# Article Starting Challenge #

Yao and Shun are two kings mythologized by ancient scholars. There is a saying in Mencius Teng Wengong: "Mencius is kind in nature, and his words must be called Yao and Shun." It can be seen that in Mencius’ mind, Yao and Shun are the best examples of human nature. "Historical Records of Five Emperors" also recorded Yao and Shun’s abdication. However, in the Chronicle of Ancient Bamboo Books, it is described as "Shun imprisoned Yao, and suppressed Dan Zhu again, so as not to meet his father". Shun imprisoned Yao and exiled Dan Zhu so that he could not meet his father (Yao). There are also the following contents in "Han Feizi Shuo Yi": Shun forced Yao, Yu forced Shun, Tang Fang Jie, and Wu Wang cut Zhou; These four kings, people and ministers regicide, are also famous all over the world. It’s so straightforward that it doesn’t have to be translated into vernacular.

The same thing, two completely opposite versions, who do we believe? From the perceptual point of view, we are more inclined to believe in the elegance and mind of the ancient emperors in the theory of abdication; But rationally speaking, the records in Annals of Ancient Bamboo Books are more in line with human nature and logic. In ancient times, the productivity was extremely low, and there was no so-called etiquette and law to restrain people. It was entirely possible for people, tribes and tribes, to conduct activities in a way similar to that of wild animals. Imagine that in the primitive times when the means of production and living were extremely scarce, once the surrounding environment could not provide enough food, the possibility of fighting between tribes for survival resources would be infinite. We can even think that the premeditated killing or plundering of the labor force population that has been or will be formed in hostile tribes should be the normal state of human life in that era. If we substitute the later nomadic people, it feels really similar. Therefore, the behavior of human beings in that era should be more inclined to the barbaric side, rather than the ideal state that we traditionally think.

In Historical Records and Annals of Bamboo Books, Yu is regarded as the first place in the chronology of Xia Dynasty. And the former recorded Yu’s much more detailed deeds relative to his descendants, including water conservancy, Kyushu, succession and so on. Except Xia Qi, most of the records of the leaders in the whole Xia Benji were XX collapse and XX standing. There is also a passage in Historical Records: Emperor Yudong made a hunting tour, but it collapsed when he was arrested. Grant benefits to the world. After three years of mourning, the son of Emperor Yu was enlightened and settled in the Yang of ji shan. Yuzi is a wise man, and the world is interested. On the whole, it means that Yu is also giving in, but his son Qi is too good to be at home. This is in line with the world outlook of ancient mainstream consciousness. Then let’s take a look at how the Annals of Bamboo Books are written: Yudu Yangcheng. One sentence; Forty-five years of Yu Li. Two sentences. This Yu is gone! Then there is: the emperor said "will". Yi gan qi position, qi kill it. The last few words have a lot of information, which is very similar to many events in our history. Let’s take a look at the simple sentence in The Songs of the South: Enlightening the generation and benefiting the future. During the Zhou and Qin Dynasties, the word Hou had the meaning of Wang.

Personally, I believe in words less. Of course, this is not psychological gloom or anything, because I have read a passage before, and I can’t remember it specifically. It probably means that the longer the history is from us, the more detailed it is, the greater the possibility of fabrication and the lower its credibility. This is very reasonable, even if modern people restore things before 2000, they must use historical materials to confirm each other to get a relatively reasonable result, not to mention the ancients who restored things more than 2000 years ago. And the record of Dayu in Historical Records is just like taking a guest, so it’s not very reliable to think about it.

Although we have been unable to research the specific events, judging from all kinds of struggles for power and position in the history of China, the events recorded in the Annals of Bamboo Records can not be completely restored, but it is estimated that they are not too far apart.

People or things in remote ancient times have been passed down to this day. As I said before, there may be people, and things have definitely changed beyond recognition, but we can be sure that they are our common ancestors and the source of China.

