Confucius' theory has always influenced the history of China for more than two thousand years. The tradition of Confucius and Mencius, the spirit of Laozi and Zhuangzi, and later Buddhist thoughts promote each other and learn from each other, often showing new things. This situation is very rare in the history of human civilization and unique among the four ancient civilizations. The other three of the four ancient civilizations have experienced cultural faults, and some ancient cultural traditions have almost disappeared under the impact of national culture. In addition to ancient Egyptian, Babylonian and Indian cultures, ancient Greek and Roman cultures belong to the younger generation. However, its cultural tradition has also been fatally impacted, so that for hundreds of years in the Middle Ages, Europeans could not see Plato and Aristotle's works. Although China's ancient culture is later than that of ancient Egypt and other countries, its historical level is not inferior to that of any other nation, and its cultural tradition has been perfectly preserved, which is a miracle of China's history and culture.
The second feature: the Chinese nation has never had a historic split ending in the long historical development process.
The so-called ending without division is not that it has never been divided. Since the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties, Chinese dynasties have changed and a very complicated situation has emerged. The Western Zhou Dynasty was unified, the Eastern Zhou Dynasty was chaotic, and the Warring States was divided; Qin and Han dynasties unified, Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties split; Sui and Tang dynasties were unified, and five dynasties and ten countries were divided; Song, Liao, Jin and Xia have always been between unity and division; With the change of regime in Song and Yuan Dynasties, the first state regime dominated by ethnic minorities appeared in China history. Ming unified, but soon declined; When the Qing soldiers entered Shanhaiguan, a second state power dominated by ethnic minorities appeared. The history of China can be described by continuous wars and divisions; But struggle and domination, division and combination. Judging from the general trend of China's historical development, the time of reunification in China's history is not only far longer than division, but also the mainstream. Unification conforms to the overall interests of the Chinese nation and the common aspirations of people of all ethnic groups.
This is very different from many countries in the world. First of all, it is different from the western Christian tradition. Ancient Rome was also a great empire, but its life span was not long; First split into two, then split into many; As a result, not only the ethnic differences are widening, but also the language differences are becoming more and more obvious. It was not until the second half of the Middle Ages that the dawn of unification really appeared in Europe, but until today, ethnic wars are still taking place in some parts of Europe. In fact, since the division of ancient Rome, the West has never been unified. The same is true in the Middle East, even in Africa and Latin America. Although the reasons may be completely opposite, there is no need to argue about the fact of division.
The third feature: China is an ancient country with religious tolerance, but it has never been a religious country.
The dominant factor of China's history and culture is naturally Confucian culture. However, Confucian culture is not the only representative of China traditional culture, although it has the greatest influence among all cultural schools. From the day it came into being, it was not an isolated cultural phenomenon. A hundred schools of thought contend and are a family. In the future, because of social needs, Confucianism was held in a position of exclusive respect, but exclusive respect is not the only one. Even in the era of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, it was not unique. For example, Confucianism is cautious about ghosts and gods, while Emperor Wu himself believes in immortals. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, Buddhism came to the east and Taoism began to flourish. During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, metaphysics rose again. Therefore, the cultural phenomenon of the coexistence of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism became the basic feature of the culture in the prosperous Tang Dynasty.
China people have never held an absolute position on religion since ancient times. Atheism and theism are allowed, and there are various religious organizations. On one condition, however, no religion can exist on the premise of damaging the central government and interfering in state affairs; Otherwise, it must be cracked down or banned. Of course, China has a long history, and there have been religious conflicts and religious persecution. However, from the macro-situation analysis of historical development, the event of "Three Unique Cases" destroying Buddhism and its influence are temporary after all, while the development of Buddhism and other religions is long-term. China's cultural nature is tolerant. Only in this way, there has never been a national war because of religious issues in China's history. On the contrary, at the historical juncture when the war is extremely cruel and the country is troubled, religious activities have played a certain role in buffering and protecting. For example, Buddhism in the Northern Dynasties and Taoism in the Yuan Dynasty have the significance of stabilizing society and reducing killings.
The main influence of China's theory of religious activities is not reflected in politics, but in ideology and culture. Only in this way can China's traditional culture be colorful and full of vitality. Compared with China, there are almost conflicts of religious belief, national prosperity and national interests in Europe and even the countries around the Mediterranean. This kind of conflict often leads to deeper national hatred, or directly leads to regional or even world war. It can be said that all wars and wars in western countries since ancient Rome are related to religious beliefs, ethnic contradictions and national interests, especially territorial disputes and economic interests, because western religious beliefs are strongly exclusive. In China's historical and religious ideas, he advocated seeking common ground while reserving differences and developing independently.
The fourth feature: Although there have been many ethnic conflicts in the history of the Chinese nation, the result of the conflicts is not division, but harmony.
There have been at least three major ethnic conflicts in the history of China: one was the so-called "Five Chaos" that began in the Sixteen Countries Period of the Eastern Jin Dynasty; One is the national war in Song, Liao, Jin, Xia and Yuan Dynasties. Once, the Qing Dynasty entered the Central Plains. These three ethnic conflicts have their own characteristics. But from this, without exception, it has moved towards national harmony, while others have formed a great ethnic integration with far-reaching historical significance. The so-called "five chaos in China" has never happened in China? Or, to be more precise, it is a mess for a while and a long time; Chaos lies in taking treatment and prospering after treatment. Because of this, the prosperity of China in the prosperous Tang Dynasty gained a broader national foundation and a better cultural foundation. Philosophers said that "there was Hu Qi in the Tang Dynasty", which included the affirmation and praise of Tang Wenhua's character. During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, wars among various ethnic groups were fierce, but eventually they were unified in the Yuan Dynasty and stable in the Ming Dynasty. As a result, national reconciliation has also been achieved. At first, the Qing people entered the customs, which was directly related to ethnic oppression. Later, there were ethnic invasions and wars, and there was a massacre that was rare in China's history. However, the result was not endless ethnic conflicts, but that the Qing dynasty finally accepted Confucian culture and made its own contribution to the historical development of Confucian culture.
The fifth feature: China's cultural traditions hate others' invasion and dislike outward expansion.
China has not been a country of foreign aggression and expansion since ancient times. China's real expedition to other countries or large-scale war with other domestic regimes was only a period of history of Emperor Wu's northern expedition to Xiongnu, but it was not because Emperor Wu claimed the land of Xiongnu, but to defend the security and tranquility of the Han empire. This is not to say that in the history of China, the central government has never invaded and harmed ethnic minority regimes or other neighboring countries. For example, Emperor Taizong invaded Korea. But to be fair, invading others is not in the mainstream position in the history of China, and it is also very unpopular at home. Therefore, although Emperor Taizong was gifted, he was still humiliated once he was sent to a foreign country.
These five characteristics of China traditional culture are the pride of China culture. Due to these characteristics and advantages, China culture has preserved the most complete ancient cultural heritage for human culture, and also cultivated a unique model for human national culture. With its unique cultural charm, it has exerted a great influence on oriental culture, made a great contribution to the whole human culture, and will make greater contributions in the future.