What is the impact of Confucianism on contemporary China?

The influence of Confucianism on Chinese culture .

China's modernization is on the road of socialism. Socialist modernization requires both material and spiritual civilization.

One of the serious problems in China's modernization is that spiritual civilization cannot catch up with material civilization. In recent years, due to the proliferation of bourgeois liberalization, serious corruption phenomena such as embezzlement and bribery, selling and swindling, everything is oriented to money, false publicity and self-interest, and forgetting righteousness for the sake of profit have appeared in the country. This cannot but make people think back to the essence of the Confucian thinking of the distinction between public and private affairs and the debate on righteousness and profitability, which are still beneficial to the construction of our spiritual civilization today and should be inherited and carried forward. From this we can see that Confucianism can still contribute to the realization of socialist modernization and has a certain vitality.

A country with complete sovereignty must have its independent economy and politics as well as its independent culture. The so-called independent culture is to be created by the people of her own country nation, or absorbed by others and digested, in order to maintain its survival and development of language and writing, customs and habits, ideological beliefs and other cultural factors, of which the most active ideas, become the core of these factors. If a country has a long history, a vast territory and a large number of people, then the traditional culture that maintains the survival and development of the people of this country will have a strong cohesive force.

Traditional culture such as this, to completely abandon her once, and she had a complete break, both impossible, but also unnecessary, but also should not be. Such as this thousands of years, although the accumulated drastic changes and not extinct traditional culture, dross is certainly a lot, the essence is also quite a lot. The proper attitude to treat her today is how to correctly guide her to the road of modernization. We should remove the ossified and decayed parts of traditional culture and preserve and develop the vital and healthy parts, so that it can continue to make its contribution in the process of modernization. Traditional Chinese culture belongs to this kind of culture, and Chinese Confucianism belongs to this kind of thought.

Confucianism has had a profound influence on Chinese culture, and for thousands of years feudal society has taught nothing more than the traditional ideas of responsibility, temperance, and loyalty and filial piety, all of which are the result of its combination with feudal rule. Therefore, Confucianism is the mainstream thinking along with our contemporary times.

Positive Influence of Confucian Thought and Culture on Reality

The essence of Confucian thought and culture has been honed and accumulated through historical inheritance, and has become the wisdom, spirit and virtue of our nation, which has a permanent value of human ****ness.

1. Confucianism has put forward a series of moral categories, propositions and ideas that have enriched the treasure house of traditional Chinese morality. Confucian culture is a humanistic culture, and it proposes benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, faith, warmth, goodness, respect, thrift, concession, loyalty, filial piety, honesty, modesty, shame, etc., which are so rich in content that each word can be used to write a big article. If their general meaning is abstracted, selected, processed and played, it can become the essence.

2. The rational spirit of breaking through the heavenly orders of ghosts and gods resisted the erosion of religion on people's thinking. Confucianism is cautious about ghosts and gods, "the son does not speak of strange, forceful, chaotic, God", "unknown life, how to know death", with atheistic tendency, denying the existence of supernatural savior and the other side of the world. At the same time, it guides people to focus on the "present" life and the solution of practical problems.

Under the influence of Confucianism, the Chinese tend to rely on earthly forces to solve practical problems, and have formed a habit of not easily seeking help from the gods and worshipping Buddha.

3. The people-centeredness of "the people are the foundation of the state" reflects the sense of social responsibility to take the world into one's own hands. Confucianism has always attached great importance to the role of the people, that the people are the foundation of national tranquility, "the people are the foundation of the state, the foundation of the state".

4. The ecological ethics of "the unity of heaven and mankind" provides us with a broad ideological and cultural foundation for building an ecological civilization. Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism are all in pursuit of harmony and unity between man and nature. Taoism advocates "the law of nature" and the return to simplicity, which is a retrogressive return.

