中国人的精神

Really, Gu Hongming is a genius. In my opinion, this superman, who has learned Chinese and Western, mastered nine languages and obtained 13 doctoral degrees, is far more powerful than the passive resistance to the new culture as a pedantic feudal guardian when he waved the banner and shouted for the Oriental culture. Although Teng Shouyao emphasizes the spirit of dialogue in his book "The Edge of Culture", he puts forward the concept of "the Edge of Culture" as a symbol of tolerance, that is, equal communication, not extreme binary opposition or overwhelming the other pole. However, under the historical condition in which Gu Hongming was almost totally negating the Oriental culture, a true balance could be achieved only if one extreme trend of thought was resisted by another extreme. Unfortunately, the little old man who fought alone in the face of the turbulent wave of new culture undoubtedly reflects the helplessness of hitting stones with pebbles. But when we began to reflect on the destructive power of the May 4th Movement to the traditional culture, the Confucian scholar respected by the Western powers really embodied his pedantic innocence of "real Chinese". It is undeniable that the "Chinese spirit" emphasized by Gu Hongming is indeed yearning and remembered. In his view, because Westerners'theory of "evil nature" fears God and law, they need external coercive force to restrain them. It is not enough to spend a lot of money to support the "idle class" (such as priests, military police, etc.), but also to impose strong constraints on people themselves, which in turn drives people to extremes and extends to the national machinery to form militarism, which is undoubtedly one of the main reasons for coveting China for the great powers at the beginning of the 20th century. But unlike China, China has a "good citizen's religion", that is, the self-restraint of moral sense, which extends to its highest obligation, that is, the duty of loyalty - selflessness, absoluteness, naturally including the three principles and five constants. Therefore, Chinese people live a "spiritual life". Therefore, a real Chinese has both adult mind and child's heart. Therefore, the Chinese spirit is the spirit of eternal youth and the immortal spirit of the nation. In the book The Spirit of the Chinese People, Gu Hongming repeatedly emphasizes the above arguments through various analyses. It is undeniable that there are many pedantic and ridiculous elements in the process of argumentation, but there are also some rationalities. The sense of national pride revealed between the lines is obvious, and the essence of the Oriental spirit of proof is profound and somewhere. From the heart of seemingly arrogant nationalists, we can still feel the light of the Chinese nation which can not be denied. Of course, in the era of the rising awareness of human liberation in China, many of Gu Hongming's views are obviously pedantic, backward and conservative, such as women's views, followed by a lot of ridiculous excuses. However, we can not ignore the old man's contribution to the propaganda of Oriental civilization.Just as the book "The Edge of Culture" holds that the possibility of dialogue and blending exists only under a condition of equivalence and balance between the two sides. Otherwise, either the easterly overwhelms the westerly, or the westerly overwhelms the easterly. Whatever the result, it is a deformed culture, with the possibility of collapse at any time. Therefore, to explore the Chinese spirit, there is no and should not be an end.