On Judging Chinese Cultural Practices By Criteria Of Civilization Based On The Civilizing Process

Reinterpreting cultural relativism,we have come to know that culture as a whole cannot be judged,for every culture,as a complex,has its own value.However,as the elements of a given culture,cultural practices can be identified and thus judged.Civilization is chosen as the criterion to divide cultural practices into the advanced ones and backward ones.Civilization beats other options for its nature of progress and its diversity.The masterpiece of Elias Norbert,The Civilizing Process,studies the western civilizing process by analyzing western civilized behavior for several centuries.Elias considers competition as the cause of refinement of social economy which is presented as division of labor.With the division getting more and more differentiated,individuals are required to cooperate with each other to get work done.Therefore,people must refrain from mere instinct and stick to conventional behavior to maintain harmonious interpersonal relationship and improve cooperation.The justification and habituation of the conventional behavior is the process of civilization.Based on western civilization,Elias provides a universal framework for all civilizations.Chinese civilization,like other civilizations in the world,emerged to regulate interpersonal relation and society.However,it has been working in a very different way from western civilization.When western civilization met with Chinese civilization,there appeared a new form of Chinese civilization.A comprehensive comparison of Chinese civilization and western civilization will lead to the three principles of civilization to judge Chinese cultural practices.They are the sense of embarrassment and shame,respect and considerateness.These principles are raised from the perspectives of the subject,the object and all human beings.The sense of shame refers to feelings evoked when internalized conduct norms are offended,respect focuses on ways of making comfortable the other party of a given communication,and considerateness refers to care about all human beings.Through the three principles of civilization,people will have chances to introspect themselves,which can be seen as a way to self-education and self-cultivation.Besides,they will have a better understanding and a more explicit cognition of how to be civilized.When people have the awareness of what is civilized behavior and what is not,they will be more willing to cling to their internalized civilized conduct norms.In the age when intensive interpersonal interaction and frequent communication between countries have become absolutely necessary,civilized conducts smooth contradictions in favor of harmonious relationship and offer foreigners a good impression of China today.Chinese were once criticized for being uncivilized,and so when most Chinese take action to correct their uncivilized behavior and keep their civilized one,the reputation of Chinese and the image of China will take on a new picture in the future.