Constantly exploring the modernization and international expression of "benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and faith", Yang Chaoming——
Open the door to promote Confucianism
Reporter Zhao Lin Meng Yi.
On the afternoon of November 26th, the new book release ceremony of the academic series "Nishan Library" of the Nishan World Confucianism Center was held in Qufu, and Yang Chaoming, distinguished professor of the Institute for Advanced Study of Confucianism of Shandong University and vice president of the International Federation of Confucianism, was invited to unveil the new book.
On the same day ten years ago, the general secretary of the Confucius Institute visited Qufu, and at the Confucius Institute, the general secretary picked up the "General Explanation of Confucius's Family Language" and "Interpretation of the Analects" on the table and read it with great interest, "I want to take a closer look at these two books." Both books were edited by Yang Chaoming, then director of the Confucius Institute. From that day on, the "gears" of inheriting and carrying forward the excellent traditional Chinese culture began to rotate at an accelerated pace, and Yang Chaoming, who became "popular" because of the compilation of books, also began to write his new work of "two creations" in the new decade.
Confucius Institute "Metamorphosis".
On November 17th, when the reporter came to the Confucius Institute headquarters experience base, Sam, an American friend dressed in ancient costume, was stroking the piano on the ground. Under the careful guidance of the instructor, although Sam's movements were rusty, the strong "Chinese style" was still "blown" into thousands of families through the mobile phone that was being broadcast live in front of him. The series of short ** produced by this extension will also be released on overseas social **, opening a window for foreign friends to understand Chinese culture.
As a specialized research institute in Confucianism, the Confucius Institute in the past was always "behind closed doors" to study and write books, and always felt that it was separated from the lives of ordinary people.
**The general secretary's important exposition on the cultural 'two creations' makes us realize that in the inheritance and development of China's excellent traditional culture, what is lacking is not 'high' theoretical research, but cultural innovation products that can meet the preferences of the new generation of groups and have stronger communication power. Talking about the Confucius Institute's fading "pedantic spirit", Yang Chaoming was deeply touched, "Traditional culture can only be full of vitality when it is integrated into life and the times." ”
Under the leadership of Yang Chaoming, the Confucius Institute began to grasp the academic "peak" with one hand, and the "landing" of practice with the other hand.
From the high-standard construction of the Confucius Institute headquarters experience base, the 18,000-square-meter space is innovatively divided into more than 10 cultural experience areas such as ancient rites and rubbingto speak the authentic dialect, tell the stories around him, and go into the rural community to set up a "Confucian lecture hall";and then open social ** and live broadcast platform accounts, so that the dissemination of traditional culture is full of youthful ......From "conducting research behind closed doors" to "opening the door to promote Confucianism", he has cleared the pulse of the times and become a cultural research institute, and completed his own "metamorphosis".
Send China's voice to the world
In today's world with many factors of instability, the wisdom of Confucius can help the world reduce conflicts. Jeffrey Sachs, chair of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network and professor of economics at Columbia University, said the world needs a platform for equal exchange and mutual learning. The Nishan Forum on World Civilizations, which has been held for nine sessions, is just such a platform.
As an in-depth participant of the Nishan World Civilization Forum, Yang Chaoming has always regarded the holding of the forum as a rare opportunity for Confucian culture to go abroad, "The first few sessions of the forum were more like a professional academic event, and in the last two sessions, the forum has gradually evolved into a comprehensive humanities forum, and tried to provide Nishan wisdom and Nishan solutions for universal international social problems." ”
Yang Chaoming bluntly said that compared with the Chinese people's understanding of foreign countries, the world's understanding of China is more limited. And this has also intensified his sense of urgency to tell and spread Chinese stories well.
During an exchange with an Arab scholar, Yang Chaoming learned that the Analects they read had been translated from the English version. In Yang Chaoming's view, there is a loss of meaning in the transformation of ancient texts into modern texts, and now they have to go through the "two hurdles" of translating Chinese to English and English to Arabic, and the core connotation is likely to be misinterpreted or lost.
He took the initiative to carry out in-depth cooperation with the Confucius Institute in Vienna, Austria, and the two sides jointly launched a multilingual version of "Confucius Says This", and carried out translation work on many classics to reduce the interpretation errors caused by language translation. In particular, the "Translating China" project, led by Confucianists, has now taken the express train of the Nishan World Civilization Forum, providing a cross-cultural interpretation of philosophical terminology for the world to understand Confucianism and for China to explain Confucianism to the outside world, and has produced a wide range of international influence.
"This kind of program is very popular with young people."
Confucius apricot altar opened, and the Quartet gathered. This scene of lecturing under the juniper was vividly reproduced in the large-scale cultural program "China in the Classics" ("Analects") of the ** Radio and Television Station.
The idea of 'benevolence' throughout the Analects is the easiest to dramatize in the story between Confucius and **. Coupled with the ingenious crossing design, it has shortened the distance between the contemporary people and the ancients, goosebumps instantly arise, and cultural pride is coming!Talking about the experience of being invited to participate in the recording of "China in the Classics" and interpreting the connotation of "The Analects", Yang Chaoming said that he was very surprised, and he was also happy to participate in more cultural programs like this, because, "This kind of program is popular with young people!."”
Yang Chaoming believes that to inherit and carry forward the excellent traditional Chinese culture, the object of receiving culture and the main body of disseminating culture should be young people. In order for the younger generation to take the initiative to take over the "baton" of cultural inheritance, we must first make them truly like their own culture.
Young people love to chase variety shows, and Yang Chaoming is willing to become a "variety show", and frequently "cross-staged" in "Poetry Conference" and "It's Started";The younger children like cultural creativity, so he invited industry experts and design experts to ponder how to integrate "benevolence, righteousness, etiquette, wisdom and trust" into cultural and creative productsBut smaller dolls have to be grabbed from the textbook. Therefore, no matter how busy Yang Chaoming is, he will take the compilation Xi of traditional culture textbooks for primary and secondary schools as the top priority, and consider how to explain in simple terms and how to serve people, so that children can learn and practice the "treasures" left by their ancestors without burden, and the "Confucian Culture Popularization Reader" also came into being in this context.
To establish cultural self-confidence, we must first have cultural self-knowledge. In Yang Chaoming's view, only by conforming to the context of the times and echoing the preferences of young people can the future builders of the motherland scientifically guide practice and take the initiative to inherit their own culture after "knowing", "liking" and "confident".