What is traditional Chinese culture education

Chinese culture, the foundation of a man's life and the foundation of a nation

Confucian destiny, linked to the destiny of the country and the times

Primitive Confucianism, from the study of benevolence and then pushed to the benevolent government

Nine streams and ten schools, from the Hundred Schools of Thought to the dismissal of the Hundred Schools of Thought

Only Confucianism, the actual integration of a variety of ideologies

Six schools of thought, the establishment of a new milestone for Confucian culture

Multifaceted integration, Confucian cultural research goes global

Conversation of Confucianism, communication between Eastern and Western cultures

Exploration of Confucianism, finding the essence of modernization

Outside the country, Confucian culture is recognized by the world

Unity of man and nature, integration of the Three Principles and Six Disciplines of Chinese culture

Governance of the country and the family, the future of Confucianism is brilliant and bright.

Local culture, the root of learning Western culture

Chinese culture, guiding the world in peace and eternity

Confucianism, what exactly is left for the Chinese people

Traditional culture, can it return to Chinese life

Integrity as the basis, reflecting the reality of the value of Confucianism

The pen in the hands of the connection between the 5,000 years of splendid Culture

Incredible glory, I see the accumulation of heavy clay

Integration, how to accept the integration of Chinese and Western cultures

Cultural exchanges, the basic driving force for the development of human society

Inclusion of the spirit of Confucianism, so that Confucianism is more vitality

Word in the word, the tea culture and the mind are closely related to the

Accordance with the rule of the rule of the rule of the people in the person does not Absolute

Beyond the material, to find a cultural sense of belonging

Humanity management, in the middle and strict to find a balance

Confucianism enlightenment, for the promotion of Chinese culture to lay the foundation

Toward the future, the Pinghe extremely need to clarify the corporate culture

Thinking differences, reflecting the difference in the roots of the two cultures

Cultural success, the success of the PingHe And thankful to Zhuhai

Primitive Confucianism From the study of benevolence and then pushed to the benevolent government

Confucianism, from the beginning of the Confucius founded to the present, it can be said that there are more than 2,500 years of history. During these 2500 years, the fate of Confucianism has been uneven. If we divide the period, we can say that the three masters, Confucius, Mencius and Xunzi, basically belong to the original Confucianism, that is, the earliest Confucianism. Confucius is of course the founder of Confucianism, and his greatest contribution is the establishment of a complete system of renology. This "ren" is the "ren" of "benevolence and righteousness". Ren" is a guideline for dealing with relationships between people, and "Ren" should be realized in the form of loving people, which is not abstract, but through the implementation of such items as respect, leniency, trustworthiness, sensitivity, beneficence, respect, and faithfulness to deal with the relationships between people. From this kind of benevolence and love of the heart to promote the development of Mengzi's "benevolent government", and the implementation of the "benevolent government", you can get the world.

The so-called benevolence and benevolence are part of what we call today's anthropology, and the "people" are the "people" of the "people". The "benevolence" advocated by Confucius is to have the heart to love people. Confucius put forward eight words similar to today's golden rule of morality, "Do not do unto others what you would not do unto yourself." My teacher, Mr. Ji Xianlin, said that it would be difficult to achieve this even in the case of ****productivism. Some scholars also agree with this conclusion. Therefore, this is a very high moral standard, and Confucius in that era, can put forward such a thought, to establish a set of "benevolence" system of thought, is very rare and precious.

Meng Zi (孟子), known as Meng Ke (ca. 372 BC - ca. 289 BC), was a Chinese thinker and educator during the Warring States period. He was originally from the state of Zou, and later lived for a long time in the state of Qi. As one of the successors of Confucianism, he did not confine himself to the limitations of Confucianism, but adopted an open mind. When Confucianism developed to the time of Mencius, it absorbed a lot of new culture. The result was that Mencius developed Confucius' idea of benevolence into a doctrine of benevolent government. From the idea of benevolence, it developed into the idea that the ruler, the supreme leader, should care for his own people and administer benevolent government, and Confucianism took a further step forward. Meng Ke developed Confucius' ideas of "rule by courtesy" and "moral government", advocated "the way of the king" and "benevolent government", and personally traveled to Qi, Liang, Lu, Zou, Song, Teng and other countries to persuade the lords. Mencius attaches great importance to Confucius' statement "Do not do unto others as you would not have them do unto you", and he himself went on to propose that the wise man in the world, with the heart of the world as the heart, happy with the world with the joy, sad with the world with the worry." Those who are happy with the people's happiness, the people are also happy with their happiness; those who are worried about the people's worries, the people are also worried about their worries. He who delights in the world and cares for the world, and yet is not king, has not yet been." （This idea of "benevolent government" was spread and expanded by Mencius after he proposed it and had many conversations with the rulers of the state of Qi.

