Introduction: From "Ancient" to "Modern" China
People living in modern China, of course, want to know about modern China. However, to know about modern China, they may still need to know about traditional China. Westerners have a famous saying that "The past is a foreign country". So, why should we understand the past or foreign countries? In fact, the so-called understanding of "the past" or "foreign countries" is to understand "China now". The reason is very simple, because you don’t know China in the past, you can’t know how modern China is, and you can’t know what foreign countries have different cultural habits and customs from ours, so you can’t know which China’s cultural habits and customs are "China". It’s like you don’t know what you look like without holding a mirror, and you can’t know whether you are tall, short, fat or thin without looking at another person. This is what Goethe said, "He who knows one, knows none". In particular, the present China is, after all, a continuation from the traditional China.
If you can go back to China a hundred years ago, you will see that China at that time was very different from China now. To give a few examples, the books people read are not leisure magazines, computer books, newspaper cartoons, but mainly Confucian classics, and children’s textbooks and exam models derived from these classics. Of course, there are also some novels, essays and poems, but they are mainly books for literati. People’s access to knowledge and news is not mainly through newspapers, radio and television, but through some engraved books, hearsay and the experience of villagers and elders. People’s social life space is mainly carried out in big families and hometown, and hometown seems to be a center or axis; People’s concept of geographical distance is very different from today’s, and it is a long journey from Beijing to Tianjin. For the average person, marriage, funeral, marriage, marriage, plus some festivals, as well as some activities to exorcise evil spirits and play ghosts, seem to be the most common ceremonies or festivals, and Buddhism and Taoism are not far from people’s lives. In terms of diet, regardless of the thickness, traditional rice, flour cakes, miscellaneous grains, side dishes and tea are the main things. Eating is a big event and takes up a lot of time in life.
Usually, we don’t pay too much attention to these records of our past lives, because people at that time will feel that it is very ordinary and there is no need to record it carefully. However, when foreigners come to China, they also see a "past" or a "foreign country". Some life scenes they see are different from their western and modern lives, so they will be surprised and relish, so they draw a lot of pictures and take a lot of photos. Now, by looking at many written records and photographs of foreigners at that time, we can look back and see our old scenery a hundred years ago.
First, looking back is a hundred years old: recalling historical memories
When China people today look back at their old life through these old photos and memoirs, they also feel a little strange. This is because great changes have taken place in China today compared with China at that time. Many people say that earth-shaking changes have taken place in China in the 20th century, which began at the end of 19th century.
Now, most people will agree with Zhang Zhidong’s statement that since the entry of modern western civilization into China in the 19th century, China has experienced a "great change unprecedented in two thousand years", and China seems to have "broken" with the tradition. Take some examples from daily life around us. For example, our concept of time is very different from the past. Because of the government’s promotion, we no longer use the calendar of dynasties and emperors, but use the western Gregorian calendar. According to the traditional concept, "the sky remains the same, so does the Tao", and the calendar has been changed. This is the same as "correcting the new moon". For example, customs are different. Today, we prohibit opium smoking and women’s foot binding, and we have changed the old name. The law stipulates equality between men and women, monogamy and free marriage and divorce. We have gradually advocated paying attention to public health and promoting clean habits as civilization, banned printed materials and advertisements that hinder weathering, and got rid of old manners. During the period of the Republic of China, a scholar named Bao Tianxiao once said in his Memoirs of the Chuan Studio that in the past, even northerners had many rules to pay their respects. As a high official, they should be able to pay their respects in a rotary way, because there may be many lower classes around you, and you have to return the favor. Manchu women will pay their respects to Shuang ‘an, and of course, they will have to pay three knocks and nine obeisances when they meet the emperor. "It’s graceful, beautiful and edgy to pay their respects." However, in the era of the Republic of China, a new "Ritual System" was stipulated in 1912. There were five men, and they all took off their hats on various occasions, but it was slightly different. Although this was only a small change in etiquette, it also reflected great changes.In other words, the relationship between people has changed.
