书评

The Spirit of the Chinese people

  This is a very interesting, but not easy to understand book. Mr.Gu Hongming is committed to spreading Chinese culture all over the world. This book is one of his great works. He has the universal characteristics of the masters of the Republic of China, the study of Chinese and Western, proficient in traditional Chinese culture, but also widely accepted Western culture.Therefore, this book is very deeply based on the traditional vision of Confucianism, but also as modern people in the eyes of the times, see each other.

  In my opinion, there is something very valuable in the book, but there is also some dregs.

  Start with something valuable in the book. Mr. Koo refers to a very interesting conclusion. That is why the Chinese do not have systematic and universal religious worship? Because the Chinese have Confucianism, like the Western religion, set up a set of moral norms for this society, and passed on in the form of etiquette. In the book, Mr. Koo believes that Westerners worshiped religion first, but caused corruption among religious clergy, followed by the pursuit of the rule of law, triggered tyranny and militarism among the majority, and eventually led to the first World War. Therefore, Mr. Gu Hongming believes that the export of Confucian culture to the outside world can better promote social peace. Mr. Gu Hongming believes that the fundamental power of Confucianism to unite China is in fact a sense of honor, a force that constrains human behavior from within to outside. The sense of honor advocated by Confucianism is based on the people’ s heart rather than relaying on external forces. Therefore, we should pay attention to the self-restrain of everyone out of a sense of honor. rather than the restraint of the clergy and the military and police. Therefore from the inside to the outside self-restraint, without the aid of external forces,then naturally can avoid the proliferation of external forces, and Koo Lao-fu thinks that the overflowing of external forces eventually led to the first World War. It is Mr. koo’s interpretation of the advantages of Confucianism, that is, the formation and restraint from the inside to the outside,each person constraining himself, so that the world can reach a state of peace.

  There are still some ideas I don not agree with in the book. Mr. Koo believes that Zhongjun is the starting point of all the honors of the Chinese people. I don not think so. To a certain extent, Confucianism is formed in the true feudal period, a class-based society,so the upward loyalty, is not an unforgivable problem. Moreover, in the continuous development that followed, Confucianism acted more as the mouthpiece of the rulers. But can loyalty really bring honor? Or the right to judge honor or not, is it really monarch-specific? I think that Mr. Koo did not see a thing clearly.The real honor comes from the people of the world. This is the most important thing that the culture of honor can condense the Chinese society.What is even more unacceptable to me is his view of women,which has fully exposed the inferiority of our traditional culture. Mr. Koo made a very clear distinction between his wife and his concubine.The wife, the hostess of a family,needs to gain sense of honor through loyalty to the family.She is an important member of the family, so she needs to make her own contribution to the family. And the concubine,in general, is used to make fun of the male owner. Isn’ t a wife a biologically defined women, then a concubine? If the same is the case, why is there such a big difference? A wife has the right to separate a family, but a concubine is nothing more than an object.

  From the perspective of culture, Mr. Koo explained why Confucianism maintained the world for 3000 years, and also spoke of foolish loyalty and gender issues.In general, this is a very good Confucian annotation.

2019-03-05

分享

喜欢(0)