(A) "Benevolence" and the "public consciousness" of modern public relations.
Confucius, the representative of ancient Confucianism, regarded "benevolence" as the highest moral principle. The main content of "benevolence" is "love". The theory of "benevolence" requires people to put themselves in others' shoes, that is, "don't do to others what you don't want them to do to you" and "stand up if you want to." Furthermore, Confucius put forward the idea of "giving to the people and helping them" from the perspective of "the benevolent loves others", and put forward the ideological proposition of loving, nurturing, enriching and reassuring the people. Mencius, another representative of Confucianism, put forward that "the people are more important than the monarch" and emphasized the people-oriented principle. He believes that "those who enjoy the people's happiness and worry about the people's worries, the people also worry about their worries, and they are happy and worried about the world." He regards "benevolence" and "unkindness" as the fundamental problems of "winning the world" and "losing the world" This "benevolence" thought of China's traditional culture is vividly reflected in modern public relations.
Modern public relations especially emphasizes "public consciousness", which refers to the thoughts, consciousness and principles that always think of the public, serve the public everywhere, and all are based on meeting public needs. Edward Berners, a pioneer of modern public relations education and a famous American scholar, put forward in 1923 that public relations work is to "win public recognition" and "public relations should first serve public interests". Therefore, establishing public awareness is the ideological basis for the success of public relations. Without the public, public-private relations will become passive water.
An American public relations expert pointed out: "All enterprises, big or small, must always plan their own direction according to the following belief: enterprises should be owned by consumers, governed by consumers and enjoyed by consumers". A business rule circulating among western businessmen is that "don't do to others what you don't want others to do to you" in China's traditional culture, and "customer is God" and "caring service" prevailing in China's business activities all inherited Confucianism in business activities. Moreover, the Confucian theory of "benevolence" provides rich historical nutrition for government public relations in modern public and public relations, and requires leading cadres to care for the people. China * * * Production Party takes "serving the people wholeheartedly" as its purpose, which highlights this concept.
(b) The concept of "harmony among people" and the idea of "seeking unity internally and development externally" in modern public relations.
The concept of "harmony between people" refers to the thoughts and consciousness of cherishing unity, attaching importance to socialization and attaching importance to harmonious relations.
Based on the standpoint of human coexistence and the evolution of civilization, Confucianism advocates "courtesy is the most important", while Confucius advocates "all men are brothers within the four seas" and puts forward the idea of "universal love". Mencius also advocated "harmony". He said: "The weather is not as good as the geographical position, and the geographical position is not as good as human harmony." Influenced by this idea of "harmony is precious", the Chinese nation has formed the virtue of living in harmony with others, unity and friendship. When dealing with the relationship with consumers, ancient businessmen always sought a harmonious atmosphere of "harmony is the most important" and "feeling at home". Historically, the Emperor Zhaojun's departure from the fortress in the Han Dynasty and the Princess Envoy in the Tang Dynasty were all manifestations of the ruler's "seeking harmony between man and the environment". The concept of "harmony between people" in China's traditional culture coincides with the concept of public relations based on modern mass production.
Modern public relations is an art discipline that coordinates relations and achieves good marriage. A very important function of modern public relations is to coordinate the relationship between the organization and all kinds of public, win the public's understanding and support of the organization, make the relationship between the organization and the public in a harmonious state, and create a "harmonious" environment for the organization. In a word, the ultimate goal of modern public relations is to pursue harmony. "Harmony" is not only the starting point and support point for the smooth growth and healthy development of foreign cultural public relations under the background of foreign cultures, but more importantly, "harmony" should be the cornerstone of building a public relations system with China characteristics.
(C) "seeking truth from facts" and the "fact-based" thought of modern public relations.
