The Chinese civilization

 

John  Chang

 

 

 

    Many people ask me what is the Chinese civilization, and what are its representatives?  Such as some of the Western religions that exist in China have been spread in China for thousands of years, and some have been integrated into the Chinese civilization, and some are in absolute dominance in China.  Do these Western religions and dogmas belong to Chinese civilization?

 

         I said no, they cannot represent Chinese civilization. Even though they have been completely assimilated by Chinese civilization, they still cannot represent Chinese civilization. Take Buddhism for example, they have built a large number of clay sculpture in China, worshipped idols and made money. They have been assimilated by Chinese civilization, but they do not belong to Chinese civilization.

 

        So what can represent Chinese civilization? Broadly speaking, Chinese civilization was born in this land of China, and it was created and carried forward by the Chinese. Maybe this Chinese went abroad for different reasons, but his background is Chinese civilization, writing in Chinese, not the dogma and civilization created by Westerners and spread to China.

 

       What is the difference between Western religion and Eastern religion? Western religion accumulates wealth and power, worships idols and kills more than Eastern religion. As we can see from history, countless world wars have come from the West, such as Europe and the Middle East, and there are almost no world wars extending from the East. There is an exception for the Mongols fighter from the East to the West, but the Mongols have no civilization. They are a nomadic steppe people. They have no fixed homeland and cannot be counted as Eastern civilization.

 

        But the West is not. They have ancient Greek and Roman civilizations, but they are still like to kill. Thousands of years of war have made them believe in weapons even more, believing that weapons can unify the world. Therefore, the chief scientists of all countries in the Western world are now weapons experts, and they are also the largest industry supported by the government.

 

        Someone asked whether Confucianism represent Chinese civilization? I said no. Confucianism is only a part of Chinese civilization and cannot represent Chinese civilization. Although the ruling classes in the past have vigorously praised Confucianism, and some have even spent a lot of money to promote it to the world, but Confucianism only helps the ruler to rule and the ignorant people, and it is of little importance in Chinese civilization.

 

      We will now show what Chinese civilization includes. Simply put, Chinese civilization has existed in China for more than 5,000 years, starting from the mythologies emperor Yan and Huang period.

 

         1)  Chinese characters: According to legend, they were mainly created by Mr. Cang jie and Emperor Huang (The mythologies emperor Yan and Huang period), but the most likely fact is that there were some characters before, but Mr. Cang jie and Emperor Huang combined the Chinese characters into a whole system and created  many new texts have been added.

 

         2) Mathematical theory: 《He Tu》 and 《Luo Shu》 (Xia and Shang Dynasties), according to legend, are Mr. Fu xi gossip and Hong Fan nine categories, and there is "Mr. Fu xi king the world, the dragon and horse go out of the river, and then the text draws gossip, and call 《He Tu》", "The book came out from Luo, and was called 《Luo Shu》and carried by the turtle, listed on the back, there are number to nine,  Mr. Yu put it as ranked, with nine categories, often Tao is in order" legend. Due to the uncertain time, we tentatively they create and develop the number and image theory and works in the Xia and Shang dynasties.

 

       3) The theory of hexagrams: 《The Book of Changes》 (Zhou Dynasty), according to legend, was formed by King Wen of the Zhou Dynasty, with creation of 64 hexagrams. This book uses a set of symbol systems to describe the simplicity, change, and difficulty of the state. It expresses the philosophy of Chinese classical culture on cosmology. Its central idea is to interpret the inherent characteristics and laws of natural operation, interpret the alternation of Yin and Yang, and describe everything in the world. 《The Book of Changes》 was originally used for divination, and later influenced philosophy, religion, politics, economy, medicine, astronomy, arithmetic, literature, music, art, military, and martial arts etc. throughout China.  

 

         4) Moral theory: 《Tao De Jing》 (Spring and Autumn period), a philosophical work of Mr. Lao Tzu (Li Er), is an important source of Taoist philosophy. It takes the philosophical "morality" as the keynote, discusses the ways of self-cultivation, governance, military use, and health preservation, and also discusses politics etc. It has profound cultural meanings and is acclaimed as the king of the ten thousand scriptures.