5. Focusing on the inspirational and cohesive role of ideals and beliefs has become a major feature and political advantage of China's rule by virtue. Confucianism emphasizes that there should be ideal beliefs in being a human being. Its ideal personality is wisdom, benevolence and courage, which is considered "the world of virtue", Confucius said: "The benevolent is not worried, the knowledgeable is not confused, the courageous is not afraid.

The ideal society in Confucianism is "Datong". In this society, "the world is public", "people are not alone in kissing their relatives, not alone in having children", all "talk about faith and cultivate harmony", "so that the old have a final destination, the young have a use, the widows and widowers have a long life, and the young have a place to grow up. The young have something to grow up with, and widows, widowers, orphans, the sick and the widowers have something to support". The ideal of "commonwealth" is a reminiscence of primitive ****productivism, a revolt against the exploitation and oppression of the prevailing class, and a yearning for a better society in the future,

6. The dialectical thinking of "too much is not too late" embodies a superior method of dealing with the world and the art of leadership. Leadership art. The "middle ground" occupies an important place in the Confucian system of thought and is considered to be the highest virtue and quality, as well as a guideline and method. There is a dialectical method in "the middle ground", that is, the idea of "degree", neither overdoing it nor "underdoing it", opposing going to extremes, and asking people to treat others with care and attention to the heat of the fire. Confucius said that someone asked him a question. Confucius said, someone asked him a question, he will "buckle its two ends and exhaustion", that is, to find out the two contradictory aspects of things, and then integrated to give an answer; and said "attacked by the heresy, the harm has been", that is, only to seize the contradiction of an aspect and forget the other side, will inevitably lead to harm. That is to say, if one only grasps one aspect of a contradiction and forgets the other, it is bound to cause harm. Confucianism is for the sake of officials. It believes that as a leader, one should be "powerful but not fierce", "peaceful but not proud", "harmonious but not flowing", "reserved but not contentious", "reserved" and "not contending". and not compete", "desire and not greedy", "joy and not lust", "sadness and not hurt", "labor and not resentment ", "favor without expense" and so on. From the temperament cultivation, "quality over text is wild, text over quality is history, text quality, and then gentleman"; also said "the crazy enterprising, impetuous people do not do", that these two kinds of people have radical sex, should take its "in the and that we should take the "middle" of the two, which is both positive and prudent. To these requirements, our current leading cadres such as really can do, also known as cultivated, capable of good cadres.

7. The rich educational thought of Confucianism has become the main content of the excellent educational tradition of the Chinese nation, which is still enlightening to modern quality education. Confucius was first and foremost an educator, and Confucianism inherited Confucius' tradition of running schools. The education of the Chinese nation for more than 2,000 years was mainly undertaken by Confucianism. Confucius' principles of "teaching without discrimination", "learning from the past to understand the future", "learning without thinking is confusing, thinking without learning is dangerous", "knowing is knowing, not knowing is not knowing", "knowing is also knowing", "knowing is not knowing", and "knowing is not knowing", are still inspirational to modern quality education. No intention, no necessity, no solidity, no me", "If three people walk together, there must be a teacher for me", etc., are all valuable summaries of educational experience. After that, Mencius put forward the idea of "teaching also has many techniques", Xunzi's "the blue is better than the blue" and "perseverance", Han Yu's "diligence is better than hard work, and work is more than play," and "thinking is more than thinking and destroying is more than following". Han Yu's "Perfection in work is better than diligence, desertion is better than fun", and "Activity is better than thought, destruction is better than follow" have all become the maxims of later generations of scholars, and they still have inspirational value to our quality education even now. In view of our current situation of exam-oriented education, our education needs to be future-oriented, world-oriented, and modernized, as well as inheriting the fine traditions of Confucian educational thinking.

