The Rise of the Writers of the Republic of China

Zhou Hexuan asked with a smile: "Mr. Bernard Shaw, have you heard of Herman Helmholtz?"

"Of course, some people call him the greatest scientist after Darwin," said Bernard Shaw. "He invented the ophthalmoscope, and he also proposed the law of conservation of energy."

Zhou Hexuan said with a smile: "If you still have doubts about Mr. Zhu Zaiyu, you can read Herman's works, which contain comments about Zhu Zaiyu. As early as 70 years ago, Herman said such a passage: Among the Chinese, it is said that there was a prince named Zhu Zaiyu, who advocated the heptatonic scale against the opposition of the old school musicians. The method of dividing the octave into twelve semitones and transposing the tone is also the genius and skill of this Chinese invented."

Bernard Shaw has gradually chosen to believe, he said: "I will prove it."

Zhou Hexuan also said: "The invention of the twelve equal laws is not a single research result. Because it involves ancient metrology, mathematics and music acoustics, this shows that the science of the Ming Dynasty in China was not backward, and it may even be in some aspects. more advanced than the West."

"Perhaps." Bernard Shaw nodded.

There is a joke on the Internet in later generations, which is called: Never argue with an idiot, because he will pull your IQ to the same level and beat you with rich experience.

Bernard Shaw was not an idiot, but he was an idiot in an unfamiliar field. Zhou Hexuan wanted to bring the topic to a field he was familiar with but Bernard Shaw was unfamiliar with, and then refuted him, persuaded him, and defeated him!

Zhou Hexuan said: "Mr. Bernard Shaw, you said that there is no culture in China now. But what is culture?"

George Bernard Shaw explained: "Natural science, literature, art, or advanced customs, ideas, or even beliefs, these can all be called culture."

Zhou Hexuan said: "According to your point of view, I can understand it as: Is culture a concrete manifestation of civilization?"

Bernard Shaw thought for a while, nodded and said, "It can be said so."

Zhou Hexuan said with a smirk: "From the perspective of the attributes of human civilization, civilization is a collection of all social and natural behaviors that human beings get out of barbarism, including: family concepts, tools, language, writing, beliefs, religion, law, science, etc. , art, city-state and state, etc. You have no objection to this definition?"

Bernard Shaw was a little confused, but still nodded and said, "It should be like this."

Zhou Hexuan also said: "After my research with Mr. Toynbee, there are six parent civilizations in human civilization, namely ancient Egypt, Sumer, Minos, ancient China, Maya and Andes. These six civilization matrices, and There are more than ten other existing civilizations, which together constitute more than 20 civilized societies of mankind."

"Wait, what about Western civilization?" Bernard Shaw asked hastily.

Zhou Hexuan explained: "Ancient Greece is a descendant civilization of Minos, and modern Western civilization is a descendant civilization of ancient Greece. Do you understand?"

"Understood." Bernard Shaw was dazed, as if he was learning a history lesson.

In fact, according to archaeological discoveries of later generations, Minos has no inheritance relationship with ancient Greece. However, due to the existing archaeological knowledge, Zhou Hexuan had to agree with Toynbee's statement that Minos was regarded as the ancestor of Western civilization.

Zhou Hexuan also said: "Every civilization contains several stages of origin, growth, decline and disintegration. The mother civilizations of Western civilization, Minos and ancient Greece, have been annihilated in the long river of history, while ancient Chinese civilization has continued to this day. , there must be a reason."

Bernard Shaw laughed and said, "According to what you say, Chinese civilization is in a stage of disintegration."

"No, it's not the stage of disintegration, but the stage of decline," Zhou Hexuan corrected. "Western civilization is an emerging civilization. It is indeed in its strongest period, and it is rapidly expanding and assimilating other civilizations around the world. According to the development law of civilization Look, the development of civilizations is not independent, but interacts with each other. The rise of Western civilization not only inherited the ancient Greek civilization, but also was greatly influenced by Chinese civilization. Without the compass invented by China, there would be no age of great navigation in the West ;Without Chinese paper and printing, the Western Renaissance would not have been possible. Mr. Bernard Shaw, do you agree with this view?"

Bernard Shaw nodded and said, "Ancient China is indeed very powerful, but that is all the glories of the past."

