What is the core content of Chinese culture?

Introduction

We have clearly seen that the ideological core of Chinese culture is group consciousness, which deals with the relationship between people and things through the relationship between people.

This is the most basic and core content of Chinese culture.

Once we understand this, we can easily solve many of the problems we have with Chinese culture and the Chinese people, and there will be no phenomena that are unexplainable.

We know that people are cultural beings. Everyone can only exist in a certain cultural state. There are no super-cultural people. If we don’t understand what Chinese culture is, then we won’t have a clear understanding of the Chinese people.

So what is culture?

There are many definitions of culture in academia, so I won’t go into them here.

What I want to say is that because people are cultural beings, culture is everywhere and at all times.

Someone did such an experiment. He put two men and one woman into a group and put them on an isolated island to see what would happen.

Three days later, the experimenter came to the British island and saw the three British people sitting there motionless.

So the experimenter asked: “It’s been three days and nothing has happened between you?”

The three Englishmen said to him: “We didn’t even say anything.”

The experimenter was very surprised and said, “Why?”

The British complained angrily: “You forgot to introduce us before you left.”

Because the British are gentlemen and strangers are not allowed to talk to each other without being introduced, so they sat there for three days.

This man came to the Spanish island again and saw that the two men were gone, leaving only a woman dancing, so he asked: “Where are the two men?”

She said the two men fought a duel over me and they both died.

Then the man came to the French island, and a man and a woman disappeared. A man was pruning branches with a pair of scissors, whistling, and was very happy.

The experimenter asked him where the two people were. He said: “We made an agreement as soon as we landed on the island. The two men will take turns being her lovers. Today it is his turn, so the two of them are having fun in the woods.”

And he also made it very clear that they were doing something happy for two people in the woods that had nothing to do with society or other people.

Finally he came to the Russian island and saw two men, but the woman was missing.

What are the two men doing? Drinking vodka and playing cards.

He asked: “Where is that woman?”

The Russian replied drunkenly: “Ah, ah, ah, who are you looking for?”

“Tell me, where is the other woman?”

“Ah, you ask, lesbians, lesbians? Working women are building socialism on collective farms.”

Then the gentleman asked, “What are you two doing?”

“Didn’t you see the leader was having a meeting?”

This is a joke in the Soviet Union in the 1960s and 1970s.

But from this story we can see that people are cultural beings, and different cultures affect people’s thoughts and behaviors.

There is also a story like this: someone went to a cafe to drink coffee and found a fly in the cup.

The first one to find out was the Englishman, and he was very angry. But the British are very gentlemanly and don’t express emotions or anger, so he took out his wallet without saying a word, put the money under the coffee cup, and left, which was a silent protest.

The second one was a Japanese man. When he saw a fly in the coffee, he put the cup down with a “pop” and yelled, “Bakka ya lu”.

The third person was an American. He picked up the cup and looked at it. He smiled, leaned back on the chair, hooked his fingers, and called the lady over: “Dear lady, this is not how coffee is served in the United States. Drink in the United States. Next to the coffee is a small pitcher of milk, a small dish of sugar cubes, and a small dish of flies. The customer decides whether to put them or not, and how much they want to put.”

The story ends here.

Now I want to ask a question: What if it is Chinese?

Eighty percent of Chinese people will say something like this: “What tricks are you trying to do! Go! Call your leaders!”

Chinese people are accustomed to approaching their leaders when they have something to do.

When Americans have problems, they go to lawyers, not to their leaders. But such a trivial matter doesn’t require a lawyer, so I just call the lady over to joke and flirt.

This shows that people are cultural beings, and anyone can only exist in a certain culture. Culture creates people’s cultural unconsciousness.

A delegation of Chinese writers came to the United States for a meeting. After they were seated, a waiter came over and asked them what they wanted to drink.

The Chinese immediately said: “Ah, you’re welcome.” Well, they turned around and left.

When we have a meeting later, the Japanese, Indians, French, and Germans all have something to drink, but the Chinese don’t.

Because you have already said NO, you are welcome. If you are not polite, they will not serve it to you.

But Chinese people naturally say “you’re welcome”.

Cultural unconscious, isn’t it?

So we have to figure out what culture actually is.

We now read a lot of books about culture. Everything is culture, including food culture, clothing culture, architectural culture, music culture, and even toilet culture.

So, why do people need to be literate? Because humans want to survive and develop. This is the same for any nation.

However, how to survive and develop is different for different eras and different nations.

When it comes to eating, Chinese people use chopsticks, and Westerners use knives and forks. But the point of eating is the same, but the way of eating is different.

