{"id":935,"date":"2021-01-11T07:00:37","date_gmt":"2021-01-11T15:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/troubadourworks.com\/tiandi\/meotw\/?p=935"},"modified":"2022-04-25T06:12:36","modified_gmt":"2022-04-25T13:12:36","slug":"wenhua","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/troubadourworks.com\/tiandi\/meotw\/2021\/01\/11\/wenhua\/","title":{"rendered":"w\u00e9nhu\u00e0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\n\t\t\tw\u00e9nhu\u00e0<\/span>\n(w\u00e9n\u00b7hu\u00e0\n{(with) writing} \u00b7 transformed (system) \u2192<\/span> [culture] | {(with) writing} \u00b7 transformed \u2192<\/span> [cultural]<\/span>\n\u6587\u5316)<\/span>\n\n \u2190 Tap\/click to show\/hide the \u201cflashcard\u201d<\/span><\/h3>\n\n

Ironically, even though many people obsess over preserving \u201cauthentic\u201d traditional Chinese culture, the very Chinese word for \u201cculture\u201d actually came from a Japanese<\/em> word, which was coined to translate the Western<\/em> concept of culture:<\/p>\n

Before the word w\u00e9nhu\u00e0<\/i> \u6587\u5316, meaning \u201cculture,\u201d was imported from Japan to China, there was already a concept of w\u00e9nhu\u00e0<\/i> \u6587\u5316. It is as old as the word Zh\u014dnggu\u00f3<\/i> \u4e2d\u56fd. Four words are concealed behind \u6587\u5316, namely \u6587 w\u00e9n<\/i> (civil); \u6cbb zh\u00ec<\/i> (administration); \u6559 ji\u00e0o<\/i> (to educate); and \u5316 hu\u00e0<\/i> (to persuade). \u6587 w\u00e9n<\/i> is an abbreviation of \u6587\u6cbb w\u00e9n zh\u00ec<\/i> (civil administration); \u5316 hu\u00e0<\/i> is an abbreviation of \u6559\u5316 ji\u00e0o hu\u00e0<\/i> (to persuade through education). Thus \u6587\u5316 is a short way of writing \u201ccivil administration and persuasion through
\neducation.\u201d This refers to the peaceful, Confucian-based moral education of the people (cf. Gernet, Jacques 1983:85, 295).<\/p>\n

The current word \u201cculture,\u201d which is also written \u6587\u5316, has a different origin. To translate the Western concept of culture, the Japanese coined the word bunka<\/i>, which is written \u6587\u5316 (see Liu, Zhengtan et al. 1984, s.v. wenhua). The Chinese imported this character combination from Japan and pronounced it according to the rules of their own language: w\u00e9nhu\u00e0<\/i>. In this way, the modern term has been superimposed on the Chinese \u201ccivil administration and persuasion through education.\u201d The original Chinese meaning is largely unknown nowadays.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u201cTwo Steps Toward Digraphia in China\u201d, by Xieyan Hincha<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So, let us not fall into the common snare of idolizing any worldly human culture, including traditional Chinese culture. As with any human culture that has had contact with other human cultures, there has been mutual borrowing\/stealing of ideas, mutual influencing, etc. Also, as with any merely human culture, there is some bad along with the good. There is so much bad in every worldly human culture, in fact, that Jehovah will not deem any<\/em> worldly human culture to be worthy of preserving forever, no matter how ancient and seemingly exotic it is. Indeed, \u201cthe world\u201d\u2014and all the human cultures in it\u2014\u201cis passing away\u201d.\u20141 John 2:17<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For a certainty, we should never let human cultural traditions take priority over serving Jehovah in the best way we can. As in all other things, we should imitate Jesus in positively hating<\/em> any human traditions that make it unnecessarily burdensome for people to serve God.\u2014Mark 7:1\u201313<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Rather than putting any mere human<\/em> culture on a pedastal and taking pride in learning from it, we should primarily take pride in being \u201ctaught by Jehovah\u201d himself about ways of thinking, feeling, expressing, and doing things<\/a>, which are what make up culture.\u2014Isaiah 54:13<\/a>; 1 Corinthians 1:31<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ironically, even though many people obsess over preserving \u201cauthentic\u201d traditional Chinese culture, the very Chinese word for \u201cculture\u201d actually came from a Japanese word, which was coined to translate the Western concept of culture: Before the word w\u00e9nhu\u00e0 \u6587\u5316, meaning \u201cculture,\u201d was imported from Japan to China, there was already a concept of w\u00e9nhu\u00e0 \u6587\u5316. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,98],"tags":[37,131,38,130,39],"class_list":["post-935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-history","tag-chinese-culture","tag-etymology","tag-japanese-culture","tag-loanwords","tag-western-culture"],"yoast_head":"\nw\u00e9nhu\u00e0 - Mandarin Expression of the Week<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/troubadourworks.com\/tiandi\/meotw\/2021\/01\/11\/wenhua\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"w\u00e9nhu\u00e0 - Mandarin Expression of the Week\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ironically, even though many people obsess over preserving \u201cauthentic\u201d traditional Chinese culture, the very Chinese word for \u201cculture\u201d actually came from a Japanese word, which was coined to translate the Western concept of culture: Before the word w\u00e9nhu\u00e0 \u6587\u5316, meaning \u201cculture,\u201d was imported from Japan to China, there was already a concept of w\u00e9nhu\u00e0 \u6587\u5316. 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