Chinese culture's pursuit of the value of "great unity" is a solid cornerstone for laying and strengthening national unity.
The significance of Chinese culture to the formation and development of the general trend of national reunification lies in the fact that the values of "great unification" have been deeply rooted in people's hearts for a long time, thus making reunification an ideal political order that people generally agree with.
As early as the pre-Qin period, with the continuous strengthening of internal cohesion, the Chinese nation initially formed the concept of "great unity." In the Book of Songs Xiaoya Beishan, "Under the world, is it the land of kings?" Isn't leading the land a king? ",expressed this ideological tendency and value choice. The prevalence of "Kyushu Theory" and "Five Clothes Theory" in the Warring States period reflected the further maturity of people's concept of great unity. As some scholars have pointed out: "The public opinion scene in Kyushu reflects the widespread popularity of Kyushu concept in pre-Qin society. ..... Kyushu is China, and the integrity of Kyushu represents the integrity of China "(Tang Xiaofeng: On the Geography of Ancient Dynasties in China, 2 1 century, August 2000). This trend of pursuing unification during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period is not accidental, but has its historical inevitability. At that time, the ritual and music civilization founded by the Western Zhou society was fundamentally impacted, and the "unified" pattern of the early initial form tended to collapse, and there was no legal and unified political order in the world. As a result, feudal lords fought for hegemony and scuffled constantly, so people were eager to realize political unity again and establish a reasonable and legal political order. This point was fully reflected in the theories of most thinkers at that time. Although they have different views on the way to pursue reunification, it is a consensus that the world must be "unified". For example, Legalists advocated that "everything is in the four directions and should be in the center" ("Everything is animistic, Yang Quan"); Mohism advocates "Shang Tong", and "the son of heaven can only share the righteousness of the world and be the rule of the world" (Mozi Shangditto); Confucianism emphasizes that "the conquest of rites and music comes from emperors" (Mencius, King Huiliang), and looks forward to the situation that "all the world is home" (Xunzi, Wang Zhi). These thoughts fully reflect that the concept of "great unification" has become people's universal spiritual sustenance and political belief, and has developed into an important part of China's traditional cultural concept. It is with this ideological foundation that Qin will sweep Liuhe and annex six countries by war, make this political ideal a reality and establish a multi-ethnic unified centralized country when the conditions for reunification are basically met. Only then will there be the great unification of the Han Dynasty after the Qin Dynasty, and the ideal picture of the country's "great unification" described by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty in the Stone Carvings on Mount Tai: "Within the four seas, there are all counties and counties, four barbarians and eight barbarians, and salty people come to pay tribute. With the promise of heaven and the joy of the people, Tianlu always wins. " (The Book of Rites in the Later Han Dynasty is quoted from Custom Pass)
As the "great unity" of thought, it contains very rich connotations and develops and changes with the evolution of history. Geographically speaking, it refers to the unification of the national territory. "There are no two days in the sky and no two kings underground" (Book of Rites Ji Fang); Politically, it means that the whole country is highly consistent, obeying the supreme ruler, "the world is one", "solving bandits at night, taking one thing as one person" and "respecting the son of heaven and one law"; In the concept of time, it refers to long-term unity and everlasting generations. "Supreme Hugh De, the spread of poverty, and it is extremely useless to give it" ("Han Shu Dong Zhongshu Biography"); In terms of national concept, it refers to "the distance between the world is as small as one" ("The Legend of the Ram: Hidden Year"). The fundamental reason for the formation of this ideal political order concept of "great unity" is that people have personally experienced the profound disasters brought by the separatist regime to the country and the nation in real life. The so-called "fighting for land, killing people; Fighting for the city, killing people to seize the city "("Mencius Li Lou "), the so-called" white bones cover the wild, a thousand miles without crying "("Hao Li Xing "Cao Cao) and so on. Are all about the great damage caused by the separatist war to social productive forces. In sharp contrast, under the unified political order, social production develops relatively rapidly, people's lives are relatively stable, and national security can be relatively guaranteed. This is undoubtedly an ideal situation, which can realize the grand occasion that people yearn for, "Nine doors in heaven reveal the palace que, and many countries bow their heads and crown their pearls". It can be seen that the aversion to war, the desire for peace and the pursuit of centralization make reunification not only the political ambition of the rulers, but also the will of the general public objectively.