 

       5) Confucian theory: 《The Great Learning》, 《Doctrine of the Mean》, 《Mencius》 (Spring and Autumn and Warring States Period). The authors were Confucius and Mencius. Confucianism is also known as Confucius and Mencius thoughts. The Zhou Dynasty ritual and music tradition, with benevolence, forgiveness, sincerity, filial piety, etc. as the core values, emphasizes the moral cultivation of gentlemen, emphasizes the complementarity of benevolence and etiquette, emphasizes the five ethics and family ethics, advocates civilization and benevolent governance, despise punish, criticizes tyranny, and strives rebuild the order of etiquette and music, change customs, protect the country and the people, and be to fit in with the world and the spirit of humanism.

 

        A large part of Confucianism is a practical part of sociology, so the rulers prefer and strongly admire it. After the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States Period, Chinese philosophy almost stopped moving, only revising these Confucianism until the advent of Western philosophy, which was related to the suppression and abolition of other Chinese academic thoughts and the cult of Confucianism by the Chinese rulers.

 

        6)  Historiography: 《Historical Records》 and 《Three Kingdoms》(Han and Jin Dynasties). The peak and masterpieces of historiography are from the Han Dynasty to the Jin Dynasty. The representative figures are Mr. Sima Qian and Mr. Chen Shou. Although there have been some historians in the past dynasties, none of the works can surpass Mr. Sima Qian in the Han Dynasty. Mr. Sima Qian was study of heaven and people relationship, through the changes of the past and the present, and become own doctrine, had a profound impact on the development of later historiography and literature.

 

       The method of narrating history in the chronology style pioneered by 《Historical Records》 was passed down by the "Official History" of the subsequent dynasties. 《Historical Records》was also an excellent literary work, and Mr. Lu Xun called it "the swan song of the historian, the《 li Sao》 without rhyme".

 

        7) Poem: 《Tang Poems》 (Tang Dynasty), the main authors, Mr. Li Bai, Mr. Du Fu, Mr. Bai Juyi, etc. Since the 《Book of Songs》, 《Chu Ci》, 《Han Fu》, and 《Yue fu》, China has always had the tradition of verse. The 《Book of Songs》 mostly uses four characters as a sentence, and the number of characters 《Yue fu》in the Han Dynasty has changed. The development of the Wei and Jin Dynasty, Southern and Northern Dynasties has an unfixed number of characters, and there are also five, six or seven characters, but the number of sentences is not limited. In addition to inheriting the genre of ancient poem, Sui and Tang Dynasties also developed modern poetry with a neat and beautiful melody, which had more stringent requirements for rhyming, flatness and other metrical rhythms. Tang poem developed a variety of themes, expressed personal emotions, reflected social reality, and had a profound artistic conception, reaching a very high level of art. After the Tang Dynasty, no one can surpass 《Tang Poems》, including the so-called great poets of the subsequent dynasties. 

 

        8) Poetry: 《Song Poetry》 (Song Dynasty), the main author, Mr. Su Shi, Mr. Xin Qiji, Mrs. Li Qingzhao, etc. Song Poetry was a new style of poetry relative to ancient style poetry. The sentences are long and short, which is easy to sing. Because it is the lyrics with music, it is also called “Music Poetry”, the song movement, long and short sentences, poems with music, etc., marking the highest achievement of Song Dynasty literature. Song Poetry began in the Liang Dynasty, formed in the Tang Dynasty and flourished in the Song Dynasty. In ancient Chinese literature, there is a fragrant and gorgeous artistic conception, which competes with Tang poem and lays the foundation for the formation of Opera in Yuan Dynasty. After the Song Dynasty, no one surpassed 《Song Poetry》.

　　 

       9) Opera: 《Dou E's Injustice》 (Yuan Dynasty), the main author, Mr. Guan Hanqing. Opera in Yuan Dynasty, also known as long and short sentences, is a form of literature and art that prevailed in the Yuan Dynasty, including medley play and scattered music. The medley play in Song dynasty is a kind of performance characterized by comical humour, and it developed into opera form in Yuan dynasty. Each screenplay was mainly divided in quarters, with additional wedges at the beginning or between the quarters. It was the popular in the metropolis (now Beijing) area. There were also medley play in the Ming and Qing dynasties, but each screenplay was not limited in four parts. The scattered music was popular in the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. Its content was mainly lyric, and there were two types: Small plays and pantomime. Opera in Yuan Dynasty should be the source of all modern operas, such as Peking opera.

