Xi Zezong, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, gave a speech that explained in detail the spirit of innovation in traditional Chinese culture, starting with King Tang Wuwen, with special emphasis on the new and new every day, and talked about the revolutionary ideas in the "I Ching", the reform of the old and the new, and the idea of walking with the times in the "I Ching", which has continued to the present. Such a thread of innovative spirit is very clear. The speech is further divided into two lines to talk about the enlightenment of traditional Chinese culture, one is from the perspective of values and the cultivation that scientists should have; The other is the epistemological point of view of the meaning of "knowing by lattice". "Shangshu" and "University" said, "The way of the university lies in Mingmingde, in being close to the people, and in ending in the supreme goodness": "Those who want to understand the world in ancient times, first rule their country; Those who want to rule their country must first join their families; Those who want to unite their families first cultivate their bodies; Those who want to cultivate their bodies must first correct their hearts; Those who want to correct their hearts, first sincerely do so; Those who wish to be sincere, first let them know; To know in the grid. Character then knows, knows and then sincere, sincerity and then heart is right, heart is right and then body cultivation, body cultivation is followed by family qi, family qi is then national rule, national rule and then world peace. "Such a line, the statement is very clear, we must be honest and sincere, and then know, and then cultivate the family to govern the country and the world." In addition, it is said that "lattice things know", which is the ancient Chinese epistemology of nature, from the "lattice to know" in "University" to Zhu Zi, Zhuzi said very clearly: "The so-called lattice to know, words and desires to know, in the matter and exhaustion." The spirit that covers people's hearts does not know, and the things under the world are unreasonable. However, there is no end to reason, so there is no exhaustive knowledge. It is the beginning of the university that the scholar, that is, all things under the world, will not benefit because of the known reason, so as to achieve the fullest. As for the long time of exertion, once it is suddenly penetrated, the surface of all things is fine, and the whole of my heart is of great use. This predicate is the object, this predicate is also the end of knowledge. The speech made a more comprehensive and correct evaluation and clearer combing of the scientific significance of ancient traditional Chinese culture, from the Analects to Mencius, all the way to the reform ideas of "Zhou Yi", and how to use the reform ideas of "Zhou Yi" to deal with today's changing world, the context of ancient Chinese cultural scientific thought, ancient scientific epistemology, values and methodologies are very clear. When it comes to how to treat China's traditional culture correctly, especially when it comes to the fact that there is no immutable model and no final truth. It is a great pleasure to be invited to speak here. At that time, I promised that I could talk about it once, but it was also difficult for me to talk about this, because my eyes were completely bad, let me write the manuscript, after I wrote it myself, I looked back and didn't know myself, and it was very difficult to let others type and look at it again, so it was difficult. I'll prepare a belly draft and talk about it based on my memory. But during the meeting, last Thursday night, I suddenly caught a cold. Although I am older, I still have very few colds, not necessarily once in a few years. This time it was quite bad, on Friday, Saturday, the fever was 38 degrees, I think this thing may not be able to be said. Fortunately, it was good on Monday, the body temperature dropped to more than 36 degrees, and it returned to normal, so I can still come and meet you today, and I am willing to do my part. Ru Xin just made four guiding opinions, and I feel very good after listening to them. This issue can be done well if we follow Mr. Ruxin's four principles. I am a big supporter of Mr. Ruxin's four principles and hope that I can learn again. My eyes are not good, and I can't see the people behind me, but in the front row, one is Comrade Li Shen and the other is Comrade Dong Guangbi. I was greatly inspired by these two comrades, and many of my views were transferred from them. Li Shen is the main author of my volume "History of Scientific Thought". The book won the second prize of the Guo Moruo Prize in Chinese History from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences last year, largely thanks to Li Shen. In my comprehensive research on the history of ideas and the history of science, I have many opinions and opinions drawn from these two opinions, so this is also a good opportunity to consult. Now about innovation. We want to build innovative nations, and that's a big deal. It may still be meaningful for me to talk about the innovative spirit in traditional Chinese culture. Of course, there are a lot of innovations in China. Take the words of President Hu Jintao, after the founding of New China, socialism was