About a few days ago, I sent some micro-headlines, which were paraphrased by the masters of traditional Chinese studies, such as Zhang Taiyan, Liang Qichao, Yan Fu, Hu Shi, xiong Shili, and others who criticized the five elements of yin and yang. Like what:
Zhang Taiyan said: The five elements of yin and yang are superstitions, and without breaking the superstitions about it, the country cannot progress. The five elements of yin and yang have no real truth, they are improper things.
I would also like to make a special note that Zhang Taiyan is an old-school literati who has never opposed ethnic medicine and is considered a member of the traditional medicine camp. During the Republic of China period, many organizations and publications of traditional medicine were established under his banner.
Zhang Taiyan
Liang Qichao said that Chinese superstitious belief in the five elements of yin and yang is really a "shame for academics". He went on to point out that the five elements of yin and yang are political ideas, the purpose of which is to persuade the monarch to use benevolence, and the original intention is not to describe the laws of the universe and things, and even the inventor himself does not believe it. As a result Chinese spread false rumors and became more and more superstitious about this thing. The Five Elements of Yin and Yang were an extremely chaotic and self-justifying thing even in ancient times, which seriously disrupted the development of Chinese's thinking.
Liang Qichao (right)
Yan Fu said: The statement of the five elements of yin and yang is blind, a kind of ghostly and specious thinking. For example, if you say "Jin Ke Mu", but there is a huge wooden hammer to strike a tin grain, which side can win? Yan Fu also said that the yin and yang five elements, which are arbitrarily compared to the connection between things, are the ideological roots of China's near backwardness.
Yan fu
Hu Shi said: The Five Elements of Yin and Yang are shallow theories of witchcraft, and similar ones abound in the history of human civilization. He said that if he were himself, it would be "easy" to invent a similar theory.
Xiong Shili said: Traditional medicine only borrows the flag of the five elements of yin and yang, but in fact, it is not directly related to them. He pointed out that the principle of traditional medicine is effective because of the chemical composition, which is the product of long-term practical experience. Medicine, guided by the Theory of the Five Elements of Yin and Yang, "does not take effect."
Since I posted these micro-headlines, I was psychologically ready to be attacked by metaphysical enthusiasts. Because from my experience in the struggle against superstition, I know their psychology:
What I believe in is the truth. Anyone who does not believe is a fallacy or does not understand. Only people who believe in the same faith as me are high-level and masters.
Sure enough, online public opinion did indeed move in the direction I had foreseen. There were almost thousands of messages before and after, the vast majority of which were defending the Five Elements of Yin and Yang and attacking Zhang Taiyan Liang Qichao and others.
Their attack on Zhang Taiyan and others did not surprise me at all. It's just three points:
First, it is said that Zhang Taiyan Liang Qichao these people do not understand Chinese studies.
Second, zhang Taiyan and others not only did not understand traditional Chinese studies, but were also influenced by "Western studies", so they were not worthy of using "Western thinking" to evaluate Eastern theology.
Third, even if they knew a little bit about Chinese studies, they didn't understand the "Heavenly Dao." The five elements of yin and yang are considered to be the "Heavenly Dao", something that is "superscientific", which only God can understand, and mortals are not qualified to evaluate.
I'm not surprised that the above remarks have appeared on the Internet. The low level of national scientific literacy is not only caused today.
On a whim, I clicked on the profile pictures of the commenters and tracked their statements. Everything was in line with my prediction, and these people really had abnormal words and deeds. For example, anti-GMO, anti-vaccine.
Notice that they are in [anti-vaccine].
Anti-vaccine people, what kind of thinking level are they? Can these people's thinking level be normal? Since it is not normal, what good things can they do with the yin and yang five elements that they superstitiously believe in with this abnormal thinking?
With all due respect, judging things with abnormal thinking often leads to the right results. For example, their three statements above:
It is said that Zhang Taiyan, Liang Qichao, Yan Fu, Xiong Shili, and Hu Shi "do not understand Chinese studies."
Zhang Taiyan was the first person in the study of Chinese culture in the Republic of China. Notice that it is the first person, a unique character. Zhang Taiyan believed that he was the first in Chinese studies, and no one dared to recognize the second. Liang Qichao is the first of the "Four Great Mentors" of Tsinghua Guoguo College. This is a university scholar whose knowledge has shaken the past and the present. Yan Fu and Xiong Shili were both well-known masters of traditional Chinese studies. Hu Shi was slightly inferior to them, but he also wrote a history of Chinese philosophy. Whether he is aware of the five elements of yin and yang, or other traditional cultural ideas, he is definitely clearer than you about their ins and outs and essential meanings.
This group of people are the most outstanding intellectuals in China's modern history and are also true masters of sinology. Just because they have criticized the five elements of yin and yang from a very high angle, you can't accept it, and bite each other back and "don't understand Guoxue", I will hehe:
Do you have any of your own writings on Sinology? You can so well, take the real thing out and dry it!
