Everyone must have heard of the word "Chinese", for example, there is a global "Chinese proficiency test", and more and more people apply for it; There will be a course of "Ancient Chinese" in the Chinese Department and History Department of the university.

I want to say that the words "China people" and "China people" are not enough to properly and accurately describe the so-called symbolic expression system that allows China people to communicate with each other and inherit culture; It can even be said that it is seriously incorrect in politics.

Not words, but words.

Chinese and Chinese are two words. First of all, the word "language" is wrong.

People born in groups have to talk to each other to communicate. Without words, there can be no groups. But not everyone's group has words. Quite a few nationalities in human history have no writing. There are only a few ethnic groups, and their civilizations are constantly developing and maturing, but there are words. However, there are two paths for the emergence of human characters, thus forming two structural systems of Damenchi: one is from China and the other is from China.

The so-called non-Chinese characters are pinyin characters. This writing is only for recording. The vernacular Chinese "I write my mouth by hand" advocated by Hu Shi and others well described the basic mechanism of this writing. For example, Aristotle said, "Spoken language is a symbol of spiritual experience, while writing is a symbol of spoken language." Derrida called this writing system the phonetic center. Since then, pronunciation has controlled writing, and when the language changes, writing also changes. Hu Shi and others discussed China's language and writing on this basis, which is ridiculous.

Regarding the formation path of Chinese characters, the preface of Xu Shen's Shuo Wen Jie Zi makes it very clear:

The ancients respected the kings of the Xi family in the world. They look up at the sky, look down at the land law, look at the culture of birds and beasts, look at the suitability of the land, take the near body and take the far thing. So I started the gossip about the image of Yi Guaxian. Shennong, on the other hand, tied the rope and unified its affairs. There are many ordinary industries, and the decoration is fake. Cang Xie, a historian of the Yellow Emperor, saw the traces of the hoofs of birds and animals, and knew that the division could be different, so he booked a book contract from the beginning. Take care of everything, check everything and cover everything. "Xuan Yang in Wang Ting", a writer, preached in the court that "a gentleman is generous, but he is afraid of virtue". At the beginning of writing, it was like an pictograph, so it was called Wen. After that, the form and sound benefit each other, that is, the word. The writer is the foundation of image; Words, words breed milk and so on. Written in a book called bamboo silk. Books, such as also.

The emphasis is on "observation", not words. Sages "view" people and everything, but take their "images" and books as "texts" and have something to say from them. Here, writing is not to record the sound of words, but to directly visualize things and things and become a unique body. Of course, every word has its pronunciation, but why a word is one shape and not another has little to do with pronunciation.

Here, words and sounds are relatively separated. In China, since ancient times, the phonetic system and the writing system have changed considerably, but the writing has not changed with the phonetic system, but has changed independently. The most important link in the history of writing development is the appearance of official script in Qin and Han dynasties, which makes the writing style straight. Since then, the font has remained basically unchanged. However, in the past two thousand years, the pronunciation of every word has changed a lot. Guangfu dialect may have the legacy of Qin opera, and Hakka dialect originated from Tang pronunciation, which is very different from Mandarin in Ming and Qing Dynasties and today's Mandarin. However, this does not prevent everyone from reaching a consensus on the classics of sages.

Therefore, China's culture can maintain continuity. Today, we read The Book of Songs, The Analects of Confucius, Historical Records, and Tang Poems, but of course the authors of that year couldn't understand them. But despite the different pronunciations, our understanding of the meanings of those words will not deviate too much from our ancestors. The writing symbol system, which is relatively independent of pronunciation, makes the thought transcend the time limit.

Writing also transcends geographical restrictions. Even today, the spoken languages of people in different regions, that is, dialects, are very different, especially in ancient times. But what about this? People who speak different dialects in different parts of China can have exactly the same understanding as long as they are literate and have read classics, so they have the same beliefs and values and are in the same culture.