The "Way of the King," as Meng Ke called it, was to "practise benevolence with virtue. According to Meng Ke, "if one is king by practicing benevolence, there is no one who can control him." That is to say, with "benevolent government" to unify the world, no one can stop. He believed that the first thing to do in practicing benevolent rule was to win the hearts of the people, and that the ruler should treat the people with benevolence and love. He also emphasized the importance of the people, saying: "The people are the most important thing, the gods of earth and grain come second, and the ruler is the least important thing.

The idea of benevolent government is based on the theory of goodness of nature. The basic meaning of the theory of goodness and its profoundness is to emphasize that human nature should first be the social attributes of human beings, rather than the natural attributes of human beings; affirmation of the value of life, encouraging people to pursue a perfect life, with a strong color of idealism, and established the unique value orientation of Confucianism. Back to the catalog>>>

Nine streams and ten schools of thought, from the hundred schools of thought to the dismissal of the hundred schools of thought

To the third master Xunzi, Confucius and Mencius after the masters of Confucianism, the world respectfully called Xunqing. Xunzi himself was not a native of Shandong, but he lived there for a long time and studied in Qi. Especially at the beginning of the Warring States period, he established the famous "Jixia Academy" in the capital of Qi, in which he was "the most famous teacher" and trained a large number of scholars. This school is very similar to today's schools of higher education, but it is not a purely undergraduate school, but a school with a research institute, similar to today's Academy of Social Sciences.

Many of the great thinkers of the Warring States period, such as Mencius, Xunzi, and long-necked winemakers, were in and out of Jizhi, and there are also some lesser-known or lesser-known, such as Chunyukun, Zou Yan, and Zou Shi, and other figures of yin and yang, legalism, and Taoism, and so on. The so-called nine streams and ten schools, or the main factions of the Hundred Schools of Thought, all gathered in the Jixi Academy.

As a teacher, and in fact the rector of the Jixia Academy, Xunzi was "three times a priest", and he trained a large number of master scholars, so to speak, full of disciples. His ideas made Confucianism reach the heights of both kingship and hegemony. Xunzi's thought absorbed more thoughts of Taoism and Legalism in Qi culture, but in essence he did not leave Confucius' thought. Therefore, the three masters who represent the original Confucian thought have already had a subtle difference in their thoughts.

But until the Warring States period, Confucianism was still only one of the many schools of thought, or one of the nine streams. After the middle of the Warring States period, its status gradually increased, and it became known as the "prominent school" along with Mohist thought. The so-called "obvious" is to be prominent, from the nine streams and ten schools of thought to stand out, and with the Mohist equal, but sometimes, the Mohist is more powerful.

During the Qin Dynasty, Emperor Qin Shi Huang adopted the policy of "burning books and burying scholars", and many historical scholars believe that many Confucian writings were also burned by Emperor Qin Shi Huang. Therefore, during the period of Emperor Qin Shi Huang, Confucianism was impacted to a certain extent.

During the early Han Dynasty, Confucianism was not taken seriously. The rulers of the early Han Dynasty believed in Taoist thought, which was then called "Huang Lao". Because the early Han rulers believed that the Huanglao Taoist "rule by doing nothing" could alleviate social conflicts. As a result, the early Han Dynasty continued to utilize the Taoist philosophy of Huang Lao, and social conflicts were indeed alleviated, and productivity was also improved to a certain extent. But as an imperial dynasty, a supreme feudal ruler, he could not practise "ruling by doing nothing" for a long time.

