Some people say that politics is the bones, the economy is the flesh and blood, and culture is the soul.
In recent years, there has been a trend of "Chinese culture fever" and "revival of traditional culture" in China.
However, many of these discussions have always fallen into the labeling of "generalized" and "specious".
For example, some people say that Chinese culture emphasizes "Tao" rather than "art", "spirituality" rather than "material", and "whole" rather than "partial" ......
There are even those who believe that Chinese culture is naturally excellent, which leads to collective arrogance and xenophobia.
The big and inappropriate understanding of Chinese culture will not help us understand China, nor the world, nor will it help us improve our own situation.
In fact, there are four main characteristics of Chinese culture that really distinguish it from the rest of the world.
1. The pictographic ideographic writing system
Chinese uses a very different language from the world.
Chinese characters that originated from sacrificial divination are typical pictographs and ideograms.
The ancients used images to depict the things they saw, such as adding a little bit to the mouth of the "knife" is the "blade", putting the claws on the tree is "picking", and "oxen" being locked in the pen is "prison".
In the West, since ancient Greece, the Carthaginians have begun to use the pinyin script created by the Carthaginians, and the pronunciation of the pinyin script is highly "consistent" with the writing, and the learning cost is low; However, the difference in text makes the cost of communication in different regions also greater.
The ideograms of the Chinese, after the unification of the script by Qin Shi Huang, formed a universal writing system.
A Cantonese person and a Guizhou or Shandong person speak like a foreign language, but they can communicate smoothly through words.
It can be said thatHieroglyphic Chinese characters have played a horizontal super-dialect function and a vertical super-temporal function, and have become an important carrier for maintaining Chinese civilization, which has been used to this day.
As the philosopher Mr. Ren Jiyu said: "If ancient China had adopted pinyin script, China would not be the unified situation it is today, and it may be divided into many independent and small countries." ”
However, pictographic Chinese characters have also influenced the thinking of Chinese people. Although there are also many morphophonetic characters, the special structure of Chinese characters has become the norm.
Chinese people are accustomed to analogy, often grouping image things into one category and mixing them together, without asking about their essential differences. This cultural habit and the use of Chinese characters have a lot to do with it.
2. The ethical concept of internal and external order
The ethical concept of Chinese is also very different from that of the world.
When the famous scholar Ge Zhaoguang gave a lecture to Western students, he came up with a question: In "Dream of Red Mansions", what should Jia Baoyu call Lin Daiyu, Xue Baochai, and Shi Xiangyun respectively?
Western students answer the question of a sister.
Because in foreign families, individuals are often independent, and the title is not so complicated. Younger generations can not only have the same name as their elders, but they can even call their elders by their first names. In the eyes of the Chinese, this is simply a disobedient barbarian.
The Chinese clearly distinguish between aunts and cousins, aunts and cousins, and the distinction between seniority, elder and younger, and respect and inferiority is particularly important.
Until now, weddings and funerals in many places still retain a set of regulations and etiquette of "internal and external distinction".
This kind of patriarchal system, which is different from each other and respects the young and the elderly, originated from the patriarchal system of the Zhou Dynasty.
After Dong Zhongshu in the Han Dynasty, he formed the idea of three outlines and five constants, established the dominance of monarchy, patriarchy, and husband, and highly isomorphized the family hierarchy and the feudal political order.
The orderly patriarchal system inside and outside has built the core connotation of China's mainstream ideology for the next 2,000 years, and has given birth to the sentiment of "family, country, and world".
Only by understanding this "family and country feelings" can we understand Su Wu's spirit of being exiled to Beihai for 19 years to shepherd sheep, remembering his homeland and persevering in the center of the harsh environment.
On the other hand,The patriarchal system has also derived the old-fashioned ideas of "male superiority and inferiority of women", excessive emphasis on "human relations", and "content with tradition and lack of innovation".
3. Harmonious and harmonious religious beliefs
The religious beliefs of Chinese people are also different from those of the world.
Since the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Chinese culture has gradually established the trend of "Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism" in one, and the folk temples of the three religions often worship the gods of the three religions at the same time.
Emperor Xiaozong of the Song Dynasty, Emperor Yongle and Emperor Yongzheng also said that "Confucianism governs the world, Buddhism governs the mind, and Taoism governs the body."
This is in stark contrast to the incompatibility between religions in the West.
In the Western world, religion has long held a great deal of secular power and has a profound impact on everyone's life.
They only allowed one god to exist, and there was never a scene where "one monk and one monk" appeared at the same time.
For example, the Crusades, which lasted for nearly 200 years in European history, and the wars between Catholics and Protestants, all resulted in numerous casualties.
Although the Chinese also worship the gods, they do not rely on the gods, but only use them as spiritual nourishment for seeking peace and comfort
Therefore, a person can practice more than one religion at the same time, and their attitude towards religion is level-headed and realistic.
But true faith must be absolute belief, beyond utilitarianism, and even beyond life and death. If you believe everything, you believe nothing. If you give a bribe to God, such a god becomes a servant of man.
So it can be said thatChina is one of the few civilizations in the world that lacks faith.
It is extremely difficult for Chinese people to die in order to defend certain religious beliefs and values, as Westerners do.
Fourth, the concept of international order of "all nations coming to Korea".
China's view of the international order is also different from that of the rest of the world.
China is located in a vast inland land. The ancients believed that they were at the center of the world, the most developed place of civilization, that is, the "Central Plains".
The more remote the place, the lower the degree of civilization, that is, "Nanban", "Beidi", "Dongyi", and "Xirong".
Therefore,The Central Plains Dynasty regarded itself as the first country, and paid attention to the royal road to prosper the world, so it took care of the neighboring small vassal states such as Korea, Ryukyu, and Nepal as the "boss".
This is the "tributary" international political system derived from the "Huayi concept".
The tributary system maintained China's influence on the surrounding area, forming a Confucian cultural circle with eastern Asia as the core. YetMaterial gifts to vassal states also brought a heavy economic burden to China.
In the West, with the end of the wars of religion and the signing of the Peace of Westphalia, nations large and small were equal and independent individuals.
With the development of the world, a modern international order of independence, equality and mutual benefit has also come into being.
However, looking at China, this concept of international order of "all nations coming to Korea" is still deeply engraved in the hearts of the Chinese people.
SoAs soon as Chinese people think about international politics, they often fall into the imagination of monarchs, ministers, fathers and sons who are "either masters or slaves".
Today, when world civilizations are becoming more and more convergent,The cultural consciousness of every Chinese is not only a choice of their own destiny, but also a choice of the direction of the country.
Therefore,Whether we are in China or not, no matter how we view traditional culture, we should re-understand this land and deeply understand the lifestyle and cultural mentality of our ancestors.
Only by understanding the fundamentals of culture can we understand why China has become the China it is now, and where the future of the nation and its own path will lead.
Unfortunately, most people, whether they appreciate or criticize Chinese culture, fall into some kind of emotional catharsis or confrontation.