Deeply grasp the outstanding characteristics of Chinese civilization, which has outstanding peace.
People’s Daily (August 14, 2023, 09 edition)
The Chinese nation is a peace-loving nation, and the pursuit of peace, harmony and harmony is deeply rooted in the spiritual world of the Chinese nation. General Secretary of the Supreme Leader pointed out: "Chinese civilization has outstanding peace, which fundamentally determines that China has always been a builder of world peace, a contributor to global development and a defender of the international order.". A profound understanding of the outstanding peace of Chinese civilization is of great significance for a comprehensive understanding of the long-lasting and continuous development process of Chinese civilization, for taking the road of peaceful development today and promoting the construction of a community of human destiny. This academic edition focuses on "Chinese civilization has outstanding peace".
— — Editor
Deeply understand the outstanding peace of Chinese civilization (on academic balance)
Wang Jie
Chinese civilization with a history of more than 5,000 years has always advocated peace. The pursuit of peace, harmony and harmony is deeply rooted in the spiritual world of the Chinese nation. In his important speech at the forum on cultural inheritance and development, General Secretary of the Supreme Leader pointed out that "Chinese civilization has outstanding peace". In Chinese civilization, the concepts of "harmony is the most important", "harmony without difference", "good neighbors", "world peace" and "world harmony" have been passed down from generation to generation. Peace is the essence of Chinese civilization, the deep spiritual pursuit of the Chinese nation and the inevitable requirement of building a better world.
Many elements shape the peace of Chinese civilization.
Throughout the ages, the Chinese nation has a position and influence in the world, not by belligerence or external expansion, but by the powerful appeal and attraction of Chinese culture. Chinese excellent traditional culture is the wisdom crystallization of Chinese civilization, and its many elements jointly shape the peace of Chinese civilization.
The spiritual pursuit of being virtuous and carrying things, being virtuous and being broad-minded provides spiritual support for shaping the peace of Chinese civilization. The Book of Changes says: "The terrain is vast, and a gentleman carries things with kindness", which means that the momentum of the earth is generous and smooth, and a gentleman should treat people and things all over the world with generosity. At the beginning of "University", it is said that "the way of university is to show virtue clearly", and in "The Analects of Confucius", it is said that "people can spread Taoism, but not Taoism", which inspires people to carry forward the aboveboard virtue and consciously carry forward the "Tao". This spiritual pursuit of being virtuous, caring for others, and being virtuous and broad-minded, through the practice and inheritance of Chinese sons and daughters and the long history, has formed the interpersonal relationship principle of "don’t do to others what you don’t want them to do to you" and "push yourself and others if you want to achieve it", and constructed a world with moral order.
The social ideal of "the world is public and the world is harmonious" provides an ideal support for shaping the peace of Chinese civilization. The Book of Rites says: "A trip to the main road is also a public service." "People don’t only kiss their relatives, they don’t only have their sons and daughters, so that they can have a good old age, be strong and useful, and those who are proud, widowed, lonely, independent and disabled will be provided for." "So they seek closure but don’t prosper, and they steal thieves and don’t do it, so they don’t close their doors. The ancients in China said that "the world is not dominated by one person, so is the world" and "within the four seas, all men are brothers". They believed that "the world" is not dominated by individuals, countries and ethnic groups, but by all people, countries and ethnic groups, expressing the desire and ideal that all people, countries and ethnic groups should treat each other as equals, get along well with each other and help each other.
