On the Traditional Culture of China with Confucianism

2004- 1-3 1

Confucianism is the core of traditional culture in China, and it is also the theoretical basis for maintaining the autocratic rule of feudal monarchs. Confucianism and absolute monarchy constitute the two main contents of China's ancient political history.

1. The formation and development of Confucianism

(1) The "benevolence" put forward by Confucius, the founder of Confucianism, has the nature of classical humanitarianism: advocating "rites" and maintaining rites of the week is a conservative part of Confucius' political thought. Confucian culture later developed into the orthodox culture in ancient China.

(2) Mencius was a representative figure of Confucianism in the Warring States Period, who advocated benevolent government and put forward the idea of "valuing the people and despising the monarch"; Advocate "politics depends on the people" and oppose tyranny; It advocates giving farmers a certain amount of land, not infringing on their working hours, and lenient punishment and thin taxes.

(3) Dong Zhongshu founded Neo-Confucianism on the basis of Confucianism, with the framework of Yin-Yang and Five Elements, and with a hundred schools of thought contending. Its core is "the unity of heaven and man" and "the divine right of monarchy". His thoughts focused on the three policies of heaven and man and many exposures in the Spring and Autumn Period.

(4) Metaphysics, which appeared in Wei and Jin Dynasties, explained the Confucian Book of Changes with Laozi and Zhuangzi's thoughts, which was a negative thought to defend the gentry. Zhouyi, Laozi and Zhuangzi are called "San Xuan". Metaphysics advocates the inaction of the monarch and the dictatorship of the gate valve, and its main activity is in Luoyang. Representative figures are Yanhe, Wang Bi and Seven Sages of Bamboo Forest.

(5) Han Yu, a master of Confucianism in the middle Tang Dynasty, opposed the views of Buddhism and Taoism with the theory of Confucian destiny and feudal principles from the perspective of maintaining feudal rule.

(6) Neo-Confucianism, which is based on Confucianism and absorbs Buddhism and Taoism, is the main philosophical thought of the Song Dynasty. Zhu is a master of the development of science of philosophy. He inherited the thoughts of Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi, the Northern Song Neo-Confucianists, and further improved and developed the objective idealistic Neo-Confucianism system, which was later called Zhu Cheng Neo-Confucianism. Its core content is: "reason" is the origin of all things in the universe, and it is the first; "Qi" is the substance that constitutes all things in the universe, and it is secondary. He opposed "righteousness" and "human desire" and thought that human desire was the root of all evil, so he put forward "preserving righteousness and destroying human desire", which was actually defending the feudal hierarchical order.

(7) In the mid-Ming Dynasty, Wang Yangming opposed Zhu's view that mind and reason are two different things, and founded a subjective idealism theory-mind learning, which was opposite to Zhu. The evolution of Neo-Confucianism from objective idealism to subjective idealism shows that it has gone to extremes.

2. Progressive thinkers' criticism of traditional Confucianism

(1) Deng Mu of Yuan Dynasty: He claimed to be an outsider of the Three Religions, wrote a book and boldly denied the autocratic rule of feudal monarchs. His idea of no monarch had a certain influence on progressive thinkers in Ming and Qing Dynasties.

(2) Ming Dynasty: Li Zhi was a "heretical" progressive thinker in the late Ming Dynasty. He accused the Confucian classics of not being "the supreme theory throughout the ages", exposed the hypocrisy of Taoism, opposed discrimination against women and suppressed businessmen. He is a pioneer of China's anti-feudalism, and his thoughts reflect the requirements of the embryonic era of capitalism in a certain sense, with a democratic color.

