A Brief Introduction to the Cultural Essentials of China

Some people call Liang Shuming "the last Confucian", while others call him "the first contemporary neo-Confucian", but he himself thinks that a more appropriate evaluation is "he is a thoughtful man who acts according to his thoughts". As far as "thought" is concerned, perhaps Liang Shuming's most important work is "Eastern and Western Cultures and Their Philosophy", which was a sensation when it was published in 192 1. As far as Action is concerned, his most important work is probably On Rural Construction, published in 1937, which summarizes the experience of rural governance movement in recent ten years. However, if we really want to regard Liang Shuming as "a thoughtful person who acts according to his thoughts", we may even regard him as "a thinker and an activist for social transformation" as he expected. Then the Essentials of China Culture, written in 1942 and completed in June 1949, is undoubtedly his most important work. According to a popular saying, Liang Shuming's Essentials of China Culture, like his other works, is full of "problem consciousness". Broadly speaking, the two major issues that Liang Shuming has been thinking about all his life are "China problem" and "life problem". Everyone can't avoid the meaning of life since he was a teenager. Since the late Qing Dynasty, the national future problems encountered in ancient China have led Liang Shuming to the same China culture. In Liang Shuming's view, China culture is both the root and the answer to these two questions. The key is how to understand this culture. Liang Shuming also explored China culture itself from some thought-provoking questions from an early age. China has a strong knowledge, economy and politics, but why has it a long history and a vast territory and can resist the powerful Japanese invaders for a long time? The attitude towards life, or the value judgment of the meaning of life, is closely related to religion in both the West and India, but what do China people with weak religious concepts rely on to provide the meaning of life and dominate people's thoughts? People always say that westerners are individual-oriented, while China people are social-oriented, but how to explain China people's "fragmented sand" or even "lack of public morality"? China's civilization has been brilliant for so long, why hasn't it developed a decent scientific system? What China lacks is democracy itself, or democracy like modern western countries?

In Liang Shuming's view, these problems are not only how the "body" of China culture responds to the "use" of western culture, but also how the "Tao" of China culture adapts to the "device" of modern society. Although Liang Shuming didn't focus on constructing a global cultural philosophy based on the philosophy of life when he wrote The Essentials of China Culture, he was still a universalist to a great extent, and still tried to discuss problems with concepts such as "instinct", "reason" and "rationality" that western Renye Fang could understand. In Liang Shuming's view, the importance of China culture to meaningful life is not limited to a certain corner of China; China's traditional culture is not only because of its instrumental value for national survival and national reconstruction. Liang himself said a word: We should read his "The Essence of China Culture" and preserve the China tradition. It is right to preserve culture. Which nation can deny its own culture? But understanding China culture is not easy. Reading Essentials of China Culture is probably better than reading the eastern and western cultures and their philosophies. 1985, 36 years after the publication of China Cultural Essentials, Mr. Liang Shuming gave a speech at the "China Cultural Workshop" held by China Cultural Research Institute, with the title of China Cultural Essentials. At that time, Liang Shuming pointed out more clearly: "The future of the world is the revival of China culture. I believe that in the history of mankind, after the capitalist society, things should not be the first, but the relationship between people should be the first, and how people can live together in peace and friendship. " This is a good inspiration for how to read the book Essentials of China Culture today.