These are all tied together in the 漢語大詞典, but only “文德” was in the MOE dictionary. I can’t figure out what any of them mean, and neither could the ICIBA, Bing, the Yahoo! Dictionary, the LingvoSoft dictionary, etc.
Any ideas?
Something like ‘the civilizing mission’, civilization through the power of culture.
I personally wouldn’t translate these terms… They’re traditional (maybe Confucian?) concepts that won’t have English equivalents.
Here’s an entry for Wenshi. cidian.xpcha.com/c956begqdrz.html
And I think it should be 文德教化, not 文德敦化 (sounds like a street intersection)
You’re right, Hokwongwei. It should read 教化, not 敦化. That’s a misreading on my part.
Hopefully a moderator can change the title for me to reflect that correction.
I’m just amused that modern Chinese apparently have no use for such a word, and the English never felt the need to invent one at all 
Can any of you scholars give an example of usage? What was the original context for these phrases? I’m intrigued.
These are the examples from the 漢語大詞典：
1.)《國語‧齊語》：“定三革，隱五刃，朝服以濟河而無怵惕焉，文事勝矣。”
2.) 穀梁傳‧定公十年》：“因是以見，雖有文事，必有武備。”
2.) 《＜周書岩詩集＞序》：“文事武備，《穀梁》以之稱孔子。”
3.) 《三國演義》第二二回：“陳琳文事雖佳，其如袁紹武略之不足何？”
3.) 明郎瑛《七修類稿‧事物八‧墨》：“蓋後梁、南唐、前後二蜀，其主俱好文事，各地置筆墨紙務之官。”
3.) 侯方域《豫省試策四》附清徐作肅評：“通篇以不治河為主，變化出沒，極文事之樂。”
3.) 胡薀玉《＜中國文學史＞序》：“唐之世，僧徒不通於文事，書其師語以俚俗之語錄。”
It appears that wenshi (cultural power/affairs) and wubei (military readiness) are a pair of contrasting and complementary terms. I’m pretty sure that wenshi is a term of statecraft
Finely, literary Chinese and modern chinese coexist for educated people in the way that Latin/Greek and English used to. There is no real reason to invent a ‘translation’ into modern Chinese since the literary Chinese will do just fine. Do we really need translations of logos, catharsis, and et cetera into modern English?
English has invented a similar word: soft power.
Dunhua actually means something quite close to Jiaohua. And before it was a street corner, it was a Confucian term: 《礼记·中庸》：“小德川流，大德敦化，此天地之所以为大也。”
Xinyi, Renai,Heping, Bade, and Dunhua are all named after Confucian virtues. Chiang Kai-shek was very fond of this sort of thing and this kind of high tradoitionalism fell out of favor after he died. A few foreigners and their Chinese teachers are still true believers though.
[quote=“ehophi”]These are the examples from the 漢語大詞典：
2.) 穀梁傳‧定公十年》：“因是以見，雖有文事，必有武備。”
2.) 《＜周書岩詩集＞序》：“文事武備，《穀梁》以之稱孔子。”
3.) 《三國演義》第二二回：“陳琳文事雖佳，其如袁紹武略之不足何？”
3.) 明郎瑛《七修類稿‧事物八‧墨》：“蓋後梁、南唐、前後二蜀，其主俱好文事，各地置筆墨紙務之官。”
3.) 侯方域《豫省試策四》附清徐作肅評：“通篇以不治河為主，變化出沒，極文事之樂。”
3.) 胡薀玉《＜中國文學史＞序》：“唐之世，僧徒不通於文事，書其師語以俚俗之語錄。”[/quote]
these examples doesn’t seem to connect 文事 with 文德教化.
It seems 文事 has several meanings:
- Governing skills, governance: so used in examples 穀梁傳, 周書岩詩集, 三國演義
- Literary skills, literature, artistic endeavors: so used in exmaples 七修類稿, 豫省試策四, 中國文學史