8. Many of the best elements of Confucianism have been dissolved into the spirit of the Chinese nation and have become the core and soul of Chinese culture. In the spirit of the Chinese nation, the light of Confucianism shines everywhere. For example, Confucianism emphasizes the spirit of collectivism, which requires that individual interests be subordinated to the overall interests, and that "self-restraint" is for the sake of "restoration of propriety"; it emphasizes the unity of the family and the country, and that the country is an amplification of the family, and that loyalty is an amplification of filial piety; it emphasizes that "the rise and fall of the world is the responsibility of all men". The spirit of patriotism has now become an integral part of the Chinese culture. Now, the spirit of patriotism has become a powerful driving force for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Another example is unity and solidarity. Confucianism's idea of "great unity" is very strong, and Confucius said: "If the world is righteous, then the rituals and conquests will come from the son of heaven; if the world is not righteous, then the rituals and conquests will come from the vassals." According to Dong Zhongshu of the Western Han Dynasty, "The Spring and Autumn Annals is the unification of heaven and earth, and the common friendship between the ancient and modern worlds." Confucianism's "inner saint and outer king" emphasizes that the purpose of a gentleman's cultivation and "family unification" is to "rule the country and pacify the world," which has become the political concept and way of thinking of the Chinese nation. This has become the political concept and way of thinking of the Chinese nation. In Chinese history, secession is unpopular, and unification is desired by the people, and this has become the broad and deep social and psychological foundation of our opposition to ethnic secession. Another example is the love of peace. Confucianism talks about "the use of etiquette, peace is the most precious", "harmony and difference", "virtue" and "loyalty and forgiveness". "It requires that when dealing with the five relationships of ruler and subject, father and son, husband and wife, neighbor and friend, people do not do unto others what they would not have others do unto them, and do not do unto others what they would not have others do unto them, and do not do unto others what they would not have others do unto them. Do not do unto others what you would not have them do unto you," and "Be as good as you want to be and as good as you want to be. Here, the most valuable thing is to put yourself in the other side of the thinking, in order to enhance understanding, create tolerance, Doda **** knowledge, the formation of synergies. Now, in the domestic construction of a harmonious society, the international concept of a harmonious world, adhere to the policy of friendship, good-neighborliness, rich neighbors, in order to achieve the goal of China's overall well-off and modernization to create a good international environment, Confucian "and" ideas can play a greater role.

The negative impact of Confucianism on reality

Confucianism, after all, represents the spiritual civilization of China's agricultural and feudal societies. With the rise of industrialization in the world and the advancement of economic globalization, the negative factors in Confucianism have been exposed more and more obviously and are less and less adapted to modernization. China's backwardness, passivity and defeat in modern times were superficially due to the fact that the Western "ships were strong and artillery" and China's weapons were not able to do so, and then due to the decadence of the feudal system, but in fact, the deepest thing was that there was a problem with culture and guiding ideology, which could not be said to have nothing to do with the negative factors of Confucianism. is the main culprit.

The negative elements of Confucianism and its influence still exist today, and are mainly manifested in the following aspects:

1. The concept of hierarchy suppresses human individuality and creativity. The core of Confucianism is "benevolence", and the externalization of "benevolence" is "propriety", which is a characteristic of Confucianism. "Rites" is a feature of Confucianism. "Ritual" means that people find their own position in mutual interactions, and if their behavior, words and deeds meet the requirements of their position, it means that they know how to be courteous. China has always been known as a "state of propriety and righteousness", and there is no lack of Confucian gentlemen among the Chinese people, but the problem lies in the excesses. Confucianism talks about the "three principles" of ruler and subject, father and son, husband and wife, and "nobility and inferiority are equal, and there is a difference between the eldest and the youngest", and if someone violates the etiquette, he will be regarded as committing a crime. A minister of the State of Lu organized "eight rows of dancers in the court", i.e., a music and dance of 64 people in the family temple, which was originally used only by the Son of Heaven; this person also sacrificed Taishan Mountain, which was also a matter for the Son of Heaven. Confucius was furious and said, "If this can be tolerated, what can't be tolerated? Too much "ritual" means red tape and formalism, and the biggest disadvantage is that it suppresses individuality and hinders the discovery of truth and scientific invention. Because of the "etiquette", leadership, elders say, even if the wrong words, can not cross, can not top, can not be changed, and therefore refused to hit the nail on the head of the argument, or else for arrogance, pride, "big disrespect".

