Xintravel's First Stop -- The Source 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 should it elaborate on the aspects of cultural spirit from the perspective of certain thoughts or individuals. Instead, it should strive to showcase the social and cultural mindset by examining the worldviews, aesthetic views, religious beliefs, ethical and moral views, artistic views, customs, ideal personalities, as well as the daily life styles, desires, intentions, emotions, and motivations of people from all strata in ancient times. It aims to analyze what people thought in these aspects, why they thought that way, and to explore the reasons for the emergence, development, and decline of these thoughts, thereby summarizing the deep-rooted causes of the historical and cultural development of China from its origins. However, during the later writing process, I failed to fully adhere to this principle and did not adequately 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 Life and Mindset of the Shang and Zhou Dynasties. A Journey of the Heart: The Origins of Ancient Chinese Social and Cultural Mindset is a seminal work in analyzing the social psychology of ancient Chinese society. The author explores the worldviews, aesthetic views, political views, life views, values, religious beliefs, ethical and moral views, artistic views, as well as customs and ideal personalities of people from all strata in ancient China to reveal the social mindset. It particularly focuses on tracing the origins and underlying reasons of these mindsets, as the saying goes, "Understanding things from their origins is understanding them from their essence." This work combines traditional ancient texts with unearthed artifacts, drawing on the theories and methods of Western cultural anthropology and social psychology to conduct in-depth research on the collective psychology of ancient Chinese people, such as their beliefs in ghosts and gods, views on human nature, and perspectives on merit and fame, uncovering profound insights that directly address the essence of social psychology.