It is precisely because the concept of "great unity" is rooted in the deep heart of the Chinese nation and has become the main symbol for people to measure political order and world morality. Therefore, since the Qin and Han Dynasties, although unity and division have appeared alternately in history, on the whole, unity is the mainstream of the historical development of the Chinese nation and an irreversible trend; Although the situation of separatist regime has appeared from time to time, it has never been recognized by people, has never been recognized as a normal and reasonable political state, and has always been rejected by China culture. Even in the era of division, the pursuit of reunification has always been the political idea and goal of rulers of all ethnic groups and the general public. For example, during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the world fell apart and the heroes stood side by side, but most of the rulers of various regimes took unity as their responsibility and called themselves the Empress of the Yellow Emperor: Zhuge Liang advocated that "the old capital should be restored and the Han Dynasty can flourish"; Former Yuan claimed to be the queen of the Yellow Emperor; Later, Zhao Shile appreciated that Liu Bang had not sealed the six countries; Qian Jian's desire for "one and six in one" is proof. From one side, it shows how tenacious and universal the Chinese nation's desire for peace and non-division is. This strong sense of "unity" is also reflected in people's understanding of "orthodoxy" From the perspective of political science, the dominant tendency of ancient orthodoxy is to demonstrate the concept of "great unity" from the perspective of historical philosophy. The so-called "orthodoxy" is what Ouyang Xiu called "the unity of monarch and minister": "The husband is the public and the cooperation between the world is the only one, so he is orthodox. Yao, Shun, Xia, Shang, Zhou, Qin, Han and Tang. Although it may not be orthodox at first, it is possible that a single soldier will unite the world into one "("Under Orthodoxy ",Volume 16 of" The Collection of Laymen ").
For thousands of years, this idea of "unification" as "orthodoxy" has been popular, which has further strengthened people's awareness of national unity and become another remarkable symbol of Chinese culture to cultivate unity consciousness, guide unity practice and improve unity order.
China culture has provided powerful intellectual resources for the formation and development of China's unification trend.
In the process of continuous consolidation and development of China's reunification, the profound and progressive Chinese culture has not only played an important role in uniting people of all ethnic groups and promoting national reunification, but also provided important intellectual resources for reasonably solving various contradictions encountered on the road to reunification. This role is highlighted in the following three aspects.
First, China's culture emphasizes "timely utilization" and "action at any time", which requires people to regard national reunification as a long and complicated historical process. In China's excellent traditional culture, it is people's thought methodology to know and deal with things in time and at any time. The so-called "extremely bright and extremely moderate" is the concentrated expression of this rational spirit. This cultural concept determines that people can take an objective attitude of seeking truth from facts on the issue of national reunification, which not only fully affirms the historical rationality and inevitability of reunification, but also calmly treats the arduousness and arduousness of realizing reunification. As the maker of the unified strategy, we should pay special attention to the creation of the basic conditions for reunification and the grasp of the favorable opportunity for reunification. And its basic principle is "when not, not Johnson & Johnson; Don't investigate, don't be strong. " Therefore, in some specific cases, we should dare to face the reality of temporary division, complete partial reunification first, affirm the necessity of partial reunification for the ultimate realization of national reunification, and strive to create conditions for the formation of a unified situation in the future. For example, in history, the battle of the Seven Heroes in the Warring States was unified in Qin and Han Dynasties, the separatist regime of Wei, Shu and Wu was unified in the Western Jin Dynasty, the northern and southern dynasties were divided and unified in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and the confrontation between Song, Liao and Jin was unified in the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. In the eyes of many politicians and thinkers at that time, it was a necessary link of national unity and an important prerequisite for "long-term separation." At this time, for the strategic decision makers at that time, the key is how to make full preparations, prosper the economy, improve politics, and enhance military strength, so that when the time is ripe for reunification, military, political, economic and other means can be used to conform to public opinion and end the separatist situation, and "it is appropriate to decide at that time to spread all over the world" (Biography of yang hu in the Book of Jin). On the contrary, if we don't know the current situation and look forward to "going to the end of World War I" when the conditions are not mature, it will be counterproductive, which will not only fail to achieve great reunification, but may also lead to a more serious separatist situation. It should be pointed out that in the traditional culture of China, the so-called "the general trend of the world, the long is divided, and the long is combined" is by no means a simple repetition and cycle, but a negative process. "Fen" is the necessary preparation for "He" in a higher sense, and "He" is the inevitable result of the development of things. Judging from the historical trend of national unification in China, the scale of national unification in Qin and Han Dynasties is better than that in Zhou Zong, that in Sui and Tang Dynasties is better than that in Qin and Han Dynasties, and that in Qing Dynasty is far