What do you think of China's traditional culture now?

The basic spirit of traditional Chinese culture is, in essence, the national spirit of the Chinese people. On the basic spirit of traditional Chinese culture, scholars have many views. Some scholars believe that the ideological basis for the long-term development of traditional Chinese culture can be called the basic spirit of traditional Chinese culture, the basic spirit of culture is the process of cultural development of the subtle internal dynamics, that is, to guide the national culture of the basic idea of continuous progress. The basic spirit of traditional Chinese culture is the basic characteristics of the Chinese nation in spiritual form. Thus, (1) Steel, Health, and Effort; (2) Harmony and Neutrality; (3) Utilization of Virtue; and (4) Harmony between Heaven and Man." These are where the basic spirit of traditional Chinese culture lies." (Zhang Dai Nian, "On the Basic Spirit of Chinese Culture," Chinese Cultural Studies Collection, No. 1, published by Fudan University Press.) China's national spirit is basically condensed in the two famous lines of "The Great Biography of Zhouyi", which are: "Heaven walks in a healthy way, and a gentleman is unceasing in his self-improvement"." The earth moves, and the gentleman carries things in a virtuous manner.""' Self-improvement and virtue are the basic spirit of traditional Chinese culture"." The notion of "mediocrity", although widely circulated in the past, could not actually serve to promote cultural development. Therefore, "the 'middle ground' cannot be regarded as the basic spirit of traditional Chinese culture". (Zhang Dainian, "Cultural Tradition and National Spirit," Academic Monthly, No. 12, 1986.) The basic spirit of traditional Chinese culture is also manifested in the fine tradition of replacing religion with moral education. (Zhang Dai Nian, "Chinese Culture and Chinese Philosophy," in Collected Essays on Chinese Culture and Chinese Philosophy, published by Oriental Publishing House.) Some scholars believe that "the fundamental spirit of traditional Chinese culture is one of harmony and freedom. (Xu Siyuan, "On Two Questions of Chinese Culture", Chinese Culture Research Collection, No. 1, published by Fudan University Press.) Some scholars believe that the patriarchal hierarchical ethical program based on the self-sufficient natural economy, with the family as the base, and blood ties as the bond, is the main clue, essence and core of the five dimensions of social production activities and productive forces, social relations of production, social system, social psychology and forms of social consciousness that run through ancient China, and that "this is the basic spirit of the traditional Chinese culture in ancient China." (Yang Xianbang, "Re-evaluation of Traditional Chinese Culture," in Zhang Liwen et al. eds.) Some scholars believe that the Chinese national spirit can be roughly summarized into four interrelated aspects: (1) the spirit of reason. It is centrally manifested in a long tradition of atheism, fully affirming the unity of man and nature and the unity of the individual and society, and advocating that the fulfillment of individual feelings and desires should be consistent with the rational requirements of society. On the whole, it denies the religious worship of supernatural God and savior and the existence of the other side of the world, strongly advocates the harmony and unity of man and nature, individual and society, and opposes the division and confrontation of the two, which is the root of the spirit of rationality of the Chinese nation. (2) The spirit of freedom. This is first of all manifested in the spirit of the people's resistance to the rule of the exploiting class. At the same time, in the struggle against foreign national oppression, certain strata, groups and figures in the ruling class also actively participate in this struggle. This shows that in the ideological and cultural tradition of the Chinese ruling class, there is also a positive aspect of "love of freedom". (3) The spirit of truth-seeking. The pre-Qin Confucianism advocates "to know is to know, not to know is not to know", to know the world, and opposes the birth of knowledge; the Legalism opposes "fore-knowledge", pays attention to "reference", emphasizes the implementation of the work, and promotes the work; the Taoism advocates "to know the people", "self-knowledge", and "analyze the reason of all things". These are all practical spirit of the table. (4) The spirit of adaptability. (See Liu Zangji, "A Brief Discussion of the Chinese National Spirit," Wuhan University Journal, 1985, No. 1. Some scholars believe that the basic spirit of traditional Chinese culture can be summarized as "respecting ancestors, emphasizing human relationships, advocating morality, and respecting etiquette. (See Sima Yunjie, Cultural Sociology, Shandong People's Publishing House.) In addition, traditional Chinese culture is characterized by a developmental perspective, self-improvement, and a spirit of learning. (See Ding Shouhe: "The Trial Whirl of Traditional Chinese Culture," Seeking, 1987, No. 4.) Some scholars believe that the spirit of traditional Chinese culture is humanism. This humanism is manifested in the following ways: it does not isolate human beings from interpersonal relations, nor does it oppose human beings to nature; it does not pursue a purely natural system of knowledge; it is anti-utilitarian in its theory of value; and it is dedicated to being human. The humanistic spirit of traditional Chinese culture has added glory to our nation and country, but also set up obstacles; it has spread the light of wisdom to the world, but also created various barriers to communication between China and the rest of the world; it is a great spiritual wealth, but also a considerable cultural burden. (See Pang Park, "The Humanistic Spirit of Chinese Culture," Guangming Daily, January 6, 1986.) (Li Zonggui, "An Introduction to Chinese Culture," excerpts) Human society has entered a modern civilization