Our Time: Unswerving until Death

Chapter 26 Standing by the River and Thinking

Just when He Qi was wondering why Professor Gu focused on "the mean", Professor Gu changed the topic and avoided talking about it again, saying: "If there is a house, the bottom is the foundation, and the top is the house. All dynasties have built the foundation. It has been repaired and rebuilt based on the foundation, and it has lasted for more than 2000 years. Now this house is crumbling and precarious. Some people advocate sewing and mending, some advocate tearing down the original house and rebuilding it, and some advocate destroying the foundation and copying it from foreigners. I want to ask Ask everyone, what is the foundation of 2000 Huaxia that I am worried about?"

"Is it the princes and nobles of the past dynasties?"

"Is it a family tree of the same line?"

"Is it a text book that has been handed down for thousands of years?"

Professor Gu asked several questions in a row, but shook his head and denied it. Then he looked at Mr. Yang Chengzan who was listening below, and said: "Mr. Chengzan once had a text called "Theory of Metal and Ironism". It said: China has always been Although there is no noun with the word nationality, what kind of national title does it really have. People today must look at the oldest nation that China loves, the Han nationality. In fact, Han is the imperial name of the Liu family's emperor's era, not the inherent name of its nation. China Since ancient times, a nation with a high culture and a large number of people has called its country China and its nation China. It is this righteousness that distinguishes a country from a country and a region. China says The difference between China and foreign countries is the distance between regions. The difference between a nation and a nation is different from culture. The Chinese say that the difference between Huayi and Yi culture is also the difference. That is to say, the name of China is not only a region. The name of a country is not the name of a species of blood, but the name of a clan of a culture."

"The old man deeply believes that, so the foundation of China today is our Chinese civilization, a civilization that is completely different from Western civilization, a civilization that encompasses everything, a civilization that has a long history, a civilization that has gone through hardships, tends to perish several times, and is still intact civilization."

"When I was studying in the West, I studied their history and found a very strange place. The land of Europa and my land of China are equally vast and rich in resources, but they have split into dozens of countries, while China has only one. If If we look more closely, the cultures of our provinces in China are very different, and the language and customs are also different. If it corresponds to Europa, then each province can become its own country."

"So, the old man opened the history books and found that China was quite similar to Europa before the pre-Qin period. In the Spring and Autumn and Warring States period, more than a dozen countries fought each other, until the king of Qin swept Liuhe, and China was unified. The book is the same. , the trains were on the same track, and the Chinese civilization was gradually born."

"After the pre-Qin and Han Dynasties, the chaos of the Five Dynasties, the south crossing, the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Sixteen Kingdoms, the Northern Wei Dynasty and the Southern Song Dynasty were separated, and the establishment of the Sui Dynasty, the concept of grand unification was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. The Chinese civilization merged with many northern nomadic civilizations and was able to condense again."

"At the end of the Tang Dynasty, the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, the mountains and rivers were broken, until the Zhao and Song Dynasties, and then through the Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties in turn, the Chinese civilization has deeply penetrated into the bones of every Chinese."

"As a result, the western countries in the same period were in a state of division, and it is still the case today. On the other hand, China is divided and combined, and finally it is moving toward unity."

"If we remove all the superficial decorations of the past dynasties, and take away a house called the country, what is buried underneath is the Chinese civilization."

"In other words, instead of saying that China is a country, it is better to say that China is a civilization wearing the cloak of a country.

"But now, some people don't want it anymore. They copy the things of foreigners, wear suits, eat Western food, and speak foreign languages. In their eyes, things of foreigners are elegant, and things of their ancestors are vulgar. Everything left that can be thrown away is thrown away."

"The old man thinks that such people are short-sighted, have shallow knowledge, harm the country and the people, and are especially despicable, but they don't know that oranges grown in Huainan are oranges, and oranges grown in Huaibei are oranges. If the things of foreigners are so good, why is Europa still tied for several countries? I am still the only one in Huaxia."

"it is good!!"

"it is good!!!"