In the West, students do not have to raise their hands to ask questions, at any time to interrupt, interrupting the teacher's lectures, belong to the normal; in China can not, Confucius said, "do not say, do not see, do not listen to, do not move, do not move", to be people usually have to "live in the respect", "look like Christine", "look like Christine", "do not say, do not say", "do not say". The "appearance of respect", "things to think of respect". Such as these "rituals" to education, even if the innocent, lively and lovely young people, but also all be educated into the rules, tiptoe, a thousand faces of the modest gentleman; plus Confucius said "the gentleman in words, sensitive in action, Confucius said, "A gentleman is more careful with his words than with his actions", and "A man of skillful speech is less than a man of benevolence", which further restricted people from giving full play to their talents in eloquence and communication. This is contrary to our reform and opening up the era of pioneering, creative talent requirements.

2. Excessive emphasis on interpersonal relationships, slighting the exploration and transformation of the natural world. Confucian culture is a culture of human relationships, and Confucian doctrine, which is about human relations, human relations with society. "Learning is based on four teachings: literature, conduct, loyalty and faith." It is also recorded that Confucius taught his disciples the six arts, which are rituals, music, archery, imperialism, calligraphy and mathematics, of which mathematics has the flavor of natural sciences, but is ranked last; the others belong to the social and ethical studies, and the most important of the six arts is rituals, which means that "if you don't learn the rituals, you can't stand". The most important of the "Six Arts" is etiquette. The most important of the six arts is etiquette. "Without learning etiquette, there is no way to stand." As a gentleman, one must "stand on etiquette" and "become a man of music". Under the influence of Confucianism, Chinese culture has developed a tendency to emphasize interpersonal values over science and technology. As Mr. Lu Xun said, the Chinese invented gunpowder to set off firecrackers, while foreigners took it to build guns; the Chinese invented the compass to read feng shui (used to coordinate the relationship between people, ghosts and gods), while foreigners took it to navigate the sea (used to open up territories and plunder colonies).

3. It is not conducive to the development of productive forces to belittle productive labor. Confucianism preaches that "those who work hard rule others, and those who work hard rule others" and encourages people to be "hard workers" to "rule others". Confucianism also advocates that people should study hard, and what they should learn is not natural science and technology, but books on human ethics, "Learning and excellence are the best", and the purpose of learning well is to become an official and to manage people, "All things are inferior, but only books are superior". Confucius's student Fan Chi asked to teach "learning crops", "learning garden", Confucius said, he is not as good as planting, planting vegetables, Fan Chi left, Confucius said: "small people, Fan Shu also! On the good manners, then the people do not dare not respect; on the good righteousness, then the people do not dare not serve; on the good faith, then the people do not dare not to use emotion. If this is the case, then the people of the four directions will swaddle their sons and arrive, and will not use crops." If the people of the world follow what Confucius said, everyone can only drink the northwest wind. Historically, Confucianism has trained many people who are "not hardworking, not divided into five grains", and those who have been successful in the examination, such as Fan Jin in the "History of Confucianism"; those who have not been successful in the examination, such as Lu Xun's Kong Yiqi, and the result of its orientation is to despise productive labor and the working masses, which seriously affects the development of the productive forces of the society.

