Culture itself is a relatively large concept. In general, culture is a social phenomenon, a product of people's long-term creativity. At the same time, it is a historical phenomenon, the accumulation of social history. Culture in a broad sense is the sum of all the material and spiritual wealth created by human beings. It includes both the worldview, outlook on life, values and other ideological parts, as well as natural science and technology, language and writing and other non-ideological parts. To be precise, culture refers to the history, geography, customs, traditions, lifestyles, literature and art, behavioral norms, ways of thinking and values of a country or nation. Culture, as defined by the British anthropologist Edward Taylor, is "a complex whole comprising knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, morals, customs, and the abilities and habits acquired as a member of a society". At its core is knowledge of all kinds as a spiritual product, the essence of which is communication. Culture is a phenomenon specific to human societies. Culture is created by human beings and is specific to them. With human society, there is culture, and culture is the product of human social practice. In the long-term social practice of the Chinese people, traditional Chinese culture was formed, with the three schools of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism as its pillars.
Traditional culture is a culture reflecting the characteristics and style of the nation, brought together by the evolution of civilization, and is the overall expression of the various ideologies, cultures and concepts that have existed in the history of each nation. It consists of all kinds of material, institutional and spiritual cultural entities and cultural consciousness that have existed throughout the ages. It is a collective term for contemporary and foreign cultures. Chinese traditional culture, according to the order of Chinese history, has gone through the prehistoric times of the Youchao, Suiren, Fuxi, Shennong, Xuan Yuan, Yao, Shun, Yu, etc., and was established by the Xia Dynasty, after which it continued to develop.
All countries and nations of the world have their own traditional cultures. China's traditional culture includes the cultural ideologies of Confucianism, Buddhism, Miscellaneous Schools, Strategists, Taoism, Mohism, Legalism, the School of War, the School of Names, and the School of Yin and Yang, and specifically includes the following: ancient texts, poems, lyrics, songs and fugues, national music, national theatre, operas, national paintings, calligraphy, couplets, lantern riddles, riddle-shooting, wine-ordering, hermetic phrases, national costumes, living customs and classical poetry. Among these, Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, as well as the idea of the "Trinity", have had the most direct and profound influence on Chinese tradition.
The pillars of traditional Chinese culture are Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, including thought, writing, language, the six arts, namely: etiquette, music, archery, driving, calligraphy, numbers, and then calligraphy, music, martial arts, music, opera, chess, festivals, folklore and so on, all of which are derived from the affluence of life. Traditional culture is closely related to and integrated into our lives, and we enjoy it every day without realizing it. For example, the Buddhist concepts of "worry", "difference", "equality" and "world".
The dual attributes of traditional Chinese culture reflect the dialectical relationship of opposition and unity among traditional cultures. They permeate each other, forming ancient texts, poems, words, musical compositions, fugues, national music, national theatre, operas, Chinese paintings, calligraphy, couplets, lantern riddles, shooting riddles, wine orders, and cultural forms of hermetic phrases.
In terms of folklore, traditional culture is manifested in the form of traditional festivals. These traditional festivals include the Spring Festival on the first day of the first month, the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first month, the Ching Ming Festival on the fifth day of the fourth month, the Cold Food Festival around the Ching Ming Festival, the Dragon Boat Festival on the fifth day of the fifth month, the Qixi Festival on the seventh day of the seventh month, the Mid-Autumn Festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar, and the New Year's Eve on the thirtieth day of the lunar calendar. Ancient Chinese natural sciences, including the traditional calendar, are also part of traditional Chinese culture.
Until now, ancient and modern scholars have not been able to come to a definitive conclusion on this, not only because of the multidimensional vision, but also because of the objective ambiguity of the linguistic point of view. Broadly speaking, culture is the sum of human spiritual and material life.
First of all, in terms of time, there are primitive cultures, ancient cultures, modern ages cultures, and modern cultures.
Secondly, from a spatial point of view, there are Eastern cultures, Western cultures, oceanic cultures, and continental cultures.
Third, from the social level, there are noble culture, common culture, official culture, folk culture, mainstream culture, marginal culture, and some scholars divide it into normative culture, non-normative culture and semi-normative culture. This division is relatively new, so I will focus more on it. The so-called normative culture is based on the Confucian classics and the official history of successive generations, and in the long-term evolution of a wide range of absorbed Buddhism, Taoism, law, yin and yang, Strategists, foreign cultures, and other schools of thought, thus forming the culture of the scriptures and history, is the highest authoritative normative culture of the Chinese small farmers' society. In contrast, there is a non-normative culture that is prevalent among the general public in their modes of production, lifestyles, human relationships, customs, habits, beliefs, pursuits, daily psychology, underlying consciousness and institutions. In addition to these two types of culture, there is also a semi-normative culture in between, which refers to a large number of literary and artistic works of varying degrees of elegance and vulgarity, and a variety of cultural, educational, religious and recreational activities that are semi-detached from the culture of history and scripture, such as All Men are Brothers, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Romance of Sui and Tang Dynasties, Journey to the West and other masterpieces of secular culture. Of course, I think Mr. Jiang's division seems to be only for traditional Chinese culture.
Fourth, in terms of social utility, it is divided into name culture, etiquette culture, institutional culture, dress culture, campus culture, and enterprise culture.
Fifth, from the internal logic level of culture, it can be divided into four levels: physical culture, mental culture, behavioral culture, and institutional culture.
Sixth, in terms of economic forms, it is divided into pastoral and hunting culture, fishing and salt culture, agricultural culture, industrial culture and commercial culture. There are also yellow cultures, blue cultures, etc.