儒家在日本和亚洲大陆

Japan’s relationship to Confucianism isfundamentally different from that of its two neighbors, China and Korea. InChinese and Korean culture, Confucianism is a core element of classicalmorality. In Japan, on the other hand, Confucianism has never been an elementof primary importance in the local culture. In China and Korea, Confucianism isnot just a unified way of looking at human nature, life, happiness, and theworld—traditionally it has been regarded as a source of wisdom for everydayliving. In Japan, values such as respect and consideration for others haveplayed a more prominent role.

日本与儒家的关系与中、韩存在根本不同。在中、韩文化中，儒家是古典道德的核心部分。而在日本，儒家在当地文化中并不扮演主要作用。在中、韩，儒家不仅是一种看待人性、生命、幸福和世界的统一方式——传统来说，已被看成是日常生活的智慧之源。在日本，诸如尊重和体贴他人的价值观扮演着更加突出的角色。

One unavoidable aspect of Confucianism is the factthat it is a system of thought that grew up China, meaning that it isinherently a philosophical outlook that was developed by and for the Chinesepeople. It was in this context that Confucianism spread through East Asia. Itsinfluence was particularly strong in Korea during the Joseon Dynasty thatlasted from the late fourteenth to the early twentieth century, whenConfucianism was the official state ideology. In the sixteenth century,prominent Confucian scholars like Yi Hwang (Toegye) and Yi I (Yulok) tookConfucian learning to new heights. The Korean peninsula was famous as a “modelstudent” of Confucianism, and people in Korea took to referring to their owncountry as a “little China.”

一个不可否认的事实是儒家思想是生发于中国的思想系统，是一种由中国人发展、为中国人服务的哲学思想。在这样的背景下，儒家传遍了亚洲。尤其对朝鲜王朝时期（14世纪末到20世纪初期）的朝鲜半岛造成了巨大影响，成为当时官方的意识形态。在16世纪，著名的儒家学者比如黄成禹和李珥把儒家学习提升到了新的高度。当时的朝鲜半岛以儒家学说的“模范学生”而闻名，而且当时的朝鲜人把自己的国家称为“小中国”。

Historical dramas made in South Korea are currentlycoasting a wave of popularity across East Asia. China is no exception. Why arethese shows so popular? For Chinese audiences, they are easy to identify withbecause the plots of these dramas are shot through with Confucian thinking. Thedialogue of successful series like Dae Jang Geum (which attracted an audienceshare of 27% in China) and Yi San is overflowing with theexpressions of Confucian values. This familiar philosophical underpinning issurely one reason for the popularity of these series.

韩国制作的历史剧如今风靡东亚。中国也不例外。为什么这些节目如此受欢迎？对于中国观众来说，很具有认同感，因为剧中充满儒家思想。比如《大长今》和《李算》中充满了儒家价值观。剧中那些熟悉的哲学韵味正这些剧目获得成功的原因。

The Rehabilitation of Confucian Thought inTwenty-first Century China

儒家思想在二十一世纪中国的复兴

There was a period when the Chinese Communist partysaw little to praise in Confucianism, and for many years the Party tried tosuppress or expunge Confucian traditions. Gradually, however, people realizedthat Confucian thought was an integral part of the Chinese cultural identity.For China to attempt to reject Confucianism was tantamount to denying its ownnature. In the years since the millennium there has been a dramatic shift inattitudes, and the central importance of Confucianism to Chinese culture iswidely acknowledged once more.

有一段时间中共并不待见儒家，还曾试图镇压和消灭儒家传统。渐渐的，人们意识到儒家思想是中国文化认同中不可分割的一部分。对中国来说，拒绝儒家就相当于否认自己的本性。在千禧年之后，人们的态度发生了重大转变，儒家对于中国文化的中心地位再次获得人们的认同。

Confucianism is now a key part of the curriculum inschools again, frequently cited as a central pillar of China’s traditionalculture. It is also being used by the national government as part of stateefforts to increase the influence of Chinese culture worldwide. The bestexamples of this are the Confucian Institutes that have been built to improveunderstanding of Chinese culture around the world. By October 2010, 332 ofthese institutes had opened in 96 countries, many of them attached touniversities. In addition to these, 368 smaller “Confucius classrooms” are alsoin operation. The Confucius Institute scheme was founded in 2004, and openedits first overseas branch in November that year. Perhaps not coincidentally,that first school was located in Seoul.

儒家思想如今再次成为学校里的中心课程，经常被引用为中国传统文化的中流砥柱。政府还利用儒家思想来扩大中国文化的全球影响力。最好的例子莫过于孔子学院了。到2010年10月为止，332个孔子学院开遍全球96个国家，许多都依附于大学。除此之外，还有368个较小规模的“孔子课堂”也在开办中。孔子学院计划于2004年成立，于当年11月在海外开设了第一家。或许并非巧合，这首家孔子学院就开办在首尔。

The Impact of Confucian Thought on Economic Success

儒家对经济成就的影响

In the 1980s, former US ambassador to Japan EdwinReischauer was one of a number of Western scholars to argue that the vitalityand vibrancy of Confucian thought was behind the economic success of the AsianTigers. In those days, the Chinese economy was something of a straggler—a factthat Reischauer and others attributed to the rejection of Confucian thought inChina at the time. It is probably fair to say that this still holds true as akind of bird’s-eye view of the East Asian region as a whole.

在80年代，包括前美国驻日大使赖世和在内，众多西方学者都认为儒家学说的活力正是亚洲四小龙取得经济成就的原因所在。在那些日子里，中国经济还很落后——赖世和及其他学者认为这正是由于当时中国拒绝儒家思想才导致的。或许我们可以公平的说这种观点对东亚地区来说依然还是有效的。

Evidence for the long-term validity of this viewcomes from the economic growth of China itself, particularly since themillennium, and from the fact that the four Asian Tigers all earned a HumanDevelopment Index score of close to 0.9 in2011.

要想证明儒家思想是不是真对经济成就有正面作用，很明显的一个例子就是中国自己的经济增长，特别是在千禧年后，以及亚洲四小龙2011年在人类发展指数的得分上都接近了0.9。

How does Japan fit into this rubric? Unlike Chinaand Korea, where Confucianism became inextricably intertwined with everydaylife, in Japan it was never more than a system of knowledge and thought to bestudied. It seems likely that this was part of the reason why Japan was able toshift so easily to Westernization in the years before and after the MeijiRestoration of 1868.

那日本又是如何应对儒家思想的？不像中国和韩国，儒家思想与日常生活千丝万缕的联系在了一起，而在日本，儒家思想只是一种供人们学习的知识和思想系统。也正因为如此，所以日本才能在1868年明治维新前后轻易的进行了西方化，这是很有可能的。