Chen Weiping, | Notes of Li Xiang: The Historical Influence of Traditional Chinese Philosophy on the World

The 2021 China (Qufu) International Confucius Cultural Festival and the 7th Nishan World Civilization Forum were held in Qufu, Shandong. With the theme of "Dialogue among Civilizations and Global Cooperation", this year's Nishan World Civilization Forum invited experts and scholars from all over the world to jointly excavate the profound wisdom of ancient civilizations and jointly explore the ways of integration of diverse civilizations, presenting a grand scene of civilization where humanities gather and a feast of ideas in which a hundred schools of thought contend. In order to better display the innovative theoretical achievements of this year's Nishan World Civilization Forum, Lixiang China specially launched the column "Notes on Lixiang - The Seventh Nishan World Civilization Forum". Today, The Notes on Li Xiang invited Chen Weiping, a professor at the Department of Philosophy of East China Normal University, who shared the title of "The Historical Influence of Traditional Chinese Philosophy on the World".

Chen Weiping

Department of Philosophy, East China Normal University

Building a community with a shared future for mankind is obviously inseparable from exchanges and mutual learning among different civilizations. Looking at history, China's traditional philosophy dominated by Confucianism has crossed mountains and seas and spread to China's neighbors and Western Europe and the United States. This is instructive for us to provide Chinese wisdom today to solve many of the problems facing mankind.

I. Chinese Philosophical Factors in the Origin of Marxism

Marxism is the most influential in the world today, because no idea has won so much approval and so many people's opposition like it has. What is the relationship between its founders, Marx and Engels, and traditional Chinese philosophy?

In 1926, the great literary hero Guo Moruo wrote "Marx Enters the Temple of Literature"1, and he wrote in the form of a "cross-over drama": Confucius Zheng and three proud protégés were "eating cold pork head meat at the Shanghai Confucian Temple", only to see someone carrying a palanquin with vermilion paint to break in, and the palanquin stopped and walked out of the bearded Marx. He asked Confucius: "In China, where your thinking is universal, my doctrine is not possible to realize?" After some conversation, Marx "sighed: I don't want to have an old comrade like you two thousand years ago, in the far East!" This kind of "crossing" is intended to show that Marxism and the Confucian tradition are quite compatible, and Marx recognized this "old comrade" because the formation of Marxism absorbed the nourishment of Confucianism, including this "old comrade."

In Guo Moruo's "crossing" scene, Confucius asks Marx: "What is your ideal world like?" "This is what I call a communist society in which 'each does what he can and takes what he needs.'" The solemn Confucius could not help but clap his hands and exclaim: "Your ideal society and my world of great unity actually coincide." Therefore, he recited "The journey of the great road, the world is just ...", and Marx seemed to disagree, "Confucius in his eyes, at this time, at this time, I am afraid that he is just a 'utopian socialist'." Marx and Engels told an interesting story in 1850: the German missionary Gützlav returned from China 20 years after leaving Europe to preach a "novelty." This is china's "threat of violent revolution." "Worse still, among the rebellious populace some have pointed out the poverty of some and the richness of some, demanded the redistribution of property, and have always called for the complete abolition of private property." When he returned to Europe, "I heard people talking about socialism and asked: What does this mean?" After the others explained it to him, he exclaimed, 'So, can't I hide from this evil doctrine anywhere?' This is exactly what many ordinary people in China have been preaching lately! Then Marx and Engels said: "Socialism in China and socialism in Europe have the same common ground as Chinese philosophy and Hegel's philosophy."

"Chinese socialism" here refers to the utopian socialism of Confucianism. In 1850, on the eve of the Taiping Rebellion, Hong Xiuquan wrote propaganda materials that revived the Confucian idea of Datong and encouraged the peasants to establish a "heavenly kingdom" in which "the world is one family, sharing the peace", that is, the "heavenly kingdom" in which property is shared and the rich and poor are equal. Hong Xiuquan and others are widely active in Guangdong and Guangxi. Gützlav, who preached mainly in the Guangdong region, was naturally aware of these situations. "European socialism" here refers to European utopian socialism. Marx. Engels believed that the two types of socialism, which are thousands of miles apart, have at least one thing in common: they advocate public ownership. They once quoted the utopian socialist Cabe as saying: "You who oppose collectivism ... Let me ask you about history and all the philosophers: Listen! I am not going to speak to you of the many ancient peoples who practiced communal property ownership! Nor is it about the Hebrews... The priests of Egypt, Minos... Lycagus and Pythagoras... Of the last two, Confucius and Zoroastrian, the former proclaimed this principle in China, and the latter in Persia. In order to distinguish himself from some utopian socialists who did not advocate public ownership, Marx and Engels called Kabe a utopian communist. They also viewed the Confucian datong that they had in common with Kabe: "The perfect Chinese is the communist." The "Chinese" here actually referred to "Confucius" in the European context at that time. It can be seen that Marx and Engels regarded utopian socialism as an important source of their own ideas, including an examination of Confucian datong.

Another important source of Marxism is German classical philosophy, of which Hegel's influence on Marx and Engels is particularly prominent. They point out that Chinese philosophy and Hegel philosophy have something in common, and in 1972 Guo Moruo, in a conversation with a French politician and writer, he mentioned that "there are dialectical origins in the ideas of ancient Greece and ancient China." Guo Moruo believes that after the ideas of Aristotle and Descartes took the lead, Western thought has lost its dialectics, while ancient dialectics is still a living mode of thinking in China. He did think (and probably not without a hint of irony) that the dialectical concepts of Fichte, Schelling, Kant, Hegel, and Marx might have all been borrowed from China." In fact, Hegel did borrow it not "possible" but did borrow it, which affected Marx.

