Abstract: This article is dedicated to the cultural phenomenon of agonality – competitiveness, which is viewed an essential component of phylogenies, ontogenesis, and culturogenesis. The object of this research is the competitive practices and strategies of China from the ancient time to present. The subject is the specificity of China’s competitive advantage, its role in realization of the cultural succession. The author examines the Chinese legend about the origin of lunar calendar, treatise “The Art of War” by Sun Tzu, cultural doctrine of the current leader of PRC Xi Jinping “Chinese Dream”, as well as caricatures of the contemporary Chinese artists. The article also contains the elements of comparative analysis aimed at revealing the common mechanisms of competitiveness in the culture of Ancient Greece, Rome and China. The main method of research is the systemic-analytical approach to culture that allows disclosing the strategies of agonality, which manifested at various levels of culture. A conclusion is made that agonality is a powerful method of development of the world revealing itself not only in terms of fighting for life, but also in theatre, verbal folklore and visual art. The author underlines the ultimate importance of preparing the young generation to competitiveness in the adult world, as even during the leisure time a person recourse to a competition, desiring to prove his supremacy over the others. The results of research can be applied in various fields of culturology for examining the determinant of the Chinese national self-consciousness.

Abstract: The focal point of the paper are numerous manifestations of the principle of “receptive aesthetics” in the culture of Japan which has reworked Chinese aesthetic patterns in the own way. The main concern of the paper is the idea to demonstrate the grounds for comparing cultures, to describe the typological features of Japanese and Chinese cultures. There are three main types of study design used to identify cultural features: the objects of fine arts, language expressions and films. There is much evidence of the possibility to draw the lines of similarity between Japan and China on religious, semantic, aesthetic and gender grounds. The main method is a systematic approach to a culture that allows one to trace the genesis of individual components of the cultural system, which subsequently influence the entire system as a whole. At the heart of the work there are 2 principles of the description of culture: the principle of “receptive aesthetics”, formulated by V.A. Lukov and Vl. A. Lukov, as well as the “universal return principle” of M.Yu. Lotman. The main findings of the research are culture-study interpretation of the motifs that served as the basis for Japanese artifacts. This is of much practical value, as the proposed interpretations can be applied to any area of cultural production. The interpretations, if necessary, will contribute to the creation of a unique color of the Far Eastern cultures, penetration into their ideological content, decoding of ethno specific meanings. The most important conclusions of the work are a list of typological features of Japanese culture, which are the results of Chinese influence. These features are as follows: religious syncretism, binary perception, seasonality, gender asymmetry, displacement of the animation focus.

Abstract: The focal point of the article is the phenomenon of continuity within the framework of Chinese culture. The subject of the study is the influence of the culture of Ancient China (5000 BC - 220 AD) on the culture of Chinese modernity. The object of the research are jade artifacts, fortune-telling bones, as well as folklore language expressions which are popular with modern Chinese. The basic methodology of work is a systematic and analytical approaches to culture, where the analysis of specific objects contributes to the understanding of the whole; the next method is the description of objects with the elements of interpretation and comparison. Exploring objects that reflect the evolution of Chinese civilization from ancient times, the author concludes that the consciousness of the modern Chinese contains a huge layer of powerful meanings, rooted in Neolithic antiquity. The most important results of the work are cultural interpretations of the functional orientation of Neolithic artifacts and their reflections in the folklore layer of the Chinese language, the data of which the author analyzed with the help of the on-line corpus of the modern Chinese language. In the course of the research, the author appeals both to the classical works of G.W.F. Hegel, N.Y. Danilevskii, E. Husserl, and to the relatively recently published works of J. Alexander, V.D. Leleko, T.I. Lavrenova, R.J. Klein, B.E. Ensor, Bai Yui. The results of the research are applicable to any branch of cultural production, as they contribute to the penetration into the depths of Chinese sense, the understanding of which is of the greatest importance for the contemporary cultural space.