Chapter 20 Eyes wide open for the future: revival of traditions cannot go astray

Since modern times, the building of the Chinese imperial system has collapsed, and rats and foxes are running. I remember reading an article about Thailand breaking away from the Chinese system at the end of the 19th century and falling into the arms of the United Kingdom. I felt a sense of desolation.Traditions are lost like a bank burst, and how much gold and jade are lost and cannot be recovered, and all kinds of bums in the West come to enter the house swaggeringly.A weak country not only has no diplomacy, but also has no history, no culture, no art, and even no men. Since the end of the 20th century, conservatism has grown secretly and even gained a reputation. No matter which version it is, there is indeed something to sympathize with.It should be said that the continuous growth of China's economy (even if it is very watery), after all, provides the necessary material basis for re-viewing itself and the West.Only with this foundation can we dare to take a closer look at the past, and dare to let go of our courage to think about the future of China and mankind.

Looking back on the entire 20th century, we spent most of our time like unlicensed street vendors, throwing our money around here and there. How can we have the conditions we have now?Thinking about it now, Lin Qinnan and Hu Xianxiao complained a little about Westernization, but it wasn't too much, and they were beaten and wiped out by people with lofty ideals.I doubt whether there is such a word as "the old and the young" in English and French. I think even if there is, it does not have the feeling of a living person wearing a shroud in modern Chinese.This is the fate of the losers, neither the party who is simple and humble nor the party who is aggressive.Today, I saw some people wearing toga gowns and sleeves, whether it was the worship of Confucianism or the "Hanfu" movement, I thought it was fun, but I also felt a little gratified, because China finally has the national power to play with these things.This is one aspect of the matter.

There is another side to things.The modernization of the past 100 years was indeed imposed on us by the capitalist world system, for which we paid a heavy price.But at the same time, we must also admit that we cannot get out of the great crisis of modern times by relying on tradition alone, and we must rely on modernization.Whether you like the asphalt road or not, it is the only way to go.Who loves to learn mathematics, physics and chemistry, but you have to take it with you, so that you will not be afraid to travel all over the world.In addition, we also have to admit that modernization is something inherent to us to a considerable extent. It conforms to the ancient and long-lasting values ​​of comfort, cleanliness, happiness, wealth, health, longevity, and convenience that most human beings, including the Chinese, value pursuit.Quite frankly, without western expansion, sooner or later we would have to go down this road.It was very interesting to read "The History of Toilets" in the first few days.According to Western travel notes at the time, Beijing in the Qing Dynasty was a stinky city (Paris and London didn’t smell too bad either), and the popularity of flush toilets and urban sewage systems in Europe, America, China, and the world really benefited from industrial civilization The European wind and the beautiful rain, although the opium gunboat was also sent by the wind and rain.Western culture, especially the contribution of science, technology and industry in this respect is remarkable.Because he is so great, he is the only one who is the only one, eats more and takes more, and oppresses other ethnic groups and cultures, which arouses the resistance of the latter.This resistance includes academic and cultural criticism of "Western-centrism".The basic position and general direction of this critique are correct: free fall is universal, but your western social and humanistic experience can’t cover the whole world, it’s still far away, don’t be too inflated!However, it is too much to go too far. If you criticize "Western-centrism" indiscriminately and sweep away science and rationality, then you will not be able to go too far.Mao Zedong said earlier that in order to prevent one tendency from covering up another tendency, many things really need to be considered at both ends, and there is a lot of back and forth between the two.

Regarding the relationship between science and technology in the Western knowledge system and relevant parts of Chinese traditional knowledge (as well as so-called "ethnic science" or local knowledge in other parts of the world), I once discussed the example of Chinese and Western medicine with my friends.My friend believes that the thinking method of Chinese medicine belongs to the holistic theory, which should be higher than the atomistic Western medicine.I understand his point of view, but feel that such a statement is biased and flippant.In fact, the pre-modern knowledge of all nations in the world tends to be holistic.Western medical knowledge has stepped out of this holism, which should be said to be a kind of improvement and progress.Occasionally read "Medical Common Sense Questions and Answers" published in the 1960s.Question: Is there any scientific basis for the folk saying "ten drops of blood and one drop of essence"?Answer: No, because according to laboratory tests, the composition of semen is basically water, and the rest is a small amount of protein. Therefore, there is no scientific basis for the statement that "indulging in sex hurts the body".

Western medicine at that time was indeed stuck in the primary stage of atomism.But today's Western medicine doesn't look at the problem that way anymore. It finds out the inner connection between semen and immunity, and believes that excessive sexual intercourse will lead to a decline in immunity.This kind of knowledge of Western medicine shakes hands with the folk experience of Uncle Rui and Ximen Qing who don't live long, and abandons the past, and it is at a higher or deeper level of understanding. It is specious to say that Western medicine "treats the head for a headache, and treats the foot for a pain in the foot".This phenomenon is not so much a fact of medical understanding today as it is a fact of the medical system.When a patient has numbness in his left hand, Western medicine will ask him to check his nerves, cervical spine, heart, and cerebral blood vessels, instead of holding his hand——he will hold his wallet.If the heart is weak, Western medicine will also find the cause to the leg muscles two or three feet below.Due to more and deeper analysis, knowledge is upgraded from simple empirical correlation to complex causal connection.Atomism may still be the status quo of Western medicine today, but it is certainly not its trend. Its trend is from atomism to a higher holism.In contrast, the "holism" of Chinese medicine has not gone through a non-holistic process, and it has basically stayed where it was in "Synopsis of the Golden Chamber", which has been going on for nearly two thousand years. "Cultural conservatism" old-timer Chen Yinke said that Chinese medicine "has proven merits, but has no unreasonable principles", which should be fair.Physics has progressed, chemistry has progressed, and biology has progressed, but none of them have deepened the understanding of disease and health in traditional Chinese medicine.As "reason" stagnates, its advantages over Western medicine in certain "gong" will sooner or later be lost.In short, we should make new thinking about China and the West, and about tradition and modernization, but we must stick to the fate of "seeking truth from facts", and don't think about the progress made through more than 100 years of hard work.