(East-West Questions) Exclusive | Mutual Learning from Civilizations: Why did Voltaire name the study "Temple of Confucius"?
China News Service, Beijing, June 17th. Title: Exclusive | Mutual Learning from Civilizations: Why did Voltaire name the study "The Temple of Confucius"?
——Interview with Zhang Xiping, Chief Expert of the Institute of International Communication of Chinese Culture, Beijing Foreign Studies University
China News Agency reporter An Yingzhao
Source of Zhang Xiping: Screenshot of Sino-Singapore Video
The exchanges between China and the West have a long history, and the process of mutual understanding and mutual influence lasts for more than a thousand years.
From the 17th to the 18th centuries, Chinese culture caused a century of "China fever" in Europe. The famous French enlightenment thinker Voltaire even named his study "The Temple of Confucius" and gave the pseudonym "The Confucian Temple", which shows that Chinese thought and culture had Europe has a profound impact.
"The most important common cultural heritage between China and Europe is the three hundred years of cultural exchanges from 1500 to 1800. This history is very precious in the entire history of human civilization exchanges." Professor of Beijing Foreign Studies University, Chinese Culture Chief expert of the Institute of International Communication, a distinguished professor of Beijing Language and Culture University, editor-in-chief of "International Sinology", and former vice president of the International Confucian Federation, Zhang Xiping pointed out in an exclusive interview with China News Agency "Ask East and West" a few days ago that mutual learning of civilizations should be different civilizations in the world. The way of getting along with each other is the best solution provided by Chinese civilization for the world today.
The summary of the interview record is as follows:
Reporter from China News Service: You divide the Western understanding of China into three stages of development: "Travel Notes Sinology, Missionary Sinology, and Professional Sinology". What are the most prominent characteristics of each stage? Why is it divided like this?
Zhang Xiping: The cultural exchanges between China and the West have a long history. Since Zhang Qian's "empty" of the Western Regions in the Han Dynasty, China and Europe have had material cultural exchanges. During this process, China's four great inventions have also been spread to Europe one after another.
But China, which has written records in European history, must start from the Sinology of Travel Notes.
During the Yuan and Mongolian period, merchants or missionaries represented by Marco Polo and Bai Lang guests came to China and started the sinology stage of travel notes, depicting a distant east for the first time.
At that time, Marco Polo's travel notes wrote "Khitan", not "China".
After the great geographical discovery of Columbus, a group of missionaries represented by Matteo Ricci came to China via the Indian Ocean through the route opened by Portugal and based in Macau.
They entered China and dealt with Chinese literati in the form of "integration of Confucianism", opening up missionary sinology, an important stage of promoting Sino-Western cultural exchanges.
In 1814, France established the "Han, Tatar-Manchu Language and Literature Lectures" at the French Academy, and included Chinese studies in its formal professional system of Oriental studies. The first professor Remusa and his disciple Rulian started the professional together. Sinology stage.
Calculated in this way, the West has studied China for nearly 400 years. It has gone through different stages and produced different results.
Data map: Tourists visit the theme exhibition of Matteo Ricci.
Photo by Huang Yaohui issued by China News Service
China News Service: The spread of Chinese culture from the 17th to the 18th century triggered a century of "China fever" in Europe, and it also had an important influence on the European Enlightenment. However, since the end of the 18th century and especially since the 19th century, some scholars who hold "Eurocentrism" and "Westerncentrism" have tried to deconstruct or even deny this period of history. What do you think?
Zhang Xiping: The historical exchanges between China and Europe are very long. If it is from the mutual contact and translation of classic works, it should have originated from the Jesuits entering China.
During this time, Western Bibles and some scientific and technological works were translated into Chinese, which played a great role in the development of Chinese culture.
During this process, Chinese classics began to be translated into Latin, French, and Portuguese on a large scale, and from French to various European languages.
Since the 16th century, the exchanges between China and Europe have actually gone through two stages.
The period from 1500 to 1800 is a stage. The dividing line of history is Macartney’s visit to China in 1793. This is more than three hundred years for China and the West to learn from each other. "China fever" in the 18th century.
The second stage was after the 19th century, starting with the First Opium War in 1840, when Europe adopted colonial means, aggression and aggression against China.
After Europe became strong in the 19th century, European scholars seldom talked about the stage of mutual learning between China and Europe before the 18th century, but honest scholars still recognized this stage and used a large number of books to prove that this history cannot be erased.
Data map: Qufu, Shandong Province, the hometown of Confucius.
Photo by Liang Ben
China News Agency reporter: The entire process of the European Enlightenment has a complex and profound connection with Chinese ideology and culture. Voltaire named his study "The Temple of Confucius" and his pen name is "The Master of Confucius Temple", but Condorcet regarded China as a "stagnant country." Why is there such a change? What impact did it have in the future?
