The Spiritual World of Chinese People: their philosophy, belief, moral, value and character

The key to fully understand a people is their spiritual world, i.e. their philosophy, belief, moral, value etc. Only when you have studied their spiritual world can you really understand their customs, their behaviors, their laws and their social systems. Despite that China has experienced several cultural revolutions in its modern history deeply in Chinese peoples mind some of the traditional values are still firmly held. . Chinese Philosophy Philosophy, in literal sense, means loving wisdom. Loving wisdom as an activity is meditating over the most basic questions concerning the universe, religion or our human existence, such as what is the origin of the world?, What is the basic law in our universe and society?, most basically speaking, how can we lead a happy life?, most basically speaking, how can we make a just politics? etc. Unlike western philosophy which mainly concerned the nature at its early time, Chinese philosophy was mainly about our human beings at its very beginning. What Chinese ancient philosophers meditated and talked about were questions like: what is the most universal law, how to make a good state, how to make a peaceful world and how to be a virtuous man. There have been rich thoughts in answering these questions, but here I only select two ideas which are most influential on Chinese culture. 1. The Idea of The Unity of Heaven and Human Heaven is usually translated as (tian) in China. But in Chinese language has more meanings than one. Originally means the super existence over human beings and just for its this meaning it is regarded the counterpart of Heaven in Chinese. From it original meaning also evolves out other meanings. To sum up, has meanings of: (1) the supreme existence, the God and the place where gods live; (2) the origin of the basic moral, political and social laws; (3) the nature. So The Idea of The Unity of Heaven and Human can be basically explained as the divine is the human, the natural is the social. As for the first meaning of , by the idea of the divine is the human, people are regarded to be supervised by . If he does merits he will be rewarded and if he does demerits he will be punished. As cannot come to the world to govern the human beings personally, he sends his representatives to the world, who are the emperors and kings. So in ancient China an emperor or a king are called the son of God. As they are sent by , emperors or kings must do their best to meet the peoples needs, i.e. to keep the society in order and make people lead a happy life. Once he abuse his power to do something against peoples will, he will be warned by through anomalies like thunder in winter, snow in summer, bird of three legs or snake of double heads. If he continues to do wrong doings he will be warned by disasters like floods, draughts, earthquakes or pestilences. If he continues to overlook these serious warnings, he will be overthrown by his people. will send a new son to the world to replace him. Such idea is shown through a sentence in one of Confucians classics called the History: the God looks through the eyes of the masses and listens through the ears of the masses. This idea was also expressed by an ancient Chinese philosopher Dong
1

Zhongshu, who said in his work Meditations on History: God and human beings are the same kind; God and human beings can communicate with each other; God and human beings can react to each other. Such idea was so deeply embedded in Chinese minds that from ancient time to modern time rulers, leaders and governments of China attached great importance to the will of the people, so evolved the political philosophical idea of people-centered, which is a very important characteristic of Chinese traditional politics. As for the second meaning, by the idea of the divine is the human, the basic moral, political and social laws are from . These basic laws are called in Chinese language, which is pronounced dao and originally means road, path or way. As these basic laws are from , is often called by ancient Chinese. Now that are the basic laws or principles from heaven they are divine and sacred and should be carried out by everybody. If someone fails to observe them he will be regarded to violate the decree of heaven or run counter to the order of God and be considered to lose his nature which is regarded to be endowed by . Thus he loses his quality as a human being. But if one can carry out these laws thoroughly and get great achievement in morality he will be horned as sage which is the most honorable title in China. Compared with that a king is the political representative of heaven, a sage is the moral representative of heaven. So a sage is also called a king not in power. Such ideas can be found in one of Confucian classics called the Doctrine of the Mean in which it is said: what heaven has conferred is called the nature; accordance with the nature is called dao; to learn and practice dao is called the education. Here Confucians connected social principles dao with human nature and connected human nature with divine laws (what heaven has conferred) in order to tell people that the three are the same in essence. That the three are boiled down to (moral) education means that moral education is essential in political governance. So we are told in another Confucian doctrine the Great Learning: From the emperor down to the masses, all must consider the cultivation of the person the root of everything besides. So came out another core idea of Confucians political philosophy------ ruling through virtue. The sense it makes is that if all the people cultivate themselves to be virtuous, the whole society and country can be kept in order conscientiously with few laws and penalties. The idea of the divine is the human did work in Chinese history, especially in politics. An emperor, as the representative and son of God in the world and to observe the principle of ruling through virtue, should be a moral model before he asked his people to be virtuous. So he must be educated by Confucian masters or cultivate himself from a very early age. As there was no other power to control or balance the imperial power in ancient China, these philosophical and moral ideas played the role of the function. As for the third meaning, by the idea of the natural is the social, people in ancient China took the nature as their model. Nature or the nature is often called or : di, means the earthand is generally regarded the origin or the creator of all the things by Chinese people. In this case is not the God and has no sense, no feeling, no will and no intention. But it has virtues and laws which human beings should emulate. Confucius has once said in The Analects: only heaven can be regarded great and only
2

