Author: Wang Rui, Associate Professor, Department of History, East China Normal University.
Originally published in Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping Theory Research, No. 5, 2021
Advocating China's excellent traditional culture is quite popular today, which naturally has practical significance.
However, it should be noted that some of the speeches advocating China's excellent traditional culture either pick up the relevant views of the Kuomintang rule period, or follow the Hong Kong and Taiwan neo-Confucianism during the Cold War period as the guideline, or combine china's excellent traditional culture with neoliberal ideology, which is actually contrary to the socialist road.
To promote China's outstanding traditional culture, we must not deviate from the socialist road, we must realize that the revolution and construction under the leadership of the Communist Party of China have truly given birth to the possibility of rejuvenating China's outstanding traditional culture, we must carry forward patriotism and revolutionary traditions, attach importance to the people's nature and revolution in China's excellent traditional culture, attach importance to the theoretical thinking of the Chinese communists represented by Comrade Mao Zedong on the relationship between tradition and modernity, and make China's outstanding traditional culture a benign part of building China's ideological discourse system.
[Keywords] socialism; excellent traditional Chinese culture; Mao Zedong Thought
At present, the trend of advocating China's excellent traditional culture has risen in society, which is of certain practical significance. In modern times, in the face of the strong guns of the Western powers, many Chinese or out of anxiety about the decline of national strength, have developed a blind admiration and admiration for foreign powers and a bad mentality of self-abandonment of Chinese culture; or sincerely believe that only by thoroughly criticizing Chinese traditions can China get rid of the crisis of the times, so they began to question, criticize, and negate Chinese traditions and even appeared the trend of "total Westernization". In March 1989, deng xiaoping, recalling the development since the reform and opening up, stressed that "our biggest mistake is in education, ideological and political work is weak, and education development is not enough." As he said, during that period, due to the emergence of erroneous ideological trends of one kind or another in China, due to the more flexible and subtle ideological output of the capitalist countries headed by the United States to China, above the clamor of cultural nihilism and national nihilism, there were all kinds of social trends of thought that denied Chinese history, negated the achievements of new China's construction, and advocated that only Western capitalist countries should take the lead. Today, many profound changes have taken place in the situation between China and the world, and people have begun to reflect on the past phenomenon of "only the west is respected" and "only the west is still", and have begun to think deeply about the value of Chinese tradition. In this context, the Party Central Committee proposed to attach importance to China's excellent traditional culture and realize the creative transformation of China's outstanding traditional culture, which is not only conducive to establishing national self-confidence and cultural self-confidence, but also helping to cast a solid sense of the Chinese national community, highlighting the important role of the Communist Party of China as the vanguard of the Chinese nation. However, it must be noted that some of the current expositions on China's excellent traditional culture, ostensibly in the name of attaching importance to Chinese traditions, actually add some ideological discourses that are obviously contrary to socialism, and even attempt to oppose China's excellent traditional culture with China's socialist road. Such words and trends of thought should be taken seriously. At the same time, it should also be emphasized that from the perspective of the process of China's modern and modern history, it is precisely because of the socialist factors and the new democratic revolution and socialist revolution and construction led by the Communist Party of China that The chinese outstanding traditional culture has the opportunity to regain its vitality.
I. Analyze the current expositions on China's excellent traditional culture that deviate from the socialist road
Marx pointed out: "People themselves make their own history, but they do not create it at will, not under conditions of their own choosing, but under conditions directly encountered, established, inherited from the past." "Therefore, we must pay attention to the impact of tradition on modern society. From the academic level, tradition is not only a synthesis of some fixed and influential contents that have been formed in the process of historical flow, but also inseparable from the various interpretations of it by future generations from different realistic situations. Therefore, how to define tradition, how to view tradition, which parts of tradition are worth advocating in modern society, and what is the historical experience and theoretical basis on which certain traditions are based, are extremely important for understanding the different manifestations of tradition in contemporary times. At present, some of the current expositions on China's excellent traditional culture are obviously based on certain ideological demands and specific interest groups, and their important practical purpose is to distort, dilute, and replace the socialist road. In general, there are three main forms of expression.