The way of communicating with others, caring for others and being kind to neighbors, has provided practical support for shaping the peace of Chinese civilization. "Strengthening Faith and Forgiveness" comes from the Book of Rites and Liyun, which is about keeping faith with each other and establishing a harmonious relationship. "Kindness and Kindness to Neighbors" comes from Zuo Zhuan’s Six Years of Seclusion, which is about being close to benevolence and being friendly to neighboring countries. This is the general plan for governing the country. Chinese civilization is a great civilization that advocates faithfulness, harmony, benevolence and friendliness. Between individuals, groups, nations and countries, it is the way of life and communication formed by the Chinese nation based on the pursuit of the ideal of great harmony with Mingde. The Silk Road is the fruit of this kind of communication, which is based on faith, friendship and good neighborliness. More than 100 years BC, China began to open up the Silk Road to the Western Regions. China and the ancestors on the Eurasian continent braved difficulties and explored and opened up a number of trade and cultural exchange channels connecting Asia, Europe and Africa. In the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Shen Yue said in the Book of Song that "boats and ships follow the road, and merchants and envoys make friends", which recorded the lively scenes and prosperity of merchants and envoys on the Silk Road. The Silk Road spirit of peaceful cooperation, openness, tolerance, mutual learning and mutual benefit has been passed down from generation to generation. Today, China and the countries and regions that have jointly established the Belt and Road Initiative have strengthened interconnection, sought common prosperity and development, and endowed the new era connotation with the way of upholding faith, repairing friendship, and being kind to neighbors.
Other important elements of Chinese excellent traditional culture have also played an important role in jointly shaping the peace of Chinese civilization. For example, the ecological concept of harmony between man and nature, the philosophical thought of seeking truth from facts, the unity of knowledge and action, and the thinking method of adhering to two purposes and keeping the middle to achieve harmony have all contributed to the formation of an open, inclusive, peaceful and upright civilization of Chinese civilization beyond the constraints of local culture, blood lineage and religious beliefs.
The peace of Chinese civilization has rich and profound connotations.
Harmony is one of the core values of Chinese civilization. In a certain sense, Chinese civilization is a kind of "harmony" civilization. The spiritual ideal of Chinese civilization is peaceful and firm, broad-minded and open-minded, and has a deep concern for the fate of mankind. The peace of Chinese civilization has rich and profound connotations.
Advocate caution against war. Historically, China has long been one of the most powerful countries in the world, but it has never colonized or invaded other countries. In Zuo Zhuan, it is said that "stopping fighting is martial arts", which means that stopping fighting is martial arts, and stopping fighting is the real martial arts. The true meaning of "martial arts" is to eliminate wars and stabilize the people. At the beginning of the Art of War, Sun Tzu said: "A soldier is a major event of the country, a place of death and life, and a way of survival." He advocated caution against war. The first article of Sima Fa, which is also an early work on the art of war, is Benevolence, the core idea of which is that the principle of benevolence should be implemented in war, and "Although the country is big, belligerence will die" comes from this. Chinese has long understood the role of peace in safeguarding civilization and the destructive role of war in civilization. Believing in the law of the jungle, bullying the weak by the strong and militarising the armed forces will surely lead to extinction. For thousands of years, peace has been deeply branded in the characteristics of Chinese civilization, carved into the genes of Chinese children and integrated into the blood of the Chinese nation.
Advocate mutual coordination. From peace and harmony to harmony and harmony, Chinese’s exploration of "harmony" is not only reflected in the relationship between war and peace, but also goes deep into the laws of nature and the development of human society to understand "harmony". "He who is in harmony can achieve the Tao in the world" and "To achieve harmony, the status of heaven and everything can be nurtured". Both nature and human society should pursue the ideal realm and perfect order of "harmony" through coordinated development. The key to realize the harmony between man and nature lies in "harmony between man and nature"; To achieve harmony between people, the key lies in mutual respect; To achieve human harmony, it is necessary to achieve physical and mental coordination, and to improve one’s personality and morality through practice and introspection.
Advocate symbiosis. Chinese’s "harmony" is not exactly the same and unchanged, and it does not pursue a single, static and undifferentiated harmony, but on the basis of respecting the diversity and differences of things, it achieves a higher level of harmony and unity through mutual coordination and interaction. "On Mencius Teng Wengong" said: "The husband and things are not uniform, and the feelings of things are also." Warn people not to treat the differences of things simply and rudely, and not to force them to be eliminated. The Analects of Confucius Zi Lu said: "Gentlemen are harmonious but different, while villains are the same but not harmonious". "Harmony without difference" pursues internal harmony and friendliness, rather than superficial similarity and consistency, which is the basic law of symbiosis between individuals and groups of human beings. It can be seen that the spirit of "harmony" is a kind of recognition of others, respect for differences and tolerance of dissidents, so as to achieve common ground while reserving differences and harmonious coexistence.
