and western influence on Asia, it is still very true that Korea and Japan have very visible Chinese roots pervading its culture, literature, and value system while retaining their own identities as Japanese, Korean, and Chinese! And that's not a bad thing!

Answer 2

I do not have in-depth knowledge about history of Korea, but I know China was a great imperium centuries ago, and had advanced culture, philosophy, technology, and government system. At that time, Japan and Korea were not comparable to China. Japan learnt Chinese writing system and adapted it. Some concepts in Japanese and Korean culture are similar to those of Chinese.

Answer 3

First I would suggest that you do your own research on this subject as it would be good for you.
But all three have one thing in common, they all are Asian and have a common ancestry. Korea was once under the rule of Japan and they hated the Japanese. Korea once was friendly with Red China right after the Korean War.

Answer 4

> Defend this statement: "Korea and Japan have Chinese roots."

This statement is indefensible, as it is not correct. I believe that the intended statement is that the cultures of Korea and Japan have borrowed heavily from China.

Answer 5

Korea has Chinese roots, but I don't believe that Japan does, they look like a completely different race. Archeology shows the Japanese living there since the upper paleolithic era and Chinese literature first mention the Japanese in the first century CE.

Answer 6

In the DNA level, Japanese have several roots, from China continent (including Mongolian), Northeast of Russia, and from Southern Pacific islands. Basically most Japanese are mixed blood in old days. But today they are categorised as its own ethnic group.
https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ja.html

In Japan culture, especially in the ancient time as 2nd-7th century, China influenced Japan very much. Japan also took many things from the Chinese migrants and visiters from the continent, but started to modify everything immediately.
For e.g. Japanese language is very different from Chinese, and Japan never give up their own language. Japan started to create their own letters (Hiragana, Katakana) soon.
This is very different from Korea. Korea was tributary relationship under Big China for thousand years (Joseon Dynasty) and they had to use Chinese characters and grammer in the their formal document. If not, they were punished by China. Japan was out of the tributary system.

Actually current relationship between Japan and both China an Korea is not that good.

PS:Wikipedia is worthless to believe, because Korean is always trying to revise the article to hide dirty linen for them and polish their country up.

Answer 7

korea is similar to china: idk clothes are kinda same
japan: kanji and chinese(traditional) are exactly alike. Religion also spread to japan.. and korea , hence why buddhism* is so popular in japan.

*originated from hinduism in india, spread to china

there is a legend where along time ago, 500 single men and 500 single women capable of having children were sent on ships to populate japan