First, the excellent traditional Chinese culture is simply opposed to the new democratic revolution and socialist revolution and construction led by the Communist Party of China. According to those who hold this view, China's excellent traditional culture is extremely inconsistent with the revolutionary program of the Communist Party of China, and China's new democratic revolution and socialist revolution and construction are "radical" "utopian" acts that make China's traditional spirit "flowers and fruits drift to zero." In order to establish the traditional virtues of China, it is necessary to regard the revolution as a flood beast, to draw a clear line with the socialist road, and to find relevant "heritage" from the historical elements that the new-democratic revolution opposes and wants to overthrow. Such a statement is largely a reproduction of the slanderous words of the Kuomintang regime and the puppet Manchukuo regime against the Chinese revolution during the revolutionary war years. Because the people's war led by the Communist Party of China is to establish an armed separatist regime of workers and peasants in the countryside, and then confiscate the land of the landlords and gentry, break the feudal domination in the countryside, and turn the vast number of peasants who have been in a state of oppression and exploitation for a long time politically and economically, it is inevitable to criticize China's traditional social hierarchy and personal dependence, and at the same time break those long-standing social and cultural bad habits. Therefore, as a regime closely related to the local tycoons and gentry, the Kuomintang regime in Nanjing naturally tried its best to stigmatize the revolutionary movement led by the Communist Party of China, emphasizing that the agrarian revolution and power-building activities carried out in the vast rural revolutionary base areas "destroyed" the traditional "virtues" of China and "deviated" from the path of China's historical tradition. In this way, it is highlighted that the Chiang Kai-shek regime represents the "Taoist unity" of Chinese culture, hoping to consolidate its rule in this way and make some people who have respect for China's excellent traditional culture not sympathize with the Chinese Communist Party. Judging from the historical process, the Kuomintang regime, which has close ties with the landlords and gentry, has lost more and more people's hearts and minds, and its ideological discourse has become more and more empty and even decayed; in particular, the so-called "practicing philosophy" which is quite related to China's excellent traditional culture is basically defending its fascist rule. Today, if we pick up the "traditional Chinese discourse" of the Kuomintang style of the mainland period again, it is undoubtedly a great irony of history.
Second, the neo-Confucian expositions of Hong Kong and Taiwan during the Cold War period and their realpolitik demands were copied over, and in the name of advocating China's excellent traditional culture, they were greatly publicized. According to this view, those scholars who were active in Hong Kong and Taiwan after the founding of New China embody the "spirit" of "maintaining the unity of the Taoism in the frontline"; they do not identify with New China politically, and instead of being cut off from the masses of the people and from outside the process of China's liberation, they are "the Tao is above the momentum" and are a modern "spirit of scholars." To know the "true spirit" of the Chinese tradition, one must look for it in their writings. Even their political theories and commentaries are regarded as an important reference for understanding the so-called "historical truth." Related to this, even the so-called "Chinese culture rejuvenation movement" launched by Chiang Kai-shek after his defeat in Taiwan is regarded as an important activity to carry forward China's excellent traditional culture. Although, from an academic point of view, the neo-Confucian treatises of Hong Kong and Taiwan have certain reference value for understanding China's excellent traditional culture, but the more important fact is that during the Cold War, the United States tried to curb the spread of communism in East Asia by advocating Confucian cultural research and emphasizing the "irreconcilability" between communism and Confucian culture, especially the strong political discourse influence of New China. Therefore, the CIA and other institutions in Hong Kong and Taiwan have funded academic institutions aimed at "promoting" Confucian culture under various names, and Hong Kong's famous New Asia College is one of them. It can be said that the core content of the discourse on China's excellent traditional culture by the main institutions of neo-Confucian activities in Hong Kong and Taiwan has a strong Cold War color, and even belongs to the Cold War of American culture. In this regard, the words and deeds of this group of people are not at all "taoism is higher than the power", but are directly or indirectly serving an external force aimed at suppressing and inhibiting the realization of independence and self-reliance in New China and the liberation of the vast number of Chinese people. Calling such behavior "the spirit of the scholars" is even more derogatory to China's excellent traditional culture. Further, they seem to have forgotten the ancient adage that "those who win the hearts and minds of the people win the world", and pin their "mission" of reviving "Chinese culture" on the Chiang Kai-shek clique that has lost the hearts and minds of the people, hoping to realize the "beautiful dream" of "winning the way of the king" in Chiang Kai-shek. Although the Chiang Kai-shek clique, which retreated to Taiwan, tried to play the banner of "rejuvenation of Chinese culture," it was extremely dependent on the United States politically, which led to the spread of American capitalist and consumerist culture in Taiwan, resulting in a great reduction in national self-confidence and national dignity. It can be said that to a certain extent, to regard such a exposition as the most precious thing is to ignore the achievements made by New China in enhancing its comprehensive national strength, establishing a modern industrial system, reorganizing the social structure, increasing the average life expectancy and education level, developing science and technology, and improving the social atmosphere through socialist construction and the arduous struggle of the masses of the people.
