Life was simpler for past generations.
You spent what you earned, but no more … not unless you borrowed money for a home. You focused on one task at a time without your phone constantly alerting you of this or that or something else. ‘Food miles’ were low and produce was fresh. To ’cut and paste’ required scissors and glue.
But would I want to live in a world without antibiotics? I rather enjoy our modern cuisine from around the world. Sliced bread is a staple in my home.
Modernisation has impacted us all. In some parts of the world, its impact has been immense, influencing even the very way we think.
Cultural incongruity
Today’s post was sparked both by an academic article I read yesterday as well as a particular online conversation with an experienced Christian worker who played a significant role in training me for ministry.
The article which sparked this train of thought was written by a world renowned social scientist, Dr Rodney Stark, and a PhD student of his with Chinese heritage. This is what they wrote just six years ago.
Turning to the particular situation of educated Chinese, we explore how the rapid influx of technical and economic modernity into a traditional society can create a crisis of cultural incongruity – a conflict between the cultural assumptions of modernity and those of traditional religious culture.
Stark, Rodney, and Xiuhua Wang. “Christian conversion and cultural incongruity in Asia.” Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion 10 (2014). Page 3
What are the ‘cultural assumptions of modernity’ and how are they different to ‘those of traditional religious culture’?
Dr Stark and Dr Wang (I used the title ‘Dr’ for the latter presuming that Dr Stark’s student has earned the PhD by now) go on to suggest that differences in the very way we think is a key factor in creating such ‘cultural incongruity’. (I really like the sound of that phrase … ‘cultural incongruity’ … it sounds intelligent and the repeated ‘k’ sound is fun.)
Drs Stark and Wang go on to explain that a traditional Chinese worldview actually focuses on and is devoted to the past rather than the future. This poses a challenge to modernisation.
The primary impediment to modernisation in Asia was devotion to the past, as symbolised by so-called ancestor worship. It was believed that history traced a descent from more enlightened times.
Stark, Rodney, and Xiuhua Wang. “Christian conversion and cultural incongruity in Asia.” Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion 10 (2014). Page 8
As a language nerd, I see the academics’ observation that Chinese traditionally look to the past reflected in the very language itself. Let me illustrate this observation with some examples about how Chinese language expresses time.
First, however, gear up for a language lesson or skim over the following two sections if you’d rather.
A mini language lesson – part 1 – year, month and day
The Chinese word for ‘year’, 年 (nian), was apparently originally written as a pictograph of grain 禾 carried by a person 人, looking like this: 秂. In an agricultural society with four distinct seasons, this is an activity that would occur annually. Over the years, the character 秂 was simplified to become 年.
The Chinese word for ‘month’, 月 (yue), is a pictograph of the moon. Can you see it there? A full cycle of the moon is, of course, a month.
The Chinese word for ‘day’, 天 (tian), is a pictograph of the sky, the line at the top 一, with the symbol for ‘big’ 大 underneath it. ‘Big’ 大 is itself a picture of a person 人 with their arms wide out, as if to say, “THIS big!” 大.
So there you have ‘year’, ‘month’ and ‘day’ in this language which is rich in symbolism. But this doesn’t yet illustrate the focus on the past that I am arguing is inherent in the national language of China itself. For that, I need to explain just a few more Chinese characters, and can’t resist the opportunity to highlight a few of the pictures within them.
Mini language lesson – part 2
The Chinese word for ‘go’ is 去 (qu), made up of radicals for soil 土 and secret 厶. I like the idea of what is ahead being somewhat unknown – as if it were concealed in the earth and secret. If I bump into a friend on the road, I might ask, “Where are you going? 你去哪儿？” She might reply, “I’m going to XXX. 我去XXX.” Both English and Chinese use to verb ‘to go’ in a similar way.
‘Light’ 明 (ming), is officially my favourite Chinese character. I once had the dubious privilege of participating in a televised Chinese language competition and had to write this character with a calligraphy brush, explaining why it is my favourite. The reason is that it is bright and meaningful, with both the sun 日 and the moon 月 present.
‘Above’ 上 (shang) and below 下 (xia) are pretty obvious. In the character for ‘above’ 上, the ‘sticking out bit’ is above the line. In the character for ‘below’ 下, the ‘sticking out bit’ is below the line. I can see it quite clearly in the sprigs of mint growing roots in bottles on my kitchen window sill. Above 上 the waterline are green leaves while below 下 the waterline are tender little roots.
‘Ahead’ 前 (qian) has changed over the centuries. I am told that in its earliest form, it was comprised of a foot 止 over a boat 舟. That makes sense of you think of the motion generated when pushing a boat away from the shore.
‘Behind’ 后 (hou) is a character which has been recently simplified this past decade in mainland China and some other parts of the Chinese speaking world. In other places, it is still written as 後, in which you can see a radical which I understand means ‘stepping with the left foot’彳 (though find it hard to see that in the pictograph 彳)， thread 纟and friendship 友. I like the idea that ‘behind’ us there is a whole history of friends and movement all bound together with thread.
Time orientation reflected in Chinese language
Now we finally get to the point of this blog post … my assertion that a focus on the past is reflected in the very language of China. Let’s pull together the content of the two mini language lessons above.
‘Last year’ – 去年 (qu nian) quite literally is comprised of two characters: ‘to go’+‘year’. Putting ‘last year’ this way (go to the year) sounds as if the speaker is facing the past rather than the future.
‘Next year’ – 明年 (ming nian) quite literally is comprised of two characters: ‘light’+‘year’. As a Christian, I love the fact that when we walk in the light of God we have nothing to fear in the year to come. With 2020 having been so difficult, that’s a comfort.