In the 20th century, I don't know who invented the word "China people". There is "Wen" in it, but after "Yu". This is the result of language madness in China in the 20th century. From the end of19th century, the elites in China felt that Pepsi was not as good as people, so was the language and writing, and the phonetic writing in Europe and America was advanced. To this day, some people still think so. As a result, there was the Chinese phonetic movement. Today, Comrade Zhou Youguang, who is warmly sought after by many scholars, asserts that it is the general law of the development of writing from ideographic to ideographic to phonographic; The general direction of human language development is that books have the same letters, that is, latinization; Chinese characters are out of date in this respect, which is a great burden for the development of science, technology and culture in China. To this end, Comrade Zhou Youguang actively participated in the formulation of the scheme of Chinese Pinyin, and was determined to make the writing of the people of China conform to the general trend of the development of world writing. Zhou Youguang has always been an official phonetic linguist.

Linguistic research paradigm has also turned to phonetic center. Traditional primary schools have always been philology, and Shuo Wen Jie Zi is the most typical one. Although the Qing dynasty developed phonology, its purpose was literacy. The so-called advanced linguistics in modern times is copied from Europe and America. Everyone has made great efforts to create a phonetic writing system and invented the so-called grammar, which has done endless harm to the inheritance and promotion of China culture.

Not from China, but from China.

There are two mistakes about the word Chinese: not only the word "language" but also the word "Chinese".

Phonetics is just a custom, and writing is about politics. One of the root causes of Europe's persistent political division is the inherent defect of its phonetic centralism symbol expression system. In early modern times, kings all over Europe got rid of the control of the Roman church and established their own authority. Instead, characters were invented according to the local pronunciation, and dozens of characters appeared in Europe at once. Characters shape law, politics, ideology and national consciousness. These dozens of characters disintegrated a unified Europe, followed by frequent wars. After the war, Europe once again sought political unity. It took a long time to establish the EU, but today, it is in danger of disintegration at any time.

How lucky China is! Sages view astronomy and create characters, which have nothing to do with pronunciation, so they can transcend regions and nationalities. Yao Shunyu created China in this way. This way of writing is made up of many nationalities in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, Weihe River and Huaihe River. Everyone can accept this way of writing because it is fair to everyone. Therefore, the link between political groups in China is language, not words.

Huaxia-China therefore established a writing-culture-education mechanism for the expansion of the political system. For more than 4,000 years, the interaction between Chinese civilization and neighboring nationalities is complicated, and one nation after another has joined China. Of course, they all have their own languages. In the process of entering China, of course, they have to accept Chinese characters and the politics and religion they express. The kingship and imperial power are reflected in the classics and laws written in this set of words. This process goes quite smoothly because words have nothing to do with language. If you accept Chinese writing, you can still keep your own language, whether it is a dialect of Chinese or a completely different language. As a political body, China is always harmonious but different.

For thousands of years, the basic form of the language and writing system of China, a super-large-scale civilization and political community, is "one set of writing, multiple languages". Writing is the power to maintain political unity, and language is the carrier to maintain cultural diversity. Unified characters shape people, and diverse languages maintain customs. This is compatible with another aspect of Chinese civilization: more gods in one day; One culture and education, multiple religions, and so on. One size fits all makes China super big and Chinese civilization endless. Harmony without difference is by no means empty talk in China.

In a word, the writing symbol system, which is relatively independent of oral pronunciation, is the fundamental force for the continuous expansion of China's civilization and political system, thus achieving today's super-large scale.

Therefore, the words "China people" and "language" in the word "China people" are all wrong. If China is a mono-ethnic country and the political country is a Han country, of course, the name "China people" can be used. However, there are quite a few ethnic groups in China since ancient times. This kind of writing was originally used not only by the Han nationality, but also by all ethnic groups under the imperial power. It is a common communication symbol system in China countries and a national language. What qualifications does the Han nationality have to monopolize this writing system today?