able to concentrate its efforts on doing great things and making innovations, and the most typical example was the success of the "two bombs and one satellite." One of the sayings of "two bombs and one satellite" is atomic bombs, hydrogen bombs, artificial satellites, of course, this statement is not accurate, as if atomic bombs and hydrogen bombs are one thing, missiles are counted as one "bomb", and then artificial satellites. In any case, atomic bombs and hydrogen bombs are counted as one or two, and Mr. Peng Huanwu, the chief commander of the business, summed up the experience of making atomic bombs and hydrogen bombs into two sentences and pasted them in his office as his motto. The first sentence is "new and new", and the next sentence is "collective and collective". I said you are not traditional culture plus socialism? He said: Yes, I also worship traditional culture. Mr. Peng has a deep knowledge of traditional culture, writes ancient poems very well, and is the president of Zhongguancun Poetry Society. Let's just say that the atomic bomb and the hydrogen bomb, among the five permanent members of the United Nations, the shortest time from the creation of the atomic bomb to the creation of the hydrogen bomb is our country, which took three years; The longest was in France, which took eight years. Other achievements are not counted, from atomic bombs to hydrogen bombs, the year used represents a level, and this is the fastest in our country. What is the reason? Peng Huanwu is two sentences, "Every day is new and every day is new, and the collective is collective." This is not to say, he has a deep understanding. He believes that China's atomic bomb, so many college graduates, so many workers played a big role. In recent years, he himself has achieved great results, won the title of "meritorious scientist", received various bonuses, these money he did not put in his own pocket, did not donate anywhere, he distributed all this money to the original workers who participated in these work and other inconspicuous people. He said that these people have worked all their lives, they are poorly paid, they are the real heroes, and the money should be shared with them. He divided the money and sent it to everyone's home. So the phrase "collective collective and collective", he personally experienced and did it. He eats very simply, and has very few daily necessities. The first line of the poem, "New and new", where does this come from? China's history is "Tang Yao Yu Shun Xia Shang Zhou", Tang Yao and Yu Shun are both people, and after working for a period of time, they will find someone to be the next post. By the time of Xia Yu, it was "Xia Chuanzi, the family world", and the slave society began. But after the "family world", after how many generations it will deteriorate. Originally, the first person may be good, but then it will be corrupt, it will not be good. Then Tang Wu revolutionized, and the word "revolution" began here. The Tangwu Revolution cut down the last descendant of the Xia Dynasty, and after how many generations he passed it on, it was not good, and later it was "King Wu felling". Now there is the "Xia Shang Zhou Dynasty Project", which is to study this era. The Tangwu Revolution was a great event in history, and Tang became the Son of Heaven. This founding king was very good, and a few words were engraved on his bath, "Gou is new, every day is new, and every day is new". Peng Huanwu took this sentence as the motto for manufacturing atomic bombs and hydrogen bombs. Tang Wu is to be wary of his children and not to let them become bad. This was more than 1600 BC, and now more than three thousand years later, the basin where Tang Wu bathed has long been gone, but it was written down in a book. There is a book called "University", and the sentence at the beginning of the book is "The way of university is in Mingmingde, in being close to the people, and in ending in the ultimate goodness". The so-called "university" is what you want to learn after the age of 15, which is what adults learn. Elementary school is all about sweeping the floor and how to do arithmetic. University is to learn the great principle, "governing the country and the world". "Matilda" is a word that means that people are born good. There have always been two schools in the history of philosophy, whether human nature is good or evil. Mencius's school believed that sex was good, and believed that after he was born, he would be infected by society and become bad, like a pearl. This bead is not clear when it is exposed. If you want to learn, you have to find a way, and this pearl must be polished. "Mingmingde", the first "ming" is a verb, that is, to wipe ming; The second sentence, "in being close to the people", for oneself, it is necessary to be "clear and enlightened", and to the people around him and other ordinary people, to be "close to the people", to let him not become bad, but also to constantly innovate. The first part of "University" has only 205 words, this sentence is the general outline, followed by eight entries, and then "in the people". "Being close to the people" requires an explanation, with three paragraphs. The first paragraph says that Tang Zhi's "Panming" says: "Gou is new, every day is new, and every day is new." "The basin where the