Although Hegel has many derogatory views on Zhou Yi and Lao Tzu, the influence of both on his construction of a dialectical framework of "positive and negative combination", that is, negation and negation, cannot be erased. Hegel said: "Chinese also have philosophy, and its basic laws are quite old. For example, the book of destiny, 'Yin and Yang', which deals with 'birth' and 'annihilation', has very abstract ideas of monity and duality. So Chinese philosophy seems to be the same as the Pythagorean doctrine, starting from the same basic concept. The principle is reason, called the 'Tao'. This is the source of all things, the source of all things. To know their forms is also the most profound science for Chinese. The two basic images of "yang and yin" are a straight line (——, yang) and a straight line divided into two equal sections (--, yin); the first image... Expressed in the affirmative. The second meaning of the image is... negation. And "the establishment of the 'Tao' (reason) is due to the combination of two principles, as the I Ching points out. The Way of Heaven or Reason of Heaven is made up of two creative principles of the universe. The way of the earth or material reason also has two opposing principles, 'rigidity and softness' (very uncertain to understand). The way of man or human reason involves (having this opposition) love for one's neighbor and justice. Apparently, Hegel realized that the Zhou Yi "one yin and one yang is the Tao" implies "positive and negative combination": yang is "positive" (affirmation), yin is "anti" (negation), and Tao is "union" (negation of negation). He thought that Lao Tzu's "Tao gives birth to one, life to two, two to three, and three to all things" is similar to this. He said that the Taoists "the main concept of this school is 'Tao', which is 'reason'" and "'Reason produces one, one produces two, two produces three, and three gives birth to the whole world', the universe. "What is strange is that in Taoism, that is, in the whole, there are three provisions. One created two, two created three, and three created the universe. ...... One is only realistic if it contains two within itself, and thus three arises." Here, special attention is paid to "three", which is regarded as the "union" of "positive and negative combination", and the "one" (Tao, none) implies the "two" (being) that negates itself, thus differentiating the yin and yang and the two qi, thus forming the "three", that is, the harmony of the yin and yang two qi and biochemical all things. In contrast, Western philosophy does not have as long a tradition of emphasizing the unity of opposites as Chinese philosophy, so the Zhou Yi and Lao Tzu's "yin and yang combination" naturally surprised Hegel. In amazement, for example, with Spinoza," the Oriental concept was "incorporated into the European way of thought," and 11 Hegel's "positive and negative combination" can be said to express China's "yin and yang combination" in the "European way of thinking."

Marx, a student of Hegel, saw this insight. In 1842, he criticized the German censorship system of books and newspapers: "The cross-cutting bar drawn by the censor of books and newspapers when he scribbles is like the pair of thinking of Chinese straight line, gossip. The prosecutor's gossip is the various categories of the work; and the categories, as we all know, are typical of the essence of the various contents. By teasing the prosecutor's words, it is not difficult to see that Marx is no stranger to the Dialectic of Zhou Yi, which is incorporated into The Hegel Category Kingdom. In his criticism of the young Hegelians, he pointed out: "Hegel said that the prescriptiveness of China is 'being', the predominant prescriptiveness of India is 'nothing', and so on, then absolute criticism will 'fully' echo Hegel, and reduce the characteristics of the present era to the logical category of 'non-prescriptiveness', and will more fully include 'non-prescriptiveness' in the first chapter of speculative logic, that is, in the first chapter on 'quality'. The "first chapter of speculative logic" mentioned here, the first chapter of Hegel's "Logic", is mainly concerned with the negation of the negation of "being" (positive), "none" (anti), and "changing" (union). Marx pointed out here that Hegel's "being", "non-being", and "change" clearly have a deep re-imprint of the dialectic of "Zhou Yi".

Not only Hegel's philosophy, but also other figures in German classical philosophy were influenced by Chinese philosophy. Kant is known as the "Chinese of Königsberg", which means that Kant's philosophy has a strong Chinese philosophical connotation. Schelling advocated the philosophical "sinicization of the whole world," and Feuerbach argued that compassion was "the first and most important virtue" by saying that "do not do unto others what you do not want." Therefore, the inheritance of German classical philosophy by Marx and Engels contains the inheritance of Chinese philosophy internalized in it.

British classical political economy is the source of Marxism. But Marx regarded Quesnai before it as "modern Quesnai admired Confucianism and was known as the "Confucius of Europe". He pointed out that the Confucian Four Books and Five Classics and other works showed that "Chinese there is no distinction at all between morality and politics, in their view. The art of the good life is also the art of good politics, and the two sciences merge into one, the same as each other. He believed that Confucian benevolent thought combined morality and politics, and that the Analects revolved around virtue, beneficial work, and the art of domination; and that Mencius, which proposed renzheng, was almost entirely about the good management of government and the methods of establishing such good management. Quesnay developed Confucian ideas of benevolence into two aspects: agriculture-oriented and laissez-faire. The Confucian doctrine of benevolence advocated "constant production" for the peasants, and Quesnay thus considered China to be a model based on agriculture, which led to his theory of heavy agriculture, that is, agriculture was regarded as the source of all the wealth of the country, emphasizing that the surplus products that led to the increase in wealth could only come from agriculture. In this regard, Marx commented: "The merits and characteristics of the Physiocrats are that it derives value and surplus value not from the field of circulation but from the field of production." Quesnay's theory has a core concept of "natural order" ("natural law"), and this is the Confucian philosophy of Tianli Tianze, which, according to Tianli Tianze, is "natural law", which abolishes the government's "artificial order" on economic activities and allows it to be "laissez-faire". This "laissez-faire" corresponds to the Chinese "rule by doing nothing," and the pioneer of the Physiocratist school, Hiluet, said: "The writings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius tell us that as long as we obey the commands of nature, nature can make things run in its own power." It is based on the analects of the Analects of "Shun, the Ruler of Inaction" and "Shunya?" What is a husband? Just south of Gongji. It was from this that the French word "laissez-faire" was distilled. Marx said that the Physiocrats "with their laissez-faire slogan" "fundamentally negate all government interference in the activities of civil society." Obviously, Quesnay's influence on Confucian benevolent government influenced Marx's political economy. It is not difficult to see that Marxism is influenced by Confucianism from its three sources. At that time, the European intellectual circles believed that Marx's thought had a distinctly Chinese component, and he was ridiculed by his opponent Dühring as "Chinese-style erudition.", which may have shown this from one side.

II. East Asian Confucianism and "Confucian Capitalism"

The earliest spread of Confucianism in China overseas was in its surrounding countries such as Korea, Japan, and Vietnam, and Confucianism had the greatest influence. However, this influence has attracted the world's attention, stemming from the economic boom of Japan and the East Asian "Four Tigers" (South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, and Hong Kong) in the 1970s. Frank Gibney, editor-in-chief of the American Encyclopedia Britannica, called this "miracle" "Confucian capitalism", believing that East Asia, which was historically in a common Confucian cultural circle, combined Confucian ethics with the modern economic system of the West, forming a people-oriented "human capital idea", "harmony above all" interpersonal relations, and "high productivity is for good" labor ethics. For a long time, the West believed that Confucian ethics was in conflict with modern industrial civilization. The famous German thinker Max Weber once theorized about this. His works such as "Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism" and "Confucianism and Taoism" point out that the Protestant Christian ethics formed in the West after the Reformation in the 16th century were the spiritual driving force for the rise and development of modern capitalism; although Confucianism and Protestantism are based on rationality, the former aims to "adapt to the present world" and the latter aims to "dominate the world." Therefore, the spiritual impetus of modernization cannot come from Confucianism, but can only originate from the West.

