【Big Fish】3月14日Issue147-By jjooyy

jjooyyUID: 2704028

TOPIC: ISSUE147 - "Tradition and modernization are incompatible. One must choose between them."

The statement holds that one has to choose from tradition and modernization, since they are incompatible to each other. From my perspective, there do exist situations that tradition can be well preserved with modernization, whereas in other cases, the two are incompatible to some degree.

Admittedly, since the theme of modernization is science and technology, and the focus of tradition is on human, one should select his or her own lifestyle between tradition and modernization. Reading seems free from many annoying things, like being interrupted by various modern advertisements, although watching television or surfing the Internet might also be a wonderful idea to spend the rest of the day. Finishing household chores by oneself can be seen as an exercise, as well as getting them done by machines saving times. Going to work or school by bicycle or on foot is healthy and cheap, while driving a car or taking buses is really fast. When facing with ample choices about tradition and modernization, it is a pity that one can only choose one option in the end, because the time of a day is invariably 24 hours, and one has to accomplish too many tasks in a day.

On the other hand, in some realms, such as painting, architecture, and music, tradition and modernization can be mixed to achieve a better result. One apt illustration is McDonald’s in old buildings. Not only the old buildings can be preserved in a longer time in modern society, but McDonald’s can sell more, for consumers feel impressive about the building and the restaurant. When it comes to music, Jay Zhou, a Chinese pop singer who mixes modern Western music elements with traditional Chinese lyric in his song, wins his reputation all over China. His success represents the acceptance of the combination of classic and pop music among people. In the areas where originality are appreciated and highly valued, tradition and modernization could find their way living with each other with little conflicts.

Finally, humans never cease to seek solutions to the incompatible problem between modernization and tradition. Sometimes, modern technologies are used to realize or revitalize tradition. Nowadays, a trend of modernizing traditional festivals is increasingly obvious. In China, watching Spring Festival Gala in front of the screen is becoming a habit at Chinese New Year’s Eve, which is the most important festival for Chinese. Traditions exhibit that how we once were, and modernizations express that how we currently are. Through the mixture, never can one be lost in society where rapid development would enforce every one into working and progressing like a machine, and the effect can be the same upon modern society.

In summary, the incompatibility between tradition and modernization does exist in modern life, but in certain fields, the problem can be solved easily. What we can do is either to respect the differences and choose from them, or to mix them in efforts.