What are the traditional cultures of China worth learning from today?

The discussion on how to treat traditional culture and read classics has never stopped since modern times. Obviously, China was forced to open its doors to the world, and its own culture had a direct comparison and collision with foreign cultures, so this issue was seriously raised. Otherwise, there is only one dominant culture and ideology, without the influence of external factors. Whether backward or advanced, the crisis remains stable. As long as the regime changes normally, the basic China tradition will continue day by day, and the dream of going to China will continue. /kloc-for more than 0/00 years, almost every discussion about traditional culture is the result of the joint action of internal crisis and external influence. Zhang Zhidong, the leader of the Westernization School, put forward that "middle school is the body and western learning is the use", which is such a period. The May 4th New Culture Movement put forward the slogan of "Down with Kongjiadian" more vehemently, totally negating the traditional culture, and it was also the time when China's internal and external troubles were close to collapse. But there were rational discussions during and after the New Culture Movement. For example, westernization and traditionalism had a wide and far-reaching debate. After the reform and opening up, the country opened wide, and the discussion on traditional culture never stopped. These years are the time when globalization is aggressive and China joins the World Trade Organization. The problem is that the overall level of this discussion may not be as good as that of the New Culture Movement. Its core problem is still to treat traditional culture simply, and some people stay on the simple logic of all or nothing. All sects advocate restoring ancient ways in an all-round way, so some pious professors advocate reconstructing ancient Confucian classics, so that today's children can learn China classics from childhood, and perhaps several Confucius and Mencius saints can be recreated. None of them still sincerely advocate total westernization, thinking that China tradition is useless and needs to "clean the canvas", accept all foreign cultures and rebuild China. Of course, there are also some people who disapprove of these two extremes and advocate critical or creative transformation of tradition, but most of their statements stay at the abstract level, and it is not clear how to transform and transform. Personally, I think it is really ignorant to advocate reading classics and instill traditional culture for the purpose of purely retro. Great changes have taken place in the present era and reality, and many things are international. You have me and I have you. China culture itself has become a "nondescript" thing, and it is quite difficult to find the true quintessence of Chinese culture today, whether it is food, clothing, housing and transportation or economic administration. When the reality changes, the thinking changes. Under this premise, copying antiques is only adding something for people to appreciate in the museum at most, which is a fake. Today, children are locked in Confucian classrooms to read "Confucius' poems". If they don't get in touch with the outside world, they can survive for a while, but they can't produce classical saints because the social conditions that cause saints are no longer available. Once exposed to the colorful world outside, the helplessness of the retro school immediately appeared. Moreover, the purpose of letting them read the scriptures and respect the saints at the beginning was to continue the tradition and be isolated from the world, which completely failed to achieve the goal. Let's not talk about whether the retro professors themselves really reject modern civilization and lifestyle. As for reading classics and learning traditional culture for research purposes, it is the responsibility of scholars in related fields. Similarly, it is not necessary to cherish the past and cherish the present, but to aim at retro. This is a world where we can't go back, but we can only look forward. So, is it necessary to read classics and learn traditional culture? Of course there is. But this is not for retro, but to serve the transformation of reality by learning tradition. For example, teenagers living in the Internet age know little about classical culture, especially China classics. In particular, some students who study science, engineering, medicine, agriculture and business administration need to spend some time studying classic works in order to understand our traditional culture and draw positive elements from traditional ethics. I have talked with scholars from Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan. A general view is that Chinese mainland's actual interpersonal relationship is the farthest from the oriental tradition, which may be related to the special political and social events and cultural development in Chinese mainland in the past century. The actual influence of western radical thoughts here is far greater than that of the above-mentioned countries and regions, especially the deformed struggle culture developed by class struggle and sharp social conflict. Many people, especially the younger generation, generally lack social responsibility and morality. On this premise, they should learn the traditional culture properly, advocate the new loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, courtesy, wisdom and faith after reinterpretation, and cultivate new gentlemen, so that modern newcomers can not only pay attention to personal freedom of choice, but also lose their gentlemanly demeanor and cultivation. This is a work that needs to be done seriously, but we must draw a clear line with retro. Today is the era of globalization. There is also an attitude problem in