Confucian culture and its influence on China
Confucian culture, also known as Confucianism, was founded by Confucius (551-479 BC, a native of the state of Lu during the Spring and Autumn Period), and is a system of thought centered on the principle of ren, which developed gradually after the Han Dynasty, and was the dominant school of consciousness in ancient China. It is the mainstream school of consciousness in ancient China. Confucianism has been the official ideology of China for most of its history since the Han Dynasty, and is still the mainstream ideological foundation for Chinese people in general, and it has also influenced many Southeast Asian countries throughout history. After many shocks, catastrophes and even attempts by official regimes to eradicate Confucianism completely, Confucianism has remained a core value for the general public in Chinese society, and has become a representative of Chinese culture and a symbol of national tradition in the world. In modern society, while Confucianism is spreading and developing in Southeast Asian countries, its modern values are increasingly being rediscovered by many countries around the world, and its influence in the international arena is expanding with the rise of China.
I. Formation of Confucian Culture
Confucian culture, also known as Confucianism, was initially formed in China during the Spring and Autumn Period, around 500 BC. Before Confucianism, the aristocrats and the free people of ancient society were socialized through "teachers" and "Confucians" to accept the traditional six virtues (wisdom, faith, holiness, benevolence, righteousness, loyalty), six behaviors (filial piety, friendliness, harmony, marriage, appointment, and compassion), and six arts (rituals, music, archery, imperialism, calligraphy, and mathematics). For the first time, Confucius broke the monopoly of education by the ruling class and changed the principle of "learning in the government" to "education for all", thus spreading traditional culture and education to the whole nation. In this way, Confucianism had a solid national psychological foundation and was accepted by the whole society and gradually Confucianized the whole society. Later on, it was developed by Mencius, Xunzi and others, and became even more mature. In the first year of Yuan Guang (134 BC), Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty adopted Dong Zhongshu's proposal to "revere only Confucianism", and Confucianism became a national belief, and China entered a Confucian society. Later, Confucianism spread to Korea, Japan, Vietnam and other regions, where it developed and became an official doctrine. So that later gradually formed (with China itself as the geographic center), with Chinese culture as the axis of the East Asian cultural circle, because the influence of Confucianism is particularly far-reaching, so also known as the "Confucian cultural circle".
II. The spiritual core of Confucian culture
Confucianism has had a profound impact on Chinese politics, economy and culture, and its spiritual core mainly consists of the following principles: benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, faith, forgiveness, loyalty, filial piety and fraternal duty.
Ren: love of people. It is the theoretical core of Confucius' thought system. It is the highest ideal and standard of Confucius' social politics, ethics and morality, and also reflects his philosophical viewpoints, and has a profound influence on later generations. Ren is embodied in the educational thought and practice of "teaching without discrimination", i.e., no matter how noble or lowly they are, they can all come to be taught. Benevolence is embodied in politics by emphasizing "virtue", and the basic spirit of virtue is to love all and to give to all. Confucius introduced benevolence into rituals, changed the traditional "rule of rituals" into "rule of virtue", and made a significant contribution to the "rule of virtue". The "rule of virtue" was inherited and transformed.
Yi: Originally, it means "appropriate", i.e., behavior suitable for the "rites". Confucius used "righteousness" as a moral principle for judging people's thoughts and behaviors.
Ritual: The political and ethical category of Confucius and Confucianism. It is the moral code and code of life in feudal China, which plays an important role in the cultivation of the spiritual quality of the Chinese nation.
Wisdom: the same as "knowledge", the basic category of Confucius' epistemology and ethics. It refers to knowing, understanding, insight, knowledge, cleverness, wisdom, and so on.
Honesty: refers to the honesty in dealing with others and the consistency of words and deeds. It is one of the "Five Constants" of Confucianism.
Forgiveness: Do not do unto others as you would not have them do unto you, which includes the meaning of forgiveness and tolerance.
Faithfulness: To do what one wishes to do and not to do unto others; to do what one wishes to do and not to do unto others. According to Confucius, loyalty is expressed in faithfulness and honesty in dealing with others.
Filial piety: Confucius believed that filial piety and fraternal duty were the foundation of benevolence, and that filial piety was not limited to the support of parents, but should be emphasized on the respect for parents and elders, and believed that if one lacked filial piety and respect, the support of one's parents would be regarded as the same as keeping a dog, which was a great treason and unfiliality.
Ti (悌): refers to the feeling of respect and love for one's elder brother.
