Tradition and modernization are incompatible. One must choose between them.

 The speaker contends that tradition and modernization are incompatible which made one must choice one from them. Although I admit that at some circumstance, tradition has contradiction with modernization, but  in most situation they are not mutually exclusive. A lot of tradition worth us paying attention and protecting.  Actually, we should protect our good tradition while develop our modernization at the same time. Through this, we can really move on without losing our wisdom of past.

  First, I admit that sometimes there are contradictions between tradition and modernization. Tradition has a lot of facets which includes value, morality, ethics old habits etc. And some traditions are good to keep in modern societies, but some are not. For example, some societies had discriminate against women who were deprived of work rights in the past. Nowadays, these ideas are viewed mistake and can not applied in our  new era. This example can clearly illustrate some traditions had obvious flaws. Another example can lend credence to my point of view. With the development of society, the idea “racial equality” has been accepted then the racial discrimination was gone gradually. In conclusion, with the development of modern society, those old tradition which can not be accepted are be eliminated.

  But traditions also have a lot of essences which deserve our attention. Some traditions should be carefully protected and researched, because they are timeless and can always guide our lives. Take the ideological realm as an example, whatever Chinese Confucianism or western philosophy are still be treated as the essences of human culture which can give us a lot inspirations. Chinese people think the Confucius thinks were teach us how to be are good, kindhearted person. And when we read Kant, Hegel and Freud’s works, we can better apprehend the life and today’s value. We can see, modern values involve the traditional values.

  In real life, we can see a lot of examples that proves tradition and modernization are not mutually exclusive. In arts, people can appreciate classical ballets and also can enjoy the modern dance. We can see elegance from ballet Swan Lake and see vitality from Michael Jackson’s dances. These two kinds of different dances also can enhance  our appreciation for esthetics. In architecture, we can see there are some clever blend of tradition and modernization. For example, the glass pyramid before the Louvre has strong avant-garde architectural taste, but its combination with Louvre has won numerous praise from people all of the world. In Beijing, you can see the Forbidden City which had a thousands of years history, and you also can see the amazing Bird Nest Stadium which is very modern. Both these architecture bring people shock and sense of beauty. The coexistence increases the beauty of the city.

  At certain realms, people use the combination of tradition and modernization to develop new methods or skills to help today’s societal improvement.  For example, doctors use the combination of Chinese and West medicine to cure patients. Some cold medicines just combine Chinese herb medicine and western medicine.This combination is widely used in the medicine field which brings benefits to human beings.

 From what has been discussed, we can see tradition and modernization can coexist.  Although some old traditions which had bad facets should be eliminated, good tradition actually can benefit our human beings a lot. With the development of society, more and more people and societies have realized we should devote more attentions to protect our good traditions. It is our responsibility to hand down our tradition to  next generation.