Beijing, 3 Mar (ZXS) -- Question: What is the principle of the first proposal for global civilization?
The author: Xie Maosong, senior researcher of Taihe Think Tank, senior researcher of the National Institute of Strategic Studies of Tsinghua University
On March 3, Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee and President of the People's Republic of China, delivered a keynote speech entitled "Hand in Hand on the Road to Modernization" at the high-level dialogue between the Communist Party of China and world political parties, proposing the Global Civilization Initiative for the first time. This is the third global initiative proposed by China to the world for three consecutive years, following the Global Development Initiative in 15 and the Global Security Initiative in 2021.
The focus of the initiative has changed from development to security to civilization, which is not only a high degree of condensation of China's deepening understanding of its own modernization path, but also a stepwise expansion from near and far. The Global Civilization Initiative is the natural result of the first two initiatives. The combination of the three can lead to a more complete and comprehensive understanding.
On March 3, "Ruoxiangshan: Gandhara Art Exhibition" opened to the public at the Wenhua Hall of the Palace Museum in Beijing. Photo by China News Agency reporter Hou Yu
"One Yang Comes and Comes": The general trend of history is beginning to take shape
The journey of all countries in the world, especially the vast number of developing countries, to explore the road of modernization is full of hardships. The Western-dominated world order over the past few hundred years has brought about a huge and structural gap between the rich and poor between some developed countries and the vast number of developing countries. At the same time, the export of Western-style modernization models by some developed Western developed countries to developing countries has not only caused these developing countries to be unsatisfied, but also led to huge internal tears and development difficulties.
Western capitalist modernization not only causes oppression and inequality at the starting point, but also in its fundamental and structural inherent capitalist logic. As the Italian sociologist Giovanni Arrigi pointed out, "the formation of the world market and the military conquest of the non-Western proceeded simultaneously", and the Western capitalist countries in fact formed a "monopoly" on the legitimate use of violence on a global scale.
The development dilemma and security dilemma brought about by capitalism are the most personal feelings of the people of developing countries. China has had the same experience and feelings in modern history, and its understanding can be extended to others. As an ancient civilization and the only continuous unbroken original road in the history of the world, China is well versed in the wisdom of "do unto others what you do not want" and self-reliance, so Chinese-style modernization not only benefits the Chinese people, but also promotes the common development of the world.
The timing of China's Global Development Initiative in 2021 and Global Security Initiative in 2022 is domestically after the realization of the first centenary goal. From the outside, "in today's world, multiple challenges and crises are intertwined, the world economy is struggling to recover, the development gap is widening, the ecological environment continues to deteriorate, the ghost of the Cold War mentality is still lingering, and the process of modernization of human society has once again come to the crossroads of history."
The Belt and Road Initiative is a natural extension of the Global Development Initiative. China, Saudi Arabia and Iran recently issued a joint statement in Beijing, and the two sides agreed to restore diplomatic relations, which is a successful practice of China's Global Security Initiative. In the sense of "one yang coming and back" in "Zhou Yi", the general trend of history is beginning to take shape. Not long ago, China's establishment of an international mediation court in Hong Kong was also part of this new historical trend.
Global Civilization Initiative: The underpinning of global development, security and modernization
The Global Civilization Initiative is the underlying support for global development and global security. "Yi Chuan" is called "the way of the metaphysical, and the instrument of the metaphysical", and the development and security issues are the most direct and visible, and it is also the most personal feeling of people, so it is necessary to solve them first. However, cultural values, religious beliefs and the overall civilization of "people do not know every day", as the deepest accumulation, are more imperceptible and subtly determine people's thinking and behavior habits.
On the evening of May 2019, 5, the Asian Culture Carnival of the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations was held at the National Stadium "Bird's Nest" in Beijing. The picture shows the symphonic interactive chorus "Our Asia". Photo by China News Agency reporter Hou Yu
The Global Civilization Initiative is also the underlying support for the independent modernization of all countries. Chinese-style modernization is deeply rooted in Chinese civilization and has created a new form of human civilization. Based on the practical experience and theoretical summary of Chinese-style modernization, China is more able to stand up for itself. In his keynote speech, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out, "The modernization path with different characteristics of different countries and regions in the world today is rooted in the rich, diverse and long-standing inheritance of civilization. All kinds of civilizations created by human society are shining brightly, accumulating a rich foundation and endowing them with distinctive characteristics for the modernization of all countries, and have made important contributions to the modernization process of human society across time and space and national boundaries. "Developing countries have the right and ability to independently explore their own unique path of modernization based on their own national conditions, which is inseparable from their respective cultural self-confidence.
Core Concept: "Four Common Initiatives"
The Global Civilization Initiative includes the core concept of the "Four Joint Initiatives".