So, in the reign of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty, he was enlightened many times "to raise the wise and virtuous countermeasures", the result is a Confucian master called Dong Zhongshu, who put forward a loud slogan in the "Tianren Sanzhe", "depose the hundred schools, sole respect for Confucianism", hoping that Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty can abolish the other schools of thought, to put the banner of Confucianism up. Back to the catalog>>>

Exclusive respect for Confucianism, the actual integration of a variety of systems of thought

In fact, although Dong Zhongshu proposed to "depose the hundred schools of thought, exclusive respect for Confucianism," but he actually did not do exclusive respect for Confucianism, in his book "Spring and Autumn Annals", it can be said that he put Confucianism, Taoism and yin-yang school of thought into a single body, in particular he absorbed the yin-yang master of the Qi Dynasty, Zou Yan, many of the ideas, so the Chinese philosophy, the Chinese philosophy, the Chinese philosophy, the Chinese philosophy of the Chinese philosophy of the Chinese philosophy. In particular, he absorbed many of the ideas of Zou Yan, the Yin-Yang master of Qi, so scholars of the history of Chinese philosophy call Dong Zhongshu's system of thought the theological purpose system of the "theory of induction between heaven and man". That is to say, the so-called "Dismissing the Hundred Schools and Respecting Only the Confucians" system established by him was mainly a fusion of Confucianism and Yin-Yangism into one. Therefore, their rule, in the eyes of the people, was in line with the will of heaven.

So, since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, all emperors have used the phrase "By the grace of Heaven, the Emperor decrees" as the beginning of their edicts. In fact, this is not purely Confucian, but the result of a combination of Confucian and Yin-Yang ideas. From this time onwards, I personally feel that Confucianism began its own division, that is, from Dong Zhongshu, divided into three major blocks, one is political Confucianism, one is academic Confucianism, one is folk Confucianism.

Political Confucianism, starting with Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty, almost every emperor went to Mount Tai for Zen meditation because of the combination of Confucianism and Yin-Yang thinking of successive emperors. The so-called feudal activities were to inform the people of the world that I, as an emperor, was subject to the order of heaven. Therefore, from that time onwards, the emperor was called "Son of Heaven". Political Confucianism, in fact, was monopolized by the emperor and the successive dynasties.

It should have been said that the Confucian temple had some role in political Confucianism. In fact, as a tool of political Confucianism, Confucius Temple did not play its role well, as a carrier of folk Confucianism, its role is greater. Academics have proposed: the museumization of Confucianism. The so-called "museumization", that is, Confucianism no longer exists, can only be found in museums and history textbooks. I think this viewpoint is very appropriate when applied to political Confucianism. The part of Confucianism that served the feudal emperors is indeed dying, and there is no longer a place for it in the real world.

But the other two types of Confucianism and political Confucianism are not exactly the same, there are differences, especially in academic Confucianism. Nowadays, some people are already emphasizing moral Confucianism. Because of time constraints, I will not expand on it here. In the field of academic Confucianism, I personally think that from Confucius, Mencius and Xunzi to the present day, it has gone through five major stages of development. The first stage is the "Dictatorship of Confucianism" stage, specifically, the era of the three masters, Confucius, Mencius and Xunzi, who were basically the "Dictatorship of Confucianism" period. After them, were there any other Confucian scholars who respected Confucianism alone? Yes, there were. However, I have looked up the relevant Confucian scholastic works, especially those of the Song and Ming dynasties, such as the Song and Yuan Scholastic Works and the Ming Confucian Scholastic Works, and found that there were very few of them who really adhered to the lineage of the exclusivity of Confucianism, and there were roughly two to three schools of thought. Therefore, most Confucians absorbed external cultures in their schools of thought, such as Taoism, Daoism or Buddhism. Gradually, a second stage was formed, i.e., the complementary type of Confucianism and Daoism, which was most prominent in the Wei and Jin dynasties. The Wei and Jin periods were divided into two directions, one complementary to Confucianism and Taoism, and the other complementary to Confucianism and Taoism, each with its own emphasis. Wei Jin period, there are a lot of thinkers, including the Wei Jin metaphysics of many celebrities, it should be said, are representatives of Confucianism and Taoism complementary type. Back to the catalog>>>

