Xu Song, Shibei Senior High School, Wuxi City, Jiangsu Province (214044)
According to expert research, "culture" is a vocabulary that has existed in the Chinese language system since ancient times. The original meaning of "wen" refers to various interlaced textures. "Yi Xi Ci Xia" records: "Things are mixed together, so they are called wen." "Book of Rites and Music" states: "Five colors form a text without being chaotic." "Shuowen Jiezi" says: "Wen is also a wrong painting. , "like cross" all refer to this meaning. On this basis, "wen" has several extended meanings. First, it includes various symbols in language and characters, which are then embodied in cultural relics, books, rituals and music systems. It is recorded in the "Preface to the Book of History" that Fu Xi painted the Eight Diagrams and made the book deeds, "from which the text came to be". The "Analects of Confucius Zihan" records that Confucius said "Since King Wen is gone, the text is not here", which is an example of this. Secondly, the meaning of painting, decoration, and artificial cultivation is derived from the theory of ethics, which is symmetrical with "quality" and "reality". Therefore, "Shang Shu Shun Dian" says "Jing and Weft of Heaven and Earth are Wen", and "The Analects of Confucius Yong Ye" says "If quality is better than literature, then you will be wild; if literature is better than quality, you will be history; if literature is better than quality, you will be a gentleman." Third, on top of the first two levels of meaning, it also derives the meaning of beauty, goodness, and virtue. This is what the "Book of Rites and Music" calls "the rites are reduced by two, and the progress is the text." Zheng Xuan notes that "the text is still beautiful." Yes, it is good." "Shangshu Dayu Mo" said that "literary orders are spread all over the world, and they are only inherited from the emperor."
The original meaning of "Hua" is to change, generate, and create. For example, "Zhuangzi·Xiaoyaoyou" says: "It turns into a bird, and its name is Peng." "Yi Xici Xia": "Men and women form essence, and all things are transformed into life." "Huangdi Neijing Su Wen": "Change cannot be replaced, and time cannot be violated." "Book of Rites: Doctrine of the Mean": "You can praise the transformation and education of heaven and earth" and so on. To sum up the above statements, "hua" refers to the change of the form or nature of things, and at the same time, "hua" also extends to the meaning of teaching and doing good.
The parallel use of "wen" and "hua" was first seen in "Yi Ben Gua Xiang Zhuan" compiled by Confucian scholars in the late Warring States period:
(hard and soft intertwined), Astronomy also. Civilization ends with humanity. Observe astronomy to observe the changes of time; observe humanities to transform the world.
The word "wen" in this passage evolved from the meaning of texture. The interlacing of the sun and the moon in the sky is called "astronomy", which is also the natural law of heaven. Similarly, "humanities" refers to the laws of human ethics and society, that is, the intertwined relationships between people in social life, such as monarchs and ministers, fathers and sons, couples, brothers, and friends, forming a complex network with textured appearances. This passage says that those who govern a country must observe astronomy to understand the changes in time and order, and they must also observe humanities so that everyone in the world can follow civilized etiquette and behave as they should. Here, "humanities" and "transformation into the world" are closely linked, and the idea of ??"education through culture" is very clear.
After the Western Han Dynasty, "wen" and "hua" were combined into a whole word, such as "If culture is not changed, then punishment will be imposed" ("Shuoyuan·Zhiwu"), "Culture is internally edited, martial arts is externally edited" "You" ("Selected Works·Supplementary Poems"). The "culture" here may be contrasted with the nature created by heaven and earth, or it may be contrasted with the uneducated "simplicity" or "savagery". Therefore, in the Chinese system, the original meaning of "culture" is "education through culture", which means the cultivation of human temperament and the cultivation of moral character, which belongs to the category of the spiritual field. With the changes of time and differences in space, "culture" has now become a multi-dimensional concept with rich connotation and broad extension, and has become the object of exploration, elucidation and debate in many disciplines. However, the following general knowledge has basically been formed: < /p>
Culture, as a reality of human society, has a history as old as mankind itself. Human beings evolved from the "established beasts" ("Siwen Lu·Wai Chapter") that "rubbed hair and drank blood, and were confused about the way of humanity" (Wang Fuzhi's "Du Tongjian Lun" Volume 20), and gradually formed a relationship with the "way of heaven". The "humanity" that is connected and differentiated is the creative process of culture. In the creation and development of culture, the subject is human and the object is nature, and culture is the opposition between human and nature, subject and object in practice. Unifying things. The "nature" here refers not only to the external nature that exists outside the human body and is in opposition to it, but also to the natural nature of human instincts, various biological attributes of the human body, etc. The starting point of culture is to transform nature. , activities that transform society, and then transform themselves, that is, the people who practice it. People create culture, and culture also creates people. For example: a natural rock does not have cultural connotations, but after being artificially polished, it is infused with people. Therefore, the substantive meaning of culture is "humanization" or "humanization", which is gradually realized by human subjects adapting, utilizing and transforming natural objects through social practice activities. The process of self-worth. The results of this process are reflected not only in the continuous changes in the appearance, form, and function of nature, but also in the qualities of human individuals and groups (physiological and psychological, craftsmanship and morality, self-discipline and discipline). ). It can be seen that all activities and results that go beyond instinct and that humans consciously act on nature and society belong to culture; in other words, the "humanization of nature" is culture.
