Chapter Two
The Endless Survival Values
Survival is the fundamental value of life,which is a matter of importance for a nation. Throughout the ages,there's no national community that thinks little of the survival problem,and there's no country that can ignore the survival problem of its nationals. Fundamentally speaking,the existence and development of human beings,in essence,is a problem about why and how they survive,in other words,whether or not human beings can survive and in what ways they survive. Therefore,the problem of survival becomes the important values,and it is the fundamental problem for measuring the significance and ways of the existence of people or a community.
Chinese people think much of life and make more account of its value,but regarding the problem of life and survival,they have their own dialectic on them. In the dialectic between living and existing or life and death,we can see the distinctive survival values of the Chinese.In the value system of Chinese culture and the depths of the hearts of Chinese people,“living” and “existing” are two very important concepts,and they are closely connected with each other,constituting the kernel that dominates the Chinese people's understanding of the problem of life. “Living” means to create and continue life,while “existing” means to maintain the existence of life. The Chinese cultural system takes the care of life as its highest purpose and regards the existence and development of human life and even the state of life as the ultimate goal that people pursue. Thus,in the values of the Chinese,the deference and obedience to human life is quite prominent,man as well as the value of his life is the be-all and end-all of the Chinese and Chinese culture. Survival is material,while the value of survival and life is spiritual. Mencius said: “Life is what I desire,and so is righteousness. If I cannot have them both,I would rather choose the latter and forsake the former.”(注:Mencius·Kao Tzu Part One,Chapter X,Hohhot:Yuanfang Publishing House,2007,p.158.)From this saying,we can learn about Chinese people's expectation of the life and the value of life,as well as the principle of making choices between life and righteousness.