The Four Churches of Taoism Established a New Milestone in Confucian Culture

Later, Buddhism became more and more powerful in China. Although after the Tang Dynasty, Han Yu and other people's "exclusion of Buddhism and anti-Buddhism", have not eliminated Buddhism, but its power is getting bigger and bigger. At this time, many thinkers noticed that in Buddhism, there were indeed some contents that were not found in Confucianism. Buddhism, with its very high level of abstract thinking. By the Song and Ming dynasties, many thinkers began to absorb some metaphysical content from Buddhism to supplement Confucianism. Starting from the Song Dynasty and completed by the end of the Ming Dynasty, the "Song and Ming Ethics" is basically the third stage of Confucianism, or the third stage of academic Confucianism, i.e., the "unity of the three religions", in which Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism were integrated into one. Whether it was the School of Science headed by Cheng Zhu or the School of Mind headed by Lu Wang, the three schools of thought were generally integrated into one, but there were some differences. Cheng Zhu emphasized "reason," while Lu Wang emphasized "mind," one emphasizing the objective and the other the subjective.

The fourth stage was in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. In my opinion, a new milestone in Confucianism emerged at this stage, namely, the "Four Churches". The so-called "four churches" is divided into two directions, one is Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism and Christianity, because Christianity entered China, suffered a lot of setbacks, until the end of the Ming Dynasty, only to a certain extent in China, and began to be systematically studied. It was at this time that some scholars appeared who integrated the four ideas of Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism and Christianity into one, such as Xu Guangqi, but these scholars, however, still understood Christianity from the Chinese point of view.

So, I personally feel that up to now, there has not been a Christianity characterized by China, because it is impossible to combine these four doctrines organically. In this sense, I feel that the "four churches" are basically a failure. The other direction of the "Four Churches" is Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, and Ching. The so-called Ching is Islam, which was called Moslemism at that time. The introduction of Islam into China, after a very long period of time, academics have recognized the statement, is in the Tang Dynasty, "Yong Hui two years said" (651 AD).

At that time, those who introduced Islam to China were basically merchants from Arabia, Persia and Turkey. As they focused mainly on doing business in the early days, they had no time to do cultural exchange work. During the first few centuries, Islam was only spread among the believers of this religion, and did not combine well with the traditional Chinese culture. By the end of the Ming and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, as the descendants of these Arabs, Persians, or Turks, gradually integrated with Chinese society, they slowly formed one by one minority in China, and people like Li Zhi were the elites within the Hui tribe, and his father was an Islamist.

Besides Li Zhi, another group of very effective thinkers, represented by Liu Zhi, Wang Daiyi, Ma Fuchu and others, combined Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism and Islam very skillfully, and used the basic concepts of Confucianism to explain some categories of Islam, which achieved very good results. Among them, Wang Daiyu wrote a book called "The University of Halal". The so-called "Halal University" is in fact an explanation of Confucianism from an Islamic point of view.

The Halal University was translated into English by a team led by Du Weiming, president of the Harvard-Yenching Institute in the United States, and was published in the United States, causing a great reaction. They did not expect that in the late Ming and early Qing Islamic thinkers, there was such a scholar with such a high degree of abstract thinking. His influence was not only emphasized in China, but also abroad, such as Harvard in the United States. Therefore, I think that the influence of this group of scholars of the "four churches" type should not be underestimated. Back to the catalog>>>

Multifaceted Integration of Confucianism and Cultural Studies into the World

The development of Confucianism has entered a new stage, I think. I call it "pluralistic integration". This stage actually began with contemporary Neo-Confucianism. Contemporary Neo-Confucianism, whether it is Liang Shuming, Xiong Shili, or Tang Junyi, Mou Zongsan, Xu Fuguan, and Zhang Junmai from Hong Kong and Taiwan, actually integrates various cultures from the East and the West. Therefore, in Mou Zongsan's philosophical system, one can see both Chinese and Western philosophies, and even the shadow of Indian philosophy.

