How we should look at the loss of traditional culture in the modern process

The following is a survey of undergraduate students at three prestigious schools, Peking University, Tsinghua University, and National People's Congress

The respondents, 100 in number, accounted for about one-third each of the arts, sciences, and engineering. The first is that the Chinese government has been working on a new policy to promote the development of the country's economy, and it has been working on a new policy to promote the development of the country's economy," he said.

Insufficient knowledge of tradition

In the questionnaire, there were several sets of questions that examined people's knowledge of tradition. When asked about their reading of ancient scriptures, histories, and books, 79 percent answered "occasionally" and 13 percent answered "respectfully", indicating that they "abhor" them. 2% said they "abhorred it" and only 6% said they "loved it".

As for the four major literary masterpieces, 27% answered "have read them all", 15% "have read them many times", and 48% "have read one or two of them".

Two other groups of questions examined people's love and understanding of traditional arts. As a result, 42% of people said they "could go to see" Beijing Opera or some other local theater, as many as those who said they were "not interested" (42%), while 4% said they "hate it very much" and only 11% said they "hate it very much". "Only 11% "like it very much".

As for the mastery of calligraphy, Chinese painting, and ethnic musical instruments (erhu, guzheng, etc.), the vast majority of people said they had "learned a little bit" (48%) and "didn't know anything" (33%), while only 14% of people said they had "mastered some" (42%), and 4% said they "really disliked" it. Only 14% have "some knowledge" and only 5% are "proficient".

This is roughly the same as the conclusion reached in a 1994 survey of Beijing youth and traditional culture by several Beijing research organizations: young people do not have a high degree of knowledge and understanding of traditional culture.

"Contemporary college students don't read enough traditional classics, and the function of traditional festivals is weakening," said Hu Xiaoming, a professor at the Chinese Department of East China Normal University, deploring the fact that "postmodern culture, such as video games, online novels and pop culture, deprive students of too much reading time. "

"From the statistics of the questionnaire, we can see that contemporary youths mostly give a neutral answer to traditional culture, and are vague about classical Chinese literature, art and customs." Luo Yuming, a professor of Chinese language at Fudan University, said, "Have all the traditional cultures that don't need to be dissolved been dissolved? From the standpoint of globalization, has our inheritance of traditional culture been secure? There are still a lot of questions."

Identification with tradition OK

But the questionnaire provided reassuring answers in terms of identification with tradition.

Wang Bo, an expert on the history of Chinese philosophy and a professor at Peking University's Department of Philosophy, categorized traditional culture into three core levels: moral values, rituals and ideals of life.

From the questionnaire, it can be seen that in terms of moral values, none of the core Confucian morals of benevolence, righteousness, etiquette, faith and filial piety are considered "outdated", while more than 50 percent of the people chose "learnt from experience since childhood" for the traditional morals of benevolence, loyalty and filial piety. "

These are the most important things in the history of the world.

As for etiquette, as a special example, more than 50% also chose "visiting graves with sincerity" for the traditional festival of Qingming.

In terms of life's ideals, 10 percent said that "keeping the family together, ruling the country, and calming the world" has always been their ideal, while 69 percent chose "I will consider it," and the choices of "someone else's business" and "already gone" were also considered to be their ideals. The percentage of people who chose "I will consider", "other people's business" and "already outdated" were 14% and 7% respectively.

Hu believes that "compared with 85 years ago, young people nowadays show an optimistic attitude toward traditional culture. This attitude of contemporary youth shows that traditional culture still has a strong vitality and a thick foundation."

The students who answered this questionnaire came from three prestigious universities, Peking University, Tsinghua University and National People's Congress, and 80 percent were born in the city, "They represent a fairly good group of Chinese youth, who are themselves recipients of traditional culture, and their success proves that traditional culture is useful." Hu said.

Tradition and globalization go hand in hand

On the question of the future of traditional culture, 44 percent of those who answered the questionnaire chose "hard to say," while 33 percent were "not optimistic" and "very pessimistic. "Only 23% of the respondents chose "very optimistic" and "more optimistic". However, compared with the generation of May 4 youths who once discarded traditional culture and enthusiastically embraced "total westernization", the contemporary youths living in the "post-modern" environment have a vastly different attitude towards the relationship between Chinese and Western cultures.

In the questionnaire, 54% of the respondents thought that "traditional culture and globalization go hand in hand", 30% thought that "traditional Chinese culture will be reborn under the baptism of globalization", and 30% thought that "globalization is Americanization", "globalization is the same as Americanization", "globalization is the same as Americanization", "globalization is the same as Americanization", and so on. Globalization is Americanization", "globalization will lead to the decline or even disappearance of traditional culture" only 10%.

This shows the openness of contemporary Chinese youth. This openness should stem from confidence in their own country. According to Wang Bo, the stronger the country, the more confident people are in their own traditional culture, and at the same time, the more open they are to foreign cultures. This was the case, for example, during the prosperous Han and Tang eras of Chinese history.

An open mind is what makes a healthy mindset for a great nation on the rise.