The Spirit of the Chinese People - 643 Words

My father recommended to me Mr. Ku Hong-Ming’s works when I was fresh out of high school. He said that since I was going to major in English, it might be as well to read about Mr. Ku works and try to understand how a Chinese writer’s English writing, after such a long period, is still so widely appreciated. I remember quite clearly how I was totally shocked while for first time I read the great words by Mr. Ku Hung-Ming. The collection of his articles, named â€Å"The Spirit of the Chinese People† is one of his very magnum opuses --a pure attempt to interpret the spirit and show the value of Chinese civilization. The special emphasis was laid on the type of humanity the Chinese civilization has produced, namely the man and woman, the type†¦show more content†¦Loyalty and filial obedience, so to speak, has become the faith of most of them. Confucianism is not a religion, yet it is better, for no doctrine of any single religion as that of Confucianism has so wide a range of influence upon people’s mind. Hence, Confucianism was dubbed by Mr. Ku â€Å"the state religion†. Presently, we come across a certain kind of vignettes, more often than not, in the news papers as well as in the magazines, talking about how wonderful about the western civilization and how Chinese people should learn from the British—learn from their â€Å"sense of gentleman†. May be after some serious consideration, people may realize that while we were fascinated with the western culture, the traditional â€Å"Chinese spirit† has begun to fade away from people’s memory—benevolence, justice and virtue, loyalty and filial obedience and the most basic â€Å"the sense of gentleman†. Ku, with his sarcastic tone, pointed out the worth of traditional Chinese culture to the flawed western values. As far as I’m concerned, it can’t be justified to criticize any single culture as worthless, opinions differ. No single culture is without blemish, and maybe no judge of it is absolutely fair. But we absolutely have a great responsibility to ponder on our own. â€Å"The sense of gentleman† within Chinese culture should never be forgotten. As regard to benevolence, justice and virtue as well as loyalty and filial obedience an oldShow MoreRelatedEssay on Chinese and American Ghosts (Woman Warrior)1220 Words   |  5 PagesAmerican and Chinese cultures. The two cultures have different views of what a ghost is. The Chinese believe the ghost spirits may be of people dead or alive. Chinese culture recognizes foreigners and unfamiliar people as ghosts because, like American ghosts, they are mysterious creatures of the unknown. Americans view ghosts as spirits of the dead that either help or haunt people. American ghosts may or may not be real. 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