Seeking truth from facts is an important aspect of China's traditional cultural thought. Ban Gu's Hanshu is a biography of Liu De, the son of Emperor Jing of Han Dynasty, praising him for "remembering the past and learning from the future". Yan Shigu, a Confucian scholar in the Tang Dynasty, trained "seeking truth from facts" as "seeking truth from facts is everything". During the Song, Yuan and Ming Dynasties, there was a way of thinking that totally negated intuitionism, and that was "seeking truth from facts". "Practicing the world" is the basic feature of the ideological trend of practical learning in Ming and Qing Dynasties, trying to avoid the disadvantages of "binding without reading, empty talk without roots". In the early Qing Dynasty, Gu opposed empty words and deeds with practical learning. Dai Zhen advocates "seeking truth from facts, not favoring one family", "not covering oneself with others, not covering oneself with others", and opposes "judging by empty talk and believing its truth by isolated evidence". Although the formulation and conception of these traditional thoughts in ancient China are different, they do represent the fine cultural tradition of paying attention to proceeding from reality and possessing materials in details in learning and managing affairs, which is similar to the concept of "taking facts as the basis" in modern public relations. Modern public relations are the communication activities of social organizations facing their own public, and the relationship between organizations and the public is mutually beneficial and beneficial. Therefore, public relations work must adhere to the principle of taking facts as the basis. Without facts, public relations will lose its value.
(d) The concepts of "faith" and "building a credible image" in modern public relations.
"Faith" is an important part of Confucian ethics, which emphasizes the unity of knowledge and action. Confucius said: "People can't stand without faith", "People who don't believe don't know what they can do", "Make friends and keep your word" and "Keep your word and keep your word, and keep your word". In ancient times, faithfulness and trustworthiness became the criterion to restrain and standardize people's words and deeds. The traditional culture of China has always regarded the trustworthy as a gentleman and the faithless as a villain. Idioms and proverbs such as "A promise is as good as a thousand dollars" and "A word spoken by a gentleman is a promise that cannot be recalled" have long been vivid summaries of our nation's pursuit of "faith". In order to consolidate their ruling position, some wise rulers in ancient times often used the method of "winning the trust of the people" to conquer people's hearts. For example, Zhuge Liang captured Meng Huo seven times and finally made Meng Huo surrender to Zhuge Liang. This belief in traditional culture has a lot in common with the concept of building an organizational image with credibility advocated by modern public relations, thus strengthening mutual trust and cooperation.
In modern public relations, it is a very important public relations concept to create a credible image. Because a good image is the intangible wealth of an organization, and a good reputation is an important means to shape an organization's good image, a good reputation is the foundation of an organization. After all, today's market competition is the competition of enterprise reputation. Corporate reputation is not only a comprehensive reflection of the economic benefits and technical quality of an enterprise, but also a sign of whether an enterprise, as a member of a social collective, fulfills its social responsibilities and has noble corporate ethics.
Creating famous brands has become the current fashion, and reputation is an important indicator of famous brand products. Modern operators with strategic vision do not focus on the economy simply for the sake of economic benefits, but start with the establishment of reputation and obtain economic benefits through reputation investment.
(5) The information concept of paying attention to information acquisition and modern public relations.
The enlightened rulers in ancient China paid attention to understanding public opinion while maintaining centralization of authority. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, in order to survive as a powerful country, some vassal States, on the one hand, recruited talents and absorbed the wisdom of the people, forming a wind of "cultivating scholars". Zou Ji, a famous politician in the Warring States Period, once advised the King of Qi to pay attention to and listen to the opinions of the people, and the King of Qi obeyed, finally making the State of Qi strong. And Qi Huangong knew that "a scholar will prosper, but a scholar will perish", and he gathered 80 sages, so he was able to "unite the strength of nine kings and conquer the world" and become the first of the five tyrants.
In ancient China, military strategists attached importance to using spies to obtain information. Sun Wu is very aware of the important role of using spies to find out the enemy's situation in strategic victory, and puts forward that "soldiers are better than prophets." In the 15 rule formulated by Zhuge Liang, the first rule is "worry, spies are also clear."
