Hu-Xiang culture

DATE:08-06-2011

Historical OriginHu-Xiang culture is a distinctive constituent part of the diversified Chinese civilization. Over recent 100 years, with the outstanding performances of Hunan figures in the historical stage, Hu-Xiang culture has attracted wide attention and been highly praised by the whole country. Many unearthed ancient relics coincide with the records in pre-Qin documents, and this phenomenon proves that Hu-Xiang culture’s history is far more than 1,000 years; instead, it can be dated back to the Civilization of Yellow Emperor and Yan Emperor and even the Shennong Civilization of before the Yan Emperor. In The Book of Change, the Civilization of Yellow Emperor and Yan Emperor is highly abstracted as “constantly strive to become stronger” and “great virtue embraces all things” to imply its character and morals of the heaven and earth. This summarized philosophy is not only embodied in the philosophical ideas of sages of the past, but also in the basic spirit which constantly plays an important role in the Chinese cultural tradition, and it is the hardworking and enterprising spirit of overcoming flood disasters, the pioneering and innovative spirit of exploring scientific and technological inventions, sacrifice and dedication spirit of bringing benefits to the people, as well as the spirit of promoting the unity and complementation of all ethnic groups. The cultural tradition of the ancient ancestors who took the lead in cultivating rice also contains a character of displaying subjective initiatives to be the first man in the world. These characters and spirits have been carried down generation by generation, and now they have become the foundation of value orientation and thinking method of Hu-Xiang culture, as a result, the collectivism value which means the interest of the nation and ethnic group is higher than personal interest, is formed, so are the prominent patriotism tradition and individuals’ sense of responsibility and mission for the future of the nation. This value orientation gave birth to a thinking method of Hu-Xiang culture, i.e., learning from others and absorbing and optimizing the strong points of others, and it is an open thinking mode. In the long progress of history, the gradually-developed South Chu culture represented by Qu Yuan and the Confucian culture represented by Confucius collide with and melt into each other without cease. Finally, the “urbanity” of central plains and “barbarity” of the culture of Miao ethnic groups combined together, forming a unique Hu-Xiang culture with characters of obstinacy, fortitude and ardor.

Cultural SettingsSo many smart and colorful rivers in Hunan give birth to a passionate and conflicting culture and ideology. Hunan is surrounded by mountains on three sides and water on the fourth side and it is U-shaped. In winter, bitter and cold waves from Siberia go down to the south and then push deep in the whole Hunan Province, until they reach Chenzhou and Yongyong, as the Nanling Mountains stop the waves’ further moving; in summer, the scorching sun in the South and a great deal of evaporation of water of the Dongting Lake make the hot air in Hunan hard to disperse, as a result, it sometimes can reach 41℃ in midsummer, and it still can reach 33 ℃ at nights. In spring and autumn, Hunan is often controlled by the cold front from the northwest, but sometimes it can be influenced by the warm and wet flow from the Southwest, as a result, the weather is always changing, sunny days and rainy days often happen beyond people’s expectation, and it can even suddenly become cold or hot. Therefore, although Hunan is known as a land flowing with milk and honey, it has been a barren place with poor dwelling conditions from the old time. One example is that in the Han Dynasty, Jia Yi was assigned to Changsha as an official named Taifu but he regarded it as an exile and then died in anguish in his early age. In ancient times, Hunan was more unenlightened than the central plains of China, but in another hand, it was a place where the adverse conditions may bring up distinguished persons. Just as an old saying going like this: “large pools in remote mountains actually may produce dragons and snakes.” The harsh environment may forge people’s adamancy and manliness. The blocked environment can foster people’s independent thinking and ingratiating spirit. After the Han Dynasty, Hunan was gradually developed, and it became a land flowing with milk and honey as well as granary, however, the harsh climate such as the cold winter, hot summer and changeful spring and autumn felt by Hunan people has brought up Hunan people’s spirit of struggling on without cease and philosophy that way of god is changeful. For example, Li Sao, Asking Heaven and Evocation in Chu Ci, sacrifice offering in Xiang-Chu witch culture, and lacquer paintings in Changsha Mawangdui mausoleum i.e. all display a characteristic different from that of the culture in the Yellow River valley, that, Hu-Xiang culture seeks no symmetry or neatness, instead, it is more jumping and passionate, and it especially displays its doubt and adaptation of the uncertain way of god as well as its rebel.2,000 years have passes, but the geographical and natural environment in Hunan has never changed. Therefore, this feeling and spirit are carried forward generation by generation, and their incarnations are as follows: Qu Yuan, Ouyang Xun, Huai Su, Wang Chuanshan, Wei Yuan, Zeng Guofan, Zuo Zongtang, Peng Yulin, Hu Linyi, Tan Sitong, Wang Kaiyun, Qi Baishi, Huang Xing, Jiang Yiwu, Cai E and Mao Tsetung. We should not undervalue such settings’ influence on Hu-Xiang culture.

