(1.1.1)--0.1Introductiontoculture.pdf

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1、 This course is a top-quality course on traditional Chinese culture offered by Xian Jiaotong University.It has been listed among Shaanxi Provincial Top-quality Courses and has produced certain impacts across the country.Although the term 文化,culture in English,consists of only two characters,it has v

2、ery large amounts of content.Some people say that someone is a cultural scholar or a cultural person.And in terms of conducting research on traditional Chinese culture,Im afraid that few scholars can be called cultural scholars.The reason is that the concept of culture is so big.Lets talk about cult

3、ure as a term first.As for the two Chinese characters it contains,its very interesting in itself.Both oracles and Jinwen have the Chinese character 文.What does this character mean?The character 文 is like a standing human figure,and there is a pattern in the middle of the figure.Its a tattoo.Qu Yuans

4、 Li Sao has this sentence“Gods have given me a lot of good characters,and Ill continue to strengthen my self-cultivation”(纷吾既有此内美兮，又重之以修能)It means I have the inner beauty,but Ill keep on cultivating my inner beauty.And Im going to wear an ornament made by Qiulan.Wear something else,love of beauty.Pu

5、rsuing beauty is common to all people.So theres the meaning of tattoo in the character 文.Where did this character come from?The creation of Chinese characters,according to Xu Shen in Shuo Wen Jie Zi(the first Chinese dictionary).Looking up at the astronomical phenomena,looking down at the principles

6、 of all things,taking things from the near side and from things at a distance.And then characters were created.Looking up and down for all the phenomena and then going into the process of creation including drawing symbols and creating characters.So the creation of the character 文 tells us that our

7、ancients were tattooed.Some people like tattoos.Next what about the character 化?It also originated from humans.The character 文 originated from humans,so did 化.Its a combination of 人 standing upright and the other down.The person is a standing figure when lying in bed at night and he cant fall asleep

8、 because he has something in mind,tossing and turning.Thats what the character 化 means.The character 化 can also be found in 变化(that means change).So the term 文化 itself refers to a wide range of things with humans as the subject.Putting 文 and 化 together,the two characters first appeared together in t

9、he Book of Changes.According to this book,by observing the operation laws of the heavens and the earth we can recognize changes of seasons.By focusing on ethics,make people behave in accordance with social etiquettes.Its also said in the Book of Changes that in ancient times,Baoxishi ruled the world

10、.He looked up at the heavens and looked down to know about the geography,he observed the images of birds and beasts and the veins of the earth and then created the characters and symbols.So this character 文 isnt simple at all.It contains astronomy,study of the earth,and humanities.Astronomy,study of

11、 the earth,and humanities plus their changes,its a culture of endlessness and profoundness.What is culture?Thats the culture.Astronomy,study of the earth,and humanities plus their changes,and the man is taken as the subject.Culture itself is the cultural idea of taking people as the main subject so

12、its people oriented.This is the original meaning of culture.When we study traditional Chinese culture or study any of these cultural elements,if you dont understand traditional Chinese culture especially for traditional Chinese culture,or if you dont study ancient Chinese characters and their the sh

13、ape,sound,or meaning of each character or the five calligraphic scripts of characters,you claim yourself to be a scholar,I cant agree with you.Why?I should say you just have a vague understanding of the culture rather than real understanding of the culture.To really understand culture,you have to st

14、udy ancient Chinese characters.What are the ancient characters?Theyre the carrier of Chinese culture.And theyre information reporters of Chinese culture.In the two characters 文化 we can see where the source of information is:In Chinese characters.Youve got to be clear about the meaning of the two cha

15、racters.Thats what 文 means and thats what 化 means.Then its easier to talk about culture.Otherwise neither cultural scholars nor culture celebrities,few of them really understand culture.Culture is very interesting.And there are different levels of culture,different dimensions.It has its denotation a

16、nd connotations.Its very rich in content.We should look at it very carefully.We used to talk about science.What is science?It is science of many branches.Science consists of many branches.Science is not equal to truth.So now when we do scientific research,in order to know whether the conclusion is t

17、rue further validation is needed.The Chinese language makes clever use of characters.As for astronomy,science of the earth,and humanities,they also should be studied as separate branches.Theyre very rich in content.For example,astronomy can be divided into metrology,astrodynamics,astrophysics,cosmol

