As for the attitude of Chinese people toward nature. it is unchallenged that it is marked by a strong feeling of harmoniousness. for illustration. unity of nature and adult male. Harmonizing to Dong Zhongshu. who was the most of import philosopher of the Western Han. Heaven had its will and aim. It was Heaven that made the Sun. the Moon. and the stars move. the four seasons alteration. and all animate beings and workss turn and decease. Heaven was kindhearted. so it made things produce one another ; Heaven was besides terrible. so it made things overcome one another. Furthermore. Heaven created a swayer to govern over the people. This meant that Heaven wanted the people to be ruled.
When a swayer did something wrong. Heaven would be angry and would give the swayer warnings by doing unusual natural phenomena to go on. such as occultations. temblors. inundations and drouths. This theory——the interaction between Heaven and man——had a clear intent. On the one manus. it was intended to demo that the ruler’s place and power were given to him by Heaven. and should non be questioned ; on the other manus. the swayer should be virtuous and benevolent. and govern good. so as non to incur Heaven’s choler. Dong had a well-known expression: “The Way is great because it originates in Heaven. Heaven does non alter ; nor does the Way.
” I would wish to explicate the thought clearly by an illustration. That is Feng Shui. Feng Shui ( besides known as “geomancy” ) is an ancient Chinese system of aesthetics believed to utilize the Torahs of both Heaven ( uranology ) and Earth ( geographics ) to assist one better life by having positive chi. Possibly many people think it is superstitious notion. but I consider it can reflect the chase of harmonious life of Chinese people. There are four intents in Feng Shui. seeking the harmoniousness of human organic structure ; the harmoniousness between people and people ; the harmoniousness between people and society ; the harmoniousness between people and nature.
Let me give a little illustration about puting a bed. The bed shall be somewhat higher than the articulatio genus and non near the door. And it shall confront to the South and back to the North in order to set duxhlt. the aorta and big venas way of the blood circulatory system. so that people can fall a sleep easy. and have a high quality slumber. The bed can’t facet the West. because the rotary motion of the Earth is from E to west. doing the blood haste toward the caput. and people can’t sleep soundly.
Beam presses which mean air conditioners hang above the pillow. or the visible radiations suspend above the bed. convey about subjugation. and do inauspicious consequence of organic structure and head. Mirrors can’t face the bed. if non people may be startled easy in midnight. and can’t be peace. It truly can show the attitude toward nature. amalgamation of Eden and humanity. As for the attitude of Chinese people toward clip. three characteristics will be mentioned about. The first is round- type clip mentality. In the oriental universe. agriculture is the major manner of transporting out stuff and interchanging goods dominates all the economic life of the whole society.
This pastoral civilisation dainties human and the nature as interconnected and interacted. the universe as an whole number organically linked. So in oriental society the round-type clip mentality is that nature and homo is integrate. This sort of clip mentality holds the position that clip is like a circle and all the things in the universe return to its origina1 province after a rhythm of clip. for illustration. the alternation of twenty-four hours and dark. the semen and travel of the four seasons. the turning of the 12 months. the addition of the age and the growth of workss.
This sort of clip position makes the Orientals manage the clip at their disposal and make things at easiness. For case. when a instructor has non finished an of import point in his category. he can protract his category. At the Chinese nuptials banquet. few people will come at the clip which is written on the invitation card. Furthermore. Chinese usage clip really casually and intangibly. Chinese prefer to state some unsure words 1ike “at once” . “sometimes” . “a short while” . which a1ways confuse the westerners.
Chinese pupils who are analyzing English tend to misapply the tense when communicate with aliens. In a word. Chinese don’t have clear distinction construct of clip. The 2nd is polychromatic clip system. Polychromic clip system means people are really insouciant in utilizing clip. In other words. being punctual is of import. but non rigorous. Polychromic clip system is the heritage of traditional agricultural society. Peoples are used to make severa1 different things at the same clip and make things stressing premier clip.
