The Development of Chinese Traditional Culture and Its Society

社会与文化是同步发展的。19世纪著名的人类学家泰勒给文化做出了一个最早期的定义：文化包括知识、信仰、艺术、道德、法律、习俗以及作为一个社会成员的人所习得的其他一切能力和习惯。根据这样的解释，我们可以多少认为文化就是人们的所想和所做。文化同样也可以看作为人们行为的结果。可以肯定的是世上很少有两个完全相同的个体，但毋庸置疑，社会当中的人也有一定的共性，因为他们的文化有一种主要的特征来影响着他们。在过去的2000年里，儒家思想是中国传统文化的主要特征。中国人都受到了儒家思想得影响。

Societies develop with cultures. Edward B Tyler, a 19th-century anthropologist, provided one of the earliest definitions of culture： cultures included knowledge, belief, arts, morals, laws, customs and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society. According to the definition, one can be somewhat sure that culture is what people think of and do. Culture is also the result of what people do. It is quite true that rarely two individuals are the same, but, undoubtedly, all the members in one society have something in common, because the culture they share has a chief characteristic that influences people who share it. Throughout 2,000 years, Confucian thoughts had been the chief characteristic of Chinese traditional culture. Chinese people were totally influenced by Confucian thoughts.