A Study on the Integration of the Confucian Culture and the Core Values of China

Sun Renxiang

(Zhongshan Torch Polytechnic,Zhongshan　Guangdong　528736)



A Study on the Integration of the Confucian Culture and the Core Values of China

Sun Renxiang

(Zhongshan Torch Polytechnic,ZhongshanGuangdong528736)

Core value is an important guarantee for building a harmonious socialist society and the ideological and moral basis of the unity of the people of all ethnic groups in our country.In recent years,the cultivation and practice of core values have become more and more popular;the main thoughts of core values derive from traditional culture.In retrospect of our traditional culture,Confucian culture is not allowed to be ignored.Therefore,in the process of fostering and practicing the core values,we need to analyze the combination between Confucian culture and core values,and ingeniously fuse the Confucian culture into the core values,so that the connotation of the core values would more abundant.

Confucian culture;core value;integration;practice

Ⅰ.Analysis of the role the Confucian culture plays in the development of history

1.“Benevolence” — maintaining social order

In general,the Confucian thought of “benevolence” mainly includes the following three aspects of connotation:First,“loving”,which should not only be loving their friends and family,but also loving any irrelevant person,the premise of this love is equality.In fact,this is the expression of “the law of loyalty and forgiveness”.Second,“love with difference” mainly focus on adjusting the relationship between the monarch and minister,father and son.〔1〕Third,“loving” needs to be bounded,Confucius stresses that when loving,people should control the emotions that shouldn’t appear to ensure that emotions are in the “courtesy” range.In short,Confucius’ thought emphasizes the unity of “benevolence” and “courtesy”,to a certain extent,ensuring the harmonious development of society.

2.“The concept of heaven and man” — providing spiritual power for individual development

In traditional society,the function of Confucian thought,equal to western religion,became the spiritual pillar of the people,“the concept of heaven and man” in Confucianism acknowledged on personal value,and established the main position of people in the world,but meanwhile,the concept of heaven and man did not deny the law of nature,but defined “people” as part of the nature,upheld the harmonious unity of “heaven” and “human”.〔2〕Confucian culture admitted human nature,embodied the spirit of humanity,and affirmed the social attributes of human,which to a large extent provided spiritual strength for personal development,so that people could continuously overcome all kinds of difficulties,constantly in pursuit of their own personality and values.

3.“Unremitting self-improvement” — cultivating national spirit

In traditional Chinese culture,Confucian culture is one of the most important concepts,which contains excellent ideas that formed national spirit with “unremitting self-improvement” as the core concept,the national spirit has played an important role in guiding the living and development of the Yan and Huang people,inspired the struggling history of the entire Chinese nation,and provided spirits of thought for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

Ⅱ.The main characteristics of core values of China

The ideal and reality are two completely different directions,but the two opposite directions are reflected in the core value concepts,and to build a prosperous,democratic,integrated modern socialist country is the common ideal of all people,and this ideal is based on a careful analysis of the reality before setting,reflects the requirement of the times.“Three advocates” is the concrete embodiment of the unity of people and human,in simple terms,namely the process of socialist construction needs the power of the people to rely on,bringing people to participate,the achievements of socialist construction need to be shared with all people,stressing the important unity between people and human beings.〔3〕In our core values,ideological sources derive from the traditional ethnic culture,but also emphasize the openness,emphasize to absorb valuable foreign culture and carry forward traditional Chinese culture to the world,adhere to the harmony and unity between nationality and openness.

Ⅲ.Analysis of the relativity of the integration of Confucian culture and core values.

1.The main cultural resource of core values is Confucian culture

Confucian culture is the mainstream of traditional culture,core values is the summary and enhancement of the outstanding traditional culture,the main cultural source of our core values is Confucian culture,in specific,mainly reflecting from the following three aspects:First,the value goal of core values derives from Confucian culture,the thoughts of harmony and prosperity in core values can be found in the Confucian culture in reflection.Second,the value orientation of core values derives from the Confucian culture.Finally,the value criterion of the core values derives from the Confucian culture.In conclusion,the social development needs to be based on history;currently the development of our society cannot be separated from the history,or from the traditional culture.Confucian culture is the core of traditional Chinese culture,whether in ancient society or in modern society it both plays an irreplaceable important role.We should pay attention to the inheritance of the Confucian culture,to rationally integrate it into the core values,let the Confucian culture highlight its new value.

2.Core values promote the transformation of Confucian culture in modern times

With the continuous development and changes of the society,the value of Confucian culture has changed greatly.Some of the ideas can be transformed by the application of modern ideology,to serve the development of modernization,for some of the thoughts that are not consistent with the current social development,we should abandon them.But in the conversion process,we should pay attention to dealing with the relationship between positivity and negativity,not too much “superstition” nor too “negative”,to achieve “doctrine of the mean”,avoid the crisis of cultural recognition due to the excessive negativity.〔4〕Anyway,in the process of modern transformation of Confucian culture,we should maintain correct critic attitude,diligently study the correlation between Confucian culture and core values,and integrate them together,let the Confucian culture and the modern culture organically be combined,and the positive role of the Confucian culture in the core values be played.