king of Tang takes a bath says that every day is new and new, and every day must be innovative. The second paragraph says, "Although Zhou is an old state, its life is new." The Zhou Dynasty later revolutionized the Shang Dynasty and killed King Shu. Zhou is a small country west of Xi'an, a country that is old, but destiny wants it to be new. It needs to innovate again, not the old one. Shang is "new every day, new every day, and new every day". Although Zhou is an old country, it needs to innovate again. Later, the common people built a new city near Luoyang, and then these people became "new people", and they also had to have a new look, which is the real spirit of innovation. The book "University" is also an innovation, and it is an article in the "Book of Rites". The "Book of Rites" was formed from the Warring States to the Han Dynasty. In China, there is a struggle between Confucianism and law, Confucianism governs the country with propriety, preaches benevolence and righteousness and morality, and legalists govern the country with law. Confucianism talks about more etiquette, dead old people have etiquette, marriage also has etiquette, children are 18 years old also have etiquette, every day there is etiquette. From the Warring States to the Han Dynasty, there are many books on etiquette. In the Han Dynasty, there were as many as 85 large "Records of Rites" and forty or fifty small "Records of Rites". These wonderful things just mentioned are mixed in and few people watch them. You take a stack and come out for people to see, it's hard. When Zhu Xi arrived in the Song Dynasty, in the past, a large number of people said how bad Zhu Xi was, and the young people here may not know, we all know. Zhu Xi was a great Confucian, a great idealist, and was criticized as a mess. Hu Shi wrote an essay entitled "The Scientific Spirit and Scientific Method in Chinese Philosophy," arguing that Zhu Xi was the second great philosophical innovator in China after Wang Chong. What is Hu Shi mainly talking about? Since the Han Dynasty, Confucian classics have been worshiped by everyone, but Zhu Xi raised a bold skepticism. The so-called Six Confucian classics are "Poems", "Books", "Rites", "Yi", "Music", "Spring and Autumn", and "Books" are collections of political works. Qin Shi Huang burned the book first. What to do in the Han Dynasty? So I found an old man, older than my current age, in his nineties, who said that he could memorize the Book of Shang. The Han Dynasty found someone to learn from him, he said, others remember. There are 33 articles in this one, which were written in the Han Dynasty script. Later, it was found in Jinan that there were ancient texts "Shang Shu" in the wall of Confucius's house, 29 more articles, and later lost. When it came to the Eastern Jin Dynasty, some people said that they found it again. The Book of Shangshu is divided into two factions. In the Tang Dynasty, they were all considered scriptures. Since the Tang Dynasty, everyone has read this scripture and is convinced. In the Song Dynasty, Zhu Xi said that this ancient text "Shang Shu" was unreliable and suspected to be fake. This is powerful, with the spirit of rebellion. A scripture, 33 articles today, says that 28 of the ancient texts are false, and the small half are false, which is equivalent to saying today that half of the "Complete Works of Marx and Engels" were written by others, which is a big thing. His discovery caused everyone to examine this ancient text, and it was not until the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty that he found out with certainty where this ancient text "Book of Shang" was copied. So Zhu Xi is a big revolutionary. But I think that Zhu Xi still has a larger part of important work, and Hu Shi does not pay enough attention to him. Zhu Xi not only raised doubts about the ancient text "Shang Shu", but also put forward new insights into the book "Zhou Yi", and he affirmed what everyone did not pay attention to. "University" has not been watched for more than a thousand years since the Han Dynasty, and I don't know what is going on. After he took it out, he said that it was a book, and it turned out to be only one article. He compiled a "Commentary on the Four Books" himself, which is a collection of Analects, Mencius, University, and Mean. "The Mean" also seems to be very important now, it talks about the method of learning, and it has been very respected by everyone until now. Put "University" and "Mean" in it, and read these before reading the Analects, so that more people will know. "University" not only has an innovative spirit, but also puts forward "knowledge through things". It turns out that Confucianism is all about dealing with the world and governing the country and the world. Zhu Xi found the four words "knowledge of things" in "University". "The way of university, in Mingmingde", "Mingmingde" is self-cultivation, and then "in being close to the people, in stopping at the highest good". How to do this? That is, "sincerity and righteousness, knowledge of things, self-cultivation, family rule and peace in the world", these are the eight principles, and these eight things are not parallel and juxtaposed. Sincerity is a matter of being a ghost. If the heart is not sincere, the intention is not right, and the lie