Judging from thousands of years of human history, nations and countries, big or small, have made their own contributions to the treasure house of human culture to a greater or lesser extent. I'm afraid this is a historical fact and cannot be denied. It is also undeniable that the contribution of each nation or country is not exactly the same. The cultures of some ethnic groups or countries have exerted great influence on neighboring ethnic groups or countries, and have formed a cultural circle or system for a long time. According to my statement, since the history of mankind, there have been four cultural circles: ancient Greece and Rome, all the way to modern Europe and America, from ancient Heber to Sumerian cultural circle in Islamic countries, Indian cultural circle and China cultural circle. In these four cultural circles, there is a dominant and influential culture, and at the same time, various nationalities or countries are learning from each other. There is also a relationship between cultural circles to learn from each other. This kind of mutual learning is what we usually call it.
If we discuss it from a larger macro perspective, we can find that these four cultural circles can be divided into two cultural systems: the first cultural circle constitutes the western cultural system; The second, third and fourth cultural circles constitute the great cultural system of the East. Here, "the East" is not only a geographical concept, but also a political concept, the so-called third world. The relationship between these two cultural systems is also a relationship of mutual learning. At present, western culture is dominant in the world. But historically, the relationship between the two is thirty years east and thirty years west.
There have been many cultures in human history, and European historians have long held this view. The most famous representative is the British historian Toynbee. In his masterpiece Historical Research (excerpts from Somerville, translated by Cao Weifeng, Volume I, Volume II, Fifth Edition 1986, Shanghai People's Publishing House), starting from the overall situation of world history, * * * Discovered twenty-one or twenty-three cultures (which Toynbee called societies or civilizations): Western society, Orthodox Church (which can be divided into Byzantine and Russian Orthodox Church), Iranian society, Arab society, Indian society, Far East society (which can be divided into China, Korea and Japan), ancient Greek society, Babylonian society before China's ancient civilization in the Syrian Yellow River valley, Egyptian society, Andean society, Mexican society and Yucatan society.
Therefore, Tang explicitly opposed the theory that there is only one society-western society, which is a unity of civilization. He thinks this is "misguided" and a "mistake". Although the economic and political characteristics of all parts of the world have been westernized, other societies (civilizations) still maintain their original characteristics on the whole. The river of civilization is not limited to the west. (Volume I, pages 45-48) (2)
Four great inventions, astronomical calendar, traditional Chinese medicine, agricultural science, abacus, binary system: the representation of a number. Decimal is decimal and binary is binary. Binary only uses "0" and "1", and modern electronic computers mostly use binary.
Alchemy: China's alchemy was introduced into Arabia, which directly promoted the growth of Arab alchemy and then influenced European alchemy, while modern chemistry was developed on the basis of European medieval alchemy. Western scholars spoke highly of the world significance of China's alchemy: "The basic idea of China's alchemy spread all over Europe as a result of the westward advance of India, Persia, Arabia and Islamic Spain. Ge Hong's theories and methods, and even the terminology he used, were widely adopted by alchemists in these countries in the following centuries ... If alchemy is recognized as the pioneer of modern chemistry, then the original theory of China's alchemy can be regarded as the earliest specification of medicinal chemistry (History of Needham and China Science and Technology, Volume III, pp. 322-333).
The spread of China porcelain and silk production technology, the ancient Silk Road. (3) Art in China.
China's mysterious and colorful art has attracted generations of western philosophers and artists. /kloc-Voltaire, the master of the European Enlightenment in the 0/8th century, called the East "the cradle of all arts". And that "everything in the west should be attributed to it." /kloc-Balzac, a French writer in the 0 th and 9 th centuries, believes that "China's art is infinitely rich." From the end of 17 to the end of 100, Rococo style was popular in Europe, and the core of Rococo style was the admiration and pursuit of silk and porcelain.
