Chinese Spirit Zhang Baotong 2016.6.16

The Chinese spirit is an inner experience nourished by traditional Chinese culture, and is the noble quality and soul of the Chinese nation. The Chinese spirit holds high the banner of great patriotism. The patriotic poet Qu Yuan is the great standard-bearer of this banner. In the thousands of years of Chinese dynasties and social turmoil, patriotism has always been the most concentrated embodiment of the Chinese spirit, and Qu Yuan is an outstanding representative of patriotism.

The Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period in which Qu Yuan lived belonged to "the state has no fixed relations, and the scholars have no fixed master". The scholars were free, and the monarch was tolerant. Scholars can travel around the world, towards Qin and Chu. Some scholars were not reused in their own countries. He often defects to other countries. For example, Shang Ying abandoned Wei Xiangqin, Mencius lobbied Qi Liang, Xunzi entered Qin Shichu, Han Fei turned his back on Han to help Qin, etc. Scholars all regard it as their duty to seek power and display their political ambitions. Qu Yuan has been influenced by Chu culture since he was a child, and has a strong sense of national self-esteem and deep patriotic feelings. In his early years, he was deeply trusted by King Chu Huai, and assisted King Chu Huai to change the law internally and try to be strong, and to fight against Qin externally, so that Chu was once rich and strong, and shocked the princes. Later, he was framed by traitorous ministers and estranged by King Huai of Chu, Qu Yuan was expelled from Yingdu and exiled to Jiangnan. At this time, he could have gone to other countries to seek official positions and implement his ideals and ambitions, as other scholars did. However, he didn't want to leave his country, he didn't want to lose his country, and when he learned that the Qin general Bai Qi had broken through the Yingdu, he was sad and angry, so he sank into the Luojiang River. This kind of patriotic sentiment of "worrying about the people when you live in a temple or hall, and worrying about your monarch when you are far away from the rivers and lakes" is precisely the noblest national integrity of the sons and daughters of China.

For thousands of years, Qu Yuan's patriotic poems and integrity have influenced many generations of people with lofty ideals and cultural elites. Whether it is Lu You's "Wang Shi Beiding Central Plains Day, Family Sacrifice Forgets to Tell Naiweng", or Xin Qiji's "Picking up the lamp to watch the sword in the drunkenness, dreaming of blowing the horn and the camp", or even Yue Fei's "Ambition to eat Hulu meat, laughing and thirsty to drink the blood of the Huns", and Wen Tianxiang's "Who has not died in life since ancient times, leaving Dan to take care of the sweat and youth", all show and express the patriotic poet's Lingyun ambition to sacrifice life and forget death to protect the family and defend the country. It is also because of these heroic souls and loyalty that the Chinese nation has made the patriotic banner more bright red and the Chinese spirit will live forever in the world.

Then, due to the weakness and ** of the Southern Song Dynasty, thousands of miles of rivers and mountains were occupied by the Liao. The Battle of Yashan resulted in the death of all the remaining cultural elites of the Southern Song Dynasty. Otherwise, historians say that there will be no China after Yashan, and there will be no China after the death of the Ming Dynasty. It is not that our country is gone, but that China's elite culture is gone, the integrity of the Chinese nation is gone, and the spirit of the Chinese nation is gone. Otherwise, since the Song Dynasty, who can still hear the passionate, heroic, and deafening war drums of Lu You, Xin Qiji, and Wen Tianxiang? Who can still remember Yue Fei's words when Song Gaozong wanted to build a mansion in Hangzhou: "Wenchen does not love money, Wuchen does not hesitate to die, and the world is peaceful"?

In the hundreds of years without the voice of the Chinese elite, the national integrity and the Chinese spirit have long been forgotten by the world. Foreign forces ruled brutally and ruled Han with Han. The traitor culture is all the rage. One might think that the Southern Song Dynasty was destroyed by Kublai Khan. But someone carved "Zhang Hongfan destroyed the Song Dynasty here" on the stone rock of Yashan. If it were not for Hong Chengchou and Wu Sangui, what would have been the history of China? There are also Shi Jingtang, Yuan Shikai, Cao Rulin, Zheng Xiaoxu, Wang Jingwei, Zhou Fohai, Li ****, and so on, which of them is not a freak cultivated by the traitor culture? In particular, during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, there were 2.1 million puppet soldiers in China who worked for the Japanese army, even exceeding the number of 2 million Japanese troops in China. Otherwise, we Chinese ourselves are wondering: how can there be so many traitors?

Although after Yashan, there is no China. However, the seeds of the culture and spirit of the Chinese nation have not completely died out. Once winter turns to spring, it will break through the soil and sprout into a towering tree. That is, at the juncture of the difficult crisis of the Chinese nation, a large number of cultural elites and leaders appeared in China, such as Guangxu, Sun Yat-sen, Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao, Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang, Lin Zexu, Li Dazhao, Chen Duxiu, ******, ******, ****** and Lu Xun. The rejuvenation and development of the culture and spirit of the Chinese nation have also enabled the Chinese nation to begin to move step by step toward brightness and rejuvenation from the midst of dire misery and deep disasters. Since then, the Chinese have begun to have hopes and dreams.

In the turbulent era when the country was shattered, the Chinese spirit was embodied in defending the country and resisting aggression. And at a time when the country is taking the road of rejuvenation and building a moderately prosperous society. The Chinese spirit is more concentrated in the work and dedication of unity, peace-loving, industrious, courageous, and self-improvement.

"Tianxingjian, a gentleman is constantly striving for self-improvement. The terrain is good, and the gentleman carries things with virtue. It is said that when Liang Qichao was teaching at Tsinghua University, he gave a speech "On the Gentleman" to the students of Tsinghua University at that time. In his speech, he hoped that Tsinghua students could inherit the traditional Chinese virtues, and quoted words such as "self-improvement and virtue" in the Book of Changes to inspire Tsinghua students. Since then, Tsinghua people have written the eight words of "self-improvement and virtue" into the Tsinghua school rules, and gradually evolved into the Tsinghua school motto. In fact, how can it not be the cultural essence and cultural tradition of the Chinese nation? The essence of the Chinese spirit is to teach and guide us to be honest and upright gentlemen.

What is a gentleman? It is a man's husband. How to be a man's husband? and look at the dialogue between Jingchun and Mencius. Jing Chun said that during the Warring States Period, Gongsun Yan, a famous lobbyist of Wei, and Zhang Yi, a famous columnist of Qin, when they were angry, the princes were afraid, and when they settled at home, the world was peaceful. They are the real husbands. But Mencius said that the eldest husband should live in the most spacious house in the world, stand in the most correct position in the world, and walk on the brightest road in the world. When he has the will, he will move forward with the people, and when he has no will, he will stick to his own principles alone. The rich and the rich cannot be lewd, the poor and the lowly cannot be moved, and the mighty cannot be bowed: this is called a great husband. A gentleman has a perfect personality, is polite, righteous, benevolent, cultivated, and has no personality stains. They are not only the pillars of the country, but also the common people, who can stand up and shed their blood on the battlefield in times of national crisis, and can adapt to the overall situation and shoulder great responsibilities during the period of peaceful construction.

Although it is difficult to be a gentleman, it should become the pursuit and demeanor of each of us. As Chinese, we must always have the word "China" in our hearts, and let the Chinese spirit of the new era be carried forward in each of us with the national spirit of being virtuous, unremitting self-improvement, and the broad mind of "worrying about the worries of the world first, and enjoying the joy of the world after the world".