Up to now, the word "China", the earliest archaeological discovery, originated from a bronze ware presented to Zhou Chengwang by a nobleman named He in the Western Zhou Dynasty. We now call it "He Zun" with the following sentence: Yu Qi lives in China. At this time, the meaning of the word China refers to the center of the world. At that time, people’s concept was that the sky was round and the place was like a cover, and the place was like a chess game. It can be said that the significance of China at this time is not only geographical, but also civilized: all the people living here are civilized people, the highest class, and there are also people and savages in the rites of Zhou.

Therefore, in ancient history, if someone talks about "China", it means not only this land, but also that it is the place with the highest level of civilization, the world lighthouse, and the air is sweet. Here is an interesting topic to insert. After the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, when the two sides signed the treaty of shimonoseki, the contracting parties had to call themselves "China" in the treaty. Japan resolutely refused to do it, saying that you were beaten down by me now, but not as bad as me. Where is China and I am China? It should be noted that it was already 1895, and the Westernization Movement of the Manchu government and the Meiji Restoration in Japan had been around 30 years, but their understanding of "China" was still from the perspective of civilization.

Knowing the original concept of China, how did she come into being?

As we know, Oracle Bone Inscriptions was written in the Shang Dynasty, and Oracle bones were used for divination, and sacrifices were often used in divination. According to the study of unearthed Oracle Bone Inscriptions films, there are about 1,300 pieces of Oracle bones that record human sacrifices, including nearly 2,000 Oracle inscriptions. In the archaeological process of Yin Ruins, a large number of abnormal human skeletons were unearthed. According to incomplete statistics, there are about 4000 people, that is to say, there are at least more than 100 abnormal deaths per square kilometer in Yinxu alone. To know that Yin started to be the capital of Shang Dynasty since Pan Geng, and the capital of Shang Dynasty changed several times before, it is not difficult to speculate how many savage human sacrifices there were before.

And sacrifice, at that time, should be the most important thing. Who are the people who can sacrifice to heaven? Only our business people. From the contents of Oracle Bone Inscriptions’s deciphering unearthed, we know that Shang often made foreign expeditions. In Di Xin’s period, there was an Oracle bone which recorded "Di Xin’s Ten Sacrifices to Cut People’s Square". Some of the unlucky prisoners who came back from the war will be sacrificed to please God. This leads to a problem. Businessmen think that only themselves are destiny, or simply put, only businessmen are human beings, and people outside businessmen are not human beings. They can all be sacrificed to heaven, no different from pigs, cattle and sheep. As a "square" at that time, Zhou was inferior to Shang in terms of population and force, so it had to unite with other "squares" to fight against the behemoth of Shang.

"Zhou Wuwang led the Western vassals to attack Yin and was defeated by the wild" (Annals of Ancient Bamboo Books). One of the important reasons why the Western vassals here, or tribal leaders, are willing to let the Zhou people command in a unified way and jointly attack the merchants is that Zhou put forward the concept of "common ownership of the world": I, the king of Zhou, am a herder of Heaven, and I won’t beat you and him as easily as the Yin merchants. Summarized by a well-known sentence in the Book of Songs: Under the whole world, is it the land of kings? Leading the land, is it a king? Everyone is the same. Zhou people won’t take you to worship heaven with pigs, cattle and sheep.

If we say that before Zhou defeated Shang, the civilization in China was still a discrete community separated from each other, then marked by the cutting of King Wu, the scattered fires of civilization in the Central Plains finally gathered together and began to release dazzling brilliance. This is the country of the central government, the crown of civilization, and China.

Author: Chen Xianda (honorary first-class professor of China Renmin University)

Everyone lives in his own time, and no one can surpass his own time. The epochal nature of human beings is also the historical nature of human beings, because any era is a stage in the historical process. People observe things and the world from their own times and personal situations, so historicity and epochal nature are not only the characteristics of human cognition, but also an insurmountable fate.

The creators of China’s traditional culture are not the embodiment of absolute spirit, but great thinkers, who are all realistic people living in specific times. Their thoughts are great because their ideas and theories not only reflect the requirements of their times, but also have wisdom beyond the times. Real thoughts have both the characteristics of the times and the eternity beyond the times.