China's interest is manifested in many aspects, first of all in the garden layout. Europeans believe that China's gardening has both the advantages of Britain and France. They say that China's national art is unique and advocates nature, unlike Europe's neat and inflexible. Therefore, China gardens have been popular in European countries for a period of time, and French, British, German and other places have imitated China gardens, and the remains can still be seen today.
China's paintings were also introduced to Europe, mainly China's landscape paintings and figure paintings, which were the most prominent in porcelain. There are also painters who have painted China-like paintings, such as "The Shadow of an Island Sailing" and "The Long Bridge in the Green Field". It is said that Van Gogh also studied China's splash-ink books. (4) China literature.
China literature has a wide influence abroad. Romance of the Three Kingdoms, The Journey to the West, The Water Margin, A Dream of Red Mansions, Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio and Jin Ping Mei have been translated into many languages, which are highly praised by foreign scholars. When talking about China's literature, the German writer Goethe said: "When China people had novels, our ancestors were still living in the Woods!" Hegel thinks that China's poems can be "comparable to the best masterpieces in European literature". (5) China's philosophy.
China's philosophy also had a profound influence on Europe in the17-18th century.
Leibniz, the pioneer of German classical philosophy, was the first philosopher who realized that China culture was of great significance to the development of the West. When introducing the recent events in China, he said: "We didn't believe that any nation in the world had better ethics and a more progressive lifestyle, but now we have awakened from China in the East!" His proposition paved the way for later enlightenment thinkers to rely on China civilization to impact the old European tradition. Leibniz compared Chinese and western cultures and said, "The specialty of European culture is mathematics and speculative science, ... but in practical philosophy, Europeans are not as good as China." Therefore, he strongly advocated further expanding the cultural exchanges between China and the West.
The ethical tendency of China culture has also aroused widespread concern among European thinkers, who believe that "ethics and politics are interrelated and inseparable". In the world, "the only country that closely links politics and ethics first is China". Until the French Revolution, the rule of virtue in China's philosophy also influenced the history of jacobins. Article 6 of robespierre's 1793 Declaration on Human Rights and Citizenship says: "Freedom belongs to everyone's right to do everything that does not harm the rights of others. Its principle is nature, its rule is justice, its guarantee is law, and its moral boundary is in the following maxim: "Don't do to others what you don't want others to do to you." "Brecht is a world-famous German social philosophy dramatist, who devoted himself to the study of China's ancient philosophy. Mo Zhai's thought of "non-aggression" and "universal love", Lao Zi and Zhuang Zi's philosophical theory of governing the country by self-cultivation, and the theory of "the weak conquers the strong" are all paid special attention by Brecht. China's philosophy not only provided a strong argument for Brecht's philosophical debate with German expressionist dramatists, but also greatly broadened his philosophical horizons, promoted the depth and breadth of his philosophical thoughts, and turned him from a European scholar to a German scholar.
China's traditional philosophy was also influential in Russia in the19th century. Russian writer Tolstoy is very interested in China's philosophy. He studied the theories of Kong Qiu, Mo Zhai, Monk and other ancient philosophers in China, and studied Lao Dan's works until his later years. He once said, "The sages of China deeply attracted me ... These books taught me a moral lesson." He thought.
Mr. Qian Mu (1895- 1990) said: The greatest contribution of China culture in the past was the study of the relationship between "heaven" and "man". People in China like to say "heaven" and "people" together. I once said that the theory of "harmony between man and nature" is the greatest contribution of China culture to mankind.
The first problem that human beings encounter in the world is about the sky. I have read several academic books about "heaven" told by ancient people in western Europe, and I really don't know where to start. Westerners like to separate "heaven" from "people", in other words, they are talking about a day without people. With the development of this concept, in today's more developed science, Yuyi shows that it is not good for human survival.
