What is the practical significance of Chinese studies or China traditional culture to the transformation of China's national character?

In recent years, promoting traditional culture has become a resounding slogan, and the upsurge of advocating Chinese studies and publicizing traditional culture has swept the whole academic, intellectual, cultural and publishing circles. However, in my opinion, how strong the vitality of traditional culture is, what role it can play in China's modernization process, and what position it should be in today's social life, spiritual life and cultural life are indeed a question worthy of in-depth consideration.

one

No nation's modernization can abandon its own cultural tradition; Every progress and development of society is inseparable from the foundation of national culture. China's modernization process must also be rooted in the deep national cultural soil. There is no objection to this. It is also the basis for us to advocate criticizing and inheriting the cultural heritage of the motherland. However, it is an important issue that directly affects the modernization process to make an accurate judgment on the nature of traditional culture, make a scientific evaluation on its role and value in modernization, and put it in an appropriate position.

The traditional culture we are talking about now was laid by a number of cultural works during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. This batch of cultural yuan Dian was produced in the era of great change from slavery to feudalism in China society. Since the summer, the slave society in China has developed into a mature stage with the feudal system of the Zhou Dynasty, and the social form of this state regime is a typical aristocratic system. The monarch of the central dynasty, the son of heaven, is the subject of power, officials or doctors, nobles, is another subject of power. Hereditary monarchs and hereditary nobles form a ruling network through blood relationship and in-laws relationship, which is passed down from generation to generation and always occupies the center of national political life, economic life and spiritual and cultural life. This aristocratic society lasted for more than 1000 years from the early summer, and finally ushered in its decline and transformation when Zhou Ping moved eastward in 770 BC. As a landmark event, Zhou Ping's eastward movement marks the beginning of a new era, that is, the arrival of the Spring and Autumn Period. During the Spring and Autumn Period, the royal family declined, the powers competed for hegemony, and the ceremony collapsed. The chaotic situation on the surface of history covers the deep historical undercurrent, and people often describe this era as "meaningless war in the Spring and Autumn Period". But as soon as history entered the Warring States period, the essence of its evolution appeared. The mainstream of political reform in various countries during the Warring States Period reveals that the great historical turmoil since the Spring and Autumn Period indicates the arrival of a brand-new historical era, a change in social form, and the historic transformation of China from aristocratic politics to bureaucratic politics.

Generally speaking, the violent and turbulent historical years have given people particularly rich and profound enlightenment. The great turmoil in history desecrated all traditional sacred things, the traditional political system gradually disintegrated, and the traditional ideology, social concepts, ideological culture encountered unprecedented challenges, such as the relationship between heaven and man, the relationship between monarch and minister, moral ethics and power, interests, political governance and ideological education, the relationship between hereditary power and merit, and why history has undergone such drastic changes and turmoil. A series of big questions with world outlook, historical outlook and social outlook force people to think and answer. As a result, with the surging historical process, a hundred schools of thought contended in the ideological and cultural fields for 300 years. It is in this ideological movement of reflecting on history, summing up the past and depicting the future that the ancient sages provided us with a batch of China Yuan Dian which later dominated the development of national culture. This batch of China Yuan Dian is the accumulation and crystallization of classical traditional culture since Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties, and it is also the historical enlightenment of the alternation of old and new times. It not only accumulated the outstanding wisdom of Chinese ancestors' 2,000-year history of civilization, but also revealed and predicted a new historical process, serving as the horn and pioneer of a new era.

The traditional culture we are inheriting now was laid by the works of cultural yuan Dian, such as Zhouyi, Laozi and Analects of Confucius, which were produced in the era of the first great social change in China. These cultural classics not only created a theoretical basis for the birth of a new society, but also served as the horn and pioneer of the new feudal era, which of course determined its historical limitations. It should be unambiguously said that the basic spirit of China Yuan Dian is to establish the ideology of feudal society and lay the foundation of feudal culture, and the cultural spirit it cultivated is related to the feudal autocratic social system. Therefore, fundamentally speaking, our traditional culture can't meet the needs of modernization and our efforts to build a highly democratic modern society ruled by law. However, our modernization can't be carried out out out of thin air, can't be divorced from our cultural traditions formed for thousands of years, and can't ignore the profound national psychology and national spirit formed on the soil of traditional culture. In a word, our modernization must be based on the soil of national culture, which is a helpless choice. We can't be blinded by this helpless choice, nor can we simply think that since we can't leave traditional culture, we should vigorously advocate it, especially emphasize its important position, and regard it as the starting point and pillar of modernization, which is the direct driving force for modernization. We can't abandon traditional culture, and we can't praise it too much. We should study it with a sober and rational scientific attitude, examine it and put it in its proper position in the construction of modern culture.

