The Root of China Traditional Culture

The Origin and Background of Traditional Culture

Any culture has a certain background. The difference of national culture is caused by the diversity of geographical environment, material existence mode and social organization form. Geographical environment has a great influence on the formation of early human culture, and different natural conditions will form different types of culture; The economic structure and organizational system of society restrict the emergence and development of culture, which directly leads to the differences in religion, morality, law, philosophy, literature and art of a nation.

As far as the traditional cultural background of China is concerned, the geographical environment is a semi-closed warm temperate continental country, which has great room for manoeuvre; The economic base is a self-sufficient natural economy dominated by agriculture; Social organization is a blood clan system. The isomorphism of these three forms the foundation of China culture, determines the types of China culture and makes China culture unique.

First, the geographical environment for the formation of China culture

Geographical environment can provide material for the creation of human culture and influence the development trend and types of culture to a certain extent.

China, located in the east of Asia, is a semi-closed continent. The Asian continent is bounded by the Pamirs, and Xinjiang and Hexi Corridor in China are in the east. Although the Silk Road was formed in the Han Dynasty, connecting the western regions, the connection between China and West Asia is still restricted by the desert Gobi and mountain roads. In the west, the Himalayas is the roof of the world, and the rivers and tropical jungles in Hengduan Mountains hinder the communication between China and Southeast Asia. The coastline in the northern region from Heilongjiang coast to southeast coast is more than 20 thousand kilometers long. Although China has developed maritime traffic since the Tang and Song Dynasties, the comprehensive effect of many factors has not enabled the Chinese nation to further develop into the ocean. In a word, China is surrounded by the sea on three sides, and the geographical environment facing the sea on the one hand has caused the relative isolation of the Chinese nation from the outside world, which has had a very important impact on the formation and development of China's traditional culture.

First of all, the semi-closed geographical environment is very important for the formation and continuation of China culture. The birthplace of human civilization is the temperate zone in the northern hemisphere, from which China's traditional agricultural society began. Therefore, China produced agricultural civilization very early and formed a set of relatively perfect humanistic philosophy. Because this land is relatively closed and rich, China people who live in this land rarely embark on the road of overseas colonial plunder in order to survive, thus forming the Chinese nation's relatively moderate and lack of competition. As Liang Qichao said: "Because of geographical inconvenience, there is no traffic, no traffic, no competition and no progress. Asia is weaker than Europe, largely because. " ①

Liang Qichao's viewpoint is biased, but it also shows the influence of geographical environment on China culture. In the history of human civilization, human civilization has been interrupted by foreign invasions many times. However, throughout the history of China's civilization, due to this semi-closed geographical environment, China culture has hardly been interrupted. On the contrary, the surrounding ethnic minorities are often melted by the Central Plains civilization after entering the Central Plains. This is one of the reasons why China culture has lasted for thousands of years.

Secondly, the semi-closed geographical environment forms the spontaneity and independence of China culture. Semi-closed state, so that China culture will not be interrupted by foreign invasion, so that the whole nation more firmly adhere to and retain their own culture; It is precisely because of the limited scope of activities and the limitation of absorbing other national cultures that China people have forged their own unique world concept and cultural psychology, forming a unique philosophy, literature, art and technology in ancient China; Comparatively speaking, it is precisely because of this geographical environment that China people pay more attention to their traditional culture.

Finally, the semi-closed geographical environment and inland characteristics make China people know less about the outside world, so for a long time, China people think they are the center of the world. We can get a good verification from the map drawn by China. Undeniably, in a long historical period, China was more advanced in politics, economy and culture than the surrounding areas, which, to a certain extent, encouraged the concept of Chinese centralism, making people mistakenly think that there are only China people and barbarians around them, and regarded "the world" as a synonym for China. The word "China" is the "self-awareness" with dignity that China people have formed for a long time.

Second, the economic basis for the formation of China culture

Culture is always closely linked with economy. The reason why China culture has a long history is that China has been a self-sufficient natural economic society dominated by agriculture for thousands of years.

Judging from the history of human civilization, "agriculture is the decisive production department of the whole ancient world". ① The higher the level of early agriculture, the higher the level of civilization. This is because, only when the society produces surplus grain, it is possible to separate some intellectuals engaged in unproductive activities from the crowd to create science, literature and art. Therefore, "the era of civilization is a stage of social development". ②|.

As early as 7000 years ago in the Neolithic Age, there were traces of agricultural civilization in China, among which Yangshao culture, Hemudu culture and Jianghan basin, which originated in the Yellow River basin, were the most representative, forming a unique "millet culture" and "rice culture". It is precisely because of the relatively high level of agriculture in the Yellow River Basin that it became the political, economic and cultural center of ancient China. With the development of agricultural productivity, this civilization has gradually extended to the Yangtze River basin.

In the traditional society of China, the self-sufficient natural economy has always occupied a dominant position. The traditional social economy in China is a small-scale peasant economy combining agriculture, family and handicraft industry. The main purpose of its production is self-sufficiency, but there is also a small amount of exchange. In fact, as early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period in China, with the development of agriculture, cottage industry and government handicraft industry, "independent and free" craftsmen and businessmen also appeared. After the formation of the unified empire of the Qin Dynasty, the unification of weights and measures, currency and writing further promoted the development of commodity economy, and more prosperous cities appeared. Commercial cities in the Tang and Song Dynasties were more prosperous, and industrial and commercial guild organizations appeared for the first time in the Northern Song Dynasty. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, with the development of commodity production and exchange, the separation between handicraft industry and agriculture accelerated, and a considerable scale of handicraft workshops and workshops appeared. In some cities in the south of the Yangtze River, the early seeds of capitalism appeared. However, in China's long traditional society, the commodity economy has always been unable to occupy a dominant position and has always existed as a subsidiary of the natural economy. The main reason is that the rulers of past dynasties adopted the policy of emphasizing agriculture and restraining commerce.

China culture grew and developed in the soil of agricultural economy, and the feudal society of China, which was dominated by agricultural economy, had a great influence on the formation and development of China culture.

First of all, the agricultural economy has cultivated China people's character of conformity, optimism and understanding of life, as well as the virtues of hard work and diligence. The most striking feature of agricultural economy is its strong dependence on natural conditions. The philosophical concepts of "harmony between man and nature" and "harmony between man and nature" that have long been formed in China society are the manifestations of China people's dependence on nature and passive adaptation to it. Engaged in agricultural production, not only depends on human efforts, but also depends on the cooperation of heaven. Good weather, good harvest, no disaster. Therefore, the dependence on natural conditions has formed the characteristics of China people's happy knowledge life. In a society dominated by agricultural economy, farmers live in a small regional society, and are almost isolated from the outside world under the production mode of combining agricultural labor with land. Therefore, farmers have been on this land from birth to death, working at sunrise and resting at sunset, reciprocating. This way of production and life not only cultivates the virtue of hard work of China people; It also cultivates farmers' psychology and character of being conformist, not enterprising, content with the status quo and contented.