Basic SpiritWhat’s the basic spirit of Hu-Xiang culture? Hu-Xiang culture can be summarized in four aspects: simplicity & faithfulness, boldness & martialism, humanistic pragmatism, and ceaseless self-improvement. “Simplicity” means being honest, sincere, vigorous and firm and it is an undecorated and unconstrained nature. “Faithfulness” means a strong sense of justice and koinotropy. “Boldness & martialism” means that a man can deal with difficulties calmly and face death unflinchingly. The two elements mix together and integrate into one body, forming a distinctive characteristic of Hu-Xiang culture, and it is full of vivid heroism. And Mr. Qian Jibo describes it like this: “Why do Hunan people create Hunan? Why does Hunan suddenly rise and establish its own status? The reason can be summarized in one sentence: Hunan people are strong and powerful”. “Humanistic pragmatism” means the spirit of attaching importance to practice and pragmatism, and it is the epitome of the pragmatic rationality and sense of participation of “Every man has a share of responsibility for the fate of his country”. Once this universality combines with heroism, it will become a bold and generous ground-breaking spirit of “Who but myself can do it?”, and in turn it will provide a definite objective of the struggle for the Hu-Xiang culture. “Ceaseless self-improvement” is the basic form of the cosmic spirit of “normal celestial movement”, and in Hu-Xiang culture, it is listed in the category of “human pole” and regarded as the “pole” of culture. This endues Hu-Xiang culture with a unique philosophical basis. It is just because of this reason, Hu-Xiang culture owns a special character of “being not scared when staying alone, and not bored when retiring form the world”. It is demonstrated as follows: First, Hu-Xiang culture’s political awareness is very strong. The study atmosphere of humanistic pragmatism has been handed down generation by generation since its establishment in the Song Dynasty, and it stresses the combination of theory with practice, especially placing stress on solving practical problems in reality. Therefore it brings up a phenomenon that the political consciousness in Hu-Xiang culture is very strong. Second, the tradition of patriotism in Hu-Xiang culture is very obvious. The first man that highly upheld patriotism was Qu Yuan. Then Jia Yi followed. Third, Hu-Xiang culture contains a spirit of learning wildly from others’ strong points and an independent ground-breaking spirit of daring to be a frontier of the world. The sea admits hundreds of rivers for its capacity. The reason that Hu-Xiang culture can become a unique regional culture over the long-term historical development can be attributed to Hunan people’s open spirit of learning wildly from others’ strong points.

Main ContentHu-Xiang philosophy: Hu-Xiang philosophy, with Hu Anguo in the Song Dynasty as the initiator, has formed its own individual style through efforts of Hu Hong, Zhang Shi, Wang Chuanshan, Zeng Guofan, Tan Sitong, Yang Changji and Mao Tsetung. This philosophy combines the moral spirit of Neo-Confucianism and humanistic pragmatism, and this characteristic of academic culture has been carried forward to the modern times. In the modern history, people of talents came forth successively from Hunan, although their political standpoints differ from each other greatly, they share a common ground: attaching importance to both ideals and  pragmatism.

Hu-Xiang literature & art: Hu-Xiang literature & art carries forward the literature tradition of concerning about the country and people initiated by Qu Yuan and the philosophy tradition of humanistic pragmatism by Hu Anguo, Hu-Xiang literature & art has a distinctive characteristic of “integrating literature and the Way into one body”. Xiangxiang Literature School, represented by Zeng Guofan, is a representative of this characteristic. This characteristic is also vividly reflected on Mao Tsetung.

Hu-Xiang historiography: Humanistic pragmatism is also reflected in Hu-Xiang historiography. Hu-Xiang historiography’s distinctive characteristics are as follows: First, paying attention to both Confucian classics and history. The ways in the Confucian classics are used as the highest basis for judging the history. History is expounded for the purpose of explaining the ways in the Confucian classics, while such ways are explained for the purpose of upholding the historical tradition. Second, stories in the ancient time are told for the purpose of analyzing the present time, while the past is criticized for the purpose of attacking the problems of the present time. History is not researched for scholarship's sake, instead, it is researched for drawing lessons of rise and fall in the history and seeking and borrowing historical ideas on the state's renaissance as well as saving the nation from subjugation and ensuring its survival. This spirit of humanistic pragmatism and emphasizing historiography, and the historical tradition of serving politics and emphasizing historical tradition have influenced the development orientation of Hu-Xiang historiography.

Hu-Xiang education: Hu-Xiang education began to thrive in the Song Dynasty, and it has formed its own unique tradition over 1,000 years: it emphasizes both learning and reflection, and it also emphasizes the combination of knowledge and practice, and it emphasizes independent thinking and rational criticism. Yuelu Academy is a testimony and representative of this tradition. 

Hu-Xiang religion: Hu-Xiang culture takes a fully inclusive and equitable attitude towards religions, and the phenomenon that Buddhism, Daoism and Confucianism co-exist in the same large temple in the South Sacred Mountain is a typical case. Towards the latter one, Hu-Xiang Culture adopts a resolute critical attitude. From the Hu-Xiang school in the Song Dynasty, scholars in Hunan have always upheld the viewpoints of "going into the world", insisted on “solid scholarship” and stressed "making use of what one has learned", so they criticized religions from perspectives of sociology and epistemology. They especially took efforts to resist conspiratorial activities of Christians. Hunan is a province whose “religious cases” ranked number one in the modern history in China. Resisting foreign religions has been a unanimous activity of the whole region.

Hu-Xiang folk-customs & folkways: Hu-Xiang is one of the regions which have the greatest number of ethnic groups. In the long time, due to the their differences of histories, regions, modes of production and religions,different ethnic groups brought up colorful traditional customs and ethnic group folkways, they interpenetrate with each other and influence each other, and finally they formed the unique Hu-Xiang folk culture of clear-cut individuality.

Hu-Xiang science & technology: thanks to its emphasis on practice and practicability, science and technology in Hunan have always been very developed. As early as in the Shang and Zhou Dynasty, bronze smelting tehnology was very high. The famous Antimony City in the modern history is the number one antimony melting center all over the country. The unearthed relics in Mawangdui mausoleum are so delicate and fine that visitors always acclaim for them as the peak of perfection. They fully display the unique scientific character and morals of Hu-Xiang culture.