It has become a slogan and formula to summarize modern Japanese labor ethics. It can be said that the Confucianism advocated by Shibusawa Eiichi is not the prototype of Confucianism, and it is no longer the original Confucianism, but the "Confucianism" that he has reformed and fully meets the needs of the development of modern capitalist economy. Most importantly, he transformed the Confucian concept of justice and interests, combined moral justice with economic interests, in order to find the combination of Confucian ethics and capitalist economy, and turned the Confucian thought he explained into a part of capitalist ideology.

After the Meiji Restoration, the movement of freedom and civil rights broke out in Japanese society (1874~ 1888), which strongly impacted and reformed the autocratic feudal culture including Confucianism.

First of all, the achievements of the freedom and civil rights movement in thought and theory have reached a considerable ideological depth and caused widespread influence in society. The thinker Ueki Emori said in the book On Civil Liberties: "Now let's talk about the reasons why a country cannot be consolidated and safe unless it is protected by the people's independence and freedom and the public constitution. The constitution mentioned here, also known as the national constitution or fundamental law, is the biggest basic rule of the country. First, the people and the monarch negotiate with each other, stipulate how many rights and obligations the monarch and the people have, and remember its main points. As for all political policies, they quoted their program. Although the king and the government often followed them at that time, they all regarded them as their due duties and could not be changed at will. " [4] The Constitution of the National Covenant of the Liberal Party drafted by him said: "If the government violates the national law without authorization, impairs people's freedom rights and hinders the purpose of founding the country, the Japanese people can overthrow it and rebuild a new government." At the beginning of the establishment of Lizhi Society, it was written in the Book of Membership: "We are all people of the Great Japanese Empire, that is to say, more than 30 million people, regardless of rank, are equal, and they should all enjoy certain rights to save their lives, safeguard their autonomy, work hard and increase their welfare. This is very obvious, but they are independent and uninhibited people. This right cannot be seized by authoritarianism, nor can it be suppressed by wealth. God gave it to the people equally, and the people are willing to preserve it, so the people should work hard for it. " [5] These distinct concepts that sovereignty belongs to the people and human rights are undoubtedly a complete denial of feudal Confucianism.

Secondly, in the freedom and civil rights movement, many political parties representing the wishes of people from all walks of life have been established, which shows the people's independent will. For example, before the establishment of the Liberal Party, the group "Congress opened the alliance" expressed such a political program in its Covenant:

Article 1: Our party is organized by all those who want to expand the freedom of the Japanese people, advocate their rights and protect their rights.

Article 2: Our party is committed to promoting national progress and people's well-being.

Article 3: Our Party believes that our Japanese nationals should enjoy equal rights.

Article 4: Our Party believes that Japan is suitable for constitutional government. [6]

The emergence of such a political party organization with a clear political program is undoubtedly a great disintegration or impact on the traditional social and political concepts, and declares the obsolescence or doomsday of the authoritarian system.

Finally, the most powerful impact of the freedom and civil rights movement on feudal traditional culture was the ideological movement of the lower class, which widely publicized people's sovereignty, freedom and equality among the grassroots and deepened the transformation of traditional culture on the psychological level of the people. In the freedom and civil rights movement, farmers started their own association movement. Among them, there are political associations, learning associations and trade associations. All kinds of associations are political. For example, well-known examples of learning associations are Lizhi School in Kochi Prefecture, Yuhang School in Iwate Prefecture, Shiyang Hall in Fukushima Prefecture and Tianqiao School in Kyoto Prefecture. Most of the courses they study are readers of freedom and civil rights thoughts translated from the west, such as Mill's "On Freedom" and Spencer's "On Social Equality". In their study activities, Tianqiao also put forward the draft constitution of Wuri City, which paid full attention to the state rights and the protection of human rights. It can be said that the freedom and civil rights movement created a social foundation for the widespread spread of modern democratic ideas. The translation of western works has been widely valued and welcomed by the whole society. For example, Spencer's On Social Equality, translated by 188 1 years ago, sold surprisingly well. For a time, in the whole society, words such as "freedom", "equality", "democracy" and "civil agreement" became the most fashionable terms of the times. Japan's "History of Free Party History" talks about that era: "Baths have free bathhouses, free hot springs, snacks have free sugar, pharmacies have free pills, restaurants have free kiosks, and there are other free stories, free dancing and free hats". The yearning and pursuit of freedom has become a powerful fashion and trend. Although the freedom and civil rights movement only lasted for more than ten years, its impact on traditional ideology and culture has reached an incalculable level. It can be said that during the period of freedom and civil rights movement in Japan, Confucianism suffered an unprecedented strong impact at all levels of society.

