Culture of Daxia

Portrait of Empress Weiziao, an example of 18th century Qian oil painting

The culture of Daxia has been historically shaped by its lengthy periods of insularity, even from other cultures in Audonia. When a state of internal order and peace was prevalent, successive Daxian empires would slowly seek to impose their own cultural mores on neighboring states, often through force of arms. Originating from the central plateau of modern Daxia, Daxian culture would influence the language, art, cuisine and political customs of states across eastern Audonia, known as Dolong. Daxian culture primarily sees foreign ideas through a prism of superiority, a particular nuance of Daxian culture is in how it adopts foreign concepts only after a long process of filtering and modification, known in academic circles as Jinpo or the squeezing of egregiously non-Daxian elements; in this manner Daxian culture remains pure and unblemished.

Society

Education

Main article: Education in Daxia

Religion

Religion has played an important role in the early development of Daxian culture, especially by underlining the otherness of foreigners who did not follow the doctrines of Chongbai, Daxia's native religion. Aspects of Chongbai have influenced the cosmovision of Daxians and their sense of special destiny; Daxian racialist theories are deeply enmeshed with Chongbai religious doctrines. The Emperors were considered to be the heads of the Chongbai religious hierarchy thanks to their special connections to the divine, this was one of the fundamental pillars of their age old imperial authority. With the emperors serving as the high priests of the state religion, Chongbai had no issues like the monotheistic religions of foreigners which underwent numerous schisms and power struggles between secular rulers and Church authorities; Chongbai was one of the bulwarks against civil war for generations. The challenge to Chongbai instead came from the need to maintain its supremacy with the arrival of outside contacts which brought with them Christianity and Islam. The Islamic proselytizing by the sword heralded by the Oduniyyad Caliphate conquests was held at bay so long as the defenses of the empire held, the aggression of the Muslims made their religion repellent to the majority of Daxians so there were few historic converts. When Christianity arrived it was seen as a curiosity, it would operate at the margins of society for its first one hundred years. Unlike Islam, the Daxian Church of the East would find more ready converts among the urban poor and downtrodden and eventually even members of high society would convert, often to further their commercial interests with outsiders.

Currently Chongbai is the largest organized religion in Daxia amounting for approximately 48% of the population, followed by 34.9% who are irreligious, be they atheists or agnostics. After that the largest religion is Christianity at 9.8% of which the Daxian Church is the only authorized branch operating in the country. Islam stands at around 7%, of which a great proportion are foreign-born Muslims as opposed to native converts. Judaism is the smallest religious group at a percentage of under 1%. The NRF government starting with President Chi Long Qua initiated a concerted effort to limit religious life and build a generation of atheists. Groups such as the Anti-Catholic League of Chul Lung Qua were given official sanction and support while temples, churches and mosques were shuttered or had their operation severely curtailed. The government's actions were based on the 1971 Law of Superstitious Orders which gave it wide powers to suppress 'esoteric ideas' and pursue worshippers. Archives opened ever since reveal government discussions to potentially eliminate all religious sentiment by the year 2010, replacing it by the 'cult of the state'. The 1971 law and religious crackdown were a fundamental error of the NRF and undermined its support greatly with the population.

Chongbai

Main article: Chongbai

Chongbai (崇拜) also called Worship of the Deep is the ethnic religion of Daxia and is practiced by a majority of the Daxian people. A polytheistic religion, the Chongbai pantheon is composed of dozens of gods and hundreds of minor deities and aspects of nature. Aspects of Chongbai have influenced the cosmovision of Daxians and their sense of special destiny; Daxian racialist theories are deeply enmeshed with Chongbai religious doctrines. The Emperors were considered to be the heads of the Chongbai religious hierarchy thanks to their special connections to the divine, in their absence the Custodian of the Grand Temple of Diqiu and Grand Hierophant is considered the seniormost and preeminent religious figure. Out of favor after the end of dynastic rule, Chongbai has begun to see a revival in its popularity during the last two decades as resistance and agitation against 'foreign' religions is on the rise. The number of Chongbai adherents hovers around 350 million people as of 2035.

Islam

Main article: Islam in Daxia

Prince Hongwei was a powerful imperial bureaucrat during the reign of Emperor Xiaodan and one of the only known members of the imperial clan to convert to Islam.

