Introduction China

China

The origin of the word China.

The word "China" first appeared in The Book of Songs (Zhou Dynasty), such as "elegance, people's labor" and "benefiting China". However, the China in The Book of Songs is actually a country, not a real country. The word "China", referring to the country, has been very common in the books of the warring States philosophers. For example, Mencius on Teng Wengong said: "Chen Liang originated from the way of Duke Zhong Ni of Zhou, and learned from China in the north", "The way of animal hoof and bird trail was handed over to China"; "Zhuangzi Tian Zifang": "A gentleman in China knows the meaning of his etiquette, but he knows the inferiority of his heart" ... All these show that the so-called "China" in ancient times refers to the "Central Plains" of later generations. But the area is not as wide as the Central Plains in later generations, which is equivalent to Shanxi, Shandong, Henan and Hebei today.

The word "China" is frequently used, mainly after the week. There is a cloud in the Book of Rites: "China, the people of the five parties, all have sex ... Huaxia, barbarians, barbarians, Rong and Di all have harmony." Obviously, at this time, the word "China" was used to oppose barbarians, barbarians, Rong and Di. If the Book of Rites was written later, Zuo Zhuan's Thirty-one Years of Zhuang Gong said, "All the vassals who contributed to the Siyi should be dedicated to the king, and the king should be alert to foreigners. China said "no", indicating that in the early Spring and Autumn Period, the word "China" had been compared with barbarians, barbarians, Rong and Di. So who is "China"? " "Biography of the Ram in the Fourth Year of Xi Gong" says: "The friendship between the South and the North, China, is endless. "Huan Gong saved China, but he was busy dealing with barbarians and killed Jing, which is also the king's business. Calling saving countries such as Xing and Wei "saving China" shows that "China" at this time has expanded to countries considered as "Xia".

Here, we can't help but say the "Spring and Autumn Three Theories" of the Ram School. "The Biography of the Ram in the Fifteen Years of Gong" says: "In the Spring and Autumn Period, the country was in the summer outside, and the summer inside was in the summer outside. If a king wants to control the world, he can easily speak from the outside and from the inside. " He Xiu, a master of Confucian classics in the Eastern Han Dynasty, further developed the view of Yang Gong School, idealizing the 242-year history recorded in Spring and Autumn Annals into three stages: smelling the world, smelling the world and seeing the world. "It is said that the rule of the world begins with decline and chaos ... so it is within the country, outside the summer", "It is said that the rule of the world promotes the rule of the world, and the summer is outside the country", "It is as small as one." Although the historical development of 242 years is not so idealized, we must admit that this concept has made some correct understanding and foresight on the development law of ethnic relations. Xia and Shang Dynasties should be the formation period of the Chinese nation; The formation of "Zhou Li" combining China's institutional culture and spiritual culture is the symbol of the final formation of the Chinese nation. Throughout the Xia, Shang, Zhou, Spring and Autumn Period, countries were constantly divided, some entered Huaxia Group, and some entered Manchu, Yi, Rong and Di Groups. A country like Siguo, once wavered between Yi and Xia, finally entered Huaxia Group and became a part of "Zhu Xia".

About the meaning of the word "China", there are roughly two explanations.

1. China means Kyoto and Shi Jing. The word China was first used in the Book of Songs, saying that "the people work hard, and the cave can be well-off, benefiting China and embracing all directions". ..... people also work hard, and Mao can take a small interest, benefit the capital, and connect the four countries. " It is said that these poems are aimed at persuading the tyrant Zhou Liwang to care about the people of Kyoto from the beginning, and then by extension, to settle in the world. A scholar of the Book of Songs in the Han Dynasty, Scapharca subcrenata, made an annotation for "China is eclectic": "China is also the capital." Mencius recorded a passage that the King of Qi said to the minister: "I want China and give it to Mencius." According to the present meaning, I just want to build a house for Master Meng in Beijing. Liu Xi, a scholar at the end of the Han Dynasty, also said: "The emperors are all in China, so they are called China."