4. Excessive focus on the role of morality and lack of the spirit of the rule of law. Confucian culture is a moral culture, governing the country, with special emphasis on people's quality, awareness and conscience, and thus regard morality as more fundamental and important than law. Confucius said, "Lead by administration, and align with punishment, the people are free from shame; lead by morality, and align with etiquette, there is a shame and a pattern." It means that administration and law make people not dare to do bad things, but they do not know shame; morality and propriety can make people have shame and be able to exercise self-restraint, not wanting to do bad things. Confucianism rejects law and even regards "no lawsuit" as a social ideal. However, to rule the country by morality alone is weak; it can rule good people, but not bad people; it only has the sense of necessity, but not the sense of inevitability; it is necessary to inspire awareness and conscience, and to strengthen self-discipline, but it is unreliable without other's discipline. Excessive rule by virtue will lead to "rule by man". China's history has a legal system, but not the rule of law, and only the criminal law, is used to rule the people, not used to rule the officials and power, often become a tool to protect the dignitaries. This is the point of the legal system is often not as useful as the "Dragon Emperor" casually said a sentence. There is a very strong "Bao Gong complex" and the popularity of the Qing official fever, which shows that there is a huge contrast between people's expectations of social justice and the lack of the rule of law in reality.

Confucianism stems from the culture of farming, which is a culture of blood ties, kinship and health care. Activities such as visiting graves, building ancestral halls and renewing family trees reinforce patriarchal concepts and human factors, and maintaining order relies mainly on township rules and regulations, traditional morals and customs. Reflecting this cultural atmosphere, Confucianism lacks the Western spirit of contract and rule of law based on commerce and industry, which has its origin in ancient Greek culture. When a father steals something, should the son denounce it? Denouncing it violates filial piety and not denouncing it violates the law. Confucius believes that filial piety is important, the son should harbor his father, which is "the son for the father hidden, the father for the son hidden", and then advocate "for the honored one, for the relatives of the taboo, for the wise one taboo", will be contrary to the spirit of the rule of law.

Because of the excessive focus on morality and neglect of the role of law, so that successive rulers of China's means of regulating society is more monotonous. Often the first moral education, to instill people with Confucius doctrine; such as not effective on the use of sacred documents; no longer effective, the army will be sent to the purge, suppression, which is what we often talk about the broad and fierce, grace and power, both hard and soft. As a result, the state regulatory mechanism of society lacks fundamentality, stability, universality and long-term nature, and the function of self-defeating factors of chaos is very low, often small things become big, big things become overturned, between the bureaucratic machine and the group of chaos, either the fish is dead, or the net is broken, the society lacks a kind of dynamic stability mechanism of long-term peace and security, manifesting itself in the cycle of "long time divided will be united and long time united will be divided", which is the cycle of the change of the government. "The lack of a dynamic stabilizing mechanism for long-term peace and stability in society is manifested in the cyclical change of dynasties and the rule of law. Until now, China's rule of law construction has made great progress, but still lack of the spirit of the rule of law. The concept of "subjects" among the people, the concept of "being the master of the people" among the leading cadres, and the concept of "parental officials" are still very strong; TV dramas such as "Yongzheng Dynasty" and "Kangxi Emperor" still have a large market; and there is a lack of compliance with the rule of law. There is a large market; the phenomenon of non-compliance with the law, lax law enforcement and impunity is commonplace. The implementation of the strategy of the rule of law has a long way to go.

5. The elevation of "mediocrity" to a methodology is not conducive to fostering people's spirit of daring, reform and innovation. The "middle ground" has a dialectical approach, the pursuit of a just right "moderate", but also lack of operability. Confucius only said, "knocking at both ends and exhaustion", how to take which, there is no certain law, need to be flexible according to the specific circumstances of the parties. So, people use the "middle ground" to, what problems encountered, are taken without prejudice, not yin and yang, not clear, not dark, not forward and backward position, attitude and method, manifested as eclecticism, especially in the face of right and wrong, failed to flag, lack of principle and struggle, so that people become riding the wall, slippery and see the wind at the helm. Confucius exclaimed, "Zhongyong is a virtue, and it is to the point! The people are fresh for a long time." The true "middle ground" is seldom practiced among the masses. Confucius and Mencius detested those who used the "middle ground" in a distorted way, and called them "country wishes" and "thieves of virtue". In fact, they learned the "middle way" from Confucius and Mencius.