Third, in some academic treatises or public propaganda, it is constantly emphasized that the "excellent traditional Chinese culture" pays attention to the factors of hierarchy and the domination of the landlords and gentry, and combines it with neoliberalism or right-wing conservatism. Most people who hold such a position believe that the emphasis on economic equality, social fairness, the suppression of capital power, and the overthrow of feudal hierarchies in socialist doctrine undermine traditional "virtues" and make the so-called "cultural spirit" difficult to find. As far as "China's excellent traditional culture" is concerned, they often regard the "domination of the landlords and gentry" in ancient society as a core feature, and constantly beautify the historical behavior of the gentry in monopolizing local political, economic and cultural power, calling it a "teacher's way" that has the ability to continue cultural traditions and oppose "royal power", while deliberately ignoring the merger of land and the exploitation of tenant farmers by the landlord gentry class of successive generations. What's more, in such a discourse, the Wei and Jin gate valves and their cultural pursuits, which are difficult to obtain affirmation in ancient Chinese political thought, have been given one or another positive evaluation, interpreting the words and deeds of the family clans in that period as a kind of "intellectual style bone", ignoring the phenomenon of personal attachment and hierarchical social structure under the door valve system, as well as the basic facts of political turmoil and people's livelihood in that period. Looking at the present, the so-called "Bible reading class" and "female Durban" that have a certain market in the field of mass culture, as well as the excessive promotion of the so-called "rural sage culture", are basically based on this logic to popularize the "traditional virtues" that they regard as commendable.
It is worth noting that such a discourse is not just a simple resurgence of ancient privileged ideas and hierarchies, but has a more obvious neoliberal or right-wing conservatism. According to neoliberalism (as is often the case with right-wing conservatism), the withdrawal of state power from all sectors of the social economy is a necessary condition for guaranteeing "freedom", otherwise it will slowly "lead to the road of slavery". On the surface, the political power coverage of neoliberal countries is indeed shrinking, but the result is a further widening of the gap between the rich and the poor on a global scale, and huge economic inequality has become the source of many current political and social contradictions. Those who adhered to such an ideology often regarded the maintenance and expansion of the power of the ancient gentry at the local level as a precursor of some kind of neoliberalism, believing that this guaranteed "freedom" from the intrusion of "imperial power". The biggest problem with this discussion is that it ignores that since the Song Dynasty, the dominance of most local gentry in the local area is inseparable from the recognition (or authorization) of state power, without which it is difficult for them to form a long-term and stable dominance at the local level. This is by no means a neoliberal "social spontaneous order", but an alliance between gentry and imperial power, or the recognition of gentry by imperial power. The result of this combination is that under the technical conditions of ancient times, the cost of dynastic rule was effectively saved, and although it gave the gentry a certain degree of autonomy, the ultimate legitimacy of this autonomy still stemmed from the ruling dynasty. Therefore, such a discourse is not only a clear departure from the socialist road, but also does not help people to understand the basic features of political and economic domination in ancient China, but will continue to make historical and cultural legitimacy arguments for the elements that already exist in contemporary times that hinder the realization of social fairness and justice.
Second, the revolution and construction led by the Communist Party of China have reborn China's outstanding traditional culture
Since the Opium War, under the threat of the strong ships and cannons of the capitalist powers, China has encountered unprecedented changes and crises. First of all, the small peasant economy in modern China has been greatly impacted by the capitalism of the great powers. Since the Qin and Han dynasties, China has formed a relatively stable and extensive small-scale peasant economy, which can produce grain on the one hand, and can engage in cottage industries and sideline industries on the other hand. In the long-term historical process, this is the most important material basis for the continuation of Chinese civilization. Moreover, with the establishment of the great unification regime, exchanges between various localities have become more frequent and convenient, forming regional markets represented by local municipalities and towns, as well as a broader economic network with national links. These factors have promoted the circulation of cash crops everywhere and increased the overall level of material production. This is an important economic foundation for the long-term continuation of the Chinese tradition represented by Confucianism.