(3) Early Qing Dynasty: ① Huang Zongxi: After the death of the Ming Dynasty, he wrote in seclusion, fiercely criticized the feudal monarchy, advocated "rule of law" against "rule of man" and opposed attaching importance to agriculture and restraining commerce. His thoughts shocked the academic circles at that time and had a certain influence on the rise of democratic thoughts in the late Qing Dynasty. (2) Gu: a thinker in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, who emphasized practical knowledge of "applying the world". He advocated the combination of academic research and solving social problems, trying to reverse the unrealistic style of study in the late Ming Dynasty. He advocated "practical learning" with the book "All counties and countries in the world are beneficial to diseases", with the aim of criticizing Neo-Confucianism and opposing absolute monarchy. Gu's style of study had a great influence on scholars in Qing Dynasty. Wang Fuzhi is an outstanding materialist thinker. He believes that "qi" is a material entity and "reason" is an objective law. He put forward the materialistic viewpoint that "Qi is the foundation of reason" and "the world is the only tool", criticized Zhu's Neo-Confucianism and Wang Yangming's mind, and also put forward "Static means moving, and moving does not give up static", denying the metaphysical thought of Neo-Confucianism. He looked at history from the viewpoint of development and thought that the development of history was regular. He proposed "keeping pace with the times" politically. Wang Fuzhi's thought shines with the light of innovation.

Synchronous guidance

China's ancient thought choice of governing the country: Historians believe that from Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty, the ruling class in China chose a mode of governing the country by learning Confucianism and Taoism. That is, Confucianism embellishes politics, Legalists support politics, and Taoism regulates politics. The formation of this mode of governing the country went through a long process of choice and exploration before Qin and Han Dynasties.

In primitive society, the level of productivity is low, the social life is primitive and extensive, the folk customs are simple, there is no private concept, everyone is equal and blind, and they live a beautiful and carefree life. Enjoy full democracy in the management of clan commune and tribal alliance affairs, mainly rely on the wisdom and virtue of tribal alliance leaders to educate the people, and the idea of governing the country is in its infancy. In slave society, the hereditary system of the throne replaced the abdication system, resulting in class and country. On the one hand, the rulers formulated the patriarchal hierarchy to maintain the rule of the slave-owning class, on the other hand, they used force as the backing of their rule.

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, China society was in the period of the collapse of slavery and the establishment of feudalism, and the history was undergoing epoch-making changes. The royal family declined in the Zhou dynasty, and the princes were big. Zhou Li, which maintained the patriarchal clan system of slave owners, was greatly damaged, and the princes competed for hegemony and the society was in turmoil. At this time, intellectuals representing the interests of all walks of life are extremely active and become an important social force. They have stepped onto the historical stage, written books and put forward solutions to practical social problems, forming a prosperous situation in which a hundred schools of thought contend. Among them, Confucianism, Legalism and Taoism have the greatest influence. They each designed a set of plans for the emerging landlord class to end the separatist regime and realize the unified governance of the country, which laid the foundation for the choice of feudal society to govern the country after Qin and Han Dynasties.

At the beginning of the establishment of the Western Han Dynasty, due to the long-term war, production was severely damaged, resulting in a sharp drop in population, farmers in exile, economic recession and empty treasury. In view of this situation and the collapse of Qin, the rulers in the early Han dynasty adopted the politics of "sharing interest with the people" to ease class contradictions and develop productive forces in order to consolidate their rule. On the one hand, policies such as "light tax", "heavy reward for agriculture and weaving" and probation are adopted to resume production, develop the economy and stabilize the people's hearts; On the other hand, under the system of parallel counties and countries at that time, the policy of not excessively interfering with local governors was adopted to consolidate feudal rule. In line with this situation, Huang Lao's thought was widely popular and became the dominant thought of governing the country in the early Western Han Dynasty. Its core is quietism, which follows suit. Practice has proved that it completely adapted to the needs of the society at that time, played a role in promoting the recovery and development of production, and appeared the famous feudal prosperous period "the rule of cultural scenery". The Taoist way of governing the country by doing nothing had a certain influence on China's ancient politics. After every major political turmoil, the ruling class often adopts the strategy of governing the country by Tao and sharing the interests with the people in order to preserve the national strength, stabilize the people's hearts and consolidate the country. In addition to the early Han Dynasty, there were similar practices in the early Tang and Song Dynasties.

