Facing Guo Kang's magical metaphor, Zhu Wenkui always felt that something was strange. But when I think about it carefully, I can't find any obvious mistakes.
"Is the Indian civilization similar to that of Greece?" he asked.
"It's hard to say how similar it is, but the influence and integration between civilizations are real." Guo Kang is certain about this: "For example, we all know about Buddhist statues, right?"
This time, even Princess Ma became interested and looked at him.
"I heard that in the earliest times, Buddhism did not have a tradition of making statues. Later, some monks began to make statues and worship them." He looked at Monk Daoyan, and after he nodded, he continued: "In early India, The local Buddha statues are quite different from the current Buddha statues."
"But soon, the custom of statue making in the Gandhara region in the north - what Master Xuanzang called the 'Gandhara Kingdom' - was influenced by the local Greek culture. The Greeks were very keen on sculptures, and their technology accumulation was also It was quite rich, and the rough style of India was quickly eliminated, and all kinds of statues suddenly became robust and vivid."
"Many of the statues in that place, as well as their curly hair and beards, look like Greeks at first glance. And those strongmen and guardians are simply Heracles who changed his clothes. Therefore, a quite obvious style has been formed. "
"The various Buddhist statues in the Central Plains came from there, not directly from India. Therefore, obvious traces can still be seen in the early grottoes, and later they were gradually transformed into the Central Plains."
"It turns out that there is also Greek influence." Monk Dao Yan said with a smile: "The fate in this world is indeed magical. The poor monk's trip was indeed not in vain."
Guo Kang nodded.
As the most influential foreign ideological system in the Central Plains in this era, Buddhism does have many foreign elements. Yelu Abaoji's famous outrageous statement "I don't believe it if it's not from China" is actually not unreasonable... It's quite interesting to trace it back carefully.
Zhu Wenkui sighed with emotion: "It seems that this Greek really has something to do with India. I thought it was just a joke."
"Uh, just kidding..."
"Then, these Greeks, have they tried to sort out orthodoxy and put forward theories?" Zhu Wenkui didn't care much about these and continued to ask about the previous topic.
"Maybe there is, but there is nothing to discuss. No matter how we organize it, we can't avoid Rome." Guo Kang said: "The Greeks don't mention Rome, which is probably the same as Seris not mentioning... uh..."
He got stuck mid-sentence.
"I can't think of anything that can be compared." Guo Kang shook his head repeatedly: "I can't find a regime of equal importance in the history of Siris."
"If I have to say it, if Greece can be counted as a country, it is a 'Jiangnan Country'." He thought for a long time and had to give an example: "This is just a regional name, and the local area has been occupied by 'foreigners' for a long time since the Qin Dynasty. 'Domination - if all outsiders are included except the southerners."
"It would be too difficult to establish a separate legal system for it. Qin Hui couldn't even compile a complete set of theories." Guo Kang shook his head: "Even if it is just to stop the Northern Expedition, we can only forcefully suppress it. Because this kind of country will definitely go to the wrong direction. 'Restore Rome', otherwise it will not be able to maintain itself internally."
"It seems so..." Zhu Wenkui nodded.
Guo Kang is quite confident in this judgment. Because in his world, the Greeks did try it.
At the beginning of the 19th century, the Greeks began to try to become independent from the Ottoman Empire, and finally succeeded, establishing the first batch of nation-states.
At the time, the concept was relatively new. The idea of "building a Greek state" also seems very progressive. So in terms of theoretical construction, there is only one small question left: what are the Greeks?
Greek theorists have also been unable to solve this problem for a long time.
Before them, the only case they could refer to was France. But the routes they took were in opposite directions.
France stipulates that all people on French soil are of French nationality, so everyone must learn French - or speak Parisian - according to the requirements of the same nationality. For this reason, successive French regimes have used administrative and legal means to continuously attack local languages.
Before the Revolution, only about one-fifth of the population in France could speak French, and one-tenth was proficient in it. To this end, the National Convention held a discussion, and some people took this opportunity to propose that the king was the culprit of this "Tower of Babel" phenomenon with many dialects. Therefore, under a democratic system, anyone who insists on dialect and does not speak French is betraying the country and needs to be severely punished. Under this characterization, the promotion of French quickly began through a series of decrees.
The confidence to do so comes from long-term accumulation and the strongest central power in Europe. As early as the Valois dynasty, the king decreed that French should be the standard language of the country. At the beginning of the 17th century, Richelieu opened the French Academy, and its original goal was to standardize the French language.
In 1670, the first mass-printed French-Chinese Dictionary in Europe appeared in France. Another 24 years passed before a standard French dictionary was completed. At the beginning of the 18th century, Louis XIV hired a Chinese to write Chinese grammar, and later even introduced the Kangxi Dictionary. As for why they like to refer to the Chinese, I believe the Chinese themselves know best...
Therefore, even if dynasties continue to change and kingdoms, republics and empires come and go, the goal of unifying the French language has never changed.
Driven by Enlightenment ideas, many people believe that a free nation must have a unified language. Because the existence of dialects will create barriers, create privileges, and create inequality among citizens; it will also hinder people from receiving knowledge and plunge the French nation into ignorance and chaos. Therefore, these dialects must be eliminated.
As for which languages are dialects of French, such as the Occitan language in the south and the Celtic language in Brittany, successive French regimes have not distinguished whether they are dialects or independent languages. Under their standards, even German and Italian can be French dialects as long as they are within France, so no one cares at all.
This recognition even transcends political leanings. After the Great Revolution, the imperial regime and the subsequent Restoration Dynasty also promoted French and redefined local areas to break the sphere of influence of dialects. Until the 21st century, France refused to join the EU treaty on the protection of local and national languages because France officially did not recognize the existence of other ethnic groups.
Even if he does this, others can't do anything to him, because France has always been Europe's hegemon, and it would be good if it doesn't bully others. Who would use this issue to provoke it?
Even after World War II, it was the leading power in Europe, so it naturally didn't matter. Even if France still claims that the German spoken in Alsace is also a French dialect, linguists can't do anything about it.
But the Greeks obviously don't have this capital.
(End of chapter)