With the import of capitalism by the Western powers in the late Qing Dynasty with the help of strong ships and cannons, the vast rural areas of China suffered a serious economic crisis. Under the capitalist large-scale industrial production model, foreign textiles flowed into China in large quantities, which seriously hit the handicraft industry in rural China, and many peasants who were engaged in silk weaving tended to go bankrupt and their livelihood was difficult. As China became a downstream link in the global capitalist system, China's agricultural production was drawn into the global market, and the prices of agricultural products were gradually manipulated by the great powers, which caused great damage to the long-term self-sufficient smallholder peasant economy. At the same time, due to the unequal treaties signed between the Qing government and the great powers, the loss of tariff autonomy, the great powers obtained the right to inland navigation and the right to set up factories in Chinese mainland, a large number of foreign goods were dumped into China, and China's funds were further plundered. In addition, due to the lack of strong protection from the state, the development of national capitalism is doubly difficult to compete with the investment of the great powers in China. In short, China's economic situation has become more and more sinister, and the Chinese people, especially the peasants, who account for the vast majority of the population, are living in dire straits.
Secondly, Chinese civilization has formed a very mature institutional system in the process of long-term historical evolution. At the social level, it is mainly the township order with clans and patriarchy as the core. Orderly longevity and childhood, respect for the clan and the clan, support for the elderly, peace for the young, watching out for each other, and persuading cultivation and learning are the basic ethical norms of this system and maintain the basic social order. At the political level, since the Qin Dynasty, the county system has maintained the relationship between the central and local governments, ensuring that the central government decrees can reach the localities and that local information can be uploaded to the central government. There is a rather meticulous and complete system of official systems throughout the country, although it has some insurmountable drawbacks, but in general, it can formulate more rational and objective policies and implement them in the four parties. In the selection of officials, Han Fei's statement that "the prime minister must rise from the state department, and the fierce general must be sent from the pawn" ("Han Feizi Xianxue") has become the basic premise of the selection of successive dynasties. After the Sui and Tang dynasties, the examination system became increasingly popular, and a set of selection mechanisms with objective standards and reflecting certain social mobility gradually took shape, giving local people with political ability the opportunity to enter the bureaucratic system and ensuring that the ruling clique could understand the people's feelings and change generations.
This system of institutions has become more and more fragile and unsustainable under the threat of modern Western powers. With the withering of the rural economy, the township order is facing a crisis of disintegration. Under the capitalist mode of production, "all feudal, patriarchal and idyllic relations are destroyed" Wu Chengshi, who had long studied under Zhang Taiyan and later became a Marxist, pointed out: "Can the relativity of the five luns also be applied between laborers and capitalists? In the view of the economist of the capitalist's royal use, of course, the two parties are equal contractual relations, that is, the relationship of friends; but on the other hand, the capitalists are the dominant, the laborers are the dominators, the capitalists are the exploiters, the laborers are exploited, of course, the unequal relationship between the monarch and the subject, and the degree of strengthening of the relationship between the monarch and the subject, the so-called right to live and kill, is beyond the scope of the patriarchal feudal era. "As a consequence of the disintegration of the countryside, there were a large number of unscrupulous gentry, and the surplus labor force in the countryside either became the urban low-level laborers, or became displaced people and party members, or were forced to join the local armed forces and became cannon fodder in the warlord melee.
In terms of the political system, the modern Western bourgeois democracy has greatly improved the country's ability to mobilize, absorb and propagate, and can quickly gather economic and military forces for overseas expansion, the capitalists have a great say in the government, and the state fully supports colonial expansion and plunders the means of production and labor power around the world. In contrast, China's traditional political system emphasizes low-cost, low-tax stability, emphasizing that "the monarch and the people do not interfere with each other", and under the political tradition of "imperial power does not go down to the county", the ability to organize and mobilize is very limited. In addition, after the middle of the Qing Dynasty, the political atmosphere became more and more corrupt, and there was large-scale corruption and abuse of power by officials, while the bureaucracy lacked a mechanism for radical governance. Some people of insight, such as Hong Liangji, Gong Zizhen, Shen Yao, and so on, have revealed this very profoundly. As some people of insight have argued, even if there is no invasion of Western forces, according to the rise and fall rate of ancient Chinese dynasties, the Qing Dynasty has gradually entered the end of the world. Under such circumstances, the operation of China's traditional political system has various drawbacks, which cannot effectively resist foreign insults and must be changed. What's more, China's traditional political system is highly dependent on the cooperation of bureaucrats and gentry, and the resulting exploitation and plundering of the vast number of peasants has become more and more serious in the context of the bankruptcy of the modern rural economy, and its oppressive side has become more and more obvious, exacerbating the situation of the people's lack of livelihood.
