(East-West Question) Xie Maosong: How to understand the "peaceful" nature of Chinese ritual and music civilization?

  China News Agency, Beijing, April 10th: How to understand the "peaceful" nature of Chinese ritual and music civilization?

  Author Xie Maosong Senior Researcher of National Institute of Strategic Studies, Tsinghua University, Senior Researcher of Taihe Think Tank

  China is a peace-loving country.

Throughout history, countries have not invaded other countries even when they were strong.

Based on the present, China adheres to the path of peaceful development.

How to let overseas people understand China's concept of peace?

It may be an effective way to reveal the peaceful essence contained in the ritual and music civilization, which is the underlying structure of Chinese civilization.

  The civilization of ritual and music is not a vain and incomprehensible concept. It is a way of life that "people use every day without knowing it", and as a "living tradition", it is concentrated in the politics of generations of Chinese people like a flowing stream of past, present and future. ,Life.

From the "harmony" pursued by the Chinese during the Spring Festival, to the choice of the development path of contemporary China, the tradition and gene of peace are consistent.

The civilization of ritual and music is a way of life that the common people do not know about

  The underlying structure of Chinese civilization is the civilization of ritual and music.

Ritual and music are collectively called rites and music, and the two represent the tension within the ritual culture.

Historically, Duke Zhou "made rituals and music", which was the culmination of the rituals of the Xia, Shang and Wednesday dynasties.

Confucius followed the Duke of Zhou and called it "Zhou Kong" because he pointed out the universal value of ritual culture and the "long-lasting" civilization continuity.

  What exactly is ritual music?

In terms of internal cultural values, the abstract civilization principle behind ritual and music is order and harmony.

Its values ​​are the "kiss" and "respect" mentioned in the Book of Rites, which is also the "benevolence and righteousness" of Confucius and Mencius. The "benevolence" of "kiss" represents harmony, and the "righteousness" of "respect" Representing order, the two form a necessary tension within the civilized body.

  The system based on intrinsic value is the political level of "setting officials and assigning responsibilities and empowering talents" and the social level of family, clan, and family filial piety. This is also the institutionalized living arrangement of "the common people do not know what they use every day". .

  At the political level, "departing officials and assigning positions, and appointing virtuous people to enable them" is implemented as the dual responsibilities of the scholar-bureaucrats who were born in the imperial examinations for the politics and education of "cultivating oneself and governing others" and "the way of internal sages and external kings". China's political and religious order is the great unified order.

  On the social level, the civilization of ritual and music, as the way of life of the common people, has been subtly focused on all aspects of the political and social life of the Chinese people from generation to generation like flowing water, and has continued to this day with a consistent inner spirit.

  The Spring Festival is the concentrated expression of the ritual culture of "people use every day without knowing it".

Why does the Spring Festival transport carry the largest transportation volume in the world?

Why do most Chinese people go back to their hometown for Chinese New Year?

Behind the Spring Festival are the deepest cultural values ​​of the Chinese people. Family reunion and eating New Year's Eve together symbolize "a group of harmony"; sticking Spring Festival couplets to say goodbye to the old and welcoming the new symbolizes "a kind of vitality"; and Guotai Min'an in the Spring Festival wishes also symbolizes "a kind of vitality". Heaven and earth blend together, the world is peaceful, and the government is harmonious with people.

On January 14, 2014, the Spring Festival is approaching, Zhao Hu and his wife Shizhen returned home from Taiyuan with a family photo.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Wei Liang

  The Qingming Festival that just passed has also touched the hearts of every Chinese.

"Book of Rites" says, "The spring rain and dew have wet the gentleman's shoes, and they must be wary, if they will see it. Joy is ushered in, sadness is sent to, so there is joy but no joy in taste." This is the spring rain and dew. When the earth is moist, all things are revived, and heaven and man are corresponding. The hearts of gentlemen and filial sons are awakened just like all things are revived. During the Qingming Festival, it seems that they are going to see their deceased relatives and greet them with joy. The Book of Rites goes on to say It is said that "a filial son who has a deep love must have harmony".

The Spring Festival and Tomb-sweeping Day deal with life and death respectively, but they all emphasize "harmony".

On April 5, 2022, Tomb-sweeping Day, Hong Kong citizens visit tombs to pay homage to their ancestors.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Li Zhihua

  Historically, neighboring countries were attracted to China, largely because of the cultural attraction of China as a "state of propriety and righteousness".

