What are the core values of traditional Chinese culture

China since ancient times is a state of etiquette, can be seen in this "culture of etiquette" far-reaching, those former sages and philosophers will be "know the etiquette" as a personal cultivation of the major proposition, to do a "gentleman" as their life goals. The former sages and philosophers took "knowing etiquette" as a major proposition for personal cultivation and made being a "gentleman" as their life goal. China's traditional etiquette is called different, in various forms, and its core value concept can be categorized as filial piety, respect, elegant three words.

Filial piety

Filial piety is the most natural human emotion, and when children grow up, they should express their gratitude by performing filial piety. The filial piety of children to their parents is manifested in different ways by different people, reflecting different levels. The Book of Rites says, "When the father calls out, he only does so without promises; when he practices, he throws himself at them; when he eats, he spits it out; when he walks, he does not tend to do so." The difference between "唯" and "诺" is that the former is shorter and the response is faster, while the latter is an extended response and the response is slower. It is clear that the former responds more positively and the latter more lazily. Therefore, the filial child must be "obedient" to the call of his parents. Not only that, but if he is holding a "karma" in his hand, that is to say, a wooden tablet on which a teacher has taught him, he must first put it down; if he is eating, he must first spit out the food; and he must hurry to his parents' place, for it may be urgent, and he must not be slow in doing so. If there is no reverence in the heart, there will be none.

Traditional Culture "Filial Piety"

The Book of Rites goes on to say, "A filial son who has deep love will have harmony; a man who has harmony will have pleasant color; a man who has pleasant color will have grace." Anyone who y loves his parents is bound to have harmony, pleasant color, and gracefulness on his face, rather than boredom or irritation.

Just doing the above is not a high level of filial piety. A high level of filial piety is not only to take care of your parents' lives and not to let them worry unnecessarily, but also to honor them and not to dishonor them. The Book of Rites says, "When one does good, one honors one's parents; when one does bad, one honors oneself." When there is a good deed, it is attributed to the parents; when there is a mistake, it is attributed to oneself.

Honoring and Respecting

The Book of Rites says, "The man of manners humbles himself and honors others." The word "self-humiliation" here means self-effacement. To "humble oneself and honor others" is an important principle of Chinese people's interaction with each other. Only when all people can respect each other at all times will society enter into a high level of harmony, which is also a higher level of equality.

People's so-called respect

This idea permeated all kinds of behavioral etiquette in the life of ancient people. For example, the requirements for a person's appearance and demeanor were called "rituals" by the ancients. Li Ji - Yuzao said: "The gentleman's face Shu Chi, see the honored Qiti. The foot is heavy, the hand is respectful, the eye is endowed, the mouth is stopped, the voice is quiet, the head is straight, the gas is solemn, the stand is virtuous, the color is dignified, and the sitting is like a corpse." The meaning of this passage is that when a gentleman lives in leisure, his posture is soothing and calm. If he is going to meet someone he respects, he will immediately clean up his appearance and look modest and respectful.

When it comes to being a guest, there are records in the literature of the pre-Qin period of China about bringing gifts to meet friends. In the Rites of Passage, it is said that when a scholar meets a friend for the first time, he must bring a gift with him, and a common gift was a pheasant (pheasant). The reason for this was that when a pheasant was surrounded and could not escape, it would neither fear intimidation nor eat the bait, but would quickly kill itself, making it very difficult for people to catch a live pheasant. The use of pheasants as a gift is to express the meaning of mutual reinforcement of each other with the spirit of "keeping the integrity and dying for righteousness". In the pre-Qin period, gifts were often rich in moral metaphors, and the gifts were not afraid of being small, but the core of etiquette was to promote mutual friendship.

Elegant Words

Most of China's polite phrases are extracted from the classics, which are not only simple and concise, but also have a timeless charm that transcends time and space. An educated person who is good at using elegant language in ceremonial occasions is not only decent but also scholarly.

Civilized elegant language

Traditional elegant language, wishing people a long life, one of the commonly used words is "bamboo buds, pines and lush," the word from the "Poetry - Xiao Ya - Sgan" in the "such as bamboo buds carry on, such as pines and lush carry on". The word "bao" is the root of bamboo. Bamboo is a plant that grows from the roots, and it is a glorious plant. The pine tree, on the other hand, can withstand the cold and snow, and is evergreen in all seasons. Later generations took this sentence into the "bamboo bracts pine Mao" word, a metaphor for people's roots as solid as bamboo, branches and leaves as lush as the pine tree. The younger generation often use "bamboo buds pine luxuriant, the sun and the moon long" for the elders to wish a long life.

Ancient people not only in face-to-face verbal communication everywhere permeated with the "inferiority and respect for others" of the gentleman weather, in written communication is also very concerned about the etiquette of the norms. For example, the Wei and Jin period of the letter writing method, generally including the title, mentioning the language, admiration language, the text, wishing language, signatures and other parts. Due to the different age and status of the recipients of the letter, the language will be different accordingly.

For example, the Book of Filial Piety says: "Therefore, the knees of the pro-life to raise parents said strict." Therefore, when writing to parents, the word "knee" is often transformed into a reference to the parents. The traditional letter of the end of the paragraph is also very careful, generally need to specify the identity of their own name before, such as children, students and so on. In addition, according to the relationship between each other and then embellished with the "Kaiwu word", such as the elders with "kowtow, worship on", to the younger generation with "I would like to start, handwritten" and so on.