Original text
The ancestors of the Chinese nation’s humanities and historical celebrities have become more and more busy in recent years, often becoming the protagonists of certain activities, and it is our people at all levels who promote them Government departments, of course, have always heard the slogan "carry forward traditional culture" and so on.
In recent years, public sacrifices have been criticized for being exaggerated, wasteful, luxurious, and competitive... These sacrifices are often large-scale and expensive. Government departments that have been questioned no longer come forward, and private sacrifices have emerged. , the government just expressed its support, and everything started to happen "spontaneously".
The government let go of public affairs and people actively participated. Public sacrifices began to turn into people's sacrifices. This seemed to be a good phenomenon. However, public sacrifices turned into people's sacrifices, but in fact they changed the soup without changing the medicine. The so-called Everything was spontaneous, but it was just a different way of saying it. I really couldn't see any difference. The same huge scale, the same luxury. What may change is the high-sounding name and the addition of serious words.
Hancheng is the hometown of the great historical saint Sima Qian. Sima Qian’s descendants have always followed the traditional Chinese sacrificial methods to express their grief for their ancestors. As early as 2011, a large-scale folk worship event for Sima Qian was held in Hancheng. This time, Sima's descendants turned this internal ritual belonging to the family into a public performance under "arrangement." Hundreds of descendants of Sima knelt down on the ground together, performing a grand ceremony of kowtowing three times and kneeling nine times. All publicity and reports have repeatedly reiterated that this sacrifice is a folk sacrifice event. The people at the event came spontaneously from the surrounding areas of Hancheng or Xi'an City. The sacrifice highlighted the folk nature and the whole process was no longer filled with officials at all levels. Instead of giving speeches, netizens voluntarily sacrificed long scrolls and drove voluntarily to participate in the sacrifice.
Chinese people are born with a deep-rooted heart to respect and worship their ancestors. Ancestors are the totems of the Chinese people, and worshiping ancestors is a sacred ritual in the hearts of the Chinese people. But performing the act of worshiping ancestors in front of the public eye, is this a kind of blasphemy against the ancestors? I don’t know how the descendants of Sima did this. Under this form of sacrifice, how much nostalgia for their ancestors still remains in their hearts? Many people would say that Sima Qian, as a famous historical figure, should be commemorated by the whole world. Yes, Sima Qian is the Sima Qian of the world, but he is only the ancestor of Sima's descendants.
Even if Sima Qian is a historical and cultural celebrity, all Chinese people should pay homage to him. So what is the meaning of our memorial ceremony? Infinite reverence for the legacy of historical saints and incomparable love for Chinese culture? Let’s look at our “respect” for tradition. In 2013, a folk sacrifice was held in the Sima Qian Scenic Area. After the sacrifice, the flower pots were looted, and the ground was covered with garbage and broken yellow chrysanthemums. On March 30, 2014, another folk sacrifice was held, with the same scale and the same number of flowers. During the ceremony, the same chrysanthemums were left all over the ground. Some people even thought that Taishi Gong more than 2,100 years ago could help him resolve the case and redress his grievances. During the development and reconstruction of Sima Scenic Area, some demolished households came to the scene of the sacrifice. A sacred memorial ceremony turned into a farce.
This is a sacrifice to return to tradition, but where is the traditional culture at this time? Perhaps when the descendants of Sima knelt three times and knelt down; perhaps when the host dressed up and read out the sacrificial text, the remnants of traditional culture appeared in people's hearts for a moment. But when the sacrificial ceremony is over and everything returns to its original appearance, then there are still traditions to pursue. What's the point? The sages need to pay homage and the historical saints need to pay tribute, but how much of the traditional culture is left?
For this kind of sacrifice, in fact, from the beginning, we could not expect it to have much responsibility for the revival of Chinese traditional culture. Everyone understands that this is just an event, a grand carnival and has little to do with sacrifice. It's just that the descendants of Sima, under the spotlight and under the gaze of countless pairs of eyes, kowtow and kneel to their ancestors, what are they thinking?
“Everything in the world is for profit; everything in the world is for profit.” Let’s talk about the prosperity behind the scenes. There is no official participation in folk sacrifices, not even the organizers and co-organizers of 2014. The name of a government agency appears, so is this really a spontaneous memorial ceremony by the people? Or is this really just a spontaneous act by the descendants of Sima and supporters of Sima Qian? If this is just the case, what are those leading companies and businessmen who can't afford to do early join in the fun?
The organizers of this event are companies under the banner of "cultural investment". Their participation further proves that this sacrifice is actually a secret crossing of Chencang.
Sima Qian was actually no longer Sima Qian, a cultural man, let alone Sima Qian, a historical saint, but became a tree, a golden tree that could shake down countless ingots.
Don’t ask how to raise funds or how to spend money. In this sacrifice, everyone has their own responsibilities, some are responsible for acting, some are responsible for setting up the stage, and some are responsible for order, so that the traffic police can keep a close eye on the scene. fine. In this folk-led sacrificial activity, Sima's hometown seems so proud and gorgeous.
Large-scale activities that cost a huge amount of money for enterprises will naturally have corresponding generous returns. The development of cultural industries cannot be separated from commercial traction. It is not difficult for us to think of the blending of interests behind this. On the surface, it is cultural tourism, but in fact it is land enclosure and tourism real estate. It is not difficult to imagine that this is also a normal mode of corporate operation.
In recent years, countless cultural celebrities have continued to pay homage to Sima Qian, a world cultural celebrity. Hancheng, a famous historical and cultural city, has suddenly become shining and crowded. It has attracted countless attention, and naturally many people have seen huge business opportunities. The development potential of this historical and cultural city has been coveted for a long time. Bulldozers roar in this small city day after day. The ancient city of Hancheng with a long history and culture has been demolished and rebuilt. It has caused huge controversy from the beginning, but it cannot stop the progress. pace. In fact, to put it bluntly, the development of scenic spots should not be excessive, and the use of all resources should not be excessive. Even if the demolition and construction of ancient cities causes huge controversy, these are the pains of reform that developing cities will inevitably experience. And putting all this under the guise of paying homage to the ancestors, placing it in the sacred Chinese tradition of paying homage to the ancestors, treating the ancestors as tools and future generations as actors, excessively overdrawing historical resources, and creating cultural bubbles always makes people feel uncomfortable.
It is an ancient precept to respect the saintly Dharma ancestor. Sima Qian, the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, should be worshiped by everyone. However, they keep saying to protect cultural inheritance and look at the entire "cultural investment", but they have not even applied for protection of the "Sima Qian" tourism development trademark. Uncovering the "fig leaf" of such a sacrifice may not even be a veil. It's better to just leave the naked interests.