Under such circumstances, in order to revitalize ancient China, first of all, it is necessary to completely get Rid of the backward and beaten situation in modern times, effectively resist imperialist aggression, and realize true independence and self-reliance. Second, it is also necessary to proceed from China's reality and absorb various foreign theories that will enable China to achieve true independence, prosperity, and abundant people's livelihood, instead of adhering to the old rules and eating the ancients. Finally, the disintegration of the traditional small-scale peasant economy has brought about changes in the situation of all strata of Chinese society, new revolutionary forces have begun to rise, new cultural forms have begun to appear, the great importance attached to imperial power and the landlord gentry in traditional Chinese political thought and political practice must be changed, and chinese traditions need to be given more civilian and popular colors, so that its rational core can become an important part of the new cultural form, rather than being synonymous with various backward and decadent political and economic forces.
In this regard, the new democratic revolution and socialist revolution and construction led by the Communist Party of China have truly opened the process of re-emerging the "Chinese tradition."
First, modern China has been repeatedly humiliated by the great powers, and the ideological discourse of the great powers, such as the theory of the hierarchy of civilization and the theory of racial superiority and inferiority, has been continuously disseminated in China, causing some people to lose the most basic confidence and identification with Chinese civilization, and even produce a certain tendency of "reverse nationalism". For example, Hu Shi, who has long worshipped the United States, claimed: "I have been in a foreign country for a long time, and I see people very clearly that when people talk about morality, they really talk about morality; unlike what we talk about is benevolence and morality, but what we do is male thieves and female prostitutes." He also asked: "What country's culture is as poor and weak as ours in China?" In his view, "all chinese culture is just a few tattered temples and a few tattered books." Once such an understanding becomes a popular trend, it will cause great damage to the self-confidence and pride of the Chinese nation, forming a spiritual "internal wound" of modern Chinese, and the excellent traditional Chinese culture can only become more and more negative and become lifeless, and the national spirit will also wither. Since its founding, the Communist Party of China has taken overthrowing imperialism and realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation as its mission. Later, through the establishment of revolutionary base areas in the countryside, the overthrow of the imperialist forces and the various domestic reactionary forces attached to it by means of people's war, and the realization of national independence and self-reliance that generations of people had dreamed of since the Opium War, this was the basic political premise for the revival of the excellent traditional Chinese culture.
The founding of New China in 1949 completely freed the Chinese nation from the control of the imperialist powers in the past hundred years, truly realized the independence and self-determination of the country, turned the poor into masters, and Chinese the overall spiritual outlook was renewed. Mao Zedong pointed out in 1956: "In the past, It was said that China was the 'old empire', the 'sick man of East Asia', the economy was backward, the culture was backward, and it did not pay attention to hygiene, nor could it play ball, nor could it swim in the water, women were small feet, men had pigtails, and eunuchs, the Chinese moon was not so good, the foreign moon was always relatively refreshing, in short, there were many bad things." However, after these six years of reform, we have changed the face of China. No one can deny our achievements. Li Dunbai, an American progressive who has worked in China for a long time, said: "Mao Zedong also did a very big thing, that is, to restore the people's morale in China." When I first arrived in China, Chinese was not a particularly good thing, not a proud thing. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Chinese immediately raised his head and straightened his chest, and fatalism was greatly attacked, transforming the spiritual outlook of the Chinese and invigorating people. Liang Shuming, who is regarded as a representative figure of modern Neo-Confucianism, lamented after the founding of New China: "More than 600 million people are remarkable, and it is even more remarkable that more than 600 million people take the socialist road." Because it disperses and consumes no less manpower than manpower against man in capitalist society, and turns the spearhead together to attack the things of nature, under the centralized leadership, unified planning, and rational domination and application of all manpower and material resources, the results of its performance are not what any country that takes the capitalist road intends. What is more important, however, is that people's enthusiasm and creativity have been greatly mobilized and enlivened under the brilliant leadership of Chairman Mao of the Communist Party, which seems to be beyond the reach of other socialist countries. "It is precisely with such a huge change that people have the confidence and confidence to rethink the great value of traditional chinese culture and make the historical heritage better serve today." In February 1958, the Planning Group for the Collation and Publication of Ancient Books of the Scientific Planning Commission of the State Council was established, and under the personal guidance and care of Mao Zedong and others, it began to formulate a long-term plan for the collation of ancient Chinese books. The Twenty-Four Histories, the Zizhi Tongjian, the New Compilation of Sons, the Reader of Classical Chinese Literature, and the Atlas of Chinese History began to appear one after another during that period. By 1966, more than 2,000 kinds of ancient books had been sorted out and published nationwide. This is a major event in the history of Chinese civilization, so that the excellent traditional Chinese culture can be truly preserved and inherited, and provides the basic conditions for more people to understand the study in depth, and completes the wishes that many modern scholars have repeatedly called for but are difficult to achieve. Behind this is the profound historical vision and civilizational responsibility of the Chinese Communists represented by Comrade Mao Zedong.
