The ancients knew for a long time to protect tradition.

In 527 BC, the doctor of the State of Jin said that he would be an envoy to see the Emperor of Zhou, but he didn't present any gifts, which was very rude at that time. Zhou was very dissatisfied and asked bluntly. Ji Tan's family is an official in charge of ancient books in Jin State for generations. Ji Tan's answer is that Jin State has never received a gift from the son of heaven, so there is no gift contribution. King Jing of Zhou went on to tell Ji a history, from the founding of the State of Jin, how the son of heaven kept rewarding him. There is nothing to say about this matter. Zhou added: There are really no descendants in this family, and the Ministry of Economics has forgotten its ancestors. It is an idiom to forget one's ancestors after counting the classics. People who don't even know their own history are like forgetting their ancestors. History carries not only old things, but also cultural traditions. Whether individuals or nations forget their own cultural traditions, it will inevitably lead to the loss of cultural foundation and cultural amnesia. Personal amnesia is a disease, so is national amnesia.

Qin unified the six countries, thinking that if the historical memory of each country was lost to the people, it would not be conducive to centralized rule, so he ordered the burning of books, and the people's possession of books that violated the regulations should be dealt with as a felony. Since the establishment of the Han Dynasty, even the important classic Shangshu has not been handed down. Later, I heard that there was an old gentleman named Fu Sheng in the State of Qi who could recite the Book of History. The government immediately sent officials to study the records, because Fu Sheng was over 90 years old at that time and could not travel long distances to Chang 'an. This is a modern book, Shangshu, which can be circulated in the future. Why does the country spend so much effort to preserve an ancient book? This is to cherish cultural traditions. Therefore, almost all dynasties, after political stability, will introduce policies to encourage people to donate books. Books collected by the people are bought by the state at a high price. If they don't agree to sell, the state will send someone to copy it. A hundred years after the Han dynasty, according to Sima Qian, the world is a relic of the past, and it is necessary to accept Taishigong. . The existence of books is the guarantee for the spread of cultural traditions. Human beings are experienced animals and rational animals. It is recognized that written records are for accumulating human experience and preserving human wisdom.

The contribution of the thinker Confucius is called education. The private school education initiated by him passed on the traditional culture to the next generation in a turbulent era. In fact, Confucius also made great contributions to the preservation of cultural traditions, that is, sorting out ancient books. By sorting out ancient books, they can be circulated better, thus contributing to the preservation of traditions in China. The descendants of Confucius should understand Confucius' good intentions and the significance of sorting out ancient history, so they also proved that they are not only descendants of Confucius by blood, but also spiritual descendants. When Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the road to presenting books was opened. It was also during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty that the descendants of Confucius finally made a secret treasured by several generations public after many years. After Qin Shihuang ordered the burning of books, the descendants of Confucius treasured these books in their private collections. In the wall of his house, a compartment was actually built to collect books. The publicity of Confucius' book collection became a great event for a time, because the tradition was not interrupted, which greatly relieved people of insight and gave students a more concrete and reliable way of cultural inheritance.

In addition to offering books, ancient dynasties in China also had a traditional policy of compiling books. History compilation in prosperous times is one aspect, except for various books. The state has institutions similar to the national library, and editing books is also the work of the state. Writing a book, on the one hand, is to understand the previous experience through reading, on the other hand, it is to save books so that cultural traditions will not be lost in their own times. At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, two books, Taiping Yu Lan and Yuangui, were compiled to read to the emperor, so that he could master richer cultural and political resources and better govern the country. At the same time, Tai Ping Guang Ji seems to be a collection of novels today. What is the political significance of such a book? Although it is not as political as history, it also contains the wisdom of China. Therefore, it can still be regarded as an effort to preserve culture and promote its spread. As for the later national compilation of various large-scale books, we can actually observe it from the perspective of preserving and spreading culture.

Abroad, individuals are equally keen on writing stories. There are various forms of personal writings in ancient times, and anthology is one of them, either collected by individuals or compiled by later generations. Most of the works of pre-Qin philosophers were collected and arranged by later generations. Sima Qian's Historical Records was purely a personal act at first. Why? Sort out the course of an era. Tibet's famous mountains, with their capitals attached, will be saints and gentlemen in the future? . I don't want to be famous in the present age, I just want to pass it on to future generations. This is a confident expectation of history and a high degree of responsibility for cultural inheritance. The basic life track of ancient literati, either entering the DPRK as an official, teaching and writing books, or even in troubled times, is actually the same cultural attitude and position. Reach is good for the world, and poverty is immune to it. Even if you are born at the wrong time, you can also show a valuable cultural personality.

Thanks to the concerted efforts of the opposition Qi Xin, China formed a unique cultural tradition in ancient times and attached importance to cultural accumulation and inheritance. Although they don't have the concept of today's cultural soft power, they all know that this is the characteristic that China is superior to other countries. Isn't the essential feature of a state of etiquette a developed cultural undertaking? In ancient times, trade with other countries often had various regulations. In the era when metals were scarce, because metals were often associated with weapons, dynasties often stipulated metal embargoes, that is, they were not allowed to export metals. In fact, there is another item that is usually not allowed to be exported, and that is books. Why is there a book embargo? Because China's books were regarded as unique objects in ancient times. During the reign of Emperor Taizong, Princess Wencheng entered Tibet, and Songzan Gambu and his ministers asked the Tang Dynasty to supply some books. Some ministers expressed concern that there were many conspiracies in history books, and learning Tubo might be detrimental to the Tang Dynasty. Emperor Taizong said that we should not look at the problem one-sidedly. Confucian classics are more about benevolence and morality. Wouldn't it be better if they learned? So he presented a large number of books in the name of the emperor. Judging from the minister's objection, in ancient China, many people regarded books as a unique cultural resource.

Therefore, although there is no saying of cultural soft power in ancient times, there is indeed a tradition of attaching importance to cultural soft power.