Ⅳ.The main path to integrate Confucian culture into core values

1.Integrate confucian culture in the cultivation of core values

First,harmony is an important concept of the core values.Second,the thought of “harmony between man and nature” was re-introduced,and is becoming more and more popular.As a matter of fact,this kind of thought can trace back to Confucian culture.Therefore,in the process of cultivating the idea of protecting the nature,this kind of Confucian thoughts should be actively involved,in order to enhance the persuasion of this idea.At last,man as an important individual in society not only relates to their own good development,but also to the construction of social morality.In the cultivation process of core values,we should firstly pay attention to individual morality building and promotion.Furthermore,the Confucian culture emphasizes the “unity of reason and desire”,and thinks that people should control their desires and “think of loyalty at the sight of profits”.In controlling the ill behaviors of pursuing fame,selfishness,indifference,etc.,we should make full use of Confucianism.

The virtue of loyalty and patriotism,honesty and trustworthiness in Confucian culture has great heritage value.On the one hand,currently in the core values,“patriotism” is very important content,but it has some differences from the Confucian meaning.In Confucianism,“patriotism” stresses more on loyalty to the monarch,emphasizing when in national crisis,the individual should come forward,but in nowadays,“patriotism” not only means to love one person,we need to change this concept,and inherit the idea of “die for my country”.〔5〕On the other hand,under the influence of the development of the market economy,people excessively pursue their personal interests,and ignore the principle of honesty and trustworthiness in different degrees.Therefore,in the process of cultivating the value of integrity,we should pay attention to the reference of Confucian thoughts,in order to enrich the ideological connotation of the value of honesty.

Confucius advocated rule by virtue,emphasizing in governing the country,one should focus on “courtesy”,and use “law” as supplement,in Confucius’ notions,to restrain people by law and stop crimes only have temporary effects,people will violate the law eventually,this is a passive method.In addition,the application of this method to maintain social stability cannot play a fundamental role.Instead,we should apply ethics to constrain people,and use the initiative to regulate their own behaviors,to avoid the crime.This kind of thought has certain reference value in the cultivation of the core values,and can fundamentally reduce illegal crimes in society.Besides,on the aspect of guiding people to do well,Confucianism is mainly represented by concept of “filial piety”,that is to use the way of treating their loved ones to treat others.In the process of constraining the behavior of citizens,we should pay attention to the reference of “filial piety”,let people really respect and care for others,and deliberately constrains the behaviors that may cause possible harm to others.

2.Integrate Confucian culture in the practice of core values

In the past society,people spread Confucian culture in various ways.In ignorant childhood,people would be “indoctrinated” Confucian culture and ideology,the content of enlightenment education is Confucian culture,the main content of family instructions is Confucian culture,the examination for the appointment of teenagers needs more of the Confucian classics as the main learning content.This shows the degree that how much people paid attention to the inheritance of Confucian culture.At present,it is an important period of cultivating the socialist practice.Society,family and school should undertake the responsibility of spreading the Confucian culture in children’s enlightenment education,and utterly instill the Confucian culture in children,so that the core value will leave a deep impression in the minds of children,and let people consciously establish and practice the core value concept since childhood.

In spread of Confucian culture,we should pay more attention to create a cultural atmosphere,in many cases,people will apply novel,opera and other forms to show and spread Confucian culture,to let people accept the influence of Confucian culture in the strong cultural atmosphere.At present,in order to promote the practice of core values,we should pay more attention to the creation of cultural atmosphere,through newspapers,television and other forms,praise the characters that accord with the core values,and criticize immoral character,to form a healthy mainstream of thoughts,let people subtle-consciously practice the core values.

In the feudal society,a wise king would not only apply the Confucian moral standards to constrain himself,but also personally publicly advocate Confucian culture and ideology,and pay attention to the education of the officials,let them become role models,so that people would follow their examples to practice the concept of Confucian culture.

Ⅴ.Summary

To sum up,to integrate the Confucian culture into the core values of China,we need to carry out from the two aspects of theory and practice.In theory,the thoughts of cosmopolitism,patriotism,and rule by rite in Confucian culture have great reference value.In practice,the communication and approach of Confucian culture have great reference value.Therefore,in the current cultivation and practice of the core values of China,Confucian culture obtains many attributes worth learning.The Confucian culture itself,the thought of Confucian culture,and the communication methods of Confucian culture should all be integrated into the core values.This way not only can ensure the cultivation and practice of the core values to achieve the desired effects,but also can promote the heritage and development of valuable traditional culture,and thus promote the construction of a harmonious society.

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〔3〕樊荣庆：《未成年人犯罪刑事诉讼程序的施行与适用》，《政法论坛》,2013年,第170-177页。

〔4〕王林清、刘高：《民刑交叉中合同效力的认定及诉讼程序的构建》，《法学家》,2015年,第75-91页。

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About the author：Sun Renxiang,associate professor at Zhongshan Torch Polytechnic.