How to treat Chinese and western cultures

The historical process of mankind has provided an extremely rich culture for future generations, and also accumulated beneficial successful experiences and painful lessons of failure. This huge and precious wealth is also an important resource for human civilization. We should make full use of these resources, broaden our horizons, change the traditional mindset, cultivate a wide range of interests and improve our cultural literacy.

Cultural literacy is an important part of a person's comprehensive quality. The level of cultural literacy is not only related to the quality of individuals, but also directly affects their concepts and interests, including values, outlook on life and morality; It also affects people's physical and mental health. Therefore, it is very necessary and important to improve everyone's own cultural literacy.

A very important reason why human beings can create rich material civilization and spiritual civilization is that they can constantly sum up their own development history, draw useful experiences from it and accept painful lessons. So as to promote the development of mankind from low to high, and promote the development of society from barbarism to civilization. In this sense, history can give people wisdom and enlightenment.

In the process of culture, eastern and western cultures have their own characteristics in the long river of time.

First, the different characteristics of Chinese and Western cultures: balance and realism

The different cultural characteristics of Chinese and western nations, namely balance and realism, also reflect the differences in ideas and consciousness between nations. These two basic cultural characteristics are embodied in specific cultural phenomena and literary works: namely, the traditional culture of China is characterized by stability, peace, harmony and freehand brushwork; Western traditional culture has distinct personality and strong realistic characteristics.

1. China traditional culture advocates balance and is characterized by stability, peace and harmony.

The pursuit of balance is a specific concept formed by the Chinese nation in the long-term agricultural production. Agricultural production is restricted by seasonal changes and crop growth laws, and it needs a stable social order. Agricultural production is threatened by natural disasters at any time, which requires people to unite and cooperate to build stable and harmonious interpersonal relationships; Natural climatic conditions and various meteorological factors needed for crop growth, such as light and temperature, waterproof, etc., need to be suitable, that is, "nothing is too bad." China's traditional martial arts, Tai Chi Kung Fu, combines rigidity with softness. The ancients believed that heaven and earth, yin and yang, and day and night were relative, and they should be kept in balance. The harmony between people and the balanced development between people and nature.

Confucius put forward the idea of "the doctrine of the mean" for "the way of being human": "A gentleman is the doctrine of the mean, and a villain is against a small temple". Neo-Confucianism in the Ming Dynasty explained the "golden mean" as follows: "those who are in the middle are impartial, and those who are in the middle are less than yuan". In other words, in order to make both ends meet, people need to develop and advance in the direction of justice. This understanding of treating others with integrity has also become the knowledge of the Chinese nation, and it has also cultivated the excellent moral character of the Chinese nation in adhering to principles and distinguishing right from wrong.

China's traditional diet has the characteristics of "balance", which is mostly empirical. In ancient times, people divided various foods into four "attributes": warm, hot, cool and cold, and divided them into five flavors according to their tastes: pungent, sour, sweet, bitter and salty. The "balance" of China's traditional diet is to match different foods according to their attributes and five flavors, so as to achieve the "balance" of "four flavors" and "five flavors".

In contrast, due to the fast pace of life and work in the west, convenient and clean eating methods and what nutrition is lacking and what nutrition is supplemented have become the main theme, which also shows the difference in dietary realism.

2. The characteristics of western traditional culture: realism

Influenced by the production of animal husbandry, western nations have formed many unique concepts, among which realism is the most prominent and important, that is, paying attention to reality.

2. 1 the reflection of realism in western social life

The concept of realism is very obvious in western social life. It is reflected in the fact that western nations are based on reality when they look at society, deal with interpersonal relationships and daily life.

The western nation's "consumption in advance" in the consumption concept, that is, the practice of first consuming and then repaying the loan, is to proceed from reality, first consider the immediate actual needs and meet people's needs for reality. As for the next repayment, it is also decided according to the actual needs, so westerners often have the phenomenon of repeated borrowing.

The concept of realism has also played an important role in the history of civilization development in western countries and societies. A series of great inventions in modern world history and the establishment of modern natural science discipline system are basically the contributions of nomadic descendants in history.

