The birthplace of ancient Chinese civilization moving towards modern civilization, Shanghai, China
As a city that emerged in modern times, Shanghai's birth, development, prosperity, and globalization history are closely related to China's modernization process. As the birthplace of the CPC, the intersection of eastern and western cultures, and the starting point of the ancient Chinese civilization moving towards modern civilization, Shanghai is an important window to explore the evolution logic of the modern civilization of the Chinese nation.
The logic of connecting ancient and modern without being limited by tradition——
Tracing back to ancient Shanghai, it is bordered by rivers and the sea, with numerous lakes and lakes. Over 7000 years ago, the coastline expanded eastward, the land rose, and the water bodies shrank, making it suitable for human habitation. About 6000 years ago, people from southern Jiangsu and northern Zhejiang came to Shanghai one after another. The unique natural conditions in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River have made it one of the traditional origins of rice cultivation. Ancient ancestors began settled agricultural production, and society began to enter the stage of civilization origin.
Since the Song and Yuan dynasties, the economic prosperity brought by the textile, handicraft, and shipping industries has created the initial spirit of business and practicality; Since the Ming and Qing dynasties, Shanghai has inherited and developed the cultural characteristics of water towns in Jiangnan, which have brought fluidity and openness.
The mature agricultural civilization formed on the basis of rice farming and the subsequent dominant regional culture of Jiangnan have become the concentrated embodiment of traditional Chinese culture in Shanghai before modern times. On the basis of traditional agricultural and commercial society, it has demonstrated many characteristics such as flexibility, openness, inclusiveness, practicality, and innovation.
These cultural orientations enable Shanghai to possess both the historical depth and profound cultural heritage of ancient civilization, as well as the cultural soil that transcends tradition, in the process of modernization. It is possible to fully utilize the precious resources of excellent traditional Chinese culture in a broader cultural space, and explore the path of cultural openness and innovation towards the future from the logic of ancient and modern integration.
The logic of Sino foreign integration that transcends the divide between the East and the West——
The Chinese nation has an enterprising spirit of upholding integrity and respecting the past without restoring it. Over the past 180 years, various foreign cultures from the West and East have landed in Shanghai, forming a complex and diverse historical and cultural tradition, making it a modern city. The unique cultural traditions of Shanghai have been established through the mutual infiltration and interaction between foreign and local cultures in this globalized exchange.
The generation process of Shanghai's unique urban spiritual character is not only a product of globalization, but also a representative of local consciousness awakening. It cannot be simply explained by the dichotomy between the East and the West. Since modern times, Shanghai has brought together British, French, American, Jewish, Russian, and Japanese people. The aggregation and integration of multiple cultural resources and the radiating effect of multiculturalism have catalyzed the formation of a new Shanghai style culture.
The realistic soil of Shanghai style culture is, on the one hand, that Shanghai is located at the intersection of rivers and seas in a geographical position, and on the other hand, Shanghai is also at the intersection of Eastern and Western cultures in terms of spiritual and cultural aspects. What is even more rare is that Shanghai has always maintained an inclusive and integrated cultural modernist orientation in the convergence and agitation of various modern ideological trends. As a result, Chinese civilization has been revitalized through the integration of China and foreign countries, laying an important ideological foundation for the subsequent formation of a unique spiritual symbol of the Chinese nation and becoming a powerful spiritual force for the Chinese people to move forward victoriously.
The Logic of Subjective Identity in the Convergence of Three Cultures——
Observing the modernization process of Shanghai's modern civilization from the theoretical perspective of "two combinations" has opened up a dimension of innovation in time and space, which helps us to grasp the initiative of ideology and culture, and also highlights China's endogenous logic as a cultural innovation subject.
For the past 180 years, as a window for China to face the world, Jiangnan culture, Shanghai style culture, and red culture have been surging and blending in Shanghai. Western culture plays an important role in the urban development of Shanghai, but this external influence has never been separated from Shanghai's local culture and has had a separate impact.
Modern Shanghai was influenced not only by liberalism and commercial culture, but also by anti imperialist and anti feudal nationalism, and was in the ideal and pursuit of the Chinese people to create a new "modern nation-state". No matter how turbulent history and reality may be, how diverse cultures converge, and how various ideological trends surge, the Chinese people gathered in Shanghai are always committed to grasping the autonomy to change the national destiny.
In particular, after the birth of the CPC, a modern subjective force, in Shanghai, it gradually led the Chinese people to grasp the historical initiative. In the exploration process of combining the basic principles of Marxism with China's specific reality and with China's excellent traditional culture, it created a new cultural life body that is organically unified, making Marxism become China's, China's excellent traditional culture become modern, and the new culture formed through the "two combinations" become the cultural form of Chinese path to modernization.
From this perspective, Shanghai's unique cultural heritage reflects the enduring, self strengthening, and self renewing characteristics of civilization. In the long-term evolution process, Shanghai has always adhered to the logic of the Chinese nation's self-identity, formed a consensus for the Chinese people to solve their own problems in the difficult search for sovereignty and independence domestically, and viewed the basic value system of its own and world relations. This is the fundamental characteristic that sets the Chinese nation apart from other countries and ethnic groups, forging a cultural confidence that draws on the strengths of others.
In the new era, grasping the triple cultural logic of ancient and modern, domestic and foreign, and subjectivity, and jointly creating a new culture that belongs to our era, can make greater contributions to the construction of modern Chinese civilization and the promotion of the construction of a socialist cultural power.