The thinking of contemporary Neo-Confucianism is not a simple repetition of Confucianism, or of Confucianism, but a re-structuring. However, my view of the re-structuring of contemporary Neo-Confucianism is different from that of many domestic scholars. Many scholars in China, fully recognize the work of Neo-Confucianism. Personally, I feel that Neo-Confucianism seems to be on the wrong path. Why is it going the wrong way? Many representatives of Neo-Confucianism have developed Confucianism along a more abstract direction. Take the most famous Mou Zongsan as an example, he combined many concepts of Western philosophy with some concepts of Chinese Confucianism and came up with some theories that even philosophers could not explain. For example, he made a very controversial statement called "the self-cannibalization of conscience".

The essence of conscience, as the essence of being able to know oneself. Originally, by utilizing the function of conscience, as Wang Shouren did, "everyone has a conscience," people can do good deeds. However, Mou Zongsan's proposal = "the self-canning of conscience", so how can this conscience be self-canning? Mou Zongsan did not make this clear in his own writings. Contemporary Neo-Confucians, including some of Mou Zongsan's students, also could not explain it clearly, so it is impossible for ordinary people to understand such increasingly esoteric philosophical concepts. So what good is a concept that ordinary people cannot understand to society?

So, I personally feel that the path taken by contemporary Neo-Confucianism is wrong. However, there are some scholars of contemporary Neo-Confucianism who have trained a few students, mainly referring to Du Weiming and Cheng Zhongying, who have taken a path that is actually not exactly the same as the one taken by their teachers. In recent years, I have paid particular attention to these Confucian researchers in the United States. Therefore, I have also recently written an article called "An Experimental Discussion of Confucianism in the United States". Some people have questioned why there is a Confucian school in the United States when Confucianism is a specialty of the Chinese, but now, the facts are clear that there are two Confucian schools in the United States with distinctive characteristics.

One is Boston Confucianism and the other is Hawaiian Confucianism." The concept of "Boston Confucianism" was not first proposed by me, but by Shirong Bai, one of the representative figures of Boston Confucianism. Boston Confucianism is divided into two schools, one headed by Du Weiming and the other headed by John H. Berthrong. The difference lies in the fact that one school honors Mencius and the other honors Xunzi. The difference between the two schools is that one honors Mencius and the other honors Xunzi. The similarity between the two schools is that they both advocate dialogue. Back to contents>>>

Conversation in Confucianism Bridging East and West

Boston's Confucianism is characterized by what I would summarize as: the Confucianism of dialogue. Its basic view is that in today's society, Eastern and Western cultures, should be in dialog. Du Weiming, in particular, was a colleague of Samuel Huntington, but for many years Huntington advocated the theory of the clash of civilizations. Du Weiming insisted on debating with him that there should be no clash of civilizations. In addition to the opposing sides of civilizations, one of the more important points of view that should be advocated by civilizations is "dialogue", especially in advocating the integration of the world and the accelerated pace of the world, only through dialogue can communication be strengthened, and conflicts can be alleviated.

I think it is very positive to see work such as that done by Du Weiming, who has convened many dialogues between Confucianism and Islam, and between Confucianism and Christianity, as well as many international symposia. At Harvard University, it's basically held every few years. One of them was held in Malaysia. The results of the dialogues were very good, and there may have been some arguments at the meetings, but they played a very significant role in strengthening the exchanges between Eastern and Western cultures.

In addition, besides insisting on dialogue, Du Weiming also insisted on popularizing Confucianism, especially translating some Confucian classics into English versions acceptable to ordinary Americans. This, I think, is of great merit in spreading and expanding the influence of Confucianism.

Hawaiian Confucianism, which is represented by Cheng Chung-ying. He is also a student of contemporary Neo-Confucianism, but he is particularly concerned with using modern discourse to translate Confucian writings, which is why I have named Hawaiian Confucianism "Interpretive Confucianism". The fundamental difference between Interpretive Confucianism and Dialogical Confucianism is that he not only pays attention to the popularization of Confucian thought, but also pays attention to interpreting the traditional Confucian classics in modern terms.

