This study aims to explore the social representation of Confucian culture's evolution and quantitatively investigate its transformation in modern Chinese society. We selected reports from "People's Daily" from 1946 to 2020 as our corpus, utilizing natural language processing technology to analyze the content related to Confucian culture in terms of word frequency and sentiment analysis. Spanning 75 years of historical textual data, we observed how Confucian culture developed and evolved under different historical periods, political backgrounds, and social environments, and its complex interaction with the modernity of Chinese society.
Study One: Analysis of Temporal Differences in Confucian Word Frequency. Using natural language processing, we analyzed the word frequency related to Confucian culture in "People's Daily". We found a positive correlation (r=0.386, p＜0.001) between Confucian word frequency and time, indicating that the mention of Confucian culture in the media has gradually increased over time. A period-based analysis of significant historical events revealed that the frequency peaked during the "Cultural Revolution" and was relatively low during the period of the Republic's construction.
Study Two: Analysis of Confucian Sentiment Index. Employing sentiment analysis methods, we calculated the Confucian sentiment index based on "People's Daily". The results showed a strong positive correlation (r = 0.835, p＜0.001) between the Confucian sentiment index and time, indicating that the emotional evaluation of Confucian culture has been steadily increasing over the years. The sentiment index showed different fluctuations during various historical periods, particularly a dip in negative sentiment during the "Cultural Revolution".
Further linear regression analysis exploring the relationship between Confucian word frequency, sentiment index, and modernity indicators (GDP per capita, urbanization rate, and higher education enrollment rate) found both to be positively correlated with modernity indicators. This suggests a close relationship between the mention and emotional attitudes towards Confucian culture and the process of modernization in Chinese society.
The change in word frequency not only reflects the social attention to Confucian culture in different historical periods but is also closely related to changes in sentiment scores. During periods of significant social and political change, such as the Cultural Revolution, the frequency of Confucian culture increased, but its sentiment score decreased, reflecting the complex attitudes and evaluations of society towards Confucian culture. After the reform and opening-up, as society re-evaluated traditional culture, both the frequency and sentiment scores of Confucian culture showed a positive trend.
Combining the results of word frequency analysis and sentiment analysis, it can be seen that the status and influence of Confucian culture in the modernization process of Chinese society is a dynamically changing process, deeply affected by historical events and social-political backgrounds. The changes in word frequency and sentiment scores of Confucian culture in "People's Daily" not only reveal the social attention and emotional attitudes towards Confucian culture but also reflect the transformation of social cultural values and policy orientations.
This study not only provides a deep understanding of the status and impact of Confucian culture in modern society from a quantitative perspective but also reveals the complex interaction between Confucian culture and the modernity of Chinese society. Understanding the evolution of traditional culture in modern society from the perspective of natural language processing not only reveals details and patterns that may be overlooked by traditional research methods but also opens up new fields for the application of natural language processing technology in the study of historical psychology.
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