characterized by industrialization, popularization of education, and scientification. The reality that modern civilization dominates the world determines that no matter what state a country develops a nation in now, it is its inevitable trend to move towards modernization. In the process of modernization, due to the different national conditions, the problems and obstacles encountered by countries on the road to modernization are also different. China is an ancient civilized country with 5,000 years of traditional culture. China is an ancient civilization with 5,000 years of traditional culture. In the process of China's modernization, there have been repeated debates on whether traditional Chinese culture can be modernized. This historical phenomenon clearly reveals to us: Can traditional Chinese culture be modernized? How to modernize? It is a question of great practical significance that must be understood and clarified. First, the denial of traditional culture is also the denial of history Culture, in a broad sense, refers to the social practice of human beings in the transformation of the world in the material and spiritual production capacity and the wealth created by the sum of material civilization, including material civilization, spiritual civilization and institutional civilization. Culture in the narrower sense refers mainly to spiritual productive capacity and spiritual products. Traditional culture is the cultural heritage of material and spiritual civilization accumulated by a country and nation over a long period of social practice, as well as the spiritual embodiment of the nation's unique way of thinking. Traditional culture has both essence and dregs, therefore, traditional culture can neither be denied nor absorbed in its entirety, but only stood at the height of the times and tested through practice. It is only by learning the essence and removing the dregs that we can play our role correctly. A country towards modernization, there is always a certain economy, politics, based on the culture, deny the traditional culture, but also deny the history, deny the spirit of the nation. To deny traditional culture is also to deny history and the spirit of the nation. It is to cut off one's own "roots" artificially. American cultural philosopher White said: "culture is a continuous unity, each stage of cultural development is generated from the earlier cultural environment", "the current culture is determined by the past culture, and the future culture is only the current cultural trends. It can be said that the history of the development of a nation and a people is also the history of the development and enrichment of traditions. Similarly, the national spirit, which is an important force in uniting and motivating the people, is also the result of the long-term cultivation and nurturing of traditional culture. It is not terrible for a nation to fall into any predicament, but it is terrible to lose the pillar of the national spirit and have nothing to rely on spiritually. Therefore, the question of how to treat traditional culture is by no means purely a cultural issue, but a question related to the development of national destiny. Many historical facts have proved that when a country embarks on national revitalization and modernization, it always starts with the promotion of the national spirit. The spirit of the nation is the soul of the nation. The denial of traditional culture inevitably erases the spirit of the nation. It is wrong to call the process of modernizing China, which believes that it can only draw strength from heterogeneous cultures and attempts to replace the traditional Chinese cultural model with a Western cultural model, the Westernization school. From an epistemological point of view, this is mainly due to the following three reasons: First, the lack of a deep understanding and awareness of the rich connotation of traditional Chinese culture. Traditional Chinese culture is not a pile of worthless garbage, as some people say, but has rich connotations in many aspects, and its good parts are the valuable spiritual wealth of mankind and one of the sources of regeneration for all new and higher civilizations. The rich connotation of traditional Chinese culture is mainly reflected in these aspects: the spirit of struggle for self-improvement. Chinese culture has always been concerned about the reality of life, Confucius said: "unknown life, how do you know death", and said: "the sky is healthy, the gentleman to self-improvement". It is this philosophy of life in the world that has nurtured the Chinese people to dare to fight against all natural and social hazards and injustices. Since ancient times, the Chinese people have had the spirit of not believing in evil and not being afraid of "ghosts", emphasizing that happiness in life depends on one's own creation. To realize modernization, this spirit of self-confidence and self-respect is indispensable. Second, the concept of unity of knowledge and action. The Chinese Confucian culture says that "to do is nearer to benevolence", which to a certain extent reflects the epistemological thought that "action is more important than knowledge", which is somehow consistent with the character of practice. Practice is the source of knowledge. In order to realize modernization, of course, we should try to learn from foreign advanced things, but what is more important is our own socialist practice. Third, emphasize the spiritual life of man. Traditional Chinese culture attaches great importance to people's inner cultivation and the spiritual world, and despises greed and vulgar materialistic desires. Mencius put forward the "fullness of the so-called beauty", and that "valuable can not be obscene, the poor can not be moved, the mighty can not bend", which is the fundamental requirements of personality, this traditional virtues, the modern character molding, is also very valuable. Fourth, there is the spirit of patriotism. Patriotism, is consolidated over the centuries to their own motherland, one of the deepest feelings, patriotism, is