Let’s talk about language and writing. Today’s Chinese has absorbed too many modern or western new words. In newspapers, letters and speeches, there are many old words like "economy", "freedom" and "democracy" that seem to know each other but have different meanings. There are also new words like "ideology", "computer network" and "so-and-so" that have never existed before, and there are more and more spoken words. There are even imported words such as "show", "cool" and "WTO". If a person who lived a hundred years ago can still walk out of the grave, just like the person in Zhang Yimou’s "The Battle of the Ancient and the Modern", he will definitely not understand what we said.
China has changed a lot today, and China has too many modern cities, modern transportation and modern communications. In the past, our living world was quadrangles, gardens and farmhouses. People had to take ox carts and carriages from one place to another, so it was a luxury topic to express litchi from Lingnan to Chang ‘an. Su Shi was demoted to Hainan, unlike today’s tourist programs, even Lin Chong was sent to Cangzhou, which seemed far away all the way, so that Dong Chao and Xue Ba had time to do some tricks, while Lu Zhishen had to escort him every day. As for letters, they can’t compare with "Yi Meier", so at that time, China people’s ideas about the distance of space and the speed of time were very different from today’s. Today’s talents really feel "and heaven remains our neighbourhood". Similarly, today’s life in China has become more and more westernized, McDonald’s has become a favorite of young people, and the concept of eating is more and more different from the past. Let’s just say, modern people may live close to each other head-to-foot downstairs, which is closer than people living next to each other in the old days, but apartment-style housing actually separates people far away. In the past, the complex and village-style neighborhood relationship has disappeared in the city. As for a large family, it is even more rare. The contradiction or harmony between seven sisters-in-law and eight brothers-in-law, cousins, aunts and nephews is like an old thing in the idyllic era, and it seems very far away from us. The kinship of big families has been replaced by the contractual relationship of small families, so the foundation of establishing social order in old China, that is, family relations, family etiquette and ethical concepts, has also become a story of the past.
Second, culture and civilization: two concepts that have to be distinguished
However, why do modern people tell "the story of the past"? Let’s elaborate on this point at last. Let’s talk about the difference between "culture" and "civilization" first.
Originally, the difference between these two words is not very clear. However, for the convenience of the following discussion, we adopt the statement of iria (Norbert Elias, 1897—1990), a European, in the book The Process of Civilization. First, we regard "culture" as something that shows differences among nations, which always shows the self and characteristics of a nation, while "civilization" is regarded as something that gradually reduces the differences among nations, showing the universal behavior and achievements of mankind. In other words, it is "culture" that makes all ethnic groups different, and "civilization" that brings all ethnic groups closer and closer. Second, we regard "culture" as a kind of personality and spiritual temperament that we don’t have to teach deliberately, but will get because we hear it; Civilization is regarded as something that needs to be learned, so it is always connected with words such as "educated" and "knowledgeable". Third, in a sense, the "culture" of all ethnic groups is often stubborn and unchanging, and it shows a resistance to foreign cultures; And "civilization" is always moving and advancing, showing the tendency of colonization and expansion. That is to say, "culture" is related to tradition, showing the influence of the past on the present, while "civilization" is related to the future, indicating the general trend and direction in the future.
So, in the ancient history and tradition of China, Han nationality, what is different from other types of culture?
Third, family and affection: some aspects of China (Han) culture.
If many people, especially foreigners living in another cultural environment, enter the life world of China, the Han nationality, or suddenly come into contact with China immigrants in their own country, it is easy to feel that for China people, especially the Han nationality, the kinship and kinship in the family are very important and reliable. The so-called "blood is thicker than water" can describe this relationship. The so-called "fighting tigers requires brothers."
In the second time "Imagining Ancient China from Wedding Funeral", I have explained this point in detail, that is, it is not that people in other cultural circles do not attach importance to family ties, but that in China, Han nationality, kinship and family ties not only show the close relationship between individuals and families, but also derive the structure and foundation on which the whole society depends. China’s father, son, husband, wife, brothers and sisters and other relatives should not only clearly distinguish their birthrights, but also emphasize the different grades between different birthrights. At the same time, people with different birthrights and grades should live in harmony. And the premise of harmonious coexistence is that "men and women are different and orderly". Fei Xiaotong said in "Native China" that the basic social units in China and the West are different. Our pattern is not a bundle of clear firewood, standing there separately, but like a ripple that happens when a stone is thrown on the water. As I mentioned earlier, ancient China established a strict and orderly family order by relying on the concepts and systems of "five clothes" and "nine families". Among them, the most important thing is the difference between "father", "mother" or "husband" and "wife", which must be clearly distinguished. This is "inside" and "outside". As the old saying goes, "arms and elbows should not turn outward", that is to say, in principle, it is a big principle to favor people or family members with the same surname. The old saying goes that "girls are extroverted", that is to say, a married woman’s position will tend to her husband’s family, which is another surname, so it is extroverted, so there is a saying that "the married daughter throws out water".This internal and external boundary is very clear.
