Collision And Integration

The traditional Chinese society is a patriarchal society linked by blood relationship. The family ethic that is the foundation and prototype of social ethic is the key for people to understand the traditional ethical culture in depth. The thesis displays the historical background, process, contents, features and substance from the developmental points of modern diversion of the family ethic, revealing that the process of the modern diversion of traditional family ethic is in fact the process of reforming and inheriting the traditional family ethic, namely, the process of establishing the modern family ethic.This paper holds that the emergence of traditional family ethic depends on its politics, economy and culture, etc. The patriarchal system linked by blood relationship, the social political structure blending a family with the nation, the small -scale peasant economy with self - sufficiency and the community - centralized value - orientation are the soil for the existence of traditional family ethic. This kind of family ethic has its own characteristic, which is embodied by the patriarchal ethic that was family - centralized, with the human's ethic being its major axis and the filial piety at the core. Such instruction of family ethic was a useful means to keep Chinese society stable.In 1840s, however, with the invasion of western capitalism, the traditional developing orbit of the Chinese society was broken, and began to be drowned into the tide of modern world's development. Therefore, our nation started to step on the arduous road to modernization in order to boycott foreign insult, to save the national crises and to respond to the challenge from the western industrial civilization. The traditional family's ethical culture was carried into the tide of modernization,embarking on the modern diversion of the traditional family ethic. The process of diversion can roughly be divided into three major stages: modern stage (the OpiumWai-the New Culture Movement on May 4), the stage of New DemocraticDoctrine Revolution and Socialist System' s construction and development (the founding of the Communist Party of China-the end of the Great Cultural Revolution) , the stage of contemporary reform and opening (1978-). The contentsand characteristics of the modern ethical diversion during these three stages are totally grasped in this thesis. What's more, the modern family ethical diversion is specifically analyzed from three aspects. The first one is the alteration of the family ethical spirit, which is changed from the family - centralized value - orientation to the dual one centering both the individual and the family.The traditional family ethic emphasized family - centralization and subordination of the individual interest to the family's. As a result it led to the individual's dependence on the family, the depression of one's characteristic development and the loss of individual's independence. The modern family ethic emphasizes the dual value - orientation for both the individual and the family. In other words, the family must respect every family members' will and interest, while the individual must bear the responsibilities and obligations for the family. The second is the alteration of ethical rules between husband and wife, which is changed from the authority centered on the husband to the equal partners. Traditional society is the one centering the authority on the males and husbands, while the females have very low status in society and family. Being a wife, she is just a tool to bear sons and daughters and a toy for her husband to play with. She is affiliated to her husband like a servant with no independence at all. In the opinion of modern family ethic, both husband and wife are equal and independent individuals and they are partners in their careers and lives. In everyday life the couple should respect each other and care for each other, enjoying and sharing family's rights and duties all together. Only when the new sexual ethical rules are established will it be possible to accomplish th...