Some people say that it is wrong to take the essence and discard the dross. Everything that can be handed down in Confucianism is the essence; Not the essence, it has long been eliminated by history. The same is true for the whole traditional culture. Is that right? It’s only half right. There are both the essence and the dross that have been handed down. Because the spread of traditional culture is not the culture itself, but the choice of people, especially the choice of the ruling rulers. They carry on the cultural inheritance according to their standards. The evolution of cultural tradition is not the evolution of culture itself that has nothing to do with society, but is filtered and screened by the times and history. The standards of filtering and screening cannot be divorced from the standards of class. Because the dominant thoughts in any society are the thoughts of the ruling class. Zhu Xi’s selection of The Analects of Confucius, Mencius, University and The Doctrine of the Mean as four books certainly has his own standards. There are also standards for the selection, deletion and revision of "Sikuquanshu" compiled by Qianlong. We are in socialist China, and we also have our own standards for traditional culture, that is, "take its essence and discard its dross".

Some people say that what is "essence" and what is "dross" cannot be distinguished. Indeed, unlike apples, culture can be divided into two parts at a glance, and the rotten ones can be removed and the good ones kept. Traditional culture is a complex organism. It is impossible to treat traditional culture simply by taking it. It must be chewed by oneself and digested by the stomach, which is reading and understanding. "Take its essence and discard its dross" is the traditional cultural view of Marxism. Not only do communist party people do this, but all dynasties have done it. It’s just that the standards of "essence" and "dross" are different in each era and class. In the process of culture development, there are both screening, reservation and increase, just like flowing water.

For us, the standard of distinguishing essence from dross is the standard of Marxism. Mao Zedong has long said that the factors that contribute to the establishment of a national, scientific and popular culture in traditional culture are the essence, and the opposite is the dross. In the construction of Socialism with Chinese characteristics, the essence is the factor that contributes to the establishment of advanced socialist culture and socialist core values, and all superstitious, backward and reactionary things are dross. The so-called creative transformation and innovative development of traditional culture is to absorb Chinese excellent traditional culture to build advanced socialist culture and make it an important ideological resource to cultivate socialist core values.

The interpretation of traditional culture is actually the interpretation of the reader. What can be read depends on the reader. The interpreter is in the social life of a certain historical period, and he has his own position, academic background or opinions. Therefore, it is very important to interpret traditional culture from what point of view. It is self-evident that there is a great difference between interpreting Confucianism from the west, interpreting Confucianism with Confucianism, or insisting on analyzing traditional culture from the perspective of historical materialism. In contemporary China, it is definitely a controversial issue whether the study of Confucianism should adhere to the basic theories and methods of Marxism. We believe that Marxism can’t replace Confucianism, but if the study of contemporary Confucianism still can’t go beyond the original perspective of Confucianism, then whether it is followed or continued, it is still confined to the traditional scope of Confucianism, at best, neo-Confucianism. If the study of traditional culture is still in the original tradition, and can’t produce new ideas that adapt to the times and are consistent with the direction of historical progress, then what is the significance of attaching importance to traditional culture? Tradition is valuable because it can generate new ideas through activation, collision and absorption. For contemporary people, excellent traditions are ideological soil and nutrients, not just edible fruits. We should bear contemporary fruits in the soil of traditional culture. We really need experts in Confucianism, but it is not under socialist conditions to cultivate a group of Confucian scholars who are still square and obedient and dare not cross the line.

Source: China Social Sciences Network-China Social Sciences News

This year, we reported on Changyou’s new action. This old factory is uncharacteristically conducting game tests frequently.

Moreover, this momentum has not subsided until recently. Changyou has tested 37 games overseas in the past six months.(It refers to the package of the game, including the package that has been removed from the shelf, and there may be different packages but the same content.).

Most of the games tested are light and moderate, and one of them, Covenant of Victory, which is a casual SLG game, looks quite distinctive.