Another example is when meeting. When Westerners meet, they shake hands, hug and kiss twice; Chinese people hold fists with both hands. It’s been a long time since they met.

When we meet, we need to say hello, develop interpersonal relationships, and exchange emotions. This is the same. But how to do it is different.

From this we can conclude that culture is the way of human survival and development.

So, do these different cultures and methods arise randomly?

no.

There is a reason behind this.

Let’s take the two examples mentioned earlier, one is the way of eating and the other is the way of communication, but there is one thing in common.

What do they have in common? That is, Chinese people are introverted and Westerners are extroverted.

If you are introvert, push inward, and if you are extrovert, push outward.

A knife is pointed outward; a fork is pointed outward; extending a hand to shake hands and hug is also outward.

As for chopsticks, you can see that they are used inwardly, so when they are pinched, they are inwardly directed;

If you are an introvert, reach out and shake your own hand; if you are an extrovert, reach out and shake other people’s hands.

You see, one is the way of eating and the other is the way of communication. They are completely unrelated, but they have the same reason.

What does this mean? It shows that above various specific cultural methods, there is also a general method that governs all methods.

I call this general approach the “ideological core of culture,” or the “method of ways.”

It is in charge.

Therefore, to understand the Chinese people, we must understand the Chinese culture;

To understand Chinese culture, we must understand the ideological core of Chinese culture.

So, what is the ideological core of Chinese culture? Tell another joke.

Wu Sen, who is now a professor in the United States, was originally in Taiwan, China. One day two American guests came, so the boss asked him to treat them to dinner.

Wu Sen thought that it would be difficult for the two Americans plus himself to order food, so he called a few more brothers, adding up to a total of eight people. A table for eight people is a good place to eat, and the food money belongs to the boss anyway.

As soon as he arrived at the dining room, Wu Sen took out the menu and asked the guests to order first. One of the Americans had eaten Chinese food, so he ordered “Hibiscus Chicken Slices.” Ah, very expert!

Another American doesn’t understand at all. Wu Sen said, let’s order it ourselves first, one for each of us. Finally, I came back to this recipe, but… I still can’t order it. Wu Sen saw that he had ordered a lot of dishes, but no soup. He said, “How about you order mustard mustard and shredded pork soup?” Very good, OK! OK, it’s time to serve.

The first dish is the hibiscus chicken slices. Do you know the Americans? He said: “Is this what I ordered?” “Yes.” He brought it over and ate it alone.

what to do?

Wu Sen said, then let’s do whatever the guest wants, and whoever orders will eat it! So some people eat fish, some eat shrimp, and some eat green vegetables and tofu.

Finally, a bowl of mustard pork shredded soup was served. Wu Sen felt very embarrassed, “Oh, look at this. Can I change it for you?” “No, no, I’ll eat what I ordered.”

The American finished a bowl of pickled mustard and shredded pork soup.

This is a small thing, but small things should not be underestimated.

My view has always been that small problems can be solved in a big way, and big problems can also be solved in a small way. This is how learning is done. The question is whether you can see things.

So, what can we learn from this story? See the ideological core of culture.

What’s the conclusion?

The conclusion is that the ideological core of Western culture is individual consciousness, while the ideological core of Chinese culture is group consciousness.

What is individual consciousness? Individual consciousness is the belief that everyone is independent and has his own independent personality and free will.

Independent personality cannot be insulted, and free will cannot be violated.

Where is the final bottom line for a person’s independent personality? Just in his thoughts and words.

Therefore, freedom of thought and speech is a very high human rights principle in the West.

In fact, no matter what you do, you must have a bottom line. You must have a bottom line as a human being. There are some things that you cannot do no matter what.

There must be a bottom line when managing society. There are some things that cannot be managed no matter what.

In Western society, speech is something that the government cannot control. And you can’t control what I think. What you can’t control is called privacy.

For example, when I keep a diary, my parents are not allowed to read it, and my teachers are not allowed to read it. Even my academic results are not allowed to be published. This is my privacy.

Why should we have the right to privacy? Because independent personality cannot be insulted.

So Xizhe said: “I firmly oppose your opinion, but I would rather sacrifice my own life to defend your right to criticize me.”

Because once you lose the right to criticize me, it means I lose the freedom of speech;

Losing freedom of thought and speech also means losing independent personality.

Do you think, if a person has others to control his thoughts, then what kind of independent personality does he have?

The so-called inviolability of free will means that you cannot impose your will on me whatever I want to do.

Everything from choosing a president to choosing a dish is a manifestation of my free will, so you cannot replace me.

Therefore, Westerners, especially Americans, will definitely order and eat by themselves, and they will never order for others.