People in the Three Kingdoms period had a strong desire for information and the concept of information dissemination. At that time, the dissemination and exchange of news information and the situation of public opinion were relatively strong. In today's market society, information, as a universal form of social contact, permeates all the time and space of human life, and information has become a valuable resource and intangible wealth of organizations. American information experts pointed out: "It is a new phenomenon in today's world to use information to start a business and turn information into dollars."
(VI) Ancient strategy and modern public relations planning
Strategy is a wonderful flower that can best reflect the wisdom of the East in the traditional culture of China. Strategy, that is, strategy. Traditional culture is full of simple dialectics and embodies people's subjective initiative. For example, during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the scholar class, as a political think tank and ideological elite, ran among the vassal states with their own intelligence and strategies. In the works of a hundred schools of thought contend, strategic wisdom is permeated. In particular, The Art of War, a classic work of human military science, runs through incisive and profound strategic thoughts from beginning to end, and the literary masterpiece Romance of the Three Kingdoms also reproduces complex and changeable strategic activities.
Time and situation are very important contents in traditional strategy. Time is an opportunity and a fighter, and the situation and trend are the main factors that determine the outcome. The ancients said, "When used in the machine, it shows its potential". In the confrontation and competition throughout the ages, sizing up the situation is an important guarantee to win. When judging, on the one hand, I want to seize the most favorable opportunity and enhance my advantage. "Good people will not suffer when they see the benefits, and they will not doubt when they encounter problems." Therefore, in ancient times, China attached great importance to weather, and regarded it as an equally important winning factor as "geographical location" and "harmony with people". On the other hand, we should consciously strive for and create opportunities, which is another process of "gaining momentum" and "creating momentum". To build momentum is to form a commanding advantage in terms of strength comparison, psychological state, morality and soldiers' courage through efforts from all sides. At a certain time, when the melons are ripe, they will follow suit. "So, a good soldier, potential, don't complain. Therefore, you can choose people and guide them according to the situation. " "Those in power, because of interests, also control power."
Public relations planning is a process in which public relations personnel give full play to their imagination and creativity, determine the theme and strategy of public relations activities, and work out the optimal activity plan on the basis of investigation, research and information acquisition. It has many similarities with ancient strategies, especially the idea of paying attention to the current situation in ancient strategies, which is very important for public relations planning.
Grasping the opportunity, grasping the opportunity, cleverly choosing the right time and making good use of the opportunity are a major factor to ensure the success of public relations work. Public relations work is based on the dissemination of information, so it has a strong timeliness, and the same public relations activities will get completely different results at different times. Only when the public needs and desires it most, the public relations activities that spread information will be welcomed and valued by the public and will produce ideal results. Therefore, the effect of public relations activities is directly related to the accurate grasp of the opportunity, which requires public relations personnel to accurately predict, discover and capture the best opportunity to carry out public relations activities, and even artificially mobilize some factors to create the necessary conditions to promote the maturity of this opportunity. As long as we seize the opportunity and follow the trend, public relations activities will get twice the result with half the effort, which will soon arouse strong repercussions among the public and form the momentum expected by the organization.
Creating momentum can be said to be the minimum requirement for public relations activities to achieve results. Therefore, excellent public relations personnel should be familiar with when it is most suitable to carry out activities, which is most conducive to creating momentum, and be good at making this momentum move forward wave after wave, gradually forming a good situation, and then further expanding the results, transforming the good situation into a good trend until the general public forms a preference for the organization and forms a psychological stereotype, thus creating a good environment for the development of the organization.
In a word, China traditional culture has a strong national personality, and modern public relations can't be rooted in China if it doesn't draw nutrients from the soil of China traditional culture. It is not only necessary but also realistic to introduce the essence of China traditional culture in the activities of establishing the theoretical system and operational norms of public relations with China characteristics.
Under the guidance of Marxism–Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought and Deng Xiaoping Theory, we should reasonably select and draw lessons from the reasonable essence of China's traditional culture, combine the reality of our country and the needs of socialist market economy and political system reform, inherit, transform, innovate and develop China's traditional culture, and establish a public relationship with China characteristics that is different from western public relations and ancient ethical relations, and can embody and carry forward national culture.