China's excellent traditional culture is the outstanding advantage of the Chinese nation, our deepest cultural soft power, and the major contribution of the Chinese nation to the development of human civilization. In the new era, we need to better promote Chinese culture to go out, and explain and introduce more excellent cultures with Chinese characteristics, embody the Chinese spirit and contain Chinese wisdom to the world with the words of literature, the voice of the text, and the people of culture.
As an outstanding representative of China's excellent traditional culture, Lao Tzu Thought has a positive role in promoting the resolution of contradictions between mankind and nature, dissolving the conflict between civilizations, soothing the soul and spirit of mankind, and promoting the construction of a community of human civilization. In the process of exchanges and mutual learning among human civilizations, improving and optimizing the concepts, subjects, channels and forms of extraterritorial dissemination of Lao Tzu's thoughts and works is a topic of the times that deserves in-depth study.
"Establishing a Common Idea"
Attaching importance to commonality and implementing it into the communication process is to seek the friendliness of language style and narrative mode on the basis of equal exchanges, mutual learning and reciprocity, and to find the convergence point of the inner spirit of both sides.
For example, the language is concise and acceptable.
As an ancient Chinese cultural classic, the Tao Te Ching is broad in content and profound in meaning. However, its language is Old Chinese, with mysterious meanings and rhetorical pluralism, resulting in a high threshold for the readability and translatability of the text.
Publishers can issue overseas editions of the Tao Te Ching to foreign readers, and launch an explanatory version of modern Chinese that is easy to understand and understand, so as to enhance the legibility and translation of the text. On this basis, a foreign language version of Pingyi Xiaochang was further introduced.
Another example is the affinity and friendliness of the narrative.
The Guardian usually cuts naturally from a first-person perspective in some reports involving Lao Tzu's thought and writings. Compared with the neutral and objective introduction of Lao Tzu and the Tao Te Ching, it is more clear to express the author's views and attitudes, as if communicating with the reader as naturally as a friend.
In addition to the first-person singular perspective of "I", the Guardian will also use the narrative perspective of "We", which deliberately creates a "community". This kind of narrative mode more or less dilutes the background that the Tao Te Ching originated from Eastern civilization, and emphasizes that human beings can get inspiration from it, so that it is easier for readers outside the region to identify with and resonate with Lao Tzu's thought in a community of human civilization.
Another example is to establish a connection between values and cognitive methods.
The Tao Te Ching contains rich and inclusive values, such as the Taoist law of nature, returning to the basics, teachings that are unspoken, and the extremes of things must be reversed. The dissemination of the Tao Te Ching outside the territory should be combined with the needs of the times, actively display the cultural elements of Laozi thought with contemporary value and common significance, and establish a connection with other civilizations in terms of values and ways of knowing the world.
The commonality between Lao Tzu's thought and the spirit of Sufi thought in Arab philosophy is an extremely important factor in combination; the Tao Te Ching is loved by Western hippies and counterculturalists, mainly because some of its ideas cater to these groups' enthusiasm for health, sports, and environmental protection.
"Diversification of Communication Subjects"
The empowering nature of new media technologies has changed the passive position of the audience in traditional media. When Lao Tzu's ideas and works are disseminated outside the territory, they should conform to the trend of pluralistic transmission subjects and actively absorb fresh forces.
Since the 20th century, overseas sinologists, writers, and journalists have played an important role in the extraterritorial dissemination of Lao Tzu's ideas and works. Most of them tend to introduce Lao Tzu to Western audiences from an academic and professional point of view. It should be noted that while the content of the text is more clear and ideological, such communication channels are relatively small and the audience is relatively single.
Under the new situation, we should consciously develop and cultivate new communication subjects, such as overseas Chinese and overseas students, folk cultural groups in Western countries, and foreign students studying in China, so as to inject new impetus and vitality into the extraterritorial dissemination of Lao Tzu's thoughts and works.
At present, online communication has an increasingly important and extensive impact, and it is necessary to find and cultivate a group of people with a certain academic foundation, master a foreign language, and be able to skillfully use new media communication skills as opinion leaders, and actively organize and lead the dissemination of Lao Tzu's thoughts and works in the international cyberspace.
"Exploring Communication Channels"
For some time, the external dissemination of China's excellent traditional culture has been mainly based on books, radio and television, and overseas propaganda films. With the development of the Internet, the online communication space created by new media technology has provided a new environment for the world's information and cultural exchanges and for the extraterritorial dissemination of Lao Tzu's thoughts and works.
We should seize the opportunity of the rapid rise of social media and mobile terminals, expand online platforms, and leverage overseas mainstream video playback platforms and online social platforms to "break the circle" for cross-cultural communication. Information release platforms can be set up, resource construction of high-quality short videos and live broadcast platforms can be strengthened, new media expressions of China's excellent traditional culture can be explored, and the three-dimensional and civilized image of Lao Tzu and the wisdom and peaceful Lao Tzu thought can be disseminated to the world.
For example, we regularly upload videos such as animations, historical stories, and scholars' explanations; establish an online community about Lao Tzu's thoughts and works, and carry out regular exchange activities; and use documentaries and cartoons as the medium to let the world appreciate the cultural charm of Lao Tzu.
In addition, offline activities such as international conferences, course observation, forum discussions, project research, academic communication and cultural tourism can be held to form an all-round, three-dimensional and differentiated communication phalanx.
"Turning to "Living Texts""
One of the reasons why Lao Tzu's thought spread in the West lies in the wisdom of his philosophy of life. Under the new situation, the extraterritorial dissemination of Lao Tzu's thoughts and works should consciously shift from "literary texts" and "cultural texts" to "living texts", such as tourism promotion and commercial promotion.
As far as tourism promotion is concerned, activities such as tourism recommendation in Laozi's hometown, shaping Laozi's image ambassador, and Laozi's drama performance can be carried out, so that audiences outside the region can increase their cognition and understanding of Laozi's thought by participating in a variety of activities.
As far as commercialization is concerned, the mysterious and respectable image of Lao Tzu and the "golden sentences" in the Tao Te Ching can be transformed into various artistic shapes or commodity styles, including exquisite statues, ingeniously designed tea sets, cute and small tourist souvenirs, etc., and cover multiple languages.
In principle, under the premise of adhering to the core ideas of Lao Tzu, the shaping of the appearance image can be interpreted differently, elaborated with variations and reshaped personality according to the changes of time and region. Through the "living text", Lao Tzu's thought was further transformed from invisible and abstract to tangible, figurative, more grounded and more influential.
(Author: Professor Wu Zhiyong, School of Communication, East China Normal University)