Today I’m going to talk about Covenant of Victory.

At present, it is speculated that this game is still in the stage of gameplay verification.

Its art materials are highly consistent with the previously tested product "Dispute of Homeland", and many explosive games can be seen at the gameplay level.

The Covenant of Victory is special because it mixes a lot of small games. In this game, you can see open boxes, strong chess, merge-2 and other gameplay, all of which are light and moderate categories, or the types of gameplay that are often seen in WeChat games.

Gameplay fusion is nothing new, and the above-mentioned open-box gameplay has also spawned many types of innovative fusion.

Just as mixing wine needs to choose a base wine, so the integration of gameplay also needs to choose a base. In the process of "A+B", no matter how many elements are added later, the core gameplay should not change.

The Covenant of Victory is somewhat divorced from this logic.

Although it still retains SLG’s marching, team matching and other gameplay, it is difficult to define after the experience, whether it still takes SLG as the core gameplay or has been diluted into an open box game.

This game just takes the difficult definition of this experience as the highlight.

The Covenant of Victory mentioned the words "zero waiting time" and "random recruitment" in the game introduction. It is hard to imagine that such an experience will appear on a SLG.

It can be clearly seen from the cultivation of gameplay that SLG is often inseparable from the framework of card games in design.(including the card drawing, training and team matching of military commanders)The card game also determines the common commercialization mode of SLG. No matter how the theme or gameplay changes, the deep cultivation game is always the same.

Covenant of Victory, on the other hand, makes the cultivation of cards more simple. The game gave up the traditional way of drawing cards, but adopted the simplest synthetic gameplay. The same way of playing is rare, which can be seen in crazy games’s Crazy Fight Monsters. This game is now out of service, which means that there has been no successful case of this design.

Merge-2′ s synthetic gameplay is easy to use. Players can get monster eggs by placing hanging machines or paying fees, and instantly generate monsters of different classes. Two monsters of the same class can be synthesized. There is a probability of successfully synthesizing a high-class monster, and there is also a probability of failing to generate a slime. slime can only be used to upgrade the level of other monsters. Simply put, this can only be regarded as a form of casual games.

This kind of cultivating gameplay can be done long enough-there is no fixed synthesis formula in the game, which means that even if the player synthesizes a high-grade monster, he doesn’t know in advance whether it is the one he wants, and the game will rise exponentially. Moreover, no matter whether the player wants to synthesize a monster or obtain a slime, different purposes can only be achieved through the operation of "incubating eggs". The reason why the formation line of the game is longer is simply because of the influence of randomness, which leads to the loss of efficiency of the player’s formation decision.

At the same time, this kind of gameplay does not have depth-the way to cultivate magic objects only retains "upgrade", and designs such as equipment and magic objects are abandoned. Although lightness is the trend of SLG now, if most products work hard on fur to attract players, then "Covenant of Victory" has gone deep into the bone marrow, and even seems a bit dull.

The relatively mild card game also affects the core game of Covenant of Victory, which makes its weight shift from SLG to placing cards.

The cultivated monsters can be matched with teams and play a role in the SLG battlefield. Convention of Victory uses the traditional COK-like framework and still has the characteristics of point-to-point marching and inspection tasks. However, although "Covenant of Victory" has designed legion skills for each monster, the content of SLG fighting in the game has not yet been produced, and the fighting process is only PV video, which has nothing to do with the team in which the player plays.

Now the PVP game of Covenant of Victory is more like inheriting from the open-box game, instead of thinking about moving closer to SLG. In the game, the content of playing cards is made. Players can choose to play a monster and form a two-person team with the Lord. They can play against other players by consuming admission tickets and finally get rewards according to the points ranking.

Similarly, "Covenant of Victory" provides two ways of conscription, and adds randomness to one of them.

