Xintravel First Stop: The Origin of Ancient Chinese Social and Cultural Mindset: The Origin of Ancient Chinese Social and Cultural Mindset

Author: Zhao Hui
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-04-01
Features: When I began writing this book, I established the principle that it should not introduce various cultural phenomena and achievements of the pre-Qin era, nor explain aspects of cultural spirit from the perspective of certain thoughts or individuals. Instead, it should strive to showcase the worldview, aesthetic views, religious views, ethical and moral views, artistic views, customs, ideal personalities, as well as daily life styles, desires, intentions, emotions, and motivations of people from all strata in ancient times, thereby revealing the social and cultural mindset. This means exploring what people thought in these aspects, why they thought that way, and analyzing the reasons for the emergence, development, and decline of these thoughts. The deep-seated causes of the historical and cultural development of China should be summarized from the source. However, during the later writing process, I failed to fully adhere to this principle and did not sufficiently discuss the aspects of daily life styles, desires, intentions, emotions, and motivations of society, leaving behind many regrets. I will make up for this in the writing of The Social and Cultural Mindset of the Shang-Zhou Period. Heart Journey: The Origin of Ancient Chinese Social and Cultural Mindset is a powerful work that analyzes the social psychology of ancient Chinese society. The book presents the social mindset from the perspectives of the worldview, aesthetic views, political views, life views, values, religious views, ethical and moral views, artistic views, as well as customs and personality ideals of people from all strata in ancient China. It particularly focuses on tracing the origins and underlying reasons of these social mindsets, as the saying goes, "Understanding things from their origins is understanding them from their essence." This work draws on both traditional ancient texts and unearthed artifacts, incorporating theories and methods from Western cultural anthropology and social psychology to conduct an in-depth investigation into the group psychology of ancient Chinese people, such as their beliefs in ghosts and gods, views on human nature, and perspectives on merit and fame. Each analysis offers unique insights, delving directly into the essence of social psychology.