It is of great significance that the Vietnamese prime minister gave Chinese characters as a national gift to the Japanese prime minister

On April 30, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visited Vietnam, and Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Myint Cheng introduced Kishida culture to Kishida through the art of calligraphy, and gave Kishida a painting by a Vietnamese calligrapher with the three Chinese characters of "sincerity, love and faith" written on it. Kishida responded that the Japanese also attach great importance to calligraphy culture, believing that cultural communication is an important foundation for strengthening the deep friendship between the two countries and the two peoples.

This small move is actually a cultural event, marking the change and trend of the global cultural landscape.

The Vietnamese prime minister presented Chinese characters as a state gift to the Japanese prime minister, which first shows that the status of Chinese characters in the international community has been greatly enhanced. This is the global effect of China's rise and rejuvenation, which can be described as "China's tao, Chinese characters ascending to heaven". Of course, China is still on its way to rise, and Chinese characters have not yet truly ascended to heaven in the world.

Vietnam and Japan have long been influenced by Chinese culture in history, including the use of Chinese characters, and Vietnam was even directly ruled by China and belonged to Chinese territory, so it is also classified as a "Confucian cultural circle". In fact, the "Confucian cultural circle" is not a shallow reference to Confucianism, the only one that really belongs to Confucian culture is China, and Vietnam and Japan can only be classified as "Confucian cultural indoctrination circles", which is a barbarian area that accepts Confucian indoctrination.

Although Vietnam and Japan have been indoctrinated by Chinese culture for more than 2,000 years, has this indoctrination been successful? Unfortunately, the answer is no. None of them understood and implemented the essence of Confucian culture: righteousness, taoism. Their understanding and implementation of Confucian culture and Chinese culture is limited to the level of "literature" and not to the level of "Tao".

As far as Chinese characters are concerned, there are also two levels of "wen" and "Tao", that is, the so-called "Wen to carry the Tao". "Wen" is figurative, a tool for carrying and expressing the Tao. The character shape and calligraphy are just the text of the Chinese characters, and the righteousness carried by the glyphs and calligraphy is the way of the Chinese characters.

This is also what Zhuangzi and Wang Bi called "the debate of words and meanings" and "the debate of symbolism".

Zhuangzi said: "Therefore the tsuener is in the fish, and the fish is forgotten; the hoof is in the rabbit, and the rabbit is forgotten; the speaker is so concerned, proud and forgets." "Tsuen" is a fishing tool and "hoof" is a tool for catching rabbits. Zhuangzi believed that "speech" was a tool for catching intentions and a tool for expressing intentions.

Wang Bi extended Zhuangzi's thought to the study of the I Ching Gua Xiang. Gua Xiang is a ideographic symbol that predates Chinese characters and is one of the Chinese alphabets. However, the Han Dynasty people were obsessed with the guaxiang itself, believing that the avenue of easy reason was based on the symbol of the guaxiang, forming a very superstitious "elephant number school", which Wang Bi refuted.

Wang Bi said, "Therefore the one who speaks, therefore the clear image, gets the image and forgets the word; the elephant, so the one who has the intention, is proud and forgets the image." Therefore the hoofed one is in the rabbit, and the rabbit forgets the hoof; the one who has the hoof is in the fish, and the fish is forgotten. ”

Although Wang Bi is talking about the I Ching Gua Xiang symbol, it can be used in Chinese characters. The essence of guaxiang is also the essence of Chinese characters.

The study and cognition of Chinese characters in Vietnam and Japan just stayed at the level of "wen", but did not reach the level of "Tao", obtained its text but did not get its way, knew its raft but did not know its fish.

Therefore, some people commented that Japan is "knowing small gifts without great righteousness", which is very appropriate. "Small rites" are the external "text", and "great righteousness" is the inner "tao". In fact, this sentence is also suitable for all "Confucian cultural indoctrination circles" outside of China, and even all countries outside China.

Therefore, it is wrong to say that Chinese characters are the cornerstone of Chinese culture, and the "Tao" carried by Chinese characters is the "Tao", but the inheritance of this righteous way in China is not only a path of Chinese characters. The "text" of "text" actually refers to all external behaviors of people, and words are only a very small part of it, and the larger and more core part is practice.

The more core existence and inheritance line of the Tao of Righteousness in China is practice, and more importantly, the practice of people at the grassroots level. The main body of practice is the people and the people, so the people are the most important "text", and the core of "the text carries the road" is "people carry the road" and "the people carry the road".

Therefore, Confucius said, "Man can promote the Tao, but non-Tao can promote people." Of course, the representative of this "person" is a gentleman and an adult from the people.

Therefore, for China, it is the human being who is in the Tao. As long as Chinese exist, they will firmly implement and defend the culture of righteousness, defend righteousness, and defend the Tao. The Five Classics and Four Books can be temporarily overthrown, and even the Chinese characters themselves may be temporarily overthrown, but the righteous way behind them cannot be shaken and indestructible.

The Five Classics and Four Books have been set aside, and today's China, where Chinese characters have been severely simplified and linguisticized, is still the country of righteousness and the country of Confucianism, and its concept and institutional core are still righteous. Western culture can only influence the "wen" of Chinese culture, but cannot touch the "Tao" of Chinese culture.

It is precisely because the Japanese and Vietnamese generation only know the literature of Chinese culture and do not know the way of Chinese culture, so it is easy to be confused by the developed technology and economy of the West, thinking that it is cultural development, so in modern times, they have de-Sinicized and Westernized. Japan directly "broke away from Asia and entered Europe", and Vietnam completely abolished Chinese characters, the two countries not only tried to cut off cultural ties with China, but even once made enemies of China and fought against each other.

20 years ago, Vietnam could not have imagined giving Chinese characters to Japan as a national gift. The reason why it appears today is because China has risen, not only in a way and model that is completely different from that of the West, that is, the model of righteousness.

This means that the context of past acceptance of Chinese indoctrination, and its legacy, such as Chinese characters, has indeed become a factor that can reunite these countries. This is becoming a trend that deserves China's attention.

At the same time, it also means that for vietnam and Japan, which are "Confucian cultural indoctrination circles", they will accept the secondary indoctrination of Confucianism, and enter the room by literature and Taoism.

China's economic and technological development model itself is a kind of "literature" and "literature carries the tao". The words of Zhuangzi and Wang Bi also apply here.