Advocate traffic harmony. The Book of Changes says: "Heaven and earth meet and everything is connected, and the upper and lower sides meet and have the same aspirations", which means that only when heaven and earth meet with Yin and Yang can everything be born and raised smoothly; Only by communicating with the whole society can we share the same interests. "Zhuangzi Tian Zifang" said: "The traffic between them is harmonious, but things are endless". The ancients in China believed that only by opening communication can we develop, progress and be full of vitality, and achieve a state of "harmony". The Book of Rites says: "Learning alone without friends is ignorant". In the Book of Changes, it is said that "a gentleman teaches with friends", which is intended to encourage friends to learn from each other, learn from each other, and benefit from each other. Chinese civilization is a civilization that grows on the land of China, and it is also a civilization formed by continuous exchanges and mutual learning with other civilizations. Chinese civilization always upholds a peaceful and inclusive attitude towards other civilizations, instead of rejecting, confronting and conquering, and draws on the strengths of different civilizations through active dialogue and exchange, so as to achieve innovation and transcendence through reference and absorption. This wisdom of "harmony" enables Chinese civilization to develop and grow continuously.
Lay a solid historical foundation for promoting the building of a community of human destiny.
The peaceful nature of Chinese civilization fundamentally determines that China has always been a builder of world peace, a contributor to global development and a defender of the international order, which has laid a solid historical foundation and provided abundant cultural nourishment for China to unswervingly follow the path of peaceful development and promote the building of a community of human destiny in the new era.
The peaceful nature of Chinese civilization fundamentally determines that China has always been a builder of world peace. Chinese civilization has been inheriting the ideas of loving peace, advocating harmony and pursuing harmony for more than five thousand years. Since the founding of New China more than 70 years ago, China has never initiated any war or conflict, nor occupied an inch of other countries’ land. China actively participates in the process of international arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation, opposes the arms race and maintains global strategic balance and stability. It is a permanent member of the Security Council with the largest number of peacekeepers and the second largest peacekeeping contributor to the United Nations. China adheres to true multilateralism and plays a constructive role in global security governance. Looking back at the history of the world, some countries invaded, colonized and plundered in the process of modernization, which brought deep suffering to the people of developing countries. China does not follow the old road of imperialism and colonialism, does not copy the development model of western countries, does not rely on colonial plunder, and does not pass on contradictions. Through independence and hard struggle, and through mutual learning and win-win cooperation with other countries, it has achieved the miracle of rapid economic development and long-term social stability that has attracted worldwide attention on the road of peaceful development, which has opened a brand-new page in the history of human modernization and made important contributions to the exploration of human modernization.
The peaceful nature of Chinese civilization fundamentally determines that China has always been a contributor to global development. For more than 5,000 years, Chinese civilization has been inheriting the ideas of great harmony, coexistence and harmonious transportation. Today, China, as a big country that promotes common global development, carries forward these ideas. China unswervingly adheres to the basic national policy of opening to the outside world, pursues an open strategy of mutual benefit and win-win, adheres to the correct direction of economic globalization, and constantly provides new opportunities for the world with the new development of China. We will increase investment in resources for global development cooperation, firmly support and help developing countries to accelerate their development, jointly cultivate new kinetic energy for global development, jointly create an international environment conducive to development, and promote the construction of an open world economy. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the initiative to jointly build the Belt and Road. Building the Belt and Road has become a popular platform for international public goods and international cooperation, which has effectively enhanced China’s ability to open up to the outside world, the resilience and vitality of building a new paradigm of national development and international cooperation, and injected more strong momentum into global development.
The peaceful nature of Chinese civilization fundamentally determines that China has always been the defender of the international order. "those who talk about the world must follow the public of the world." The peaceful nature of Chinese civilization determines that China can think about the future and destiny of mankind from the perspective of the overall interests of mankind, adhere to unity and cooperation, and never engage in a small circle of "sharing the same party and cutting differences". China adheres to true multilateralism, firmly upholds the international system with the United Nations at the core, the international order based on international law and the basic norms of international relations based on the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, and opposes all forms of unilateralism. We should practice the concept of global governance, actively participate in global governance, promote multilateral mechanisms such as the World Trade Organization and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation to play a better role, expand the influence of cooperation mechanisms such as the BRICS countries and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, enhance the representation and voice of developing countries and emerging market countries in global affairs, and promote the development of the global governance system in a more just and rational direction.