The hundreds of years battle against the forces of the Oduniyyad Caliphate and later its successor states cemented Islam in the collective imagination of Daxians as the religion of the enemy. Despite this ingrained prejudice, the forced coexistence of Daxian and Muslim communities in border areas resulted in mutual understandings and generally smooth social cohabitation. As the influence of Muslim states receded and Daxian imperial power began to assert itself westwards, inevitably Muslim environs began to fall under its control. The relation between Muslim religious structures and figures such as prayer leaders, imams and religious scholars and the new authorities varied between fraught and engaging in quiet resistance to accommodation and acceptance. Calls for resistance began to be phased out when Daxia's Emperor Canren sent a representative to meet the ulama and offered to extend his protection to the Muslim community provided it recognized his lawful authority over them and that his name be mentioned in the call to prayer. Canren funded several mosques and at least two theological seminars and prescribed that Muslim worship be undisturbed as long as it was confined to the mosque, for these treatment Canren is called 'Friend of God'. Post imperial governments began a period of repression upon organized religion during which most mosques were shuttered in western Daxia and extreme measures such as banning halal establishments and mandating the shortening of beards were commonplace; these repressions were codified in the Law of Superstitious Orders of 1971. The abolishment of this law in the late 2010's has seen a revival of Muslim religious life in the western provinces, even some conversions of ethnic Daxians.

Christianity

Main article: Daxian Church of the East

Christianity has existed in Daxia since the early 17th century when it arrived with three missionaries. Following bitter disputes on canon and a lengthy epistolary debate with Pope Urban VIII, the priest Quintulo Batiato broke off all relations with the Holy See. He declared the throne of Saint Peter was vacant, due to Urban's 'Devil-induced insanity'. He sent letters to the College of Cardinals urging them to convene in session and elect a new pontiff, Church authorities responded in 1635 by branding him a heretic and excommunicating him. Batiato accused the College of Cardinals of 'being in the throes of sin' and decided then to form his own separate church to be the rightful successors of Saint Peter. Batiato's self-styled 'Church of the East' quickly gained adherents over the mainstream churches created by Batiato's fellow missionaries, especially because he had no qualms about playing politics with local governments and engaging in quid pro quo. In short order Batiato managed to get the mainstream Catholic Church outlawed, seizing their parishes for the Church of the East. From then on the Church of the East monopolized Christianity in Daxia and its theological foundations drifted away from mainstream Christianity significantly. The role of the Sarpedon-origin founders was recognized and the first self-styled Popes were also non-Daxians until the Qian dynasty forced a change that instituted ethnic Daxian primacy.

Judaism

Main article: Zorfashazi

Judaism was brought to Daxia by the Zorfashazim Jewish refugees. At the end of the Third Oduniyyad-Qian war, the victorious Emperor Fanqie included among his conditions for peace, a demand to be given the remaining Jews over as subjects. The exact phrasing has survived in historical texts and is as follows: that the cruel Arab who is blind in one eye by zealotry, pass unto me the Jews from his care so that my realm will benefit from the work of their minds, their hands and their hearts. What remained of the Jews in the eastern parts of the caliphate then journeyed to Daxia under the leadership of Shimon of Bardabeh, being settled in then uninhabited lands in the Pachin valley. Approximately seven thousand Jews in total were settled in that first period. The Great Edict of Protection of 1242 was promulgated by Emperor Fanqie of the Qian dynasty to establish over the Zorfashazi Jews, the protection of the state. Jews spent a great deal of time in relative isolation as they did not wish to miscegenate with non-Jews and they were only allowed to work certain professions outside the Parchin valley area. Various Jewish scholars were employed at the imperial court and also as political officials and servants but they were the exception, Zorfashazim society remained mostly closed off until the mid 19th century. The results of the small genetic pool of the Parchin Jews eventually led the community to open itself to limited number of converts, many of whom would eventually start settling in other parts of Daxia.