Yao can follow the example of it. For Confucians, has the virtues of creativity (creates all things), activity (never stops) and modesty (never flaunts). In one of Confucians classics called the Changing we read: the great virtue of the Heaven and Earth is creativity; the Heaven acts vigorously and powerfully and people of virtue should follow the example of it to make unceasing efforts in progress. For Taoists, the natural law is also our social law and human law. Lao-tzu has once said: man follows the example of the earth, the earth follows the example of heaven, heaven follows the example of dao (the universal law), dao follows the example of nature. In Taoists mind, the law that nature abides by is doing nothing for every thing which means nature never does a thing on purpose but achieves all the things in the world. According to this universal law, a ruler should do as less as possible to interfere in the society if he wants his state to be prosperous and an individual should live as simply as possible if he wants to have a safe and long life. To do so, people should have little knowledge, little feeling, little will and little desire. Here we can see the great difference between Confucianism and Taoism. In eye-mind of Confucians , the nature, is most active, diligent and prolific. So to follow the example of it people should be educated and cultivated to be knowledge- able and moral and do their best for their duties and responsibilities for family, nation and the world. On the contrary, Taoists regard nature inactive and passive. So to follow the example of it people should purify their hearts and weaken their desires. In other words, Confucians advocate a social life while Taoists like to live freely and independently. The two opposing philosophical ideas play different roles in Chinese culture and for the spiritual world of Chinese people. Confucianism is regarded the nourishment for the mind as it offers motive, reason and strength for people to struggle up in life while Taoism is like the remedy for the soul as it can make people calm down and feel comfortable when they are unsatisfied or frustrated in their life or career. The idea of The Unity of Heaven and Human deeply and widely influences Chinese culture. In Chinese mind god, nature and human coexist and affect and react to each other. By this idea Chinese people, unlike the westerns who at first regarded themselves the slaves of god and later became strongly against god, have never wholly subdued to god or nature and also have never thought themselves able to conquer the nature. To their opinion, compared with nature our human beings have both strong points and weak points and only by observing the natural laws and cooperation with nature can our human beings exist and develop. On other aspect, the idea of The Unity of Heaven and Human gives people clues to get resources both material and spiritual from nature. Chinese people find not only food from nature but tonics and remedies as well. As for the spiritual resource, it depends on fraternities. Confucians took jade as their spiritual symbol as it was regarded pure, firm, faithful and gentle. Taoists took water as their spiritual totem as it was considered humble, favorable and perseverant. The idea of The Unity of Heaven and Human also influences on timing and sitechoosing of building and ceremony in China. 2. The Idea of The Cooperation of Yin and Yang While the idea of The Unity of Heaven and Human mainly answers questions like where our basic social laws come from?, what or where is our ultimate judgment?,
3

the idea of The Cooperation of Yin and Yang will mainly answer questions like what is the basic structure of our universe?, how do the things exist?, although it is in fact the extension of the first idea. Long time ago Chinese ancestral sages noticed that things in our universe often had their opposites or opposing sides. For instance, there is heaven above our heads and an earth under our feet; there a sun in the day and a moon at night; there are male animals and female animals; there are men and women; there are husbands and wives; there are monarchs and ministers; there are lords and servants. Even for a mountain, there is one side towards the sun and another side in shade; for a leaf, there is upside and underside. These natural phenomena inspired ancient Chinese philosophers to abstract from them the idea of The Cooperation of Yin and Yang. Yang in Chinese language is , which is pronounced yang and originally means sunshine. As an abstract concept of philosophy it means the Positive, representing the bright, the active, the warm, the hot, the hard, the strong, male, etc. Yins Chinese character is which is sounded yin and originally means shade. As a philosophical abstract concept it means the Negative, representing the dark, the passive, the cool, the cold, the soft, the weak, the female, etc. That things consist of two parts Yin and Yang is a basic theory about the structure of the universe in Chinese traditional philosophy. The two parts are usually opposites but exist in a unity. The Chinese philosophical idea of Yin and Yang may bear some resemblances to the theory of contradiction in western philosophy. According to the theory of contradiction, contradiction is a universal phenomenon which exists in every thing and every time; it composes two opposing sides which are in a unity. But the two theories also have big differences. Firstly, in the theory of contradiction the relation of the two sides of the contradiction is militant and the militancy of the relation is irreconcilable; whereas according to the theory of Yin and Yang, there may be conflict between the two sides but they are mainly cooperative. Secondly, according to the theory of contradiction, the development of things is made by the fighting of the two sides of the contradiction in things with the result of one overcoming the other and thus a new contradiction being born; whereas according to the theory of Yin and Yang, new things are created through the cooperation of Yin and Yang and can coexist with Yin and Yang, with none of the two sides perishing. According to the theory of Yin and Yang, a good state of existence and development of a thing depends on a good balance between the two sides of Yin and Yang in the thing. Once the balance is broken, disharmony will be caused and the unity which consists of Yin and Yang will be impaired. For instance, in a family the wife and the husband play the parts of Yin and Yang respectively. Usually the couples are supposed to have certain duties and responsibilities to the family and to each other and have certain rights and authority as a wife or husband. If they both carry out their duties and responsibilities well and each enjoys his or her rights and authority, the family is regarded stable and healthy and can make constant development in the future, because the balance between them is held well. But if one of them becomes irresponsible or arbitrary the balance will be broken and the family faces the danger of break-up. Take climate as another instance: according to the theory of Yin and Yang climates decided
4

by the air of Yin and the air of Yang. If the two kinds of air both work moderately there will be good weathers and a good harvest can be expected. But if the air of Yang becomes excessive there will be hotness and drought and if the air of Yin works too much there will be excessive rains and water logging. Based on such an understanding of the universe, Confucius had once pointed out Harmony is what matters and Harmony but not sameness. The two maxims has long been become the basic principles for Chinese people conduct themselves in the society and also become the basic political principles for Chinese government to deal with international affairs. . Chinese Moral Ideas China is a nation of morality or a moral nation as no other nation can match it in moral achievement. Confucians were moralists and had very good studies in morality, ethics and virtue. They established a lot of moral and social norms and weaved them into a perfect system, which was carried out through history. Despite that China has got into a new era and these social and moral norms has once been criticized as the outdated feudal ideas, deep in the mind of modern Chinese people they are still kept and observed. 1. , human-heartedness In this moral system the core idea is being pronounced ren. The left part of it means man and the right part means two. The way it is created indicates it originally means care about others. So when one of Confucius pupils asked him for its meaning he explained it as loving all men. Mencius interpreted it as the development of the feeling of sympathy. By such meaning we can find its counterpart in English: humanheartedness or benevolence. There is a story which can explain well the humanheartedness in Confucianism. In the story we read: One day Confucius passed by a market with Zi Lu, one of his pupils and bodyguard, when he heard a quarrel from a corner. He sent Zi Lu to see what happened. Zi Lu went and found that the quarrel was between an old man, a buyer, and a young man, a seller, about how much on earth should the old man pay the young man as the old man bought 3 jin (Chinese weight unit) vegetable with the price being 8 qian (ancient Chinese monetary unit) per jin; the young man asked for 24 qian while the old man only paid him 23 qian. You are wrong, granddad! Zi Lu couldnt refrain from remarking, you really should pay the young man 24 qian. Im not wrong, it is the young man who is wrong! the old man replied angrily. If you dont believe me, lets go to my master Confucius, who is sanding over there. Zi Lu said. Ok, but if your master proves you are wrong, what will you do? the old man answered. Ill pay you my gold helmet, and what about you? Ill pay you my head! Then Zi Lu came back to Confucius with the old man. After listening to the story, Confucius said: Zi Lu, you are wrong. Pay the granddad your gold helmet! Zi Lu was astonished by Confucius words and had to give his valuable helmet to the old man as they had a agreement. After doing so Zi Lu left Confucius immediately with great angry and bewilderment. Some days later Zi Lu returned to Confucius and asked why he made such an absurd judgment. Confucius said calmly: Zi Lu, I judged you were wrong and you lost your gold helmet, but if I decided the old man were wrong, what would he lose? It suddenly dawned on Zi Lu that his
5

master deliberately made the mistake to save the old mans life. Whether the story is true or not does not matter. What matters is the real meaning of Human-heartedness we get through the story, which can be understood as cherishing life. To be human-hearted or benevolent we cherish not only human life but other lives as well. Confucius advocacy of do not hunt birds when they are in sleep and do not hunt fish with net can be regarded the Human-heartedness towards animals. To make the norm of Human-heartedness more rational and easy to carry out Confucius also put forward two principles: let others get what you want to get and achieve what you want to achieve; and do not exert on others what you do not want to be exerted on. The latter one is regarded the Golden Principle not only in China but also in the world. 2. , righteousness Human-heartedness is the basic moral idea for an ideal society, but only itself is not enough to make a harmonious society as it is mainly based on sensibility and mainly good for private relationships. We live in communities and organizations and the relationships are much more complicated than the private ones, so another important moral idea was advocated by Confucians, which is . is pronounced yi in Chinese language and originally means to fairly divide profit. Mencius explained it as the development of the feeling of shame. So its English counterpart can be righteousness or justice. Sometimes we face great dilemmas when the norm of Human-heartedness is carried out. For instance, when a murderer is captured what should be done on him? According to the idea of Human-heartedness every human life is valuable and should be cherished, so the life of the murderer should be cherished too. Shall we let the murderer go without any punishment? In fact none would like to let the murderer go without punishment, concerning that if he is not punished there will be more and more murderers. To execute a murderer is to run counter to the idea of Human-heartedness, but is requested by the idea of Righteousness. The relation and the difference between the two concepts are such: Righteousness is based on Human-heartedness ------- you should never count on a man who is not human-hearted to be righteous; but they are different as Human-heartedness is mainly developed from felling (of affection, sympathy or friendliness, etc.) while Righteousness is mainly developed from reasoning and Humanheartedness is mainly kindness towards individuals while Righteousness is responsibility for all. So Confucians advocated To do justice you can sacrifice ties of blood. This is an idea of fulfilling Righteousness at cost of Human-heartedness. 3. , respectfulness The third moral norm we talk about is . It is pronounced li and has the original meaning of sacrificial rite or memorial ceremony. Since the cultural revolution at the beginning of Zhou Dynasty which turned the former divine culture into human culture, meanings of have mainly being of humanism. To sum up, in Chinese language has meanings of ceremony, rite, ritual, propriety, etiquette, manners, gift, etc. In these meanings there is one common spirit which is respectfulness. So as a moral principle means respectfulness or courtesy. Such meaning of was also indicated by Mencius who said: The feeling of modesty and complaisance is the principle of propriety. Respectfulness is specially shown in China to the old, the elders, the superiors, the
6