"Mediocrity" is contradictory to boldness, reform and innovation. Lu Xun said, the Chinese people's mediocrity, making it difficult to change; if you want to propose to open a window in a dark room, people do not agree, you deliberately say that you want to lift off the roof, people will certainly oppose, and finally, after a compromise, we agreed to open the window. This example shows that in order to break the "middle" way of thinking on the obstacles to change, so that the revolution and reform sometimes have to use overkill, the result is very not "middle", the most likely to radical and extreme.

6. "To state without writing, to believe in the past" is not conducive to theoretical innovation. Confucius's "narrative without writing, letter and good old days" means that he did not engage in new creations, but only edited the literature, elaborated on the sages, and preferred ancient times from the bottom of his heart. Especially for Yao, Shun and Yu, he recalled with fondness and marveled, "towering over his successes, and glowing over his writings", "Yuyu huwenya". The image of Confucius' learning is "compiling the Spring and Autumn Annals, deleting the poems and books, and ordering the biography of Yi". This style of learning affects the descendants, making it more difficult for them to make new innovations and seriously hindering theoretical innovations. Indeed, in the field of ancient Chinese thought and culture, Confucius's descendants are very difficult to innovate, even if they have their own new ideas, have to be mixed in the annotation of the previous writings; some people write their own articles, but also have to be crowned with the name of the ancients to be circulated. Ancient China's history and history of the collection of sweat cattle, Liang Qichao said, of which the "history" accounted for 70%, 80%. What readers did was to write poems, paintings, carve stones, and make annotations for the holy scriptures, which was not politically risky, but at the same time elegant, and appeared to be talented. In recent times, Kang Youwei wanted to promote the change of law and put on the banner of Confucius, writing "Confucius Reform Examination", describing Confucius as a reformer.

This style of learning, "to describe but not to write, to believe and good old days", also brought the inertia of thinking of respect for ancestral teachings and worship of the sages. This inertia has become a breeding ground for personal worship, dogmatism, conservatism, making emancipation of the mind to become a time of social change, the task of reform is very heavy. The May Fourth Movement criticized "the right and wrong of Confucius as right and wrong," the Yan'an Rectification Movement criticized Wang Ming's dogmatism, the Great Discussion on the Standard of Truth criticized the cult of the individual and the "two truths," and the Reform and Opening-up Movement overcame the "book and top" principle, all of which were the result of the inertia of emancipation. Only the book, only the top", are the "narrative but not work, letter and good old" this inertia in different historical periods, and to overcome this inertia is the magic weapon of emancipation of the mind, seeking truth from facts, and advancing with the times, that is, "one center, three focuses

The key to overcoming this inertia is to emancipate the mind, seek truth from facts and keep pace with the times, with "one center and three focuses", i.e., to focus on the actual problems of reform and modernization in China, to focus on what is being done, to focus on the application of Marxist theory, to focus on theoretical reflection on actual problems, and to focus on new practices and new developments.

7. The experiential and generalized thinking of "emphasizing the way but not the weapon" does not meet the requirements of the development of modern science and technology. With Confucianism as the core of traditional Chinese culture, its way of thinking is discursive, but it is generalized, appears to be whole and mixed pure, experience and intuition. Confucianism, many articles talk about cultivation, talk about human ethics, talk about society, not rational thinking, but moral experience, such as Mencius said, "I raise my vast gas, filled with between heaven and earth", the "Medieval Times" said "to the neutral, the status of heaven, all things are nurtured". Exploration of things, do not like precise combing, do not like scientific experiments, do not like logical generalization, do not like to do everything personally, like to big, upward elevation, about heaven and earth and man's "Road" gushing, on the specific, subtle real "ware" This kind of thinking does not meet the requirements of modern scientific and technological development.