Communist Party Of China And Traditional Culture For The Yan'an Period

The traditional Chinese culture (TCC) is rich and profound with a long history. In China's modern history of over 100 years.in view of saving the nation, it is an urgent problem for progressive Chinese people to find out how to face the influence and challenge of western culture and how to handle the TCC. But in this period, different political forces, such as the peasant movement and bourgeois revolutionary party with Hong Xiuquan and Sun Yat-sen as the leaders respectively as well as the self-strengtheners of the landlord class and the Wu-hsu reformers of the bourgeoisie cannot treat the TCC scientifically: they denied it totally or succeeded it completely or insisted on the combination (irrelevant and improper in fact) of Chinese and western culture. The inappropriate ideas of the TCC had a bad effect on the national salvation, the lesson of which is impressive.With the New Culture Movement's influence, The Communist Party of China (CPC) had formed correct view of new-democratic culture during the period of Yan'an. As to the TCC, the CPC realized the historical necessity of its being replaced by new culture and analyzed its existence at that time; the party advocated the inheritance of the TCC from Confucius to Sun Yat-sen and distinguished stale feudal culture from the people's culture; it paid great attention to academic research of the TCC and fought against the doctrine of "back to the ancient" of the Kuomintang (KMT) reactionaries and Japanese invaders using the dross of the TCC as well as against feudal superstitious ideas. All of the above ideas and activities of the CPC were very important to the enforcement of its ideological and theoretical system and the victory of new-democratic revolution and also the accumulation of rich experience for the socialist culture construction of the CPC after the founding of the PRC.Guided by the view of new-democratic culture, in thought, the CPC attached great importance to the TCC in order to overcome dogmatism, to realize China's localization of Marxism, to resist Japanese culture penetration, to win the victory over the ideological intrusion of the KMT and to set up a new culture and a new society for Chinese people; In practice, the CPC carried out overall researches of the TCC: 1. research of Confucianism, Monism and other various schools of thought 2. critical inheritance of experience and lesson from ancient famous battles and peasant wars 3. critical inheritance of traditional literature and art as well as collection and arrangement of folk art 4. the making of protection law of relics 5. exposure and criticism of the doctrine of "back to the ancient" of the KMT reactionaries and Japanese invaders as well as feudal superstitious ideas.The above measures of the CPC have the traits of unity of nation and times, of consistence of science and revolution and of stress of region, popularity and affinity to the people.Although the CPC's research, utilization and criticism of the TCC have somedrawbacks due to the anti-Japanese war and the CPC members' limited Marxist theoretical level at that time, all the activities are of historic significance: 1. The research of the TCC has realized the key link of Marxism and the TCC, i.e. China's localization of Marxism. 2. The inheritance and criticism of the TCC has laid the foundation for the development of progressive culture. 3. The research of the TCC has resisted the invasion of Japanese imperialist culture and aroused Chinese patriotism and nationalism, resulting in the consolidation and development of anti-Japanese united front. 4. The criticism of the doctrine "back to the ancient" of the KMT reactionaries has made Chinese people clearly see the reactionary essence of the KMT ruling conception and to some extent enlarged the CPC's political influence. 5. The inheritance and criticism of traditional morals have greatly improved the CPC's ideological work, style of work and organic construction. 6. The criticism of feudal superstitious ideas has promoted social progress and civilization. 7. The research has arous...