After World War II, Japan carried out the Showa modernization reform of the democratization movement. Its political, economic, cultural, educational and legal systems followed the example of Europe and America, vigorously introduced and developed modern science and technology, realized the rapid development of science and technology and cultural education, and finally formed the mainstream culture of modern industrial capitalism. Here we can compare the two constitutions of Japan before and after World War II.

Before the war, the Meiji Constitution of Japan began like this:

Relying on the glory of our ancestors, we promoted the succession of the eternal series to eternity.

Law, hoping to improve the welfare of our beloved subjects and improve their moral and knowledge level and ability ... for this reason, we have promulgated it.

Two ways.

It should be said that since the Reformists, some politicians and thinkers in modern China have made it their historical mission to transform China culture and China's national character. However, they either cannot follow this path; Or born at the wrong time, can not reach this mission; Of course, some people are not clearly aware of their mission, so the critical transformation of traditional culture has not been completed until today. From the Reform Movement of 1898 to the Revolution of 1911, active thinkers at that time were aware of the problem of national character transformation and criticism of traditional culture. However, they can't penetrate this kind of cultural criticism and national transformation into the lower classes, which leads to the situation described in Lu Xun's novels: although the revolution has gone through, it has nothing to do with the general public, and it has never touched the people's psychology or shaken the foundation of traditional culture. The May 4th New Culture Movement put the most concentrated fire on traditional culture, especially Confucianism, but it was the product of national crisis, and its emotional consciousness was so strong that it tended to be extreme. Its criticism was difficult to be recognized by the society and the people, and of course it was impossible to fundamentally crisis the survival and development of traditional culture. China's new-democratic revolution is characterized by armed revolution and the urgency of ethnic and political issues, which makes us too busy to care about ideological and cultural issues. Therefore, the victory of the new democratic revolution marked by the founding of New China cannot be regarded as complete and thorough; We only completed the new-democratic revolution politically, and then gradually completed the new-democratic revolution economically, but the criticism or revolution of feudalism on the cultural front has not been completed, even carried out, and has not yet begun. Unfortunately, however, we mistake the success of the political and economic revolution for the complete victory of the revolution, which makes feudalism slip away quietly and naturally from us, even almost intact. People are too naive or simply understand the task of building a new democratic culture put forward by Comrade Mao Zedong, thinking that we have accepted some slogans of Marxism and raised a banner for the people. Even if the task of transforming the old culture is completed, feudalism will be expelled from the ideological field.

Of course, frankly speaking, we accepted Marxism and established the guiding position of Marxism in the political life, economic life, spiritual life, cultural life and all fields of life of the country and the people, that is, we realized the fundamental transformation of traditional culture and feudal culture and completed the ideological revolution task in the ideological field. This statement can be established on the surface. However, people seldom think that we can truly and accurately accept Marxism as a scientific ideological system when we have not thoroughly criticized and reformed feudal culture. Will accepting and understanding Marxism on the basis of feudal culture misunderstand or distort Marxism? Facts have proved that many of us understand the significance of Marxism to the "revolution" from the perspective of regime change and the concrete connotation of socialism from the perspective of egalitarianism. 1958 Great Leap Forward, people regarded equalitarianism as socialism and confused the difference between socialism and feudalism (equalitarianism belongs to feudalism), which is the best proof. Facts have proved that Marxism, which we understand on the basis of traditional culture, has distorted this scientific ideological system to some extent. All traditions have strong assimilation ability, especially the traditional culture of China. With few exceptions, many social thoughts introduced into China in modern times were not assimilated by the traditional culture of China, or were excluded or incorporated into the system of China culture.

In the 30 years before the reform and opening up, we carried out many political movements, but rarely carried out anti-feudal movements. We always pointed our finger at the illusory capitalism and bourgeoisie that seemed to be nonexistent. It can be said that we are exactly "who is our enemy?" Who are our friends? Under the inculcation of Comrade Mao Zedong, this issue was the primary issue of the revolution. The main object of the struggle was found to be wrong, and feudalism, the enemy that was more terrible and vicious than capitalism, was spared, safe and sound, and continued to wreak havoc, which finally led to the national disaster of the Cultural Revolution. It can be said that China's thinkers did not achieve their mission in completing the revolution or transformation of feudal culture.