seniors, guests and visitors. When Chinese people have a party they will let such a person take a seat of honor and during the party they will also toast his or her health. To be respectful Chinese people often express their dissatisfaction, grievance or angry in an implicit way. Like Righteousness Respectfulness is also embedded in Human-heartedness; because you love someone, you respect someone. Such feelings of loving and respecting must be shown in a proper way of action or behavior so was born a lot of rites, ceremonies and proprieties in China. So China is called the nation of ceremony and propriety in the world. 4. , trustworthiness The fourth moral norm I want to mention is , which has the pronunciation of xin. It consists of two parts: , which means man, and , which means word. By the way it is made we can get its meaning ------ to keep ones word. So we may use trustworthiness or truthfulness as its English counterpart. Mohists highlighted the Trustworthiness saying words must be kept, duties must be done. Confucius has also said: I do not know how a man without truthfulness is to get on. Unlike westerners who from long time ago guaranteed their trades or businesses by written legal contracts, Chinese people traditionally did this by oral contracts and what made such contracts carried out was not law but morality ------ the norm of trustworthiness. Another moral norm which is very close to is . Its left part means word while its right part means achieve, so putting the two parts together means to achieve ones word. So its counterpart in English should be honesty. Honesty has once been highlighted by Confucians who thought it a moral character of heaven. Nowadays people put and together to make a single word which is regarded the basic moral principle for enterprises and entrepreneurs. 5. , filial piety Another very important moral idea in Chinese traditional culture is , which is pronounced xiao. Its English counterpart is filial piety, which asks people to be good to their elders especially their parents. In Confucians classics the model of the Filial Piety is Shun, who was an ancient king about 2000 B.C. and who held an unwavering faith of filial piety in his young ages despite that his parents treated him very badly. In The Analects there are such words, Filial piety and fraternal submission, are they not the basis of all benevolent actions? A man who is not good to his parents will never be good to others. In ancient China filial piety was generally regarded favorable to the stability of a family and the stability of families was generally regarded favorable to the stability of the whole society and country. So from Han Dynasty to Tang Dynasty filial piety was considered so important that became a key word in the posthumous titles of the emperors and the rulers of Han Dynasty even advocated ruling by filial piety. Nowadays filial piety is still advocated in China, but the way to carry it out has changed. In ancient China filial piety means submission to parents and now it means doing as much as possible to make parents happy without losing your human rights. Apart from the ones above, there are still many others such as (zhong), which means loyalty or faithfulness, (jie), which has the meaning of integrity and (zhongyong) which means moderation.
7

 . Basic Values of Chinese people 1. Family-centered Chinese traditional values are family-centered. To expound Chinese traditional values we need to quote some words from a Confucian treatise which is called the Great Learning: Make yourself cultivated, then make your family regulated, then make your state rightly governed, then make the world tranquil and happy. These words set up a life goal and the steps to the goal for ancient Chinese people. In the four steps, the second (regulating family) is a key link. A man is born and bred in family. Without his family he cannot survive, so his first responsibility in his life is to his family. He works hard not only for his present family but also for his family history. If he gets great achievement in fame, wealth or official rank, he is regarded to bring honor to his ancestors and he will be praised by his descendants in his family tree book. If he does wrong doing he is regarded to bring shame or humiliation to his ancestors and he will abounded by his descendants, which means he will be not recorded or mentioned in his family tree book. Even now if you ask a Chinese student why he/she works so hard, he/she will say: I want my parents (and other family members) to be pleased, to be happy, to lead a good life. So when Chinese people think of a mans value in his life they will see more what he have done for his family than what he have done for himself. 2. Collectivism Such an outlook on life leads to another value in China which is collectivism. Collectivism has once been greatly advocated in the first 30 years of new China and even now it is still valued by most of Chinese people. In a society of collectivism it is not the interests (fame, interests, freedom) of individuals that are firstly concerned but that of the collective, such as nation, country, party which is the organization or unity in which you live and work. So unlike western stories (like you can see in novels, movies or TV plays) whose themes are individual heroism, Chinese stories themes are mainly collective heroism. 3. New elements Nowadays Chinese people have new elements in their values. These new values are brought by two famous cultural revolutions. One is the New Culture Movement which was held from 1919 to 1937 (interrupted by the Japanese invasion), and another one is the Great Cultural Revolution which was held from 1966 to 1976. They both opposed traditional culture especially Confucianism and advocated western modern values, first time freedom, equality and democracy, and second time communism, collectivism. Needless to say, these foreign values substantially have much influence on Chinese modern values. 4. Value Reconstruction Two revolutions do not make the western values embedded in Chinese peoples mind, but do seriously spoiled traditional values. After the Great Cultural Revolution, China is in fact in a time of no value system. Now Chinese government and academia realize the problem and begin to reconstruct a new value system. The new value system will absorb some western values like equality, democracy, legality, but is based on
8

