The original title of this book is "Ideological and Psychological Problems of Adolescents in the Twentieth Century". Published in September 1977, it was renamed "Old and New Generations" in March 1984. It is a special speech delivered by Mr. Nan Huaijin, a famous scholar in Taiwan.
An ancient sage once said: "As long as Chinese culture exists, China will prosper; if Chinese culture disappears, China will perish."
Like a rotten rope harnessing an angry horse
Buddha said: "Bodhisattvas fear causes, ordinary people fear consequences."
"Crazy and sedatives fly together, decadence and narcotics go hand in hand"
English, German, French, Italian, etc. The emergence of militarism in a new type of state that "uses power externally and promotes justice internally". At the same time, it changes democratic autocracy into dictatorship, and disguises justice as aggression.
In short, Chinese teenagers from the late 19th century to the early 20th century, that is, the middle-aged and elderly people you hear and see now, are like a demolition brigade demolishing old illegal buildings. Like a group of cleaning crews who collect garbage; when they were young and strong, everyone held hoes and axes, wanting to open up a broad road for future generations and build a new cultural paradise. Unexpectedly, just as the work was starting, someone suddenly set off a wildfire, leaving only a desolate place with nothing left. Later, a group of children followed, and when they saw this scene, they cursed these seniors for being "incompetent" and "irresponsible." The more they watched, the more angry they became, so they started running around naked, jumping on their feet, swearing, and doing whatever they wanted. Crying, yelling, and cursing, to no avail. Everyone was tired and at a loss, so they had no choice but to lie on the ground and fool around, claiming to be happy and not worried about their fate! Such a picture is enough to represent the pages of the Eastern and Chinese history and culture of the twentieth century that "leave loyal hearts to reflect the history", which is one of the reasons for the blankness in the minds and psychology of modern teenagers.
The Second World War ended a tragedy in the East, but it also judged the fate of Western Europe. Italy, Germany, France, and even the United Kingdom, which was said to have no sunset in the 19th century, all declined one after another. The remaining European culture, apart from some historical traces for people to admire, the European "princes" states that used to be known as great powers, such as Germany, France and other countries, only have "poor bones by the Wuding River, as if they were in a spring boudoir's dream" The scene of "more women than men" makes people sigh with emotion.
"Ten years have passed," and the only Western culture that currently shocks the world is the United States' gold dollar and science, its nearly two hundred years of young history, and American-style democracy and freedom. Using these capitals, the American entrepreneurs came from behind and used their no experience in leading world history and their style of "failure to believe in faith and fail to practice morality" to shake up the world and shake the world. Zu.
However, no matter how naive and shallow American culture is, in the last thirty years of the 20th century, it has had enough power to influence China and the East, as well as other regions with backward scientific civilization, industry and commerce.
Four years ago, a sociology professor from an American university visited the East during the summer vacation. . . He asked: "China has gone through several eras that were equivalent to national subjugation. However, this country, nation, and culture not only did not die, but also became more glorious and powerful after each historical disaster. This is almost unprecedented in Western history. If nothing else, what kind of power is this?” I answered him simply and clearly: “This is the power of cultural unity.” After hearing this, he kept taking notes in his hand, but his attitude was full of doubts.
United States. . . The founding spirit of "of the people, by the people, and for the people". However, no matter how much freedom and democracy are pursued, they all have the interests and values ??of industrialization and commerce hidden in their innate bones. This was true at the beginning of the founding of the country, and it is still true today two hundred years later. To be honest, in your current democratic politics, the people behind the scenes still cannot leave the background of the power of industrial and commercial capital. Indeed! So far, the United States does not have much territorial ambitions in other regions, but it cannot be said that it does not have the requirement to occupy the market!
European countries, such as Britain, France, Germany and other countries, although they hold traditional self-esteem and always look down on the United States, they still cannot escape from the United States in the historical evolution of the times. The whirlwind of the atmosphere.
