Night Elf/Pandaren Cultural Overlap

[Shizari]

This has honestly been bugging the shit out of me for a long time. Obviously night elf culture, at least modern night elf culture, has a strong Japanese influence to it, and obviously Pandaren culture is a giant Asian mish-mash, with Chinese being the strongest, dominating influence. There's obviously the ancestor worship going on, and night elf males bow with the palm-over-fist many forms of martial arts use. But how far does it go? Is it just shallow coincidence, or intentional?

Discuss.

[KhazzahK]

Well, I'm positive that it's been stated that the Pandaren and Kaldorei Empires had trade relations at some point, though Im not sure if it was anything past just trade. There may have been some cultural overlapping going on that we're unaware of. Also wild gods and August Celestials are basically synonymous, but I'm not sure if they're relevant as the ACs stayed in Pandaria.

[DeicideUH]

Night elves have very light japanese themes.
Pandaren have heavy chinese themes.

There's a small overlap, true, but they are very different from each other. Most coincidences are very superficial.

edited: fixed a few typos. English not main language, sorry.

[Shizari]

Night elves have very light japaneses themes.
Pandaren have heavy chineses themes.

There's a small overlap, true, but they are very different from each other. Most coincidences are very superficial.

That's a fair point. I'm probably reading too deep into it XD but then isnt what the Lore forums are for? :P

[Techno-Druid]

Night elves seem to be an amalgamation of Celtic and Japanese culture as Druidism in WoW takes a lot of inspiration from Shintoism and Paganism practiced by Celts. They also seem to have very minute Norse, Greco-Roman and possibly even Chinese and Indian influences as well.

Pandaren are mostly Chinese based with some Tibetan and Mongolian influences depending on zone.

I imagine there is some cultural overlap as the races had contact prior to the War of the Ancients. Kaldorei food seems to be more Japanese and Korean based; Kimchi, Octopus, Rice, etc. So I imagine they probably use chopsticks to eat like pandaren. I also imagine that pandaren mages likely have some origin in the Highborne.

[Aucald]

There are some elements of Pandaren and Night Elven traditional culture that would mesh well - both cultures seem to be introspective, have a reverence for nature, and a strong connection to their respective pasts (Night Elves by dint of having lived it, and the Pandaren by dint of being sequestered for thousands of years). I think there might be friction between their social cultures, though; as the Night Elves would probably view the Pandaren as indolent or backwards whereas the Pandaren might see the Night Elves as pompous or aggressive. Though they share some commonalities they have very different cultures and manners of reacting to adversity - Pandaren might find Night Elven culture a little too martial for their liking, and a Night Elf among the Pandaren would probably feel that they lack drive or ambition.