Take Beijing, which is perhaps China's most cultured city. It contains the most magnificent ancient architecture in the world; you can participate in diverse cultural events and activities on any day; you can experience different styles of art. All this projects an image of cultural prosperity. However, disappointingly, bad habits and rude behavior are all too prevalent. People spit grotesquely in the streets, subway passengers struggle for a seat or curse others over trivial things, and drivers never yield to pedestrians. There's a dearth of empathy. People are indifferent to the pains and plights of others, particularly the weak, disadvantaged and deprived. Many people are becoming increasingly self-centered. They only care about their own satisfaction without any responsibility for others; they look down upon the weak and poor and judge people simply by power and wealth. There is a popular joke in China that says the criterion by which a girl finds her future boyfriend is that he has a house and a car but no parents—so there won't be any financial burden. What's happened to the Confucian "State of Morals and Rituals"?

Another concern is related to young people today. They are likely the most utilitarian generation of Chinese ever. Many of them are only preoccupied with personal dissipations without fulfilling their filial piety or obligations to society and the nation. They may be masters of the most up-to-date games, but they have only a shallow understanding of literature, culture, and social issues. As for such a prevailing phenomenon, it is not solely the young people who are to blame. A more alarming fact is that something has gone seriously wrong in our social values. People have been made to believe that only power and money can lead to success, happiness and fulfillment, not intellectual attainment, ingenuity or innovation.

Therefore, the symptoms of the problems within our culture can be attributed to the prevailing social values. This leads to the necessity for us to cultivate the very soil that breeds our national culture.

To start with, the government should respect and promote cultural diversity earnestly so that all forms of culture, predominant or peripheral, can compete with one another in an open and free dynamic. Never mind about the possibility of cultural disorder. Quite on the contrary, the clashes and dialogue among different forms of culture shall ultimately bring about an optimal and most vibrant result. Conversely, if a single form of culture is assigned the dominant role across society, then the need for dialogue and innovation is repressed and hypocrisy may become the order of the day throughout society.

Second, the government should further improve social security and public service. Only when people feel a sense of security will they attend to their cultural selves. It's putting the cart before the carriage that a government wishes to "equip" its people with "an advanced culture" when its social security is at a poor level. Public service matters, too. People will remember their manners instead of struggling for advantages only when there is sufficient infrastructure and adequate public resources that are managed efficiently.

Third, liberal education should be strengthened in a way that blends quintessential traditional Chinese ethics with Western humanist traditions. It's imperative that we shake off cultural narcissism and abandon a parochial understanding of culture. Although we value our traditional culture very much, we should be fully aware that, being no panacea, it has its own disadvantages and limitations. It may be assumed that only in the interillumination between Chinese and Western cultures lies the rejuvenation of the ancient Chinese civilization.

The author is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit:

http://www.ccgp-fushun.com/opinion/node_7083461.htm

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn