1.2 Chinese People Always Value Freedom

Some people believe that freedom is unique to the western world，or more precisely, to the western bourgeoisie.But as the book has discussed, the freedom of bourgeoisie has defects.The freedom of proletariat is more authentic since it transcends the freedom of bourgeoisie.So freedom is never unique to bourgeoisie.Similarly, freedom is never unique to the western world from a regional or national perspective.Freedom has always been cherished by people in every nation.From the Spartacus slaves'uprising against slaveholders to the Chinese peasants'uprising against the feudal dynasties; from the struggle for better living conditions to the striving for better social system; from the bourgeoisie's battle of overthrowing feudal autocratic monarchy to the colonial countries'liberation movement for independence, all these endeavors symbolize people's common craving for freedom.And freedom is no doubt the same pursuit of people from different regions, of different ethnic groups and in different nations.

Although the Chinese idea of freedom is not exactly equivalent to western freedom, the Chinese have long been opposing autocracy and despotism which are enemies of freedom.We abhor arbitrary, domineering and arrogant actions.We denounce exclusiveness, perversity and haughtiness.We appreciate the personal independence and unrestraint minds.The history of China has witnessed numerous stories with the pursuit of freedom as their theme.In the Han Dynasty, a poem The Bride of Jiao Zhongqing praised a couple for their loyalty to love and reflected people's desire for the freedom of marriage.In the early 20th century, Chinese national bourgeoisie fought against the feudal system under the slogan of seeking freedom.Zou Rong, a revolutionary martyr, raised the clamor of“flying the flag of independence and ringing the bell of freedom”.Sun Yat-sen, wrote down the words of“In the 40 years of revolution, I always pursued equality and freedom for China”in his will.Constitution of the People's Republic of China also provides that citizens of the People's Republic of China enjoy freedom speech, of the press, of assembly, of association, of procession, of demonstration and of religions.According to the Constitution, the freedom of the person, the personal dignity and the residences of citizens of the People's Republic of China is inviolable.Citizens of the People's Republic of China have the right to criticize and make suggestions regarding any state organ or functionary. All these stories and legal articles demonstrate that Chinese people appreciate freedom and the spirits of freedom is a fundamental part of the Chinese national ethos.Nevertheless, the Chinese traditional culture possesses abundant philosophical thoughts and ideas on freedom.

1.2.1 Belief in Person as Relational Being

The Chinese traditional culture, especially the Confucian culture is utterly different from the western liberalism in its understanding of freedom.From the western liberalism perspective, the subject of freedom is individual.Individual, as an inviolable body, is independent from others, the country and society.And liberalism regards self as a self-disciplined, self-existing and self-developing being.“…the individual as essentially the proprietor of his own person or capacities, owing nothing to society for them.The individual was seen neither as a moral whole nor as a part of a larger social whole, but as an owner of himself.”

On the contrary, Confucianism suggests that self is not beyond social relations.Instead, self exists within the social context.An individual is a member of a family when he or she was born.When grown up, he or she becomes a member of society and the country. Moreover, society and the country can be viewed as a family in a broader sense.So the individual identity is first realized in families and later in greater communities.This idea on individual echoes with a famous quote from Great Learning:“Things being investigated;people's knowledge being complete; their thoughts being sincere;their hearts being rectified; their persons being cultivated; their families being regulated; their states being rightly governed, then the whole kingdom was made tranquil.”

As a part of society, individuals must assume their social roles through their social relations.The basic social relations between sovereign and subjects, parents and children, husband and wife, brother and sister and between friends embody the social morality. Existing within social relations, an individual discovers self through the relations.With knowledge of self, this individual can then know what to do and what to get from others.In this way, the appropriate social functions of individuals are associated with a set of social roles. Thus the society can achieve the Confucianism“yi” or “appropriateness”.The personal value is also built on individuals'fulfilling of their own social roles.In the light of this idea, people are not supposed to make arbitrary choices in their lives.Everyone is tied with his or her own debts, legacies, expectations and duties.This tie unites individuals with their historical context and social framework.In this logic, individuals'meaning of life is inextricably linked with their communities and is never a result of free choice.Based on this idea, the Chinese traditional culture attaches great importance to the interest of the society, the nation and the country.It also prioritized individuals'responsibilities and duties toward their families, their countries and their societies.The Chinese traditional culture also advocates the ideas that public interest is above individual interest.It opposes the ideas which over emphasize individual rights, especially the ideas of self-center and selfishness.

