传统与现代化

Many people pose tradition and modernization as diametrically opposite. For instance, as Beijing increasingly becomes a modern international metropolis, its traditional legacies, architecture and social mores among many other things, are shrinking at an alarming speed. However, more often than not, tradition and modernization are wholly compatible and may even be mutually enriching. The modernization process only serves to highlight the indispensable value of tradition.

Future-oriented as it is, modernization cannot be cut away from the past. Man is an emotional animal whose emotional attachment to the past defines the meaning of his existence in the present and the future. Although many urban planners are involved in a reckless drive for developing high-rise buildings to make their cities look modern, true architects are committed to preserving traditional architecture. This is because demolishing traditional architecture would render modern people rootless and disoriented. Without the past serving as a framework of reference, we would not know where we are heading for.

Being traditional does not mean being old-fashioned or outmoded. Many traditional values are of permanent significance and should be observed in the modern and post-modern eras. Chinese traditional ethics like benevolence and moral integrity should go beyond time and space to serve as universal values. As we strive to modernize our world, we should update and enrich our traditions instead of discarding them altogether. Otherwise, we are being irresponsible to ourselves or to our future generations.

It is true modernization is an irresistible global trend taking place with increasing momentum. However, the best pattern of modernization is the one taking full account of the historical past. Modernization should not be equated with breaking up with the past but rather an extension and incorporation of the past. Accordingly, human civilization retains its continuity and human existence is made meaningful because of this continuity.

【彻底支持传统而反对现代化】

The Mid-Autumn Festival became a public holiday only in recent years, amid the increased modernization drive of China. If one attributes the establishment of this holiday simply to Chinese people’s collective nostalgic impulse, it would be a serious misconception. Its creation produces important implications that shed light on what is going on in our modernization process.

Modernization has long been coveted as a revolutionary process that promises people a brand-new world and brand-new lifestyles. However, this reckless drive for the new has plunged people into an unprecedented state of rootlessness. In the high-rise modern buildings, our neighbors are virtual strangers with whom we only maintain a nodding acquaintance. Totally engrossed in pursuing our own personal successes in big cities, we seldom have time to be with our families. Intoxicated with the virtual reality on the Internet, many people experience serious barriers in real-world interpersonal communication. While we may pride ourselves on the physical achievements of modernization, we find ourselves trapped in growing loneliness and alienation.

Since ancient times, Chinese people have found comfort in lifestyles emphasizing simplicity and harmony. Close touch among family members and congenial affinity with nature offered them perfect bliss even without the material satisfactions of modern people. Hence, traditional values can be a salvation of the increasingly desiccated soul of modern people. In our hustle-bustle of modern urban life, we need to halt for a moment, to have family reunions, to contemplate on the bright full moon in the starry night sky, and to enjoy the human warmth of our friends and colleagues.

Modernization has not been all positive. The evils (maladies) it has created need to be addressed and frequently the solutions are to be sought from the past. In this sense, the preservation and transmission of tradition is not something sentimental, but a pressing necessity. 【彻底支持现代化而反对传统】

As mankind enters the 21st century, our world is undergoing drastic transformations. For China, a burning issue is the need for modernization, especially when compared with developed countries in the world, which already completed their modernization process decades ago. By definition, modernization involves the loss of traditions and there is nothing sentimental about that.

The modern era differs from all previous eras in terms of the spectacular development of science and technology, which has resulted in revolutionary advances in many spheres of our life. Although many would deplore the demise of many traditional forms of dramas and operas, we now have TV and movies that provide a much richer diversity of entertainment and artistic experiences. Instead of going to libraries to borrow books, we can now have massive amounts of information on the Internet. Modernization, together with its advanced discoveries and inventions, has indeed changed and improved human life.

Each generation faces new challenges to which we have to search for new solutions. As conventional sources of energy like fossil fuels are becoming rapidly depleted, we have to explore for cutting-edge technologies of solar and wind energy. For many lethal diseases, only modern genetics can come up with effective therapies. In search for new alternatives, we should be equipped with pioneering spirits, committed to innovations and breakthroughs. In this sense, indulgence in the past may pose as a burden impeding the pace of modernization.

A nation living merely in the past is hopeless. Just as countless species have become extinct in the process of biological evolution, many traditional legacies have to disappear as human societies develop. The purpose of modernization is not to devastate the past, but to create new and better prospects. Without modernization, there would be no progress and obviously stagnation is a state that no one likes.