"Misfortunes of a nation may turn out to be fortunes of a philosopher," noted Qian Mu, a renowned expert in Chinese cultural studies.

　　國學(xué)大師錢穆曾說過：“民族的不幸是哲人的財(cái)富”

　　The sentence vividly summarizes ancient Chinese philosophers and their work, with Chinese history providing verification through the passage of time. In the majestic periods of Chinese history like the Han (206BC-220AD) and Tang (618-907) dynasties, major achievements in the humanities occurred in the field of literature, but at times of social unrest, philosophical accomplishments were even more prominent.

　　這句話在中國哲學(xué)史上得到了很好的印證：國富民強(qiáng)的漢唐時(shí)代，古代文學(xué)熠熠生輝，而在動蕩不安的年代，我們民族卻在哲學(xué)上取得了很高的成就。

　　Ancient Chinese philosophers were born out of sorcery. After a series of incidents, ancient belief systems in destiny were gradually shaken and finally collapsed. The symbolic events that indicated the birth of Chinese philosophy were all developed by historiographers and senior officials in the government of the Zhou Dynasty (about 11th Century-221BC) helping to explain natural and social phenomena. The old-type sorcerers, who were most used to providing theological explanations, discarded their most familiar habits of resorting to augury, and emerged anew as philosophers, trying to give logical explanations by employing reason. Chinese philosophy, as a new form of culture, was born.

　　中國古代哲學(xué)家們起初多信奉巫術(shù)。后來，隨著歷史的變遷，先前的信仰體系逐漸“禮崩樂壞”。中國哲學(xué)的起源，可以追溯到周朝統(tǒng)治階層中負(fù)責(zé)解釋自然、社會現(xiàn)象的史料編纂者和官員們。他們放棄了早先以占卜來詮釋萬事萬物的習(xí)慣，開始試圖尋求理性、邏輯的解釋途徑。中國哲學(xué)作為一種全新的文化形式，由此誕生了。