Shen Haixiong’s Qiushi： Why did we plan China in the Classics？
CCTV News:According to Qiushi Mobile Newspaper, the fifth issue of Qiushi magazine published on March 1st published a signed article by Shen Haixiong, entitled "Why should we plan China in Classics".
The full text is as follows:
Why should we plan China in Classics?
Shen Haixiong
In the Spring Festival of the Year of the Ox, "China in Classics" just started broadcasting, which set a new high for the same kind of theme. After the spread of new media, the program also turned into "online celebrity", bringing a wave of "classics fever".
This is actually what we expected. When evaluating Greek art and epic, Marx said that Greek art and epic can still give us artistic enjoyment, and in a way, it is still a standard and unattainable model. "There are rivers in the sky and rivers in the sky". Our great nation stands in the forest of nations in the world and is endless; Our splendid Chinese civilization has a long history and lasts forever. One of the important mysteries is that literature carries the Tao and culture people. The classics are the inexhaustible source of Chinese culture, and they are always a model to nourish Chinese children with spirit and remind us to ruminate constantly.
Therefore, we are happy that the program is on fire; We are more proud that the classics are "alive".
"People can be enlightened, not enlightened." Everyone knows that Chinese culture has a long history, extensive and profound, and its context is endless after five thousand years. The fundamental reason lies in the fact that generations of Chinese descendants have passed on from generation to generation. In our ancient Chinese dictionary, Wei compiled three unique works, full of sweat, and Luoyang paper is expensive … … The ancients in China often praised the charm of ancient books and cultural heritage with words of praise and admiration. General Secretary of the Supreme Leader said that the classics of ancient poetry have been integrated into the blood of the Chinese nation and become our genes. The intangible core of these classics is China spirit, and the tangible carrier is Chinese classics.
I remember a year ago, at an editorial meeting of the Central Radio and Television General Station, when we were discussing the topic selection of high-quality products, I put forward a long-cherished suggestion: Can we create a column to carry forward the excellent traditional Chinese cultural classics, such as China in the Classics? At that time, everyone thought it was feasible. I put forward this suggestion, not only because of the personal preference of a liberal arts graduate. I can’t forget the scene when I first entered the university more than 30 years ago: Chinese department teachers met freshmen, and most of the old gentlemen who studied classical literature stumbled, and one of them was carried in by a chair. Later, my classmates and I visited an old gentleman’s house. We were just amazed at all kinds of thread-bound classics on the wall. Unexpectedly, the old gentleman sighed with emotion: Behind him, the children will sell these books to the recycling bin. The old man was saddened by the failure of his children to inherit his business.
Excellent traditional culture is the root and soul of the Chinese nation. The pain of the old gentleman is alarming. If the ancient books are hung high in the ivory tower and dusty in the library, even if they are scattered in textbooks, no one will consciously continue to burn incense. Isn’t that a loss of roots and souls with the passage of time?
Never! "China’s excellent traditional culture is our deepest cultural soft power and a fertile cultural ground rooted in Socialism with Chinese characteristics." Since the beginning of the new era, the CPC Central Committee with the Supreme Leader as the core has stood at the height of realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, gained a profound insight into the internal relationship between Chinese excellent traditional culture and the development of the Chinese nation, made a new judgment, a new generalization and a new definition of Chinese excellent traditional culture, endowed it with a brand-new connotation of the times and embodied a high degree of cultural self-confidence. General Secretary of the Supreme Leader emphasized that "Chinese civilization has lasted for thousands of years and has its own unique value system. China’s excellent traditional culture has become the gene of the Chinese nation, rooted in Chinese’s heart and influencing Chinese’s way of thinking and behavior imperceptibly. ". A series of measures taken by the CPC Central Committee to inherit and carry forward Chinese excellent traditional culture have ignited a powerful engine of creative transformation and innovative development of Chinese culture in the whole society, and the vitality, influence, cohesion and creativity of Chinese excellent traditional culture have been continuously enhanced.
The picture shows the poster of Shangshu, a large-scale cultural program of the Central Radio and Television General Station, China in Classics. Photo courtesy of Central Radio and Television Headquarters
In the new era, Chinese excellent traditional culture has ushered in a brilliant spring. At the same time, how to interpret and spread Chinese excellent traditional culture? "Open your own life according to the rules of the ancients" is not only a great opportunity but also a great challenge for propaganda and ideological and cultural workers.
From this, I thought of classics. Cultural classics are often the epitome of excellent culture. Up and down for 5 thousand years, 80 thousand miles vertically and horizontally. A vast sea of Chinese traditional classics, from the four books and five classics to the twenty-fourth history, from Confucius, Mencius, Laozi, grandson, Mozi, Han Feizi to literature, history, philosophy, Confucian classics, traditional Chinese medicine, etc., from Pangu’s creation of heaven and earth, Nu Wa’s creation of man to Shennong’s taste of herbs and Cangjie’s creation of characters, from Jingwei’s reclamation to Houyi’s shooting at the sun. … Extensive and profound Chinese cultural classics highly condense the national character and national spirit of Chinese sons and daughters between the lines, and condense into an endless historical river of Chinese culture.
