Author

Dongzhu

There is a famous saying by Ximen Qing in "The Plum in the Golden Vase":

"We heard that the Buddha in the West is nothing more than We want gold to pave the ground; we also want some money for the ten palaces of the underworld. We just want to use up this private property to do good things, so we raped Chang'e, raped the Weaver Girl, kidnapped Xu Feiqiong, and stole the daughter of Queen Mother of the West. Do not reduce my wealth and wealth!'

In "The Story of the Stone", Wang Xifeng openly declared:

"I never believe in retribution from the underworld and hell. Why should I say yes to anything?" That’s it! ”

Ximen Qing and Wang Xifeng are both extremely successful figures in the history of Chinese literature. In these two books, they have different genders and different social statuses, but they are comparable in terms of talent and their way of thinking. They are also strikingly similar to their behavior. They are both super strong men with great personal charm and mobility, and they are also typical representatives of "evil". The arrogance and arrogance contained in these two passages can be called. "Earth-shattering", but if Ximen Qing's "bold words" also represent the businessman's awareness and a little caution that "doing evil" can be redeemed, Wang Xifeng expressed a complete disdain for the so-called "retribution" .

The famous sociologist Max Weber partially listed the characteristics of Chinese culture at the social level in "Confucianism and Taoism":

"The Chinese can control the fraternity very ruthlessly. This is in sharp contrast to the cautious and selfish fear of ghosts and gods. ”

“Chinese people often seriously lack sympathy in real life, and have little compassion even for those closest to them. This strong unity with social groups seems to be an obvious of opposition. ”

In the first paragraph, Weber believes that the Chinese value ghosts and gods rather than human relationships. In the second paragraph, Weber believes that the Chinese value groups rather than individuals. In Weber’s view, the Chinese people This "bright contrast" and "obvious opposition" come from the Confucian culture on the positive side, the hierarchical clan society with "filial piety" and "propriety" as the core values, and the negative side, based on witchcraft. The dual shaping of Taoist culture and animism is the joint point of the "unity of nature and man" and "ancestor worship" that both parties agree on. Therefore, it is different from Western Protestantism, especially "Calvinism". "Different from the Puritans represented by ", Chinese culture cannot endogenize science and rationality, nor can it produce capitalist ethics that glorify God by obtaining wealth through personal efforts.

However, from the expressions of Ximen Qing and Wang Xifeng, We see "coldness" and "serious lack of compassion". If we look at it from the book, the two can barely be regarded as "tough unity" order builders. However, the so-called "cautious and selfish fear of ghosts and gods", at least in We haven’t seen it at all in Wang Xifeng.

Is Weber’s judgment wrong?

The economic boom of the “Pan-Confucian cultural circle” represented by Japan and the “Four Little Dragons”. Since then, the "Weberian problem" has been criticized in mainland academic circles with bad intentions or too good intentions. This is quite unfair. In fact, we can know from "Confucianism and Taoism" that Weber's views on Chinese culture The understanding and analysis were mainly through pre-Qin classics and the written records of Western missionaries. The purpose of his research was "why China did not produce capitalism." Therefore, Weber did not know much about the theoretical contributions of Confucian scholars to Confucian culture in the Han Dynasty, especially after the Song Dynasty. .

As a result, there is an observational omission, that is, Weber objectively ignored the great changes that took place in Chinese civilization in the middle and late Ming Dynasty. This change was widely recorded in Chinese official history, and even more so. It was talked about in various literary and artistic works such as Ming Dynasty operas and novels. In the official history of contemporary China, this period was even described as the "germination of capitalism".

It is this change that almost re-emerges. It shaped the values ??of the entire society at that time. Although in mainland China, this change was interrupted by the invasion of the Qing Dynasty, it laid the theoretical foundation for Japan to successfully "leave Asia and join Europe" during the "Meiji Restoration", and It promoted the great development of the entire East Asia region in the future.

This change is comparable to the Western Religious Reform.

On top of China's original clan social structure, tribal rule represented by Wang Xifeng was added.

The Qing Dynasty was probably the ruling group that most admired Confucianism in Chinese history, and was also the ruling group with the most severe literary inquisition in Chinese history. However, "the people's hearts are scattered, and it is difficult to lead the team." The huge waves caused by Yangming's theory of mind have deeply eliminated the Chinese people's respect for traditional ethics and religious piety, the glory of sages and the authority of emperors. With only formal symbolic meaning and violent deterrence, it can no longer form cohesion and creativity at the ideological level.

Throughout "The Story of the Stone", both sages and ghosts have become the targets of ridicule:

Baoyu went to private school to fool around with Qin Zhong, while Xue Pan They completely regard private schools as "Xiangongtang". Baoyu has turned the phrase "Literary to death admonishing and military to fight to death" into a logic game. The courage of the emperor and ministers in "?O Ci" is not as good as that of a female figure.

Although Sister Feng is not afraid of "retribution from the underworld", Jia Lian is not too generous:

The daughter-in-law pretended to be frivolous and said: "Your daughter will give birth to flowers. "Your Majesty, you should stay away from me for two days. Just get out of here." Jia Lian gasped and said, "You are my Majesty!"

The emergence of Yangming's theory of mind in mainland China has created a large-scale "destruction", but failed to create a true "establishment". From Ximen Qing to Wang Xifeng, they could have evolved into entrepreneurs in the modern sense through this turning point. However, due to the lack of an environment for upward self-liberation and perfection, they had to return to the accumulation and consumption of wealth and sex. This kind of reaction in development caused all smart and energetic people to not only lose their original possible constructiveness, but eventually also lost their "cautious, selfish and reverence for ghosts and gods".