On the other hand, now this language system is called "Chinese", which is simplified to one of "many". So what is the "one" in the language system that maintains China's political unity? There are "Han people" in today's ethnic division. People, especially those who are sensitive to ethnic issues, can easily understand "Han" as the language of "Han". Then why should other ethnic groups learn the language of the Han people?

In this sense, the word "China people" is seriously politically incorrect. The basis of political unity is the unity of words, and flaunting the common words of China people is not conducive to maintaining the political unity of the country.

By the way, many historical researchers often use the word "sinicization" when describing the process of neighboring nationalities entering China. This is a serious misuse of words, which is inappropriate today and inaccurate in ancient times. A neighboring ethnic group was brought into China politically, and its members naturally accepted Chinese culture, and the elites participated in national elections, thus becoming nationals of a unified China. But they can still keep their own language, so they can always keep their beliefs, production and living habits. How can you say that they are "China-oriented"?

Confucius said, "It must make sense!" Since ancient times, China's universal symbol system has been based on characters, not phonetics, so "Wen" should be highlighted in its appellation. In fact, during the Republic of China, until today's Taiwan Province Province, the courses corresponding to mainlanders were all called "Chinese" courses. It's a good name. "State" highlights the political dimension, while "Wen" highlights the central feature of the text. On a global scale, "China people" or "China people" is a better title, that is, English China people. The key is correct translation: it is Chinese, not Chinese.

In this sense, the author also has reservations about the promotion of Putonghua in China. There are many motives for promoting Putonghua. I'm afraid that the linguistic basis is nothing more than eating up the western linguistic theory alive, taking language as the basis and letting the whole country speak with one sound.

The question is, is this necessary? Since ancient times, China's political unity has depended on writing, which can communicate with various languages. Of course, under the guidance of words, pronunciation will also change, especially among elite groups. Phonetics is always close, but this is a natural change, a slow change. Introduce a balance between political unity and cultural diversity.

Nowadays, due to the popularization of Putonghua in China, the diverse and rich local culture is rapidly disappearing. For example, with Mandarin replacing dialects, there is a shortage of local opera audiences. Recently, the government seems to be promoting opera. The problem is that young people can't speak dialects at all, and operas that rely on dialects have no audience.

The same written language and diverse spoken languages are the greatest places of Chinese civilization. A large number of people can live together and keep their lifestyles diversified. Without this tradition, Chinese civilization would lose its diversity and vitality, and it would not be China.

Abolish pinyin and read articles.

If the core of China's civilization and politics is writing, and if the names of China people and China people are established, then the relevant education also needs a fundamental change, that is, we need to change the language and writing system, restore philology, and rebuild China's education system. Specifically, there are the following things to do:

First, abolish pinyin.

Modern China linguistics has gone astray in phonetics, misleading Chinese teaching, subverting the order of China people learning their own language and characters, and resulting in low learning effect.

Since ancient times, learning has started with literacy, which is the "book" of the six arts. I still remember that in rural areas, adults send their children to school and ask them to recognize a few words. Describe a person who is literate and can speak. This person can read and write. In ancient times, as long as children used their spare time in winter, they could read and write enlightenment books such as thousands of people, three-character classics and thousands of poems to meet the needs of daily life and business. Historians generally admit that China's literacy rate has been quite high all over the world since the Tang and Song Dynasties.

Modern linguists in China worshipped Pinyin characters and skillfully invented the Chinese Pinyin system. Children learn letters first, and then learn words and even sentences through pinyin. The problem is that the main expressions of China people are written in the final analysis. So after literacy, pinyin is completely useless. After the popularity of Pinyin for decades, who wrote letters to his girlfriend in Pinyin and kept accounts in Pinyin? Children spend precious time learning pinyin, which is useless in the future. The efforts during this period were completely in vain.