Revisiting Weber's thesis with the East Asian miracle was a worldwide hot topic in the 1980s. In 1979, Herman Kahn, founder and director of the Hederson Institute, a well-known American think tank, published two books, namely "The Challenge in Japan" and "The Development of the World Economy: 1979 and Beyond", which first explicitly explained the economic miracle of East Asia in terms of the Confucian tradition, believing that it was because modern East Asian society had formed a "neo-Confucian cultural tradition" with Confucian ethics as the core. Since then, scholars from the United States, France, Britain, Australia, Japan, and South Korea have discussed this from different angles, among which Peter Berger, a professor at Boston University in the United States, and Toshio Morishima, a famous Japanese economist, have particularly unique insights. Berg pointed out that the Confucian tradition that gave birth to the miracle of East Asia is actually popular in the Confucian ethics that ordinary people are unconsciously observed for immediate use and do not know, which can be called "vulgar Confucianism." Toshio Morishima argues that Confucianism is the cultural factor that led to Japan's "success," but it was Japaneseized Confucianism because "it is impossible for Chinese Confucianism to spread in an unmodified form."

Discussing the connection between Confucianism and the wonders of East Asia, Japan's Shibusawa Eiichi is often used as a model. He entered the business world after the Meiji Restoration and was honored as the "father of Japanese capitalism". He pointed out: "It is not a bad thing to make a calculation and seek prosperity. The problem is to base the abacus on benevolence and righteousness", so "when one hand holds the Analects, the other holds the abacus". People summarize this as "the Analects plus the Abacus." This is actually to transform the traditional Confucian ethics into a modern economic ethics that combines righteousness and profit, and its main content has two aspects: First, it is based on confucian classic arguments that seeking wealth has moral legitimacy, such as Confucius said that it can be called holy if you are generous to the people and can help the people, but "without wealth, you cannot realize your wishes in the end"; first, it is required to abide by Confucian ethics in economic activities. For example, he believes that the interests of the company are subordinated to the interests of the state, that is, the "public welfare", that is, it is done without benefit but as righteousness, and Confucius's "way" that the rich and noble should obtain from their way is a "legitimate means".

"Confucian capitalism", typical of Eiichi Shibusawa, ceased to marvel after the 1989 Asian financial crisis. Western public opinion "believed that the cause of the Asian financial crisis was that Asian values were incompatible with the culture or value world required by the new era," and "in the late 1990s, Confucianism was condemned as the 'principal culprit of the East Asian economic crisis.'" From the driving force of "success" to the main culprit of "crisis", the evaluation is diametrically opposed, and the position is common, that is, the affirmation of Confucianism as an important value influencing East Asia. This is based on the far-reaching accumulation of Confucianism in Japan and Korea.

As far as Japan is concerned, Confucianism is an important ideological resource for the two most significant social changes in history, the "Dahua Reform" and the "Meiji Restoration." It is generally believed that in 285, Wang Ren, a doctor of the Five Classics of the Baekje Kingdom on the Korean Peninsula, carried the Analects, Dongdu Fusang, which was the beginning of the introduction of Confucianism to Japan. However, until the 5th and 6th centuries, Confucianism did not have a wide social influence in Japan. The Dahua Reformation, which took place in 645, was the transformation of slavery into a feudal system, and Prince Shengde of the Tuikoku Emperor period was the first to attempt such a change, promulgating article 17 of the Constitution in 604, except for article 2, which is Buddhist thought, and the rest are from Confucianism, such as "the second prince of the state." The people have no two masters," "peace is precious," "harmony between the upper and lower levels," "punish evil and persuade the good," "be loyal to the king," "be benevolent to the people," "take courtesy as the foundation," and "make the people timely." Although the reform was not really carried out, Confucianism thus exerted a greater social impact and paved the way for the Dahua reform to be guided by Confucianism. The eldest brother of the middle brother, the prince and the minister Kamakura, who presided over the innovation, studied in China for 32 years and asked An to be a teacher, "learning the teachings of Zhou Kong", mainly based on the "Mandate of Heaven" and "Rule of Virtue" of Confucianism to promote innovation. They used the "Mandate of Heaven" to justify the emperor's centralized system, and Emperor Xiaode, who came to power after the reform, said in his oath: "The emperor is pretending to be on me," that is, he is acting on behalf of the Mandate of Heaven; they regard "rule by virtue" as the principle of governing the country, and "Dahua" comes from the "Book of Shang" and "Book of Han," which means "great enlightenment."

In Japanese society during the Edo period (1603-1867) of the Tokugawa shogunate, Confucianism was freed from attachment to Buddhism, and Zhuzi studies flourished and became the official ideology, giving rise to many sub-schools. In addition, Confucianism also produced the Yangming School, the Ancient School, and the Examination School. In short, Confucianism has seen an unprecedented flourishing situation. "One of the results of the Cultural Policy of the Tokugawa Shogunate was the widespread and in-depth spread of Confucianism among the Japanese people," forming a Japanese-style Confucianism. Tokugawa-era Japan "was a military Confucian state," Chinese Confucianism "regarded 'benevolence' as the most important virtue," and "Japanese Confucianism, in the sense that a man had to sacrifice his entire life for his lord, regarded loyalty as a core virtue, which was consistent with Japanese samurai rule." This is different from "In China, loyalty means sincerity to one's own conscience." Such Confucianism was shaped and strengthened in the Edo period and became one of the cultural factors of the Japanese nation.

