Chapter 35 Evolution of Chinese Cultural Tradition-3

three Now I want to go a step further from the external form and talk about the meaning of Chinese culture.As mentioned above, Chinese culture has been placed in a big situation since the beginning, and the experience has lasted for a long time.Here already contains the highest and deepest meaning of Chinese culture.An ancient Chinese classic said: "It can be as long as it is long." This is the ideal of ordinary life in the Chinese mind, which is also a characteristic of Chinese cultural values.From the present point of view, China is one country in the world, and the Chinese are one of the races in the world.We look at the life of the ancient Chinese before the Qin Dynasty from a modern perspective. Some people like to say that the ancient Chinese were closed to the outside world and never interacted with foreigners.If we really look at this kind of argument with a historical perspective, we will know that it is not true.It is also easy for us to know that the ancients in China thousands of years ago would not accept such accusations from the modern Chinese thousands of years later.The ancient Chinese generally felt that they did not think of the land of China as a country, but thought that it could be called Tianxia, ​​and it was already the whole world.What the Chinese call the world means oneness.The feudal princes, as well as the counties and counties below, are separate.

We should not underestimate those feudal countries at that time, they all had a long history.Like the state of Wei, although the state was small, it was the last to fall to the state of Qin. It has a history of 900 years.In every country in the world, except China, which country has a history of 900 years?Other countries like Qi and Chu also have a history of about 800 years.In the minds of today's people, a country has a history of 800 years, which is really long enough.The four territories of China at that time were bounded by the sea in the southeast, high mountains in the west, and deserts in the north. These places were beyond the reach of Chinese agricultural culture. "The Doctrine of the Mean" said: "What is covered by the sky, what is contained by the earth, what is illuminated by the sun and the moon, where the frost and dew fall, what is reached by boats and cars, and what is connected by manpower, all flesh and blood respect their relatives." This is like before and after the unification of the Qin Dynasty In terms of people, at that time, they really thought that China was already a world.At that time, people thought that all the places within the territory of China belonged to the same world and belonged to the whole world.Within this entire world, culture has reached the level of harmony.As for the places outside the territory of China, because the cultural ability of the Chinese people was difficult to reach at that time, we had to put it aside for the time being and talk about it slowly.It seems that the modern Europeans put Africa, Australia, South America and other places, because their strength was limited at the time, and they have not yet fully reached them, so they put them aside for a while and talk about them slowly?It can be seen that the psychology of the ancient Chinese is not similar to the psychology of modern Westerners, but the traffic situation at that time was slightly worse than it is now.

At that time, China had become a big unit, and there were only Chinese and China at that time.The so-called China refers to the cultural region that includes the entire Chinese people.They think that this has reached the realm of the world and the world, the world is unified, and the world is peaceful. This is a kind of human society idealized by the ancient Chinese.The so-called "everyone who has flesh and blood respects his relatives" is the ideal that Chinese culture hopes to achieve.Therefore, we can say that Chinese culture is humanistic, that is, humanistic, that is, cosmopolitan.It doesn't just want to develop a country, nor does it want to expand its power step by step, just like Rome, like the current oppressive and aggressive western empires.This is the only way to make Chinese culture great.

The above is only a general view of Chinese culture. If you want to be more specific, you can give a few examples.Like Confucius, his ancestor was an aristocrat of the Song State after the Shang Dynasty, and later fled to the State of Lu.But Confucius did not have a narrow national concept all his life, and he never thought about destroying Zhou and restoring business.He does not hold a narrow view of the country, he has never been particularly loyal to Song or Lu, and he does not have a narrow sense of social class. the cosmopolitan.Like Mozi again, we cannot know his nationality and origin in detail, but he does not have a narrow concept of country and class.As for Zhuangzi and Laozi, there is no so-called concept of country or class.

I often say that during the Warring States Period, only one and a half scholars held the concept of a country in a narrow sense. One was Qu Yuan, an aristocrat of the Chu State. .But he is an aristocrat of Chu State, and he refused to leave Chu State no matter what.The king of Chu couldn't use him, so he threw himself into the river. This can be said to be a person with strong national and national values.The other half is Han Fei. He is a Korean aristocrat. He also had a strong national concept before, but after he arrived in Qin, his will was not firm, so he can only be said to be half.But now that I think about it carefully, Qu Yuan was a writer full of emotions. He wanted to be loyal to the king of Chu, but he was slandered and wronged.We should look at his character and emotion as a writer, and he is not necessarily a nationalist in a narrow sense.

In this way, none of the pre-Qin scholars held nationalism in a narrow sense.At that time, the general academic thinking held a view of the world, so it was said: "Cultivate the body and then the family will be in order; the family will be in order to govern the country; the country will be governed and the world will be peaceful." Cultivating the body, regulating the family, and governing the country ultimately lead to the peace of the world.This ideal was actually realized in the era of Qin Shihuang, and the world really became one family.Therefore, Chinese culture has been generally placed on a large ground since the beginning, hoping that as long as the communication is accessible, everyone will love each other and unite together.Their highest ideal is to establish a world of great harmony, a peaceful world, and a peaceful and happy society for all mankind.

This kind of world view is also different from that of Western Christianity, which only talks about the future kingdom of heaven and does not pay attention to the real world.Confucianism and Mencius in China, speaking in detail, are not devoid of religious beliefs.Only those they believe in are in the real world of life, not seeking the future and birth, and the general aspirations of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods have already been achieved by the Qin Dynasty.As for some foreigners who were around at that time, they could not accept our cultural influence for a while, so we ignored them for the time being, and when they could get along with us, we would welcome them to come into our borders and live with us.Therefore, although there were still barbarians at that time, due to the agricultural culture of China at that time, there was no way to advance to areas such as sandy membranes, grasslands, and high mountains. Because they lived differently from them, the culture could not be forced to be the same, and there was no way. To teach them to accept the ideal life and culture of the Chinese, it is enough to live in peace for the time being.

What has been said above only shows that China was in the first period of Chinese culture before Qin Dynasty.During this period, the Chinese have indeed realized their lofty ideals.We already have the great concept of world harmony and world peace, and we have achieved considerable results.