traditional culture. In recent years sported by government, many ceremonies are held to commemorate some Chinese ancient ancestors like Emperor Huang and Emperor Yan, especially Confucius. Another event which is worth mentioning is that in January 11, 2011, a big Confucius monument of statue was set up beside Tian An Men Square. These evens indicate Confucianism will play more important part in future in Chinese cultural reconstruction. . Religions in China China has freedom of religion which is protected by law. There are about 120,000,000 religious believers in China now. 1. General survey All the world famous religions have their believers in China. The first religion in China is Buddhism with over 13000 temples, 200000 monks and nuns and about 80000000 believers (it is very difficult to give an exact statistical number of Buddhist believers, because we cannot draw a clear line between the true believers and the unbelievers in China.). The second is Islam with more than 30000 mosques and about 20000000 believers. The third is Christianity with 12000 churches and 25000 other simple venues, 18000 clergies and about 10000000 Christians. The fourth is the Taoism with 15000 temples and 5000000 believers. The fifth is the Catholicism with 4600 churches and simple venues, 4000 clergies (pastors and priests) and 5000000 Catholics. 2. About Buddhism Buddhism is the first foreign religion that entered China. It was introduced from India through west Asian countries in the 1st century A.D. (the East Han Dynasty) and became prosperous in the 6th and 7th century A.D. (the beginning of Tang Dynasty). Its main ideas are: All things in the world are illusory, unreal and the essence of life is not happiness but painfulness. To avoid or get rid of the painfulness of life you must keep realizing in you mind the illusion of the world which means that all things including wealth, fame, power and love, are illusory because they are not eternal but transient, and eradicate/ root out all desires ------ desires for sex, delicacy, comfort, entertainment, etc. To do so, firstly you must live as a recluse/hermit, which means you should be cut off from society so that you can avoid the temptation of the world life (this is the reason why all Buddhist temples are built in mountains or woods). Secondly, you must recite Buddhist Scriptures and sit in meditation every day, which helps you to realize/ comprehend the truth of Buddhism. In doing so, you eliminate your desires. Without desires you have no satisfaction and frustration. No satisfaction and frustration, no feeling; no feeling, no painfulness. Without painfulness your soul gets into absolute tranquility. This spiritual state of absolute tranquility is the state of so called Nirvana which is the Ultimate Bliss pursued by Buddhists. Buddhism also advocates cultivating and practicing by doing good deeds, especially saving lives. So nowadays in China you can often find people ----- Buddhism believers, who buy animals like snakes, turtles from hands of traders and then set them free. It is said that if a person does enough good deeds during his/her life time, he/she will be admitted into the Land of Ultimate Bliss after death. If he or she does wrong doings
9

during his or her life time he or she will be sent into hell/inferno suffering from endless tortures. To help his disciples in cultivation Sakyamuni made/laid down five disciplines: no killing, no theft, no sex, no lie and no drink. Later his successors added three: no meat, no entertainment and no magnificent seat. Buddhism belongs to polytheism (monotheism, ). The top gods are called Buddha, the seniors Bodhisattva, the junior arhat or arahat or arahant. 3. About Taoism Taoism is the only indigenous religion in China now. Its foundation is to confront Buddhism and models Buddhism, but its ideology is mainly from the School of Taoists. So like Buddhism, religious Taoists build their temples in wilderness and lead a similar life with Buddhists. Taoists believe that people can become immortal if they have enough spiritual cultivation and physiological treatment. To do spiritual cultivation they (Taoists) practice the Great Moral which is described by Lao zi, that means they must limit their worldly desires and feelings, and at last they reach the state of desiring nothing and doing nothing. To do physiological treatment, firstly Taoists practice Qigong. Qigong may be mysterious to most of people especially to foreigners, because it has no anatomical principle and confirmation, but it really does. To practice Qigong, the first step is to make your mind into a sate of calm and peace like Buddhists the Sit in Meditation, But it is more than Sit in Meditation. To practice Qigong, you need to use your will and idea to collect your energy in your body and make it circulate around your body. Such practice can cure diseases and make you fresh, healthy and strong. Another kind of Qigong is called Hard Qigong which is for fighting. Another way for physiological treatment is called Liandan which is a work to make pills of immortality. Taoists used to collect special ores such as cinnabar, alum, iron ore, etc, and grind them to powder. Then they mixed them with some special plant seeds to make some kind of pills. Some time they would put the pills into a special stove and temper them. They believed that once they collect all necessary elements/gradients and find the right way to make it, they would produce the pills of immortality. However, in fact, none of them succeeded; instead unfortunately some of them produced pills of poison and became victims of the pills. Nowadays, as scientific knowledge prevails among the masses, Taoists have stopped making pills of immorality and focused on spiritual cultivation. Needless to say, in making pills of immorality, early Taoists greatly improved chemistry and medicine in China. Especially in Chinese medicine they got great achievement and some of them became very famous medicine master in Chinese history like Zhang Zhongjing. Another contribution both Buddhists and Taoists have made and are making is in Chinese Kongfu. Due to the great leisure time and self- defence, Buddhists and Taoists like practicing Kongfu. They got great achievements both theory and practice in Chinese Kongfu. 4. About Christianity It is said that in Tang Dynasty (7th --- 10th century) a sect of Christianity,
10

