What is the definition of traditional culture?

One view is the cultural achievement handed down from generation to generation, which is called traditional culture. The past dynasties here refer to the cultures of various historical periods from the beginning of writing to the present. The cultures formed in various historical periods have not been annihilated, but can be passed down from generation to generation. For example, Confucian moral culture, enriched by Confucius, Dong Zhongshu, Zhu and others, has become a culture handed down from generation to generation. A certain way of life and system formed in history can also be passed down from generation to generation as a culture. For example, some ethnic groups are good at sleeping on the floor, which has always influenced their contemporaries to sleep on the floor instead of on the bed. Han people in our country used to sleep in bed very early, so the culture of bed has been inherited and developed in our country. Such cultural achievements that can be handed down in various historical periods can constitute traditional culture.

One view is that the cultural achievements created by the ancients can be inherited by modern people, which is called traditional culture. The key point to understand this sentence is to find out what is "the ancients", what is "the present man", what is inheritable and what is inheritable. We understand that the "ancients" mentioned here should refer to people in history, who are no longer in this world. In our country, the ancients in a broad sense refer to those who died before the present era, and the ancients in a narrow sense refer to those who died before ancient history. The ancient culture mentioned here refers to the culture created by people from ancient times through the Middle Ages to modern history. The second half of the sentence, "what modern people can inherit", has a specific meaning, that is to say, the part that can be inherited in this ancient culture can constitute traditional culture, while the culture that cannot be inherited is short-lived, and the culture in a specific period has no significance and value of inheritance, so it cannot be called traditional culture. For example, in ancient criminal law, criminals were roasted with fire; Measures, cut off hands and feet; Nose cutting is a criminal law culture in a certain historical period in ancient times. Today is completely out of date. Without raising the issue of inheritance, it will not constitute the traditional culture that can be passed down today. For another example, there have been cases in history in which people were skinned to make drums, people were sacrificed, bones were broken, and tendons were wrapped around their feet. This is the product of a specific historical period, which has withdrawn from the historical stage and is no longer a traditional culture.

There is also a saying that the heritage of the historical process is traditional culture, and the so-called historical heritage is the material wealth, spiritual wealth and institutional legacy created by predecessors. In short, traditional culture is a kind of cultural heritage, that is, a culture with a wide concept left by predecessors and ancients. Here, we must also determine the meanings of modern people, ancients and predecessors. Judging from the habit of using cultural heritage in China, the predecessors and ancients here actually refer to the material and spiritual wealth left by all the dead and dead people. We not only think that Beijingers left a legacy 450,000 years ago, that is, the primitive cultural layer, three emperors and five emperors, and all subsequent dynasties left a cultural heritage. Even the predecessors after the democratic revolution left us a precious legacy. In recent years, once some revolutionary fathers died, they often said in various eulogies that they left a valuable spiritual legacy. It can be seen that this traditional culture refers to what all the dead people may leave behind.

I think the above statements express the views on the connotation of traditional culture from different angles, and they all have relative truth. Everyone can adopt them according to the needs and angles of research.

My own concept of traditional culture is expressed as follows: the historical heritage created by ancestors through inheritance activities can be called traditional culture. I think traditional culture must first belong to our predecessors. Its creators are the ancestors of contemporary people, including ancient figures, such as Emperor Huang xi he and Cang Xie, medieval figures, such as Confucius, Mencius, Li Bai and Du Fu, and modern figures, such as Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao. This is our ancestor. If we must talk about this, it is best not to include contemporary revolutionary figures in the list of ancestors. The culture created by ancestors has been somewhat annihilated, and some historical records can be found in ancient books, but it is only a special and short-lived culture in a historical period. With the end of a generation, it also ended its historical mission. For example, torture used in history, eunuch culture in court, polygamy culture in feudal society and so on. These cultures have died out with the end of the generation system and have no activity, so they cannot be incorporated into traditional culture. What I'm talking about is that some cultures gradually become independent from the political and economic relations in the founding period, and become an active ideology across social systems and generations, or to put it another way in contemporary biology, it has genetic genes, which can influence contemporary people's thoughts, social systems, living habits and production methods. For example, Confucianism and Taoism, which are highly active, have influenced and acted on the minds of China people for more than two thousand years, and still have strong vitality. For another example, a considerable number of ancient farming techniques still affect the agricultural production of contemporary people. In addition, ancient etiquette such as kowtowing and bowing still affects the living customs of contemporary China people. What needs to be explained here is that the historical culture with inheritance activities does not mean that its content is the essence, but it has the value of making the past serve the present. Obviously, part of historical and cultural activities can be called essence, while the other part is really dross, but it still has genetic vitality, such as the awareness of son preference and the concept of idolatry. Although it has lost its progress, it has stubbornly shown vitality everywhere, which requires the use of today's values.