Why is it that in Europe, Japan and other places, cultural traditions, architecture and humanities are so well preserved, but not in China?

The owner's question is really complicated, and there are many reasons.

First of all, I think it has something to do with the relevant policies of the state and the government. Previously in the provinces and municipalities for the development of economic development, regional development, for the protection of ancient buildings is not a very strong sense. Especially in the early years of the founding of the country this phenomenon is more common. Like in Beijing, Liang Sicheng had initiated the protection of ancient buildings in Beijing.

Secondly, this is related to the development of the times and some historical movements. Like the Cultural Revolution, in this catastrophe there are a lot of destruction of the Four Olds and so on, the protection of ancient buildings will not be emphasized, or even destroyed.

Once again, Europe, Japan, these areas for the protection of ancient buildings and other awareness is a long time. At that time, when the United States was preparing to bomb Japan had chosen her capital city Tokyo, but Tokyo was the capital of Japan, and there were many ancient buildings. In order to protect the ancient buildings in Tokyo, the Americans gave up Tokyo and chose Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This also has to do with their national character and tradition, a relatively poetic and romantic nation always has its unique achievements in art, and architecture is also a category of art.

Finally for the maintenance of traditional culture the reason for this embarrassing state of affairs in China now is also related to some events after the founding of the country. Firstly, there was the excesses of the anti-rightist movement, and respect for knowledge was declining. After that, the decade of the Cultural Revolution, the anti-feudalism and destruction of the Four Olds, the downfall of Confucius, and all kinds of campaigns kept appearing. At the same time, this decade also deprived a generation of the opportunity to receive higher education. A cultural desert began to appear. From the early 1960s until the end of the Cultural Revolution, education in our country was relatively underdeveloped, but some of these movements had a more pronounced reaction. Cultural traditions gradually began to die out. I personally feel that the most serious period of tradition extinction was during the period of reform and opening up. Economic development initially neglected culture. The idea that money is everything, which was once so popular, recurred in the minds of many people, while our traditions were gradually being abandoned and the concept of money was being strengthened. With the reform and opening up, some foreign ideas, whether right or wrong, are influencing the minds of our countrymen, which in some ways are also changing our words and deeds, and cultural traditions are fading out of our sight, becoming less profound than before. Much of what we have now comes from abroad rather than from ourselves. Relative to Europe and Japan, especially European countries, they have strong beliefs that are hard to change. They have been modernizing with the course of history, but have been constantly revising their words and actions as they go along. Therefore, it seems to us that they have kept their traditions relatively well. Some scholars in our country are also gradually realizing this problem, such as primary school students learning Chinese culture and so on. It is easy to abandon, but difficult to regain. Architecture is easy to explain, but about cultural traditions and other ideological aspects of things are caused by a variety of reasons, it is more difficult to explain.