Nestorianism, entered into China and was called Jingjiao at that time. In 781, the Nestorians set up a church in the capital of Tang Dynasty in Changan, which is the first Christian church in China. This sect must not be an orthodox one and more likely a rebellious faction. Whatever it might be, the fact is that this small faction had very few believers and very little influence and almost disappeared later. It is also said that in early 18th century the Roman Pope had sent a messenger as his representative with his letter to China and meet the Emperor Kangxi. The letter was more like a commendation, an order in which Emperor Kangxi was asked to give order to his subjects to stop worshipping their ancestors instead of letting them worship God. In spite of the unfriendly tone in the letter, Emperor Kandxi politely even humbly listened to the mans argument. Finally the Emperor told him that worshiping ancestors as a tradition had been in China for several thousand years and all Chinese people including himself worshiped ancestors; to prohibit them from worshipping their ancestors is like to take their lives. The order from the Pope was turned down, but the messenger did not give up. He stayed in China for another chance. The chance came when Emperor Kangxi passed away and one of his sons succeeded his imperial position, who was the Emperor Yongzheng. The messenger met the Chinese emperor again, but this time he was not as fortunate as the first time. The new emperor was not so open-minded, generous and humble as his father was. When he heard the irreverent order he became very angry and gave order to kill him immediately. Christianity was formally accepted by Chinese people in the 19th century, especially after the first Opium War. This time the new Christian comer was much wiser than their pioneers. Firstly, they made Christianity close to Chinese traditional culture as possible as they could. For instance, they called Sant. Marria Shengmuand Jesus Shengzi in Chinese culture means divine and thus we call Confucius which means divine person or sage. Secondly, to make Christianity to be accepted, they did good deeds as many as possible. It is said that the first man who converted to Christianity was saved by a missionary when he was dying of disease. 5. Why Chinese are mostly heathens? The first question is that why people should believe a religion. Generally speaking, there are mainly three reasons: for moral we need religions, for ultimate concern we need religions and for repenting and spiritual relaxation we need religions. As for the first reason, Confucianism offered a perfect moral system which was accepted by most of Chinese people through more then 2000years. As for the second reason, Confucians of high level could find their ultimate concerning in Confucianism, which is the Great Way from Heaven which was considered the origin of all the human norms, while the masses could find their ultimate concerning from ancestor worshipping. As for the third reason, people could repent to their ancestors in their family temples or graveyard/cemetery, or repent to Heaven. As for spiritual relaxation, Taoism offered a good way. So, obviously, you can say that China does not have a national formal religion, but Chinese people do not lack moral and spiritual believes and so their soul can be healthy and their mind can be virtuous.
11

 . The characters of Chinese people As a people who developed relatively independently Chinese have a lot of characteristics of their own which are quite different from that of westerns. Here we take the character of Chinese people as a whole, paying no attention to any special case. 1. The characteristics of Chinese thinking (1) Stressing whole and entirety, neglecting parts and individuals Every year U.S promulgates/issues white paper on human rights and in each of the paper they criticize China about her human rights. And each time U.S attacks, China also refutes. In such quarrels you can find the different values and different modes of thinking between Chinese and westerners. In Chinese opinion collective rights are always superior to individuals. It is reasonable to sacrifice some personal interests for that of the whole society. Such a characteristic of thinking in China is also reflected in Chinese names and the way they write an address. In Chinese names you will find that the family name is always in the first place and the given name the second, because a family name belongs to a collective, a whole, but the given names only belong to one person. The same is that when you write an address, the larger the place is the more preceding its name should be. A story also demonstrates this point. In an experiment in U.S, psychologists let both Chinese students and American students to watch some photos and then asked them to give a description and comments on the photos. What American students described and commended was the faces, eyes, hairs, etc. ------things that is concrete and particular and what Chinese students did was the whole composition, the colour, beauty, etc. -----things that is comprehensive and whole. (2) More synthesizing and intuiting, less analyzing, deducing 2. Emotion and feeling Chinese people seldom express their emotion and feeling directly. Their emotion and feeling is implicit and reserved. Even one loves a person deeply and strongly, he or she seldom says I love you(), but says I like you. love () is seldom used even between couples, not mention others. They prefer to express their feeling by body language like eye expression and activities like presenting gifts or lending hands. Here I quote a poem written by a very famous poet, Su Shi, who lived in Song Dynasty, for you to judge for yourself. Having been departed for ten years I keep missing you without consciousness Away from the grave yard is thousands of miles Where I cant go to tell my loneliness Even if we met again I wouldnt be recognized For with dirty face and grey hair Ive changed I dreamed being back to my hometown last night She was dressing and making up before a window
12

We looked at each other without a single word Only tears on our faces streamed down Yeas, what makes my heart broken every year Is the small mount grave in the moonlit night In this poem there is no love appearing, but every sentence is telling the deep love for his departed wife. 3. Other Characters (1) Industry and Thrift China has long been an agricultural nation and most of Chinese people lived on growing crops. To have a bumper harvest you need to work assiduously, which means every day you must get up early and return home late. In early times all farm work was done by hands, such as making fields, tilling, sowing/seeding, watering, fertilizing, weeding and at last reaping. Even after harvest you cant have a rest, because some other work needs to be done, such as threshing, sunning and keeping the grains from moisture/damp. Even you really get a bumper harvest, you still cant be luxury, because you cant be sure whether there will be the same bumper harvest next year. So you need to save some grains in case of a bad harvest year. In Chinese history it was not unusual that people suffered famine which was caused by drought, water logging or plague of locusts. Industry and thrift of Chinese people is not only for the living safety but for family prosperity as well. We have learned that Chinese people are family-centered, which means they pride themselves on adding glory to their families and their ancestors. So they will never be satisfied with just enough wealth to live on and they will continue to work hard to make their families develop on and on Now China is becoming an industrial country and the output value of agriculture occupies only 1 percent of whole Chinese GDP, but Chinese people havent lost this fine tradition. In fact, in a highly competitive time Chinese people become more industrious and assiduous. Laziness has ever being regarded sinful in China. (2) Patience, endurance and tolerance Chinese people are patient, tolerant and easy to endure. Being patient means that Chinese people can wait for a long time for a wishing result. Being easy to endure means that Chinese people can bear very odious and abominable things like poverty, tedious and hard work, harsh weather, unfair treatment, great pain, etc. Being tolerant means Chinese people dont like to make enemies and are easy to tolerate those who are different from themselves. There are Chinese idioms and proverbs that can demonstrate these characters of Chinese people: No late for a superior man to be revenged/avenged in ten years; Casting a sword in ten years. There are also fables and historical stories which can be good examples. The first is a fable which is called the Foolish Old Man who removed the mountains. Having long suffered from two mountains in front of his house the Foolish Old Man called his family together and told them he decided to remove the mountains. Some of
13

