Hello everyone, I am Anthony. Welcome to my channel today.

Let’s continue to talk about Chinese language education.

In the previous episode, we summarized and analyzed a certain profound commonality among Chinese language texts.

That is, it objectively encourages a nostalgia for the state of childhood, missing parents, miss nature, missing the rural society.

That is, returning to the mother's womb, return to that simple, innocent and simple state.

This organizational principle of Chinese textbooks, in fact, it implies the respect for family authority, to nature, the innocence of collectivism and rural society, simple Yearning.

At the same time, there is also a discussion on cities and modern civilization and the accompanying rejection of individual consciousness awakening.

Although it seems to appeal to some natural human instinct, real emotions, but if you think about it carefully, it's very strange.

For example, Chinese texts and ancient poems always teach students to love their hometown, love hometown, and hints at homesickness, the Chinese nation, a noble emotion for thousands of years.

However, the homesickness of the ancient Chinese, it was rooted in the social structure of that era.

For example, in traditional China, a scholar wants to enter the official career, often need his clan to provide financial, support from personal connections.

The clan not only provided him with learning conditions and share the glory after they become famous, he also wants to support the younger generations in the clan.

Therefore, their relationship with their hometown, it's more than just homesickness and nostalgia, it is bound to huge practical interests.

Under the system of family and country integration, he can't be with other people, building a relationship stronger than a clan.

Even if you are an official abroad, clans are still at the core of their identity.

Once they are excluded and attacked in official circles, only his hometown can provide him with some kind of shelter.

It can be seen, traditional Chinese homesickness, it is closely related to the imperial system and clan system.

It's not some kind of common human emotion.

For example, in European history, the awakening of the modern spirit, it is built on individuals want to escape from rural society, the shackles and fetters of collectivism.

The only place that can provide this kind of freedom is the city.

Cities offer not only higher incomes and opportunities, it also provides a relatively open and social norms of mobility.

This is also true in contemporary China, many students have never lived in rural society, but was asked to love and miss something I have no experience with.

You have to regard this as your own essence.

This is the reason behind this kind of emotional education, the most twisted, unnatural thing.

On the surface, is to teach students to cherish their childhood and the womb, but it is not the childhood that the individual actually experienced.

It is filtered through ideology, the templated, idealized childhood.

So we talked about this in the last video, Chinese Education, is it intentionally or unintentionally, encouraging a certain kind of immature personality, that is to encourage retreat.

Regression is a psychological concept, refers to people facing stress and anxiety, or when you are unable to cope with complex problems, will return to a more primitive, simple or low-level behavior or state of mind.

For example, returning to the dependence and simplicity of childhood, to seek a sense of security, or try to simplify or idealize dealing with complex real-world problems.

Today's video, let’s dig further, this ideology encourages regression, how is it formed?

first, The reason why I think this question is very meaningful, Because in China, many people are indeed deeply troubled by this ideology.

That is, using a childish standard to judge oneself.

For example, they may think that they are pursuing independence and freedom, pursue establishing your own sense of boundaries, it is a manifestation of forgetfulness.

For example, think that your pain, it's all because of being too obsessed with yourself, too complicated, too many thoughts, just remove distracting thoughts and eliminate desires, you can be calm, no more worries, no more anxiety.

For example, many Chinese people believe, falling leaves return to their roots is the final destination of life.

No matter how successful a person is outside, if you can't stay with your parents, or you can't bring honor to your hometown, can't find my roots, then his life is meaningless. His spirit has been in a state of wandering.

There is a hidden meaning here. The family and hometown that gave birth to you and raised you, he has the power to judge your soul.

Only when people return to their roots, back to the mother's womb, to achieve true peace.

Chinese culture, there are a lot of stories, intentions and proverbs about finding roots.

For example, in the Tang Dynasty's "Autumn Residence on the Bashang", there is a poem like this: "The fallen leaves of a foreign tree, "A person alone at night with a cold lamp"

It means that the author went to a foreign land alone, it's lonely, cold, and lonely, it seems that once I return to my hometown, all psychological problems are cured.

For example, there is a Chinese saying, “A mother worries about her child even when he is thousands of miles away”, it also means that no matter how far the child goes, between mother and hometown, there is an emotional bond that cannot be severed.

This also implies a kind of pressure, a person's pursuit of freedom, it will make the mother anxious and painful.

Images of homesickness, mother love, and return, it is absolutely mainstream in Chinese culture.

So if we say Western culture is based on individual agency, so, views of various schools of Chinese culture on the nature of human nature, it is always static.

