A Book Review

I have finished reading Chinese Traditional Cultural Terms these days. This book is an achievement from the national project for spreading Chinese ideological culture. It mainly explains basic cultural concepts that existed before the Wei and Jin Dynasties. Many familiar ideas are covered in this book, such as benevolence, virtue, Huaxia, yin and yang, Dao and feudalism. Before I read the book, I only knew the modern meanings of these words. I never knew these common terms have changed their meanings over a long period of history, and each word carries ancient thoughts of our nation. What impresses me most is that the same word has different explanations in different schools of thought. Both Confucianism and Taoism talk a lot about “Dao”. For Confucians, Dao stands for benevolence, rituals, music and moral rules. It guides people to behave politely, treat others kindly, and keep good order in society. However, Taoists understand Dao differently. In their opinion, Dao is the invisible natural law that runs everything in the world. They believe people should follow nature and live a simple and calm life. Some words we use today are not the same as they were in ancient times. The “rule by law” in ancient Legalism is different from modern legal ideas. The original meaning of “feudalism” in the Zhou Dynasty also differs from its present understanding. The changes of these terms show how ancient society and people’s ideas developed step by step. The book combines the thoughts of Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism and Legalism. It also compares Chinese traditional ideas with Western philosophy, helping me look at our culture from more sides. These cultural terms are more than just words. They carry shared beliefs of Chinese people and record the long spiritual pursuit of our nation. I used to learn cultural knowledge separately, and I could not connect different ideas together. This book puts scattered concepts in order, so I can clearly understand the whole development of traditional Chinese thoughts. From this book, I realize why we need to learn and pass down traditional culture. Many good qualities we value now, like kindness, honesty and respect, all come from these ancient ideas. These old terms connect our ancestors and us. Learning these basic concepts helps me know more about our cultural roots. Besides, mastering these terms allows me to introduce real Chinese culture to foreign friends correctly. After finishing this reading, I hope to learn more traditional cultural terms later. I want to know the history and stories behind these words, so I can understand our traditional thoughts more completely.