his children questioned: The two mountains are so big and where can we find a place to remove them to? To the East Sea! replied the Foolish Old Man. You know, the East Sea is thousands of miles away! Then what do we use to carry them? another child asked. Basket! answered the Foolish Old Man. The next day the whole family came to the mountains to start their operation. Just then the Wise Old Man, his neighbor, came to the spot and laughed at the Foolish Old Man: How a fool you are! The mountains are so big and the East Sea is so far. You even cant remove one inch thickness of the mountains in your life! Absolutely, the Foolish Old Man answered, but I have children and they will continue the operation after my death. And my children will have their children and childrens children are unlimited. As the operation will be ever-lasting while the mountains dont increase, how can we worry about it? The perseverance of the Foolish Old Man moved/touched the God who sent two men of strength to carry the two mountains away for him. In reality people would like more to remove their homes than to remove the mountains. However the story doesnt intend to tell us wisdom but to praise the spirit of the Foolish Old Man------ his perseverance which consists of patience and endurance. Another story is a historical one which is called Sleeping on brushwood and taste gall. The story is an episode about Gou Jian, the king of State Yue in the time of Spring and Autumn. Yue and Wu were neighboring states and had long been enemies. Once in a war sate Yue was defeated by state Wu and Gou Jian, the king was also captured and brought to the capital of state Wu. Gou Jian was a wise, ambitious king and able to stoop or to stand. He knew clearly at that time his fate was held in the hands of Fu Chai, the king of state Wu. Once he was known as an ambitious man his head would be removed immediately. So he became the most humble, docile and coward man before King Fu Chai. To earn Fu Chais full trust he did the most degrading things for Fu Chai. One day Fu Chai became seriously ill and none could tell what the illness exactly was and how to cure it. When Gou Jian heard of the news he immediately went to see Fu Chai and said he could diagnose diseases by tasting stool. Then he put Fu Chai stool in his mouth and tasted it and then told whats wrong with Fu Chai and wrote prescription for the disease. Gou Jian humbleness and courtesy was really effective. Fu Chai at last freed Gou Jian thinking he had lost all his confidence and will and would never be a threat to him. But as soon as he returned home Gou Jian called together his old subordinates to make plans for his rejuvenation. On the one hand he kept his word to subject to King Fu Chai with great tribute of beauties and treasures; on the other hand he made weapons, raised horses and trained solders under ground. After ten years of struggle Gou Jian recovered his strength. Then he launched his revenging war. This time Gou Jian completely defeated Fu Chai, capturing all his people and territory and making Fu Chai take his own life. What is unusual is that to remind himself of the past humiliation and the future revenge, during his ten years of preparation he refused to sleep on bed but on brushwood and sucked pig gall every morning when he got up. Gou Jian has become a model of Chinese people. In China a hero is not only brave and talent but also patient and able to endure hardship. There is another touching story which happened in the modern time of China. More than 50 years ago, a young man fell in love with a widow who was ten years older than
14

him and had two children. All his villagers and relatives didnt agree with him, especially his parents who thought that to marry a widow with two children was their familys humiliation. To get rid of the pressures from various directions one night the young man fled to a high mountain with his beloved and her children where they build their houses and farm and began their new life. For fifty years the couples had never went out of the mountain again until one day they were discovered by a touring team in 2009. The tourists were exploring the mountain when they found a flight of stone stairs up toward the higher and deeper mountain. Being curious, they climbed up along the stairs and at last arrived before a house where they were welcomed by two old couples who greeted them with How is granddad Chairman Mao ? They were surprised by the stairs, the house and the old couples, but what surprised them most was the greeting, as Chairman Mao had passed on thirty years before. Such a greeting indicated that the couples not only had lived there for at least thirty years but were wholly cut off from the outside as well. The team went out of the mountain with the unbelievable news. Then journalists and reporters from all around China came to the mountain and the myth was finally revealed. What about the stairs? The stairs was made by the man for his beloved wife. One day the man thought that they would one day went out of the mountain to visit their family members and relatives before they died, but as his wife were getting older and older and there was no path to the outside, so he decided to make a path by himself. In fifty years he made the stairs with primitive tools without break and sometimes made in cliffs by carving. At last a six- kilo- long stairs was made which consists of ten thousands steps in all. Now the stairs is called the Love Stairs to the Heaven. This story is another vivid example of Chinese peoples patience and endurance. Such character of Chinese people can also be shown in some military activities. In the War of Resist U.S Aggression and Aid Korea (1950-1953) an ambushing position of Chinese troops was hit by an incendiary bomb and the fire was caused on an ambushing soldiers body. Not to give away/expose their position, the solder whose name was Qiu Shaoyun, beard the great pain to death without even the slightest movement. In another case in 1968, both Chinese troops and Russian troops ambushed at night for a supposed battle the next day near Zhenbao Island which is in the middle of Heilong River in Harbin province and was claimed by both China and Russia at that time. At midnight it became extremely cold, the Russian troops couldnt bear it and retreated/withdrew from their ambushing position. When they came back next morning Chinese troops had already occupied the advantageous position. Needless to say, Chinese troops won the battle by their endurance. According to principle or reason, Russian people should bear colder weather than Chinese people, because they live more northern than Chinese people do, but the reality is that the Russian troops could bear no more coldness than the Chinese troops. This also embodies the endurance of Chinese people. (3) Prudence and Gentility Someone has made a metaphor/analogy about Chinese culture and western culture that western culture is the culture of pirates and Chinese one is of farmers. Pirates are adventurous, easy to take risks, brave fierce and brutal while farmers are usually
15