Interpreting the traditional Confucian classics in modern terms, if this work is done well, the modernization of traditional culture, will have a foundation. Therefore, I think that the development of Confucianism has reached a stage of "pluralistic convergence". If the research directions represented by Hawaiian and Boston Confucians can be inherited and carried forward, and if scholars on the Mainland can, like them, make the popularization of Confucianism a priority of their work, then the fate of Confucianism will definitely be better. If Confucianism continues to be confined to the study of books as an object of study for scholars, then how can Confucianism be revitalized? Only by turning Confucianism into ideas that are acceptable and understandable to the general public, I think, will such Confucianism be truly useful.

From the early nineties, I have paid special attention to the study of practical Confucianism. I wrote an article entitled "Ruminations on Practical Confucianism". What I meant was that the modern study of Confucianism should no longer argue about the merits and demerits of Confucianism. Nowadays, in the academic circle, there are still people who deny Confucianism and think that it is worthless. There was an article posted on the Internet that the biggest drawback in China is the filial piety culture. It is argued that filial piety culture has killed the Chinese people and China. In fact such assertions are all very extreme. To put it in another way, there are also quite a number of scholars who tout Confucianism to no end, arguing that Confucianism has no shortcomings at all. If we always argue like this, we will never be able to argue for a result. Back to contents>>>

Excavating Confucianism to find the essence of modernization

I think scholars should focus on the serious study of the Confucian classics, and excavate the parts of Confucianism that can be used by the modern society, so as to make it a kind of practical Confucianism. This has already been attempted. Mr. Tang Enjia, Director of the Hong Kong Confucian Academy, has been using the Hong Kong Confucian Academy as a testing ground for promoting Confucian thinking. Starting from elementary school, classical works of Confucianism are introduced to gradually realize the integration of Confucian thinking with modern society, so as to make it useful. I think they have done a very good job. In addition, during his term of office as Prime Minister, LEE Kuan-yew of Singapore promoted a Confucian ethics course in secondary schools. As a course in religious education, it was said that the result of its promotion was that a new climate emerged among secondary school students, who began to be more critical of Western materialism and the crime rate dropped. However, this move later turned out to be a rather big crisis for the Lee Kuan Yew regime, why? Why? Singapore is a pluralistic society, and although the Chinese occupy a certain proportion, there are other ethnic groups. For example, the Indians have proposed that Confucian ethical education can be included in secondary school textbooks, so why not offer a course on Hindu philosophical education? As a result of the intervention of other ethnic groups, the teaching of Confucian ethics was removed from secondary school textbooks in the past few years. But the promotion during that period was said to be very effective. This is because when I talked to Singaporean scholars, they were very favorably impressed by that period. In terms of the mainland, there are two enterprises in Shandong that have done a better job of promoting Confucianism. One of them is Haier. Zhang Ruimin, the president of Haier, knows a lot about traditional Chinese culture. One of the Haier buildings he built was designed according to the traditional Chinese architectural idea of the circle of heaven and the square of earth. He has also absorbed some Confucianism in his philosophy of factory management. Another enterprise is Weihai Guangwei Fishing Tackle Group, specializing in the production of fishing rods. Chen Guangwei, the boss, has adopted many Confucian ideas, especially "propriety and righteousness" as the core of the factory motto, and achieved very good results in the process of operation. Therefore, I think, if the Confucian thinking and contemporary society in line with the part of the excavation, will certainly make a difference.

There is a Japanese father of modern industry named Shibusawa Eiichi, who wrote a book called "The Analects of Confucius and the Abacus", which is very famous, and when it was translated into Chinese, many scholars in China expressed their doubts: How can "The Analects of Confucius" be combined with the abacus? In fact, in this book, Eiichi Shibusawa elaborated a basic idea called "Moral and Economic Unity Theory", that is, in the process of doing business, we should not just focus on making money, we should always remember the words of Confucius: unrighteousness, but richness and nobility, is like a floating cloud to me. That is to say, don't do things that are not benevolent and righteous, don't make money that is not benevolent and righteous. Only by putting morality in the first place, putting profit in the second place, and controlling the abacus with the Analects of Confucius, can the enterprise develop benignly and do better. The Analects of Confucius and the Abacus has had a very great impact in Japan, and after being translated into Chinese, it has also played a great role in China's business community. From this point of view, as long as we can dig out the contents of Confucianism and modern society convergence, it is entirely possible to make Confucianism more vital. Back to contents>>>