Zhang Xiping: The mainstream of the Enlightenment movement is in favor of China, including Voltaire and Diderot in France, Leibniz and Wolfe in Germany and other Enlightenment thinkers.
Of course, the entire Enlightenment movement also had different voices, such as Montesquieu, Rousseau, and Condorcet who criticized China relatively more.
In Voltaire's works, such as the "Philosophy Dictionary" and "The Theory of Customs", there are real expositions, and his acceptance and praise of China are facts.
As a leader of modern Western thought and an advocate of freedom, equality, and fraternity, why did Voltaire accept the traditional Chinese thought represented by Confucianism?
First, in the heyday of Kangxi and Qianlong, the wealth of Chinese society was higher than that of Europe. At that time, Europe was still on the eve of the industrial revolution, and its economic and social development was not as good as that of China.
The American scholar Gund Frank pointed out in the book "Silver Capital" that after the contacts between Europe and China in the 15th century, most of the silver mined in Mexico flowed to China.
Because China's currency symbol was silver at that time and the price difference was higher than that of Europe, and Europe did not have more industrial products to exchange with China, Chinese tea, silk and porcelain became the main products of Sino-European trade.
Until Macartney's visit to China, the cotton fabric spun by Jenny's spinning machine was not as good as China's. As a result, China had a large trade surplus.
Second, the social management of China was better than that of Europe at that time.
The imperial examination system allowed the poor to be elected officials, and the whole society was relatively fair.
At that time, European society was still aristocratic hereditary system. We felt that the imperial examination system was not good, but it was better than Europe for selecting talents.
In addition, the Chinese ideology represented by Confucianism has completely touched the European ideological world.
At that time, Europe adopted a religious calendar. Counting from the Old Testament of the Bible, all human beings are descendants of Noah's Ark.
After the Chinese historical chronicles were translated into Europe by missionaries, they found that neither the Greek nor the Latin Bibles could match the historical records of China’s Dayu and other historical records.
Later, French missionary and astronomer Song Junrong wrote a "History of Chinese Astronomy", which proved the authenticity of Chinese historical chronology through textual research on solar and lunar eclipses recorded in ancient Chinese books.
Voltaire began to think after reading this book. If China’s historical chronology is true, then the European religious chronology is fake. This was tantamount to a "political atom bomb" at the time, and Voltaire opposed the church on this basis. The way of dating.
The earliest record of Christianity in China can be found. Nestorianism (Nestorianism) was introduced to China around the time of Zhenguan in the Tang Dynasty.
There was no Christianity in China before, but the people’s life in the Han Dynasty was already very good, which shows that the whole world is not all God’s people. It can be said that the existence of China has dispelled the universality of Christianity.
Also, can people survive without God?
Europeans discovered that Confucius was not a divine person, but a mortal, "tired like a dog of loss", and could not enter after passing through twelve countries, but his thoughts can tell people in a secular society how to become benevolent and to leave. After God, how people become upright gentlemen is benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom, and faith.
This shows that after leaving God, people can still have some basic moral constraints, so as to achieve an ideal state of "benevolence".
These ideas have provided ideological weapons for Europe to get out of the shackles of the medieval church.
Therefore, Europe's acceptance of China in the 18th century was caused by the differences in the stages of development, beliefs and objects of the two societies. China provided Europe with ideological resources and a social example to step out of the "medieval castle".
On the one hand, it shows that Europe's acceptance of Chinese thought in the 18th century is based on its own development needs. On the other hand, it also shows that Chinese traditional culture can be understood from the perspective of modernity.
It is not comprehensive to describe the "China fever" in the 18th century as "Ying Shuyan's theory". It is a historical fact that China was a model for Europe in the 18th century, and it is recognized by Western scholars with integrity.
For a long time, when it comes to the relationship between China and the West, some people have always understood the relationship between China and the West in the 19th century, which is not comprehensive.
Data map: People visit the Yuelu Academy in Changsha.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Jia Tianyong
Reporter from China News Service: In the field of Western public opinion, China seems to have always been "two Chinas." The historical Chinese culture is splendid and glorious. They admire them, but they have fallen asleep in museums; contemporary China’s economy is developing rapidly, but politically, it is still a "different kind". "It is naturally different from the liberal and democratic traditions in the West. How do you understand the connection between historical China and contemporary China?
Zhang Xiping: Generally speaking, there is indeed a cognitive difference between the West and China, because the Chinese civilization is the only civilization that extends to today and is alive.
Western Sinologists may also have different interpretations of ancient Chinese civilization. For example, after the Treaty of Westphalia, when Western single-nation nations look at China, they will find that China is a "disguised nation-state."
Since the Han Dynasty, China has always been a country of multi-ethnic integration, which Mr. Fei Xiaotong called "multiple unity".
China is a very special country. There is no such type of country in the history of mankind. In the long historical process, many ethnic groups have merged together.