is told every day, it is not a person or a ghost. He explained to the "lattice" that everything is a thing, everything has reason, and reason requires research and expansion of knowledge. If you don't "know what you want", you are dreaming there, what you want to do is blindly touching, maybe if you touch it right, you can do it, maybe you touch it wrong and you don't know it's wrong. "Sincerity and righteousness, knowledge of things, self-cultivation, family rule and peace in the world" has become a big set of things. There is no explanation of "knowledge of qualities" in "University". Zhu Xi himself explained that "knowing by qualities" is to infer unknown things from what is known, to expand knowledge, and then do things after having knowledge, "cultivate oneself and rule the country and the world". This thing goes very well. Later, in the "Zhuzi Language Theory", two volumes 15 and 8 were devoted to it, which were very detailed. "Lattice" is everything, everything is a thing. His "things" include a grass and a tree, why the mountains grow so tall, why the water flows down, why the boat walks in the water, why the car walks on land, all of which are studied one by one. Discussing the natural aspect, before him, China did not have such great knowledge. After the Yuan Dynasty, people engaged in natural science thought that they were "knowing things". Until now, our basic science has been like this. He took out "The University" and listed it as a separate book, which was innovation, and it influenced the later development of science in China. It is important that Zhu Xi took "University" out of a large number of things in the "Book of Rites" and turned it into a separate book, which was placed at the head of the "Four Books". Another important thing is "The Mean". The Mean is also an entry from the Book of Rites, which is said to have been made by Confucius's grandson. This is also a book that no one reads, and everyone does not pay attention. But Zhu Xi took it out. The activities of any philosopher are also governed by political circumstances and historical conditions. Before Zhu Xi took out "The University" and "The Mean", Shen Kuo, who was a hundred years before Zhu Xi, noticed the importance of the book "The Mean". Shen Kuo said that the academic method mentioned in "The Mean", whether I can do it is one thing, but I must do it according to this. "The Mean" talks about a set of academic methods, that is, what everyone now knows as "erudition, interrogation, careful thinking, discernment, and dedication", a total of 15 characters, Sun Yat-sen described it into ten characters, that is, "erudition, interrogation, careful thinking, discernment, and dedication", which was taken as the motto of Guangdong University (later Sun Yat-sen University), and these ten characters were also used in the school song. Later, when he talked about natural science, Zhu Kezhen also talked about this set. He believes that the academic method and the scientific method are all available in "The Mean". In terms of social sciences, Hou Wailu also talked about these 15 words when he talked about the method of governance. This set of methods, Zhu Xi not only took it out, but also made a lot of explanations. As far as "erudition" is concerned, he believes that learning is not simply reading books, reading books is learning, but more importantly, investigating, looking at mountains and waters, doing investigations, in today's terms, collecting information. Zhu Xi took all of this very seriously. Confucius said, "To learn without thinking is to be ignorant, and to think without learning is to perish." "If a person collects materials every day and can't do learning, he has to think. Then there is the questioning, and this "question" is very important, "interrogation". Some people think that "learning" is secondary, and "asking" is important, and only by asking questions can we ask questions. Zhu Xi said, if you read a book and feel that there is no problem, you must also find the problem, and after you have the problem, solve the problem. "Discernment" is to see whether the material is right, then "OK", and then do what you think is right. These five steps are found in "The Mean", and Zhu Xi has done a lot of explanatory work. Now some people have studied it, and after comparing Einstein's scientific method with Popper's set of formulas for the philosophy of science, they think that it is not much different, and the pertinence is still very strong. Therefore, Zhu Xi took out this set of methods in "The Mean" and took out the book "The Mean", which I think is a very important step in the history of China's understanding and scientific development. The two articles "University" and "The Mean" were selected from the "Book of Rites" and compiled into separate books, and compiled in front of the "Analects" and "Mencius", which were "Four Books and Five Classics" after the Song Dynasty. These four books and the five classics are juxtaposed, which greatly promotes our understanding of the world and the expansion of the field of knowledge. After that, we will talk about methods, talk about research objects, of course, things still include understanding, and governing the country and the world is also an important part. That's a big step forward. It is now believed that "The Mean" is a method in itself. A Tang Zhisong from the Department of Technology and Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, who graduated from the Department of Philosophy of Tsinghua University, developed a set of computer logic language systems, which attracted great attention. He said that my system used the method of "The Mean", the method in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", and then the three systems of "Zhou Yi", which won the first prize of natural science in 1989. Later, Japan's "Asahi Shimbun" published a very large article, saying that Tang Zhisong's contribution is a major event in computer science in the 21st century, a great contribution to Eastern civilization, and the specific things are Western, but the starting point and philosophical ideas are Eastern. The Japanese believe that this is a great contribution of Eastern civilization to computer science in the 21st century. Another article was published in the International Yi Xue Research edited by Zhu Bokun. As a philosophical method, a systematic thing, "The Mean" is still a very important thing. What is traditional culture? Now the word culture is used indiscriminately, and the word "culture" can be hung on anything. Now there are many books on the stalls, all hanging traditional culture, and many things in it have nothing to do with the traditional culture we are talking about. There is a book called "Traditional Cultural Astronomical Calendar", which is full of twenty-eight juku, and everyone's statements are different. When we say traditional culture, we mean classic works, and the four books are, of course. The two books "University" and "The Mean" are very important, as well as "Analects" and "Mencius". He knocked down Confucius many times, "down with the Confucius family", returned to the Confucius store, and then lifted out the Confucius Family, and now the whole world has established Confucius Jiadian and established Confucius Institutes, which is the negation of negation. It is also wrong to say that Confucius had absolutely nothing to overthrow. Chinese-American Chen Xiangmei is the wife of Chennault of the Democratic Committee of the United States Senate. She once went to a place in the United States to give a speech, saying that Confucius was not good, that Confucius did not attach importance to women, and that Confucius said, "Only women and villains are difficult to raise." An overseas Chinese put it forward: "I also think this is wrong, but it depends on what his contemporaries say." "When did women in the United States have the right to suffrage and vote? The Greek philosopher of Confucius's contemporaries was Socrates, who said that women were not good, similar to Confucius, or even more powerful. American women have not been in politics for many years. Society is progressing, the times are progressing, and we can't say that Confucius is right, but we must compare with his contemporaries to see how it is, and we must have such an attitude. I did some research on the book "Analects" and wrote an article called "Confucius and Science". I studied Confucius and thought that Confucius thought was not harmful to the development of science, and there were still many things that were beneficial. His educational ideas, the wonderful things in the Analects, and the things that can be applied today, are still many. For example, Confucius likes Yan Hui, and Yan Hui is the most honest and obedient, giving the impression that Confucius likes people who only promise and dare not speak. Confucius said in the Analects: "I and the reply are not contrary to each other, like foolishness." "I talked for a day, and he didn't have a different opinion, like a fool. But Confucius did not approve of Yan Hui, saying, "Hui Ye, not those who help me!" "It doesn't help me to say that Yan Hui is doing this. But there were a few people, Zilu, these people who gave advice to Confucius, Confucius still appreciated it. Confucius's learning means "no assumption, no necessity, no solidity, no self", that is, one cannot have subjective opinions, cannot be stubborn in one's own opinions, and cannot be self-respecting. These things are still desirable. The book "Analects" is also worth reading. After Confucius, there were two factions, Xunzi's school was materialistic, and Mencius was idealistic. Mencius was a sexual good, and Zhu Xi later inherited this. Mencius also had something remarkable. In the ancient Chinese books, if you want to say that there is a people-based thinking and a fearless spirit, Mencius is the most worthy of learning. Mencius said, "It is better to believe in a book than to have no book." If you want to read a book, if you all believe it, it's better not to read it, this is powerful. For today, there is a book for you to see, know what it is about, and actually let you judge. "Mencius" said that to be an emperor, you must have the appearance of being an emperor, if the emperor is a corrupt criminal, Mencius said that he can kill, and after killing, he has not heard that it is killing a king. In the past, "Spring and Autumn" divided the word killing into two types, one is to kill reasonably, that is, kill. Although he is the emperor, he is an embezzler, and I only heard of the killing of one embezzler, not the emperor. There are