The spirit of the Chinese people
At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, the "westerly wind" spread eastward. In that era, almost every person, who was educated, was more or less influenced and infiltrated by Western thoughts. Naturally, people who were educated vigorously advocated Western learning, while Chinese learning declined. Fortunately, there was also Mr. Gu, who was confident of the Chinese nation's tradition.
When Chinese culture faced discrimination and the Chinese nation suffered bullying, he defended the dignity of Chinese culture with his pen, which had a far-reaching impact. It can still make people feel inspired even in today's view.
To be frank, what the "Chinese Spirit" describes is "scholar-bureaucrat" class, or the spiritual outlook of the intellectuals of that era, which does not represent all the Chinese people. But it seems reasonable, for the object of Mr. Gu's exhibitions are the western elites, the rulers, what we called upper class. What he wanted to show was the following: Chinese sympathy, Chinese language and Chinese culture. Almost all Chinese people have strong sympathy, not deliberately to show, but naturally. Why?
Since Chinese language and culture always look upon on this point and teach people to do so, while language and culture are dominated by spirit. The so-called phrases "Troubled, improve yourself; valued, improve the world", and "All for one, one for all", which reflect the spirit of philanthropy. Perhaps China doesn't have religion in the eyes of foreigners, but there was no lack of inner spiritual power. In my opinion, the spirit of foreigners is the spirit of contract. And it seems more realistic and rational to live, according to the contract. Foreign religions, in some way, are more like submitting contracts with "gods" and confessing to God for salvation. Chinese people are not like that, but more humane; therefore, in ancient China, people were more inclined to rule by man, focusing on the ties between people; Chinese spirit is also more temperate, unlike the cold religious doctrine. Chinese spirit is closely related to Chinese culture. And in Chinese culture, Confucianism accounts for a large proportion. That's why Confucian culture has a far-reaching impact on Chinese spirit.
Usually, we talk about Taoists as Taoism sometimes, but we don't often call the Confucianists as Confucianism. It's something quite interesting.
My understanding is that the Confucianists had no doctrine.
Not only does it persuade and guide people to the ideal and good side of human nature via books and poems, but also it is integrated into people's daily life and the code of conduct. As a matter of fact, it is not a religious belief, but the Chinese people's conventional way of life. As far as I'm concerned, the spirit of the Chinese people has never disappeared, which spreads with Chinese culture through Confucianism instead.
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