One is the combination of strong chess, which is not only the main way for players to recruit, but also the embodiment of randomness. Players will harvest a certain number of dice by hanging up and SLG killing wild monsters, and will randomly get different kinds of soldiers or gold coins after throwing them on the chessboard. It is difficult for a player to get a specified kind of soldiers simply by rolling dice, but he can also use special dice to roll a specified number of points, which may become one of the paid contents in the future.

The efficiency of conscription may be limited, but the benefits will be higher. As players roll dice more and more times, the level of the chessboard will increase, and the number of soldiers won will also increase each time.

The other is to use gold coins to buy soldiers of specified types directly, which also eliminates the waiting link for training soldiers. However, this recruitment method has a limited amount, and only a certain number of soldiers can be purchased every three days. This will not become the main means of conscription, but can only play an auxiliary role.

If you formally join the SLG gameplay, it will be difficult for players to get the arms they want, which also means spending more time accumulating troops. Perhaps the game of strong chess itself is mild, but it will become more severe when applied to SLG game.

In addition, Covenant of Victory changed SLG’s urban construction play into the form of opening boxes, and the play experience also changed from the original macro "strategic management" to the relatively micro "role development".

Urban construction play is the key to control the game rhythm in conventional SLG. Players need to spend time waiting for the building to be completed, and they also need to follow the order to unlock the upgrade conditions. In this process, you can use acceleration props or unlock the construction queue to improve the construction efficiency, which also provides a commercial space for the game.

However, "Covenant of Victory" directly abandoned the concept of "urban construction", and players only need to keep opening boxes to get buildings, thus saving the time waiting for construction.

These buildings are not only functional. They also need to be regarded as "equipment", and at the same time affect the value of the Lord’s combat power, and the Lord’s combat power determines whether the player can continue to advance the task progress.

Just like the box-opening game, players get stronger buildings in the process of constantly opening boxes, and choose to replace them or sell them. After selling the treasure chest, you can get gold coins and upgrade the treasure chest level. Gold coins are the only resource in the game.(excluding paid content)The level of treasure chest determines the probability of high-quality buildings.

"Covenant of Victory" basically restored the game experience of opening boxes, and made the threshold lower, and provided treasure boxes to players through a series of ways, such as hanging up, completing tasks, and killing wild monsters.

In particular, the design of hanging up the machine will not exist in many open-box games, because as long as the process is properly designed, players will not "encounter no boxes to open" in the early stage of the game, and the Covenant of Victory still adds the guarantee measures.

Nowadays, the game of opening boxes has a very high popularity in domestic and foreign markets, and it has also been sought after by many manufacturers. For example, "Seeking the Way", which is a mutual entertainment of Sanqi, has been a great success in the WeChat game, and it has also achieved good results in using the App to go to sea. Recently, it is also preparing to launch a new product "Little Fight". What can be recognized is that this gameplay originated from the WeChat game and has potential on the App side.

Compared with the traditional SLG gameplay, opening a box is likely to extend the player’s online time. In other words, it is difficult for players to have nothing to do. As long as they are willing to spend time, they will definitely gain combat power improvement or resource accumulation, and they will basically not be discouraged by the game control progress. For reference, the producer of "Crazy Knights", which opened the box, once revealed the initial data of the operation, and the average online time of users reached 60 minutes.(It may also be influenced by small game platforms).

The online time of a player may not be the standard to measure whether an SLG is excellent or not, but it often means that it brings a continuous sense of growth to the player, and this more direct and intense stimulation may better retain the player.

In addition to bringing advantages, it also takes a certain price to join the open box game, the most obvious thing is to reduce the weight of resources. This is also very important for SLG. When the fun of resource production, distribution and consumption is no longer provided in the game, players may lose their sense of purpose in SLG gameplay.

Generally speaking, the Covenant of Victory is still a product in its infancy, and the game experience focuses on single-player play.

However, don’t forget that when the open-box game is in the fierce competition of innovation, when everyone is thinking about how to use the open-box game as the base, few games have used it as an auxiliary game so far. As for the feasibility of this innovative direction of integration with SLG, it remains to be seen.