2. Personally, it is helpful to be sensible, kind and self-cultivation!
It contains rich cultural essences such as literature, philosophy, medicine, Buddhism and Taoism.
3. China's unique cultural form!
As China people, we should know about the ethnic groups in China. I don't know if there are Qin and Han dynasties, regardless of Wei and Jin dynasties!
4. For the whole society, it is also a kind of priceless treasure with strong research value (as for what value, I think people in the industry know better).
It is the education of classical Chinese that makes the master of vernacular Chinese. The study of classical Chinese forms a pure and elegant sense of Chinese language, and classical Chinese is the foundation of vernacular Chinese. In the first half of the 20th century, a "bright" star rose in China literary world. They are Lu Xun, Hu Shi, Liang Shiqiu, Guo Moruo, Lao She, Ba Jin, Cao Yu, Lin Yutang, Mu Dan, Zhang Ailing and so on. They are brilliant, brilliant and elegant. They study Chinese and western cultures from the past to the present. They are not so much masters of literature as masters of using vernacular Chinese. More than 90% of their works are written in vernacular Chinese, and they skillfully control vernacular Chinese and "construct" colorful chapters in vernacular Chinese.
In sharp contrast, in the second half of the 20th century, China's literary world was "suddenly humiliated" and "suddenly eclipsed". There were no more "masters" who mastered the vernacular, and only a few people called them "masters of the vernacular".
Of course, there are many reasons for this phenomenon, such as social and political turmoil, but the most reasonable and convincing explanation, which is also the most fundamental explanation, is that the "blood" of systematic classical Chinese education was cut off in primary and secondary schools from the 1930s to the 40s. This made the literati who became the mainstream of the literary world in the second half of the 20th century, and they had not received systematic and in-depth classical Chinese education before their childhood, that is, 13 years old. The "Chinese education" they received in the "sensitive period" of language, that is, the so-called "modern Chinese education" after the 1930 s and 1940 s, was based on vernacular Chinese under the background of abolishing classical Chinese. After the thirties and forties, in the sensitive period of language, people basically learned to use vernacular Chinese through vernacular Chinese, not classical Chinese.
In the first half of the 20th century, the masters had a solid foundation in classical Chinese, and a "sense of language" based on classical Chinese was basically formed in their youth. This "sense of language" based on classical Chinese accompanied their adult life, laid the basic mode of their written expression, and formed their "subconscious" of written expression, which kept them pure, concise, elegant and simple when using vocabulary. They can freely and skillfully choose expressive and vital words from ancient poetry, or vividly, or vividly.
Classical Chinese is a language with a history of thousands of years, while vernacular Chinese is a language with a short history. Classical Chinese has accumulated a lot of expressive allusions, vocabulary and words in the historical development of thousands of years, but it has only been a hundred years since the birth of the May 4th Movement. The vernacular Chinese has not yet created its own "brilliant" and "rich" historical "accumulation". Vernacular Chinese basically comes from classical Chinese. Today, the basic vocabulary of vernacular Chinese is almost attached to and born out of classical Chinese, and the grammar of vernacular Chinese has not surpassed classical Chinese. To use an inappropriate metaphor, the relationship between classical Chinese and vernacular Chinese is a mother and a son, and a book is in the end. In the "language sensitive period" of children, people start to learn the language from the "root", read and recite a certain number of ancient poems and prose, lay a solid foundation in classical Chinese, and then express it in vernacular Chinese. Then, the written words will be concise, clean, pure, elegant, vivid and vivid; On the contrary, learning to use vernacular Chinese is difficult to reach the above level, but it may be procrastinating, lengthy, cumbersome, Europeanized, verbose and abstract. From the 1950s to the 1980s and 1990s, mainland writers and scholars could not "match" with the masters in the first half of the year in terms of writing level (mainly the level of vernacular expression). The fundamental reason is that in the "language sensitive period" of their youth, they are exposed to less and less classical Chinese. Masters in the first half of the 20th century, such as Lu Xun and Guo Moruo, became "masters of vernacular Chinese", which initiated the formation of vernacular Chinese. The fundamental reason is that they received a systematic, comprehensive and in-depth classical Chinese education in the19th century. It can be said that these "masters of vernacular Chinese" are all immersed in the "sauce jar" of classical Chinese in their youth, and they only stepped onto the literary world in adulthood. The "language sensitive period" of scholars and teenagers in the 1950s-1980s and 1990s happened to be the period of the birth, development and redevelopment of Chinese mainland's so-called "modern Chinese education", that is, the 1930s-1970s. At this time, Chinese mainland's so-called "modern Chinese education" increasingly denied classical Chinese, and Chinese textbooks abandoned classical Chinese. Mainland Chinese textbooks bid farewell to classical Chinese completely in the 1970s. Therefore, the number of adult literati exposed to classical Chinese in the 1950s and 1990s is "the generation is worse than the generation", so their adult writing style is basically "the generation is worse than the generation". For decades, the overall writing characteristics of mainland literati have become more and more "watery", more and more "white", more and more "vulgar" and more and more "new", losing purity, elegance, cleanliness and simplicity. Undeniably, this is the result of Chinese mainland's so-called "modern Chinese education" cutting off the blood of "classical Chinese"! We should draw lessons from history and not repeat the same mistakes!
