Zhou Hexuan smiled and asked, "Mr. George Bernard Shaw, have you heard of Hermann Helmholtz?" ”

"Of course, some have called him the greatest scientist since Darwin," George Bernard Shaw said, "and he invented the ophthalmoscope, and he also proposed the law of conservation of energy." ”

Zhou Hexuan said with a smile: "If you still have doubts about Mr. Zhu Zaiyu, you can go and read Herman's book, which contains an evaluation of Zhu Zaiyu." Herman said as early as 70 years ago: Among the Chinese, it is said that there is a prince named Zhu Zaiyu, who advocated the seven-tone scale in the opposition of old-school musicians. The method of dividing the octave into twelve semitones and transposing the pitch was also invented by this talented and skillful Chinese. ”

George Bernard Shaw had come to believe it, saying, "I'll prove it." ”

Zhou Hexuan also said: "The invention of the law of twelve equals is not a single research achievement. Because it involves ancient metrology, mathematics, and music acoustics, it shows that the science of China during the Ming Dynasty was not backward, and it may even be more advanced than the West in some aspects. ”

"Perhaps." George Bernard Shaw nodded.

There is a joke on the Internet in later generations, called: Never argue with an idiot, because he will pull your IQ to the same level and beat you with rich experience.

George Bernard Shaw is not an idiot, but he is the equivalent of an idiot in unfamiliar territory. Zhou Hexuan just wants to pull the topic to a field that he is familiar with and unfamiliar to George Bernard Shaw, and then refute him, persuade him, and defeat him!

Zhou Hexuan said: "Mr. George Bernard Shaw, you said that there is no culture in China now. And what is culture? ”

George Bernard Shaw explained: "The natural sciences, literature, the arts, or advanced customs, ideas, and even beliefs, can be called culture. ”

Zhou Hexuan said: "According to your point of view, I can understand it as: Is culture a concrete manifestation of civilization? ”

George Bernard Shaw thought for a moment, nodded, and said, "So to speak. ”

Zhou Hexuan smiled evilly: "From the perspective of the attributes of human civilization, civilization is a collection of all social and natural behaviors of human beings out of barbarism, including: family concepts, tools, language, writing, beliefs, religion, law, science, art, city-states and countries, and so on. You don't have any problem with this definition, right? ”

George Bernard Shaw was a little confused, but still nodded and said, "It should be like this." ”

Zhou Hexuan also said: "After my research with Mr. Toynbee, there are six parent civilizations of human civilization, namely ancient Egypt, Sumer, Minoan, ancient China, Maya and Andes. These six major civilizations, together with more than 10 other existing civilizations, constitute more than 20 civilizations of mankind. ”

"Wait, what about Western civilization?" George Bernard Shaw hurriedly asked.

Zhou Hexuan explained: "Ancient Greece is a descendant civilization of Minoan, and modern Western civilization is a descendant civilization of ancient Greece. Got it? ”

"Got it." George Bernard Shaw was dazed, he felt like he was in a history lesson.

In fact, the archaeological findings of the fundamental later generations show that the Minoan and the ancient Greeks had no inheritance relationship. However, due to the existing archaeological knowledge, Zhou Hexuan had to agree with Toynbee and regard Minos as the ancestor of Western civilization.

Zhou Hexuan also said: "Every civilization contains several stages of origin, growth, decline and disintegration. The mother civilizations of Western civilization, Minos and Ancient Greece, have been annihilated in the long river of history, while ancient Chinese civilization has continued to this day, and there must be a reason. ”

George Bernard Shaw smiled: "According to you, Chinese civilization is in the stage of disintegration. ”

"No, not the stage of disintegration, but the stage of decline," Zhou corrected, "Western civilization is an emerging civilization, and it is indeed in its strongest period, and it is rapidly expanding and assimilating other civilizations around the world. According to the law of development of civilization, the development of civilization is not independent, but mutually influencing. The rise of Western civilization not only inherited the ancient Greek civilization, but also was greatly influenced by the Chinese civilization. Without the compass invented in China, the West would not have had the Age of Discovery; Without Chinese papermaking and printing, the Renaissance would not have been possible in the West. Mr. George Bernard Shaw, do you agree with this view? ”

George Bernard Shaw nodded and said, "Ancient China is indeed very powerful, but it is all the glory of the past. ”