better than that in Sui and Tang Dynasties, which is a historical proof of the growing trend of national unification. Therefore, it can be said that the ideological methodology of "timely use and action at any time" has always maintained people's firm confidence in reunification for thousands of years, helped people overcome the confusion caused by the alternation of division and reunification, and promoted the great cause of national reunification in twists and turns. Second, China culture emphasizes "the right to observe the classics" and "harmony without difference", and emphasizes that national unity is a rich cultural phenomenon, which requires people to make steady progress in the historical process of national unity. "the right to view and use classics" refers to the organic unity of principle and flexibility in the process of dealing with practical problems, which complement each other; "Harmony without difference" is to correctly treat the similarities and differences between things and better realize the dialectical unity of "one" and "many". According to the principle of "economic rights", "great unification" is a "great classics and great laws" that people must strictly follow and persistently pursue. Therefore, the establishment of a "unified" political order is not only the highest political goal of successive dynasties, but also of extraordinary significance to the unity and development of the country. Under the guidance of this cultural thought, while adhering to the principle of "great unification", people should "retain the right to use the economy" and be flexible, thus paving the way for better realizing the basic goal of "great unification". The cultural concept of "harmony with reality and unsustainability" provides a philosophical basis for people to pursue and complete the great unity of the country. It reminds people that in the formation and development of the general trend of national unity, we should not only see the inevitability of unity, but also recognize the differences of unity. Therefore, China culture has always emphasized that "the world" is a different world with a center and an edge, and it is a hierarchical world. As early as the Warring States period, people fully realized this point, and the proposal of "five-service system" is proof. In fact, in the development of China's unified multi-ethnic country, there are not only vast agricultural areas, but also vast agricultural and pastoral areas, with great geographical differences, and contradictions and conflicts between them are inevitable. In this context, it is obviously unrealistic to implement "unified administration" throughout the country. Therefore, the traditional ideas of "Confucian classics" and "harmony" just provided practical methods for the unified political practice of past dynasties. This is to adhere to the principle of "unification", take the establishment of a unified political order as the goal, fully implement the centralized system and the county system, actively manage the border areas, and fight against separatism, separatism and other acts that run counter to the overall interests of the Chinese nation. At the same time, it also recognizes the unified regional differences and internal and external levels, and attaches importance to regional differences and cultural diversity. In the practice of unification, it embodies the rationality and tolerance spirit of "flexibility" and adopts different policies and systems for different regions or different nationalities. Such "detention" systems and policies not only give the "four foreigners" the role of "integration", but also embody the principle of great unity and safeguard the authority of the central government; It also takes into account the differences in lifestyles and economic and cultural levels of different ethnic groups and regions, and achieves the goal of governing according to time, place and people. This theory of "economic rights" and "harmony" is undoubtedly a strong adhesive for national unity.
Thirdly, China culture emphasizes that "the king is nothing more than the king" and "the integration of foreign countries and summer", and requires people to regard national unity as a harmonious form of national integration and pursue the cultural, economic, political and social progress of all ethnic groups in practice. China has been a multi-ethnic country since ancient times. Therefore, the so-called "unification" is not simply a problem of Han people in China, but a historical theme that Han people and many ethnic minorities pay close attention to and participate in. In other words, the core issue of reunification is how to eliminate the border areas among all ethnic groups in China and realize national integration. There are two pillars in China culture's position on ethnic issues: one is the so-called "discrimination between foreigners and summer", which advocates "exchanging summer for foreigners"; First, the so-called "integration of Yi and Xia" and "the king has nothing". As far as the former is concerned, it is acknowledged that there are differences between Xia and Yi, but this difference is not based on ethnic affiliation or geographical distance, but on the degree of civilization evolution. Due to different standpoints and observation angles, the dominant people in China naturally think that Xia Dynasty represents civilization and advanced, while Yi Di represents barbarism and backwardness. The historical process should take the Xia Dynasty as the center, transform the so-called alien land from the civilization of the Xia Dynasty, make the alien land gradually transition to a high-level civilization, and finally realize the ideal of great harmony. Of course, the ethnic minorities in China may not fully agree with this concept of "all-summer", which is proved by the argument between the theory of "going to China" in Han Dynasty and the envoys of China focusing on the superiority of Xiongnu customs and culture. As far as the latter is concerned, "the king is just a king" and "the combination of the outside and the summer" mean that the world is a unified one, and the whole world and the land within Liuhe are "the land of emperors" (Historical Records of Qin Shihuang), so the son of heaven in China is the son of heaven in the whole world. According