Chapter 60 Soft Culture Development (Six updates, seeking flowers, recommendations, collections and subscriptions)

  As China's economic and military strength grows, along with several successive external military actions, the outside world has always believed that China's stance is very tough, especially in terms of responding to national sovereignty and territorial integrity.

  In other countries around the world, ordinary people's understanding of China largely comes from government propaganda. Some countries that are friendly to China have been vigorously promoting China's strength and friendliness at home, portraying China as an ideal country: everyone has food to eat, clothes to wear, a house to live in, and strong technological power, such as the "Made in China" products that have swept the world and become synonymous with fashion, quality, and advancement.

  China has surpassed the United States to become the country with the most patent applications per year. Especially in Taiwan, after the implementation of free education, primary education now covers the entire island. Every child born in a Taiwanese family receives free infant and toddler education, elementary education, and secondary education. After completing their basic education, they can decide whether to pursue vocational technical education or further theoretical studies based on their needs. The Taiwan region has the highest number of technical personnel and high-educated individuals per 100 people in the world, far surpassing other regions and countries.

  Not all countries in this world sing praises for China, there are also some countries that are full of hostility towards China. They enjoy the convenience brought by Made-in-China while slandering China, thinking that Chinese people have taken away their job opportunities and wealth.

  Although Lin Feng is not very concerned about some countries secretly bullying China, he from the future will not underestimate the impact of public opinion and culture. Now China has established a tough image in the world, "an eye for an eye" and "a tooth for a tooth", basically no country dares to offend China's prestige, overseas Chinese people feel this most deeply. In the past, they were often bullied by locals in other countries, but now no one dares to bully Chinese people at will.

  Don't you see, the Jakarta monument has stood for ten years; Don't you see, Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine has become an anti-Japanese memorial hall; Don't you see, Myanmar's former leaders are still wearing prison uniforms.

  However, Lin Feng knew that relying solely on a tough image was not enough. As the Chinese saying goes, "Hardness cannot last, softness cannot be guarded." The Chinese way of doing things emphasizes the combination of hardness and softness, so China must have its own cultural image.

  Currently, the dominant culture in the world is utilitarianism advocated by Western society. However, China's traditional culture emphasizes self-sacrifice for righteousness. "Righteousness" plays a significant role in Chinese traditional culture. Traditional scholars and officials relied on "righteousness" to govern their behavior and make decisions when facing life-and-death choices, choosing to sacrifice themselves for the sake of righteousness. Ancient common people also used "righteousness" as a guiding principle for their behavior and moral code, willing to risk their lives for friends or die rather than compromise their values. Merchants in ancient times could seal large deals with just a handshake due to their commitment to "righteousness". "Righteousness" is an integral part of Chinese traditional culture, along with "benevolence", forming the core of Chinese culture.

  If the Chinese people lose their sense of "righteousness", that will be our doomsday, at which time all Chinese people will become cold-blooded machines, no longer human beings with flesh and blood, and everyone will trample on the baseline of morality.

  Lin Feng, in order to resist the erosion of Western culture on modern Chinese youth, vigorously promotes traditional Chinese culture and morality. As a Confucian culture that has influenced China for thousands of years, it still has its positive side. As descendants of the Yellow Emperor, we cannot dismiss the achievements of our ancestors entirely, but rather absorb its good aspects and let it continue to serve our society.

  However, with the development of the economy and advances in technology, if we still use the old way of preaching, it will definitely not be very effective, especially for some rebellious young people. Therefore, using advanced film technology combined with traditional Chinese Confucian culture to carry out subtle education may achieve unexpected results.

  The 1977 American film Star Wars was shown in thousands of cinemas across the country through Lin Feng's efforts, and the special effects presented by Star Wars greatly shocked the Chinese people. It greatly opened up the Chinese people's thinking perspective on looking at the world, and enriched the Chinese people's imagination: it turns out that future life is like this. Star Wars set off a wave of "star wars" globally, and even some ordinary people in some countries thought that was what American life was like, so Star Wars inevitably enhanced the influence of American culture globally.

  Since the release of Star Wars, Lin Feng has been searching for a film that represents China's image. Now, the only Chinese films with some international influence are martial arts films. Especially after the performance and promotion by Kung Fu superstar Bruce Lee, Kung Fu has become synonymous with Chinese culture.