Three. The influence on the formation of Chinese politics and society
The influence of Confucianism on Chinese society and politics should be viewed from two perspectives:
Positive aspects: (1) the importance of education, the creation of the "teaching according to the material" and other teaching methods, pay attention to the differences in personality in teaching, good at inspiring teaching. Three thousand disciples under Confucius, summarized a lot of effective education methods, such as "learning from the past to understand the new", "three people must be my teacher", "learning without thinking is confused, thinking without learning is idle! " and so on.
(2) Focusing on morality, etiquette, benevolence and righteousness, and asking for conscious compliance with truth and goodness, Confucianism emphasizes respect for teachers, filial piety and parents, and the number of rituals cannot be abolished, etc. This aspect is many times more progressive than the religious and theistic ideas of the Western countries in Europe, and is typical of humanism and humanism.
(3) Ideology is good at discursive thinking, attaching importance to natural agriculture and experience, and believing that the natural order is the root of human rationality, and human rationality is the basis of the natural rights of human beings. He advocated the idea of "taking agriculture as the foundation", which was in line with the actual resource situation of ancient China, and emphasized agriculture.
(4) Advocating the idea of "ethical politics", which advocates the rule of the country by "rites". This idea has a positive side in politics: loyalty to the state, defense against foreign invasions, assassination of tyrants, and direct advice to offenders.
(5) Confucianism is a precocious and powerful ideology that has governed the Chinese nation throughout most of its history, stabilizing, balancing, and restraining the history of society.
Negative aspects: (1) does not attach importance to the teaching of knowledge of agricultural production, does not attach importance to the study of scientific knowledge, with a strong political purpose, Confucius is inclined to participate in politics.
(2) They did not pay attention to logic, but emphasized experience, which was called "empirical reason", and the theory of logical reasoning and profound explanation of the laws of things did not germinate, and they were not able to produce theories and doctrines because they were not as thorough as the Westerners.
(3) Emphasizing that the individual is subordinate to the group, suppressing human personality. Disregard for character and unity of thought resulted in national loyalty and filial piety, and the standard of morality and responsibility suppressed human creativity.
(4) The solidification and absolutization of ethical relations, the Three Principles and Five Rules, and the patriarchal dictatorship have become personal oppression and spiritual abuse, restricting the way of thinking and the way of life of the whole nation, and becoming the resistance to the advance of history.
(5) Ethical concepts and hierarchical systems were placed on a high pedestal and reached a degree of exclusivity, thus restricting the development of natural sciences and science and technology. Successive emperors also did not attach importance to science and technology, some scientific achievements as "obscene plan small".
In short, Confucianism has had a great influence on our national thinking and culture. Even now, we can not get out of its circle far. It has its positive and negative sides, and we should face this problem truthfully and objectively.
In today's world, the competition for comprehensive national power among countries is becoming more and more intense, and culture is increasingly becoming an important source of national cohesion and creativity, and an important factor in the competition for comprehensive national power; and in the context of multi-polarization, countries practicing hegemony are also trying their best to promote their own values with the help of cultural infiltration. Therefore, as the place of origin of Confucian culture, China should explore the modern value of Confucian culture, take the essence and discard the dregs, so as to make use of the past for the present, enhance its cultural soft power and further expand its international cultural influence.
Consolidation Exercises
1. Confucianism is a symbol of traditional Chinese culture. The following is a correct understanding of Confucian culture ( )
①Confucian culture is a phenomenon unique to human society ②Confucian culture is a product of the social practice of the Chinese ③Confucian culture is a product of the evolution of nature ④Confucian culture is a system of thought that contains a number of values
A. ① ② ③ B. ② ③ ④ C. ① ③ ④ D. ① ② ④
China News Service (CNS)
China News Service (CNS)
August 5th. Recently, the 2010 "China Roots Tour? Confucius hometown line" overseas Chinese youth summer camp of more than 120 people, accompanied by Wang Yuliang, deputy director of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of Shandong Province, visited Qufu. The campers came from Canada, Germany, South Korea, Cambodia and other countries and regions. Answer questions 2-4.