China’s Anti-Japanese War. Just because of a single thought from Japan, China was destroyed and the entire Eastern culture was destroyed. But as history has evolved to this day, have the Japanese gained happiness? A friend of mine recently returned from Tokyo and lamented: "At least I don't want to live there. Four floors of subways have been dug underground in Tokyo. Many people are so busy running on the escalators that the whole city is like a huge and busy city." A rat's nest, an ant's nest, this nation has gone completely crazy." I dare not draw a conclusion whether this is completely true, but I know that many Chinese people are proud to go to Japan to make a living or to get gold, unlike some in the 1920s and 1930s. Our ancestors studied Westernization in order to revitalize China, and China is also striving towards this modernization. It's hard for a mantis to block a car, so try your best to save yourself and save others by chance. > Britain, Germany, France, and Japan have passed, and now it is the turn of the United States to be the most popular. However, blindly following this friend whose history is too young, energetic, and energetic but whose culture is too immature, worshiping its naked beauty, and being enamored with its extravagance is as terrible as playing with the beauty on the volcano. I often hear our own friends proudly quote the speech delivered by the former British Governor of Hong Kong, Grant Hung, in the United States. He believed that "the nineteenth century is the century of the British; the twentieth century is the century of the British." The century of the Americans; the 21st century will be the century of the Chinese. "It's a pity that I didn't hear it personally, and it's difficult to confirm this statement 100%. In domestic affairs, under the banner of "American" democracy and freedom, the country is full of yellow (the proliferation of pornography), blue (worker issues), white (the prevalence of drug abuse and narcotics), Black (racial issues) and other various crises. The characteristics of the so-called "American-style democracy and freedom" are just like the famous saying of one of them who started from industry and commerce: "The greatest knowledge in the world is how to let others put the money in their pockets happily. Put it in my pocket." Poe's note: Balzac will definitely consider this kind of smart man to be the authentic descendant of the old Grandet. Let me say something seriously: "The greatest and most important knowledge in the world is to find a way to escape from the hands of death, and Buddha and I are both masters in teaching escape."> "Learn and excel. If you are good at business, you will be an official. ” The country is the accumulation of people; the people are the tools of the heart. Today's United States is just a comet in the fragmentation of Western culture. It is the experimental ground of scientific civilization, not an indicator of the entire humanistic culture. I just don’t know if the large group of human mice used for this experiment will be completely exterminated during this experiment. Regardless of the nuclear arsenal or the hole in the sky, it is no joke. > The famous Tang Yao in ancient Chinese history was a saint, but his son Danzhu was an unworthy son; Gusou was not a good man, and his wife was also very bad, but their son Danzhu was an unworthy son. His son Yu Shun was a saint. In Chinese culture, the earliest set of clear instructions on family education is the "Book of Rites". I always hope that my own countrymen and my own nation can take the lead in having a deep understanding of their own culture. At least, everyone must read the important parts of the Book of Rites. Since Emperors Wen and Jing of the Han Dynasty, the educational spirit of "ruling the world with filial piety" has gradually laid the foundation. . . After Emperor Wen of Wei Dynasty, he tried his best to promote filial piety. As a result, emperors of all dynasties formed the famous motto and principle of "the holy dynasty governs the world with filial piety" in their political thoughts and measures. “If you seek loyal ministers, you must come from the gate of a filial son.” There is absolutely nothing wrong with “ruling the world with filial piety”, and “filial piety” is a characteristic of Chinese culture. Mencius once said: "There are three kinds of unfilial piety, the greatest of which is not having offspring." During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty inherited the Sui Dynasty's method of selecting scholars and established the examination system. , and then proudly said: "All the heroes in the world are in my trap" It started with the name "foreign school" and ended with the current three-level school system and graduate school. Education has really become popular, and the knowledge level of ordinary citizens has really improved. However, the popularization of knowledge has caused the true spirit of all learning to collapse, especially the essence of Chinese culture and Eastern and Western culture, almost completely falling into a state of poverty and disease that cannot be cured. Professors at West Point Military Academy would be very surprised to learn that famous ancient Chinese generals such as Yue Fei were also poets. > Now our education is becoming more and more popular, and the scope of knowledge is becoming more and more widespread. It is really not comparable to the previous thirty years. However, the academic thinking of our young people, as well as the spirit and psychology of "acting bravely when they see justice" and standing up to "save the nation and strive for strength" are far less than those of the older generation of young people. Because we imitate the progress of material civilization and seek to be content with the enjoyment of real life, we are no longer distracted. Chasing the development of industry and commerce in order to strive for economic prosperity, in the precious and tense trend of time, there is no spare time to learn and think deeply. Therefore, we have developed a social atmosphere that blindly values ??the skills of natural science, and the study of humanistic thoughts is almost regarded as a luxury and waste. Everyone has failed to see the situation in the future world. Due to the abnormal development of natural science, it will become more developed and more advanced. It will lead to the tragic situation of "a lion is infected with a worm and eats the lion's flesh" in humanistic culture. What books did the students who were enlightened in the "home school" read at that time? There are roughly two situations: If you are studying for fame, you will probably read "The Analects" first, then "Mencius", then "The Doctrine of the Mean", and then "The Great Learning". From the age of six to nine, the four books listed above must be memorized thoroughly in order to prepare for the preliminary examination of the "Tongzi Examination". As for "Young Learning Qionglin", "Poems of a Thousand Families", "Three Hundred Tang Poems", etc., they are also extracurricular readings that should be read, and they all need to be recited proficiently in case of emergency. If the purpose is only to read and recognize characters, start by reading "Three Character Classic", "Hundred Family Surnames", "Thousand-Character Classic", "Poems of Prodigies", and "Zeng Guang's Sages of the Past" Wait, everyone does what they want, there are no rules. As for reciting poems and composing poems, that is a required task after two or three years of "enlightenment". . . It is not too difficult to learn to compose poetry when you are about ten years old. Whether one can write good poetry is another question. Starting from the first grade of elementary school, we work hard to teach children to recite a lot of unnecessary knowledge in current textbooks to prepare for monthly and midterm exams. Therefore, for families who are determined to "hope for their children to become successful", the more motivated children have to memorize "eight-legged essays" and "eight-legged essays" during the imperial examination period, which is more serious. Once I was chatting with a classmate who was studying normal education and accidentally mentioned these issues. I asked him: "What is the real value of our current education?" He sighed and smiled at me. I said: "For the exam." To be honest, in the past few decades, if we only relied on ordinary school education methods, I am afraid that the spirit of Chinese culture would have been completely lost.