The Meiji Restoration, which wanted to overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate, naturally criticized Zhuzixue as its official ideology, but it also had a lot of reliance on Confucianism, which had deep roots among the people. In order to establish the belief in absolute loyalty to the emperor, the Meiji Restoration regarded Confucianism with loyalty as the core as the spiritual pillar. In 1882, Emperor Meiji issued the Edict of the Soldiers, which was also a directive to all citizens. It emphasizes the five virtues of Confucianism: loyalty, etiquette, bravery, faithfulness, and frugality, without mercy. In 1890, Emperor Meiji published the Edict of Education, which used Japanese Confucianism with loyalty as the core to unify the national spirit. This paved the way for the future rise of militaristic Bushido. Most of the Edo period Yangming scholars were in the opposition, "showing more of a tendency to deny existing institutional norms and attach importance to action." The Meiji Restoration heroes played this tendency, and Takasugi Jin, an important leader of the Restoration Movement, wrote a poem about it: "Wang Xue revitalizes the holy learning, and the ancient and modern miscellaneous theories are obscured." Only those who can believe in the word of conscience are the ones above the Emperor Xi." Meiji Enlightenment thinkers also used Confucianism as a medium to expound modern Western thought, and even Fukuzawa Yukichi, the most fierce critic of Confucianism, also used the "Heavenly Principle" in Zhuzi Studies, which is both the ultimate cause of things and the universal norm of things, as the basis for freedom and human rights: "Based on Heavenly Reason, individuals and the state should be free and unrestrained. From the Daehwa Revolution to the Meiji Restoration to "Confucian capitalism," Confucianism permeated The Japanese cultural tradition.

Confucianism spread to the Korean Peninsula around the 1st century AD. "The return of déjà vu Yan" may describe the introduction of Confucianism to ancient Korea. There is a true story in "The Evolution of the Fengshen Gods": The King of Shangyi was absurd and unscrupulous, and his uncle, Taishi Jizi, advised him many times, but to no avail, so he scattered his hair and pretended to be crazy. The king of Lu reduced him to a slave and imprisoned him. In the Analects of the Analects of the Micro-Son, Confucius refers to Jizi as one of the "Three Rens" of the Yin Shang. The Shang Shu Hong Fan records that after King Wu of Zhou destroyed the Zhou Dynasty, Ji Zi stated to King Wu of Zhou the "Nine Domains of Hong Fan," that is, the nine fundamental laws for governing the country. From the praise of Confucius to the record of Shangshu, one of the Five Confucian Classics, it is shown that Mizi's words and deeds have the spirit of Confucianism. According to the Year of the Bamboo Secretary, the Chronicle of History, and the Book of Han, Mizi emigrated to Korea after the death of Shang, teaching etiquette and weaving. This has been widely and long-standing on the Korean Peninsula, and "almost all Korean Confucians regard Mizi as a precursor to Korean Confucianism." The Analects of Zihan says, "The Son desires to dwell in Jiuyi, or 'Ugly, as it is?' The Son: "Where do gentlemen dwell, where is there ugliness?" Confucius wanted to move to Jiuyi, believing that it was a place where gentlemen lived. What is Jiuyi? "The basic view of Korean scholars is that 'Jiuyi' refers to the ancient Korean Peninsula, which Confucius called the 'country of gentlemen'." Although whether "Jiuyi" refers to ancient Korea and whether "Jizi Donglai" is indeed still controversial. However, the above views of Korean academic circles reflect that ancient Korean culture contains factors that are similar to Confucianism. This made Confucianism culturally affinity in ancient Korea, as Choi Chi-won, a famous Silla scholar who lived in the Tang Dynasty for 16 years, said: "The Tao is not far from people, and no one is foreign." The way of Confucianism is also kind and applicable to the Korean nation. The influence of Confucianism on the Korean Peninsula is bounded by the introduction of Zhu Xi Theory at the end of the 13th century, "Before the introduction of Zhu XiXue, Confucianism mainly influenced Korean society in terms of institutional norms, and after its introduction, it had a profound impact on Korean society in terms of learning, thought, society, and culture", from the 1st century AD to 668, Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla stood on three legs in Korea, and Goguryeo was first infiltrated by Confucianism. In 372, Taixue, the highest school for the study of Confucianism, was established to teach the Confucian Five Classics, etc., and those who excelled in learning were awarded the title of "Doctor of the Five Classics". Baekje formulated a central official system that followed the Zhou Li, established the Taixue and The Five Classics Doctorate, and the 31st generation king Yici "filial piety in deeds, brothers with friends", with the title of "Haedong Zengzi". Silla was also deeply influenced by Confucianism in terms of institutional norms, as evidenced by its name of state. The name of the country ,"Silla", which means "the new person's virtue is new day by day, and the luo is snaring the four sides", and this "virtue is new" comes from the "Entering The Virtue Cultivation" and "Ri Xin Qide" of "Zhou Yi". After the end of the Three Kingdoms, after the unification of the Silla and Goryeo dynasties in Korea, the Confucian system, etiquette, and ethical norms were further established. In 717, Silla enshrined Confucius in Taixue, performed the ritual of sacrificing Confucius when placing confucius statues, and also passed the examination method, according to the degree of proficiency in Confucian classics, divided into three grades of upper, middle and lower grades, so Tang Taizong lamented that Silla "has a similar China" (Old Book of Tang , Silla Biography). The Goryeo Dynasty, with Confucianism as the "study of the Qi family's governance of the country," built the Temple of Literature in the supreme institution of learning, Guozijian, honored Confucius as King Wenxuan, like China, added the titles of "Xuansheng", "Most Holy", and "Dacheng", opened the Imperial Sutra that was modeled on China, established a system similar to the Tang Dynasty's imperial examination and scholarship system, and involved thousands of people in the trend of burying the Confucian scriptures.

In 1392, the Lee Dynasty replaced the Goryeo Dynasty, and the development of Confucianism entered its heyday. The Li Dynasty respected Confucianism alone, linking the central Sungkyunkwan, local township schools, and folk libraries, forming an institutionalized Confucian education network. More importantly, the Lee Dynasty took Zhu Xi as the right vein of Confucianism and formed the Korean theory of sexuality, represented by the 16th-century Li Di (号回溪) and Li Jue (号栗谷). Their theoretical innovations focused on the "debate of the four ends and seven emotions". The "four ends" are the heart of compassion, shame, resignation, and right and wrong, and the "seven emotions" are joy, anger, sorrow, fear, love, evil, and desire. The Li Dynasty Confucians have long debated the relationship between these two, that is, the relationship between universal moral emotions (four ends) and personal natural emotions (seven emotions). Li Huixi believes that a distinction should be made between the two, "the four ends are the main reason", as the universal moral emotion is good, and the "seven emotions are the main qi", as the natural emotions of the individual, it is easy to flow into evil. Li Ligu believes that "outside the seven emotions, there are no four ends", that is, the seven emotions are the whole of emotions, there is no other emotion outside the seven emotions, and the four ends are the good parts of the seven emotions. The two have different views, but they both see that people's emotional lives are not all moral, so the main body of moral cultivation must control the places in daily emotions that cannot be morally controlled. Zhu Xi's theory of mental nature has involved the relationship between the two, but there is no explicit discussion. The "Debate of the Four Ends and Seven Emotions" of sexual theory reveals and answers the questions that Zhu Xi's theory of mental nature has not yet discussed, and enriches Zhu Xi's thinking on the subject initiative and practicality of life in moral cultivation. During the same period, Zhuzixue in China's Ming Dynasty lacked theoretical vitality and was declining, so by the middle of the 16th century, the center of gravity of Zhuzixue had shifted to the Korean Peninsula. After the 17th century, Zhuzi studies dominated Japan, represented by China, Korea, and Japan, an East Asian Confucian community covering Zhuzi studies emerged. Among them, the formation of Korean sexual theory is the most crucial.