Some people say that learning pinyin helps literacy. This can't be true. China characters are not alphabetic characters. Pinyin and literacy are two completely different systems: Pinyin aims at reading its sound and literacy aims at recognizing its shape. So people keep saying "literacy". Learning pinyin is no more helpful to literacy than learning chemistry is to learning physics. In fact, in ancient times, children could finish reading Qian Qian's 100 enlightenment books in two or three winters. Those with smart qualifications can know more than 2000 words, and those with low qualifications can also know one or two thousand words. Today, in the whole primary school for six years, children only know 3000 words, and its low efficiency is amazing. In these six years, the ancients had already finished reading four books, historical records and Han books.

Today, more and more people in China have a sense of civilization. Predictably, China characters will never be Pinyin. In fact, with the visualization of the world, perhaps Chinese and its word formation is the direction of the development of words.

Now it is absolutely necessary to announce the abolition of pinyin in cultural policy, which is a man-made wart because of ignorance.

Accordingly, linguistics needs a counter-revolution, going out of the wrong path of phoneme centrism, returning to Chinese, returning to articles and returning to China's expression.

Second, education in China begins with literacy.

Only when we get out of the wrong path of phonocentrism can Chinese education be on the right track. Since it is called Chinese, the whole teaching should be based on Chinese, first words, then articles.

If Pinyin is abolished in the education system, linguists can continue to play if they want, but please remove Pinyin from Chinese teaching and stop wasting children's time. At the beginning of school, children don't have to learn pinyin, they can read it directly. Many simple words, children can know their meanings by looking at their shapes and read their sounds. It is also interesting to select some Oracle Bone Inscriptions and bronze inscriptions to explain the creation mechanism of Chinese characters to children. Starting teaching in this way, children's learning efficiency will definitely be greatly improved.

Not only learning pinyin, so-called grammar teaching, but also wasting students' time. Grammar is really important for pinyin, and factors such as tense, voice and word order will affect semantics. But Chinese is not a record of language at all. What is the use of grammar? The ancients didn't learn grammar and didn't say anything wrong. On the contrary, today's students have studied grammar for several years, but they are still at a loss, which is of no help to expression.

Third, focus on reciting and reading articles.

The purpose of literacy is to read and write articles. Chinese education should be centered on articles.

First of all, help children read China classics, literature and history classics extensively, and translate excellent foreign classics. And pay attention to reciting, reciting wonderful chapters and paragraphs in the classics. With the improvement of literacy, the difficulty of reading is gradually increasing.

Attach importance to article writing training. Writing is suitable for written expression. Since ancient times, people have thought that the first sign of successful education is to write good words and articles. How many people can write good articles? You can't blame the children. The teaching system is wrong. Let children write more, especially those with a sense of style, and write more words widely used in social life, such as writing couplets, birthday papers, cover letters, resignation letters, marriage proposals, etc.

Fourth, study the whole book.

At present, the common problem in education is "textbook superstition", and textbooks are used for teaching, but the fundamental defect of textbooks is fragmentation. Children have read books for more than ten years, but they have not read a book completely, and they can't think at all. They only have some irrelevant fragmentary knowledge about their own culture, and they can't fully understand its general situation, let alone the whole. Results From primary school to high school, children learn Chinese almost every day, but they can't read and write fluent articles, and they don't have much cultural spirit of China people.

It is necessary to get rid of the superstition of textbooks, especially the literature subjects such as Chinese and history, and gradually dilute the textbooks so that children can learn classics systematically. Especially in junior high school and senior high school, children's minds have developed, so we should guide them to systematically read ancient and modern classics related to the basic spirit of Chinese culture, such as The Book of Songs, The Analects of Confucius, Songs of the South, Historical Records, Selected Works and important modern classics.

The choice of modern masterpieces should not be limited to literature in a narrow sense. Students can read some ideological, academic and political works. Nowadays, people are generally naive because Chinese teaching is too literary; History and geography education only impart fragmentary knowledge, but cannot provide students with insight into history and the world in which they live. Modern education always likes to underestimate children's intelligence, but how can teenagers become adults without reading adult books?

In a word, only by recognizing the great significance of literature and rebuilding the literature education system can China education undertake the important task of spreading and popularizing China education.