 

          10) Novels: 《Romance of Three Kingdoms》, 《Water Margin》, 《Dream of Red Mansions》, 《Journey to the West》 (Ming and Qing Dynasties), the main authors are Mr. Luo Guanzhong, Mr. Shi Naian, Mr. Cao Xueqin, Mr. Wu Chengen, etc. They are at the same level as Western novelists, such as Mr. Shakespeare. Compared with other literary styles, novels have a large capacity, can show the characters' personalities and fate in detail, show intricate contradictions and conflicts, and can also provide an overall and broad social life environment in which the characters live.

 

           11) Prose: Masterpiece 《Republic of China Prose》 (Republic of China), such as articles like "Remember Mr. Liu Hezhen" (Mr. Lu Xun); "My Mother" (Mr. Hu Shi); "One on the Way" (Mr. Yu Dafu), etc. The prose material is very wide and free, not restricted by time and space, and expressive methods are eclectic. It can narrate the development of events, describe the image of characters, express emotions, and make comments. The author can also freely adjust and change according to the content needs. But from the perspective of the prose, no matter how extensive the content and how flexible the expression method is, the theme of the expression must be clear and concentrated.

 

        The above 11 items are the development and inheritance of Chinese civilization, and each dynasty and every generation has independent innovation and transcendence.

 

        Talking about the present, after the Republic of China, that was, from 1949 to the present, almost nothing has been created to surpass the previous ones. Poetry is not better than Tang and Song dynasties, novels are not better than Ming and Qing dynasties, and prose is not better than the Republic of China. Looking at these things published today, the literature strongly supported by the state and the government at the financial level is mainly inherited from the former Soviet Union’s peasant revolution novels, but the content and quality are far inferior to the former Soviet Union’s novels 《And Quiet Flows the Don》（Russian：Тихий Дон） and 《How The Steel Was Tempered》（Russian：Как закалялась сталь）and so on, just say that they copied the form of Soviet peasant novels.

 

         Mr. Jin Yong's martial arts novels are a breakthrough. Although he also inherited the framework of the novels of 《Three Swordsman and Five Righteousness》 in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, he was the only author who surpassed the series of martial arts novels in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Except for Mr. Jin Yong's martial arts series of novels, no one in other themes can surpass the Ming and Qing dynasties. No matter how these contemporary so-called masters write, no one in fantasy novels surpasses 《Journey to the West》; no one in historical romance novels surpasses 《Romance of Three Kingdoms》 (although there are also a large number of messy historical romances, emperor biography, etc.); no historical novels about peasant revolutions surpassed 《Water Margin》; in terms of feudal families, no one surpassed 《Dream of Red Mansions》.

 

         Although the purses of these so-called writer masters are bulging, what are they writing about? Are they all blushing! Most of them are chicken soup for the soul, kneeling and licking with tears, not to mention novels without depth and breadth, but like short stories or prose, and how many people can beyond the period of the Republic of China.

 

        Look at the awards given to Chinese writers by the Western societies. Whether they are literary awards or film awards, they are all peasants' "Hillbilly awards".  In their eyes, the Chinese civilization is at this level, and the state supports so-called "excellent works" are just sorghum consciousness and ignorance, inability to innovate, and worship power and money.

 

        Could it be that Chinese civilization is such a negative energy, low level and junk goods? In fact, it is not. There are many reasons for this. It's mainly about publishing control at the national level. You can't write about other aspects. Only peasant themes and war dramas do not affect the rule before you can be approved the publication. There are also authors，who write only those low-level and praised things can make money and even become officials.

 

        The ancients unlike today, they don’t use these works for food, and they don’t need your approval to publish. Among the 11 innovations of the ancients listed above, none of them were approved and funded by the government, and none of them praised the emperor and the government. They were the author’s natural innovation. Almost all were oppressed and controlled by the imperial court at the beginning，and then become a part of Chinese civilization which can not be surpassed today.

 

        As for the scholars of the imperial Academy supported by the imperial court, such as the Champion, runner up and third place etc., their works did not know what they have, and they were probably all bad products, and they have not made any contribution to Chinese civilization!

 

         In addition, if Chinese civilization is just these 11 things listed above, and can you say that they can unify the world? Of course can not. Why do Western prophets say that Chinese civilization will unify the world? Don't they know that there are only these culture and civilization in Chinese history? 