Zhou Hexuan said with a smile: "I don't want to say how great ancient China was, but I want to say that the development of civilizations is mutually influenced. Western civilization is rising and expanding strongly, while Chinese civilization is declining sharply. I don't want to deny this. However, Chinese civilization has a very unique ability, that is, the super self-evolution ability. You think that China has no culture at all, but in fact, the Chinese have realized their backwardness and are frantically learning and absorbing Western culture. It is a very special historical stage of civilization. If China cannot successfully absorb Western civilization, Chinese civilization will go to a stage of disintegration; once China successfully absorbs Western civilization, Chinese civilization will inevitably revive again and continue its own growth stage.”

Bernard Shaw pondered, "It's a very interesting statement."

Zhou Hexuan also said: "The rise of Western civilization originated from the Renaissance of ancient Greek civilization. And China can't blindly imitate the West now, otherwise it will be assimilated by the West. We are currently undergoing a Renaissance. On the one hand, we are learning from the advanced West. Culture, on the one hand, is combined with Chinese traditional civilization, so as to maintain self-identity. China is not without culture now, and the greatest culture is to actively learn from Western civilization and complete self-evolution at a special stage. This kind of strong cultural competitiveness, you It’s something you can’t see in countries like India.”

Bernard Shaw scratched his forehead and did not speak again.

Zhou Hexuan continued: "The rise of Western civilization is based on the ancient Greek civilization and developed a powerful modern civilization. The revival of Chinese civilization is based on the ancient Chinese civilization, absorbing the advantages of Western civilization, and thus developing a powerful civilization. Modern civilization. There were many sages in ancient Greece, and there were also hundreds of schools of thought in ancient China. The revival of Chinese culture is actually the evolution of itself through the combination of Western civilization and hundreds of schools of thought.”

"All schools of thought?" Bernard Shaw frowned.

Zhou Hexuan said with a smile: "Take Legalism as an example. Chinese dynasties have always been Confucianism outside and Law inside. Legalism does not specifically refer to law. Represents rules, technique represents means, and power represents authority. This can be applied to any modern political system, that is, the close combination of law, national policy and political system. Whether it is communism, capitalism, or socialism, legalism must be followed. The principle of the unity of law, technique, and power. Form a government with the most suitable political system, which is called "power"; and then formulate legal rules based on this, which is called "law"; with these, formulate a policy plan according to the actual situation, This is a 'spell'. As long as the legalist's three-in-one magic power is achieved, no matter what kind of political system it is, it can pass without hindrance, achieve good results, and promote the development of the country."

Before Bernard Shaw had any reaction, Cai Yuanpei clapped his hands and praised: "Mingcheng's words are wonderful, and his explanation of Legalism is amazing!"

It is inevitable that Cai Yuanpei will make a fuss. Scholars in the Republic of China period, yearning for the democracy and rule of law in the West, rotely referred to Legalism, making Legalism only represent the rule of law.

In fact, the legalist theory of governing the country is very systematic and perfect. Shang Yang belongs to the "law" school, Yi Shen belongs to the "power" school, and Shen Buhai belongs to the "shu" school. In the period of Han Feizi, the three schools of Legalism finally merged into one. Han Feizi called it "one cannot have nothing, and all are the tools of the emperor". That is to say, law, technique, and power are indispensable, and they are all important tools for emperors to rule the country.

At that time, the king was as majestic as a mountain, and his orders and prohibitions were called "power". Once the emperor orders not to leave the capital, the emperor will lose his "potential", and the world will inevitably be in chaos. The method used by the king to control the officials is called "shu", that is, the art of the emperor. If the emperor does not have the art of the emperor, he will inevitably be deceived by the officials and become a headless and stupid king. "Law" is better understood, that is, the laws of the country. If the law is not enforced fairly and the law is not followed, the country will fall into chaos.

This is completely applicable to any political system, and it is a very complete idea of ​​governance. "Position" has been changed from the emperor to the government, "law" is still the national law, and "shu" is the administrative strategy and the civil service system.

Therefore, all Chinese dynasties are Confucianism outside and Law inside.

Respecting the "Confucianism" in Confucianism is only one of the manifestations of the "art" of Legalism, and it is only to stabilize society through Confucianism.