发布时间 : 星期二 文章中国文化通览(2)更新完毕开始阅读5e414832c850ad02df80415d
The golden mean is for the impartial and mild but against the extreme. The ingenuity in varying tactics depends on mother wit.
The ultimate motive in seeking for harmony and maintaining equilibrium is to maintain stability － one of Chinese people’s major traits. One feature of agricultural civilization is the maintenance of a settled life. The harmonious and stable life molds the Chinese people’s character of being content with what they are and what they have. With little aggressiveness they are inclined to be satisfied with a simple and placid life. They seldom lose control of themselves, neither over-delighted, nor over-sorrowful, but imbued with persistence. They have a serene and sober dignity, and an optimistic attitude to grievances and disasters. They are skillful in dissolving injustice and calamity with tolerance and humor. In the guise of their mildness surge high aspirations. However, this might engender some limitations, such as the inertia of resting on one’s laurels, being worldly wise or excessive self-protection in front of disputes over rights and wrongs or gains and losses.
大一统的观念和注重整体利益的价值取向
中国传统社会具有宗法社会的性质，重视人伦关系成为其文化特色。孟子将“人伦”归结为“父子有亲，君臣有义，夫妇有别，长幼有序，朋友有信”。这五种基本的社会关系有四种关系与血缘和家庭有关，而国家关系正是这种血缘和家庭关系的拟制。人伦文化注重血缘亲情，强调等级名分，强化社会成员的角色意识，
着眼于家庭和社会利益的全局，注重内部的秩序与凝聚力。正是在人伦文化的基础上，形成了大一统的观念和注重整体利益的价值取向。
中国传统价值观念强调大一统和注重整体利益。鉴于小农经济的松散性，为了把千万个散漫的小农家庭组织起来，以维持社会的秩序和运行，作为君主专制中央集权制度的补充，大一统观念应运而生。大一统的观念由来已久，早在西周就产生了“溥天之下，莫非王土，率土之滨，莫非王臣”的观念。就是在政治上分裂割据的春秋战国时代，“尊王攘夷”、“王者执一”仍然是华夏各国的共识。秦汉统一王朝的建立，在制度上进一步强化了大一统的观念。秦始皇的琅刻石宣称：“六合之内，皇帝之土”。汉武帝尤其推崇《春秋》“大一统”的精神，大一统的观念进一步深入人心。这一时期产生的历史巨著《史记》，在《五帝本纪》中把东夷、西夏，以及夏、商、周、秦、汉，包括四边的戎狄蛮夷，都归结为黄帝的子孙，黄帝成为中华各民族的共同祖先。“炎黄子孙”的概念由此产生。“大一统”的观念获得了族源学上的论证，从此成为中国人挥之不去的文化情结。
传统社会宗法关系强有力的纽带作用和强调集权统一的观念文化与制度文化，培养出中华民族注重整体利益的价值观念。在这种价值观念中，社会的利益、国家的利益和家庭的利益始终是第一位的，而地方的利益、局部的利益和个人利益往往被忽视。个性被淹灭在共性之中，整齐划一是理想典范，标新立异则是异端另类。
注重整体利益的价值取向培育了中华民族的爱国主义和集体主义的精神传统。在中国历史上，无数的民族英雄在民族发展的关键时刻，能放弃个人的利益，甚至置自己的家庭生命于不顾，为了民族的大义，赴汤蹈火，死不旋踵。这些民族英
雄身上表现出来的精神，受到历代人民的崇敬，最终凝结为我们民族的精神脊梁。中华民族在长期曲折的发展中，能挽狂澜于既倒，历劫难而不衰，主要得力于此。爱国主义和集体主义精神，使中华民族具有强大的凝聚力和生命力。但注重整体利益的价值取向在某些条件下可能产生一些消极的影响。专制集权可能导致暴政，过分地强调整体的需要容易造成对个体权利的忽视和压制，不利于调动个人的积极性和创造性。所以在倡导爱国主义和集体主义精神的同时，如何正确处理调整集体与个人、整体与局部的利益，在二者间求得一种相对平衡，发挥各方面的积极性，成为一个很重要的理论问题和实践问题。
The Conception of Great National Unity and Values of
Collectivism
China’s ancient society was patriarchal in nature, in which human relations were given priority. Mencius summed up human relations as “Between father and son, there should be affection; between sovereign and minister, righteousness; between husband and wife, attention to their separate functions; between old and young, a proper order; and between friends, fidelity.” Out of these five basic human relations, four were related with blood ties and family. State relationship was a copy of this kind of family blood relationship. The culture based on human relations held as essential the blood relationships, and highlighted people’s social status. With a view to the overall situation of the family and social interests, it paid special attention to the internal order and cohesiveness. It
was on the basis of this culture that the concept of great national unity and collectivism came into being.
Traditional Chinese values attached great importance to collective interest. In light of the slack small-scaled peasant society, in order to organize thousands of loosely connected peasant families to sustain social order and operate as complements of autocratically centralized system, the conception of great national unity emerged as the times required in ancient China. Early in the Western Zhou Dynasty, there was the notion that “all the land under the sun belongs to the king; all the people within this country are the king’s subjects.” Even in the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States periods, plagued by internal wars among the states, it was still the common understanding of all the states of China that “each should respect the king and reject the officials” and that “there is only one king across the land”. The founding of the unified empire in the Qin Dynasty further consolidated the notion of great national unity. Inscription on First Emperor’s Langya engraved stone reads “All the land in the universe belongs to the Emperor.” Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty canonized in particular the spirit of great national unity, making it deeply rooted among the people. According to the Historical Records, written in this period, people of Eastern Yi and Western Xia, of Xia, Shang, Zhou, Qin and Han dynasties, and of the minority nationalities living around the Central Plain, such as the Rong, Di, Man and Yi, were