Seeking peace and development embodies the wisdom of the Chinese nation’s endless and vigorous development. The outstanding peace of Chinese civilization has given us strong confidence and rich wisdom to take the road of peaceful development and promote the building of a community of human destiny. We should continue to dig deep into the rich connotation of Chinese civilization’s peace, realize creative transformation and innovative development, and put forward more Chinese plans, so as to show greater value and strength on the road of human beings to meet risk challenges and open up a bright future.
(The author is a professor at the Philosophy Teaching and Research Department of the Central Party School (National School of Administration))
Peace is rooted in the depths of Chinese civilization (academic essay)
Han Jianye
The Chinese nation is a peace-loving nation and knows the value of peace. Harmony and stability are the way of life of the Chinese nation for thousands of years, peaceful symbiosis is the way of life of the Chinese nation for thousands of years, and harmony, benevolence and goodness are the cultural genes of Chinese civilization for thousands of years. In the long-term development, Chinese civilization has formed a unique world view of harmony between man and nature, an international view of harmony with all nations, a harmonious but different social view, a kind moral view of people’s hearts, and a peaceful and just view of war. Peace is rooted in the depths of Chinese civilization.
The ancients in China believed that heaven and earth nurtured all things and gave birth to human beings, and that heaven and earth and people were interrelated. The cosmology of the unity of man and nature emphasizes universal connection and holistic thinking, and organically links the way of nature with human ethics. Everything in the universe and human society are both different and a unified whole, and they live in harmony and endlessly. This view of the universe contains cultural genes that conform to nature, fear nature and fear order. Harmony, stability and order are the way of life formed by Chinese ancestors in prehistoric times and have been continuing. For example, archaeological findings show that houses were distributed in rows in the villages of Xinglongwa Culture in the West Liaohe River basin 8,000 years ago, and the doors of Jiangzhai and other villages in Yangshao culture in the middle reaches of the Yellow River faced the central square more than 6,000 years ago, all of which showed that the society advocated collective interests and the social order was orderly. Eight thousand years ago, the tombs of Peiligang culture in the Yellow River valley were arranged neatly, and there was a custom of "clan burial", which extended the real social order to the world behind. No matter the orderly arrangement of settlements and tombs, the symmetry of the central axis of the capital city and the composition of ritual vessels, Chinese’s unremitting pursuit of order and stability is reflected.
In ancient times, China advocated that all nations in the world live in harmony, live in harmony and symbiosis, do not kill innocent people, and never stop people from offering sacrifices, thus forming an international view of harmony among all nations. For example, after the establishment of the Western Zhou Dynasty, not only merchants’ descendants were granted titles in Song Dynasty, but also after Shennong, Huangdi, Yao, Shun and Yu, which was significantly different from the imperial view of aggression and expansion. Early cultural exchanges between China and the West appeared more than 5,000 years ago. China introduced painted pottery, millet and millet to the west, and also accepted sheep, cattle, wheat and metallurgy from the west. After the opening of the Silk Road in the Han Dynasty, daily necessities and civilian technologies such as silk, porcelain, papermaking, printing, compass and cast iron technology spread from China to all parts of the west, and the mode of communication was peaceful exchanges and commercial trade rather than wars of aggression. It is a consistent way for the Chinese nation to communicate with other civilizations, learn from each other and live in peace. The development of Chinese civilization is an example that different civilizations have made common progress through mutual dialogue and blending. There are more than 200 countries and regions, more than 2,500 nationalities and many religions in the world today, and different civilizations have their own characteristics and advantages. Only with mutual respect, interdependence, tolerance and mutual learning and common development can human civilization continue to develop and progress.