‘Last month’ – 上个月 (shang ge yue) quite literally is comprised of three characters: ‘above’+‘the’+‘month’. When a Chinese speaker describes the month which has past, it is as if they are looking up.
‘Next month’ – 下个月 (xia ge yue) quite literally is comprised of three characters: ‘below’+’the’+’month’. When a Chinese speaker describes the month which is yet to come, it is as if they are looking down.
‘Yesterday’ – 昨天 (zuo tian) involves the character for ‘day’ 天 preceded by a character I didn’t explain in the section above. You might, however, notice the sun radical 日 there, along with another radical 乍 (zha) which can mean ‘for the first time’. It doesn’t have any particular meaning apart from ‘yesterday’.
‘The day before yesterday’ – 前天 (qian tian) quite literally is comprised of two characters: ‘ahead’+’day’. Again, it is as if the Chinese speaker is facing the past as they refer to the day before yesterday.
‘Tomorrow’ – 明天 (ming tian) quite literally is comprised of two characters: ‘light’+’day’. As a Christian, I am once again comforted to know that although I don’t know what tomorrow will bring, I need not be afraid if I am ‘walking in the light’.
‘The day after tomorrow’ – 后天 (hou tian) quite literally is comprised of two characters: ‘behind’+’day’. Again, the Chinese speaker is apparently facing the past with their back to to the future as they look to the day after tomorrow.
Time orientation and culture
Are you thoroughly confused now? In short, in English we talk about the future as ahead of us, and we approach it with a forward motion. We face the future. However, in Chinese language, the past is referred to as ahead or above the speaker. Chinese speakers face the past.
As I look at the Bible, a collection of books written in Middle Eastern cultures, I wonder about the time orientation of the writers. Yes, I know that the words were written by men but inspired by the Holy Spirit, and I’m not questioning the inspiration of Scripture. However, I am enjoying some fresh insights having had my own worldview expanded by a foray into Chinese language and thinking.
Have you ever wondered why the Bible includes so many genealogies? Perhaps this reflects the value that Bible writers placed on the past. To be sure, powerful lessons about God’s heart for the downtrodden and weak (as well as the strong) are to be found when digging through some of the stories of characters in those genealogies.
I recently blogged about the Jewish roots of Christianity, contemplating the apostle Paul’s severe admonition not to treat lightly our privilege of being like a cultivated olive branch grafted into the root stock of Judaism (Romans 11). Perhaps we don’t take this passage as seriously as we ought because we don’t have a mindset that looks primarily to the past rather than the future.
A gospel application
As I ponder these matters, it occurs to me that I have always shared the gospel with a future-facing orientation.“We have all failed to live up to God’s standard of purity. Put your faith in Jesus,” I explain to enquirers, “and you will have life eternal with God. His kingdom is here and yet it is also to come. One day, he will usher in new heavens and a new earth and we shall have new resurrection bodies. Jesus has shown us what is to come. What a hope.”
A couple of months ago, I wrote a blog post about how we mortal beings can’t truly fathom the dimension of time. I believe that our finite nature restricts our ability to understand the full picture of eternity. As I contemplate the time-orientation of our very culture in this blog post, I wonder if there might also be another time-related aspect of the gospel that I have downplayed. I shall try that gospel summary again but facing the past rather than the future as best I can as a future-facing native English speaker.
Looking back to the beginning of time, we see that God created all things GOOD. God made people in his image to manage his creation. However, his image-bearers were seduced by God’s enemy. They chose to disregard God’s explicit instructions. Mankind’s relationship with this pure God was broken. Through Jesus’ atoning sacrifice, and overcoming the curse of death by his very nature as God, we can be restored to a right relationship with our creator. God is already restoring all things to their rightful order, as they were created to be way back at the start of time. We can have eternal life with the Ancient One and we look forward to the day when he will restore the heavens and earth to the perfection it had at the beginning.
Cultural Incongruity
I rarely think about ‘the good old days’ except, perhaps, as I reminisce with family and old friends about our recent past of the past half century or so. Mostly, however, I look to the future. In no small way, that is because I am a future-focused Westerner.
My future-orientation is even reflected in my language. Next year … last year … I look ahead or behind. Next month … last month … again, I look ahead or behind. Tomorrow – yesterday … again, I look ‘towards the morrow’ or behind.
Chinese people, however, have traditionally looked towards the past rather than the future. This orientation is reflected in the very language they use to express time, including the phrases 去年 (go towards last year), 上个月 (upwards into last month), 下个月 (downwards into next month), 前天 (ahead to the day before yesterday) and 后天 (behind to the day after tomorrow) .
No wonder cultures have clashed (known as cultural incongruence) as traditionally past-facing Chinese engaged with the traditionally forward-facing West.
Life was simpler in the good old days. In fact, it was good – very good – if you go WAY back to the beginning of time. The days when Adam (and, presumably, Eve) walked in the garden in the coolness of the evening and communed with their Creator and ours … now THEY were the good old days.
How I yearn for a return to those particular ‘good old days’. What’s more, I have a very great hope that we shall indeed return to them one day! Bible imagery about the God’s kingdom are slightly different to that of the garden imagery of Eden, but the descriptions are just that – descriptions in terms that we mere mortals can understand. The bottom line is that in God’s kingdom, the curse of sin is obliterated, and all creation was once and will again be in harmony. We look forward to a city of divine light with a river and trees. As a modern woman who appreciates her modern conveniences along with the beauty of nature, the city of God sounds quite perfect.