Confucian culture and its influence on China

Confucian culture, also known as Confucianism, was founded by Confucius (5565438 BC+0-479 BC, a native of Lu in the Spring and Autumn Period). It is an ideological system with "benevolence" as the core that gradually developed after the Han Dynasty, and it is the mainstream school of consciousness in ancient China. Confucianism, as the official thought of China in most historical periods since the Han Dynasty, is also the mainstream ideological basis of ordinary China people and has influenced many Southeast Asian countries in history. After all kinds of shocks, disasters and even the official regime's attempt to completely eradicate Confucianism, Confucianism is still the core value of the broad masses of people in China, the representative of China culture and the symbol of national tradition in the world. In modern and contemporary society, while Confucian culture is spreading and developing in Southeast Asian countries, its modern value has been rediscovered by many countries in the world, and its international influence has been expanding with the rise of China.

A. the formation of Confucian culture

Confucian culture, also known as Confucianism, was originally formed in the Spring and Autumn Period around 500 BC. Before Confucianism, the aristocrats and freemen in ancient society received the traditional socialized education of Liu De (wisdom, faith, holiness, benevolence, righteousness and loyalty), six lines (filial piety, friendship, harmony, marriage, agreement and sadness) and six arts (courtesy, music, shooting, imperial, calligraphy and mathematics) through Confucianism. In this way, Confucianism has a solid national psychological foundation, which is accepted by the whole society and gradually Confucianism the whole society. After the development of Mencius, Xunzi and others, it became more mature. In the first year of Yuanguang (BC 134), Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty adopted Dong Zhongshu's suggestion of "respecting Confucianism alone", and Confucianism became a national belief, and China entered the Confucian society. Later, Confucianism spread to Korea, Japan, Vietnam and other regions, where it developed and became the official doctrine. As a result, an East Asian cultural circle with China as its geographical center and China culture as its axis has gradually formed. Because of the profound influence of Confucianism, it is also called "Confucian cultural circle".

Second, the spiritual core of Confucian culture

Confucian culture has a profound influence on China's politics, economy and culture, and its spiritual core is "benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom, faith, forgiveness, loyalty, filial piety".

Benevolence: Love. The theoretical core of Confucius' ideological system. It is the highest ideal and standard of Confucius' social politics, ethics and morality, and also reflects his philosophical views, which has a far-reaching impact on later generations. Benevolence is embodied in educational thought and practice, that is, "education has no class", that is, no matter how one comes from, one can come to receive education. Benevolence is embodied in politics by emphasizing "rule by virtue", and the basic spiritual essence of rule by virtue is to love and help the masses. Confucius introduced benevolence into rites, changed the traditional "rule by courtesy" into "rule by virtue", and inherited and reformed "rule by virtue".

Meaning: the original meaning is "righteousness", that is, the behavior is suitable for "ceremony". Confucius regards "righteousness" as a moral principle to judge people's thoughts and behaviors.

Rite: the political and ethical category of Confucius and Confucianism. That is, the moral norms and living standards of China feudal society, which played an important role in cultivating the spiritual quality of the Chinese nation.

Wisdom: the same as "knowledge", the basic category of Confucius' epistemology and ethics. Refers to knowing, understanding, opinions, knowledge, intelligence, wisdom, etc.

Faith: refers to the attitude of being honest and not deceiving, and being consistent in words and deeds. It is one of the "five permanents" of Confucianism.

Forgive: Don't do to others what you don't want them to do to you, that is, forgive and tolerate.

Loyalty: I want to stand up, stand up, and I want to achieve it. Confucius believes that loyalty is manifested in loyalty and honesty in dealing with people.

Filial piety: Confucius believes that filial piety is the foundation of benevolence. Filial piety is not limited to supporting parents, but should focus on respecting parents and elders. It is considered that without filial piety, supporting parents will be regarded as raising dogs, which is a big violation and unfilial.

Praise: refers to feelings for my brother.

Three. Influence on China's political and social formation

The influence of Confucian culture on China's society and politics should be viewed from two aspects:

Positive aspects: (1) Attach importance to education, create teaching methods such as "teaching students according to their aptitude", pay attention to individual differences in teaching, and be good at inspiring teaching. Confucius' 3,000 disciples summed up many effective educational methods, such as "review the past and learn the new", "three people must have my teacher", "learning without thinking is useless, thinking without learning is lazy" and so on.