However, how to make internal and external communication and two surnames harmonious? First, it is precisely on the basis of distinguishing between the inside and outside that the relationship is established. Intermarriage makes the two surnames related. Compared with families without relatives, the two surnames are closer, but within the two surnames, they need male surnames, so the relationship is straightened out. Second, in ancient China, it was emphasized that within a family or family, it was necessary to be orderly from top to bottom, that is, to distinguish between the young and the old in order to establish a relationship of mutual respect and care. There should be filial piety between father and son, filial piety between brothers, brothers and sisters, cousins, and even people with the same surname. The big ones should love the small ones, and the long ones should take care of the young ones, but the small ones should obey the big ones and the young ones should respect the long ones. In other words, the order of families, clans, clans and even families with different surnames was established according to different levels of closeness, and even extended to the whole society according to this order, and a national and social order was established. Therefore, in ancient China, not only did the authority of the family patriarch cover the whole family and interfere with any phenomenon within the family, but also there was a word like "country" that linked "country" and "home", and there was a tradition of calling local officials "parents".
From family, clan to country, this order is called "ethics", and the original meaning of "ethics" is "ethics in hydrological phases". When it is used in human beings, it means that social relations are orderly, classified and organized. The most important thing in ethics is to be close to each other. In The Book of Rites, there are ten relationships, namely, ghosts and gods, monarch and ministers, father and son, nobility and inferiority, closeness, knighthood, husband and wife, politics, old and young, up and down. Almost all the real and fictional relationships are included, but the main difference is between father and son, distance and closeness. This is a social order that cannot be changed. Therefore, in The Book of Rites, it is said that "kissing, respecting, and growing are different between men and women, which is impossible to change with the people". That is to say, this is the basic order of society. No matter how the society changes, it cannot be changed. If it changes, it will not be "this one" and "ancient China".
IV. History and Reality: Reasonable and Unreasonable
Historically, this order had its rationality in ancient society. It placed the basis and foundation for the establishment of social order and state power on the most natural affection in human nature. Because of the affection between father and son and brotherhood, it extended to society and became the friendship between monarch and minister. However, the difference between inside and outside and the order from top to bottom became the basis for the construction of social hierarchy, which made the society not chaotic. However, from the perspective of modern values, there are also profound problems hidden behind it. That is to say, when the so-called kinship and affection are magnified and absolute, "filial piety" will definitely take precedence over everything, and even the truth and principles will be relegated to a secondary position, forming an absolute obedience to the superiors. The so-called "children are hidden from their fathers, and they are straight in them" is an extreme statement. When the family relationship with priority value is occupied by political power and becomes an absolute ethical law, the cart before the horse is turned upside down. When this natural relationship of consanguinity is enlarged to the social country, the political relationship that should have been confirmed by social contract and social consensus has become a natural hierarchical relationship that seems to be unnecessary to demonstrate. Therefore, the loyalty of the monarch and the minister not only overwhelmed the filial piety of the father and son, but also became the basis of personal autocracy, such as "the monarch wants his minister to die, and the minister has to die" is the extreme of authoritarian politics. Obviously, when this kind of family and family order is enlarged into a national political order, and it is absolutely correct and inviolable, the state will not only give absolute priority to the family, but also give absolute priority to the individual. In this way, the social order constructed from affection has gone to the extreme of unfeeling.