reading classics and inheriting traditional culture, that is, we should not praise traditional culture blindly, or rather whitewash it instead of exposing the backwardness and dark side of traditional culture, which is a taboo for venerable people. For quite some time, our traditional cultural propaganda has serious defects, that is, it is based on belittling foreign cultures and lacks objective and rational analysis. For example, I think Chinese medicine has no side effects, but all drugs have side effects. There are even people who are like Lin Yutang, who are many times better than suits. Today, we often hear such words as "Only China will have such a great event". The West has only material civilization, and we have a long history of spiritual civilization. This is similar to the view that foreigners are regarded as barbarians and only China people are the noblest people in the feudal autocratic era. It is a copy of the view of "Chinese style and western use" and has created many "cynics" who blindly exclude foreigners and worship tradition. I once taught an undergraduate who was admitted to Nanjing University with a high score. After studying western philosophy for a semester, he suddenly asked me from the heart: I am from China, why should I learn these distant western things? I still don't understand what this has to do with me. It is this deep-rooted xenophobia that surprises me, but its roots can be found. In this open era, information is highly circulated, and people's lives and thoughts are diversified. We don't need to hide our ears to cheat people's respect for traditional culture. Not to mention singing praises for feudal autocracy in the name of praising traditional culture and patriotic education. In recent years, many imperial dramas have publicly claimed that they are dramas rather than jokes, but they have described the tyrants in history as monarchs with human feelings, and the world is public. Not to mention the basic fact that several "wise kings" in the Qing Dynasty pushed the literary inquisition in the history of China to its peak. It is irresponsible to praise traditional culture in this way of ignoring facts and covering up the truth, which is a betrayal of profound reflection on feudal autocracy by people with lofty ideals since the May 4th New Culture Movement. In fact, telling people the ugliness of the autocratic system does not mean that we do not love the positive side of our traditional culture, nor is it treason. Whether that attitude of whitewashing peace is patriotic in the new era is worth asking a big question. China's traditional culture is too complicated, the essence and dross coexist, and the reasons for its formation are numerous and varied, so far it has not been really sorted out. Some people explain the reasons from single-factor determinism and simple causality, but a little analysis is enough to make people laugh. For example, the so-called "super-stable structure theory" a few years ago only transplanted a theory in physics into the analysis of traditional China society. For another example, Yang Zhenning, a great scientist, recently attributed China's scientific and technological backwardness for many years to the lack of deductive reasoning in the Book of Changes, which also simplified an extremely complicated social phenomenon into one or two factors, which was unconvincing. And this just caused people who have strong feelings for traditional culture to protest equally simplistically. Everyone's feelings about their own national traditions can be understood, but they cannot be taken as the basic starting point, especially today, and what is more important is a rational attitude. Instead of spending energy on these huge (actually empty and meaningless) problems, it is better to do something practical. For example, carefully analyze what social, political, ideological methods, concepts and customs factors hinder the development of scientific and technological innovation today, and then consider what aspects to transform. Politically, what traditional cultures in China can continue to be handed down as classics in the world, such as "who has never died since ancient times, keeping a pure heart and caring for history"; What is against the current world trend, such as the "three cardinal guides and five permanents" that restrict interpersonal equality and personal freedom; What principles can be used as a supplement or reference for the development of democracy and the rule of law, such as "respecting the people and valuing the people" and "understanding the law"; What needs to be vigilant in economic reform, such as "not suffering from widowhood but suffering from inequality"; What is basically lacking in tradition, such as respecting individual's free choice, ideological tolerance, democratic politics, and so on. Tradition has a strong vitality, but it is also constantly changing. For example, it is impossible for people to step into the same river twice, examine the details carefully, and it is even hard to tell what is the essential feature of China traditional culture. However, based on the river bank, people still step into the same river twice, and the changes that have taken place in China are still the continuation of its tradition. Traditional culture is such an object floating between constants and variables. As soon as some people hear about westernization, they nervously dismiss it as "forgetting one's ancestors after several classics." In fact, China culture is far from westernization, so don't worry. Of course, I don't agree with the extreme and impossible slogan of "total westernization". My basic attitude is to study and introduce traditions realistically, seriously transform traditions, learn from the excellent elements of foreign cultures, carry out comprehensive reforms in political, economic and social systems, and create new traditions.