What is culture? What is civilization? Strictly speaking, culture and civilization are unequal. Civilization is an enlarged culture, and civilization is the product of cultural development under certain historical conditions. Culture is the remains and memories created by human beings, and labor creates culture. Civilization is an overall evaluation of the degree of social development and progress. Broadly speaking, culture is a precipitated historical fossil; Others say that culture refers to the sum of material wealth and spiritual wealth created in the process of human social development (in a narrow sense, knowledge and culture are not equal. In real life, there are many examples with knowledge and no culture, and there are also those with culture and no knowledge. There are more than one hundred definitions of culture, but in the final analysis, culture is the root and soul of a nation.
The essence of traditional culture is ethics, and the traditional culture we are talking about is mainly the culture before the pre-Qin period. Ethics belongs to the category of traditional culture, so the root and soul of the concept of honor and disgrace should come down in one continuous line with traditional culture. To understand the concept of honor and disgrace, we must first deeply understand the traditional culture.
China culture or Chinese civilization is a native and primitive inland culture in the pre-Qin period. This should be understood from the following aspects:
-Cultural roots
China's culture is independent, and it has national independence. Originated from geography, it is surrounded by mountains on three sides and the sea in the east, which is beneficial to the agricultural production of animal husbandry and planting. It is a natural economy with agriculture as the mainstay, as well as animal husbandry, sideline and fishery. Completely self-sufficient, no external assistance. Five thousand years of Chinese civilization (in fact, mainly farming civilization) has a long history. Until the Western alphabet was introduced into China, China's huge writing system had been formed.
1840 years later, although the imperialist powers opened the door to China and infiltrated western culture into China, China's culture was still dominated by the Han nationality, and together with other 55 brotherly peoples, it formed Chinese culture. The core of traditional culture is Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism (Buddhism is a culture handed down from India and absorbed by China culture), supplemented by Buddhism, Mohism, Ming, vertical and horizontal, miscellaneous, yin and yang, agriculture, novels, soldiers and traditional Chinese medicine, which covers a wide range and has rich connotations.
-The soul of culture
China culture embodies the spirit of the Chinese nation, which is industrious, brave, kind, energetic and self-reliant. China traditional culture emphasizes the harmony between man and himself.
Confucianism pays attention to moral cultivation, while Taoism pays attention to health preservation. Although Confucianism does not advocate asceticism, it has always emphasized the need to regulate people's behavior with integrity, sincerity and self-cultivation. Confucius believes that people are human because they have spiritual life, especially because they have morality. Therefore, Confucius proposed to take "benevolence" as the center and advocate gentleness, kindness, courtesy, frugality, concession, courtesy, wisdom and faith. Taking the cultivation of moral people as the basis of learning, it is considered that this is the basis of social stability and harmony.
Taoism advocates that harmony between body and mind can be achieved through modesty, honesty and inaction. "Frustrate their spirit and resolve their disputes; Its light, its dust. " With a harmonious personality, we can get rid of individual obscurity and look at everything with an open mind and a paranoid mind.
Buddhism emphasizes the afterlife, trying to enter a state of understanding with a detached attitude and realize the harmony between self and body.
In a word, China culture advocates the harmony between man and society, which is mainly reflected in three aspects: First, political harmony. The core of "king" is "protecting the people as king", and the core of "benevolent government" lies in "people-oriented" advocated by Mencius. From pre-Qin hundred schools of thought, through Confucian Classics in Han Dynasty, Metaphysics in Wei and Jin Dynasties, Buddhism in Sui and Tang Dynasties, Neo-Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties to Puxue in Qing Dynasty, based on Confucian culture, hundred schools of thought and folk beliefs exchanged with each other, which stirred up China's profound traditional culture and realized "governing the country with Confucianism, cultivating the body with Taoism and cultivating the heart with Buddhism", which is the internal spiritual embodiment of "harmony but difference".
In today's society, influenced by western hedonism, a considerable number of people pursue material enjoyment and covet pleasure, and know little about their traditional culture. Some people even deny traditional culture in ignorance, and people seem to have little trust in the culture that supports the blood of the whole nation. In this new historical period, at the critical moment of the in-depth development of reform, Comrade Hu Jintao sized up the situation, was far-sighted, and put forward the education of socialist concept of honor and disgrace in time with a strategic vision, which provided a strong cultural support for the social development, progress and development of China.
