Pages: 14-62

Applying the theory of reflexive-discursive systems, culture-play systems, social psychology etc., the author has tried to show that it is not so simple to get rid of one’s own cultural centrism and climb to a higher level of reflexive-discursive position. Yet, it is absolutely necessary, if one wants to understand one’s own and a different culture adequately. The author proves that modern anthropology and culturology must drop the Eurocentrist approach and master a new multifold methodology. It is necessary to understand that the so-called Utilitarian Discourse is not the only correct and the only possible way to reflect and express reality, and that it is not the only means building the universe. The paper contains a number of examples from Chinese and Jewish cultures proving significance of the anthropological approach based on the so-called «reflexive-discursive climbing».
The author also analyses a connection between almost synchronous cultures: painted pottery Cucuteni-Tripolye culture, on the one hand, and the Chinese Neolithic cultures Yangshao and Majiayao, on the other hand. He shows their typological and ideological proximity and studies their spatial and temporal interaction through the Eurasian forest-steppe area and the so called Gansu corridor. He considers connections of the fundamental Snake-Dragon myth in Western and Chinese cultural traditions, suggesting a hypothesis of western influence.