辜鸿铭的精神 决赛作品
Wu Haozhe 1801016 18E16
It is a truth universally acknowledged that everything has two sides, and let alone The Spirit of the Chinese People, the work of Gu Hongming who was biased.
Actually, Mr. Gu is a Chinese who had European blood relationship. He studied in Europe in his early years admirably mastering nine languages and obtaining 13 doctorates. When he returned to China, he devoted himself to digging into Chinese studies and culture and was deeply influenced by Confucianism. He also translated many Chinese classics into English like The Great Learning, The Doctrine of the Mean and The Analects of Confucius. So when Europe fell into World War I, Mr. Gu wrote this article "The Spirit of the Chinese People" with great enthusiasm and passion, advocating the application of Chinese history and culture to save the West form the War.
On the one hand, I admire Mr. Gu not only for his broad knowledge, but also for his remarkable courage. " The Spirit of the Chinese People " was written just before the New Culture Movement, and the nationwide radical people were propagating Western ideas. Chinese culture seemed worthless, but he stood up to speak for Chinese culture, because he had Chinese blood in his veins, and he knew that his root was in China. His patriotic consciousness was very high, which is worth learning nowadays. When “The Spirit of the Chinese” was translated into German, its impact on Europe in the fire of war was also enormous. I think, although that failed to replace Western culture with Chinese culture as Mr. Gu said, the Chinese Spirit still had a great influence on the spread of Chinses card. Li Dazhao said, "I think the culture of China of more than 2500 years has produced a Mr. Gu, so China is enough to raise its head and show its pride in the world of 20th century." The reason why China won't have a war as big as Europe was that Chinese had no fear but harmony between theirs neighbors. I think if Europeans really understand this, they will envy China and will not despise China any more.
But, on the other hand, I have to criticize Mr. Gu. First of all, I have no word in his little braid, but his advocation of constitutional monarchy in China was absurd, because the Constitutional Reform and Modernization had been proved to be a failure. Then, although "The Spirit of the Chinese People" introduce the excellence of Confucianism, some ideas are still backward. For example, in Chinese Women, I can't understand that he maintained concubinage. Although Mr. Gu had given many explanations, it still makes me feel that there still exists the idea that men are important than women in his mind. Moreover, I think the purpose of this book is ridiculous. Is it possible to replace European culture with Chinese culture? I don’t think so, because every culture has its own characteristics and significance, and we can’t impose it. Finally, Mr. Gu's criticism of Sinologists in the West seemed to be a bit excessive. Although they do not really understand the connotation of Chinese culture and are arrogant, they, like Mr. Gu, also spread Chinese thought, who I think they are also crucial.
From my point of view, The Spirit of the Chinese People has little practical significance and has not really changed the historical situation of the European war. However, we have to say that its dissemination of Chinese history and culture is of great value not only to Europe, but also to China itself. And Mr. Gu Hongming's patriotism is exactly what China needs at this stage of developing China. I think the focus of this book is not only on the content, but also on the enthusiasm and passion behind the content.
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