Cuisine

Daxian fork and spoon made from bronze, dated to before the Xie dynasty

Daxian cuisine is complex and ancient, developing over centuries of human habitation in the Daxian heartlands. Most of the ingredients are native to the country but others have been incorporated or introduced by interaction with neighboring peoples such as Cronan spices. Many Daxian everyday dishes incorporate rice, wrapping breads made of maize or flour to make 塔可, meats such as pork, chicken and fish. Fried foods are very popular as street food especially spring rolls filled with vegetables and pork. Daxian desserts and sweets are milk based such as the 'Naiyou' creams or the popular caramel pudding known as Buding. Drink wise there is an abundance of citrus and tamarind based drinks, the majority of the citrics used in Daxian dishes were introduced by traders from neighboring Rusana as were the green and black olives which are now also grown domestically. The wheat based Mijiu is a favored and cheap local alcoholic drink that competes with the milk based Slozo. Wine is only recently carving a small market niche for itself, mostly imported brands from Sarpedon. Set apart from traditional food is the gelatin based Daxian Aspic, a relatively recent invention out of the penitentiary system. Considered a disgusting and low class food by a majority of ethnic Daxians, consumption of aspic based meals has spiked among minorities due to its widespread availability, lower costs compared to traditional food, and extreme versatility in making 'more with less'. Supermarkets exclusively carrying Aspic food have sprung in ethnic and poor suburbs, with the brand Agario and its product line of 'Edible Inedibles' expanding to hundreds of locations. Certain laws also favor the spread of aspic in the Cronan territories, as they actively discourage native peoples from ingesting anything but aspic.

Daxian dining habits very much depend on an individuals social strata. Wealthy Daxian citizens typically have between five and eight meals a day of usually vast portion sizes, usually food binging in the latter three meal of the day; food waste among the privileged classes is abnormally high. Middle income and upper lower class people typically do three square meals a day, much as in the 'western' world. Poor people and minorities however may scrape by with one or two meals a day, rarely having the time to eat at home but instead having their food at their work stations or cafeterias close by. Millions of Daxian workers survive on Agario fare or discounted Factory Gruel. One instance in which the various Daxian strata comingle and eat food as equals is during religious festivals which take place in squares and streets of major cities, large trestle tables and tarps are erected for adherents to eat together. Notably the Daxian people never adopted the use of the chopstick as an eating utensil, the use of chopsticks was perceived as a dastardly Metzettan innovation away from proper eating forms; food chains that have attempted to introduce chopsticks in their venues have been met with nationalistic backlash and sometimes vandalism. The existence and widespread use of fork and spoon can be attested by the discovery of caches of the utensils that predate the Xie dynasty by several hundred years.

Alcohol

A glass of Slozo, one of Daxia's national alcoholic drinks

The Daxian alcohol market is dominated by two native drinks, one of them is Mijiu which is liquor distilled from grains such as rice or wheat, crops that are a staple of the local diet and readily available anywhere. Mijiu is mentioned in ancient Chongbai religious texts, an apparent practice of the priesthood was the consumption of large amounts of the rice alcohol to achieve a state of communion with the divine. Certainly any references to divinely ordained visions can be attributed to drunkenness, ritual imbibement of Mijiu stops being mentioned in sources around the year 850 CE. The production of Mijiu is heavily subsidized by the state and geared mostly for internal consumption although there have been recent efforts to ratchet up exports, efforts that have met with only middling success as foreign markets have not taken to Mijiu with any enthusiasm; the drink is reported to be 'far too strong' to the average outsider palate.

The other heavy-hitter is Slozo which is made from a mixture of fermented mare's milk usually harvested from the wooly Daxian donkey and ethanol. Slozo was historically the drink of choice at the imperial court and the upper classes until the reign of Emperor Tengu the Sot of the Qian dynasty, who vastly preferred to drink rum; afterwards the Imperial Slozo brewery was vacated and Slozo was relegated for consumption by the peasantry who mostly also took over the making of the drink. Slozo made a comeback after the fall of the imperial government, the drink was very popular among the common army grunt; Qiu Heng often drank it in public which no doubt aided the drink's popularity. Collectively Slozo and Mijiu currently have a market share of 90% of the alcohol business. Beer and wine are derided as foreigner drinks and consumption is quite low in comparison although Caphirian international wine brands have made concerted efforts to break into the market.

Worldview

Main article:Zhangwo

Architecture

Main article: Architecture in Daxia