Why emphasize "respecting the past but not restoring it"?, Cracking the "Controversy between Ancient and Modern China and the West" in the Cultural Controversy of China
He emphasized, "After long-term efforts, we have more conditions than any other era to solve the 'ancient, modern, and Chinese Western conflict', and there is also a more urgent need than any other era to forge a batch of cultural achievements that integrate the ancient and modern, and integrate the East and the West."
The so-called "debate between ancient and modern Chinese and Western cultures" refers to how to deal with the relationship between ancient culture and modern culture, as well as between Chinese culture and Western culture.
Why should we respect the ancients?
Inheriting excellent traditional Chinese culture is an inevitable result of respecting the ancients. Why should we respect the ancients? Firstly, of course, it is due to the long history of Chinese cultural traditions - as early as after World War II, archaeologists used carbon-14 radioactive technology to conclude that Chinese Neolithic creations had already appeared in 4000 BC or even earlier. Moreover, unlike ancient civilizations in other regions, Chinese civilization has never broken apart and has proven its vitality through its long continuity. Secondly, it is characterized by its broad and profound nature and manifestation, as well as its global influence in cultural exchange and mutual learning. For example, in the 18th century, Europe formed a situation of "middle school moving westward". Driven by some missionaries who came to China, a large number of classic works about China and those from China were published in Europe. In this way, the Western concept of China gradually became clearer, and interest in it also gradually increased. In terms of academic thought, when Europeans suffered from the irrational rule of the medieval church, the secular and practical rationality of Confucianism was regarded by Europeans as the Enlightenment spirit from the East. In terms of literature and art, the historical tragedy of Ji Junxiang in the Yuan Dynasty, "The Orphan of the Zhao Family," embodies the spirit of chivalry in traditional Chinese culture with an ancient theme of revenge. The Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire adapted it into "The Orphan of China," which was highly acclaimed. As for the impact of China's the Four Great Inventions on the development of science and technology in Europe, the history of civilization fully affirms it.
Contemporary Korean scholar Jin Rongwo highly praised traditional Chinese culture in his work "The Doctrine of the Mean: The Supreme Wisdom of Humanity", stating that "Chinese classics are not a unique ancient culture of China, but a source of human thinking". "From a humanistic perspective, Chinese civilization is the only civilization in the world, while Western civilization is just a kind of theology and a special ideology. Chinese civilization can still maintain our lives and country without the premise of transcendent value, which is very precious." When we read such words, we cannot help but show respect for ancient Chinese culture, and this respect for the past brings us full cultural confidence.
Why can't retro be done?
However, dialectics holds that everything is fluid, developing, and changing, and that society and history are developing, which in turn drives the development of culture, that is, cultural innovation. Only respecting the past is not enough, and restoring the past is even more unacceptable.
The unwillingness of retro is primarily due to its violation of the universal laws of development. Engels gave a revolutionary interpretation of Hegel's dialectics, stating that "a great fundamental idea is that the world is not a collection of established things, but a collection of processes, in which all seemingly stable things, like their ideological images or concepts in our minds, are constantly changing in generation and destruction. In this change, despite various surface contingencies and temporary regressions, the development of progress will eventually be achieved.". The so-called "progressive development will eventually be achieved" refers to the fact that things will always alternate between old and new, and innovation as a major trend is inevitable, and wise people should follow the trend.
Secondly, in social practice, holding a retro attitude will lose the driving force for progress and development, leading to a regression of society. In China, Confucius, who advocated for the restoration of Zhou rituals, did not achieve his goal; In Europe, the Industrial Revolution and the Capitalist Revolution emerged, and the lost aristocracy and conservatives couldn't stand the "collapse of propriety and music" and raised the banner of "returning to the Middle Ages". However, modern society eventually emerged, and retro was not achieved. It can be seen from this that the development laws of things cannot be violated.
In terms of China's development, the failure of the Opium War promoted the holistic reflection of Chinese intellectuals. After experiencing a three-stage process of artifacts, institutions, and culture, they finally realized that the fundamental gap between China and Europe at that time was in culture, and some traditional cultural concepts and practices in China hindered China's transformation towards modernization. So, on the land of China in the early 20th century, there was a growing demand for the transformation of old culture and the creation of new culture, and the New Culture Movement emerged. This is the greatest cultural movement in Chinese history, achieving the phoenix rebirth of Chinese culture and opening the door to modernization in China.
The Cultural Form of Chinese path to modernization
What are the goals of cultural innovation in China today in the 21st century?Obviously, this is a new summary of the historical experience and lessons of the New Culture Movement at the beginning of the 20th century - to achieve cultural modernization, not only traditional culture cannot be abandoned, but also excellent traditional culture should be promoted more consciously. The term "becoming" means that within a certain period of time, such as the 19th century, there were differences between traditional Chinese culture and the newly emerging modern culture from other regions, which objectively fell behind, leading to humiliation in modern China. To achieve national rejuvenation, it is necessary to forge a new cultural spirit. Only through a process can we "become", that is, transform and construct, that is, "creative transformation and innovative development", so as to make it a modern culture, that is, "make the new culture formed through 'combination' become a cultural form of Chinese path to modernization".
The "two combinations" have given birth to a new cultural life body with organic unity, which has become the cultural form of Chinese path to modernization. This means that, on the one hand, in the historical process of Chinese path to modernization, Marxism cannot be talked about without the excellent traditional Chinese culture. Marxism, which has nothing to do with national cultural traditions, will not form vitality within a nation; On the other hand, due to the entry of Marxism, the excellent traditional Chinese culture has become the new modern culture. Therefore, any attempt to completely restore traditional culture without Marxism is also wrong.
More than 70 years ago, on the eve of the victory of the Chinese revolution, Mao Zedong boldly declared: "Since the Chinese people learned Marxism Leninism, the Chinese people have turned from passive to active in spirit. Since then, the era of looking down on the Chinese people and Chinese culture in modern world history should be ended. The great victorious Chinese People's Liberation War and the People's Revolution have revived and are reviving the great Chinese people's culture." Mao Zedong said that "the great Chinese people's culture has been revived and is being revived", which is a new cultural life body formed through the "combination of the two", and ultimately becomes the cultural form of Chinese path to modernization in the 21st century. This new cultural form is not the original ecology of traditional Chinese culture, but a new culture that is organically integrated with Marxism, and is a historical achievement that respects the past without restoring it.
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