There is no definite meaning for Lingnan (south of the Nanling Mountains, a west-east group of mountains in southern China) Culture, as it is very likely that ten people would even provide more than a dozen of understandings, all being persuasive and reasonable. I have also tried my best to summarize it, but I think up to now the most wonderful version is provided by Professor Huang Tianji in four words: inclusive, extensive, progressive and level-headed. Professor Huang was born in this place and spends his whole life in Lingnan, so he is closely exposed to its social environment and deeply overwhelmed by its splendid culture. Moreover, Professor Huang has written a huge amount of literature works such as Lingnan: Finding the Old, Lingnan: What’s New and Lingnan: Teachers and Friends, as a strong backing for his academic authority.
In 2005, I was invited to write a preface for the book Guangdong: History and Culture, in which I cited the Position of Guangdong in World History (1905) by Liang Qichao (a revolutionist in the late Qing Dynasty): Guangdong might be irrelevant to China’s heartland because of geographical separation but it is rather important when put in a bigger picture i.e. a vital place for transportation and trade routes. It is precisely because of the convenience of the transportation by sea that the Cantonese people have developed a sturdy, lively, enterprising and adventurous character. As Liang put it, the Cantonese people are not so good at handling internal competition but finding opportunities in the world beyond. This is also why Guangdong produced so many outstanding people in China’s recent history, thanks to its geographical advantages of standing at the crossroads between the east and the west.
As for the importance of Guangdong to China’s contemporary development, the reform and opening up is definitely the primary reason. In 1978, Guangdong ranked the 5th in terms of GDP scale among China’s provincial level regions, which is far from what it is now today. As we look through the archives, memoirs and historical works of reform and opening up, Guangdong officials and ordinary people worked together to overcome so many difficulties and obstacles. With particularly vigorous people and comparatively open-minded officials, Guangdong really lived up to expectations and finally blazed a trail for the reform and opening up of the country. As we now review what Liang predicted 100 years ago, it is definitely true that the geographical location and the progressive spirit are the major factors for explaining what Guangdong has achieved.
For the past 20 years, local governments across China have been exploring their endogenous culture by making a full archive of their history or finding intangible cultural heritage for further protection. Honestly speaking, as long as money and focus are in place, it is not so hard to inherit and protect things in the past. However, it is arguably difficult for innovation and upgrading, which is both our goal and yet the bottleneck that we face. Things in this regard require human resources, insights, policies for guidance and, most importantly, the intellectual atmosphere in the whole society.
When I was studying at the Sun Yat-sen University, my teacher kept reminding us not to be satisfied with being a student in the best university yet only in south China but to go northwards to cross the Yangtze River and the Yellow River so as to take the whole country as a broad stage. With its economic scale as well as its scientific and technological capacity, Guangdong shoulders greater expectation from people in China: apart from economic, scientific and technological achievements, Guangdong also has to pay attention to cultural strength.
Therefore, when we talk about Guangdong’s literature, art, press, publication and higher education, we must transcend the original sphere of the Lingnan Culture: on the one hand, it is not a dead fossil but a vivid heritage that keeps rejuvenating itself through continuous transformation; on the other hand, among 100 million permanent residents in Guangdong, there are countless elites from other places in China who have brought their brainpower to the province. As Guangdong welcomes all those who came, it is endowed with greater human resources, which also means it shoulders greater responsibilities and higher expectations.
If the Lingnan Culture is examined in the context of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the differences in political systems and the intercommunication of social customs would make it possible for the Greater Bay Area to create countless miracles in their continuous exchange, dialogue and integration. While people give high expectations from this process, achieving such goals is by no means an easy task, with barriers, competition and even friction that require our patience and efforts. In this regard, as the common source of subcultures in the Greater Bay Area, the Lingnan Culture can play a role for buffering and reconciliation, while the most important thing, however, is to strive to seek common or similar values and interests. Therefore, all parties concerned should make concerted efforts to keep a sound attitude and show even greater sincerity, so as to write a unique chapter for the history of this place.
The author Chen Pingyuan is a famous scholar, Boya Chair Professor at Peking University, and a Researcher of China Central Institute for Culture and History.