Out of the country Confucianism is recognized by the world

Take a look at the influence of Confucianism abroad. Now Confucianism has long been not only a Chinese ideology and culture, but also belongs to the world's ideology and culture. That is to say, Confucius is no longer just the Confucius of China, Confucius is also the Confucius of the world. The fact that Confucius is the first of the ten great thinkers has been recognized by the world. As early as the first to second century A.D., Confucius' thought went out of the country and first spread to Korea. In the third century A.D., a Korean scholar named Wang Ren brought a copy of the Analects of Confucius to Japan, and from then on, Japan also had Confucianism.

Although, both Japan and Korea accepted Confucianism, the development of Confucianism in these two countries, differed. The Confucianism that has developed from North Korea to South Korea has become more and more prominent in Zhu Zi, or the thought of Zhu Xi in "Cheng Zhu Rigaku" (the science of Cheng Zhu). In other words, the dominant Confucianism in Korean society today is Zhu Xi's. In Japan, on the other hand, Confucianism was inspired by Confucius. On the other hand, Confucianism in Japan was more influenced by Confucius' thought, followed by Wang Yangming's, or Wang Shouren's thought. Yangming's school of thought, which played a huge role in the Meiji Restoration in Japan, made the Meiji Restoration a great success.

The manifestations of Confucianism in Korea (including today's South Korea) and Japan are also different. Also, Confucianism was introduced to Vietnam at a very early stage. Some believe it was during the Qin Dynasty. However, in Vietnam, the fate of Confucianism has been rather rough, especially in modern times, since the French occupation of Vietnam, the status of Confucianism has been relatively low. It was not until the South Vietnamese period that the status of Confucianism was slightly higher. In recent years, some scholars have revived the idea that a dojo should be set up in East Asia to preserve Confucian culture.

The exact time when Confucianism was introduced to the West is recognized as 1593. According to the research of Prof. Zhu Qianzhi, a famous scholar of Peking University, he affirmed that the Four Books were first translated into Latin by the Italian Matteo Ricci in 1593, and from then on, the Western world knew about Confucius, the Analects of Confucius and Confucianism for the first time. Later, the French Voltaire and the German philosopher Leibniz had systematically studied the I Ching and the thinking of Confucius, and were y influenced by the thinking of Confucius. It was on the basis of his study of the I Ching that Leibniz came up with his binary system, which had a great influence on the Western world.

It can be said that Confucius's ideas have had a great influence not only in China, not only in the East, Japan, Korea and Vietnam, but even in the Western world.

In February 1988, 75 Nobel Prize winners gathered for a meeting in Paris, and after the meeting, they issued a manifesto, and the last sentence of the manifesto reads: "If mankind is to continue to survive in the twenty-first century, then we must go back to Confucius two and a half thousand years ago to learn from him. Confucius two and a half thousand years ago to draw wisdom. Back to contents>>>

The unity of man and heaven, the three principles, the six disciplines, and Chinese culture

Basically, I understand the Nobel laureate's quote in this way: there are three aspects of life in the world that are connected, or rather, there are three aspects of relationship that must take place between man and nature, between man and man, between man's own spirit and his own flesh, which must necessarily be connected. aspects are necessarily connected. For these three aspects, Confucianism has precisely put forward a lot of very mature ideas. With regard to man and nature, Confucianism has particularly put forward the concept of "the unity of heaven and man". This is popularized in a poem as follows: "I advise you not to beat the birds in the spring, for the son is in the nest waiting for his mother to return". To the natural world, a grass, a tree, a bird, a beast, should be cared for, they are also a part of nature, as human beings, more should be in harmony with nature, so the idea of harmony between man and nature, the unity of man and nature, is very prominent in Confucianism, which will certainly play a huge role in solving the environmental and ecological crisis.