He is the most powerful master of Sinology in China, and he really understands the essence of the five elements of yin and yang. You are nothing but superstitions.
Just because others deny your superstitions, you will attack them en masse, beating them upside down and saying that others "do not understand science." This reminds me of a comical scene:
Einstein taught elementary school students arithmetic. Several repeaters who could not add, subtract, multiply, and divide within ten shouted and scolded Einstein, saying that Einstein did not understand arithmetic.
Einstein
If the level of Chinese studies of Zhang Taiyan Liang Qichao and others is equivalent to "Einstein", the nonsense yin and yang five elements superstitious person is equivalent to a primary school repeater.
In the final analysis, it is because these people cannot treat knowledge correctly and always regard faith as truth. This reminds me of a science fiction movie again:
An astronaut stumbles into a parallel universe where time is passing fast, and she shows a "divine power" - using science and technology to save the natives of this universe, so they are revered as the supreme god of this universe. Later, the astronauts came to this universe again and found that it was full of their own towering gods. She decided to explain the truth to the people of this universe: Without God, I saved you by science, not by divine power.
As a result, the people of that universe did not listen to her at all, but became furious, imprisoned the astronauts, and executed her. Because the astronaut violated their beliefs, it didn't matter whether she was a deity or not, what mattered was that their beliefs had to be upheld and not shaken. So, even if they really knew that astronauts were indeed their own gods, they would kill them mercilessly in order to believe.
Don't be truthful, faith first, is the common disease of the yin and yang five elements superstitious people.
These people also took the reason that Zhang Taiyan and others were subjected to "Western learning" to prove that they were not worthy of evaluating the five elements of yin and yang. This is even more absurd. Who stipulates that the masters of Traditional Chinese Studies can only study the Three Tombs and Five Classics for a lifetime, but cannot study the West?
For example, a sealed cell holds a man without hands who wears a hat that he may not know for the rest of his life what color the hat is. Learning Western studies is equivalent to erecting a mirror in front of him so that he can see what he really is like.
Dare not and cannot absorb foreign ideas, and any tradition will eventually become something dead. Why not study Western studies?
Moreover, Zhang Taiyan was originally a famous old-school literati, and his lifelong ideal was to inherit traditional Chinese culture. He was generally an "old-fashioned" man. A great master of Sinology who is "old-fashioned" in his thinking, even such a person criticizes the Five Elements of Yin and Yang, how can you belittle Zhang Taiyan for "not understanding Sinology"?
As for some people with noble brains, what they call the five elements of yin and yang is the "Heavenly Dao", a "super-scientific" thing that only God can understand, and mortals are not qualified to evaluate - I have no interest in arguing with them. My approach is to directly block.
There is no need to debate these people. Because it's a waste of time.
Since the five elements of yin and yang are "gods," god should bring well-being to those who believe in them. That is, I believe in you, and you want to give me tangible benefits. But we have been playing the Yin and Yang Five Elements since the Eastern Weekend, and we have believed in this thing for so many years, but have we benefited from the national economy and people's livelihood? Have you ever used it to enrich the country and strengthen the army? Since the Five Elements of Yin and Yang are so powerful, why was the Central Plains Dynasty always beaten up by the peasants and herdsmen, and why was modern China always bullied and humiliated by the Western powers and the Japanese who did not believe in the Five Elements of Yin and Yang, and signed more than 200 unequal treaties?
Battle of Jia-Wu
I would also like to ask: throughout the ages, both in China and the West, the progress of industry, agriculture, socio-economic and political systems, science and technology, scientific theory, military theory, invention and creation, engineering construction... Everything related to human life, has there ever been the participation of the five elements of yin and yang?
The answer is none. Even traditional medicine has nothing to do with the five elements of yin and yang. Several doctoral supervisors at the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences believe that the effectiveness of traditional medicine does not stem from the theory of the five elements of yin and yang, but is the product of the practical experience of working people.
It can be said that whether there are five elements of yin and yang has no impact on the real world.
A very intuitive example is that there have never been five elements of yin and yang in foreign countries, and people do not necessarily live in the depths of the water.
Overall, the five elements of yin and yang are a "toy" of the ancients, a very simple speculation. Its essence is a political idea made up by Zou Yan, which has little to do with philosophy, or a political doctrine that borrows the shape of philosophy. But politicians in history have never really taken it seriously. The Five Elements of Yin and Yang did not prevent a change of dynasty. Even if politics is truly guided by the five elements of yin and yang, constitutional thought will never be born.
The ancients were superstitious. The ancestors of any country and nation are superstitious, both at home and abroad. But modern people are still so superstitious, that is the big problem.
Author: Skeptical Explorer