As the only continuous and unbroken civilization in the world, the Chinese civilization, internally, is also maintained by the cultural values ​​of "propriety and righteousness", so that it can cultivate people's temperament, which can last for a long time.

The "peaceful" mentality of Chinese civilization is also used to deal with competition

  To judge the starting point of a civilization, we must solve the fundamental problem of whether it is based on harmony or conflict.

"Book of Changes" is the first of the Five Classics. Zhang Zai emphasized that "Yi is planned for the gentleman, not for the villain." To achieve harmony, it is necessary for the gentleman and the political elite to take the initiative to plan the country's governance.

Politicians focus on the overall concept of harmony, the harmony achieved in the dynamic and the whole process.

  For the purpose of ceremony, harmony is precious.

"Peace" is the proper meaning in the title of "harmony" as a harmony. "Harmony" is the fundamental principle of ritual and music civilization to deal with the relationship between man and man, man and heaven and earth. To the moral community of the country, the world and the sum of heaven and earth, the Chinese ritual and music civilization has the essence of peace.

  What is "harmony" in Chinese eyes?

In the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, the great Confucian Wang Fuzhi emphasized in "Shi Guang Zhuan" that "the warmer the air, the stronger it begins".

The more gentle and honest people are, the more inner strength they have.

As the Chinese civilization's understanding of "harmony", "harmony" is not weak, but soft on the outside and firm on the inside.

Wang Fuyi emphasized again "to cultivate the spirit of peace". When Chinese civilization talks about peace, the deepest and most subtle meaning is the peace of the heart, which is a kind of peace of flesh and blood, and national governance is fundamentally focused on ordinary people temperament and blood.

  Chinese civilization deeply understands the inevitable competition and struggle in human society. "Xunzi: Li Lun" says: "Man is born with desires. If you can't get your desires, you can't be without desires. If you want without measure and demarcation, you can't help but fight. Chaos leads to poverty. The first kings hated chaos, so they established ritual and righteousness to divide them.” The function of ritual and music civilization is to use the value of “righteousness” as a principle to deal with disputes, and only with “righteousness” can “harmony” be achieved, This is the tension between benevolence and righteousness, order and harmony in ritual and music civilization.

  As one of the six arts of ritual and music civilization and one of the bad rites, the archery ceremony emphasizes the pursuit of self-seeking, the inner will is upright and the outer body is straight, so the competition is "the battle of the gentleman", and it is the battle of the virtue of "shooting to view virtue" .

This is the source of civilization today that China emphasizes doing its own business well and not competing with other countries at all.

On March 2, 2022, a fire seed collection ceremony for the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympics was held at the Badaling Ancient Great Wall to collect "fire of peace".

Photo by China News Agency reporter Jia Tianyong

China is well aware of the dialectics of "war and peace" and insists on the road of peaceful development

  As the only continuous and unbroken civilization in the history of the world, the Chinese civilization has repeatedly encountered crises and challenges from outside.

More than 2,600 years ago, there was a record in "Gongyang Biography: Xigong Four Years": "The barbarians are also, but China is seriously ill, and the Nanyi and the Northern Di are connected. China is endless."

  The Chinese civilization can overcome crises and challenges every time, so that the civilization tradition can maintain continuity. The most important thing is the cohesion formed by the civilization consciousness of the Chinese civilization.

Of course, this is also related to the Chinese civilization's deep understanding of the dialectical relationship between war and peace.

  The Chinese civilization's understanding of war has three levels.

First of all, it emphasizes that fighting is the only way to fight, and do not understand the dialectics of peace and war, and seek peace for the sake of peace will not achieve peace; the "Book of Changes" emphasizes that "one yin and one yang is called Tao", and the relationship between war and peace is one There is a dialectical relationship between yin and yang, and the relationship between yin and yang is that yang dominates yin, and peace is yang, and war is yin. Therefore, peace is the starting point and purpose. War is a last resort, and the purpose of war is peace.

Secondly, to stop fighting and fighting is to resolutely stop unjust wars with just wars. "Book of Changes" is a symbol of war, emphasizing "right", and Chinese civilization emphasizes "the benevolent is invincible" and emphasizes the justice of war. Therefore, Mencius would Criticizing "unjust wars in the Spring and Autumn Period" is also the civilizational root of Mao Zedong's "On Protracted War" that believes in the ultimate victory of the Anti-Japanese War.

Third, the Chinese people's attitude towards war since ancient times has not been belligerent, but Confucius's emphasis on war prudence, and "knowing how to stop" while refraining from fighting, knowing how to control war in line with the principle of justice and end war in moderation. .