Second, in the course of the New Democratic Revolution, the Chinese Communists extracted from cultural practice theories on how to analyze and inherit China's excellent traditional culture. In the early stage of the Second Civil Revolutionary War, due to the influence of the erroneous ideas of the "Left," the Party often theoretically embodied the ills of dogmatism and originalism, which respected only the Soviet Union and lacked a deep understanding of China's history and culture, and even cocooned itself, "afraid of talking about the word nationality and falling into the trap of Kuomintang nationalism." Later, with the establishment of Mao Zedong's leadership position within the Party and the rise of the Sino-Japanese national contradictions to the main contradictions, a group of Chinese Communists represented by Comrade Mao Zedong began to think more systematically about how to inherit the excellent traditional Chinese culture and emphasize the importance of understanding China's history and reality. Mao Zedong pointed out: "Our nation has a history of thousands of years, has its characteristics, and has many of its precious products. For these, we are still elementary school students. Today's China is a development of historical China; we are Marxist historians, and we should not cut off history. From Confucius to Sun Yat-sen, we should sum up and inherit this precious legacy. In the article "On New Democracy", Mao Zedong emphasized even more: "Chinese culture should have its own form, which is the national form." The form of the nation, the content of new democracy — this is the new culture we have today. "China's long-term feudal society has created a splendid ancient culture. Cleaning up the development process of ancient culture, ridding out its feudal dross, and absorbing the essence of its democratic nature is a necessary condition for developing a new national culture and enhancing national self-confidence; but it must not be uncritically eclectic. It is necessary to distinguish between all the decaying things of the ancient feudal ruling class and the excellent people's culture in ancient times, that is, what is more or less democratic and revolutionary. ”
These viewpoints show that in addition to realizing the independence and self-determination of the country, the revolutionary movement led by the Communist Party of China has placed more emphasis on class reversal, that is, overthrowing feudalism and bureaucratic capitalism that have dominated, oppressed and exploited the broad masses for a long time in the past, and establishing a political power worthy of the name of equality, fairness and democracy. Mao Zedong said: "The Chinese revolution is essentially a peasant revolution. If the concrete manifestation of the crisis suffered by modern China is the erosion of China by imperialism and the exploitation of the people by the reactionary forces attached to the imperialist forces, then only by allowing the peasants to become the main participants in the liberation movement and fully satisfying the peasants' living and production needs can it be possible to truly extricate Chinese civilization from all kinds of difficulties, truly realize the ideal advocated by Chinese civilization that "the world is for the public" and "the cultivators have their own land", and put an end to the situation that "the rich are strangers and the poor have no cones" strongly criticized by Confucianism in terms of policies and systems. In this context, it is necessary to deeply analyze and criticize those parts of the Chinese tradition that aim to maintain the social hierarchy and argue for the legitimacy of the ruling clique, such as ritual order, bureaucracy, and imperial power worship, and at the same time, from the perspective of class transformation, excavate the revolutionary and popular parts of China's excellent traditional culture that embody the patriotic tradition. Judging from the historical process, this is the main way to get Rid of the decaying and backward factors formed by the accumulation of long-term history. Otherwise, China's excellent traditional culture will become a "talisman" for all kinds of warrior politicians and local tycoons and inferior gentry in modern China, and will become a "signboard" for regimes such as the puppet Manchukuo and the Wang puppet regime that betrayed the interests of the country and the nation to deceive the people of the world.