Peace is also an important criterion of China’s ethics and thoughts. Chinese’s pursuit of peace is also reflected in his social outlook and moral outlook. "Harmony with real creatures, the same will not continue", "Gentlemen are harmonious but different, villains are harmonious but not harmonious" and "the beauty of harmony and soup lies in their differences". China has a vast and diverse geographical environment and colorful ethnic cultures, but the early China cultural circle was formed about 6,000 years ago. In the long-term development, all ethnic groups have formed a strong sense of community, common value pursuit and cultural identity, which is the inevitable result of the development of harmonious but different concepts. Only when the five tones are in harmony can there be a melody, and only when the five flavors are in harmony can it become delicious. Harmony without difference is the secret of harmony and stability of human society. Good is like water, and the benevolent loves others. It is the core content of Chinese national virtue to love oneself and family and to love others and society. Peace is combined with the value of "benevolence", and the concept of peace is practiced through caring for others. In the past 2,000 years, China was the largest economy in the world for most of the time, but China did not expand and colonize the outside world, which proved the kindness and friendship of the Chinese nation.
Of course, war is sometimes inevitable, and peace does not mean cowardice. The Chinese nation has always adhered to the concept of peace and justice. Chinese knew the truth that "a soldier’s ominous weapon is not a gentleman’s weapon, so he has to use it". The way of civil and military affairs is, the first thing is to write before the martial arts, the first thing is to salute before the soldiers, not to provoke war, and not to be afraid of war. War must come from justice and for peace.
Why does Chinese civilization have outstanding peace? There are many reasons, and a deep agricultural foundation is an important soil for peace. It can be said that peace is the internal pursuit of Chinese civilization from the source. Most of China is located in the middle latitude river area with moderate climate, which has good conditions for agricultural development. Agricultural production needs a long period, and long-term and stable social order is needed for seed selection, maintenance of land fertility, preparation of production tools and facilities, construction and maintenance of water conservancy facilities, and inheritance of production experience. In ancient China, there was the largest agricultural area in the world. Coupled with the complementary agricultural structure system of "rice in the south and millet in the north" and the introduction of crops such as wheat, the food source was relatively stable, which laid the foundation for stable settlement and peaceful development. The Chinese ancestors were attached to their homeland, and in most cases, the migration was just the farmers’ reclamation of new farmland, which formed a cultural character of pursuing order, stability, introversion and peace-loving in the long years.
Peace can preserve the achievements of civilization for a long time, harmony can make civilization move forward steadily, and peace provides a guarantee for the continuous development of Chinese civilization. Today, we are still on the broad road of peaceful development and have achieved unprecedented development of a very large-scale country in a peaceful way. All the reasons for the success of China’s peaceful development are the light of Chinese civilization wisdom and the combination of our civilization genes and modern spirit. We must always adhere to and constantly activate the gene of peaceful civilization, work hand in hand with all progressive forces, and promote different countries and civilizations to build a community of human destiny on the basis of equality and mutual learning, and open up a better future for human society.
(The author is a professor at the School of History, Renmin University of China)
Lasting for a long time.
Chinese civilization prospers and develops through exchanges and mutual learning.
Xing Liju
Chinese civilization has outstanding peace, which fundamentally determines that China constantly pursues exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations instead of engaging in cultural hegemony. Civilization is colorful because of communication, and civilization is enriched because of mutual learning. The exchange of civilizations and mutual learning is an important driving force for the continuous development of Chinese civilization for thousands of years, and it is also an important driving force for promoting the progress of human civilization and world peace and development. It is of great significance to grasp the outstanding peace of Chinese civilization and deeply understand the historical tradition of exchanges and mutual learning between Chinese civilization and other civilizations for building the modern civilization of the Chinese nation and promoting world peace and development.
Chinese civilization has the traditional genes of openness, tolerance and harmonious symbiosis. Chinese civilization is essentially a "harmonious" civilization, and the Chinese nation inherits and pursues the concept of peace, harmony and harmony. The traditional culture of China believes that everything has its merits, so we should enrich ourselves with the modest attitude of "three people, we must learn from each other". The ancients in China emphasized that "tolerance is great" and "a gentleman carries things with kindness", which reflected the attitude of respecting and accommodating others. China’s ancient politics pursued "the world is one", carried out the political law of "being the best in the world", and upheld the feeling of "helping the world while reaching", which reflected the concern for the world order and human welfare. Harmony requires not only affirming and accepting the diversity of things, but also containing and accepting the differences of things, and integrating different things into a harmonious combination, in order to achieve the realm of "all things are nurtured without harming each other, and Tao is parallel without contradicting each other". Cultural genes precipitated in a long history have laid a solid foundation for Chinese civilization to realize exchanges and mutual learning.