Once I order for you, it means I am imposing my will on you. In China, it is just the opposite. I must order for you to show my care for you.

The so-called free will or freedom of will does not mean being lawless and doing whatever you want, but first and foremost being responsible for yourself and your own free choices.

Of course, there will be a regulation in the law about the age of a responsible person. If he cannot bear civil liability, the guardian will be responsible.

Once he does not need a guardian and is an independent person, he is responsible for himself.

Through this small incident, we can see that the ideological core of Western culture is individual consciousness, while the ideological core of Chinese culture is group consciousness.

And this is what we find everywhere and everywhere.

For example, when an American writes a letter, he must first write his name, George, then his last name, his house number, then his street, his city, and finally USA.

When Chinese people write letters, they definitely do it the other way around, talking about the big, group thing first.

why? Because the ideological core of Chinese culture is group consciousness, the value of the individual must be reflected by the value of the group.

So the Chinese obviously want to do whatever they want, but they can’t say that. They have to say it’s for a certain group.

For example, studying hard is not for myself. In ancient times, it was said to be for the sake of honoring the ancestors. Now, it is said that it is to serve the motherland and has nothing to do with him.

Even after he has achieved results, he has to say, “Oh, you see, I have only done a trivial job with the care of leaders at all levels and the help of comrades.”

Chinese people’s interpersonal relationships are maintained by blood ties, while Westerners’ interpersonal relationships are maintained by contractual relationships.

Western culture originated from ancient Greek culture. The Greeks are a branch of the Aryans. They were originally a nomadic people. They entered the Greek Peninsula from the north, conquered the local indigenous people, and established Greek civilization.

As you can see from the map of the country of Greece, the soil in the country is very poor and basically cannot produce anything. It mainly grows olives and uses them to press olive oil.

The Greek coastline is very long, and the navigation conditions in the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean are very good, so Greece is particularly suitable for the development of navigation industry and industry and commerce, thus forming the industrial and commercial civilization of ancient Greece.

We know that a very important feature of commercial civilization, or market economy, is the need for contracts.

For example, let’s say we agreed to exchange one cow for eight sheep. Of course, it can fluctuate according to market conditions, but it must be fair.

If I do this with you, you have to do the same with him. This is called public buying and selling. It cannot vary from person to person. When the professor buys, one cow is exchanged for ten sheep, but when the student buys, he is given two sheep less. That is not okay.

Market economy is all about rules. Once the rules of the game are set, everyone must abide by them.

All interpersonal relationships among Westerners can be understood as contractual relationships.

For example, a couple. You see, when Westerners get married in a church, they have to take vows and then put rings on each other. Wearing a ring means signing a contract!

Thereafter another wedding anniversary will be held every year. What’s the meaning? Reaffirm that the contract is valid.

Then we come back to the Chinese. Chinese relationships are maintained by blood ties.

Chinese people have a cultural impulse to generalize or transform non-blood relationships into blood relationships.

The most common way to turn a non-blood relationship into a blood relationship is to call them brothers.

As long as they eat the same thing together, they are brothers.

For example, we all eat in the school cafeteria and take a class from the same teacher. We are fellow students.

In fact, many ethnic groups have this custom. Once they eat something in common, they become brothers.

There is a plot in the novel “The Count of Monte Cristo” by Alexandre Dumas of France. When the Count of Monte Cristo invited his enemy to dinner, he did not eat, not even a bite. Because once they eat, they become brothers, and this revenge cannot be avenged!

The reverse is also true. Once enemies eat and drink together, they become buddies and stop fighting.

Why do Chinese people want to save face? Just because the ideological core of Chinese culture is group consciousness. For such a nation, the most important thing is the relationship between people.

When people live in the world, as far as humans are concerned, they have to deal with two major relationships. One is the relationship between man and nature, and the other is the relationship between man and man.

Western culture pays more attention to the relationship between man and nature, so their natural sciences are particularly developed.

People like Archimedes could only have appeared in Greece, not in China.

What Chinese people value most is the relationship between people. Any Chinese who knows something knows that it is not the most important thing whether you are capable or not, and it is not the most important thing whether you are knowledgeable or not. The most important thing is whether you are popular or not.

If a Chinese cannot handle interpersonal relationships and is not popular with others, it will be difficult for him to gain a foothold in the workplace and in society.

After such a comparison, we have clearly seen that the ideological core of Chinese culture is group consciousness, which deals with the relationship between people and things through the relationship between people.

This is the most basic and core content of Chinese culture. Once we understand this, we can easily solve many of the problems we have with Chinese culture and the Chinese people, and there will be no phenomena that are unexplainable.