(2) Pay attention to morality, ethics, benevolence and righteousness, and consciously obey the truth, goodness and beauty. Confucian culture emphasizes respecting teachers and respecting morality, and filial piety is a gift, which cannot be discarded. On the one hand, it is many times more advanced than the religious and theistic thoughts of western countries in Europe. This is a typical humanism and people-oriented.

(3) Ideologically, he is good at dialectical thinking, attaches importance to natural agriculture and experience, and thinks that natural order is the root of human rationality, and human rationality is the basis of human natural rights. Advocating "agriculture-oriented" is China's thought of attaching importance to agriculture in ancient times, which accords with the actual resource situation.

(4) Advocating the idea of "ruling the country by courtesy" and "ethical politics". This idea has a positive side in politics: loyalty to the country, resistance to foreign aggression, assassination of tyrants, and direct exhortation to offenders.

(5) Confucianism is precocious and powerful, which runs through most of the Chinese nation and plays a role of stability, balance and reference constraint on social history.

On the negative side: (1) Not paying attention to the teaching of agricultural production knowledge and the study of scientific knowledge, with a strong political purpose, Confucius tends to participate in politics.

(2) Ignoring logic and blindly attaching importance to experience is called "empirical rationality", which makes the theory of logical reasoning and profound explanation of things unable to sprout, and is not as thorough as westerners, and cannot produce theories and doctrines.

(3) Emphasize that individuals obey groups and suppress people's personality. Indifference of personality and unity of thought lead to people's ignorance of loyalty and filial piety, and standards of morality and responsibility suppress people's creativity.

(4) The solidification and absolutization of ethical relations, the three cardinal guides and the five permanent members, and the autocratic parents become personal oppression and spiritual cruelty, which restricts the way of thinking and lifestyle of the whole nation and becomes the resistance to historical progress.

(5) Ethics and hierarchy are placed at the highest level, reaching an exclusive level, thus limiting the development of natural science and technology. Emperors of past dynasties did not attach importance to science and technology, and described some scientific achievements as "small but refined".

In a word, Confucian culture has had a great influence on our nation's ideological culture. Even now, we can't get out of its circle. It has both positive and negative aspects, and we should face this problem truly and objectively.

In today's world, the competition of comprehensive national strength among countries is becoming increasingly fierce, and culture is increasingly becoming an important source of national cohesion and creativity and an important factor in the competition of comprehensive national strength; Under the background of multi-polarization, hegemonic countries are also trying their best to promote their values through cultural infiltration. Therefore, as the birthplace of Confucian culture, China should explore the modern value of Confucian culture, take its essence, discard its dross, make the past serve the present, enhance its cultural soft power and further expand its international cultural influence.

Consolidation exercise

1. Confucian culture is a symbol of traditional culture in China. The following understanding of Confucian culture is correct ()

① Confucian culture is a unique phenomenon in human society; (2) Confucian culture is the product of China people's social practice; ③ Confucian culture is the product of natural evolution; ④ Confucian culture is an ideological system containing various values.

A.①②③ B.②③④ C.①③④ D.①②④

BEIJING, August 5 (Xinhua) Recently, the the State Council Overseas Chinese Affairs Office organized a 20 10 "root-seeking trip to China"? Overseas Youth Summer Camp in Confucius' Hometown 120 More than 20 people visited Qufu accompanied by Wang Yuliang, deputy director of the Cultural Propaganda Department of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office. The campers of the summer camp come from Canada, Germany, South Korea, Cambodia and other countries and regions. Answer questions 2-4.

2. The campers of the summer camp visited Confucius Temple, Confucius House and Confucius Forest, experienced the lecture on Xingtan and felt the profoundness of Confucian culture. People choose to visit the historical sites of Confucian culture because ()

As a spiritual product, Confucian culture cannot be separated from material carriers, and these historical relics are material carriers. Visiting these historical sites can reveal the spiritual world and life of Confucius and others. Visiting historical relics can show the Confucian culture in history and understand the inheritance and development of Confucian culture. Visiting historical sites will definitely make you more cultured.