Confucianism still has an important influence in Korea today. South Korean scholars searched for reports related to Confucianism in South Korea's major news media over the six years since 1996 and found that "Confucianism is by no means an exhibit in a museum, but a mechanism that exists alive and constantly functions in Korean society." He also pointed out: "The Confucian tradition in modern Korean society is very strong, which is very related to the historical Korean period, Confucianism as the concept of national unification played a guiding role in politics, economy, culture, art and other aspects." That is to say, the Confucian tradition is still alive in Korea today.

The European Enlightenment and the "model" Chinese civilization

In the course of Europe's history from medieval feudalism to modern capitalism, the Enlightenment of the 17th and 18th centuries was the brainstorming that drove this process, and the Western gradualism of Chinese philosophy provided ideological airflow for this. In 1776, the famous French writer Grimm said: "In our time, the Chinese Empire has become the object of special attention and special study. ...... In a short time, the country became the true birthplace of wisdom, morality, and purity. Its whole is the oldest and most likely perfect; its morality is the noblest and most perfect in the world; its law, its politics, its artistic industries, can likewise serve as models for the nations of the world."

As a philosophical revolution that led to the French Revolution, the Enlightenment naturally focused on philosophy in what it regarded as a "model" civilization. In 1727, Europe published the world's first book entitled "History of Chinese Philosophy", written in Latin by Professor Menken of the University of Leipzig in Germany. He discussed the Four Books and Five Classics and Confucian Interpretation, outlined historical clues to the development of Chinese philosophy, and mentioned Fu Xi's I Ching, as well as Laozi, Confucius, Mencius, Fan Zhen, Ercheng, and Zhu Xi. He pointed out that the strength of Chinese philosophy is not in theological attainment, but is characterized by the practical nature of Confucian philosophy, which is "practical, always imparting virtue in thinking and action, not gaining enlightenment from regulations, but making unspoken interpretations through examples and facts." Latin was the most elegant in the eyes of the European intellectual elite at the time, and Mencan's writings naturally addressed them. Enlightenment thinkers also used literary and artistic forms to make the general public perceive Chinese philosophy. Voltaire, the central figure of the French Enlightenment, changed the Yuan Dynasty opera "The Orphan of Zhao" to "Orphan of China", with the subtitle "The Ethics of Confucius in Five Acts", taking the Yuan Dynasty as the background of the story, pretending that the characters in the play to promote Confucian ethics is the spiritual backbone of Chinese civilization: "Filial piety, faithfulness, righteousness, righteousness, and shame are the foundation of our country." Although our Great Song Dynasty has been overthrown, the spirit of the Chinese nation will never perish." Paris performed more than a dozen times in three months that year. In 1795, schiller, a German-enlightened poet and dramatist, published the poem "The Proverbs of Confucius": "There are three kinds of steps in time / The future is long overdue / The present flies like an arrow / The past is never static / ..." This is the "Son in Kawakami" in the Analects: 'The deceased is like a sifu!' Don't give up day and night'" poetic mood. It conveys the philosophy of life of Confucius's proverbs in beautiful verses: In the long river of history in the past, present, and future, "we must strive to move forward, and we must not rest / We must not be still because of fatigue", because "only perseverance can make you achieve your goals / Only erudition can make you discern the world / Truth is often hidden in the depths of things" This is spiritually in common with the "heroic" youth that Schiller celebrates in the play "The Bandit". Published in London in 1788 and released in Paris, the author pretended to be a famous French missionary to China, Bartomine, to turn Confucius's maxim into the form of poetry: "At the beginning of man, nature is good / Hobbes's sigh, what is desire?" It highlights that the Confucian theory of human nature is the opposite of hobbit's theory of sexual goodness. The use of literary and artistic forms shows that Chinese philosophy had a mass influence in the Enlightenment. No wonder the popular song of the French Revolution sang: "China is a lovely place, it will definitely make you like it".

The Enlightenment promoted Chinese philosophy represented by Confucius, and had its historical opportunities. From the end of the 16th century to the end of the 18th century, during the Ming and Qing dynasties, a large number of Missionaries of the Jesuit churches entered China, and there was a century-long "liturgical dispute", the center of which was the ritual of worshiping heaven, ancestors and kong, and whether Confucianism, which was the basis of its thinking, was compatible with Catholic doctrine. As European and Chinese missionaries became embroiled in controversy, many reports on Chinese history, politics, philosophy, and customs poured into Europe, and many Chinese classics were translated. It was thus known that Confucius was a Chinese sage and that Confucianism dominated China, so that "europeans at that time thought that the Chinese nation was a purely rational nation." Under the banner of reason, the Enlightenment took theological obscurity and feudal despotism with theology as its spiritual pillar into the "court of reason", and most of the Enlightenment thinkers were taught in Jesuit colleges and knew and were more familiar with China than the average person, so when they served as judges of this court, Chinese philosophy, which was regarded as rationalism by the world, was used as the source of the discourse of judgment words. There are three main aspects to this: "Natural Light".

