Today I saw a foreign language program on a Chinese TV station about the embroidery on Qing Dynasty official robes. What's strange isn't that China promotes its culture to foreigners, but that it never promotes these things to its own people.
What do we see most on the radio these days? Variety shows, dramas, and news. It always feels like it's all about boosting clicks and pandering to popular tastes. If it's something everyone knows, not promoting it is understandable, but there are many things that are inherently Chinese, things that even our own people don't understand, yet we desperately promote them to the outside world. It feels like we don't cherish our own things, but expect others to. In a sense, Chinese tradition hasn't changed. Why were China's doors opened? Wasn't it because others used explosives made by the Chinese themselves that they were forced open?
Regardless of the industry, Chinese culture is incredibly profound. Yet, what about the Chinese? They only know the surface, not the underlying principles. They know the names of their own things, but not the essence, desperately recommending them to others to elevate their own status, only to then turn around and treasure others' secondhand goods. They exchange their own essence for others' garbage, and they're still smug and complacent about it.
Look at what foreigners value, and then think about ourselves. They are so eager to learn about our culture, yet we not only ignore it but also offer superficial things to comfort ourselves. Tea tasting, such an elegant pastime, is somehow outclassed by a cup of bitter black coffee in our own country, and we even promote it, paying for anything foreign no matter how far-fetched.
Another time, there was a TV program about ancient sword-making techniques, and another time about Chinese martial arts, but without exception, it was all in foreign languages. How much of this knowledge do Chinese people actually possess, yet it has been widely disseminated to foreigners?
How much of China's essence needs to be popularized! It's all been given away to foreigners, leaving nothing for ourselves. What are we doing? This is selling off our core assets, much of it even being given away as a gift. Everyone praises
the Chinese cheongsam, but it's mostly foreigners wearing it, while Chinese women cling to stockings. Fashion—can fashion compare to true beauty?
Without daring to act on our own culture, we will only have false gentlemen, and no true gentlemen to be found. Are Chinese gentlemen foolish and unsophisticated?
The Chinese are conservative, and the skills passed down through generations are hard-won. Why not promote them through the media and give the Chinese a chance? Even just a chance to compete fairly with foreigners for our own culture. I don't know how many generations of inheritors will fade away with time.
China's five thousand years of civilization is incredibly profound, but do the Chinese possess depth? Utterly shallow and despicable! What are we despised by foreigners for? Our character? Ridiculous! I think even if one day we become the world's most powerful nation, we will still be despised. Five thousand years of our ancestors' hard work, squandered like this—it's truly pathetic!
Now, the good things from feudal society have been lost, and various evil churches have sprung up one after another. If this continues, one day the Chinese will even despise their own ignorance.
People, especially the Chinese, cannot live merely to survive; otherwise, they will be letting down their ancestors in the afterlife!
I am deeply worried that the next war will not be a technological one, but a cultural one, and the Chinese will lose utterly, and in the same way—foreigners will defeat us using the culture we created ourselves.
Aside from gaining the right to freedom and losing the traditions of our ancestors, perhaps the Chinese people have never changed. They are still hypocritical and arrogant, still willing to give anything for a little flattery, and still slyly corrupting themselves. We are still spendthrift landlords! When will we truly wake up?
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