also those who think that the killing is wrong. Later, Europeans read "Mencius" and said that this book is incredible, 16th century Europe for the right of kings, for whether the religious lord can be abolished are endlessly debated, China in Mencius actually dared to say that the emperor committed a crime and killed the same, that is, killed a bad person, not killed the emperor. The book "Mencius" has the idea of seeking reasons in terms of science. "If you ask for it, you can sit down on the day of Chitose." That is to say, in the past, the winter solstice and the summer solstice can be calculated, and it is necessary to study its reason, investigate the cause, and ask why, which can be calculated. Whether Mencius himself would be considered another matter, but he had this confidence, which encouraged the development of the Chinese calendar. Later, in the Ming Dynasty, it was said that a set of Chinese calendar history is two words. One is "therefore", everyone is calculating the calendar, looking for reasons and asking why. It was not until after modern science that Li Shanlan translated Herschel's "Talking Heaven", which was the first relatively comprehensive book of modern astronomy that Chinese came into contact with. Li Shanlan even said three words, how about Copernicus asking for his reason, how about Kepler's asking for his reason, and how about Newton's asking for his reason. In three sentences, from Copernicus to Newton, he explained the history of modern astronomy on celestial mechanics clearly, saying that it was all "good for the cause". There is also a word for "revolution", which is borrowed from the "Zhou Yi" trigram, which began with Tang Wu's revolution. "Leather" is "change". In a recent major event, the American Obama held an election, shouting "change" everywhere, which translates into the Chinese character "easy". Of course, this is not to say that Obama has seen "Zhou Yi". Obama was able to elect the president of the United States, there was such a big sensation, the "white" of the White House in the United States became "black", which is a major event in the world. He used one word, the word "easy". Of course, he may not know the book, but the truth is the same, "people have the same sex, and sex is the same reason." There are still many places where traditional Chinese culture can play a role. The book "Zhou Yi" has been criticized this year, saying that this set is completely pseudoscience. I never say anything wrong with any learning. If you find something inappropriate, don't button your hat easily. Traditional culture does not mean that all of them are good. No book can say that there is nothing wrong, and it is impossible to ask anyone to say that everything is right. So there is no final truth, and there is no immutable pattern. I still have some relationship with "Zhou Yi". When the debate on "Zhou Yi" was the strongest, when pseudoscience was the most promising, Qiu Lianghui went to me and met He Zuoxiu at my door. He Zuoxiu said that you still do "Zhou Yi"? Qiu Lianghui asked him, what do you say about "Zhou Yi"? He Zuoxiu asked rhetorically, what do you think is going on with "Zhou Yi"? Qiu Lianghui said, did you graduate from Tsinghua? He Zuoxiu said yes. So what is the Tsinghua school motto? "Virtuous and self-improving", which is still posted in Tsinghua and publicized everywhere. Yau Lianghui said that these eight words are not pseudoscience? Is it wrong? He Zuoxiu said: I still agree with these eight words. Let's just say that at least these eight words in "Zhou Yi" are correct. He said that there are more than these eight words that can be used for us today. He Zuoxiu obeyed, and the two talked very well, saying that everyone should not button their hats, do not beat sticks, and everything must be analyzed in detail. We live in such an environment, with thousands of years of culture, and you say completely leave it alone, you don't care about it, it still has to take care of you. The two of them still talked very well that day. The book "Zhou Yi" is an important philosophical work in the Confucian classics. Of course, I don't agree that even modern DNA is in "Zhou Yi". If you find something today, go to "Zhou Yi" to find it, this method will not work. As a philosophical work, its spirit is still okay. Just say "every day is new, every day is new, and every day is new", that is not necessarily the same as what Peng Huanwu needs today, but this spirit can still be inherited, or should be analyzed on a case-by-case basis without drawing conclusions. Comrade Hu Jintao made a speech at the Boao Forum, saying that "there is no immutable pattern, there is no final truth, and everyone is moving forward." I used to think that the United States and the West were perfect, and they had to be in line with it. Instead of thinking that way, the international financial system needs to be reformed. We know very little about the world. For the entire universe, the Big Bang has been 17 billion years old, we are only a few thousand years now, in terms of knowledge, 97% of the matter we do not know what it is, dark matter, dark energy, theoretical physicists do not know what it is. What percent of the material world do we know, and we say that we have exhausted everything? The same cannot be said about this