Life Nourishing Culture Production Of Ancient China

Life nurturing, out of health and longevity desire, contains the crystallization ofancient wisdom, explores and develops in the balance of a series of complexrelationships of man and heaven, man and man, man and nature. It has become awonderful work in the Chinese culture. Predecessors has combed the history of lifenurturing for us in medicine, history, sports, etc., showing a scene in an overview ofthe life nurturing culture. Today, it has become an important task for life nurturingresearch that how do we go further on the basis of previous studies. This article willput life nurturing into the view of class distinction, and starts from ancientintelligentsia which was the middle class, to explore the internal way of life nurturingdevelopment. It is an academic overlooking standing on the shoulders of giants.This research suggests that life nurturing due to the segmentation of the class,and its major producers is the hierarchy constituted by literacy; According to thecharacteristics and needs of different classes, the intelligentsia produced a variety oflife nurturing culture for them. On the basis of roughly one-third of the ancient socialclass, the research takes nurturing production of intelligentsia as the mainline,summarizes and analyzes production history of different classes’ life nurturing whichwas produced by intelligentsia, and collates its historical experience starting fromthe perspective of “production/consumption” in the background of culturalproductionFirst, the intellectual class produced a high-tech means and specializedproduction characteristics of life nurturing for emperors’ class which contained fairyfinding, outer alchemy for Immortality (drugs), high-end medical and food. First ofall, in times of peace, emperors’ dream of immortal began in the action of fairyfinding which was carried on by Alchemists for emperors. Further more, in additionto sea for Immortality, alchemists, etc. also tried to find a way of longevity in theFengshan activities, hoping to obtain the immortality of life. Again, afer the failure offairy finding, the outer alchemy invented by Daoists has become the new darling ofthe upper nobility. In the end, with the accumulation of the intellectual class life nurturing culture, life nurturing of imperial upper class was becoming rational, thatdoctors became producers of their high-end day-to-day life nurturing care includingmedicine and food. The subject of Emperors’ life nurturing is not the emperor andnobility, but “others” including alchemists and doctors etc. Its purpose is not tobecame a moderate who avoids pleasure and makes “self-enlightenment” come tureby "self-technology". On the contrary, the lust of domination and a long time rule ofthe contury by physical immortality is its main purpose. we might call this kind of lifenurturing “others’ technology”, because it dependent on looking methods from theoutside world.Second, the intellectual class tooke life nurturing as the tool of the "body andspirit cultivating", increased and developed life nurturing technology, and itssignificant characteristic is introversion. To start with, from the Qin Dynasty to theWeijin, Song and Ming, physical and political relations of intelligentsia experienced aprocess which began at same, then alienation, and at last the political hidden in thebody. They focused on their bodies when their desire of ruling the country wasdifficult to achieve. In the process of the “body and spirit cultivating”, the worldlydesires was digested and the spiritual desire was expanded. Secondly, with theestablishment of Confucian culture traditional, intelligentsia made an importantcontribution to heart-preserving what contained two aspects of “idleness” and"reclusion", and runs through moderation attitude toward life. The knowledge peopleachieved life nurturing function using their own paintings and other skills, becausethese skills have the same state as qigong (isomorphic of life nurturing); throughmaking friends with Buddhists and Taoists, they got the peace of heart; they enjoyedlandscape and courtyard, to obtain the liberation of the soul; the landscape art or thethe landscape-like courtyard designation incorporated the landscapes into private lifeto take care of themselves physically and mentally. They achieved life nurturingfunction of health preserving and disease prevention with “the healing power ofnature”. All of above, while the expansion of life nurturing connotations, has alsobecome the main method of spiritual cultivation of intelligentsia who divorced fromthe secular powers. Finally, Confucians assimilated and transformed life nurturing technology. Confucian concept of home and country and ethical thinking Integratedinto Buddhism and Taoism cultivation technology of the previous generation. Cultureof life nurturing became more “internalized”, showing characteristics that the reasonis more important than the method. Life nurturing of intelligentsia is directed by theConfucianism, and is different from the Taoism life nurturing of previous generationwhich pursuited immortality and explored Alchemy. In addition, the use of imagesand mottoes and text type diversification of life nurturing had promoted secularizationand popularization of life nurturing knowledge, and had achieved restructuring andreproduction of the life nurturing knowledge.Third, the intelligentsia gave full play to his ability to write,in which lifenurturing had become an important aspect while one’s body and mind relegated to thecorner of the life. Apart from the motive of Achieving glory by writing, it is theprofound meaning hidden in the text that they wanted to intervent in the communityby speech, and indirectly to achieve the unfinished business of “governing the worldwell”. After the Song Dynasty, the intelligentsia (mainly Confucian intellectuals) hadbuilt a life nurturing system that contains two aspects of the “methods” and “reason”.They melted the Confucian “reason” into the “methods” of life nurturing, andpenetrated it into the public by writing, by which to norm people’s life nurturingbehavior. They are endowed the life nurturing meaning to the Confucian “moralityCultivation”, and educated people to pay attention to their own bodies starting fromthe ethics and morality. This aimed at achieving interpersonal Hopewell, so as toachieve the stability of the social order. On the other hand, they strengthened thecharacteristics of time of life nurturing technology. Management regimen of daily lifeinvolves not only the practice of spirit, but also involved in the upbringing of the body.Its goal is to resolve the conflict of body and mind, and to makes people be in linewith the rules from the heart to the body, the inside to the outside, reaching theHarmony status of body universe and heaven. Life nurturing proposed norms one byone according to personal sleep, living, behavior, bathing, eating,etc. The goal of lifenurturing transferred to the management of human life, expanding from three aspectsof “daily life, Four Seasons’ life and different stages of life”. The management of the social order was Strengthened. Life nurturing discourse had undergone a historictransformation that life nurturing of went into the view of country and society fromthe field of private life with an image of body management. Life nurturing writingassociated with “life politics” appeared in large numbers. From the everyday virtuesaccomplishment to interpersonal principle of doing things, to the mass indoctrinationof new-confucianism in the Song and Ming period, life nurturing had become one ofthe tools of intelligentsia to achieve the aspirations running the country.