Professor Gu's provocative speech aroused unanimous applause from everyone, but Qian Xuan was substituted into his own thinking by Professor Gu, and fell into a misunderstanding, and was unable to refute for a while.

At this moment, Brother Xun suddenly spoke, and said, "Professor Gu's words are very good, but I have a question, do you want to ask Professor Gu to clarify?"

"Please!" Professor Gu said.

Everyone put away their applause, held their breath and listened quietly.

"As Professor Gu said, the land of Europe is divided into several countries, and it is not as good as the unification of China, so why can a small country of Europa bully our unified country of China?"

"Borrowing the article "The Theory of Gold and Iron", the so-called gold means money, that is, the economy. It is used to seek the prosperity of the people's life. The iron means black iron, which means iron cannons, and military affairs. I want to use this to gain the strength of the country. At present, China is weak in economy and military, so the foreign powers come to bully us." Professor Gu explained.

"So, we're going to move to that dilapidated house and rebuild a new one. Does Professor Gu agree?" Brother Xun asked again.

"The old man agrees to build a new house, but the old man does not agree to tear down and rebuild it together with the foundation."

"However, this house has been built several times, and it is still crumbling. Could it be that there is something wrong with the foundation?"

"If a leg is sick, heal the leg. If you want to abandon it, you will be alone."

"How to cure it?"

"Rule of man."

"Hush" everyone was confused again.

"Turning over the history of 2000 years, the old man only saw two words 'morality'. In all prosperous dynasties, 'morality' prevailed, 'Tao' bound the body to practice, 'virtue' restrained the desire of the heart, which is called 'the mean' , using the "golden mean" to cure diseases is the rule of man. Why this house has been built several times, but it is still crumbling is because the people who built it did not pay attention to "morality" and used the wrong method. "Jun Xian" is also good, Regardless of the 'people's constitution', we all need to rely on the 'rule of man'."

Professor Gu stands at this node, looks back to the past, and then concludes an empirical statement. Strictly speaking, it is valid. This is one of the ways for the ancestors to explore the future.

We later generations stand on the shoulders of light and accuse those who lived in darkness a hundred years ago for not knowing the way and where the exit was. today?
In this debate, Qian Xuan and Brother Xun seem to be at a disadvantage. This is due to the limitations of the times. He Qi feels that he has to say a few words, which is not enough to accuse, but more like communication.

He Qi did not face Professor Gu's question directly, but tactfully gave an example called "Standing by the River and Thinking", saying: "Mr. On the African prairie, there are many herbivores living in groups, including antelope, wildebeest, bison, etc. After eating a piece of pasture, they must cross a river and migrate to the opposite pasture for food. There is a kind of predator called crocodile living in this river, waiting to hunt and prey in the river where they must pass through. If we are one of the animals that want to migrate, we come to the river and see the crocodile in the river With its bloody mouth wide open, it looked terrifying. So we were afraid, stopped, and stood hesitantly by the river. At the same time, other animals were already crossing the river. They lost some of their kind and finally set foot on the river. On the other side, there are fresh and juicy grasses, and there is a steady stream of delicious delicacies. As for us, we not only missed the opportunity to cross the river with them, but we have not yet made a decision, and we are always standing by the river to discuss and argue, day after day In the past, some people finally couldn't bear the hunger, rushed down the river, and died in the mouth of many crocodiles soon. Find a way to regenerate the grass that has been gnawed clean.”

"Let me ask, if we crossed the river with other animals, wouldn't we be able to share the crocodile attack and reduce the loss of the population?"

"As for those who are scared to retreat, they will starve to death by the time the grass regenerates."

"Now, we are the only ones standing by the river. Do we have to pay the price of blood and cross the river immediately? Or continue to stand by the river discussing and arguing, watching the grass on the other bank being eaten by other species. The more they eat , We can eat less, one will grow and the other will grow, their population will grow stronger, and our population will become weaker and weaker."

This is a fruitless debate. Professor Gu's "one room" cannot but be said to be unreasonable, while He Qi's "thinking by the river" is refreshing. .

Everyone can't help but fall into thinking
(End of this chapter)