2. The summer camp campers visited the Confucius Temple, Confucius Mansion and Confucius Forest, experienced the Apricot Lecture, and felt the profoundness of Confucian culture. People choose to visit historical relics about Confucian culture because ( )
1) Confucian culture as a spiritual product cannot be separated from the material carrier, and these historical relics are the material carrier ② Visiting these historical relics can give a perspective on the spiritual world and spiritual life of Confucius and others ③ Visiting historical relics can show the historical Confucian culture and recognize the inheritance and development of Confucian culture ④ Visiting the A. ① ② ③ B. ② ③ ④ C. ① ② ④ D. ① ③ ④
3. Summer camp is actually a form of tourism economy, people go to the home of Confucian culture to start summer camp activities and millions of tourists visit the "three holes" every year, from one side also shows that Confucian culture as a specific form of culture. Confucian culture as a specific form of culture ( )
①has a certain role in promoting the tourism economy ②develops in tandem with the economy ③has an important impact on economic development ④is an important basis for the prosperous development of the tourism economy
A.①② B.②③ C.③④ D.①③
4. The "Roots Tour? The "Journey to the Roots of Confucius" summer camp for overseas Chinese youths has raised the city's popularity overseas, deepened its ties with overseas Chinese and their associations and organizations, and helped to stimulate overseas Chinese's sense of identity with Confucian culture and strengthen the cohesion of the Chinese nation. This is because Confucian culture, as an important carrier of this event ( ）
①能促进社会的全面发展 ②对人具有潜化的影响 ③作为一种精神力量能转化转化为物质力量 ④是中华民族生存的基础
A．． ① ② B． ② ③ C． ③ ④ D． ② ④
5. Confucius is the founder of Confucian culture. In recent years, China has built a large number of Confucius Institutes all over the world as a platform for the spread of Chinese language and culture, showing the world the long history of Chinese culture. This shows that ( )
A．Confucian culture is the representative of contemporary Chinese culture
B．The establishment of Confucius Institutes is the embodiment of Chinese culture going global
C．The spreading of Confucian culture to foreign countries is a necessity for political struggles
D．Confucian culture is a product of a specific historical period
6. UNESCO has announced that it will establish the first-ever national honorary college named after a Chinese person from 2006 onwards. UNESCO announced the establishment of the Confucius Prize for Education, the first international prize named after a Chinese, to reward governmental institutions, non-governmental organizations and individuals who have made outstanding achievements in the field of education for all; the movie Confucius was released in February 2010 in China and at the same time in Japan, South Korea, Southeast Asia and Europe, creating a new wave of "Confucianism" around the world. The world once again set off a "Confucius fever" ...... "The increasing popularity of Confucius is closely related to the far-reaching influence of Confucian culture. The following statements about the influence of Confucian culture are correct
A. Confucian culture is an advanced and healthy culture, which will promote the overall development of society
B. Confucian culture is a backward and decadent culture, which will impede the development of society
C. Progressive and healthy elements of Confucian culture will promote the development of society
D. Confucian culture has gradually become the mainstream of world culture. The mainstream of culture
7. Material I, Jinan, July 31, Xinhua News: reciting the Analects of Confucius, participating in the rite of passage ceremony, the Confucius Temple Dacheng Hall of sacrifice, watching a large square music and dance "Apricot Sacred Dreams", touring the three holes, although it is in the middle of the summer, but Qufu, Shandong Province, launched the "Confucius cultivation and tourism festival" is still attracting a lot of tourists from all over the country. Tourists from all over the country. According to statistics, from January to July this year, the "three holes" scenic area received 2.077 million Chinese and foreign tourists, an increase of 13.48%, realizing ticket revenue of 80.438 million yuan, an increase of 11.66%. The hot tourism and promote the "Confucius fever" further heating.
Material 2, Confucianism advocates the "rule of virtue", which believes that: regardless of human nature, good or bad, can be used to moralize and educate people. Confucianism advocates the "rule of man", attaching importance to the specialization of human beings, the possible moral development of human beings, and human sympathy. Our current political emphasis on "ruling the country by virtue" and "putting people first" is, to some extent, along the lines of Confucian political thought or y influenced by Confucian thought.
Using the relevant knowledge of Cultural Life, how does the above material reflect the influence of culture?
Reference Answer
1.D. Something purely "natural" cannot be called culture, so ③ is wrong.
2.A. ④ is necessarily wrong in the expression, not selected.
3.D. Culture and economy influence each other, but not necessarily synchronized development, so ② is not selected; the economy is the basis of culture, ④ said the opposite, not selected.
4.B. It is the healthy and progressive elements of Confucian culture that promote the development of society, ① is wrong; material (economy) is the basis, ④ is not chosen.
5.B. A and C are wrong, and D does not fit the question.
6.C. A and B are one-sided; D is wrong.
7.① Culture and economy are intertwined. In Material 1, the development of tourism and culture in Shandong has promoted the development of the tourism economy, and the development of the tourism economy has in turn promoted the heating of "Confucius fever" (culture).
②Culture and politics are intertwined, and culture affects politics. In material two, Confucian culture, "moral rule", "rule of man" ideas and our current political advocacy of "moral rule", "people-oriented "There is a history of this culture, and this culture has influenced our political thinking to some extent.