What is the function of reading China's ancient books?

For the upper limit of "ancient books", I give a relatively wide range. No matter whether it is handed down or unearthed, I will always fall into the category of "ancient books" For the lower limit, I take the Revolution of 1911 as the boundary. In this case, the time span is quite large. During this period, it is difficult to count how many books have been produced in China and how many of these books have been handed down from generation to generation. But the only thing we can be sure of is that the number of ancient books, even after ten years, is quite amazing (I don't have a very accurate data at hand, but interested friends can make a very rough statistics according to the series integration). These batches of books are written successively, and the contents are complex, so it is difficult to generalize. Therefore, if all of them are labeled as "China Ancient Books", it will inevitably be generalized. Therefore, here I only talk about the value and significance of the classics in the "subset of classics and history" that I am familiar with.

The documents in the Classic Department are simply (of course) the Thirteen Classics and their annotations. The Department of Classics used to be the most important part of ancient books in China, although it may not be dominant in quantity. The status of Confucian classics can be discussed from two aspects. On the one hand, Confucian classics have been the most familiar codes and norms for scholars since the Western Han Dynasty. They are the main source of morality and knowledge of the intellectual class. On the other hand, since the imperial examination, the Thirteen Classics has also been a stepping stone for scholars to enter the bureaucratic system. Generally speaking, classics are the most important spiritual food for literati on the one hand, and the most important or even the only way for literati to gain fame and material benefits on the other. Therefore, classical literature has been in a very detached position for a long time.

However, after the May 4th Movement, the detached position of the Ministry of Economic Affairs quickly collapsed. The knowledge and propaganda rules contained in the classics are considered incompatible with modern western civilization, and the "old" tradition has been abandoned. Under the western discipline system, there is no concept corresponding to the department of classics, so the study of classics has been marginalized rapidly since the late Qing Dynasty, and its connotation has been completely dismembered. For example, The Book of Songs was interpreted as an ancient folk song, which became the object of literary research, and Shangshu was interpreted as an official document file in Shang and Zhou Dynasties, which became a research resource of the history department. The Confucian classics themselves no longer exist.

Since the study of Confucian classics itself has been abandoned, is the study of Confucian classics only of historical significance? My master asked me the same question. In my opinion, it is not. First of all, as one of the most important sources of China's traditional culture, Confucian classic literature itself has been marginalized, but its penetration into daily life is obvious. This infiltration can also be divided into two levels. The first is the infiltration of other texts. Although we can still see many folk texts today (such as Dunhuang Bianwen), most of the texts we come into contact with are created by literati. According to the interview, the literature of Confucian classics is the most important source of knowledge for literati, so even if we read literary works, even modern and contemporary literary works, the figure of Confucian classics still lingers. And literary works, second, Confucian classics once provided a completely self-sufficient moral code of conduct for the intellectual class. Although this code was constantly explained and finally abandoned, it was not completely dissolved. In a sense, it is still difficult for us to make a clean break with the "old morality". In the final analysis, some "worldly wisdom" in China people's daily life comes from the Thirteen Classics. For example, in the relationship between parents and children, the emphasis on "filial piety" (although the word is mentioned less and less), in family life, the emphasis on children and so on. It is difficult for me to comment on this "worldly wisdom", but it is undeniable that these principles play a role in daily ethics. Therefore, reading the Bible is still a very important dimension for us to understand contemporary China.

Someone mentioned above the comparison between China and the West, which is also great. Here I also talk about my humble opinion. From the "modern" point of view, western classics undoubtedly have absolute advantages. But when we jump out of the western discipline framework, we will find our traditional value. In a sense, tradition is an important attribute that distinguishes us from other nationalities. Once we really cut off the umbilical cord with the old tradition, then we lose our independent identity.

I hope I can help you! Your adoption is the motivation for my answer! thank you