Oriental Culture Occidental Culture
Ji Xian-Lin
People say that scholars ali over the world have given more than tive hundred definitions for the terra culture. So many definitions mean no definition. According to my superficial understanding, culture is ali the material and spiritual works of excellence ever created by mankind.
Origin of culture
Generally speaking, there are no other than two views concerning the origin of culture: monistic and pluralistic.
Those who held the monistic view claim that culture is created by a single nation, ie, the Nordic people. Peoples of other nations do not create culture, they even destroy it. This is a fascist“theory”which we naturally won’t accept.
I ama pluralist about the origin of culture. Ali nations in the World, large or small, can create culture, make contributions to the aggregate of world culture. But cultures created by various nations differ in quality and quantity, the difference may even be very great. This is a historical fact. Denial of such a fact is not an attitude of seeking truth from facts, nor scientific.
Cultural exchange
Ever since the existence of mankind, there has been cultural exchange. Anyone who invented a new way of getting food would be followed by others, this is exchange. Needless to say, this is the simplest and most primitive form of exchange. In historical development of mankind, clans and tribes formed gradually and among them there was cultural exchange. Subsequently, formed nations and countries, among them there has been cultural interflow too, and its scale became ever larger, its content ever richer. Until today, cultural exchange is still going on among ali nations and countries over the world, resulting in a human culture shining with great splendor and bright with many colors. Life becomes richer and richer; people live Ionger and longer.
Cultural exchange is indeed the most important force promoting the progress of human society.
Systems of culture
Cultures created by different nations are united into systems of larger scope. In my personal view, four systems of culture have been formed during historical times.
They are:
1. Chinese cultural system (including Japanese culture with some improvements and development).
2. Indian cultural system.
3.Semitic cultural system, including Hebraic, Egyptian, Babylonian, Assyrian, and ArabianIslamic cultures.
4. Indo-European cultural system, extending from ancient Greece and Rome up to modern Europe and America.
Two types of culture
The above four cultural systems can further be grouped into two types: oriental and occidentai. The oriental type consists of the first three systems, the occidental type consists of the fourth system.
Herein includes the entire human culture since ancient times.
Comparison of the two types
Both types benefit mankind. They have elevated human nature, raised the levei of human life and enjoyment, promoted the development of human society.
Although the difference between them manifests itself in various aspects, yet in my view, the fundamental difference lies in patterns of thinking, which is the basis and origin of all others. In a word, the oriental pattern of thinking is comprehensive, while the occidental is analytical. Just as mankind can have only two types of culture, it can have two patterns of thinking too, excluding the possibility of a third. Dichotomy seems to be a basic principle of nature and thinking. The Chinese classic Book of Change talks about quin and kun, ie. ying and yang. The natural world has sun and moon, day and night. In religion, philosophy, and ethics, people talk about bright and dark, good and evil, etc.
Comprehensive way of thinking may be characterized with two remarks: view a situation as a whole, and things are universally related. In popular saying, ir is “seeing both the trees and the forest”. Using a metaphor from medicine, ir is “treat the head when the foot hurts, treat the foot when the head aches”, and vice versa.
Analytical way of thinking is characterized by analyzing matter all along until fundamental particles. Can fundamental particles be further divided? Scientists and philosophers have two opposite views, A part of them claim that matter is divisible without end, while others hold that the process to division is limited. In popular saying, this pattern of thinking may be described as “seeing the trees but not forest” Using a metaphor in medical terms, it is “treat the head when the head aches, treat the foot when the foot hurts.”
The theory that man is integral part of nature held by ancient Chinese represents most typically the oriental pattern of thinking. “You are it (referring to cosmos)”- -a philosophical and religious tenet of India is another expression of the same thought. While phenomenal analysis of Indian Buddhism seems apparently to be analytical, in reality it is diametrically different from analysis of the west.
How to look at the oriental culture？
It is now the occidental culture that dominates the world. This is a fact nobody can deny. But it can only be a temporary phenomenon. Looking clown upon oriental culture by westerners is really out of national prejudice. Some orientals, especially Chinese, also look down upon oriental culture. It is shortsightedness. If we Iook at it through the wide expanse of time and space, we can see the actual state of affairs.
Altermate dominance of the orient and occident
Alternate dominance is the relation between oriental and occidental cultures as seen from the history of several thousand years. During the period of Han ancl Tang dynasties, Changan (now Xian), the capital of China, was in reality the center of world economy and culture. This is also a fact, which nobody can deny. The situation changed graclually since west learning began to flow eastward in late Ming dynasty. Opium War of 1840 was a turning point. Then Japanese learned from western culture conscientiously since the commencernent of Meiji Reformation in 1868. They did it prior to China, and achieved more success than China. Until today, they will soon lead the worlcl in sphere of science and technology.
The occident will be replaced by the orient
Relying on their superiority in science and technology, westerners consider themselves favored by God. But as lar as I know, no culture in the history of mankind could last forever, and from the next century, the east will replace the west, oriental culture will gradually dominate the world. Westerners believe that their science and technology based upon analytical pattern of thinking constitute absolute truth, bur they cannot solve many problems in natural world and human society. This weak point has been sensitively discerned by many western scholars of insight, such as Spengler of Germany, Toynbee of Britian, etc. Some new clisciplines bom recently in the west, such as theory of fuzziness, theory of nebulosity, etc. represent the same signs. In my view, such new disciplines display a common feature of thinking regarclless of their different fields of inquiry, which being different from the typical traditional pattern of the occident, is nevertheless similar to the oriental comprehensive pattern. In them we can discern the of universal relatedness，and some ideas of viewing as a whole.
Pwospects about the development fo human culture
In my view, from the 21st century, oriental culture will gradually replace the occidental. This does not mean that occidental culture will be eradicated, which is utterly impossible and contrary to the rule of social development. By succeeding ali the brilliant achievements created by occidental culture during recent centuries, the oriental comprehensive way of thinking will supplement the exhaustion of the occidental analytical way of thinking, and thereby raise human cuture to a newer and higher stage.
Human cu[ture has always been proceeding ahead and will never halt in its course of progress. This is the rule of development of human society.