This way of transforming traditional culture is not available in China. As for the second road of cultural transformation, we have just begun to naturally change our cultural outlook through social and economic changes. Because, without the development of capitalism in China, our history has not experienced the capitalist transformation of the whole society; After the founding of New China, great changes have taken place in people's economic life, from individual economy to people's commune collective economy. However, this basic point of agricultural economy has not changed, especially the commodity economy has not developed or been suppressed. The traditional culture adapted to the traditional agricultural society naturally adheres to this economic model in harmony and has not been touched at all. We don't have two basic ways of cultural change, so until now, we have basically inherited the traditional culture of two thousand years. Although its specific connotation has developed, such as some Marxist scientific ideas and modern western cultural concepts, its essence, its way of thinking, values and the national psychological foundation it laid are still traditional and belong to that era that should become history.

The analysis shows that if China and Japan talk about promoting traditional culture together, its nature and significance are different. For example, Japan's affirmation and admiration of Confucianism now means that after criticizing and denying Confucianism, it absorbs the essence of Confucianism on a brand-new social and cultural basis and establishes modern industrial capitalism.

Many truth factors contained in it may be broken down into countless pieces, which are absorbed and used for reference by contemporary society as a brick and stone to build a modern cultural building. In other words, excellent traditional cultural heritage can only be selectively absorbed by us from the basis of modern society, and can not be used as a whole cultural form to lead the construction of modern culture. Generally speaking, promoting national culture may make people ignore the historical limitations of traditional culture, regard traditional culture itself directly as a driving factor of modernization, and forget or ignore the criticism and abandonment of its feudal core.

Many factors in traditional culture are beneficial and useful for building a new modern culture and cultivating a new national spirit. The only problem is that we take the needs of modern society as the starting point, absorb the beneficial factors in traditional culture and turn traditional things into an integral part of modern culture; Or based on traditional culture, modern ideological factors are integrated into traditional culture, just to make traditional culture change its face and maintain its basic characteristics. These are two fundamentally opposite ways of thinking in dealing with the inheritance of cultural traditions. The author believes that the former should be adhered to instead of the latter.

The basic ways to build a new national culture that adapts to the market economy are the two we mentioned earlier. First of all, our thinkers and cultural scholars should shoulder the historical mission of criticizing and transforming traditional culture, analyze, sort out, criticize and discard the feudal core in the cultural tradition formed over thousands of years, extract its reasonable and scientific cultural factors, and turn it into a modern cultural system with civic awareness, competition awareness, scientific awareness and rule of law awareness as the main body, which becomes a useful supplement to the new culture. Secondly, for the transformation of traditional culture and the construction of modern new culture, we sincerely look forward to the success of the great cause of reform and the establishment, development and maturity of the socialist market economic system. Any cultural form is only the spiritual product of a specific social form. Without the establishment of a new socio-economic form, the transformation and transformation of the old cultural form and the formation and establishment of a new cultural form are just empty words. Under the condition that the new market economy system has not been established, blindly advocating traditional culture, especially advocating and carrying forward traditional culture without analysis, is not only not conducive to the construction of new culture, but also will hinder the formation and development of new economic forms. Therefore, to treat the traditional cultural heritage accumulated for thousands of years requires a sober and rational scientific attitude and a historical dialectical way of thinking. We should not belittle it, despise it, praise it too much and give it a proper and reasonable position.

Ps: This article was originally written in the mid-1990s for the cultural atmosphere at that time. Because it is out of the need of speech rather than publication, it is not standardized, but only focuses on expressing an idea and a cultural point of view. On the occasion of Mr. Gao Min's 80th birthday, there is no suitable manuscript at hand to pay tribute to Mr. Gao Min. However, there is still a little thought in this manuscript. In addition, today's cultural atmosphere is still very similar to that of that year, and the upsurge of Chinese studies has seen an unprecedented situation. Therefore, the work of cultural criticism is particularly needed for promotion. Therefore, I would like to express my admiration and congratulations to Mr. Gao.

[ 1]

History of Modern Japanese Thought (Volume I), Chinese translation, Commercial Press, 1983, p. 12 1 p.

[2]

The information about Shibusawa Eiichi is taken from Yu Zuyao's The Analects of Shibusawa Eiichi and the Enlightenment of abacus calculation. See Dialogue between History and Entrepreneurs, pp. 463-464, Reform Press, 1992.

[3]

Cite the argument between Chinese and Western styles from Confucian capitalism by Zi Weili. See Fracture and Inheritance, p. 385, Shanghai People's Publishing House, 1987.

[4] History of Modern Japanese Thought (Volume I), p. 79.

[5] History of Modern Japanese Thought (Volume I), p. 65.

[6] History of Modern Japanese Thought (Volume I), p. 65.

(Collection of Commemorative Collection of Mr. Gao Min's 80th Birthday)

Writing a paper? Give you two websites for reference.

/periodic _ gxjyxysb 200 102003 . aspx