Chinese think that everything in the universe develops with the cycling of clip. so people catch the clip that is mature for moving. which means each measure of our action is determined temporarily by our milieus. So action is ill planned by Chinese. In some occasions. people can make many things in the same clip. A Chinese salesman can look into out with the first client on the one manus. and demo the goods to a 2nd 1 on the other manus. even greet a 3rd One at the same clip. However. westerners can barely carry through them and besides can non accept them. The 3rd is past clip orientation.
Time orientation is a comparatively stable factor in cultural difference. It is connected to the historical background of the. Generally talking. people who have excessively heavy tradition. look up to history and yesteryear. so their clip orientation is past-oriented. Chinese belong to past-oriented. Peoples show great regard to the yesteryear. The past experience and 1esson are of import mention for today’s success and failure. Chinese show regard to ascendants and instructors. They like to state things by citing to the old books and narratives. That is why Chinese call instructors “lao shi” . “lao” means old.
Peoples attach importance to age and experience. because they are symbols of power and wisdom. so words like “lao” and “da” ever mean regard in Chinese. As for the attitude of Chinese people toward good and evil. possibly the most utmost position of goodness is found in the Buddhist tradition. Buddhism maintains that we are born pure and are closest to what is called “loving kindness” when we enter this universe. Hence. people are good. and our civilization is what makes us evil. The position of goodness is besides found in Confucianism. Meng Zi made the original goodness of human nature the keynote to his system.
To him. the virtuousness of humanity together with the attach toing virtuousnesss of righteousness. rites and wisdom arises from the interior springs of the human bosom. These four cardinal virtuousnesss come in their seed form—the “four beginnings” . as the feeling of compassion. shame. modestness. and of the differentiation between right and incorrect. Such feelings are cosmopolitan among world and they come as of course ad gustatory sensation for nutrient. and sight for beauty. This. Meng Zi argued. can be seen in the fact that a kid of course loves his parents and that a adult male will instinctively see a feeling into a well.
Therefore. human nature is originally good. and will be good if it is guided by its unconditioned feelings. merely as H2O is inclined to flux downward. In contrast to the construct of the goodness of human nature advocated by Meng Zi. Xun Zi declared that human nature is originally evil because human desires necessarily lead to greed and strife if left untrained. Believing that goodness can merely be acquired. Xun Zi stressed the value of instruction and environment. To him it is environment and authorization that make the adult male. and it is obeisance of the principles of the sage-kings that produces the goodness that is in him.
In the terminal. nevertheless. non merely is the life of virtuousness a possibility but even sage-hood is within range. Therefore. Xun Zi said. “Every adult male on the street can go like the sage-king Yu” . a perfect Orthodox Confucian note. What mentioned about are point of views from the ancients. Nowadays Chinese attitudes toward good and evil are really broad and obscure. non like Christianity which has a “ten commandments” . doing the general public even those without much cultural literacy has some certain criterions. governing what can make and can non make. their attitudes toward good and immoralities are perfectly clear.
But to Chinese. nil must been done and nil can non be done. The boundary between good and evil is vague. in some status something is good but in other status it may be bad. To Chinese the boundary is ever approximately grade. whether it is inordinate or non. For illustration. speaking between Chinese friends sometimes contains opprobrious linguistic communication. but it doesn’t average they hate each other. most of clip. it is merely jesting. That behaviour is non truly evil. but if it is overdone. it will be.
Chinese People’s attitude toward nature. clip. good and immoralities have been formed bit by bit. and they are comparatively stable in a long clip. but they are non without alterations. The better life conditions. the development of the economic system. the betterment of the society and the addition of the interaction of people from different cu1tural backgrounds will doubtless hold elusive effects on their positions. although it is besides a long procedure. What I speaking about is some basic attitude of Chinese. it will assist foreigner to understand Chinese better. but non ever use to every Chinese at every clip.
