Professor Qian Zongwu
The book "Book of Shang" I think is the most important one in the classics handed down from generation to generation, our country's five-thousand-year civilization is recorded by many books, books can be said to be vast, but the most important books in our national culture are those books, called classics or called classics, which is an important reason why our nation has been able to live endlessly for thousands of years.
There are four recognized ancient civilizations in the world, which once created the oldest knowledge system of the entire human race. However, in the long river of history, except for our Chinese civilization, other ancient civilizations have been lost in the shadow of history. Why can our Chinese civilization flourish? Many scholars are exploring this issue. According to my research, there are two very important reasons, one is because we have Chinese characters that have never been interrupted.
The four ancient civilizations originally had their own writings, but these words have all disappeared in the future. Only our Chinese characters, from pottery scripts, oracle bone characters, large seals and small seals to Lishu and Kaishu, the font has been constantly changing, but its fundamental conformation has not changed, the characteristics of the Chinese character ideographic system have not changed, then the history of the Chinese nation written in Chinese characters has not been interrupted, that is to say, our literary tradition has not been interrupted.
The most important of all the literature, that is, the texts and books just spoken of, are also more than a dozen books, and these dozen books have forged the soul and will quality of our nation, that is, the "scriptures" spoken of by Confucianism. What is the essential of the scriptures? The main thing is that it creates a very great spiritual world and shapes the soul and will quality of our nation. Because of our Chinese characters, because of our uninterrupted tradition of literature, generation after generation has nurtured the sons and daughters of China, adhering to our spirit, quality and will. Therefore, although we, like other ancient civilizations, have also experienced foreign invasions and natural disasters, we have not been conquered by foreign races, nor have we been crushed by natural disasters, relying on the internal spiritual will quality of our nation. And this quality of spiritual will is shaped by our texts, by the education of the texts. In the classics, the most important is the Book of Shang.
The Book of Shang is the earliest of all the texts. The most famous scholar of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Liu Xi (a native of Changle, Shandong), has a classic explanation - "Shang, Shangye." The Book of Shang is the "Book of The Ancients." "It is the antiquity of the Han Dynasty, not the antiquity of the present." So it's the earliest book.
The Book of Shang constructed the earliest ideas, viewpoints and ideologies of Chinese culture. Now we use many of our views, but we don't know that these views and ideological categories are derived from the Book of Shang. For example, the unity of heaven and man, the unity of knowledge and action, these are systematically discussed and clearly reflected in the Book of Shang. The Book of Shang places great emphasis on the relationship between heaven and man, emphasizing the protection of the natural environment and the protection of ecology.
The Book of Shang constructs the foundations of various disciplines in modern times. Disciplines such as political science, military science, philosophy, intellectual history, literature, and even agronomy and art can be found in the Book of Shang. The Book of Shang is the earliest local chronicle. For example, the division of administrative regions, why is "Yugong" said to be the "ancestor" of geography? It sets a standard for us, what standard? The administrative region is divided by the high mountains and rivers. For example, Shandong Shanxi is bounded by Kunshan Mountain, and Hunan Hubei is bounded by Dongting Lake.
The Book of Shang is the key to self-cultivation. I have just talked about the country and the great politics, so does the "Book of Shang" have any effect on individuals? It works a lot. Many of the contents of the "Book of Shang" are about how to "cultivate oneself", talking about the idea of self-cultivation, Qi family, governing the country, and "cultivating Qi and ruling the world". Shang Shu. The first paragraph of the YaoDian says straight to the point that "Xiu Qi Zhi Ping". The Book of Shang puts forward the Nine Virtues, which says that individuals must possess nine virtues, all of which are very specific and systematic. The book "Book of Shang", from the management of the country to the small personal self-cultivation, is all-encompassing, although it is not yet perfect, but it puts forward some basic guidelines. For example, the "Lü Punishment", which is the earliest criminal law in the mainland, puts forward some basic principles of modern law. Like today's fine, the earliest "Shang Shu" has it.
The Book of Shang is of great value for strengthening international exchanges and enhancing the self-confidence in discourse, theory and road of Chinese. The West recognizes our history, and our five-thousand-year cultural history is recognized by the West, and they have great admiration for our ancient civilization, especially the East Asian cultural circle and the Greater China cultural circle. Which countries does the East Asian Cultural Circle refer to? Namely, Korea, Japan, Mongolia. The ancestors of the Korean Peninsula are also Han Chinese, the earliest dynasty on the Korean Peninsula is called the Mizi Dynasty, and after the fall of the Shang Dynasty, he fled to Korea and established the earliest dynasty, which they also admit that their history books recorded in this way. As the earliest classic in China, the Book of Shang can play a very good role in strengthening cultural exchanges, and the value of the Book of Shang is very great today. I once wrote an article called "Shang Shu Avenue, Revitalizing China", which was published in Guangming Daily. "Shang Shu" is about the study of the Avenue, and only by giving play to this kind of learning of the Avenue can we revitalize China, otherwise no matter how strong the economy is, the culture is not strong, and the culture is not self-confident. Editor-in-charge: Dong Fenglei