Pell, the pioneer of French Enlightenment thought, distinguished between the "light of nature" of reason and the "light of revelation" of religion, in an attempt to make reason break away from religion and gain an independent position. This was most likely influenced by the translation of the University published by the missionary Luo Mingjian in 1593. He translated "The way of the university is in Mingmingde" as "the rationality of the human system lies in knowing and following the light of nature." Pell understands Chinese atheism precisely from the light of rational nature: Chinese "believe in Providence without acknowledging the Emperor," which is "consistent with the laws of nature," that is, "the laws of nature and harmony." Thus, China is a society of atheists, and "atheism as the philosophical theory of an entire nation does not prevent that nation from having some kind of admirable social organization." It is entirely possible to argue that European societies are free from religious theology. Voltaire used the simple method of deism to get rid of religion. This theory holds that After God created the vast machine of the universe, he stopped interfering. This is by delineating the scope of God's action, affirming the objectivity of nature and its laws and the possibility of human reason grasping them. In the 16th and 17th centuries, "English liberal thinkers, who believed in natural theocracy, attacked Christians with Chinese arguments. Hume said: 'Confucius's disciples are believers in the purest natural theocracy in heaven and earth. 'That is, it is known'. Voltaire inherited this tradition of English deism. Confucius, he said, "formed the most holy view that human reason can form on the question of god," and therefore "Confucianism in China is admirable." There is no superstition, no absurd legend, and no dogma that despises reason and nature." It goes without saying that his deism is exemplified by this. The German philosopher Leibniz, like Pell, who was born a year before him, distinguished between Chinese "natural theology" and European "theology of revelation", hoping that the former would be transmitted to Europe: "It seems necessary to invite Chinese missionaries to Europe to teach us how to apply and practice natural theology, just as our missionaries taught them the theology of revelation." Unlike Voltaire, who regarded Confucius as the embodiment of Chinese deism, Leibniz explained Chinese deism with Cheng Zhu Theory: "Chinese originally called the first book Reason, that is, all the reasons and bases of nature, all kinds of reasons and entities. ...... This great, universal cause is pure, calm, insubstant, invisible, and can only be known by reason. That is to say, reason as the first promoter of all things is equivalent to the Christian God, but it is not a personal God with a will and a body, but exists in rational speculation. Obviously, this is the application of Chinese deism to the European practice of opposing the Christian personality God.

"The Science of Goodwill and Morality". Christianity holds that all human beings are born with original sin, and that in order to be virtuous, they must believe in God and obey God's will. Enlightenment thinkers exposed the moral ugliness of the Church at that time, proposing that the basis of morality was not divinity but rational self-consciousness of human nature. Here, too, they set their sights on China. Diderot, editor-in-chief of the Encyclopedia, the most important public opinion position of the French Enlightenment, said: Compared with the "good people" of China, "they know better than we do the science of goodwill and morality" and affirm that "this science is the first in all sciences"; it is like "they have two eyes, and we have only one eye". The words "science" and "first" science here are meant to emphasize that it is more rational than science in general. Because Confucius's ethics "mainly serves two purposes: one is to cultivate wisdom, and the other is to teach the people": "To cultivate wisdom, we must enrich the intelligence with the knowledge of things, so that the intellect can be used to distinguish between good and evil", and "to teach the people, we must make the people good at self-cultivation." It can be seen that reason runs through the entire ethics of Confucius. The metaphor of the eye is to use the unique insight of Chinese philosophy to gain insight into the moral hypocrisy of European theology. Leibniz's successor, the German philosopher Wolff, gave a lecture at The University of Hal in 1721, which more fully elaborated on what this wise eye was. He pointed out that the fundamental reason for creating the "golden age of Chinese the blossoming of moral flowers" was that "they believe that the most important factor for the cultivation of moral customs is consistent with human reason, and that everything they do is based on man's naturalness," that is, in the inherent goodness of man, "man's naturalness lies in the fact that he must exalt what he thinks is good"; moral behavior comes from the rational consciousness of recognizing this naturalness, and "the reason why Chinese is committed to good behavior is because he recognizes the inherent goodness of behavior." Such a process of understanding is "not based on the worship of God", but through the education of "primary school" and "university", "training the intellect" and "making the rationality more and more perfect". The speech drew an attack from theology professors, and Wolff was punished by the government. But this led to the publication of pamphlets of more than 200 controversies related to this, giving the "Chinese ethics" a broader impact. Voltaire also borrowed from "Chinese ethics". He quotes "The Way of the University, in Mingmingde...", pointing out that Confucius "was not a prophet, he did not claim to have been inspired by God, but the revelation he received was to always pay attention to suppressing lust", "he said that people are not born evil, and evil is caused by fault"; he believed that "Confucius's ethics" was based on "human feelings". That is to say, Confucius ethics requires that morality be consistent with the intrinsic goodness of man, that it is the elevation of lust by reason and the conscious correction of faults, and has nothing to do with the revelation of the prophets and gods. He condensed such thoughts into four verses: "Only reason can benefit wisdom, but with good faith to illuminate people's hearts, the words of saints are not prescient, and all the people of the land are devoted to Dacheng." "It is necessary to use the sages to liberate the Europeans of Peter from theological prophets, and to make reason the universal basis of morality.

The "philosophical foundation" of governance. Wolfe said that "the special intellect of Chinese governing the country is also admirable", and he tries to "understand the hidden philosophical basis of governing the country in the world". The Enlightenment's rational judgment of feudal despotism drew nourishment from Chinese political philosophy from different angles. Wolfe thought that the disadvantage of the autocracy was that he did not understand that the relationship between the ruler and his subjects was like a relationship between a father and a son who depended on each other, "Wolff cited examples from Chinese history to prove the relationship between the ruler and the happiness of the people: Yao and Shun were very wise rulers,—— he quoted Confucius as he quoted confucius - people love him as a child loves his father." The French Enlightenment thinker Holbach opposed the combination of feudal despotism and religious theology, and although he sharply criticized "Eastern absolutism," he still believed that China's combination of politics and morality was worth emulating: "China can be regarded as the only country known in the world that combines the fundamental law of politics with morality." And this historic empire is tantamount to telling the rulers that the prosperity of the nation depends on morality. "Such moral politics does not involve the hereditary succession of monarchs," there was a Son of Heaven in China, and when he found that his son was not qualified to be a great monarch, he elected a citizen with both talent and virtue as his successor. "Because of the separation of moral politics from religion, there can be no religious wars," and the happiness and tranquility enjoyed Chinese are worthy of the envy of many other peoples who are divided, mentally distressed, and often resort to force for religious issues. Such moral politics is people-oriented, and he quotes "a Chinese emperor: 'The people are hungry as they are hungry, and the people are drowning as they are drowning.'" In fact, this is from Mencius. The French Enlightenment thinker Montesquieu, like Holbach, criticized the dictatorship of the French monarchy while also condemning The Feudal Dictatorship of China. Nevertheless, he discovered the "republican element" of Confucian political philosophy. This is manifested in: First, Confucianism "formulated the broadest norms of etiquette," which is of positive significance for the formation of good customs and order; the principle of despotic terror is "rule the country by punishment without etiquette," which runs counter to Confucianism's practice of etiquette. Secondly, according to the "classic ancient texts of the Chinese", "Chinese regard the monarch as the father of the people", which means that corresponding moral requirements are made for the monarch. Again, it is said that the surveillance system under the absolute monarchy cannot prevent the corruption of power," but the case of China. It seems to have undermined this law," that is to say, China's supervision system has a certain role in curbing corruption. These "republican elements" are not only critical of European monarchies, but also incorporate Montesquieu's "separation of powers" thinking.