matter. The same is true of our traditional culture, and other countries have their own merits, which we can all respect. (Let's take 20 minutes to ask and answer.) Question: Mr. Xi spoke very well, in-depth and simple, and inspired us very much, how to understand the ancient Chinese traditional culture and its scientific thoughts. My question is, you said that Zhu Xi was very bold and innovative, and took out "University" and "The Mean" as classics, which is a very interesting phenomenon in the Song Dynasty, which canonized many works that were considered unimportant in the ancient past, why did this happen in the Song Dynasty? Including Wang Anshi also raised "Mencius" very high, Sima Guang paid more attention to "Spring and Autumn", thinking that it is necessary to take history as a lesson and rule through the rules, but Wang Anshi wants "Law before Wang Yi", do you think Zhu Xi took out "Mencius", "University" and "Mean" as classics, does it have anything to do with the academic environment of the Song Dynasty? What is your opinion? Xi Zezong: This specific is worth studying, and I agree with Mr. Ruxin's opinion in principle that the behavior of any philosopher is not accidental. From the perspective of historical occasions, academia and science developed to a certain extent at that time. I said in my book that materialist theorization did not come out of thin air, but from the needs of society at that time. Specific to the problems of the Song Dynasty, it can also be studied in detail. Zhu Xi highlighted "University" and "Mean" so much, in fact, Shen Kuo had already realized the importance of "Mean", and he was a hundred years earlier than Zhu Xi. Question: I think I agree very much with what you said, indeed in Chinese traditional culture, it does not lack the spirit and awareness of innovation at all, including methods, which can be seen. The philosophy of "Yi" is embedded, the most fundamental thing in Chinese philosophy is change, but we can never avoid Needham's question, why is there such an innovative idea and spirit in it, but especially in modern times, there has never been a new science, or the vigorous development of modern science innovation we do not, what is the problem? Needham still thinks from a social point of view, I wonder what you think about this issue? Xi Zezong: This is an old question. There are other social phenomena put together. For example, during the Renaissance, the European set, when the pursuit of change was innovative ideas. There were many of this set of spiritual sciences, but at that time there were other things that cooperated, and this had to be studied together. I just said that Hu Shi's article understands the scientific spirit and humanistic spirit from traditional Chinese culture. Europe's pursuit of these spirits was first proposed by Renaissance humanists, not scientists. At that time, a whole host of problems such as religious revolutions throughout Europe accumulated and erupted. Hu Shi's article is very good, you can also read it. We didn't know about this before, there was a conference of philosophers, which was held twice before, both discussing why China did not have modern science, and both said that the West has logic and China does not. The third time Hu Shi went, he wrote an article about whether Chinese and Western philosophies are more similar or different, and we have not seen the materials of the two conferences before. Question: Do you have this material here? Xi Zezong: Hu Shi's third visit was to criticize a slanderous and Chinese thesis at the previous two meetings. Hu Shi's article is contained in the "Hu Shi Academic Collection" edited by Fudan University in Shanghai, but we don't know the materials of the conference. This was taken together with the comprehensive problems of Europe at that time, and we are now looking at the history of science. Question: Last year, the overseas edition of People's Daily published two articles on Chinese astronomy, one saying that Chinese astronomy is mainly astrology. A professor at the University of Science and Technology of China has also published an article arguing that Chinese astronomy is not only astrology, but also has a lot of knowledge of the calendar. What do you think of this discussion? Xi Zezong: It is too arbitrary to say that Chinese astronomy is astrology. If nothing else, let's say that there is a lot of astrology in the astronomical records, calendars, and astronomical records, but this set of principles in the calendars is the pursuit of innovation, the pursuit of why, and the criteria for testing truth, which has been implemented since the Han Dynasty. The criterion for testing truth is very powerful in the history of the Chinese calendar. Until the Qing Dynasty, after Western science came in, the two sides compared the trial or not, or everyone calculated it, you go to compare, see if it is right. There are different opinions on whether to use the Western method or not, but the test of who is right and who is wrong is not disputed by either side. This standard has been carried over since the Han Dynasty. Astrology is a large part of Chinese astronomy, but it is completely wrong to say that Chinese astronomy is astrology. Ru Xin: Taking advantage of this opportunity, I also consulted with Xi Lao, and just now I