China's cultural tradition, represented by Confucius, is conducive to enlightening modern people to learn internal constraints and limit the expansion of self-centeredness, so that people's grasp of self is truly mature and perfect; In addition, it may also inspire modern people to limit and restrain their possession of nature.

Confucius said, "Cold tells the decline of pine and cypress." It means that only in the dead of winter, when all the trees wither, can we know the character of pine and cypress until the end. Through metaphor, this sentence can reveal multi-level meanings: first, it refers to the distinction between a gentleman and a villain, which can only be revealed in the dilemma of "you can't have your cake and eat it", which is a moral test for people; The second refers to the consideration of cultural life. As far as a nation's culture is concerned, it is also "crossing the sea to show the true colors of heroes" (Guo Moruo's words). People often say that life is a big stage, everyone should play a certain role in this life and have a face at the end of life. I think life is more like a big examination room. Everyone has to hand in a final answer sheet all his life, which is a little personal and interesting. Young gentlemen are hard to see at ordinary times. They also want to eat when they are hungry and drink water when they are thirsty. When the traffic police are on duty, almost everyone stops at the red light and goes at the green light, which makes no difference. When Mencius said that "fish" and "bear's paw" can have both, it is difficult to distinguish a person's style and taste without the opportunity to test, especially the test of life and death. But at some critical moments, this is not the case. For example, if someone falls into the water, can he be saved? I found a lot of money. Is it for the public or for yourself? On the enemy's execution ground, do you sacrifice your life for justice or drag out an ignoble existence? Where are you going? These choices of right and wrong directly determine the level of personality and the division of realm. Whether to sink or save depends on an idea. It is at this moment that there is no room for compromise and there is no third way to go.

What is the state? It can be judged as nothing. This is a real test for people. Whether you can hand over a qualified answer sheet is an unavoidable choice for everyone present. This is the important thing in life, and it is also true for people's life. People can't just watch one thing at a time. The so-called "Ma Quan knows far, and people see people for a long time." Mao Zedong said: It is not difficult for a person to do a good deed, but it is difficult to do good deeds all his life without doing bad things. People have been trying to catch up with exams all their lives. Since the late Qing Dynasty, the encounter between eastern and western cultures has seriously damaged the tradition of China. After the western powers opened the country with powerful naval forces, our traditional culture was crumbling under the strong pressure of the west, resulting in the so-called "great change once in three thousand years", and for a time, "Confucianism was indifferent and could not be cleaned up." This unprecedented historical situation has made China people completely lose their cultural confidence. In the context of modernity, China culture was once regarded as a symbol of ignorance, backwardness and uncivilized. Therefore, "total westernization" has become the mainstream cultural discourse, "China is inferior to people" and "the moon is a foreign circle". Cultural inferiority and cultural anxiety caused by cultural failures and setbacks hinder our correct judgment of local cultural values. Under the domination of the enlightenment complex, China's traditional values were seriously obscured and belittled. "Down with Kongjiadian" has become the slogan and symbol of an era, and its nihilism has penetrated into the whole cultural circle. In a word, China culture is doomed to perish in the enlightened sturm und drang.

The question is, can we judge the fate of China culture on this basis? Wait a minute! "The scenery should be long and eye-catching." For a nation, its cultural tradition has the meaning of life. Culture is life, and tradition is us. "Transmission" is the continuation (reproduction and reappearance) of cultural genes in time, while "unification" is the spatial tolerance (identification and selection) of cultural archetypes. In the post-modern context, cultural relativism has replaced cultural evolutionism, and the cultures and traditions of all ethnic groups are no longer arranged in the framework of evolutionism, but become equal rights, each with its own value and reason for existence; In other words, they are no longer attributed to the difference of development degree, but are regarded as the division of types. In this new context, the value of China's cultural tradition has been re-examined and evaluated. In the sense of scale, it is not a "utopia" of retro-ism to hold awe and sympathy for cultural traditions, but to look for a reference and judgment scale from the cultural source. No one naively thinks that everything Confucius said can be reproduced and repeated completely and absolutely in real life, but this does not mean that it has no positive value and significance. To be exact, "origin" is "goal". As far as enlightenment is concerned, the cultural tradition of China, represented by Confucius, is conducive to enlightening modern people to learn internal constraints and limit the expansion of self-centeredness, so that people's grasp of self is truly mature and perfect; In addition, it may also inspire modern people to limit and restrain their possession of nature. The significance of enlightenment is eternal. It will always accompany modern people and become a cultural resource that cannot and should not be forgotten. Even if it is forgotten, it will be awakened again at a critical moment in history. This is the eternal charm of wisdom. It should be acknowledged that all the above meanings of China culture are "postmodern". If there is still a national distance from western culture, it may hinder the development of this meaning to a great extent, then it is a localized resource for us, which is more convenient to be "activated" and thus easier to get substantive recognition. Russell once said in The Question of China: "The advantage of western culture is science, while the advantage of China culture is a sound outlook on life." I have to say that this reflects the cultural sobriety of people of insight in the West. I want to ask, what is more enlightening and saving than a "sound outlook on life" after the proven universal belief has failed? Heidegger appreciates Lao Tzu's statement that "retiring after success is heaven". It should be noted that Laozi's words are different from what westerners call "rational cunning", because "cunning" implies a purpose after all, while China's wisdom is purely natural and casual, and he never imagines a purpose for Heaven. Heidegger said in a poem entitled "Thinking": "Tell the truth clearly. It's embarrassing to live in a house. "This is what I said. Therefore, Mr. Xiong Wei lamented: "Laozi and Heidegger are two thousand years apart, but it doesn't matter that thinkers have to translate and read elusive Chinese in order to break the loneliness of poets. " !" But looking back, this is not surprising. When people think about existence, there will be no resentment and estrangement in each other's hearts, and they can cross the gap between time and space and become soul mates! As far as Heidegger is concerned, it is undoubtedly an indispensable condition for postmodern dimension to surpass modernity. This really answers the old saying: "He who laughs last laughs best". Isn't this the case for a nation's culture? !