People in China watch heaven and man together. China people believe that "fate" is revealed in life. Without "life", there is no "life". Without "life", there is no "life". Therefore, the ancients in China thought that "destiny" and "destiny" were the noblest and greatest places. It is believed that all human evolution obeys heaven and goes against destiny, that is, there is no human at all. The ancients in China knew this concept for a long time. I think "harmony between man and nature" is the oldest and most contributing proposition in China ancient culture. (6) China classics were introduced to the West (from Mr. Ji Xianlin's paper "Macroscopically Seeing Chinese People")
The Four Books and Five Classics have supreme authority in the history of China. If China's classics spread to the west, they will bear the brunt. In the 21st year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1593), Matteo Ricci translated four books into Latin and sent them back to China. In the sixth year of the Apocalypse (1626), he translated the Five Classics into Latin and printed them in Hangzhou. The first year of Kangxi (1662) was carved in Jianchang. Yin translated The Doctrine of the Mean into Latin, which was engraved in Guangzhou and Goa, India in the 6th year of Kangxi (1667) and 8th year of Kangxi (1669) respectively. The earliest translation of The Analects of Confucius was also written by Yin and Guo, and it was also in Latin. Pastor Bai Yingli returned to Europe. In the 26th year of Kangxi (1687), his book Confucius, the philosopher of China, was published in Paris. Although the Chinese title is Four Books in Western Languages, Mencius' names are not consistent. In the 26th year of Kangxi (1687), Austrian priest Jean Grueber published Miscellanies of China in Italian. The library of Prague University published four books translated by Fran? ois Noel in Latin, Xiaojing and Youxue, which were translated into French from 1783 to 1786. Wei Shi also wrote Philosophy of China in Latin, which was published at the same time. Bai Jin wrote the Latin Book of Changes, which was not published. Forty years of Kangxi (1702). Discuss China's philosophy and customs. At present, there are 14 Chinese manuscripts of the Book of Changes studied by western scholars in the Vatican Library. Song Junrong once translated The Book of Changes, and Liu Ying translated a part of The Book of Rites. At the end of Kangxi, Joseph de Prémare abridged the Book of Changes and the Book of Songs. In the 46th year of Kangxi (1707), Joseph de Prémare sent a letter to Europe from Jianchang Prefecture. He also studied China's ancient books. Fu Shengze has the annotation of Tao Te Ching, which has been translated into Latin and French. He also translated The Book of Songs into French. He Cangbi came to China in the 40th year of Kangxi (170 1) and also engaged in the translation of The Book of Songs. (7) Sun Tzu's Art of War has a great influence in the world military academic and business circles. (8)
Liang Qichao once divided the history of China into three stages: China in China, China in Asia and China in the world. From the unification of Qin Dynasty to the end of Qing Dynasty, it was called China in Asia. From the Qin Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, China was the leading role in the Asian historical stage for about two thousand years. Chinese civilization is like flowing water. The gas diffuses from concentrated point to diluted area, which strongly affects Asian countries, Japan and North Korea.
China and Japan are neighbors separated only by a strip of water, and the exchanges between the two countries go back to ancient times. In the middle of the 4th century, the Yamato regime unified Japan. In 600 AD, Japan sent its first envoy to the Sui Dynasty, and the emerging and powerful Sui Empire left a deep impression on Japanese envoys. At the beginning of the 7th century, Shoto Kutaishi followed the China system, and under the guidance of Confucianism, carried out "pushing the ancient to reform". The reform has achieved initial results. Japanese rulers have strengthened their confidence in transplanting Japanese culture. After the establishment of the Tang Empire, the political system was complete, the military was strong and the culture was developed. Japanese rulers admired Tang Wenhua very much. In 623 A.D., Hui Qi, Hui Guang and others, monks studying abroad who returned to China in the Tang Dynasty, played Yu Yun: "The Tang Dynasty is a country, but it is also a rare country." ("Japan", the court accepted this suggestion. In 630, Japan sent the first envoys to the Tang Dynasty, and in the following 200 years, Japan sent envoys to the Tang Dynasty 18 times. Encouraged by students from the Tang Dynasty studying in Japan, Japan experienced a famous large-scale innovation in 645 AD. Just as the Meiji Restoration took "Westernization" as its highest ideal, it was a large-scale innovation. The envoys sent to the Tang Dynasty reached their peak. The mission is huge, with as many as 500 or 600 members. In addition to ambassadors and deputy envoys, the mission also includes international students, monks studying abroad and various technical talents. They "returned to reality" and introduced the culture of the Tang Dynasty to Japan at an unprecedented scale and speed.