to this logic, different ethnic groups in China can naturally find their own positions in various places, and then move towards integration and unification under the orders of the emperor. These two national cultural concepts are a whole in essence, which complement each other and work together in the historical process of national integration and unity. It should be pointed out that the deep cultural meaning of "exchanging summer for foreign countries" is to regard the relationship between foreign countries and summer as a variable entity, not a constant stone. The difference between the two lies only in morality and politics, and has nothing to do with bloodline and regional environment. There is no insurmountable gap. "The princes changed it with foreign gifts, and China must enter China." (Han Changli's collected works, the original way, the righteous emperor can enter China, and China can also retire the righteous emperor. In this way, it provides a theoretical basis for ethnic minorities to promote sinicization, enter the Central Plains, and realize ethnic integration in a wider range. As for "The King is no exception", it is devoted to solving the opposites and contradictions among different ethnic groups in China, and making them agree with the ideal of "the world" unification. Emphasize that China and ethnic minorities live in harmony, and gradually move towards integration when the time and conditions are ripe. This laid an important ideological foundation for the enlightened rulers in history to carry out the "Hu Han family" progressive ethnic policy and maintain the unified pattern. Emperor Taizong advocated that "there is no difference between a stranger in heaven and a China person" (in Li's question); Emphasize that "I have loved him since ancient times in Zhong Hua" (Zi Tongzhi Jian (198), twenty-one years of Taizong Zhenguan). Yongzheng advocated many times that there should be no "distinction between China people and foreigners" (Volume I of Shu Lu of the Great Justice). Undoubtedly, Chinese culture, as a value that promotes exchanges and contacts among ethnic groups in China, has played an important role in promoting ethnic integration and further consolidating and developing the great cause of national reunification.
Inherit the precious heritage of Chinese culture and create new glory for the Chinese nation.
Judging from the general trend of China's historical development, the pursuit and maintenance of unity has always been the essential attribute and value orientation of China culture. For thousands of years, Chinese culture has not only provided theoretical guidance for the formation and development of the general trend of national reunification, but also provided practical means and methods for people to participate in this historical activity. Even today, its influence on the historical development of China is far-reaching and its contribution is enormous.
First of all, it has enabled China to maintain a unified basic pattern for a long time in history, formed a modern political map of the Chinese nation, and cultivated political, ethnic and cultural resources for the Chinese nation to develop into a modern nation-state. Since the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties, the brilliant achievements of China's ancient civilization have created conditions for Qin Shihuang to unify the world, implement the policy of "sharing books and columns" and establish a centralized unified empire; Since the Qin and Han Dynasties, the Confucian cultural values of "great unification" have always been the same, dominating and standardizing the traditional political practice of past dynasties and becoming the highest principle and behavior mode of traditional political operation. Because of this, all dynasties are consolidating the achievements of national multi-ethnic unity, and all ethnic minorities take integration into the Chinese family as their development destination, thus constantly consolidating and expanding the political pattern of the Chinese nation's pluralism and unity. In other words, the concept of unified culture is deeply rooted in people's hearts. On the basis of collision, integration and harmony, the Han nationality and its brother nationalities interact and complement each other, develop together, and constantly enhance their political and cultural identity, which is indispensable for adhering to the healthy development of the general trend of national unity and enhancing the cohesion and centripetal force among all ethnic groups. Since modern times, China has been brutally invaded by western powers, but the Chinese nation has always maintained the basic unity of its territory and demonstrated its indestructible national strength, which cannot but be attributed to the integration and cohesion of Chinese culture with the purpose of unity.
Secondly, it has maintained the long-term historical continuity of China's social development, making Chinese civilization the only uninterrupted civilization in the world. China's "unified" political system and cultural system have also experienced a process of continuous enrichment and expansion in its formation and development. In this process, the "unified" political system has been maturing, the influence of Chinese culture has been expanding, farming culture and nomadic culture have been continuously integrated and exchanged, radiating and spreading from point to surface and from the inside out, and so on, gradually melting the old edge into a new center, and the Chinese national entity has been continuously developed and consolidated in this historical process. Therefore, although Xiongnu culture, Turkic culture, Mongolian culture, Manchu culture and even Buddhist culture, Arabic culture and Christian culture were once excluded as two poles opposite to "Huaxia culture", they were finally organically integrated into the pattern of "great unity" in the ever-expanding exchanges, which not only made Chinese civilization never break, but also constantly updated and added new vitality. It can be seen that it is the affinity and creativity of Chinese culture and the conscious consciousness of cultural subjects that make the general trend of national reunification vast, irreversible and the continuation of civilization consistent.