18、ogy,galactic astronomy,supergalactic astronomy and so on.And there was an event recently.Everybody knows it.Its quantum satellite.Quantum satellite is another new research area.Make quantum satellites fly into the space to study telecommunications between the earth and the space.The information abou

19、t the world.This is very amazing.So,astronomy has very rich content.Of course,common people know that,like people in Shaanxi Province,when it gets dark,you look at the sky in the west.If you see a patch of tile-shaped clouds,people of Shaanxi know that Tile-shaped clouds predict the burning sun.In o

20、ther words,tile-shaped clouds mean the sun will burn you to death next day.Another thing that common people know is that lunar halo indicates windy weather.If theres halo around the moon,its going to be windy next day.So,theres been a lot of astronomical research done When its combined with the scie

21、nce of the earth and humanities,itll be a new area.What does the science of the earth involve?Geomorphology,climatology,soil science,biogeography,glaciology,paleogeography,marine geography,oceanography and so on.Therere so many branches.In the Chinese history,Li Bing inspected the construction of Du

22、 Jiang Irrigation System in the 3rd century BC.That was brilliant.And in Shaanxi Jinghuiqu Irrigation Area was constructed making people in this area become rich.That was a very good thing.This is the science of the earth.Therere even more things in humanities.Humanities consists of many things.Id l

23、ike to quote from a scholar in recent history.Mr.Liu Yizheng,a real cultural scholar,wrote a book entitled the History of Chinese Culture.It was probably published in 1937.Up to now,this has been a very good book.I think its very good.First of all,Mr.Lius viewpoint is sensible.He said:Most of histor

24、y books are genealogy of emperors.Theyre about emperor replacements and war-related events,things related to teaching,literature,society,customs,economy products,buildings,paintings,and carvings basically cant be found in history books.I wrote this book to fill this gap.So,most imperial dynasties an

25、d national wars are deleted while events reflecting the spirit of the whole nation were widely searched and listed.Exactly,for example,the book The Twenty-four Histories involved many histories.Of course,we have a very good history book written by Sima Qian,Its about changes of the emperors generati

26、ons.Its the imperial family tree.That cant be regarded as Chinese history,that cant be regarded as cultural history.Many things have been lost.So,this historical view of Mr.Liu is very sensible.We should stand on the position of the common people.So,lets see.The lunar halo indicates windy weather,th

27、e solar halo predicts a rainy day,And the relationship among the sun,the moon and tides have direct effects on the growth of living things and on peoples health.Astronomical changes have a huge impact on the science of the earth and society.Take cyclone for example,Cyclone doesnt affect Xian city mu

28、ch,but you can feel it in southern parts of China.When you are in the United States,tornado has huge impacts.Astronomical change affects humanity,it affects human society as well as the earth.When theres drought,the earth becomes barren for a thousand miles,Common people cant harvest even a grain of

29、 crops.This is a huge impact.So,weather changes are something that humans must study.Its the same case with the change of things.Seas change into mulberry fields and mulberry fields into seas.Theres a ridge full of shells in the county Dulan,Qinghai Province.A large area of shells can be seen on thi

30、s ridge.Nobody knows why therere so many seashells here.Where they came from?Time brings great changes to the world.When the sea level rose other places went down,the bottom of the sea turned into this field.So,the shells appeared on the ridge.A large number of seashells.You know In Qinling Mountain

31、,you can still find shells on its peak.This is the evidence.Although human beings are small in size,they conform to the laws of the heaven and the earth.So,the ancients thought that the human body corresponds with mountains,rivers,the heaven and the earth.It is affected by the changes of the heaven

32、and the earth.So,in the past,practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine said,there is a biological clock in the human body.The body will respond differently over time.Its all natural.And therere nine palaces in the heaven and nine places on the earth.It all sounds very interesting.This is a piece

33、 of squared paper with nine square blocks for practicing calligraphy.But you look at it carefully,youll find it amazing.East,west,north,south,center,similar to the five elements(metal,wood,water,fire and earth)Center is earth,East is wood,South is fire,West is metal,North is water.So why isnt the Ye

34、llow Emperor called the emperor but the Yellow Emperor?He was the master of the yellow soil Hence his name Yellow refers the color of the soil on the earth.He was the master of the land.So,hes right in the center Chinese culture is amazing.On the Eight Diagrams and the nine squares there are diagram