For the relationship between human beings, or between human beings and the society, many people in the past thought that most of the Confucian thoughts were negative in this regard. However, a great scholar, Chen Yinke, put forward a proposition: "The essentials of Chinese culture are found in the Baihu Tong's three outlines and six disciplines, the meaning of which is the highest state of abstract ideals." This sentence, his students at the time Ji Xianlin very do not understand. How can the essence of Chinese culture be this "Three Outlines and Six Disciplines"?

The three principles are: the ruler is the principle of the minister, the father is the principle of the son, and the husband is the principle of the wife. The six disciplines are: the father is good, the uncle is righteous, the clan is in order, the brother has relatives, the teacher has respect, the friend has the old. The first is the father, i.e., the father's uncle's generation; the second is the brothers; the third is the uncles, i.e., the mother's lineage; then the clan, i.e., a group of people in one's own family; and lastly, the teachers and friends, which are the six disciplines.

Chen Yinke said, Chinese culture is this "three outlines and six disciplines". After a complex study, Ji Xianlin has a new understanding of this passage. Mr. Ji Xianlin is a senior scholar who studied in Germany for nearly eleven years, and is now regarded as a titan in the field of humanities and literature in China. In the field of humanities and social sciences research, he almost sits in the first chair. He understands Western culture very well. He has been studying this passage from Chen Yin Ke, and after half a century, he suddenly came to a great realization: the Chinese three outlines and six disciplines refer to the fact that in life, the relationship between people and the world is the three aspects of the "outlines" plus the six aspects of the "disciplines", **** nine aspects. If these nine aspects can be handled properly, society will be stabilized. However, he proposed that these nine aspects, especially the three principles, must be reformed. The king is the platform for his subjects, which should be transformed into the relationship between the state and the people. The king is transformed into the state, and the subjects are transformed into the people, that is to say, the relationship between the king and the subjects is transformed into the relationship between the state and the people, then the state loves the people, and the people love the state, and the state will be stable; the father is the platform for the son, and the husband is the platform for the wife, and it is necessary to avoid emphasizing it as a unilateral relationship, not one of absolute obedience, and it should be transformed into a relationship of equality. Handling these three aspects well, together with the other six aspects of the relationship between sons, society is bound to be stable. In the past few years, Mr. Ji Xianlin has written many articles affirming the three principles and six sub-relationships. Back to contents>>>

Governance of the country and the family The future of Confucianism is brilliant and bright

In terms of human beings themselves, living in the world, there will be a constant conflict between the spirit and the flesh, i.e., the spiritual world and the material world are in constant contradiction, especially in today's market economy, there are many people who are greedy for profit, and there are quite a number of people who earn more and more money and yet can't find their own positions. Under such circumstances, how can we resolve the contradiction between the physical and spiritual worlds of human beings? Confucianism particularly advocates cultivating one's moral character, through which one can constantly restrain one's material desires and limit them to a minimum. This can indeed play a stabilizing role in today's society.

Confucianism, from today's point of view, although it arose two and a half thousand years ago, it is still vibrant to this day, and, for the part of it that is full of vitality, we do not recognize it clearly, but we have not yet really recognized it clearly. For the present generation, we should explore Confucianism with the eyes of the present generation, and explore the parts of Confucianism that are in line with the contemporary society, so that we can use them to change our lives and society today, and to make our society more stable and prosperous. From this perspective, I think that the fate of Confucianism is favored and the future of Confucianism is bright. Because of the time constraint, I will highlight my own basic views. Then, please comment more. (Applause) back to the table of contents>>>

Local culture is the root of learning Western culture

Ping: Thank you, Prof. Cai, for your wonderful speech, which I feel very y. The current reality is that many training schools, many teachers and employees, do not know how to deal with foreigners, or cannot recruit or retain foreigners. With teachers from all over the world, Ping Wo is a fairly international school. Judging from the past 4 years, very few teachers have been lost to other schools, and even when they leave, they quickly want to come back.

To be honest, I also feel very strongly about how to deal with foreigners in a Chinese way of dealing with people. I often tell my students that going abroad?