prudent, reserved, conservative, kind and honest. Such character of Chinese people has its root in long history of agriculture and promoted by Confucianism. Confucius had once said: where solid qualities are in excess of accomplishments, we have rusticity; where the accomplishments are in excess of solid qualities, we have the manners of a clerk. When the accomplishments and solid qualities are properly blended, we then become superior men. These Confucius words were only understood as accomplishment which means gentleness, urbaneness and elegance, leaving out another half of meaning. Confucius is the muddle of Chinese educated people and he has been described as temperate, kind, courteous, restrained and magnanimous. So being temperate, kind, courteous, restrained and magnanimous becomes the standard of moral cultivation in China. Such a character is also shown in Chinese leaders behaviors. When you watch TV news about a meeting of Chinese leaders and American leaders, you may notice that president Hu Jintao always sits properly with his feet neatly/tidily on the floor while president Obama always leans his back on the back of a sofa with his legs crossed and raised. (4) Peacefulness The metaphor see above also indicates the character of peacefulness of Chinese people. Pirates never solve problems by peaceful means and they always expect fights against any passing vessels. But farmers never like wars and they tend to solve problems by recon mediation or reconciliation. The western war-loving character can be shown through their history and in their sports. From the conquering war in Roman time to the religious war against Islam, from the colonizing wars around the world to the two world wars, from the Iraq war to the Afghanistan war, we can say the western history is a history of wars and conquest. And in sports which include Roman wrestling, duel, bullfight and boxing, we can see the same character of western people and the more brutal and bloody, the more they enjoy. People around the world often praise the democracy, freedom and science of west, but overlook the aspect of its violence. If we are always blind to their violent culture, the world will be more dangerous. As for Chinese people, the case is quite different. Through Chinese history you seldom find aggressive wars launched by China and most wars in Chinese history are defending wars against foreign invasions. And in sports you will never find any brutal and bloody games in China from remote time to modern time. You may know gunpowder was invented in China, but do you know it was invented by Chinese people only for celebration, whereas western people use it for killing people? Now China is rising, but from the very beginning China has declared that her rising is peaceful. However China declares her policy of peaceful development, there are always some countries especially the western and westernized hold a suspicious attitude towards China and spread the idea of Chinese threat. There is a Chinese idiom which is gauge the heart of a virtuous man with ones own mean measure. This idiom is quite suitable to those who spread the idea of Chinese threat, because their rising is by force and war and they think China will follow in their footsteps. Whats wrong with them is that they have not studied Chinese history and Chinese culture especially Chinese traditional values before they make a conclusion. In dealing with Iran and North Korean nuclear crisis China always advocates that the problem be solved by negotiation, not sanction
16

and war; and China is the first and the only country that declares she will not use nuclear weapons at first and not use or threaten to use nuclear weapons to a nation without nuclear weapons. There is also a Chinese proverb which is a man of virtue will solve disputes by mouth not hands. (5) Humorousness and funniness Chinese people are humor and fun loving people. They like humor and fun more than any other people in the world. But their humor and fun are not made by actions like what was made by Charlie Chaplin, instead they make their humor and fun mainly by talking. For example, my name is Wu Shengzheng and a senior Chinese leader is called Wu Guanzheng, so there is only one different character in our names just like some brothers names. Some time my colleagues would make a joke to me: Wu, I want a better job, please telephone the CCCPC (the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China) to talk to your brother. For another example, two girls are taking a stroll in campus. You may hear such conversation: girl A says: oh, my weight is put on another K.G! Girl B may reply: thats not bad; once you suffer a shortage of meat, you can cut off a piece from your thigh. Chinese people also like making fun by teasing children or the retarded. Even in very harsh time Chinese people wont forget to make jokes. So was born Chinese comic dialogues/cross talks and sketch. The former was born in the early 20th century, which is played by two people talking from beginning to the end and make you laugh again and again. The latter became popular in 1980s, which is played by several people. The difference between them is that the former consists of only talking with very few acts while the latter comprises not only talking but also acts like miniature comic dramas. Now it is Sketch that is more popular in China.

17