Monday, September 19, 2011

East Asian Culture Comparison Table

Mainland China Taiwan Hong Kong S Korea N Korea Vietnam Japan
Lunar New Year Restored in 1980 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes, but because of the time zone difference, new moon may be off by one day Only before 1873. Okinawa Prefecture and Amami Islands of the former Ryūkyū Kingdom still do.
Chinese zodiac Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes, but with rat, ox, tiger, cat Yes
24 solar terms Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Duanwu Festival Restored in 2008 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes, but not a public holiday Celebrated on Gregorian 5/5. Transformed into Children's Day
Mid-Autumn Festival Restored in 2008 Yes Yes, but on lunar 8/16 Yes Yes Yes, but not a public holiday Yes, but not a public holiday
Pronunciation of the character "" wen2 bûn (Min Nan) man4 mun mun văn, von mon/bun/fumi
Is there a standalone word for 104 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Usually "mười nghìn", where "mười" means ten, and "nghìn" means thousand Yes
Uses Chinese (Han) characters Yes Yes Yes Almost none No No, only visible at historical sites Yes
1-char family names, 2-char given names are common Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Basic sentence structure (the ordering of subject, verb, object) SVO (I eat rice) SVO (I eat rice) SVO (I eat rice) SOV (I rice eat) SOV (I rice eat) SVO (I eat rice) SOV (I rice eat)
Has level 1 municipality Yes Yes / Yes Yes Yes No