2. The word "China" refers to the area where ancient China people lived in compact communities. The Yellow River is the cradle of the Chinese nation. In ancient times, it was called Central China, or midsummer China. China, of course. These terms actually refer to the Yellow River basin area. For example, "Historical Records of Chu Family" said: "I am a barbarian, and I am not proud of the name of China!" At that time, Chu was in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and the China mentioned here was actually the collective name of several countries in the Yellow River Basin.

In ancient China, the country was sometimes unified and sometimes divided. The word China had different meanings in different times. Generally speaking, it refers to the whole country in the period of reunification and the Central Plains in the period of division. With the change of the emperor's ruling territory, the scope of the word China is also different. During the period of Western Zhou Wuwang, "China" meant "a country with a central government". According to legend, 3000 years ago, Duke Zhou measured the sun shadow in Yangcheng (now Dengfeng, Henan Province) and found that there was no sun shadow in the surrounding scenery at noon from the summer solstice, thinking it was the center of the earth, so he called the Zhou Dynasty China.

After the Han Dynasty, although some regimes established after foreign invasion of the Central Plains also called themselves "China", it does not mean that they are China regimes. Because their self-proclaimed "China" usually refers to the "Central Plains" in the geographical concept, not the "China" in the national sense. Even if a certain regime in history calls itself the China regime, it does not necessarily mean that it is really the China regime. According to historical records, Japan often calls itself "Huaxia" and "China". For example, in The History of Great Japan (volume 1 17), Fujiwara Hirotsugu in Nara era wrote in 740 AD (the 28th year of Tang Kaiyuan) that "there are Xiayi in the north and Falcons in the west, and the wolf nature is easy to confuse and the ambition is difficult to tame. The past is over, China has a saint to serve, and if the court changes, it must rebel first. " At the end of World War II, the Japanese king also called Japan "Shenzhou" in his imperial edict, but Japan and China are obviously two countries. Judging whether a regime in history is China regime or not depends mainly on its relationship with the former regime in China, whether to replace the former regime in China with domestic regime change or replace the former regime in China with foreign conquerors.

China is not a simple geographical concept, but a national and cultural concept. China is a country with the Han nationality in China as the main body and founded by the Han nationality in China. People in ancient China have always had a glorious tradition of resisting foreign invasion and defending their homeland. Once there is foreign invasion, they will bravely resist and never allow foreign invaders to usurp the orthodox position of China. From Huo Qubing's "Huns are still alive, why should we stay at home" to Yue Fei's "loyalty to serve the country", every time it was invaded by foreign countries, the ancient people of China rose up and resisted, all of which verified this glorious tradition. In the Analects of Confucius, Confucius commented on Guan Zhong and said, "I am a micro Guanzhong, and I am left-handed!" " It means that with Guan Zhong, China didn't die in a foreign country. What do you mean "left-handed"? The antonym of "left-handed" is "right-handed", that is, the hair style and clothing of Han nationality in China, which is the representative of Han nationality in China and China culture. It can be seen that Confucius also regarded the Han nationality in China and the Han culture in China as the orthodoxy of China, and foreigners were not allowed to replace the orthodoxy of China. The so-called "Yi Di enters China, then China", here "Yi Di enters China" refers to naturalization and incorporation into China, and is by no means a gesture of foreign conquerors to conquer China.