During the period of Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty, the feudal country was strong, which created the premise for the stability of feudal rule. In order to maintain the situation of great unity, we must establish the corresponding ideological system. Dong Zhongshu absorbed Taoism, Legalism and other factors conducive to the rule of the monarch, reformed Confucianism, and added the idea of "divine right of the monarch" and unification, which objectively contributed to the strengthening of feudal centralization, the consolidation of the country, and the stability of society. Since then, Confucianism has gradually become the dominant orthodoxy in feudal society. In the past two thousand years, Confucianism has been dominant. On the one hand, its ideological core, that is, the philosophical concept of the unity of man and nature, the ethical concept of "three cardinal guides and five permanents" with "benevolence" as the core, and the political proposition of unified unification, fundamentally adapted to the needs of feudal autocratic rule. On the other hand, Confucianism has a strong sense of social responsibility and can constantly change its face with the needs of the times. Confucianism in pre-Qin dynasty was not accepted by the rulers at that time, and even suffered a devastating blow from Qin Shihuang, which was caused by its own theoretical defects when it was founded. The content system of pre-Qin Confucianism is full of strong, gentle and simple ethical family color, which seems to be "pedantic and broader than things". For example, Confucius' "benevolence" aims to restore the era represented by "Zhou Li" by "correcting its name", so Confucius' thoughts will not be favored by emerging landlord forces. Mencius' theory of "benevolent governance" has shifted to the position of emerging landlord forces, but its theory of "benevolent governance" is based on "the people value the monarch" and excessively highlights the interests of small farmers, so it will not be appreciated by the rulers. History developed to the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and the feudal country was strong, which established the premise for the stability of feudal rule. In order to maintain a unified situation, it is necessary to establish a corresponding ideological system, so that Confucianism can have the conditions to restore vitality.

Confucianism advocates the rule of virtue, courtesy and man, and emphasizes moral influence; Legalists advocate "breaking away from the law", implementing the rule of law and emphasizing violent rule; Taoism advocates letting nature take its course and "governing by doing nothing", which are highly complementary. Through the practice of governing the country in the early Qin Dynasty and the Western Han Dynasty, it is proved from both positive and negative aspects: in turbulent times, it is difficult to achieve national unity with the Confucian line, but the Legalist line can achieve such an effect; At the beginning of the unrest, the population withered and the production was destroyed. Therefore, Taoist inaction politics should be practiced to share the interest with the people in order to restore and develop production. When the country is stable and on the track of normal operation, it can no longer implement the violent rule of harsh laws, and the Confucian line is appropriate. There is a trend of mutual integration among the three. During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Dong Zhongshu laid the basic pattern of China's feudal social ruling thought, which was mainly based on the Confucian line and supplemented by the Legalist line and absorbed the Taoist rational thought. Since then, the French model with Confucian ethics as the core, legalists' harsh laws as the supplement, and Taoist politics as the basis has basically conformed to China's ancient national conditions, and has become an unchangeable rule for the ruling class to govern the country.

Understanding of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty's "ousting a hundred schools of thought and respecting Confucianism alone": In the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, feudal rulers, forced by the social situation of economic recession and people's hearts ruling, took retreat as progress and pursued the theory of learning from Huang Lao as their ruling thought, trying to govern by doing nothing. However, with the change of historical conditions, the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty began to practice promising politics, and the ruling ideology was bound to face new choices.

Since the Han Dynasty, in addition to the study of Huang Lao, Confucianism has been actively developing, and Dong Zhongshu of Jason Wu is a representative of Confucianism in the Western Han Dynasty. In the first year of Yuanguang (BC 134), Dong Zhongshu took measures of moral policy. In his Three Strategies for Heaven and Man, he proposed that ideological rule should also follow the principles of "unity" and "unchanging Confucian classics and righteousness", and that "today's teachers are different, people's theories are different, and hundreds of schools of thought have different meanings, which means that the above is the unity of death". Therefore, he suggested that "those who are not the subjects of the six arts, Confucius' skills, must be unique, so they do not seek progress." "Dong Zhongshu expounded the principle of respecting Confucianism in theory, which was appreciated by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. Later, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty took a series of measures, thus establishing the dominant position of Confucianism.

