China's traditional political culture

China's traditional political culture refers to something unique to China. It came into being in the past, experienced the process of historical socialization, and still lives in political life. It is the relatively stable political attitude and political value orientation of China people at the psychological level, and it is the support of China's political system and political operation. To seek the origin of culture and explore the root of political culture, we have to ask about the mode of production and lifestyle that reflects the state of existence, the cultivation and evolution of all cultural values, and the possible space for human spiritual activities, all of which can be explained. China's political culture comes from China's traditional mode of production and lifestyle. To sum up, there are four main factors that affect the political and cultural characteristics of China, one is the natural economic model of small farmers, the other is the patriarchal social structure, the third is the Confucianism of state ideology, and the fourth is the domination and negotiation of state system and power class. They formed an interdependent and mutually supportive political ecosystem, which became the soil for China's political and cultural traditions.

According to the classification standard of classical political culture, it can be said that China belongs to dependent political culture, and the political value consciousness and behavior habit orientation accumulated at the national psychological level show the following political cultural characteristics: parent-led political culture; Political culture of power worship; Political culture of hidden rules; And the political culture of equal orientation.

Patriarchal system, as a kind of subjective rationality, is reflected in the sequence of political life. People have absolute power from top to bottom without corresponding obligations. From bottom to top, there are only absolute obligations and no corresponding rights. What goes hand in hand with paternalism is China's unique ritual order or ethical role positioning system. Five ethics and three cardinal guides are not only a ritual order, but also a role norm, thus solidifying the political culture dominated by parents. Because politics is a benefit distribution mechanism, parents' all-round status will inevitably create an authoritative personality: taking themselves as the origin in the political sequence, being an overbearing master to the lower level and a servile slave to the upper level. Specifically, the autocratic personality caused by paternalism is mainly manifested in the worship of imperial power, the tendency to confuse the real with the fake and the slave habit.

As a social value orientation, the premise of power worship is the generalization of politics, that is, the integration of state and society, politics and economy. In this environment, the political function of the country is infinitely expanded and covered, while the space for social autonomy is extremely narrow and the social and economic functions are very weak. In this society where politics determines everything and everything is politics, power has certainly become the most active and valuable survival tool and life lever, which has been clearly reflected in the multiple relationships between power and privilege, power and land, power and industry and commerce, and power and reading in the era of kingship. The reality that the pyramid bureaucratic system with feudal imperial power as its apex divides social resources according to the size of power and the level of official positions has become a direct stimulus for social members, thus forming a deep-rooted awareness of power worship among social members. The vague reflection of its long-standing influence in contemporary times is: still extraordinary power control space; The official corruption of selling officials and titles, the tradition of encouraging celebrities to be officials and so on.

The term "hidden rules" refers to formal rules, that is, laws, regulations, rules and regulations expressly stipulated by the government and all kinds of red-headed documents. These two rules have experienced two completely different fates in the cultural soil of China. Formal rules have gone through a serious process of formulation, and have a high-sounding status, which is well known in the official language and red tape articles. However, in real life, this kind of rules and regulations with legitimacy and official basis often lead to the end of being difficult and forbidden. In contrast, although informal rules are unwritten, they can be deeply rooted in people's hearts. Although they are not on the stage, they are established. It is a reasonable and illegal rule, a bad rule that is understood rather than spoken, and a mutual recognition and expectation of the parties. Hidden rules are deeply rooted in China's long patriarchal history and the soil of a big country with human feelings. The four circles of consanguinity, academic affinity, hometown affinity and industrial affinity are the basic supports for its smooth development, and human feelings are the basic communication methods, and the inevitable result is that corruption leads to system failure.

When people do not deny the benefit distribution function of politics, they will recognize egalitarianism as a political idea and practice. Equalization has become a universal trend of thought for two main reasons: the contradiction between the demand of human material ontology and the gap between production and supply; Lack of interest distribution consciousness determined by economy. In addition, the formation of egalitarianism in China has a special reason, that is, it can meet political needs. Although people have been trying to realize the egalitarian dream of being neither rich nor poor since ancient times, all the experiments so far have ended in failure. History shows that egalitarianism is related to parents' politics, privilege and anarchism. Its practice of balancing water without market regulation can only be manipulated by human beings, which finds a suitable reason for implementing the rule of man and strengthening centralization. Its proposition has always been that the distribution of benefits is based on the role positioning system of the Three Cardinal Principles and the Five Permanent Principles, and under the cover of the banner of equality, based on the privileges of the power class relative to the general public. Anarchism lurks in egalitarianism, not only because people's demand for equality inevitably extends from economic life to political and other social life, but also because the politics in which parents are born equal will create social rebound, accumulate resistance and anarchy. Therefore, in places where egalitarianism is high-profile, people have every reason to be wary of centralization, privilege and anarchy.