1.2.2 Advocating Independent Personality

The Chinese have been cherishing personal aspiration and integrity since ancient times.Confucius once said in The Analects:“The commander of the forces of a large state may be carried off, but the will of even a common man cannot be taken from him.”With his contractive sentence and emphatic tone, Confucius expressed his belief that individual integrity is unconquerable.This belief represents the Chinese tradition of pursuing moral and ethical ideals.In history, innumerable Chinese were inspired by this pursuit.They either fought bravely against the depraved reality or practiced the moral ideal themselves.“To be above the power of riches and honors without becoming dissipated, of poverty and mean condition but without swerving from principle, and of power and force without bending.”These the characteristics of the great man proposed by Mencius perfectly explains core of integrity.All his life, Mencius was a man of the highest integrity.He never cringed before the kings.He never compromised to the external pressures.He held the noble idea:“If poor, I attend to my own virtue in solitude; if advanced to dignity, I make the whole kingdom virtuous as well.”

In every page of Chinese history, we can find thousands of persons of lofty ideals and integrity.Tao Yuanming, an ancient litterateur, refused to sacrifice one's ideals in order to make a living.Li Bai, a great poet, wrote:“How can I gravely bow and scrape to men of high rank and men of high office? ”These great men of integrity symbolize the highest moral ideal and continue to influence generations of Chinese as moral role models.

1.2.3 Seeking Spiritual Freedom

The traditional Chinese culture retains a subtle balance.Different from Confucius'idea of proactively participating in the social affairs, Taoism encourages people to escape from the reality in order to be free.Taoism views real life as trammel and shackle.So Taoists tend to withdraw and become recluses in the nature so that they can escape the contamination of the troubled human world.Taoism believes that the best way to avoid the estrangement between human and nature, between human and society is to let nature take its course.Thus, Laozi encouraged people to follow the natural calls, to return to their primitive innocence and stay true.Laozi regarded innocence as a natural beauty in the rough since the inartificial innocence can best preserve the true colors of things.And the true, in contrast with the fake, best depicts human's mind.The true always goes hand in hand with the good and the beauty.Whereas the fake is often related with the ugly and the evil.To return to primitive innocence and to stay true is to erase all artificial elements.By doing so, human beings can enter the realm of the true, the good and the beautiful.

The freedom of mind is the fundamental belief of Taoism. Zhuang Zhou hoped to reach a mental state where“Heaven, Earth, and I were produced together, and all things and I are one”.He believed that people can only regain independence and spiritual freedom if they cast away the constraints of fame, wealth and power.He showed people a scenario of untroubled ease where men glide in the immense universe and regard all things equally to realize the transcending of mind.Taoism, represented by Laozi and Zhuang Zhou, has a profound influence on Chinese spiritual world with its ideas of flowing the nature, returning to innocence and escaping from the burden of materials.The philosophy of Taoism also provides priceless insights to modern society.

Certainly, we should acknowledge that despite the idea and spirit of freedom, the Chinese traditional culture has flaws.“The absence of systematic external supervision contributes to the degeneration of traditional Chinese idea of the spiritual freedom.The spiritual freedom somehow devolved into self-belittling, arbitrariness or cynicism.”注1This dual nature of Chinese traditional culture reminds us that we should keep a sober mind towards the tradition culture as we are promulgating the core socialist values.The traditional culture is the root and soul of our nation representing the highest spiritual pursuit and the spiritual identity of the Chinese people.It nourishes the nation for generations and its influence extends beyond its time limitation reflecting the eternal values of civilizations.The traditional culture, as our solid spiritual foundation in cultural competition, suits the common interests of the nation and the entire human race. With the Marxism methods and philosophy, we can make the past to serve the present.We must creating new ideas while learning from the old ideas.We must examine the traditional culture to develop the useful and discard the useless.By doing so, we will realize the creative transformation and innovative development of traditional culture to build the spiritual home of the Chinese nation.We should follow this approach in treating both the freedom ideas in traditional culture and the Chinese traditional culture itself.

注1Kou Dongliang, “Freedom”in Ancient Chinese's Eyes, Dazhong Daily, March 26th,2014.