In any case, kinship based on family, clan or clan is a fairly clear tradition in ancient China, which has continued to this day, resulting in many consequences, such as: (1) It makes China people still attach great importance to family, affection and obedience to elders, which may be a feature of Chinese culture. (2) It is also a very important foundation of ancient China society. Because this society seems to be based on the "kinship" relationship of obedience, love and interdependence, the rulers above have the same authority as their fathers, self-evident justice and truth, and natural legitimacy, so ancient China formed "absolute and universal imperial power". (3) The rule of imperial power makes China different from the western countries, where there may be religious power competing with the imperial power. The emperor and the court have mastered the political power, discourse power and theocracy, so Buddhism, Taoism, and later Catholicism, Christianity, Islam, etc. all have to gradually yield, change their religious nature and social position, and exercise auxiliary functions within the scope of imperial power and mainstream ideology. At the same time, it makes religious believers also. In the eleventh "Two Belief Worlds in Ancient China", I have talked about this problem in detail. This largely determines the social and cultural characteristics of China,But also influenced modern China to a great extent.
V. The Time between Heaven and Man: Some Aspects of China (Han) Culture (Continued)
What I want to discuss with you next is the relationship between "heaven" and "man". In the understanding of ancient China, especially the Han people, the relationship between heaven and man seems quite special.
People in ancient China generally believed that "Heaven" was not only the space and time in which human beings lived, but also the basic basis for human beings to understand and judge everything. There was a mysterious relationship of interdependence, mutual imitation and mutual induction between "Heaven" and "Man". Therefore, on the one hand, man should imitate the structure and operation of "Heaven" and follow the rules of "Heaven" in order to obtain thoughts and behaviors. In recent years, some early documents of archaeological discoveries also said that not only governing the country should be "compatible with the stars, the sun and the moon, but also with the four seasons of Yin and Yang", but also the cultivation of body and mind should be coordinated with the "four seasons of heaven and earth", that is, "the desire to govern the body is in harmony with heaven and earth, and it is still awkward". Some laws of heaven and earth, such as the four seasons, also affect people’s lives.
In ancient China people’s minds, anyone who imitates "Heaven" can have the mystery and authority of "Heaven". Therefore, the meaning of "Heaven" is transformed into a mysterious dominant force in the sacrificial ceremony, a mysterious corresponding relationship in the divination ceremony, and a mysterious world of hope in real life, which supports people’s confidence and also solves various difficulties for people. Not only the general public, but also the emperors and nobles who have mastered the power in the world believe that the reasonable basis and power base come from "heaven". In the Qin and Han Dynasties, the architecture of the palace should imitate the structure of heaven, the top of the tomb in the Han Dynasty should draw the stars of heaven, the royal sacrifices in the Han Dynasty should be offered to the gods of heaven all over the place, and the place of sacrifice should imitate a structure consistent with the celestial bodies. In people’s minds, "heaven" still has an extremely lofty position, and heaven is.
Although Xunzi once called on China people to "control the destiny", that is, conquer the "heaven" (nature), it seems that this idea did not play a big role in ancient China. In the mainstream concept of ancient China, man and heaven must live in harmony, and people should respect and imitate the "heaven" because this "heaven" is the "heaven" of "justice". So what is "Fengtian Shipping" or "Acting in the Heaven" or "Acting for Heaven"? It is to think and deal with problems according to some reduced "digital concepts".
Sixth, the digital concept: Yin and Yang five lines of gossip Jiugong December
What is the reduced "digital concept"? It is some natural laws shown by "Heaven" that were expressed by numbers like "123" in ancient China, and ancient China people linked "Heaven" with "Man" in these simple ideas.
Among them, the first is of course "one", which can be understood as "center", "absolute", "sacred" or "unique". In the Qin and Han Dynasties, it was not only the only original and supreme god, but also the ultimate basis for the unification of the world, the authority of the monarch, the law of reason, the knowledge base and everything, and the only center that enveloped and controlled many barbarians. In the first time, I once talked about its influence on the concept of the world in ancient China. Followed by "two", "two" is yin and yang, of course, but it can be compared to the sun, the moon, heaven and earth, and it can also symbolize the monarch, the upper and lower, and the warmth, humidity, condescension and nobility further derived from yin and yang, and it also implies a series of adjustment techniques. The fifth is "Five". In ancient China, they once regarded the most basic "Five" in the universe as five basic elements "Jin Mu, fire, water and earth", which were called the five elements, and they were also "Five" and listed all kinds of matching things and phenomena, even corresponding to people’s five virtues "benevolence, righteousness, propriety and wisdom". This shows that people generally accept and believe that the "five elements" can summarize and sort out everything in the universe, so that the universe is orderly, and being orderly is in line with the laws of the universe and human rationality. On the contrary, if the five elements, five colors, five sounds, five flavors, five sides, five internal organs and five sacrifices are disordered, people will use technology to adjust them, otherwise people will get sick, society will be chaotic and the universe will be disorderly. For example, the change of dynasties,It is necessary to match the ranking of the five virtues in order; People’s clothing should match the five-color rounds; The object of sacrifice should highlight the status of the five parties.
