The influence of western culture on China

The spread of western learning to the east brought various new academic achievements to China in modern western countries, and profoundly influenced the development of various academic disciplines. Many disciplines that were not valued or even existed in traditional China also developed under this influence.

The basic framework of China's traditional academic "classics, potential, philosophy and achievements" has been completely broken. Many traditional academics have been impacted by western learning, some have gradually declined, and some have been improved by absorbing western academics. By the time of the Republic of China, the whole western-style educational system structure was basically formed.

The influence of ideology and culture

China's ideology and culture have been greatly influenced and changed by the spread of western learning to the east, which can only be matched by a hundred schools of thought contending in the history of China. After the baptism of western learning, China people's world outlook, historical development outlook, political outlook, economic outlook, social outlook and natural outlook have all changed greatly.

However, many elements of China's traditional ideology and culture have been re-evaluated by western standards, and some thoughts of a hundred schools of thought have been re-valued, especially Confucianism and some folk customs and beliefs, which have been strongly criticized.

The spread of western learning to the east has had a certain impact on China's traditional culture, such as the gradual disintegration of ethical concepts and values, such as "valuing righteousness over art", "understanding its reasons without seeking its benefits, and understanding its ways without paying attention to its merits", and the related thoughts of scholars and industry and commerce have also narrowed the original position. There is a growing trend among intellectuals to advocate practicality, attach importance to science and technology and pursue democracy.

"The spread of Western learning to the East" had a great influence on China people's concept of women, and led to the change of modern China women's concept of establishing the world.

Political influence

Introduction of western political thought, parliamentary system, democracy system, new concept of state, anarchism, socialist thought, etc. It had a great influence on the political development of China in the late Qing Dynasty.

Including the initiation of the Reform Movement of 1898, the implementation of the New Deal in the late Qing Dynasty, the attempt of the constitutional movement, the outbreak of the Revolution of 1911, the implementation of the parliamentary system in the early years of the Republic of China, the May 4th Movement, the joint provincial autonomy movement, and the unification of the Northern Expedition, were all greatly influenced by these western ideas.

social influence

The spread of western learning to the east had a certain influence on the transformation of social customs in modern China.

The influence of western learning on China's social economy was not as direct as the invasion of western military and political forces and the introduction of capitalist commodity economy in the early stage, but with the increasing strength of western ideological power in the late Qing Dynasty, it still had a significant impact on the social economy.

On the social side, the biggest influence is that the advantage of western learning in the late Qing Dynasty gradually surpassed that of middle schools, which forced the Qing government to abolish stereotyped writing and the imperial examination system, and made the top-ranked taxi class in the traditional four-people society lose the channel of learning to be an excellent official.

The role of its traditional knowledge has also declined, so it is in danger of being marginalized. At the same time, the introduction of western commercial war thought in the late Qing Dynasty improved the status of businessmen in society and contributed to the disintegration of the traditional social order of the four peoples.

In addition, with the introduction of western individualism and socialism, the social grass-roots units centered on family, clan and regional society in China traditional society began to disintegrate gradually.

The influence of economy and daily life

Similar to social impact, economic impact also occurs gradually. Including the introduction of new economic ideas, made a group of intellectuals willing to invest in industry, while nationalist ideas promoted the development and formation of national industries. The introduction and application of new science, management, finance and other technologies have gradually changed the basic economic things such as transportation, mode of production and commercial transactions in China.

In daily life, new western technologies such as electricity, running water, movies and radio have gradually changed the lives of urban residents. On the other hand, the new ideas have changed many traditional customs in daily life, including some folk beliefs, foot-binding customs and traditional marriages, which are regarded as superstitions and gradually abolished.

Extended data:

The spread of western learning to the east refers to the historical process of the introduction of western academic thoughts into China from the late Ming Dynasty to modern times. Although it can also refer to the introduction of various western things into China from ancient times to the present, it usually refers to the introduction of academic ideas from Europe and America in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties and the early Qing Dynasty.

During this period, people from West China, overseas Chinese, books and modern education were used as media, and Hong Kong, trading ports and Japan were important windows.

Western mathematics, philosophy, astronomy, physics, chemistry, medicine, biology, geography, politics, sociology, economics, law, applied science and technology, history, literature, art, etc. It was introduced to China in large quantities, which had a great influence on China's academic, ideological, political and social economy.

Baidu Encyclopedia-Introduction of Western Learning to the East