China is not the China of the Han people, but a great civilization created by many ethnic minorities and the Han people.
"The Great Wall is the hometown inside and outside." The Chinese nation is more specific, and historical China has continued to contemporary China, and historical China lives in our hearts.
After the Communist Party came to power, China was still connected with historical China.
For example, one of the core theories of the Communist Party of China is the "seeking truth from facts" on the plaque of Yuelu Academy, which is derived from the Han script.
Confucianism advocates harmony but difference has become the basic criterion of China's diplomacy today. In addition, there are concepts such as mutual learning among civilizations, mutual consultation, joint construction, and sharing.
History China’s civilization continues to this day and has become an important source of wisdom for the Chinese Communist Party to govern.
Historical China and contemporary China are the same China. The state system of contemporary China is different from other countries, but it is not a weird country, but a country developed in its own historical context.
The Chinese civilization continues to this day because of her continuous learning and accommodating of external civilizations.
The Buddhist civilization came from India, and it has had an impact on the Chinese language. The "world", "present", "past" and "future" we speak of were all Buddhist languages at first.
After the arrival of Christian civilization, it also had a very big impact. In the "western learning spreading to the east", Chinese people knew that the earth is round, not "the sky is round."
All the astronomical instruments of Beijing Jianguomen Ancient Observatory were built by missionaries who came to China to help us.
The plane geometry was brought by Matteo Ricci.
It should be said that the Chinese civilization has always maintained an attitude of tolerance and learning from foreign civilizations, which has nourished its own civilization and enabled her to continue to modernize.
Even when the West colonized China in the 19th century, we made progress from this process.
As Marx said, “No matter how many crimes Britain commits, it has caused this revolution to act as an unconscious tool of history.” In this tortuous process, China still learned Western civilization, made progress, and walked out of it. Agricultural Society.
After the founding of New China, China, which formally joined the United Nations and the World Trade Organization, returned to the world system, enabling both China and the West to obtain huge benefits in this civilized exchange.
The whole world has also made progress, but China is progressing too fast. The West did not expect this ancient civilization to achieve industrialization in only about 40 years, creating an unprecedented miracle for mankind.
China's modernity, which has been suppressed by a century of poverty and weakness, has exploded at a rate of 40 years.
Data map: Foreign youths play Chinese folk music and feel the charm of Chinese culture.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Zhang Yu
China News Agency reporter: As China is increasingly moving toward the center of the world stage, how should the modern value of Chinese traditional culture be explained to the world?
Zhang Xiping: It must be reiterated that historical China and contemporary China are the same China. The present China has evolved and developed from historical China. History and culture are in the blood of contemporary China and in the lives of every Chinese.
Chinese traditional culture has accumulated a lot of wisdom in the long history of civilization, which also provides a good reference for dealing with the various contradictions in the world today. We can extract it and make more contributions to contemporary human civilization.
In 1789, France wrote "Do not do to others what you do not want to do" into the Declaration of Human Rights as the basic moral code of citizens and the golden law of human ethics.
The highest realm pursued in ancient China was the unity of nature and man, Tao and nature, not anthropocentrism, but the modern Western civilization represented by the Industrial Revolution was to conquer nature.
Ancient Chinese thought advocated that man and nature live in harmony, which provides a good plan for today's human society.
Another example is Mencius's thought of noble people, "The people are the most valuable, the society is second, and the emperor is the light". It also provides a very important source of thought for us today to value the people and put forward the idea of "people first".
The Chinese civilization has survived to this day, and it is precisely a way of peaceful coexistence with different civilizations: the harmony of all nations, so that this civilization can continue to extend.
It is normal for different civilizations in the world to have different values and different ideas when they meet.
We respect all civilizations and different ideologies, and individual countries should also respect our civilization and ideology so that we can live together.
If there were only one civilization and one ideology in the world, how boring it would be!
There are no two identical leaves in the world, and it is impossible to have a uniform civilization. Human beings should respect the diversity of culture and civilization just as they respect the diversity of nature and biology.
Mutual learning between civilizations should be the way of getting along between different civilizations in the world, and this is the best solution provided by the Chinese civilization for the world today.
(Finish)
Zhang Xiping is a professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University, chief expert of the Institute of International Communication of Chinese Culture, a distinguished professor at Beijing Language and Culture University, editor-in-chief of "International Sinology", former vice president of the International Confucian Federation, and an expert with outstanding contributions from the State Council. He enjoys special government allowances.
He has long focused on modern Western culture, the history of Sino-Western cultural exchanges from 1500 to 1800, the history of Western Sinology, and the history of Chinese Christianity. He is currently engaged in the history of Sino-Western cultural exchange, early Western Sinology studies, and overseas Chinese cultural studies.
He has published more than 10 monographs and more than 100 papers in core academic journals.