In the fifth year of the Yuan Dynasty (BC 136), Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty appointed doctors of the Five Classics of Confucianism, and at the same time dismissed other doctors, excluding hundreds of schools outside Confucianism from official studies, which was known in history as "suppressing a hundred schools and promoting the Six Classics". In the fifth year of Yuanshuo (BC 124), Liang Wudi issued a letter approving Dong Zhongshu and Gong's proposal to set up imperial academy in Chang 'an to educate young children with Confucian classics. Since then, Confucianism has become the main content of government-run schools. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty reformed the system of selecting officials, stipulating that those with excellent academic performance as doctoral students can be appointed as lang officials, and those who are proficient in one skill can be selected to hold important positions. He also broke away from convention and took Gong Sunhong, a Confucian scholar in cloth, as prime minister. In this way, with the rise of Confucianism, feudal politics and Confucianism are closely combined. In the imperial edicts and proceedings of the Western Han Dynasty, Confucianism was often cited, and in the judicial process, Chunqiu was taken as an example to sentence a prison. When Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty followed Confucianism, he held important ritual activities, such as Guan Chan, Zhengshuo, Xiujiao, and calendar setting, which initially formed the historical tradition of Confucian politics.

What needs to be understood is that this policy of Liang Wudi is very different from that of Qin Dynasty. Other schools of thought are not banned, because official schools are unique. The advocated Confucianism itself has also widely absorbed the theories of Legalists and Yin and Yang, and the thought of great unification has a certain comprehensive tendency, thus achieving success. Confucianism advocates learning and combines education, examination and official selection, which is the creation of Emperor Wu, and objectively promotes the social fashion of attaching importance to knowledge and education. Confucianism gradually penetrated into all aspects of society and formed the basic paradigm of China traditional culture. But it is essentially a feudal and autocratic cultural policy. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty used imperial power to interfere with academic thought, which inhibited the free development of national thought, imprisoned the spirit of exploration in the ideological circle, violated the law of the unity of thought and truth, and had obvious negative effects.

How to treat China traditional culture including Confucianism correctly? Since modern times, there have been two opposing ideological tendencies in the attitude towards China's ancient traditional culture: one is the quintessence school, which thinks that China's traditional culture is correct and even fully affirms the twenty-four filial piety without criticism; The other is the Westernization School, which attributed all the roots of China's backwardness to cultural traditions and advocated completely abandoning China's traditional culture and westernizing it. Both views are wrong. Our scientific attitude and method towards traditional culture should be to make the past serve the present and critically inherit it. But how to make the past serve the present and criticize inheritance? We think: (1) What excellent value principles formed in long-term historical practice can be transformed into the spirit of the times to inherit. For example, the vigorous and promising spirit of "Tian Xing Jian, a gentleman strives for self-improvement" in The Book of Changes, the quality of "giving up life for righteousness, forgetting profit and taking orders in times of crisis" advocated in The Analects of Confucius, and the historical mission of "a scholar should strive for self-improvement and shoulder a long way to go" put forward in Mencius, "wealth cannot be immoral". In particular, it is more practical to emphasize the ideological tradition of unity. (2) For some content, we can extract its feudal ideological core and its beneficial spiritual factors, making it a useful ideological element in today's new cultural construction. Such as "people-oriented" thinking. From "respecting heaven and protecting people" in the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty to "people are the most important, the country is the second, and the monarch is the least" by Mencius, and then to "monarch, boat also; Shu Ren, water also. Water can carry a boat or overturn it. " People-oriented thought is an important part of China's ancient political thought. Of course, the real connotation of "people-oriented" in ancient times is not and cannot be the interests of the people. Today, if we get rid of its feudal core, we can transform the ancient people-oriented thought from the perspective of the people being the masters of the country and develop it into a socialist concept in which the interests of the people are above everything else. The propositions of "self-cultivation" and "cultivation" put forward by Confucianism are still of practical significance in today's socialist market economy. Today, we still need to improve our self-cultivation and dedication to socialism. (3) The dross in traditional culture must be denied and discarded. For example, the female view of "three obedience and four virtues", the natural view of "the sky remains the same" and the feudal hierarchy view of "don't be condescending, be noble and humble".