the fine tradition of our Chinese nation. As the old saying goes: "The rise and fall of the world is the responsibility of all men". Today, only when a country embarks on modernization will it be prosperous and strong. The realization of modernization, all rely on the unity of the people of the country, *** with the struggle. Fifth, the pursuit of truth, the spirit of dedication. Traditional Chinese culture scorns that kind of greed for life and death, ungrateful, chasing fame and fortune of the villain. Ancient people in the pursuit of truth, that "the Dao, the death of the evening can be carried out". Proclaiming the spirit of "the road is long, I will go up and down to seek". This dedication to the truth, dedication is to promote the modernization of a powerful driving force. Sixth, solidarity and mutual help, respect for the elderly and love for the young ethical norms. The ancients said: "honor the old as we honor the old, honor the young as we honor the young." A society can only be full of warmth and harmony and bring hope and strength if it is strict in disciplining itself and lenient in treating others, and if it forms a social culture of solidarity and respect for the elderly and the young. The above is only a part of the essence of traditional Chinese culture, which is sufficient to reflect the great depth of traditional Chinese culture. Russell once said: "The strength of Chinese culture lies in a reasonable outlook on life", which is a profound understanding and generalization of Chinese culture. Secondly, traditional culture is opposed to modernization. Traditional culture is not a pool of stagnant water, but a dynamic system. Human beings create traditional culture in their own social practice, and innovate and enrich it in practice. Otherwise, it would not have been transformed into a real cultural tradition. Therefore, traditional culture should not be reduced to "past history" but should be recognized as having a bearing on both the present and the future. To regard development as "anti-traditional" is to pit traditional culture against modern culture. In fact, any modernization can only start from the reality of traditional culture, otherwise it will become water without a source and wood without a root. Mr. Chen Yinke said, "Those who can really create their own system of thought must, on the one hand, absorb and import foreign doctrines and, on the other hand, not forget the status of the original nation." Mr. Popper once pointed out, in response to the theory of "thoroughly cleaning the cloth of society - creating a blank slate of society and then drawing a brand new social system on it," that "there is nothing more dangerous than the destruction of the traditional framework, a destruction that will lead to cynicism and nihilism, making all mankind a new and more dangerous society. This destruction will lead to cynicism and nihilism, to indifference to all human values and to their disintegration. Moreover, once tradition is destroyed, civilization disappears with it". Therefore, traditional culture must not be treated with a blanket negative attitude, but must be analyzed realistically and with specificity, tested in practice and cleared of those things that are outdated. Again, from the dialectical relationship between national culture and world civilization. World civilization is not the result of the role of a particular country or nation, but is created by the people of the whole world*** together. Of course, due to the differences in the specific conditions of each aspect, the role played in the world is different, but it is only a question of the size of the role, not a question of whether it is there or not. Therefore, the cultures of all peoples should be equal and need to respect each other, learn from each other and complement each other's strengths and weaknesses, and should not have a sense of superiority over others. Any country, as a part of the human world, is not isolated, its existence and development, can not help but have an impact on other countries: also can not help but be affected by other countries in one way or another. The four great inventions of ancient China have made significant contributions to world civilization. The contemporary fever for ancient Chinese culture in the West also shows that traditional Chinese culture is still at work today. Therefore, the development of world civilization will be reliably ensured only if each country gives full play to the characteristics of its own national culture and makes its due contribution to human society. On the contrary, if a country disregards the characteristics of its own people and imitates or copies other cultures, not only will it not have good development, but it will even embark on the road to extinction, which is a lesson learned in the history of the world. In fact, the western culture is also divided into two parts, there are good things as well as dregs, and it is not possible to "pick all the vegetables in the basket" such as For example, "money worship" and so on are criticized even in the West. Western culture is not equal to the world's advanced culture, which are two different concepts. The world's advanced culture is marked by its sophistication, scientific nature and significance to human society. Therefore, the study and introduction of foreign culture must be analyzed in detail, and must be based on the actual situation of one's own country. A successful modernized country never introduces western culture in its entirety, but on the basis of its own traditional culture, learns from the advanced foreign culture on one hand, and innovates its own culture on the other hand to improve its own modernization level constantly, because whether the traditional culture can be modernized and whether it can be carried forward under the new historical conditions depends on whether people can modernize and promote it. The key to the modernization of traditional culture and its promotion in the new historical conditions lies in the way people think about traditional culture.