On the Fate of Traditional Culture in Modern China

Traditional Chinese culture covers a variety of ethical principles and behavioral norms that have arisen from thousands of years of Chinese social life to handle interpersonal relationships in an appropriate way. Such principles and norms are a typical expression of Chinese people's wisdom in the analysis of their surroundings. However, traditional Chinese culture also contains some poisonous thinking that has been carefully nurtured by feudal rulers to maintain their power. In the practice of the great social changes of pre-1949 China, after repeated experience, people gained a relatively clear and comprehensive understanding of traditional Chinese culture: it should neither be totally affirmed nor totally rejected. Rather, we should analyze it concretely, endeavoring to separate the dross from the essence. In late Qing and Republican China, traditional culture was continuously handed on and renewed, and this process will be carried on and on.