The cultural exchange between China and the Korean Peninsula has a long history. In ancient Korea (5th century-1 mid-century), Confucianism and Chinese characters were introduced into Korea. During the Three Kingdoms (Koguryo, Baekje and Silla) period (1 mid-century-mid-7th century), China culture was absorbed by the three countries on a large scale from different channels: Koguryo introduced Confucianism from land. Baekje introduced the southern culture of China from the sea and absorbed the diverse academic thoughts of the Six Dynasties. Silla indirectly absorbed China culture through Koguryo and Baekje.
Since the Tang Dynasty, Koguryo, Baekje and Silla have actively sent overseas students to study Korean culture in the Tang Dynasty. After Silla unified North China, the Tang system was taken as a model for the founding of the country.
Chinese characters used to be the lingua franca of East Asia, and the lingua franca of all ethnic groups such as China, Korean Peninsula, Japanese and Vietnamese. Use it as the official or even the only writing system.
Chinese characters have become the common language in East Asia, which is closely related to the spread of Confucianism (the name of Confucianism in the surrounding areas of China) and Buddhism. In North Korea, the introduction and use of Chinese characters are synchronized with the introduction and use of Confucian classics. In Japan, the earliest Chinese characters were recorded as well as the earliest Confucian classics. In Vietnam, Chinese characters follow Confucian poetry, which is a "national custom"
With the establishment of traditional education system in East Asian countries, Confucian classics have become common textbooks in East Asian countries. This period of history has lasted for one or two thousand years, and the history of learning Chinese characters has also been extended simultaneously. Of course, Buddhism and even Taoism have to be added later.
Some ethnic groups have created their own characters sooner or later while using Chinese characters. At this time, Chinese characters often become reference samples. Japanese "pseudonym" uses the radicals of Chinese characters, and the expression of "pseudonym" shows a strong sense of respect for Chinese characters compared with "real name" (Chinese characters). Although "proverbs" on the Korean peninsula are written in pinyin, they also use strokes and structures of Chinese characters. The saying of "proverbs" is also opposite to "true books". The word "Nan" in Vietnam (also known as "Nan", that is, "Nan") uses Chinese character components (radicals) and word formation methods (borrowing, knowing, pictophonetic characters, etc.), and its pronunciation is based on "Hanyue pronunciation" (the pronunciation of Chinese characters introduced to Vietnam in the Tang Dynasty).
Chinese characters used to be more advanced and fashionable than the national language. In ancient Korean peninsula, Chinese characters were the highest, followed by "proverbs". In ancient Japanese writing, it is better to use "real names" (Chinese characters) than pseudonyms. Men use Chinese characters and women use pseudonyms. The level of words implies gender differences. China's literary works in Viet Nam are far more than Zi Nan's.
Since modern times, the status of Chinese characters in East Asian countries has been challenged as never before due to the spread of the west wind and the weakness of China. Some restrict the use of Chinese characters, some prohibit the use of Chinese characters, and some embark on the road of pinyin. However, with the great rejuvenation of China, Chinese characters have been re-emphasized in East Asian countries in recent years. It can be predicted that it will be as convenient for China people to travel to East Asian countries as the ancients, because there are Chinese characters everywhere.
There are a large number of Chinese words in East Asian languages. For example, Korean, Japanese and Vietnamese all account for more than 60% of the total vocabulary. Therefore, the influence of Chinese characters on these languages "is independent of human will" still exists.
Some ancient Chinese words still live in the modern languages of East Asian countries and become "living fossils". For example, in Korean, unmarried young men are called "total horns" (from The Book of Songs), in Japanese, doctors are called "Jinshi", academicians are called "Hanlin", clocks are called "bronze pots" ... In ancient China, people called the gate "porch".