Chinese civilization has developed and strengthened through exchanges and mutual learning with other civilizations. Since ancient times, Chinese civilization has been famous for its openness and tolerance. It has constantly renewed its vitality in exchanges and mutual learning with other civilizations, and achieved innovation and transcendence through learning from others. Zhang Qian opened up the Silk Road in history through the western regions, and opened the door for China to communicate with the outside world westward. Xuanzang went to Tianzhu to learn Buddhist scriptures, which promoted the translation and dissemination of Indian Buddhist classics in China. Jian Zhen traveled to Japan and spread the advanced culture of the Tang Dynasty to Japan. Zheng He’s seven voyages to the West promoted the trade and cultural exchanges between China and the West. The ancient Silk Road is an example of civilization exchange and mutual learning. Not only did China’s Confucianism and Taoism gradually spread to the west, but also religious cultures such as Buddhism, which originated in foreign countries, were introduced to China. While highlighting the national characteristics, Chinese civilization absorbs and draws lessons from foreign civilizations with an open mind, and realizes self-growth and innovation in mutual collision and intersection. Cultural and religious exchanges have not only made important contributions to the peaceful development of trade along the route, but also promoted mutual understanding at the humanistic level and in-depth communication at the spiritual level between Chinese and foreign people. It can be said that the exchange of civilizations and mutual learning is an important driving force for the enduring and continuous development of Chinese civilization.
Civilization exchange and mutual learning have a profound impact on the concept of civilization of Chinese modernization. General Secretary of the Supreme Leader pointed out: "Chinese-style modernization is deeply rooted in Chinese excellent traditional culture, embodies the advanced essence of scientific socialism, draws on and absorbs all outstanding achievements of human civilization, represents the development direction of human civilization progress, and shows a new picture different from the western modernization model, which is a brand-new form of human civilization." Chinese-style modernization continues and renews the ancient Chinese civilization, and takes the creation of new forms of human civilization as one of its essential requirements. The unique concept of civilization contained in Chinese modernization not only has the lofty vision of Marxism to liberate all mankind, but also has the broad mind of Chinese civilization to help the world, which itself is the product of civilized exchange and mutual learning. This concept of civilization transcends the western concepts of hegemony, zero-sum game and egoism, and shows a new prospect of civilized development of exchange and mutual learning, win-win cooperation and joint construction and sharing.
Civilization exchange and mutual learning is an important force to promote world peace and development. At present, human society is facing unprecedented challenges. The emergence of the theory of "clash of civilizations" and "superiority of civilizations" has aggravated the gap between different civilizations and hindered the exchanges and cooperation of the international community. China put forward the global civilization initiative, actively responded to the universal appeal of the international community for the exchange and mutual learning of civilizations, and led the way forward for the inclusive coexistence of civilizations. Civilized exchanges and mutual learning are the proper meanings for different countries, different nationalities and different cultures to enhance understanding, build mutual trust, build friendship and strengthen cooperation. Every nation in the world has its own cultural blood, and every country has its own origin of civilization. To understand the differences between different civilizations and appreciate the colorful beauty of civilizations, we must not only adhere to our own civilization tradition, but also take an open and inclusive attitude towards other civilizations. Only by strengthening exchanges and mutual learning between civilizations can we eliminate the barriers caused by cultural differences and avoid falling into the trap of clash of civilizations. The Global Civilization Initiative adheres to the concept of civilization of equality, mutual learning, dialogue and tolerance, and advocates realizing dialogue among civilizations with a broad mind, resolving divisions through unity, responding to confrontation through cooperation, and replacing exclusion with tolerance, which will surely make greater contributions to the rejuvenation of Chinese civilization and the progress of human society.
(The author is a professor at the Institute of International Studies, Fudan University)