Discovering the Great Wisdom of Rule of Law from Small Cultural Relics
2025-05-13
The course I am undertaking, 'Legal Civilization in Cultural Relics,' is a demonstration course for the key construction of ideological and political education at China University of Political Science and Law. Ancient legal relics are a treasure trove of information for current legal education and legal construction, but due to the gap in knowledge and concepts, modern people are quite unfamiliar with traditional legal culture. Explaining the development and evolution of ancient legal civilization through intuitive and vivid legal relics can make up for the shortcomings of dry literature and knowledge barriers, and contribute to the inheritance and development of excellent traditional Chinese legal culture. Cultural relics are the embodiment and carrier of civilization, and legal relics also demonstrate the tradition and heritage of Chinese legal civilization with their unique character. How to bring traditional legal relics to life and integrate ideological and political content into the entire teaching process is not only an important goal of curriculum design, but also an important guarantee for the continuous improvement of teaching quality. The first unit of the course is to stimulate students' attention and reflection on legal relics. The topic that students are required to share in class is: Which museum has left the deepest impression on you? Have you seen legal relics in any museum? What cultural relics can be displayed in the Chinese legal system? Through classroom interaction, I found that although the popularity of museums continues to rise, many students are still in the stage of exploring treasures, and the rich historical information of many cultural relics is often overlooked. In the teaching unit, "measurement and rule of law" and "Xiezi image evolution and legal concept change" are the most enlightening for students. In the past, people's research on traditional rule of law culture mainly focused on ancient instruments of punishment and legal codes. However, in terms of handed down and unearthed cultural relics, the content related to ritual, food, administration, and people's livelihood is more diverse and abundant. With the progress of the course, students gradually understand that the cultural relics of the rule of law as a national image project, such as measuring scales, money, contracts, etc., are often the "public tools" of the country. As Shenzi Weide said: "Yarrow tortoise, therefore, public knowledge is established; weighing, therefore, justice is established; deeds, therefore, public trust is established; measurement, therefore, public trial is established; legal ritual books, therefore, public justice is established. Anyone who establishes public affairs, therefore, abandons private affairs." The legendary unicorn, Xie Zhi, is no stranger to students in law schools. However, the image of Xiezhi in ancient and modern times is very different. The early Xiezhi is close to the common sheep and deer, and has the characteristics of simple realism. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the image of Xiezhi showed a dragon shaped trend. The description of the image of Xiezi in historical records is mostly to pave the way for the production of the method crown - Xiezi crown. The image of Xiezi in Guanfu also experienced a process from simple representation to complex deification. Although the appearance of Xiezhi is constantly changing, its core concept of justice remains unchanged. After accumulating a certain amount of knowledge, I led my students to museums to search for, excavate, and interpret ancient artifacts. Through the teaching and analysis of topics such as the origin of ancient criminal systems, measurement and unified rule of law, seals and authority, students have found that previously dull concepts and unfamiliar systems have become vivid and lively due to their concrete manifestation on cultural relics; Tracing the generation and evolution of ancient Chinese legal system from the perspective of objects is full of new knowledge and interest; The birth and dissemination of every legal relic carries a certain mission. They are either the embodiment of the system or the carrier of its implementation. Due to their existence, the development trajectory and structural framework of ancient rule of law civilization can be constructed and restored. There are roughly three methods I follow in teaching. One is to adhere to academic quality and cultivate a solid academic atmosphere. Through visual teaching of the history of materialism and the history of left and right figures, as well as affinity academic training, students' problem awareness and thinking ability are cultivated. Secondly, we should attach importance to the cultivation of humanistic feelings, and use words and deeds to inspire students to seek truth from knowledge, practice the Tao, and develop correct views on civilization and the world, and find strength from tradition. The third is to cultivate students' observation and critical thinking abilities, leading them to perceive the profoundness of Chinese civilization and inspire patriotism and patriotism through the process of getting close to ancient legal relics. For the inheritance of excellent traditional Chinese legal culture, classroom teaching is only the beginning. We have built a virtual museum with related themes, which was officially launched on New Year's Day 2019. The museum is committed to restoring and interpreting the development and evolution of Chinese legal civilization through a professional perspective and exquisite images, using the method of "investigating objects to understand laws". People often see isolated cultural relics in museums, while "virtual museums" systematically analyze and compare scattered legal relics, revealing the important significance of individual and thematic cultural relics in the history of the development of legal civilization. The "small system" of each cultural relic can gather into the "great wisdom" of interpreting traditional legal civilization. This is also an important way to transform classroom learning into daily and long-term learning. (New Society)
Edit:Momo Responsible editor:Chen zhaozhao
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