  However, Lin Feng believes that relying solely on "kung fu" is not enough, and China also needs to demonstrate its competitiveness in modern technology. Therefore, starting from 1978, Lin Feng began to let Chao Ya-chih's film production company start filming a live-action version of "Transformers", using Taiwan's current technological capabilities to produce a more refined film than the original. This movie will feature Chinese people saving the earth as its theme, and introduce some traditional Chinese culture throughout. After two years of careful preparation, this film that can rival Star Wars finally met with everyone during the Spring Festival season.

  This film, which combines traditional Chinese culture and modern technology, was a huge hit in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and the Ryukyu Islands as soon as it was released. Everywhere, middle-aged people, young people, and even some children were talking about Autobots and Decepticons. Gradually, this robot craze spread from China to other countries, and some nations deeply influenced by Chinese Confucian culture easily fell in love with the film. Even some ordinary Westerners changed their impression of China through this movie, and China gained another nickname - "Robot".

  Zhao Yashi's entertainment company is now the largest cultural media company in Asia, but last year due to Lin Feng's first child being born, Zhao Yashi temporarily put aside her work at the company. This year, she took advantage of the popularity of "Transformers" to push her entertainment company to another peak, making Zhao Yashi the most powerful CEO in China's entertainment circle.

  At the same time, "Three Character Classic", "Hundred Family Surnames" and "Thousand Character Essay" have become formal textbooks for primary education in China. These articles, which condensed the wisdom of ancient Chinese scholars, are invaluable treasures of the Chinese nation.

  The status of "Three, Hundred, Thousand" as an enlightenment reader in the cultural history of our country is quite prominent. It was these small textbooks that taught us many timeless moral stories and learned how to respect our parents and love our motherland.

  Moreover, the essence of Confucian culture is also hidden in it, and through these enlightening readings, Chinese people have been receiving traditional cultural education since childhood. Lin Feng also knows that relying solely on school education is impossible to complete the casting of national soul, schools only completed the first step, afterwards, they need to rely on society to provide a fair and just environment, more importantly, social behavior norms must be consistent with school education.

  If graduating students find that the moral standards they take pride in at school are not compatible with society, it will thoroughly destroy China's education system and moral system, eventually evolving into a situation where everyone says one thing but does another, leading to a complete collapse of social order.

  Lin Feng's greatest contribution, apart from reforming Taiwan's education system with the help of early Taiwanese independence activists, was to crack down on corruption among public servants and various underworld organizations, creating a fair and just living environment for ordinary people and vulnerable groups.

  The current Taiwan region is known as the province with the highest happiness index in China, and graduates from Taiwan find that everything they learned in college has been useful after entering society, so they will stick to what they have learned, and at the same time, they will pass this belief on to the next generation of students.

  Through this generation-by-generation transmission, the new Confucian cultural and social order advocated by Lin Feng will be gradually established. Taiwan's social order is developing in the direction that Lin Feng hopes for, but due to special circumstances on the mainland, Hong Kong has been influenced more by foreign cultures, resulting in a slower pace of traditional cultural education. However, under the influence of Taiwan's exemplary model, the mainland has also begun to absorb Taiwan's successful experiences and implement new free education plans for all citizens.

  As China's scientific and technological strength has developed, especially with the expansion of the influence of Transformers, more and more foreigners come to China to study every year. In order to select high-quality talents, the Chinese Ministry of Education publicly announced in January 1980 the "Notice on the Relevant Matters Concerning the HSK Examination for Foreigners to Study in China", which uniformly declared the textbooks for the Chinese language examination: "University", "Mencius", "Analects of Confucius", "Ancient Chinese History", "Three-Character Classic", "Thousand Character Classic" and " Hundred Family Surnames". Students from abroad study at their country's Confucius Institute and then take a selection test jointly held by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Education, obtaining a certain level, and then China allows them to enter different schools based on their level.

  This plan has already been implemented within the organization in Kun and China, which has accepted about 200,000 international students from various countries over the past two years. These international students have developed a deep fondness for Chinese culture and lifestyle after initial learning, especially the 20,000 students from Taiwan who unanimously believe that Taiwan should be the model for national construction around the world. After these students return to their home country, they will still view things in their own country through what they learned in China, and they will showcase what they have learned to people around them, further expanding the influence of Chinese culture.