This is just a simple statement. If you elaborate, there are various symbols from one to twelve:
First, the "Tao" that generates the yin and yang of heaven and earth, or the only immobile "pole" in the sky, or the "Taiyi" of the gods, is the absolute and only source of existence.
Second, heaven and earth (or yin and yang, dry Kun, black and white, cold and heat).
Three, heaven and earth people, this is called three talents, or directly represent people (heaven, earth and people).
Four or four o’clock (spring, summer, autumn and winter), Sifang (southeast and northwest), Four Gods (Qinglong, Suzaku, White Tiger and Xuanwu), etc.
Five, five tones (Gong Shang Jiao Zheng Yu), five elements (wood, fire, soil, gold and water), five colors (green, red, white, black and yellow) and so on.
Six, Liuhe (left and right, up and down), six laws (Huang Zhong, Tai Li, etc.) and so on.
Seven, seven obsidians (sun, moon and five stars) or seven stars (Beidou).
Eight, eight diagrams (Gan Kun, etc.) and eight winds (winds from all directions).
Nine, nine palaces (eight directions plus the central government), nine lands (Kyushu and Jiuye) or nine days.
Ten, ten days (ten days dry).
Eleven, six qi and five elements (heaven, six places and five places).
Twelve, twelve days (twelve earthly branches) or December.
This "digital concept" came into being very early, and went through a long process of integration and demonstration. It was finally fixed in the form of a system in the Qin and Han Dynasties, and penetrated into various fields, affecting the thinking of China people from ancient times to modern times, and derived various knowledge and technologies from it.
Seven, things are very different: this rationality is not that rationality.
This is also the result of "rationality". However, it is of course different from Huang Renyu’s "digital management" and fundamentally different from western thought. I can’t elaborate here, just give a brief example. "Dialogue with Whitehead" said: China invented the magnetic needle, but Confucius’ attitude was, "Well, that’s enough, the fact is everything". He didn’t want to pursue the "reason" behind it, but soon turned his attention to the social morality and ethics; However, westerners are different. When the compass invented by China reaches Europe, people will ask all kinds of boring questions, such as why it points to the north and explores the "reason" behind it, which is just ignored by pragmatists, but in the west, it makes all kinds of beneficial achievements appear one after another. Whitehead thinks that Confucius, like Dewey, "rejects boring ideas, and simple facts should be enough for you to use. Don’t waste more time asking the final reason hidden under those simple facts".
It seems so. Ancient China people were not very good at probing into the deep truth under the phenomenon, nor were they very used to analyzing with meticulous and pure logic. Thomas Aquinas in the west, when proving the existence of God, used the five-layer logic, that is, the Five Roads of St. Thomas, to infer. Such a thing is rare in China. Therefore, some people always say that the thinking characteristics of China people, who are mainly Han people, are as follows: firstly, they often reduce the contract; secondly, they often use metaphors or symbols and hints; thirdly, their thinking is not logic or reasoning, but often experience and analogy. This may not be wrong. However, the key point is to know that people in ancient China had such a basic presupposition about "heaven", "earth" and "man" for a long time. It is from this basic platform that they infer and assume the essence and correlation of all phenomena or things according to this special idea today, and then deal with and deal with the world in front of them according to this assumption or inference, and form their own knowledge, technology and thoughts. This basic presupposition is the relationship between heaven and man, and the method used to understand and judge all phenomena in the world is "Yin-Yang and Five Elements" based on the basic presupposition of the unity of heaven and man and the induction of heaven and man.