For example, there is a sentence in the Book of Rites: Human beings are born quiet, which is the nature of heaven. Being moved by things is the desire of sex.

This sentence means that, human nature is quiet, also without desire, it is the nature of the individual to tend to cancel, all the power and vitality, all movement is the result of external influences.

However, this seemingly natural philosophy, it is also very depressing and unnatural.

Because the natural tendency of the soul, just want to break the shackles, want to grow, want to break the tranquility of a stagnant pool of water.

Speaking of which, some friends may ask, this culture of returning to the womb, after all, it is rooted in traditional society.

In modern and contemporary China, the traditional social structure has disintegrated, why is this encouragement to regress and return to the womb, haven’t they been fundamentally challenged or impacted?

My opinion is, with the modern times, China, increasingly impacted by the wave of globalization and modernization, traditional Confucian Ethics and Rural Society, lost authority indeed.

However, since there is no hope of changing society, it is also due to the lack of knowledge and understanding of the West, intellectuals are in a state of confusion and anxiety, start to try all kinds of treatments.

final, picked up something more conservative and backward, trying to rely on these, to achieve overtaking and national rejuvenation.

For example, Marxism in the Soviet Union, and the influence of nationalism, this culture of regression, again, endowed with a certain modern and progressive meaning.

Soviet Marxism, emphasis on class struggle and the subjectivity of the proletariat, this is in line with traditional Chinese culture, nostalgia and praise for the hometown.

For the Chinese Communists, romanticizing farmers and the countryside.

As Li Dazhao said in Youth and the Countryside: There are many sins in the city, there is a lot of happiness in the countryside, life in the city is almost entirely the life of ghosts, rural life, it's all human activity.

The nationalist narrative, it is convenient to integrate traditional Chinese culture, reshaped as a tool to resist Western cultural invasion, and thereby build the legitimacy of the state.

for example, We have quoted from the book Revolution and Counter-Revolution, The Kuomintang and the Communist Party, They all adopted a nationalist narrative, Calling on the public, At that time, China's disaster, Blame it all on foreign economic and political infiltration, Viewpoint.

It does have almost universal appeal to young people.

therefore, When the Communists coined the word imperialism, them, He really holds the key to the minds of young people.

Anyway, we can see, although the old mother's womb is lost, but the individual did not grow from it.

Instead, it fell into a new womb. Symbols of leaders, party organizations, motherland, etc. Replaced the traditional hometown and clan.

The traditional Chinese nostalgia for the countryside, replaced by patriotism and revolutionary collectivism.

The kind of oppression caused by Chinese peasants, underdeveloped awareness of rights, Glorified as selfless, A manifestation of high revolutionary consciousness.

In all these changes, the only constant is the praise for the lack of individual development.

Therefore, although the Chinese ideology in the 20th century, often in the name of "revolution" and "progress", but its core is quite conservative and traditional.

In fact, we can find, 20th century left-wing intellectuals, There is a deep Oedipus complex, and separation anxiety.

It can also be seen as a cultural regression.

With the victory of the revolution, their spiritual temperament, It gradually became, The mainstream and prominent schools of thought in China.

Indoctrination through political and educational systems, This temperament has been successfully passed down to this day.

This is reflected in the Chinese language education we see today.

Therefore we need, Tracing back on this.

Here we take Wen Yiduo as an example.

As a famous patriotic writer, Wen Yiduo's patriotic feelings and personal experience, It is very worthy of attention.

In our September 29th issue, In the video about patriotism and pornography, Wen Yiduo's "Song of the Seven Sons" was mentioned.

In these seven poems, Wen Yiduo used anthropomorphic techniques, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, Weihaiwei, Guangzhou Bay, Jiulong Island, Lushun and Dalian, These seven territories China lost in modern times, Likened to the seven children taken away from the motherland.

Here obviously, is to appeal to a, The orphan's attachment to and longing for his mother, To arouse the patriotic feelings of the Chinese people, and hatred of the West.

It is necessary to talk about Wen Yiduo's experience here.

Wen Yiduo studied in the United States from 1922 to 1925, It is not uncommon for international students to experience maladjustment, But Wen Yiduo's pessimism during his study abroad, Negative and negative emotions, And the nostalgia and imagination of the motherland, It seems to be getting to a point where it's not normal.

He just lived in Chicago for a week, I hate the life here.

He himself cannot adapt to the new environment, Seeing other Chinese students, Adapted to America so well, Just scold them: Chinese people should act like Chinese people!

He described himself as a prisoner, Exile in the United States.