  As an agricultural civilization, the Chinese civilization faced the successive invasions of the grassland empires of the northern nomads, precisely because it was able to successfully resist the national organization and mobilization system of the great agricultural civilization and the way of protracted warfare. During the National Patriotic War, China can only maintain its continuity under the "continuous line", so peace and kindness do not mean that it is easy to bully.

  The Chinese not only emphasize knowledge and restraint, but will never initiate an unjust war of foreign aggression.

China does not engage in external expansion, because based on the principles and wisdom of the Chinese civilization, which can last for a long time, all dynasties and dynasties are well aware that external expansion will lead to external emphasis and internal neglect.

This is also the principle of civilization based on the prosperity of the Ming Dynasty's national power, Zheng He's seven voyages to the West and always abiding by the principle of peace.

In addition, overseas expansion will lead to a substantial expansion of overseas military and economic strength, which will affect the stability and order of the mainland and internal, thus leading to the collapse of internal imbalances.

  This is deeply reflected in the consistent defense strategy of Chinese civilization.

The Chinese civilization only adopts two strategies of active defense and passive defense in response to the strength and weakness of the country.

When a country is strong, it adopts an active defense strategy to regain lost territory, but it is still defensive in nature.

  When time came to modern times, the Communist Party of China led the Chinese people to build a new China and embarked on the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

As the two traditional political and social principles and their organizational methods, "Kinqin" and "Respect", "Benevolence" and "Righteousness" have been deeply inherited and transformed in the Chinese road created by the Communist Party of China, and have developed peacefully into Key words for the outside world to understand Chinese roads.

2021 Nanjing Peace Forum Opening Ceremony Dance, Poetry, Painting and Painting "Harmonious Coexistence".

Photo by China News Agency reporter Yang Bo

  In the inheritance and renewal of Chinese civilization, socialism with Chinese characteristics led by the Communist Party of China has developed into a new form of civilization, and the Chinese path it has embarked on is also an innovative development of Chinese civilization.

  Infiltrating the wisdom of Chinese ritual and music civilization, China has gone through thousands of years, and it is not difficult to find that the peaceful development of civilization is a historical necessity.

Tracing back to the source, reviewing the past and learning the new, China will be guided by the common value of peace, and pursue a new way of survival and development from the essential texture and historical spirit of Chinese civilization, that is, a new and sustainable way.

  With a deep understanding of the "peaceful" nature of Chinese civilization, we can have a deeper understanding of China's position in the current situation in Ukraine from the perspective of big history and civilization history.

President Xi Jinping pointed out that China does not want to see the situation in Ukraine develop to this point.

The Chinese side has always advocated peace and opposed war. This is a Chinese historical and cultural tradition, emphasizing that "we always proceed from the right and wrong of the matter and make independent judgments", and believe that all parties should jointly support the Russian-Ukrainian dialogue and negotiation, and negotiate results and negotiate peace. .

The United States and NATO should also conduct dialogue with Russia to solve the crux of the Ukraine crisis and resolve the security concerns of both Russia and Ukraine.

  President Xi Jinping's remarks deeply embody the peaceful nature of Chinese civilization, and "starting from the right and wrong of the matter itself" is exactly the civilization principle of "righteousness" in Chinese ritual and music civilization displayed today.

(Finish)

  About the Author:

  Xie Maosong, Ph.D., Department of History, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, senior researcher of the National Institute of Innovation and Development Strategy, director of the Center for Chinese Civilization and Chinese Road Research, senior researcher of the National Institute of Strategic Studies, Tsinghua University, senior researcher of Taihe Think Tank; key core technology research of the Ministry of Science and Technology Research expert on the strategy of the new national system, chief expert of the dual entrusted projects of the National Social Science Fund and Ma Project; adjunct professor of the Department of Literature and History of the Central Party School, executive chairman of the Qufu Confucius Institute; member of the Expert Committee of the Business Development Center of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, Shanxi Private Economy Promotion Association Expert of the Expert Committee; academic advisor of the Indian Ocean Island Research Center of South China University of Technology, and expert of the Chinese Expert Group of the Hong Kong "South China Morning Post".

Research expertise: economics, Chinese civilization and philosophy, history of Chinese political thought, Chinese political thinking and practice; Chinese civilization and the Communist Party of China, Chinese political system research, Chinese civilization and national strategy research, digital civilization and Chinese science and technology new national system research.

He is the author of the monographs such as "The Way of the Minister: The Study of Mind and the Integration of Reason and Situation" (Zhonghua Book Company, 2013).