Wang Yuechuan, a professor from Peking University, gave a lecture entitled "Discovering the Export of Oriental Culture" at Peking University, and talked about why discovering the East was proposed in the new century. Because the "East" was demonized, China was misunderstood. Today, the western academic system has become neurotic and solidified in the hearts of some doctoral supervisors. China put forward the idea of "discovering the East" because compared with the West, our culture has become a second-class culture and an undervalued culture in the past 200 years, which needs to be valued and discovered.
The urgent task is to awaken ourselves, especially after the late Qing Dynasty, we have abandoned the dust of traditional culture. Many excellent people in China went to the west and learned the western way of life, but they didn't go through 8 1 as Xuanzang did to get back the scriptures. Xuanzang was a long-distance traveler from China to India and back to China. He came back firmly. Today, everyone is firmly out of the country. All-round westernization, semi-westernization or localization are personal choices, and everyone can only be responsible for himself. This is the sorrow of China people!
In the past century, China has been influenced by western utilitarianism, and China has become a country where utilitarianism prevails. Now in the eyes of some China people, utilitarianism has gained the upper hand, and everything depends on "fame and fortune" and "function first". Now some people don't think and judge things from the perspective of morality, conscience and justice like the sages, and even go to the point of losing their morality. We need to settle China people's individual lives through culture, rebuild China people's social morality through culture, rebuild China people's national spirit through culture, rebuild China people's beliefs and hopes through culture, rebuild the legitimacy of China's political order through culture, establish a political system with China's cultural characteristics through culture, lay the moral foundation for China's modernization through culture, and solve the ecological environment protection problem of China and even human society through culture.
A healthy and rich cultural life can cultivate sentiment, please the body and mind, warm the mind, and play a unique role in enriching the spiritual world, improving the quality of life, relieving psychological pressure and promoting social harmony.
Jia Qinglin pointed out at the Fifth Cross-Strait Economic, Trade and Cultural Forum that culture is the soul of a nation and breeds its vitality, cohesion and creativity.
The report of the 15th National Congress of the Communist Party of China pointed out: "Socialism with Chinese characteristics culture is an important force to unite and inspire people of all ethnic groups in China and an important symbol of comprehensive national strength. In today's world, the integration of culture, economy and politics has become more and more prominent in the competition of comprehensive national strength. "
Comrade Hu Jintao pointed out in the report of the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China that culture has increasingly become an important source of national cohesion and creativity and an important factor in the competition of comprehensive national strength, and enriching spiritual and cultural life has increasingly become the people's earnest desire.
Culture is the blood and soul of a nation, and it accumulates the deepest spiritual pursuit of a nation. Chinese culture is an inexhaustible motive force for the Chinese nation to live endlessly and forge ahead in unity. It is an important support for national development and national rejuvenation. "Culture embodies this nation's historical cognition and realistic feelings about the world and life, and accumulates its deepest spiritual pursuit and code of conduct.
Throughout the ages, every great nation has its own profound culture, and every modern country regards culture as an important force to promote social development and progress. The awakening of a nation is the awakening of culture first, and the prosperity of a country cannot be separated from the support of culture. Culture is deeply rooted in the blood of the nation and is always an inexhaustible source of strength for the survival and development of the nation and the prosperity and rejuvenation of the country. Culture is an important factor of a country's core competitiveness and plays an irreplaceable role in the competition of comprehensive national strength. With the multi-polarization of the world, the deepening of economic globalization and the rapid development of science and technology, the integration of culture with economy and politics is deepening, and the combination with science and technology is closer. The cultural content of economy is increasing day by day, and the economic function of culture is getting stronger and stronger. Culture has become an important factor in the country's core competitiveness. Whoever occupies the commanding heights of cultural development and has strong cultural soft power will win the initiative in the fierce international competition. Now, more and more countries attach great importance to the great role of culture and do everything possible to enhance the overall strength and international competitiveness of their own culture. China, as a developing socialist country, must hold high its cultural ideals and form its cultural advantages as soon as possible, in order to remain invincible in the new international competition and safeguard its national development interests and cultural security.
Culture is an important goal of building a well-off society in an all-round way, and it has become a significant symbol to measure the degree of social civilization and people's quality of life. The progress of culture reflects the progress of social civilization, and the development of culture promotes the all-round development of people.