35、s Qian,Kun,Zhen,Gen,Li,Kan,Dui,Xun.And then in the center,the structure of the character Keeps the square in the center and radiates outward.Let me give you an example.Treatment by traditional Chinese medicine.What does it involve?Four methods of diagnosis and eight principles.The four diagnostic me

36、thods are inspecting,smelling,asking,and feeling the pulse,Inspection means looking at the patient.Look at his complexion,see whether hes sick,and then look at his tongue,look at his cheek,Look at his eyes.Because the face can reflect the condition of internal organs,the internal organs can be refle

37、cted externally.Yesterday I saw a young man,I told him that he had indigestion lately.He admitted and asked how I knew it.I said its easy,look at your nose,the skin is dark and grey on both sides of the nose.Dark and grey color indicates coldness in the body.So,inspecting is the first thing to do be

38、fore making a diagnosis in Chinese medicine.The second thing is smelling.If you come closer to people nearby,they say you have bad breath,Its due to ingestion of the stomach.Thats a simple truth.The third thing is to ask the patient questions and get answers,followed by feeling the pulse to verify t

39、he diagnosis.This is called four methods of diagnosis and eight principles.Therere Yin and Yang,asthenia and sthenia,cold and heat.So,its not that when youre sick,you have to take some tonics,this is a misunderstanding.People who sell drugs recommend you all the drugs.How can you take all the medici

40、nes like food?So Traditional Chinese Medicine is about treating sthenia syndrome requiring purgation,treating deficiency with tonification.Like when the stomach has heat,Ill prescribe you some pills to speed up your bowel movements.If it doesnt work,take some pills that are good for digestion to rem

41、ove the accumulated food in your stomach Like Bin Lang Si Xiao Bolus to cure indigestion.It works like this.Sthenia syndrome requiring purgation,Treating deficiency with tonification.If theres lack of something,then you have tonification.If youre not plagued by weakness，why have tonification?Some yo

42、ung people are healthy,but they take tonics.,In doing so theyre inviting death.Theyre adding fuel to the fire.So according to the Book of Changes,Everything in the universe is composed of the two elements,Yin and Yang.The environment in which we live is a combination of rigid and flexible elements,I

43、n interpersonal relationship,righteousness comes first.The Book of Changes and Tao Te Ching emphasize As the heaven maintains vigor through movements,A gentle man should constantly strive for self-perfection;As the earths condition is receptive devotion,A gentle man should treat the external world w

44、ith a broad mind.So thats what it is,which is interesting.Another example is Chinese characters.The creation of Chinese characters.Our ancestors looked up at the sky,looked at the ground,took from the near side,Took things at a distance,and drew symbols.So Chinese characters are the carrier and info

45、rmation source of Chinese culture.There is a symbol in Dawenkou Culture,The mountain is burning because of the scorching sun.Mr.Tang Lan,a scholar of ancient Chinese characters,said The word 热(meaning hot)is an ideographic character.This character was invented in the Neolithic Age.We talk about civi

46、lization all the time,Whats civilization?Its the recorded history.The history of using characters is civilization.So,like these Neolithic symbols,They appeared on relics of Dawenkou,Banpo,and Yangshao Cultures.They also appeared on the colored pottery in Gansu Province.They can be seen on the color

47、pottery in Qinghai Province.These symbols were the first groups of Chinese characters.So,when did they first appear?6,000 years ago.In other words,6,000 years ago when the world was still barbaric.With the creation of Chinese characters,the Chinese nation,entered a new era of human civilization.That

48、s the sign.So,you should have No doubt about it.6,000 years ago,Our ancestors already created characters.Another broad aspect of Chinese culture is dialects.Dialects are amazing,They deserve study.The ancients studied dialects.So,in modern times in Shaanxi,There was a great scholar and dramatist nam

49、ed Fan Zidong.Mr.Fan wrote a book called Guanxi Dialect Gouchen,Therere many interesting things in the book.Mr.Fan asked:What is gudong?Gudong means ancient stuff.Things in ancient times were called gudong.But now some people write it as 骨董(a homophone of 古东).What does ancient stuff have to do with

50、骨(meaning bone)and 董(a surname)?Theres no relationship between them.You can see many antique shops around the country all use the characters 骨董.Its a big joke.Mr.Fan Zidong corrected it,It shouldnt be 骨董 but 古东.Let me give you another example.The two daughters-in-law in one family are called 妯娌,Shaa