 

         Westerners are so self-confident that they look down on Eastern civilization at all and deliberately suppress it, calling it non-mainstream culture and peasant culture. They already have strong science and technology. They can declare to the outside world that Western civilization will unify the world. Why on the contrary say that Chinese civilization will unify the world?

 

        This is the innate will of heaven, and there is something that appears in all Chinese and foreign prophets, that is, "Chinese civilization will unify the world" and the theoretical system that must be "the deterrence and convince"!

 

         "Deterrence" means something that makes them fearful and frightens them. "Convince" means to be convinced by mouth or sincerely admire. This is something that the first-class scholars in the West can't achieve! In addition, there is no other way to the bad religions they have created, and they often have religious wars and dead people, which is also a headache! 

 

         12) Unified theory: the seven colourful golden book that appeared in the 21st century, a rainbow, that is, the light of wisdom, to be precise, it is the culture of Chinese civilization, the universal law, and the civilization of the galaxy. Around year 2012, the star civilization was ended and the galaxy civilization was established.

      

         The titles of the seven rainbow golden books are 《Crop Circle》, 《Golden Classic》, 《Universal Law》, 《Great Ultimate Theory》, 《Chinese Systems Philosophy》, 《Oriental Systems Literature》and《World Systems Science》, writing began on September 11, 2001, the 9.11 religious massacre, and finally between Passover and Easter in 2018. The entire theoretical system unifies all Eastern and Western civilizations, including all Eastern and Western religions, philosophies and science.

     

        The previous Eastern civilization only involved the sociology part, and these seven rainbow golden books almost covered the natural sciences, social sciences and life sciences, and combined them into a unified whole. It unifies all Western and Eastern civilization without using weapons and wars. This corresponds to the entry of foreign, the expansion of Chinese civilization to the world, and the civilization defeats barbarism and ignorance in this way (the civilization is thought and knowledge, the barbarism is weapons and slaughter), if you dare to enter the circle of Chinese civilization, we dare to eat and assimilate you, and expand the circle of civilization to the extreme.

 

          The Chinese civilization established in these 12 parts are complete, and they are all written under hardships, such as the King Wen of the Zhou Dynasty, who was imprisoned in Mai li to write 《The Book of Changes》; Mr. Lao Zi was seclusion for 《Tao Te Ching》; Confucius was trapped in Chen and Cai to make《Chun Qiu》; Mr. Sima Qian was castrated to write 《Historical Records》; the writers of 《Tang poem》 and 《Song poetry》 were displaced; the official career and family of the writers of novels in Ming and Qing Dynasty were broken. It is such individual who supports the entire Chinese civilization, which shows the perseverance of the Chinese nation.

 

         The 12 parts also correspond to the 12 “Earthly Branches” of the Chinese 《The Book of Changes》, (the “Heavenly Stems” are a number from 1 to 10), which constitutes the centre of Chinese civilization, and corresponds to the predictions of Chinese and foreign prophets from ancient times to the present. The Chinese civilization will unify the world was completed basically.

 

        Western civilization wants to surpass the above 12 items of Chinese civilization. I am afraid that it cannot be accomplished by a single country or a nation. Even if all countries and nations in the world unite, whether they can surpass this spiritually transmitted culture, the universal laws and the galaxy civilization are all question? We can wait and see.

 

Note. 

 

1）The mythologies emperor Yan and Huang period：3000 B.C - 2100 B.C

2）Xia and Shang dynasties：2100 B.C - 1100 B.C

3）Zhou Dynasty：1100 B.C - 256 B.C

4）Spring and Autumn period：770 B.C - 476 B.C

5） Warring States Period：475 B.C - 221 B.C

6）Han and Jin Dynasties：202 B.C - 420 A.D

7）Tang Dynasty：618 A.D - 907 A.D

8)   Song Dynasty：960 A.D - 1279 A.D

9)   Yuan Dynasty：1271 A.D - 1368 A.D

10) Ming and Qing Dynasties：1368 A.D - 1911 A.D

11) Republic of China：1912 A.D - 1949 A.D

 

 

 

( First Edited on Nov.23, 2018, Original article title: “Chi Xian Festival = Hua Xia Festival = Shen zhou Festival = Chinese civilization festival”)