In the foreign policy of western countries, the concept of realism is also reflected. The "round table" first appeared on the political stage in Europe. When holding an international conference or negotiating with political factions at home and abroad, using a round table can avoid hierarchy, ranking, ownerless, inferior, etc., so that all participants feel equal.

2.2 the embodiment of realism in western culture and art.

Western culture comes from ancient Greek mythology, and the tradition is centered on Christian culture. Similarly, the concept of realism is fully reflected in western traditional culture and art.

In western literary works, there are many contents that truly and directly reflect the author's era and social life. Such as Les Miserables by French writer Hugo, Antique Shop and A Tale of Two Cities by British writer Di Xin, The Count of Monte Cristo and three musketeers by French writer Dumas, La Traviata by Dumas and many other literary works, including Danish works.

The fairy tales created by hans christian andersen and German writer Green all take reality as the theme, or praise, criticize and satirize.

The same is true of dramatic works. The four tragedies created by English playwright Shakespeare (Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth) and A Doll's House created by Norwegian playwright Ibsen all have realistic features.

Realism in western literature and art also shows that works truly and directly express their feelings. People's emotions, likes and dislikes and other emotions are directly revealed in the works.

Second, the relationship between Chinese and Western cultures-thirty years in Hedong and forty years in Hexi

In the past 30 years, the eastern culture of Hedong entered the feudal society earlier than the west, and its culture was more advanced than the western culture, with many brilliant inventions and ideas, so the eastern culture of Hedong became the mainstream of world culture. However, western countries came from behind, and capitalist relations of production first appeared in western Europe and gradually replaced feudal relations of production. /kloc-The "Renaissance" in Europe in the 6th century was a reflection of this ideological historical change and an anti-feudal ideological and cultural movement of the emerging bourgeoisie. At that time, science, literature and art flourished unprecedentedly, and a large number of giants of the times emerged. Capitalist culture has also replaced feudal culture as the mainstream of the times, that is, the so-called eastern culture in Hedong in the past 30 years gave way to the culture in Hexi in the past 40 years. This abdication is a great development of human culture and a great progress of human society.

Capitalism is in a period of rising development, which promotes the development of productive forces in capitalist society. Later, when capitalism developed to the stage of monopoly capitalism, that is, to the later stage of capitalism, all kinds of internal basic contradictions in capitalist society became more acute, and all kinds of indications showed that capitalism reached the stage of monopoly and there was a crisis in cultural thought.

Dr. Li Zhengdao delivered a speech at the "Sino-US Cultural Exchange Seminar" and mentioned the differences between Chinese and American cultural traditions: "The differences between Chinese and American cultural traditions are obvious. China's cultural tradition requires individuals to put society first, while the United States is just the opposite. When there is a contradiction between individuals and society, they often emphasize individual freedom and power, which is conducive to stimulating individual initiative and enterprising spirit. The whole society is full of vitality. But this concept also leads to the abuse of freedom. Now that the chaos in the United States has occurred, it cannot be said that it has nothing to do with it. "

Pursuing material growth and enjoying life has become the main life goal of modern people, even the only goal of some people. Under the domination of such values, everything is just for utility and indulgence. Cultural crisis, individualism, money worship and nihilism are rampant in western countries.

In this view, nature and science and technology are just the environment, resources, tools and means to achieve some utility and enjoyment, and we can make use of it and tap it regardless of the consequences. Even others, like things, are just a kind of resource or means, a kind of mutual utilization relationship. As a result, the relationship between man and nature, and the relationship between people have been seriously distorted. This is the deep root of the above-mentioned opposition between man and nature and the sharp deepening of alienation (or opposition) between people. This short-sighted approach will definitely affect the future development. China's traditional culture pays attention to the harmonious coexistence between man and nature and between people, which is bound to be more in line with the development of social history.

Therefore, in the new situation, Hexi culture has given way to Hedong new culture, which is more advanced than it, spiraling upward, and more advanced and progressive every time, reflecting the law of the continuous development of human society and its culture.

