Walking with the Head--Thought Treasury Anthology.1

Author: Zhou Ruijin (Editor)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-05-01
Features:
1,595 years ago, a famous Chinese poet known for refusing to "bend his waist for five bushels of rice" left official life, retreated to the countryside, and lived by farming. He often engaged in discussions with local scholars and officials, evaluating literature and commenting on current affairs, coining the timeless phrase, "Let us enjoy the marvelous writings together and analyze the doubts in them." Unbeknownst, nearly half a century later, this phrase was used by a great leader as a "club" and a "hat" to label a large number of intellectuals who criticized societal flaws and commented on politics as "right-wing reactionaries against the party and socialism." From then on, "marvelous writings" were equated with "poisonous weeds," and "doubts" were linked to heresy. The timeless phrase was twisted into "let us jointly criticize the poisonous weeds and strike down the heretics." This led to a decade-long "leftist" crackdown, plunging the nation into a state of "uniformity in thought and silence in speech." It wasn’t until the Great Debate on the Criterion of Truth, like a spring thunder, that the era of reform and opening up arrived, bringing about a change in this situation. The times have now vindicated the phrase "Let us enjoy the marvelous writings together and analyze the doubts in them," restoring it to its original meaning.
The so-called "marvelous writings" refer to extraordinary articles with new ideas, perspectives, materials, and language. These writings inspire people, offer social lessons, and benefit the nation. They are the essence of the times, a precious spiritual treasure worth collectively appreciating, evaluating, and discussing. As for "let us analyze the doubts together," it advocates independent thinking, free thought, the Hundred Schools Contending, and mutual refinement. Clearly, the famous phrase from over 1,500 years ago still holds universal value today: pursuing truth requires walking with one’s head, tempering one’s thoughts, speaking freely, and daring to innovate.
Looking at human history, any nation that has advanced toward prosperity, civilization, and democracy has inevitably cherished its national intellectual treasury. Whether it is discourse on strengthening the state or critiques of societal flaws, as long as they benefit the nation and its people, the more the better. Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle, among other great philosophers, contributed to the flourishing of Greek civilization. The European Renaissance in the 15th century also ushered in modern civilization, while Rousseau, Diderot, and Voltaire of the Encyclopedists laid the foundation for modern democratic political thought.
In Chinese history, the Hundred Schools Contending during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods did not also lead to the unification of the Qin Dynasty and the splendid reigns of the Han and Tang Dynasties?