Chen Lai: How to treat Confucian culture and China traditional culture?

The Relationship between Confucianism and China Culture

Confucianism is the main school that inherits Xia, Shang and Zhou civilizations. The classic system with the Five Classics or Six Classics as the core inherited by Confucianism is not the classics of a certain school or a certain religion, but the classics of civilization, that is, the classics of Chinese civilization. Since the Han Dynasty, the basic idea of Confucian governing the country and pursuing long-term stability has been chosen by the history of China and widely recognized. This is no accident. Based on the summary of China's historical experience, it also shows that the basic ideas of Confucianism meet the needs of the development of the Chinese nation and China culture for more than 2,000 years.

Confucianism represents the core values of China people. This set of core values is consistent with the historical and cultural conditions and living conditions of China people, and it is interlinked with the historical environment, historical conditions, modes of production and ways of communication of China people. Therefore, it met the needs of China society at that time and became the main part of China culture. China society has long been an agricultural society, and it is also a society in which the patriarchal clan system remains unchanged and the family is the main form of life. China is also a unified centralized country, which attaches importance to unity, order, cohesion and unity. The Confucian idea of governing the country with the same family is suitable for the needs of these social cultures.

Confucian culture has attached importance to people's morality, the cultivation of virtue and the promotion of personality since ancient times. It has always highly praised those who have spiritual pursuit and noble morality. Confucius said that "it is enough to die in the evening", and the pursuit of truth and morality is more important than life and death; Confucius also said, "Kill one's life to become a human being" and Mencius said, "Give one's life for righteousness". Both of them think that the observance of moral beliefs and the persistence of moral ideals are not affected by material conditions and are more important than life under certain conditions. This kind of Confucianism has created an atmosphere of respecting morality and emphasizing righteousness in society. Under this spiritual pursuit, China's social outlook of "the state of propriety and righteousness" was formed through the ancient spiritual civilization standard system "propriety".

Confucianism meets the needs of China society, so it has become the main part of China culture. From the pre-Qin and Han dynasties, Confucianism continued to inherit the classics of Chinese civilization until the end of19th century. Therefore, Confucianism has played an important role in the cultural heritage of China. From the perspective of national spirit, the national spirit of the Chinese nation can be said to be constructed by the cultures of different fraternal nationalities, but from the leading aspect of the Chinese national spirit, it cannot be said that Confucian culture and values have played an irreplaceable role in shaping the Chinese national spirit.