also mentioned Needham's book, which was led by the Chinese Academy of Sciences at that time, and talked about a volume of the pre-Qin dynasty, which is particularly closely related to philosophy, and the philosophical school of the pre-Qin dynasty, and handed over to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences for translation, and I also participated in this work. But one of Needham's main problems was his assessment of Confucianism. Many years ago, when I finally edited that volume, I felt that Joseph Needham's evaluation of Confucianism did not play a good role in the development of Chinese science and technology, and did not make much contribution, on the contrary, he was very respectful of Taoism and Moism, and his evaluation was relatively high. At that time, I felt that Needham's view could not be valid, or that there was some bias. Listening to Xi Lao's speech today, I was greatly inspired by the fact that Confucianism cannot make such a one-sided judgment, and the idea of innovation has also been expounded a lot in Confucian classics. I later thought, what should this question be viewed and how should it be evaluated? Is it true that Confucianism itself also has a process of development, especially after it has developed into an official philosophy, it itself is also moving towards conservative and rigid, but it should be said that there is indeed a change and innovation in the original Confucian thought. In the course of long-term historical development, later there were indeed rigid and conservative things that dominated, causing bad consequences. Is it so understood? Confucianism developed for so long in history, and later became the official ideological system, of course, it was used by some feudal dynasties at that time as an ideological tool to consolidate the existing order, which may have played a very bad role in some new things and the development of some science and technology. Is it possible to understand Needham's book in this way? I feel that Xi Lao's words have inspired me a lot, that is, everything should be analyzed concretely, and should not be divorced from the time, conditions and place at that time. Specific analysis should not make an absolute conclusion, think which school of thought and how. There can be different views on what role Confucianism has played throughout China's more than 2,000-year history, and there is room for free discussion. Absolute underground conclusions are probably not very scientific. Today, I listened to Xi Lao's speech, which gave me a deep inspiration. Guo Shuchun: I agree with Mr. Xi. The Confucian Federation wanted to discuss the relationship between Confucianism and science and technology, and a professor at Shandong University said, "If you discuss these things, you can't do it without inviting people who are involved in the history of science." I went with Dong Guangbi. I published an article at the conference, and the basic point was that Confucianism as a school of thought, many methods of thought have played a positive role in the development of China. But in theory, if Confucianism is used by the ruling class as a tool to shackle people's minds, then the effect is the opposite. I don't know anything else, but several of the highest tides of ancient Chinese mathematics were when Confucian dominance was weakened, Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, Song and Yuan, and Song and Yuan, although they had Taoism, were not as dominant as the Ming and Qing dynasties. I quite agree that the Confucian school itself should be discussed separately from the use of the ruling class as a tool to rule people's thoughts, so I agree with Ru Xin and Xi Lao. Question: I was inspired by what Teacher Xi said about "The Mean" just now, and the problem I recently learned is that in the Song Dynasty, there was a process of understanding "The Mean". In fact, in the early years of the Song Dynasty, the earliest discussion of the "Mean" was not Confucianism, but two famous monks of Buddhism, both of whom had special works. And Confucianism, the first was Sima Guang, later "Ercheng" and Zhu Xi, influenced the development of feudal society in late China. I very much agree with what Mr. Xi said. I think there is such a problem, I saw an article about Ru Lin in the Song Dynasty, talking about the meaning of Confucianism, the author believes that when Wang Anshi changed the law in the Song Dynasty, there was a trend of integration of Confucian scripture, education and science, but Wang Anshi changed the method in the Song Zhezong period. Zhu Xi also had such a concept, but it still did not succeed. It was not until the Ming Dynasty, when compiling the "Encyclopedia of Sex", that the Confucian classics, education, and science were truly integrated, and a large number of Confucian intellectuals moved closer to this aspect. If understood from this perspective, it may have a greater impact on how future generations of intellectuals study science and think about problems, and their methods and value orientations. I think that Zhu Xi's theory really played a role in the Ming Dynasty and had a greater impact on later development. So I agree with Xi Lao's words, we should also divide Confucianism into different stages to understand and evaluate, which may be more objective.（AI翻译）