Teenagers read a considerable number of first-class classical Chinese in the "language sensitive period", and the possibility of forming first-class vernacular expression in adulthood will greatly increase; In the "language sensitive period", teenagers only dabble in classical Chinese, or just learn vernacular Chinese, or even first-class vernacular Chinese, so the possibility of forming first-class vernacular Chinese expression in adulthood is very slim. Learning vernacular Chinese through vernacular Chinese seems to be close to reality and get twice the result with half the effort; Learning classical Chinese and using vernacular Chinese seem far and near, and get twice the result with half the effort. Rooted in "literature" and pronounced as "white" should be the basic principle of "modern Chinese education".
You can listen to Mr. Dong Qiao, a famous Hong Kong scholar who can be called a master of language, commenting on Mr. Lu Xun: "(Lu Xun) Mr. Lu Xun writes in Gu Zhuo, which is on the verge of a foreign country and almost grasps life, with profound words. "Lu Xun read a lot of ancient books, thus" knowing the disadvantages of the old world ",and the article was" rich but cold, full of books and miscellaneous with fighter demeanor ". Reading Lu Xun's vernacular carefully, it is not difficult to find that there are' words' everywhere in his' white', which shows that classical Chinese is really the foundation of vernacular Chinese. "
I am definitely not advocating that classical Chinese education should be fully restored in primary and secondary schools, and that learning and using vernacular Chinese through classical Chinese should be fully implemented. I advocate that the proportion of classical Chinese in primary and secondary schools should be moderately increased, and the number of texts in high schools should be slightly higher than 50%. The goal of Chinese education in primary and secondary schools is by no means to cultivate "master of vernacular Chinese". We focus on laying the foundation for generations of "modern people" to use vernacular Chinese, and improving the efficiency of "modern Chinese education" and "learning to use vernacular Chinese".
Modern Chinese equals "modernity" and "progress", while classical Chinese equals "non-modernity" and "backwardness". Learning what you use and abandoning what you don't use is a simple and mechanical thinking logic.
People often say that we are "modern people" and we should learn modern Chinese. Modern Chinese education should focus on "practicality". Classical Chinese is no longer used, at least it was written hundreds of years ago. It is a backward and even obsolete language. Why should modern people study again? If they study again, they may be detained, imprisoned or even poisoned, which is not conducive to application.
There is a simple cognitive logic hidden in it: Vernacular is equal to "modernity", "progress", "democracy" and "freedom", while Classical is equal to "non-modernity", "backwardness", "stale", "closure" and "imprisonment". It contains a simple practical logic: what is used in modern life can be directly learned, and what is not used in modern life can be directly discarded.