For example, China’s TCM established its diagnosis and treatment according to the theory and thinking of Yin-Yang and Five Elements (the theoretical basis of Huangdi Neijing is Yin-Yang and Five Elements). In traditional Chinese medicine, many diseases and drugs are classified into several properties by the theories of yin and yang. These properties are like the seasonal changes of cold and heat between heaven and earth, which are expressed as "cold and heat", "wet dryness" or more detailed words such as "heat, warmth, coolness and coldness" when applied to people. Diseases are divided into different types by these terms. However, the so-called "yin and yang" and "heat and cold" are mostly based on experience and feeling. The nature of "removing fire" or "getting angry", and the so-called "yin qi" and "yang qi" can not be judged by experiments, but can only be summarized by experience and feeling. Ancient China people’s judgments about yin and yang in medicine, food, weather and space are difficult for many westerners to understand. However, until now, China people still distinguish yin and yang by feeling, such as radish clearing fire, ginseng getting angry, orange getting angry, mandarin orange not getting angry, pork being warm, mutton being dry, being tonic in winter and being cool in summer. This is all puzzling to foreigners. But is there no "truth" here?
Similarly, the relationship between human body, five zang-organs, five senses, four limbs and five elements, five flavors, five colors and five tones, and how various phenomena and things belonging to the five elements can coexist with each other, how they can be coordinated in different environments and seasons, and how this relationship can be extended to people’s physical condition and treatment methods can not be understood by western-style thinking and logic. Like the theory of meridians, there is no way to explain it from the western anatomy, but the ancient China people, relying on their own experience and ponder, are convinced that "qi" and "blood" exist in the body.
Its flowing path, such as Yinshu and Maishu of Han Dynasty unearthed in Zhangjiashan, Hubei Province, and acupuncture wooden figures of Han Dynasty unearthed in Shuangbao Mountain, all show that ancient people found some truth from another way of thinking, and the modern practice of meridians and acupuncture also proves that ancient China people’s thoughts have their special features.
Of course, in addition to traditional Chinese medicine, as I mentioned earlier, in ancient China, many things were related to Yin-Yang and Five Elements. For example, to build a mausoleum, we need to look at Yin and Yang, to build a house, and to look at Feng Shui, all of which should be coordinated with Yin and Yang and the five elements; Another example is to offer sacrifices to ancestors of heaven and earth. The altar or ancestral temple for offering sacrifices should be set up with a hall, a mound, a temple of heaven, a platform, etc. according to the proper orientation of Yin and Yang and the five elements, and also follow the principles of Yin and Yang and the eight diagrams of nine palaces. All the years, months and days are also matched with yin and yang and five elements, so every day’s actions should also conform to the avoidance of yin and yang and five elements; And the stars in the sky and the orientation of the underground are assigned yin and yang and five elements, so any behavior in space cannot leave this yin and yang and five elements. Maybe you still remember that during my visit to Taoism, I talked in detail about the key significance of this theory of Yin-Yang and Five Elements in Taoist thought and technology in the two parts of "External Dan" and "Internal Dan".
Eight, Chinese Characters Like Rubik’s Cube: Some Aspects of China (Han) Culture (Continued)
Finally, I want to point out that the characteristics of China (Han nationality) culture are Chinese characters and their influence on ancient ways of thinking.
I always feel that many ways of thinking and cognition of the Han people are related to Chinese characters. In the world, only Chinese characters still preserve the basic pattern of the original hieroglyphs, while the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs and Sumerian cuneiform characters have long since disappeared in history, and the only remaining Naxi characters have a small scope of use and can be left behind. Then, will this pictographic-based writing, which is ideographic and phonetic, affect China people throughout the ages? For example, I have an abnormal feeling about literal expression, an inadaptability to pure symbolic operation, a special habit of thinking in images such as metaphors and symbols, and a way of thinking that is good at visualizing abstract problems. Are these all related to Chinese characters?
Chinese characters in ancient China are very interesting. Many characters are pictographic and direct, such as sun, moon, wood, water, fire, hand, mouth and knife. However, there are also many words that need more careful and complicated expression, so I added some words in an ingenious way, such as "blade" instead of the back of the knife, "mining" when I put my hand on the tree, and "prison" when the cow is shut in the circle, but this is still simple. Lu Xun once cited an example of "treasure", and the traditional word "treasure" is made up of a roof and a pen. But knowing is not enough, because some shapes are too close, and writing can’t be drawn too carefully, so it is useful to distinguish them with meanings and add sounds to mark differences, so there are "shapes and sounds", such as rivers, pines and cypresses.