When Manchu entered the customs, Gu, a great scholar, put forward the distinction between "national subjugation" and "national subjugation". He said: "If there is national subjugation, there will be national subjugation. Debate between national subjugation and national subjugation? Yue: Changing the surname and number is called national subjugation. Benevolence and righteousness are full of things. As for attracting animals to eat people, people will eat each other, which is called the death of the world. " Scholar Huang Zongxi said: "If Yu Chuang thieves die in the Ming Dynasty, they will die in the country;" If they die in the Qing dynasty, they will perish the world. " "People who die in the world can change their clothes and keep their hair." The "national subjugation" here is the demise of the regime in the modern sense, and the "national subjugation" here is the demise of the nation-state in the modern sense. Mr. Gu Cheng, a historian, wrote in the first section of the first chapter of the History of the Southern Ming Dynasty: "In the eyes of Han officials and gentry, the Dashun regime replaced the Ming Dynasty only by changing its surname and name. The struggle of the Zhu Ming Dynasty was a matter of' meat eaters' such as imperial clan, royal family and hereditary ministers, and had little to do with ordinary officials and gentry and the people; The principle of Manchu nobles entering China was "keeping their hair" (shaving their heads) and "destroying the world"; Everyone is responsible for the rise and fall of the world, and everyone should rise up and resist. "It can be seen that the Ming people have strictly distinguished between Manchu immigration and previous dynasties. The previous regime change was only within China, and the Qing Dynasty's entry into the customs was regarded as an invasion by foreign enemies.

After the Revolution of 1911, 19 12 established the "Republic of China", which officially became the name of China. June 1, 1949, when New China was founded, it was named "People's Republic of China (PRC)" or "China" for short.

The word "China" has a history of 3000 years, but it has always been used only as a pronoun. No dynasty explicitly used the word "China" as the direct name of its political system. The title of the Han Dynasty is "Han". The name of the Tang Dynasty is "Tang".

At present, there is only one China in the world, and that is People's Republic of China (PRC).

1949 after the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), the word "China" still has multiple meanings such as region, culture and politics in actual language operation, but it generally refers to Chinese mainland in the international media.

In ancient China, the word "country" meant "city" or "state". China is a "central city" or a "central country". In ancient literature, the word "China" has five different meanings: one refers to the capital, that is, the capital; The second refers to the kingdom directly ruled by the son of heaven; Three refers to the Central Plains; Four refers to the mainland and China; Xia Wuzhi (Huaxia) or the area where the Han nationality lives and the country established.

Strictly speaking, the ancient "China" is an adjective, not a proper noun. In ancient China, every dynasty did not take "China" as the official country name, and each dynasty had its own country name.

It was not until after the Revolution of 1911 that "China" was taken as the abbreviation of "Republic of China". In 1949, "China" is the abbreviation of "People's Republic of China (PRC)".

At present, there is only one "China" in the world, namely People's Republic of China (PRC), with its capital in Beijing.

The spirit of China

On the Basic Spirit of China Traditional Culture

The basic spirit of China's traditional culture is essentially the national spirit of the Chinese nation. There are many opinions about the basic spirit of China traditional culture.

Some scholars believe that the ideological basis for the long-term development of China traditional culture can be called the basic spirit of China traditional culture, and it is the subtle internal driving force in the process of cultural development, that is, the basic idea guiding the continuous progress of national culture. The basic spirit of China's traditional culture is the basic feature of the Chinese nation's spiritual form. Therefore, (1) steel is healthy and promising; (2) Harmony and neutrality; (3) the use of respecting morality; (4) Harmony between man and nature. "These are the basic spirits of China's traditional culture." (Zhang Dainian: On the Basic Spirits of China Culture, China Cultural Studies Series 1, published by Fudan University Press. China's national spirit is basically condensed in two famous sayings of the Book of Changes, namely: "A gentleman strives for self-improvement." . "the terrain is vast, and a gentleman carries things with morality." "Self-improvement" and "respecting morality and carrying things" are the basic spirits of China traditional culture. Although the concept of "golden mean" was widely circulated in the past, it actually failed to promote cultural development. Therefore, "The Doctrine of the Mean cannot be regarded as the basic spirit of China traditional culture". (Zhang Dainian: Cultural Tradition and National Spirit, Academic Monthly 1986No. 12. The basic spirit of China's traditional culture is also reflected in the fine tradition of replacing religion with moral education. (Zhang Dainian: China Culture and China Philosophy, included in China Culture and China Philosophy, published by Oriental Publishing House)