Zhou Hexuan said with a smile: "I don't want to say how great ancient China was, but I want to say that the development of civilizations is mutually influential. I don't want to deny that Western civilization is rising and expanding strongly, while Chinese civilization is declining dramatically. However, Chinese civilization has a very unique ability, that is, the super ability to evolve itself. You think that China has no culture to speak of, in fact, the Chinese have realized their backwardness and are frantically learning and absorbing Western culture, which is a very special stage of civilization history. If China fails to successfully absorb Western civilization, Chinese civilization will go to the stage of disintegration; Once China succeeds in absorbing Western civilization, Chinese civilization will inevitably be revived again and continue its own stage of growth. ”

George Bernard Shaw pondered, "Very interesting statement. ”

Zhou Hexuan also said: "The rise of Western civilization originated from the Renaissance of ancient Greek civilization. And China can't blindly imitate the West now, otherwise it will inevitably be assimilated by the West, and we are currently in the midst of a renaissance. On the one hand, we can learn the advanced culture of the West, and on the other hand, we can combine it with the traditional civilization of China, so as to maintain our own attributes. China is not without culture, and the greatest culture is to actively learn from Western civilization and complete the special stage of self-evolution. This kind of strong cultural competitiveness is something you can't see in countries like India. ”

George Bernard Shaw scratched his forehead and did not speak again.

Zhou Hexuan continued: "The rise of Western civilization is the development of a powerful modern civilization with ancient Greek civilization as the core. The revival of Chinese civilization is based on ancient Chinese civilization as the core, absorbing Western civilization, so as to develop a powerful modern civilization. There were many philosophers in ancient Greece, and there were hundreds of schools of thought in ancient China, and the revival of Chinese culture is actually using Western civilization to combine with hundreds of schools of thought to evolve itself. ”

"Hundred schools of thought?" George Bernard Shaw frowned.

Zhou Hexuan said with a smile: "Take the Legalists as an example, the Chinese dynasties have always been external Confucianism and internal law. Legalism does not specifically refer to law, but pursues the principle of the integration of 'law', 'technique' and 'potential'. Law represents rules, technology represents means, and power represents authority. This can be applied to any modern form of government, that is, the close integration of law, national policy and political system. Whether it is communism, capitalism, or socialism, we must follow the Legalist principle of the unity of law, technique, and potential. The formation of a government with the form of government that best suits the national conditions is called 'momentum'; the formulation of legal rules by this is called 'law'; and the formulation of a plan for administration according to the actual situation is called 'technique'. As long as the three-in-one magic power of the Legalists is achieved, no matter what form of government, it can pass unhindered, achieve good results, and promote the development and growth of the country. ”

George Bernard Shaw didn't react, Cai Yuanpei clapped his hands and praised: "Ming Cheng's words are wonderful, and his explanation of the Legalists is amazing!" ”

It is inevitable that Cai Yuanpei will make a fuss, the scholars of the Republic of China period have infinite yearning for the democratic rule of law in the West, and they have pulled the Legalists to the top, so that the Legalists only represent the rule of law.

In fact, the Legalist theory of governing the country is very systematic and perfect, Shang Ying belongs to the "law" school, Yi Shen belongs to the "potential" school, and Shen Buxi belongs to the "Shu" school. In the period of Han Feizi, the three factions of Legalism were finally united, and Han Feizi called it "indispensable for nothing, all of them are the tools of the emperor". That is to say, law, magic, and power are all indispensable, and they are all important tools for the emperor to rule the country.

At that time, the king was as majestic as a mountain, and the order was forbidden, which was "powerful". Once the emperor does not give orders out of the capital, the emperor loses his "power", and the world will inevitably be in chaos. If the emperor does not have the art of the emperor, he will inevitably be deceived by the ministers and be a headless and brainless dumb king. The "law" is better understood, that is, the law of the country, if the law is not enforced fairly and the law is not followed, the country will fall into chaos.

This can be applied to any form of government, and it is a very complete ideological concept of governing the country. "Potential" was changed from the emperor to the government, the "law" was still the law of the state, and the "technique" was the policy of governance and the system of the civil service system.

Therefore, all Chinese dynasties are external Confucianism and internal law.

The "Confucianism" in Confucianism is only one of the manifestations of the "art" of Legalism, which is only to stabilize society through Confucian thought.