However, the basis is still "shape". Many meanings of Chinese characters can be guessed from the shape of words, and many meaningful words are also bred from words with direct pictographs. Like "wood" refers to trees, while "sun" is in "wood", and the sun rises in the east, which is "East" (East). "Sun" is the sun. If it falls in the grass, it is "Mo" (dusk). The "hand" symbolizes strength, and holding a stick is the "Yin" or the majestic "father" who holds power; But if the word "mouth" is added below, it means that the words don’t start work, it is "Jun". The word "person" has many derivatives, and many words related to people, such as "big", "sky", "owe", "brother", "both", "enterprise", "see" and "lie", can all see the meaning expressed by its glyph. In this way, Chinese characters have influenced people’s thinking and imagination, and also made China scholars have the reading and thinking habits of "guessing", "guessing", or "looking at literature to create meaning".
At present, we can’t understand the influence of Chinese characters on China culture and the thinking of Han people. When it comes to the influence of Chinese characters on China culture, many people especially like to mention calligraphy, but this influence is not limited to calligraphy. China people of Han nationality have some cultural phenomena different from those of other nationalities, which may really be related to Chinese characters. To give some examples: (1) China people have the sensory reading of "reading with one eye and ten lines" and the way of interpretation and understanding of "looking at the text to create meaning" (the ancients believed that "three are kings" and "pushing ten into one as a scholar" actually reversed the original meaning from the shape of the characters, while the ancients believed that A was like a human head, B was like a human neck, and those who were self-ringed called private, while those who were behind private called public, but they imagined Chinese characters. (2) In China’s ideological world, it is always believed that the signified literal symbols are inseparable from the signified phenomenal world. This means that, unlike phonography, the pictographic glyph is just a "pure symbol". Its shape is related to the original meaning, and the original meaning is related to the present meaning. The signifier and the signified are related to each other. In other words, there is a deep relationship between words and the things and things they refer to. Perhaps because of this, people in ancient China were not used to thinking in abstract pure symbols and pure logic without concrete things. People in ancient China had a special reverence for writing. The story of "It rains and millet, ghosts cry at night" when Cangjie created writing shows the magic of writing in people’s imagination, while people in ancient China respected the habit of writing paper.And Taoism’s belief in the efficacy of calligraphy and chanting (pronunciation) all illustrate this concept. (3) What can be mentioned is the development of modern poetry, parallel couplets and couplets in China’s classical literature. The formation of these literary features depends on its language basis-Chinese characters. (4) Especially because of this kind of writing that mainly depends on the font rather than the sound, Han people in different places who use different dialects have a recognizable writing, so that they will not split into different regions and cultures and maintain the identity of the Han people.
9. Cultural Classification: What exactly is China’s culture?
The problem of culture is quite complicated. The above are just some examples that I think are important, and I don’t want to make a complete exposition of China culture.
The question is, since it is very complicated, what exactly is the culture or tradition of China or the Han nationality? Here, please pay special attention. When we use the word "China" or "Han nationality" as the attributive to modify "culture" or "tradition", we have to describe a feature that can summarize their identity, which is very difficult. We know that human beings can be divided into different ways, but no way can distinguish the ownership of "culture" profoundly and accurately. For example, of course, you can distinguish between races, such as black people and white people, but this does not explain the problem. China, which is dominated by the Han nationality, may be composed of Mongolian and Malay people. In history, it has been integrated with the blood and genes of quite a few different races. The "black hair and yellow skin" sung in popular songs seems to be from China, but how can we distinguish Japanese and Koreans who are also "black hair and yellow skin"? So race or gene is not the fundamental way to distinguish. Of course, you can also divide it by language. Chinese speakers are Han people, but not necessarily. Among Chinese users, there are many people of other ethnic groups, and those who use Chinese characters should include ancient Japan and Korea. The concept of Chinese character culture circle is actually bigger than that of Han culture, not to mention that there are many "ethnic minorities" among Chinese speakers. You can also divide it according to religion, but religion can’t distinguish China from foreign countries, Han nationality from other ethnic groups, because Han nationality doesn’t have a unified religion, and some of them share a religion with other ethnic groups.Others share a religion with other ethnic groups, and even a Han nationality can believe in several religions. Or you can say, we can distinguish from regions. Of course, the word "China" can include most people, including people from Hongkong, Macau and Taiwan Province. However, many overseas Chinese also agree with the Han nationality in China. Is their culture a China culture? Therefore, the region can not be regarded as the basic basis for division. Finally, you may think it is possible to divide people into classes, the upper and lower classes, the knowledgeable and the uneducated, the elite and the people, the rich and the poor. I admit that there is a great difference between the big tradition and the small tradition, but this class belongs to what we call "China culture".
