Why China's culture has remained uninterrupted

There are four major ancient civilizations in human history: the Two River Valley Civilization, the Egyptian Civilization, the Indian Civilization, and the Chinese Civilization. Some people in the academic world also call the seven ancient civilizations, namely, Egyptian, Sumerian, Minoan, Mayan, Andean and Harappan civilizations, the "mother civilizations" of modern civilization. Whether it is the four ancient civilizations or the seven "mother civilizations", only Chinese civilization has lasted for 4,000 to 5,000 years without interruption. This unparalleled continuity of Chinese culture is due to a combination of reasons.

First, the natural geographical environment. The Chinese people have been living in the East Asian continent, far from the center of other civilizations, the surrounding natural barriers to isolation - the east of the Pacific Ocean on the edge of the waves, the north of the vast Gobi and the vastness of the primitive coniferous forests, the west is facing the miles of yellow sand and mountains and snow-covered peaks, and southwest of the world's roof of the Tibetan Plateau. The perimeter of China's map was an impassable obstacle for the ancients to cross, while the interior was quite open to maneuver. This geographical environment can be summarized by the phrase "large and closed". "Closed" makes it difficult for the Chinese to go out, and "big" makes it unnecessary for the Chinese to go out. The fact that it was not easy for the Chinese to go out naturally meant that it was not easy for people from the outside and cultures from the outside to come in. Between the Eastern Mediterranean civilizations of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Phoenicia, Assyria, Greece, and Rome, as well as between them and the civilizations of South Asia, there has been a lot of fusion since the time of the occurrence of the culture, and there are no strict boundaries between you and me, and I and you. However, the emergence of Chinese culture was largely accomplished under the condition of isolation from the cultures outside the East Asian civilization circle, and thus the Chinese nation is an original nation with distinct uniqueness and autonomy of its culture, which is quite different from the East Mediterranean culture and the South Asian culture. Until the Opium War, Chinese culture had never been challenged by foreign cultures. As a result, Chinese culture has always developed in a relatively independent cultural unit since ancient times, which has preserved its own national traditions in a relatively complete manner, and gained a continuity of progression and continuity.

Second, economic factors. The birthplace of Chinese culture - East Asia is a temperate and subtropical climate zone, only the north and south ends of a small area of the territory of the tropics and frigid zone, the vast majority of sections are suitable for agricultural production. From 6,000 to 7,000 years ago, Chinese ancestors gradually surpassed the stage of hunting and gathering economy, and entered the era of fixed-plot agriculture with planting as the basic method. The unique natural environment created a relatively reliable prerequisite for the small-farming economy, coupled with the fact that China's small-farming economy was a production unit combining individual agriculture and cottage industry, with blood kinship ties, and practicing the natural division of labor between men farming and women weaving, and closely integrating the reproduction of the means of material subsistence and the reproduction of the population. This economic structure is itself very solid and self-sufficient. Although its ability to withstand natural and man-made disasters was low, and there was the worry of being displaced from time to time, it was not too difficult to reorganize one's home. Thus, the small peasant economy in China was able to survive for a long time, and became the economic foundation for the long-term existence of the feudal system, as well as the solid material foundation for the continuity of traditional Chinese culture.

In the hearts of the Chinese people, who are mainly peasants, there is always a persistent spirit of native culture. They always welcome the arrival of foreign cultures with a cold attitude, but deep down in their hearts they hold a belief that they can cope with all kinds of changes with no change, and as long as they "transform people into me", they do not want to "transform me into a human being". This determines that although the Chinese nation has historically accepted foreign cultures, but failed to create a two-way optimization and integration of culture, did not form the farming culture and nomadic culture, industrial and commercial culture of mutual agitation into a new structure of culture. In this way, it is difficult to make a qualitative leap in the inherent agrarian culture of the Han people, but it has become more complete with the addition of a number of heterogeneous cultural factors.

Thirdly, socio-political factors. In the history of the West into civilization, the clan system gradually died out, replaced by the individual economy characterized by the region, the family and various members of the family have more political and democratic rights, the state and the family to do their own thing, long in the strife, so that the original culture is difficult to pass on. In contrast, after our country entered a civilized society, the clan system was not liquidated, but its remnants were retained for a long time, and the clan evolved into a patriarchal clan. In the patriarchal system, the male head of the family is the head of the clan. "The father is for the son" and "the husband is for the wife", forming an extremely strong grass-roots unit of society bound by blood ties. This kind of organization and its core spirit expanded in the society to form the organization of state power with the monarch as the core, and at this time, "the king is the order of his subjects" became the general rule for the whole society. This socio-political model of "family and state together" firmly bonded people as one. The father is the king of the family and the king is the father of the country; to be a filial son at home and a loyal subject in the country, and to be loyal to the king is to love one's country are the fundamental principles that have long sustained the socio-political ethics of China's ancient society. The Chinese feudal system under the rule of patriarchal spirit was an organism with greater elasticity and regenerative capacity. Because the patriarchal relationship put a warm veil over the class relationship, class antagonisms were not very sharp at some stages of the feudal system. Moreover, the feudal system had a relatively complete regulation mechanism, and the ruling class often implemented "benevolent government" and "concession policy" to ease the social crisis. The ruling class was often able to ease the social crisis and restore the broken economy through the implementation of "benevolent policies" and "concessionary policies".

In short, the patriarchal system of blood ties provided a solid socio-political foundation for the continuity of traditional Chinese culture.