Third, from the perspective of China's socialist practice, interpret China's excellent traditional culture
Mao Zedong pointed out: "The Communist Party of any country, the ideological circles of any country, must create new theories, write new works, and produce their own theoreticians to serve the current politics. At present, with the improvement of China's comprehensive national strength and the profound changes in the world political and economic situation, the construction of a socialist discourse system with Chinese characteristics has gradually become a very important task. Among them, it is necessary to fully explore the contemporary value of China's excellent traditional culture, explain its reasonable connotation, and make it an important part of the contemporary Chinese ideological discourse system, and an important foundation for condensing the national identity and cultural identity of the whole society. This requires a relatively accurate overall grasp of China's history and culture, but more importantly, we must proceed from the historical experience of China's socialist construction and promote explanatory work from the basic standpoint of the socialist road. As early as the 1920s, Liang Qichao emphasized in the "Introduction to Qing Dynasty Scholarship": "China's views on the issue of livelihood, since the great philosophers of the qin dynasty, their ideals are close to the so-called 'socialism' of the present world." The organization of the subsistence society for two thousand years, also blessed by this ideal, is quite peaceful and healthy. In addition, the historian Lu Simian, who was deeply influenced by Marxism in the method of governing science, said: "As for relying on the power of the state, the big one controls the property of the people and seeks equality between the rich and the poor; the small one supports the weak and suppresses the strong, and the harm is great." Then the people of our country have always had this idea. Therefore, he believes that there is a strong affinity between socialism and China's excellent traditional culture, and as long as it is done properly, socialism will surely take root and sprout in China. Today, it is all the more necessary to further explore this issue in depth and explain China's excellent traditional culture from the perspective of China's socialist practice.
First, dig deep into the patriotic traditions of Chinese history. The revolution and construction under the leadership of the Communist Party of China is to enable China to get rid of the backward and beaten situation in modern times and realize the country's independence, self-reliance, prosperity and strength, which is also the prospect that most Chinese yearn for in modern times. During the revolutionary war years, Mao Zedong pointed out: "Only by fighting for the defense of the motherland can we defeat the aggressors and liberate the nation." Only when the nation is liberated can the proletariat and the working people be liberated. China has triumphed, the imperialists who invaded China have been overthrown, and at the same time they have helped the people of foreign countries. Patriotism, therefore, is the implementation of internationalism in the War of National Liberation. In the period of socialist construction, he once again stressed: "China will become a strong socialist industrial country." China should. Because China is a country with 9.6 million square kilometers of land and 60,000,000 people, China should make a greater contribution to mankind. And this kind of contribution, in the past long period, is too little. This makes us ashamed. This shows that China's socialist road is inseparable from patriotism and basic feelings for the Chinese nation and the Chinese people. In this regard, there are many historical and cultural factors in China's excellent traditional culture that are worth excavating and expounding.
In this regard, the views of marxist historian Fan Wenlan are quite enlightening. When analyzing why New China needs a good general history of China, he said: "Chinese people need a good general history of China, and this is because the people of all nationalities in China have worked hard, shed blood and sweat, and have been creating their own motherland and their own history. Since it was created by oneself, it is also very natural to have the feeling of loving the motherland and loving history. Today, the people's revolution has triumphed, and the working people have truly become the home of their own country, and they feel special affection and respect for the labor and greatness of their ancestors in creating history, and demand to know the whole process of creation, in order to inherit the historical heritage, to absorb precious experience from there, and to make greater and better new creations. Over the past thousand years, the history of the productive struggle of the working people of China against nature and the history of the struggle of the ruling class and the class of the aggressor nation have made very brilliant achievements. A section of the ruling class, to varying degrees, participates in this struggle, in whole or in part in accordance with the will and interests of the people. In terms of politics and economy, in defending the country by force, and in terms of culture and ideology, many large and small undertakings have been made, and contributions have been made to history, large and small, which are equally worthy of the people's commemoration and study as the achievements of the working people. "Today, we undoubtedly need more research on China's excellent traditional culture from this standpoint and method."
Second, we need to pay attention to the academic tradition and achievements of Chinese Marxism. One of the themes of modern Chinese culture is to rethink the basic characteristics and changes of Chinese civilization based on the changes of the times, which is also a long-term concern of Chinese Marxist scholars, and many achievements of great academic value have emerged. As early as the 1930s, Guo Moruo's "Research on Ancient Chinese Society" drew on the theories in Engels's "The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State", re-examined the social structure and ideological concepts of ancient China, and put forward some influential academic propositions, inspiring people to study new ideas for ancient Chinese history. Later, in the "Ten Critical Books", Guo Moruo systematically studied the origins and doctrines of the various schools of the pre-Qin Dynasty, combining the academic origins of the pre-Qin sons with the political changes in the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period, and many of the views he put forward were extremely revealing, and to this day they are still an important theoretical reference in the study of pre-Qin history. In addition, Hou Wailu has long been committed to the study of the history of ancient Chinese thought, emphasizing that the analysis of China's "history of ideological struggle" should start from "the most cumbersome and practical aspect of economic domination" and pointing out that "class analysis is the most important." In line with this research method, Hou Wailu's "History of Ancient Chinese Thought and Doctrine" and "History of Modern Chinese Thought theory" and "General History of Chinese Thought" compiled by Hou Wailu himself embody distinct academic characteristics and represent important academic schools in the study of modern Chinese intellectual history and cultural history.