Therefore, no matter race, language, belief, region and class, they cannot overlap with culture. So, what is culture? Since we said earlier that "culture is something that expresses a nation’s self and characteristics", where is the most profound expression of China or Han nationality’s self and characteristics?
A more general statement is: "Culture refers to a traditional spirit that has been inherited from history, deeply rooted in the hearts of a nation, believed and recognized without thinking at any time, place and class, and will always be shown in all aspects of their daily life." Of course, this is too abstract, but at present, we don’t have a better way to express and demonstrate it. We can only say that China culture has constructed a cultural China. This culture has a tradition in China, which makes China people have different values, living habits and spiritual temperament from others. By the way, an interesting joke, there are many metaphors and stories about the cultural characteristics of different nationalities in many books. These stories and metaphors are not necessarily accurate, but you might as well listen to them. One of the stories said that when faced with elephants, people of all ethnic groups were asked to write a descriptive paper. Therefore, the Germans wrote a thick book "The Position of Elephants in Biological Classification and Its Philosophical Meaning"; The British wrote a book "On the Gentleman Manner of Elephants"; The French wrote the thinnest volume, a small volume of Love of Elephants, and the Japanese wrote the thickest volume, three volumes of Collection of Elephant Research Materials; China people, on the other hand, wrote "Examination of Image, Phase and Image". This is a joke, of course, but people under various cultural traditions must have quite different places. In the past, this difference was called "nationality" or "nationality", that is, the nationality of English, and nationality or nationality was due to the accumulation and influence of tradition, and at the same time, I couldn’t help but have a sense of identity and intimacy with this temperament spirit.It has become the reason for the formation and cohesion of a nation. This tradition is a natural thing in everyone’s memory and a natural resource when they respond to the changing environment.
X. Rethinking China Culture
Perhaps this is still a rather difficult thing to tell and understand, but we should describe it here as much as possible. Therefore, in the previous twelve chapters, I talked about this big topic: "What is the characteristic of China culture?" In these twelve chapters, I talked about the concept of the world in ancient China, and how it influenced the attitude of ancient China people towards themselves and foreigners; Also from the family and ceremony of ancient China, when it comes to the formation of Confucianism and ancient China’s political theory; Also simply from Laozi to Zhuangzi, discuss the thought and influence of Taoism; It also discusses the ways of communication between ancient China and the outside world, of course, mainly from the way of Buddhism entering China; In addition, it briefly introduces the thoughts, methods, techniques and influences of Buddhism and Taoism, especially the Guanyin belief and Zen thought, because the former has a great influence on the people in China, and its image and story evolution are very interesting, which can reflect the differences of different cultures. The latter is of course a typical example of the true China of Buddhism, which has more influence on intellectuals in China than all Buddhist sects, and also reflects that a different culture will enter China, a self-sufficient cultural system. Finally, I also introduced two belief worlds in ancient China in particular, because compared with other cultural circles, this kind of belief, whose religious boundaries are rather vague and cultural levels are quite clear, is particularly prominent in China. It’s just that I need to remind you again that, in fact, the main thing is not that I "speak" but that you "listen".If you are from China (Han nationality), then the appropriate way should be to "activate" your memory, experience and experience, experience your surroundings, your society and the culture you are familiar with, mobilize the "reserve" in your heart, and rebuild the "China (Han nationality) society and culture" together with what I have said.
Source: Ge Zhaoguang’s Lecture Notes on Ancient China Culture.
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