For a long time, when people use the concept of "culture", its connotation and denotation are very different. Therefore, culture can be divided into broad and narrow senses, focusing on human beings, animals in general, and human beings. The essential difference between society and nature focuses on the unique way of survival of human beings that stands apart from nature. It covers a very wide range, so it is also called "big culture".
Liang Qichao said in "What is Culture" that "Culture is a valuable karma released by human heart energy." This "karma" includes many fields, such as cognitive (language, philosophy, science, education), normative (morals, laws, beliefs), artistic (literature, fine arts, music, dance, drama), instrumental (production tools, daily utensils and the technology for making them), social (system, organizations, customs and habits), etc. "Culture" in a broad sense is based on the meaning of what makes people human, and believes that it is the emergence of culture that "turns animal people into people who create, organize, think, speak, and plan." Therefore, Incorporate all the contents of human society and historical life into the definition of "culture". Generally speaking, researchers in cultural philosophy, cultural anthropology and other disciplines mostly hold this kind of cultural definition.
Contrary to the broad sense of "culture", there is the narrow sense of "culture".
The narrow sense of "culture" excludes human society - the part about material creation activities and their results in historical life, and focuses on spiritual creation activities and their results, so it is also called "small culture". In 1871, British cultural scientist Taylor proposed in his book "Primitive Culture" that culture "includes knowledge, beliefs, art, morals, laws, customs, and the abilities and habits that any person acquires as a member of society. "Complex whole" is the early classic definition of "culture" in the narrow sense. In the Chinese language system, the original meaning of "culture" is "education through culture", which also belongs to the category of "small culture". In the early 1940s, when talking about New Democratic Culture, Mao Zedong said: "A certain culture is the ideological reflection of the politics and economy of a certain society." The "culture" here also belongs to culture in the narrow sense. The definition of "culture" in "Modern Chinese Dictionary" ① is "the sum of material wealth and spiritual wealth created by human beings in the process of social and historical development, especially spiritual wealth." Definitely a narrow sense of culture. Generally speaking, any cultural phenomenon involving the field of spiritual creation belongs to culture in the narrow sense.
To sum up, when modern people use the concept of "culture" in a certain region or a certain thing, they are talking about "culture in a narrow sense". In addition to the above-mentioned meanings, contemporary Chinese society generally has the following three main characteristics when using the concept of "culture": (1) historical nature (2) group nature (3) influence. Such as Chinese culture, Wu culture, food culture, clothing culture, etc. As we all know, Beijing’s hutongs record the changes in Beijing’s history and the style of the times, and contain a rich flavor of local cultural life. They are natural exhibition halls of Beijing folk customs and have imprinted the various social lives of Beijing citizens. Therefore The resulting meaning of "culture" should of course be the same as that of "Chinese culture".
With the above knowledge, if we look back at "Hutong Culture", we will be surprised to find that Mr. Wang Zengqi is well versed in the meaning of "culture". The article points out at the beginning, "The streets and alleys have cut Beijing into squares. This squareness not only affects the lives of Beijingers, but also affects their thinking." This illustrates a certain state of living. , over time, a certain ideological and cultural state will be produced; and a certain ideological and cultural state will produce a certain inherent state of life. Then the author tells us a lot of alley names in the second paragraph. Is it to increase the "literary interest"? No. Because the evolution of Hutong names actually illustrates the long history of Hutong from the side; the popularity of Hutong names just illustrates the popularization of Hutong culture, which directly corresponds to the content of the fifth paragraph. In the third paragraph, the author focuses on explaining the size and variety of hutongs. Then it introduced the relationship between hutongs and streets and the relationship between hutongs and courtyards, thus pointing out that hutongs and courtyards are the living styles of Beijing citizens and the cultural forms of Beijing citizens. Therefore, the so-called hutong culture is the citizen culture of Beijing and is an important component of Beijing. part.
After analyzing this, we understand that the reason why the author does not hesitate to use a lot of pen and ink to introduce the situation of Beijing Hutongs to readers is precisely to implement and explain the origin of the "culture" of Hutongs. Just imagine, if there were no large and small hutongs and no long history of hutongs, of course it would be impossible to form a "hutong culture" with Beijing's local flavor. As mentioned before, the emergence of any kind of culture is inseparable from a certain social background. Therefore, some of the materials in "Hutong Culture" occupy a very important position and role in the full text. During the classroom teaching process, teachers should let Students understand this deeply.
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