Ancient thinkers in China believed that there was a problem of self-knowledge when human beings understood and transformed nature. Especially when the power of human beings to conquer nature is getting stronger and stronger, human beings need to know themselves clearly and correctly. People and individuals should not only know their greatness, but also know their smallness. They should not pretend to be great or feel inferior to smallness. However, this is not an easy task. Most of people's self-loss comes from disharmony with nature and others, and its root lies in the self itself, that is, either they belittle themselves because they only see the ego, or they blindly respect the ego because they only see the ego, that is, they can't know themselves correctly and lack the freedom to know.

This set of personality development model of Confucianism has a very unique value in world civilization. Confucianism believes that individual cultivation cannot be separated from mass cultivation. "Self-cultivation, keeping the family in order, governing the country and leveling the world" is the process of personal personality completion. On the one hand, the individual's spirit should be completed by transforming society, on the other hand, it should be gradually deepened through four levels: body, mind, spirit and spirit.

An important goal of China's ancient Confucian self-cultivation theory is to cultivate moral quality that is harmonious with others and social groups. Confucianism advocates the spirit of "pushing yourself and others", such as "if you want to establish a person, you want to succeed" and "if you are old, you will be young, and if you are young, you will be young", which is a good medicine for the crisis of western culture and thought.

At present, there is an upsurge of studying Buddhism in China in the world. Learning meditation can not only cure diseases and strengthen the body, but more importantly, for people who believe in meditation, it can mediate people's psychological imbalance to a considerable extent. Zen reveals the essence of self from one side, focusing on the subjective causes of pain and troubles in life, and discusses how Ding Can can get rid of the passivity of complaining and obeying the environment, relieve all kinds of pains and troubles through his active efforts, and become his own master.

The emergence, existence and development of socialist China, from the cultural point of view, itself shows that a socialist culture has emerged in the East, and its guiding ideology is the product of the combination of Marxism–Leninism and China's revolution and construction-Mao Zedong Thought, combining with reality, starting from reality, closely contacting the masses, and Deng Xiaoping's founding theory, reform and opening up and sustainable development strategy. This new culture and its guiding ideology show great vitality, great strength and high creativity in the process of formation and development. Under its impetus, the new-democratic revolution and socialist revolution led by China's * * * production party have successively won victories in a big country with a land area of 9.6 million square kilometers and a population of more than 654.38 billion, creating many miracles on earth.

The characteristics of eastern thinking mode and eastern culture are synthesis, while the characteristics of western thinking mode and western culture are analysis. On the whole. In the 400 years since Galileo, western natural science has embarked on the road of analysis.

From the perspective of human rights, China government's view of human rights is people's right to subsistence and development. That is, if people live in a social environment, they should have the right to survive and develop. China's view of human rights is based on society, that is, on the premise of * * * and the principle of integrity, and from the overall situation and overall interests, to clarify human rights.

The concept of human rights put forward by the United States and other western countries is based on the traditional self-centered consciousness in the West. It emphasizes individual freedom and power. That is, in social life, the will of the individual is the first, that is, emphasizing and highlighting the needs and desires of the individual. Therefore, social problems such as violent crimes, shootings, high divorce rates, and abandonment of the elderly and children in western society are very serious and difficult to change and reverse.

Therefore, I believe that if we can learn from western analytical methods and scientific spirit, enrich our culture, build a new civilization with characteristics in socialist countries, and integrate Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism with China's 5,000-year-old culture, the oriental culture will become more advanced and westernized.

In a word, by comparing the different cultural characteristics between China and the West and the relationship between Chinese and Western cultures in history, I will be more targeted when I study and understand Chinese and Western cultures in the future.

All rivers run into the sea, which is one of the traditional spirits of our country. We should absorb the essence of eastern and western cultures, introduce western rigorous science and advanced culture to enrich China's traditional culture and socialist civilization, and even more, we should seriously study China's humanistic thoughts of "harmony but difference" and "harmony and unity", carry forward China's traditional culture, constantly enrich our spiritual life, improve our cultural literacy and build our socialist power.