In fact, the simple cognitive logic of classical Chinese and vernacular Chinese existed as early as the first half of the 20th century. Let's listen carefully to what Mr. Lin Yutang, who is based on Chinese and western cultures, said:
"Gu Xuecheng can't be disease-free, and modern people can't just read ancient books. It goes without saying, but when they see ancient books, they regard them as drugs. The sun can't blow the gale, which is a bit suspicious. Modern people are familiar with ancient and modern times, so they don't read any translated works, foreign books, foreign words, foreign words and foreign pollution. " Historical Records and Hanshu are never vivid, and The Book of Songs and Zuo Zhuan are ignorant. Isn't it also the poison of China and foreign countries? "
In China's classical poems, there are dross and essence, just as there is language rubbish and language pearls and jade in vernacular Chinese. For primary and secondary school textbooks, we should accept both ancient and modern, and we should not be paranoid, or biased towards the ancient, or biased towards the present, or biased towards the present. The key is to choose and choose appropriate teaching materials. The purpose of "the past is far-reaching, and the present is good and solid". Both must be used at the same time to get interesting words. ""Mandarin must be elegant and healthy, and there must be two sources: vernacular and classical Chinese. "Mr. Lin Yutang also said that whether classical Chinese and vernacular Chinese are modern or conservative depends not on" authenticity "but on whether the writing is modern. If writing is today's language, even if it is interspersed with "people who are coming soon", it doesn't matter, and it can't hurt elegance; If the text is a statement, even if it is interspersed with "Ma Ba", it is still nonsense. The reason is real and floating. Therefore, Lin Yutang said, I would rather write "vernacular classical Chinese" (simple and simple classical Chinese that is easy to understand, elegant and popular) than "vernacular classical Chinese" (seemingly colloquial, but actually tedious and confusing).
Let's think it over. Even today, Sima Qian's Historical Records is still profound. Even today, Li Bai's poems are majestic and proud, and even today, they are superb. The quality of The Book of Songs, the charm of Tang poetry and the beauty of Song lyrics have all become swan songs in the history of culture and literature. Can we say these are "non-modern", "conservative" and "closed"?
China's classical poems and essays have a greater influence on students' spirit and sense of language. Poems written by ancient sages such as Qu Yuan, Sima Qian, Li Bai and Su Shi in classical Chinese are brilliant "spiritual lighthouses", which have been shining for thousands of years and bathed in ancient and modern times. Their souls have a long spiritual journey in classical Chinese. Today, we let students "follow the trail" through "classical Chinese", which is a spiritual experience for students again and again. Constant "walking" and "experience" are the spiritual accumulation, spiritual memory and spiritual inheritance of the nation! It is also the formation of language sense. Li, a writer, said in the 1940s: "People who have read a little poetry, such as orioles, swallows, pigeons, cuckoos and other birds, naturally feel completely different from those who have never read poetry. We see everything through the poet's eyes and listen to everything through the poet's ears, as if adding a feeling; Those who have never read poetry seem to be blind and deaf, and their life experience is naturally much worse. " Poetry here refers to classical poetry, so quantitative accumulation is the formation of language sense and spiritual temperament. I'm afraid all these are irreplaceable by simply learning vernacular poems.
In addition, if we must follow the principle of "what to learn and what to use"; If we don't need anything, we will throw it away. So, should we put a lot of product manuals, market research reports, SMS, QQ chat, etc. In modern Chinese textbooks? Because they are used the most today!
Lu Xun, Hu Shi and Guo Moruo opposed classical Chinese, mostly from the perspective of political, ideological and social changes. However, their own classical Chinese literacy has been extremely strong as early as adolescence, so no matter how strongly they oppose classical Chinese as adults, they can't resist the beneficial nourishment of classical Chinese. Your knowledge of classical Chinese or cultural foundation will not become thinner. However, if the "Chinese teachers" born in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s have a shallow foundation in classical Chinese, but they also follow the masters and echo "abandoning classical Chinese" in unison, then we may "abandon the beacon of Chinese studies", "the cultural foundation of several generations" and "the foundation of vernacular Chinese" at the same time. Let generations of "vernacular" become "duckweed"! This is not an alarmist. Because the words of modern mainland literati are becoming vulgar, and the language of teenagers is also becoming "junk" under the impact of "network language" and "business language".
I must declare that I advocate paying attention to classical Chinese education in today's context, but I strongly oppose letting teenagers read classics.