the Spirit of the Chinese people

小瓜茵

Reader:郭佳茵
Reading Time:week5-6
Reading Task: Part1 the Spirit of the Chinese people
Summary of the Content:
In Mr. Ku’s writing, what exactly is the Chinese personality? Judging from his book, it is essentially the “perfect combination of soul and wisdom.” Although possessing the rationality of adults, Chinese people still live a life with the soul of a child. In short, we Chinese have always lived a life that is emotional and soulful. This kind of soulful life directly shapes the typical trait of empathy that Chinese people possess. It seems more appropriate to call this empathy, that is, Chinese people are always able to put themselves in others’ shoes and understand their feelings. The manifestation of this empathy is the politeness that Chinese people have maintained for thousands of years. However, this politeness is not as overly orchestrated as that of Japan; instead, it makes people feel as if they are basking in a gentle spring breeze. So, what allows Chinese people to retain rich emotional souls while still possessing the rationality of adults? Tracing back to the root, according to Mr. Ku, the spiritual qualities that Chinese people have formed over thousands of years are all inseparable from Confucianism, founded by Confucius.
Evaluation：
“He has given the Chinese people a true sense of nationhood, thereby establishing a real, rational, permanent, and absolute foundation for this country,” said Mr. Ku. China has never had a religion since ancient times. This does not mean that the Chinese nation is a people without faith or a sense of awe. On the contrary, we have a philosophy that is recognized by all Chinese people, that is, the Confucian way of honor and disgrace, and the teaching of the gentleman. Therefore, I think that the reason why China has not developed a legal system as complete and detailed as Roman law is largely related to Confucianism. Confucius advocated teaching people to be filial and good citizens, from family to country, so that people gradually gained an understanding of the nation and a belief in the monarch, the ruler of the country. This belief, which originates from the heart, gradually developed into a sense of honor and disgrace, and then into a set of moral principles. To some extent, this set of moral principles has played the role of Western law.
However, the greatest difference between the two might lie in the fact that the essence of Western legal norms, aside from the constraints of state coercive institutions, is mostly stipulated by organizations such as the Church through regulations. For the majority of the populace, they do not understand why they should act in such a way; they simply comply out of fear of coercion, such as the brutal treatment of heretics. As a result, the feudal regimes in Europe were extremely unstable, and once a certain force expanded, the entire ruling area would fall into instability.
In contrast, Confucianism in China is a philosophy for all people. Therefore, the stability and longevity of the nation, the continuation of the national lineage, and the perpetuity of the race became the responsibility of everyone. Based on this ideological understanding, compliance with moral norms is no longer reliant on coercion but on the inner sense of morality and honor and disgrace. The previous text mentioned that the stability and longevity of the nation are "everyone's business." This means that this sense of morality is not about adhering to personal justice but about upholding the true laws of humanity, which is in stark contrast to Western individualism. People live for their family and their country. Thus, this inner sense of morality and honor and disgrace gradually formed a path of the gentleman. The saying that "a gentleman has lifelong worries" is one of the important manifestations of the path of the gentleman: "Born in adversity, die in comfort," "If one does not have the ambition to worry about the world, even if he is benevolent, it is of no benefit," "Though in a humble position, I dare not forget my concern for the country." Throughout history, countless righteous and ambitious people have dedicated themselves to practicing the path of the gentleman.
From another perspective, this path of the gentleman, rooted in the land of China, has also nurtured the patriotic and patriotic sentiments of our Chinese nation. First, we need to clarify a question: Is there an essential difference between patriotism and patriotism? In fact, patriotism and patriotism can be distinguished by the example of saving the Qing Dynasty and overthrowing the Qing Dynasty: So-called patriotism means saving the Qing Dynasty, while patriotism means overthrowing the backward feudal monarchy to achieve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. In this sense, patriotism and patriotism seem to be in conflict to some extent. However, the famous historian Mr. Meng Sen wrote in his "Lectures on the History of the Ming Dynasty": "Since ancient times, there has been no one who obtained the country more justly than Emperor Taizu." "A commoner who rises in rebellion has no suspicion of relying on a dangerous handle; he eliminates violence for the people without the intention of coveting the divine instrument." Why is it said that Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang's way of obtaining the country is the most just? It is precisely because he fought against the unjust and punished the tyrannical Yuan Dynasty. Therefore, so-called patriotism and patriotism can be interpreted as a matter of a sense of belonging and identity: The reason for eliminating the tyrannical Yuan Dynasty and overthrowing the Qing Dynasty is that the Yuan Dynasty's rule was brutal, and the people lost their sense of belonging and identity with the current dynasty. In this case, the country is merely a tool for the rulers to maintain their rule, rather than a country for the people. In this light, it seems that patriotism and patriotism in ancient China are not in conflict. As mentioned earlier, Confucianism is a philosophy for all people, and the continuation of the Chinese lineage is everyone's responsibility. Therefore, the dynasties that changed on this land all belong to the same historical and cultural community. Patriotism and patriotism are unified; specifically, the Yuan Dynasty at that time was no longer recognized as a symbol of the Chinese nation's historical and cultural community. It is precisely because patriotism and patriotism are unified that our current Chinese patriotism can overcome narrow nationalism and unite against foreign threats. In 1949, the founding of New China replaced the so-called "Chinese nation" as an imagined community with the concept of the nation as a historical and cultural entity, which ultimately belongs to tens of millions of Chinese children.
Reflection:
For this part, I came to understand one thing. Whether it is the unique national character of the Chinese people, the distinctive writing system, or the profound Confucian culture, all of these are manifestations of the Chinese spirit. For modern and contemporary China, perhaps what we need to do is to transform the gentlemanly way based on absolute obedience and reverence for the monarch into one based on the exploration of the survival and development of the Chinese nation. Let the Confucian way, the sense of honor and disgrace, and the learning of the masses that have lasted for thousands of years continue to play a role in the new era, and form a modern Chinese national consciousness and patriotic spiritual civilization based on the nation-state. Become the driving force for the continuous progress of the Chinese nation.