Some scholars believe that "the fundamental spirit of China's traditional culture is harmony and freedom". (Xu Siyuan: On China Culture, two issues, China Cultural Studies Series 1, published by Fudan University Press. )

Some scholars believe that the patriarchal hierarchy ethics, which is based on self-sufficient natural economy, family-oriented, and blood relationship as the link, is the main clue, essence and core that runs through the five levels of social production activities and productivity, social production relations, social system, social psychology and social consciousness in ancient China. "This is the basic spirit of China's ancient traditional culture." (Yang Xianbang, Re-evaluation of China's traditional culture, edited by Zhang Liwen, etc., Traditional culture and modernization, published by Renmin University of China Press. )

Some scholars believe that China's national spirit can be roughly summarized into four interrelated aspects: (1) rational spirit. It has a long tradition of atheism, fully affirms the unity of man and nature and the unity of individual and society, and advocates that the satisfaction of personal feelings and desires is consistent with the rational requirements of society. On the whole, denying the religious worship of supernatural God and savior and the existence of the other side of the world, vigorously advocating the harmonious unity between man and nature, individual and society, and opposing the split confrontation between them are the roots of the rational spirit of the Chinese nation. (2) the spirit of freedom. This is first manifested in the people's spirit of resisting the rule of the exploiting classes. At the same time, in the struggle against foreign oppression, some classes, groups and figures in the ruling class also actively participated in this struggle. It shows that in the ideological and cultural tradition of the ruling class in China, there is also a positive side of "loving freedom". (3) Realistic spirit. Confucianism in the pre-Qin dynasty advocated that "the known is known, and the unknown is unknown", knowing people and discussing the world opposed being born with knowledge; Legalists oppose "foresight", pay attention to "experience", emphasize implementation and praise merit; Taoism advocates "knowing people", "knowing friends" and "analyzing the principles of everything". These are the tables of seeking truth from facts. (4) the spirit of strain. (See Liu Gangji: On the Chinese National Spirit, Journal of Wuhan University 1985,No. 1. Some scholars believe that the basic spirit of China traditional culture can be summarized as "respecting ancestors, respecting human relations, respecting morality and saluting". (See Sima Yunjie: Sociology of Culture, published by Shandong People's Publishing House. In addition, China's traditional culture also has the viewpoint of development, self-improvement and tireless learning spirit. (See Ding Shouhe: "Trial of China Traditional Culture", "Seeking Roots" No.4, 1987. )

Some scholars believe that the spirit of China traditional culture is humanism. This humanism is manifested as follows: people are not isolated from interpersonal relationships, nor are they opposed to nature; Do not pursue a purely natural knowledge system; It is anti-utilitarian in axiology; Pay tribute to being a man. The humanistic spirit of China's traditional culture has added luster to our nation and country, but it has also set obstacles; It spread the light of wisdom to the world, but also caused various obstacles to Chinese and foreign exchanges; This is a huge spiritual wealth and a huge cultural burden. (See Pang Pu: Humanistic Spirit of China Culture, Guangming Daily 1986 1.6. )

In fact, there are many places of interest in China, such as the Bell Tower in Xi, the Terracotta Warriors, the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven. In a word, China will be more prosperous and better every day.

A brief list of Chinese historical dynasties:

Xia: About 207 1- about 1600.

Quotient: about 1600- about 1046

Zhou: Western Zhou Dynasty: 1 1 century -77 1.

Eastern Zhou Dynasty: 770- 7 1

Spring and Autumn Period: 770- 256 BC

Warring States period: 475- 22 1.

Qin: Qian 22 1- Qian 206

Han: Western Han Dynasty: 206 BC-23 AD.

Eastern Han Dynasty: 25-220

Three kingdoms: Wei: 220-265

Shu: 22 1-263