Culture is like water. Chinese civilization seems soft, but in fact it is strong. This also answers from one side why ancient civilizations such as ancient India, ancient Egypt and ancient Babylon have already entered the museum. Only Chinese civilization, after five thousand years of wind and rain, is still standing and full of vitality, shining with dazzling light in the brilliant starry sky of human civilization. Know where to come from, and know where to go. It is the Chinese cultural classics that have been passed down from generation to generation. The Chinese nation has endured hardships and stood firm, and the Chinese civilization has experienced vicissitudes and passed down from generation to generation.
Look at success or failure, learn from gains and losses, know right and wrong, and know how to rise and fall. Excellent classics are not only the shared memory of the Chinese nation, but also the spiritual connection between us and history. It not only witnessed our yesterday, observed our today, but also blessed our tomorrow and the Chinese nation for thousands of years to come. We feel that it is a good starting point to spread traditional culture from excellent classics. Today’s China has rapidly entered the Internet era, and the convenience and richness of people’s reading have surpassed any period in history. Although "books are easy to read with pleasure", we should also ask ourselves: How many people are reading traditional classics quietly in China today? How many people can read and get into traditional classics?
No matter how brilliant the culture is, once it is lost, it will inevitably decline. As an important communication position, CCTV is duty-bound to inherit and carry forward China’s excellent traditional culture and must race against time. Since the establishment of the reception desk, we have successively launched a large number of excellent programs to carry forward and inherit Chinese excellent traditional culture, such as Classic Poems, Chinese Poetry Conference, National Treasures and China Geographical Names Conference, which have been widely recognized by the society. Many programs are still selling well in Europe and America. We also appreciate the powerful power of drawing creative inspiration from Chinese excellent traditional culture!
Thank you very much to our creative team, the National Theatre and the China Institute of History. You brought the traditional classics to the screen with innovative methods, and let Chinese of different ages and knowledge see our glorious past and be deeply attracted. Many obscure classics, through fashionable and novel TV programs, make heavy history collide with modern minds, shake hands with history in a contemporary way, make people feel happy and amiable, make the audience, especially young people, love it, and make "classics come alive". Classics are no longer "cold", and programs become explosions. This is the charm of innovation!
In the book, the dry Kun is big, and the sun and the moon are long in my heart. We firmly believe that classics are the treasures of the country, not only in the library, but also in the works of scholars, and also in the hearts of young people. China in Classics is the disseminator and transformer of classics. Through the unique context transformation of TV, more people fall in love with classics and consciously inherit the splendid Chinese culture.
Wisdom and virtue are like a spring breeze. China in the Classics tells us that Chinese culture is by no means an obscure antique, but a treasure house of thoughts that is stored in the classics and still guides people to think about where we came from and where we are going. "My life is limited, but so is my knowledge". Chinese cultural classics are the carriers of ancient sages’ thoughts and the crystallization of sages’ wisdom. They are by no means yellowed words in ivory towers or sleeping piles of old papers, but cultural genes that will always keep fresh vitality in the blood of our nation, and cultural codes that will never stop the long river of Chinese civilization.
Excellent culture is the common language of mankind. Chinese traditional books and records are unique resources to tell the story of China. Excellent classics have always been a magnet to attract international sinologists to Chinese culture. Mr. Ma Yueran, the only Chinese speaker in Swedish Academy, was Zuo Zhuan. Gao Luopei, a famous Dutch sinologist, once translated Qin Fu by Ji Kang, seven sages of bamboo forest. In the 9th century A.D., Bai Juyi’s Collection of Bai’s Works has become a document for the Japanese royal family to read … … Today’s China is approaching the center of the world stage, and the traditional classics are a great advantage for us to exchange and learn from each other in civilization with the world.
There are no mountains to climb, only books to read. Su Dongpo has a cloud, and he wants to "make great efforts to know all the words in the world and make up his mind to read all the books in the world." Our voluminous cultural classics are the spiritual peaks built by hieroglyphics for five thousand years. Climbing such a spiritual peak, climbing high and looking far, for us personally, can expand and broaden our life length and width; For our nation, we can consolidate the spiritual thickness, and then "make a heart for heaven and earth, make a life for the people, carry on the past and learn from the past, and open peace for all generations."
"Standing on the vast land of 9.6 million square kilometers, sucking the cultural nutrients accumulated by the long struggle of the Chinese nation, with the majestic power of 1.3 billion China people, we have gone our own way, with an incomparably broad stage, an incomparably profound historical background and an incomparably strong determination to move forward. China people should have this confidence, and every Chinese should have this confidence. " The important exposition of the Supreme Leader’s General Secretary guides us to perform our duties, innovate and innovate again, and continue to carry forward the spirit of China and spread the culture of China with new communication methods.
"Those who know are not as good as those who are good, and those who are good are not as good as those who are happy." China in Classics is a useful attempt for us to explore the modern communication of traditional classics, but it is by no means the only one. Dialogue with the ancient sages and communicate across time and space, let us constantly spread Chinese cultural classics with innovation and pay tribute to our ancestors!
Source: Qiushi 2021/05
Author: Shen Haixiong, deputy director of the Propaganda Department of the CPC Central Committee, director and editor-in-chief of the Central Radio and Television General Station.