From the perspective of political and cultural standpoint, most Chinese Marxist scholars, on the basis of adhering to the party's political and cultural line, advocate carrying forward national culture, focusing on explaining the "practicality" and "people's nature" in China's excellent traditional culture, hoping to get rid of the long-term attachment to the mysterious atmosphere and the influence of gentry domination, so that this transformed "new culture" can be connected with the basic position of Marxism and become a new resource for building a new culture of the Chinese nation and carrying forward the national spirit. It is precisely because they believe that Marxism can shake modern China out of crisis and that the awakened people can achieve liberation through their own struggles, that they have a strong ideological motivation to understand China's history and reality, and they will firmly believe that China's strength lies in China's profound cultural foundation and the masses of the people who inherit and carry forward China's excellent traditional culture. With regard to tradition, although they emphasize the elimination of the "backwardness" and "feudalness", they are undoubtedly more subjective and dynamic than the modern discourse that upholds the hierarchy of civilization and colonialism; compared with the political and economic privileged groups that use "traditional Chinese" communications to decorate exploitation and oppression, they truly represent the interests of the majority of the people and better embody the fine tradition of "the world is just". Such academic character needs to be fully valued and inherited today.
Third, in terms of methodology, it is necessary to draw on the theoretical summary of the relationship between tradition and modernity by the Chinese Communists in revolutionary practice. Hu Qiaomu believes that "Chinese culture has played a great role in the Chinese revolution", so it is necessary to study "what are the characteristics of the combination of Chinese history and culture with Marxism?" On what issues did it combine? Also study". This is actually the issue that Mao Zedong has long been concerned about. Mao Zedong had a foundation in old learning and paid great attention to absorbing the excellent traditional Chinese culture. In his early years, he declared: "The most urgent person in my people is also the common sense of traditional Chinese studies." In addition, "if you want to learn about Chinese studies now, you will also understand their common sense ears." Later, when talking about cultural issues in "On New Democracy", he pointed out that "in China's long-term feudal society, a splendid ancient culture has been created", so "we must respect our own history and must not cut off history."
It is worth noting that Mao Zedong's understanding of the relationship between tradition and modernity is not an imagination divorced from the actual environment, but is rooted in his overall thinking about China's reality, especially how to build a new China. One of the problems that must be faced directly after the founding of New China is how to deal with the soviet union's construction experience. Around 1956, with the socialist transformation basically completed, Mao Zedong had a more concentrated thinking on this issue. In a conversation with musicians in August of that year, Mao Zedong pointed out: "The basic principles for realizing the socialist revolution are the same in all countries. But in small principles and basic principles the manifestations are different. It must be noted that "there must be many forms of expression in which revolution takes place." The October Revolution and the Chinese Revolution are many different." Therefore, "to say that there is no law in the things of the Chinese nation is to deny what is Chinese, and it is not correct." Here, the reason why the Chinese revolution has its own characteristics and laws is because it is carried out on the basis of China's history and reality, and the characteristics of Chinese civilization that have continued to this day have shaped the face of the Chinese revolution, and one of the tasks of the Chinese revolution is to transform Chinese civilization so that it can reflect the people's nature and be rejuvenated. Thus, the regularity factor must be formed in this process, reflecting China's own characteristics. Therefore, Mao Zedong stressed: "We should engage in more and more Chineseization, not more and more Westernization." Absorbing the strengths of foreign countries is, in the final analysis, to re-activate Chinese traditions and create "China's own things with unique national styles." The better china's socialist construction is, the more brilliant and brilliant The Chinese civilization will become more and more brilliant and its influence will become more and more extensive. It can be seen that although these reflections of Mao Zedong are based on realistic considerations, they are more important to stand at the height of the development and inheritance of Chinese civilization, provide rich theoretical resources for people to analyze the relationship between tradition and modernity, and avoid falling into the misunderstanding of not eating the foreign or eating the ancient.