It seems that the key to the dispute between Chinese and Western culture, traditional culture and modernization since the May 4th Movement is how to treat traditional culture. Fortunately, under the market economy, traditional culture has found some carriers of revival, or brought new traditional culture, although the current traditional culture is by no means a historical tradition.
The revival of traditional culture is not just a museum, but a way of life and a code of conduct, and it is a living thing. At present, it is quite common for China to deliberately "archaize" in the name of promoting "tradition" when holding activities to promote a certain traditional culture. In fact, deliberately imitating some ancient forms, but ignoring the reflection and blending of modern life, often has limited effect, and even becomes a pure "image project" or a suspected profit-seeking behavior in the market. Then this kind of "fever" is not so much the misfortune of Chinese studies as the misfortune of traditional culture. It is equally doubtful whether it can really heat up and how long it can last.
Some people say that tradition is a burden, some people say that tradition is wealth, some people say that tradition is the resistance of modernization, and some people say that tradition is the driving force of modernization. These statements have some truth, but they are all one-sided. If modern people can correctly realize that history is inseparable and tradition is closely related to modernity, so as to actively transform and absorb tradition and make it self-renew to adapt to and serve the times, tradition will never become a burden, but will only become a valuable asset, never a resistance, but only a positive driving force. On the contrary, if we can't face up to the development of the times and stand still, or ignore the flesh-and-blood relationship between tradition and modernity and just want to cut off history and throw away tradition, then tradition will indeed become a heavy burden and a resistance to progress. In short, we can neither blindly worship and use traditional culture, nor simply deny and exclude it.
Culture is a symbol of a nation's identity, and traditional culture is the collective memory and spiritual sustenance of a country and a nation's historical creation. How to "breathe fresh air" in the increasingly polluted industrial era and the utilitarian commodity society? Wen, a master of Chinese studies, said that thousands of years of traditional culture in China is "the oxygen of spirit". "No matter how long the shadow of the tree is stretched, it cannot be separated from the root; No matter how far I go, I can't get out of my mother's heart. "