The criticism of Chinese authoritarianism by some Enlightenment thinkers such as Montesquieu foreshadows that in the vision of Europeans, China will change from an ideal "model" to a stagnant laggard. This became a reality in the mid-19th century. As a result, Chinese philosophy was degraded. This is evidenced by Hegel's Lectures on the History of Philosophy. However, this does not obscure the dazzling light of Chinese philosophy shining in the bright starry sky of the Enlightenment. The "Decline of the West" and the Universal Meaning of Chinese Philosophy

If 18th-century Chinese philosophy nourished the development of Western civilization, then 20th-century Chinese philosophy is the cure for its ills. From the beginning of 1919 to the spring of the following year, Liang Qichao and others shuttled through Europe before the smoke of the First World War, and what made him "really listen to the ocean" was to lament the bankruptcy of Western civilization, envy the "spiritual civilization" of the East, and "many prophets are trying to import Chinese and Indian civilization." At that time, the achievements of Western modernization had already dominated the world, and Western civilization dominated the world. However, the two world wars have exposed the dilemma of Western civilization: the one-way relationship between heaven (nature) and man, that is, the blind emphasis on the conquest of nature has caused excessive plunder of nature; the utilitarianization of human relations, that is, the emotional and moral bonds are submerged in the ice water of personal interest calculation; and the materialization of the relationship between body (matter) and heart (spirit), that is, the pursuit of material enjoyment and the desire for money have become the driving force and goal of personal life. As the tide of modernization swept across the globe, getting out of the above predicament has become a worldwide problem. In the face of these problems, Chinese philosophy shows universal significance: Chinese philosophy contains the wisdom of mankind to transcend the dilemmas of modern civilization.

The German philosopher Spengler was what Liang Qichao called "the prophet". In 1918, the high school teacher published the sensational Book of the West, The Decline of the West. He believes that Western culture has entered the final stage of the period of decline, money has become the measure of everything, and all sentient beings under the rule of machines have exhausted the creativity of life. His cure was to shift the philosophical emphasis from epistemology to the problems of life. However, "looking at today's 'philosophers' makes one feel embarrassed and ashamed," and their kind of doctrines that "do not involve and do not affect the deepest parts of contemporary life cannot be regarded as doctrines at all"; while Chinese philosophy, with the exception of Laozi, pre-Qin philosophers are "strong philosophers who believe that epistemology is the knowledge of important relations about real life." [57] It vaguely expresses its intention to cure Western civilization with Chinese philosophy.

This intention was clear to the American philosopher Dewey. For more than two years from April 1919, he traveled throughout half of China, believing that "Westerners have no greater need for Eastern philosophy than in the current emergency era", reflecting on the disasters of war, Chinese philosophy is "a good medicine for salvation". He pointed out that Chinese and Western philosophy has formed two traditions, "Eastern Chinese philosophy is a problem that is biased towards daily use in life. Western philosophy is a question of natural phenomena. Therefore, in the attitude toward nature, "the conquest of nature with science is the specialty of Western civilization; the phenomenon of the natural world is mysterious, and it is the most conspicuous attitude of the Orientals to see it as something pleasing to the eye." In particular, Lao Tzu's "inaction" embodies the contentment, tolerance, and peace of "Chinese 'listen to nature'. Witty. The playful outlook on life" and "the attitude of respecting nature and defying everything that struggles with manpower and seeks speed." It is the absence of such a outlook on life that leads to the overexpanding desires of Western society, so that "the philosophy of Chinese life has an important and valuable contribution to human culture, and has a quality that is infinitely needed by the urgent, manic, busy, and disturbing Westerners." However, he believes that China's attitude toward life is easy to be satisfied with the status quo, so the ideal "complete life" is that "Westerners should collect some of the quiet and serene attitude of Easterners, but in the East they should absorb the creative spirit and scientific spirit of Westerners." This not only affirms the value of Chinese philosophy in curing the modern Western outlook on life, but also affirms that it is an indispensable resource for building an ideal life for mankind.

While Dewey was still lecturing in China, in October 1920, the British philosopher and Nobel laureate in literature Russell came to China. Russell also valued the significance of Taoism in overcoming the ills of modern Western civilization: "Lao Tzu described the operation of the Tao in this way: 'Born without being, not being ashamed, growing without slaughtering.'" I think one can derive from these words a conception of the fate of life"; on the contrary, "'possessing', 'self-aggrandizing' and 'dominating' are flocked to by white nations and individuals", which is "the westerner's mechanical outlook on life." He praised Zhuangzi for using many fables to more vividly express the Taoist "philosophy advocated by freedom", and more interestingly criticized the mechanical outlook on life similar to that of Westerners, "complaining about the busy modern life at that time, comparing it with the peaceful existence of the 'ancient real people'". Calling for the Taoist return to simplicity and innocence to clear the alienated fog of the Western mechanical concept of life. Russell also noted that Confucianism, which dominates China, is distinct from Christianity and is secular in "a purely ethical system." In terms of interpersonal relations, "harmony" has become "China's supreme ethical quality", which is "extremely needed by the modern world", which shows the ethical value of Confucianism's "harmony is precious" for building a modern and harmonious world.