In his poems, he compared himself to a lone goose and a lonely soul.

This lone goose "wandered to the remote border of the water country, Weeping about the endless sorrow"

The United States is the "territory of the goshawk", The goshawk has "sharp straight claws", Tearing the face of nature, Building a nest of wealth.

He criticized the United States as a machine with only steel and iron bones, Drunk on the blood of the weak, Exhale the evil black smoke.

There is not only a sense of separation anxiety from the motherland, Also with clear, Disgust with industrial civilization and capitalism, Suggesting these things are torn, The beauty, simplicity and kindness of nature.

He once wrote a poem praising Tsinghua University: That is, later Tsinghua University:

Thousands of people working hard here, Not like Western-style machinery, Big gear wrapped around small gear, Turning unconsciously, Spinning aimlessly.

But only work for their ideals, For their ideals of four thousand years, The teachings of ancient saints, Work hard.

This also implies that Westerners are mechanical, Spiritless and thoughtless, The Chinese and Chinese culture, is more intelligent, Smart, spiritual.

He imagined Tsinghua School at that time, Can contribute to China's 4,000-year-old culture, A Showdown with the West.

He imagined that Tsinghua's school flag could fly out of Hangu Pass, Holding the soul of a saint, Pervading the West and the world.

This looks, Much like a child's fantasy of a heroic victory.

What he called the East-West Showdown, Appears very naive and emotional, A simplistic way of thinking full of binary oppositions.

His understanding of Tsinghua and the Chinese people, It also has a utopian color that everyone is united in.

It seems to him, The Chinese are of one mind. No disagreement between, As long as we work together, we can defeat the West.

He seems to have completely ignored the complexity of human beings, It also ignores the diversity of academic development, and the importance of individual differences.

The most ironic thing is, Tsinghua University, which he had high hopes for, The Americans he hated, Established with the returned Boxer Indemnity.

And the original intention of establishing this school, It is also to train students to study in the United States.

He fantasizes, Tsinghua University adheres to the teachings of ancient sages and wise men for four thousand years, But I can't see, Tsinghua's teaching system, From the beginning, it was deeply influenced by the West.

In a school that is highly dependent on the West, Talk about flooding the West and fighting it out, This is so funny.

Wen Yiduo's Mental State, It also reflects that era, Chinese Intellectuals, When faced with the anxiety of modernization, The stress response.

The simple, kind-hearted person they imagined, Rural China, a united country, Completely out of touch with reality.

In fact, China's traditional rural society, Not only is it not equal and harmonious, Instead, it is full of class contradictions, Conflicts between officials and the people and between clans.

Most farmers are in extreme poverty.

However, left-wing intellectuals in the 20th century, But invariably, Rural China as an imagined community, To rebuild cultural identity.

By resorting to some more extreme, and exaggerated nationalism, This is a cultural regression.

Another typical example, that is, We mentioned in this video on November 10th, Ai Qing's Story.

Because deep in my heart, Suffering from loneliness and solitude, Ai Qing's obsession with his wet nurse, Developed an obsession with the party, the leader and the people.

The Party’s propaganda of “serving the people wholeheartedly”, It just fits his projection needs, Make him give up everything, Resistance and critical thinking.

As we said before about the new socialists, In this video, When faced with the impact of foreign civilizations on our own culture, The intellectuals finally picked up, The most conservative and traditional aspect of the culture, And tried to use this, To achieve a curve overtaking of Western society.

The reason why they chose Marxism, An important reason, In the traditional culture of the country, Faced with serious challenges from Western culture, Loss of general recognition, Although Marxism also comes from Western countries, But it is a non-mainstream, Western culture that criticizes Western culture.

This just fits the bill, Intellectuals from Eastern Agricultural Countries, The psychological need to criticize the West.

So they almost naturally, In Marxism, Elimination of factors that promote free individuality, And replace its core with the country's, Peasant Utopian Fantasy.

Their idealism that seeks to transcend the world, But it is a traditional Chinese, The Resurrection of the Specter of Universalism.

Describing one's own culture and spirit as a, A higher and newer existence than capitalism, This not only relieves anxiety, It can also affect Western society, Various social problems, Propose criticism and solutions.

For example, criticizing the materialistic society in the West, Consumerism, etc. To provide moral legitimacy for themselves.

This obsession and fascination with overtaking on the curve, It deeply attracted the Chinese intellectuals at that time.

However, cultural confidence based on regression, After all, it's not true confidence.

The womb they shaped, In the end, it inevitably devoured them.

That’s all for today’s video.

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