A.①②③ B.②③④ C.①②④ D.①③④

3. Summer camp is actually a form of tourism economy. People go to the hometown of Confucian culture to carry out summer camp activities, and millions of tourists visit the "Three Holes" every year, which also shows that Confucian culture is a specific cultural form ()

① It can promote the tourism economy; (2) keep pace with economic development; ③ It has an important influence on economic development; ④ It is an important foundation for the prosperity and development of tourism economy.

A.①② B.②③ C.③④ D.①③

4. This "root-seeking journey"? The activities of the Confucius Youth Summer Camp in the hometown of overseas Chinese have enhanced the city's popularity overseas, deepened its ties with overseas Chinese and their organizations, and helped to stimulate the Confucian cultural identity of overseas Chinese and enhance the cohesion of the Chinese nation. This is because as an important carrier of this activity, Confucian culture ()

(1) can promote the all-round development of society; ② It has a subtle influence on people; ③ As spiritual strength, it can be transformed into material strength; ④ It is the foundation of the Chinese nation.

A.①② B.②③ C.③④ D.②④

5. Confucius is the founder of Confucian culture. In recent years, China has built a large number of Confucius Institutes around the world as a platform for spreading China's language and culture, showing the world a long history of China culture. This shows that ()

A. Confucian culture is the representative of contemporary China culture.

B. The establishment of Confucius Institute is the embodiment of China culture going global.

C. the external spread of Confucian culture is the need of political struggle.

D. Confucian culture is the product of a specific historical period.

6. UNESCO announced that it will set up the first international prize named after China people in 2006-Confucius Education Prize to reward government agencies, non-governmental organizations and individuals who have made outstanding achievements in the field of education for all; The film Confucius was released in China on February 20 10, and also in Japan, South Korea, Southeast Asia, Europe and other places, which once again set off a Confucius craze around the world ... Confucius went abroad more and more, which was closely related to the far-reaching influence of Confucian culture. The following statement about the influence of Confucian culture is correct.

Confucian culture is an advanced and healthy culture, which will promote the all-round development of society.

B backward and decadent Confucian culture will hinder social development.

The progressive and healthy elements in Confucian culture will promote social development.

D. Confucian culture has gradually become the mainstream of world culture.

7. Material 1. Xinhuanet Jinan July 3 1 News: Reading the Analects of Confucius, attending the rite of passage, offering sacrifices to Confucius in Dacheng Hall of Confucius Temple, watching the sacred dance of apricot altar in the grand square and visiting the Three Holes, although it is in midsummer, the Confucius Study Festival launched by Qufu, Shandong Province still attracts many tourists from all over the country. According to statistics, during the period of1-July this year, the "Three Holes" scenic spot received 2.077 million Chinese and foreign tourists, up 13.48% year-on-year, and the ticket revenue reached 80.438 million yuan, up1.66% year-on-year. The popularity of tourism has further promoted the Confucius fever.

Material 2: Confucianism advocates "rule by virtue", believing that no matter whether human nature is good or evil, morality can be used to influence and educate people. The "rule of man" advocated by Confucianism attaches importance to people's specialization, possible moral development and sympathy. We now emphasize "ruling the country by virtue" and "people-oriented" in politics, which has evolved the political thought of Confucianism to a certain extent or is deeply influenced by Confucianism.

How do the above materials reflect the influence of culture by using the relevant knowledge of cultural life?

Reference answer

1.d What is purely "natural" cannot be called culture, so ③ is wrong.

2.A.④ There must be something wrong with the expression, so don't choose.

3.d. Culture and economy influence each other, but they don't necessarily develop simultaneously, so ② Don't choose; Economy is the foundation of culture, while culture is the opposite.

4.b. Only healthy and upward elements in Confucian culture can promote social development. 1 wrong; Material (economy) is the foundation, ④ Don't choose.

5. the expression of b.a.and c is incorrect, and d does not match the meaning of the question.

6.C.A. and B's view is one-sided; Wrong point of view.

7.① Culture and economy blend with each other. In the first document, the development of Shandong tourism culture promoted the development of tourism economy, and then promoted the warming of "Confucius fever" (culture).

② Culture and politics blend with each other, and culture influences politics. In the second document, the thoughts of "rule by virtue" and "rule by man" of Confucian culture have a historical evolution with the "rule by virtue" and "people-oriented" that we advocate in politics at present, and this culture has influenced our political thoughts to some extent.