Dewey and Russell were the most influential philosophers of the world in the first half of the 20th century, and their use of Chinese philosophy as a prescription for western civilization led to the emergence of comparative study of Chinese and Western philosophy in the late 1930s. In 1939, 1949, 1959 and 1964, Professor Moore of the University of Hawaii initiated and chaired four consecutive conferences on the comparison of Eastern and Western philosophies, and edited the proceedings of four conferences. These conferences and collections of papers further suggest that Chinese and Western philosophy "can and should combine these two branches of human thought to lead us to a world philosophy." The famous German philosopher Jaspers believes that the historical origin of philosophy leading to the world comes from the "axial period" roughly equivalent to the "axial period" of the Warring States period in China's Spring and Autumn Period, when the philosophical wisdom of China, ancient Greece and ancient India bloomed at the same time, "until today, human beings have survived by everything produced, thought and created in the axial period." Each new leap looks back at this period and is rekindled by it." The "Axial Period" laid the initial foundation for the leap towards world philosophy. But the current state of Western civilization is "most evident than the Axial Period, when it is now a period of decline in spiritual poverty, the loss of humanity, and the decline of love and creativity." In his Great Philosopher, Confucius is the "creator of the paradigm of thought" and Lao Tzu is the "original metaphysician." Zhu Xi was "creatively maintaining the order of the philosophical edifice" and Wang Yangming was "reviving Confucianism and breaking the rigid situation of Confucianism.". Moreover, Chinese philosophy "evaluates our human potential that we have not yet recognized, and brings us into a connection with another true origin of human nature." Obviously, the new leap in philosophy depends in particular on the creative potential of Chinese philosophy and its thinking on human nature. This is his "departure from the sunset of European philosophy through the dawn of our time to the dawn of world philosophy."

As such a dawn, Chinese philosophy has become an important resource for the philosophical creation of Western philosophers. The German philosopher Heidegger was one of the most important Western philosophers of the second half of the 20th century, and The Taoists were the source of his theoretical construction. In his study hung a pair of banners, two sentences from Lao Tzu: "Who can be turbid and quiet?" Who can be at peace for a long time, and move xu sheng? The horizontal batch is the "Heavenly Dao". This reflects two aspects of his association with Taoism: giving full play to the meaning of the Taoist "Tao" and thinking about the ultimate realm (The Way of Heaven); borrowing the Taoist path of poetic enlightenment, proposing to use poetry to clarify the philosophy of the Tao of Heaven. Since the 20th century, the ecological crisis has become increasingly serious, and an ecological philosophy that explores the way to salvation has emerged. Schweizer, a French ethicist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, was a pioneer of ecological philosophy. Its core ideas are "reverence for life": "reverence for all life wills like reverence for one's own will to life", "experience other lives in one's own life". This was formed by drawing on Chinese philosophy. He systematically studied Chinese and Indian thought, disapproved of India's denial of life in the present world, and attached more importance to Chinese bioethics, "some ethical requirements for exhorting people to treat life well were already formed in ancient China and confucius", and in The Taoists, the famous Huishi, "Mencius, Zhu Xi, and other thinkers have expressed the understanding that there is a certain essential kinship between man and other beings." This is to integrate China's "people's things" into his "reverence for life." The ecological significance of Chinese philosophy is becoming more and more perceived. In 2014, two American scholars proposed to fuse Marxism, traditional Chinese philosophy, and process philosophy into "organic Marxism" as an alternative to capitalism in response to ecological disasters. Process philosophy is the doctrine of modern Western philosophy, emphasizing the organic connection of the whole, cooperation and harmony of the community, and the movement of man in the torrent of the universe, "Traditional Chinese philosophy contains rich process thinking, which appears not only in the thought of Confucianism and Taoism, but even in the I Ching, the oldest text of traditional Chinese philosophy." Therefore, the importance of traditional Chinese philosophy in "organic Marxism" is self-evident. It is perceived that Chinese philosophy contains wisdom beyond modern Western civilization and is also reflected in the field beyond philosophy. The French writer and Nobel laureate in literature, Romain Rowland, believes that the tragedy of the First World War shows that "in order to save Europe, it alone cannot do it alone." "It should" bring together the European nations of the Old and New Worlds with the representatives of the ancient and rejuvenated Asian civilizations, the representatives of India and China. It is necessary to form a great human society with a treasure of common spirit." The British historian Toynbee, who traveled to China in 1929, pointed out that the history of world civilization shows that the pursuit of harmony is the original existence of both Eastern and Western civilizations; but Western civilization has been biased in modern times, and it is necessary to activate the original spirit of harmony through the enlightenment of Chinese culture. Philosophically, in the face of the tearing of human feelings, "the Confucian assertion of obligation is most appropriate today." At the same time, the Mozi doctrine, which regards universal love as an obligation, is an appropriate proposition for the modern world"; The Taoist idea of conforming to nature is critical of the "destructive development" of today's technology; and tries to find a way out of the human spirit. Hayek, an Austrian-British economist and Nobel laureate in economics, believes that Lao Tzu's "rule by doing nothing" is valuable to modern economics. In a 1966 speech in Tokyo, when he talked about the theory of "spontaneous order," he asked excitedly: "Isn't all this exactly what Lao Tzu says in chapter 57, 'I do nothing, but the people are self-sufficient; I am quiet, and the people are self-righteous'?" "It is generally believed that the way of thinking of traditional Chinese philosophy is not suitable for modern science. But many Nobel Prize-winning scientists in the 20th century did not see it that way. For example, the Danish scientist Bohr recognized that the concept of complementarity in quantum theory is highly consistent with the Chinese way of thinking of yin and yang. The Japanese scientist Hideki Yukawa believes that his scientific creations are directly benefiting from laozhuang philosophy. He said: "The most profound influence on me is the thinking of Lao Zhuang and others", "When I think about physics problems, it still unconsciously enters it." In his book, he gives three examples of lao zhuang philosophy's enlightenment of his own physics research. The German scientist Heisenberg changed his original view of attributing the theoretical source of scientific research to Western culture, pointing out: "There is a certain definite connection between the traditional philosophical ideas of the East and the philosophical nature of quantum mechanics." Obviously, they all affirm that the Chinese philosophical way of thinking has inspired new creative inspiration in modern science. Hideki Yukawa said it best: "Western civilization is not the only civilization, and the Western way of thinking is not the only advanced way of thinking, and indeed, if the world is to live a truly happy life in the future, then the integration of the East and the West in a new sense will be necessary."

The famous American sinologist Greyham said: Chinese philosophy always thinks about "the question of 'where is the Tao?'" Since the 7920th century, Chinese philosophy has provided wisdom to answer the question of "where is the Tao" in the true life of modern civilization, highlighting the universal world significance. This is exactly what "The Middle Way" says, "The Way is not far away." Of course, the "people" here refer to a community with a shared future for mankind.

Lightning News reporter Wang Qingyu reported