"Jointly advocating respect for the diversity of world civilizations" is the main premise. Just as the biological world needs to maintain diversity and form a good ecology, world civilization should also maintain diversity and form a good civilization ecology. The Global Civilization Initiative puts forward that "adhering to the equality, mutual learning, dialogue and inclusiveness of civilizations, transcending civilizational barriers through civilizational exchanges, transcending civilizational conflicts through mutual learning among civilizations, and transcending civilizational superiority through civilizational tolerance", is a rational response to the "theory of superiority of civilizations" and "theory of clash of civilizations" in the West over the past few hundred years.
"Jointly advocating and promoting the common values of all mankind" is based on the core of civilization is cultural values and where people are. For the understanding of the common values of all mankind, we should adhere to the principle of "one distinction between reason" and one difference", that is, the Global Civilization Initiative proposes that "we should understand the connotation of values of different civilizations with a broad mind, and do not impose our own values and models on others and do not engage in ideological confrontation".
"Jointly advocate attaching importance to the inheritance and innovation of civilization", because civilization traditions are not displayed in museums, but traditions that live like flowing water, and civilizations that develop like flowing water, constantly learning from the past and learning new things, can reflect the dialectical integration of inheritance and innovation. This is the civilizational consciousness of Chinese civilization as a continuous and unbroken native road civilization, and it is also the expansion of cultural self-confidence and historical self-confidence from near and far.
"Jointly advocating strengthening international people-to-people exchanges and cooperation and exploring the construction of a global civilization dialogue and cooperation network" is the specific implementation path of the Global Civilization Initiative. The road is blocked and long, and the line is coming. In the future, all countries should break the current "new cold war" mentality of some countries through exchanges and dialogues.
On January 2021, 1, in Xijin Gudu Community, Zhenjiang City, Jiangsu Province, Shen Jianguo, the inheritor of non-genetic heritage, was guiding foreign students at Jiangsu University to make zodiac cows with face sculptures. Photo by Shi Yucheng by China News Agency
The Chinese civilization principle of the Global Civilization Initiative: become an adult, the whole world is one family
The Global Development Initiative is rooted in China's civilizational tradition of becoming an adult and derives from the practice of Chinese-style modernization; The Global Security Initiative is rooted in the civilizational tradition of cherishing peace and derives from an independent foreign policy and practice of peace; The Global Civilization Initiative is also deeply rooted in the Chinese civilization tradition, derived from the cultural consciousness of the Communist Party of China after the founding of New China.
The three global initiatives are fundamentally derived from the historical experience, consciousness and civilizational aspirations of Chinese civilization.
"Zhou Yi Zhixia" said: "What is the world's concern? The world is the same and the same way, the same and the worried. "Civilization is the principle of "sameness" and "consistency", emphasizing commonality and universality; And "special path" and "hundred considerations" are "differences", that is, the particularity or characteristics of each civilization. From the perspective of the relationship between the two, the universality of civilization exists in particularity, and particularity contains universality, and the two are not separated. "Zhou Yi Zhizhi Shang" said: "One yin and one yang are the Tao, followed by goodness, and the nature of the accomplished." "The relationship between people's own civilization and other civilizations is also a dialectical relationship between yin and yang, which is the Chinese philosophical thinking behind the contemporary Chinese civilization view.
New students of Nanjing Confucius Temple Primary School perform ancient rites. Photo by China News Agency reporter Lu Bo
Every civilization has the uniqueness, difference and diversity of "differences". The sum of civilizations' history, as the sum of values, religions, customs and institutions, is the result of the accumulation of different histories. Because each civilization is unique, civilization is equal, and there is no distinction between high and low, superior or inferior. The "clash of civilizations" and "civilization superiority" theorists regard the difference of civilizations as negative and a limitation of understanding.
Chinese civilization is fully aware that the difference of all things in the world is a natural state, just as Mencius said, "the difference of things, the love of things", recognizing the difference of civilization is naturally the meaning of the title. The "four joint initiatives" of the Global Civilization Initiative are fundamentally derived from the civilization principle of Chinese civilization of "becoming oneself as an adult" and "one family under heaven", and is the original intention of the whole world. (End)
About the author:
Xie Maosong, Ph.D., Department of History, Chinese University, Hong Kong, Senior Research Fellow, China National Innovation and Development Strategy Research Association, Director of the Research Center for Chinese Civilization and Chinese Roads, Senior Research Fellow, National Institute of Strategic Studies, Tsinghua University, Senior Fellow, Taihe Think Tank; Member of the Strategic Expert Group of the Ministry of Science and Technology on Key Core Technologies of the New National System, Chief Expert of the Central Marxist Theoretical Research and Construction Project Special Commissioned Project and the National Social Science Foundation Special Commissioned Project; Adjunct Professor of the Department of Culture and History of the Central Party School, Executive Director of the Confucius Institute in Qufu; Academic advisor of the Indian Ocean Islands Research Center of South China University of Technology, and expert of the China Expert Group of the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong. Research Expertise: Classics, Chinese Civilization and Philosophy, History of Chinese Political Thought, Chinese Thinking and Practice; Research on Chinese civilization and the Communist Party of China and China's political system, research on Chinese civilization and national strategy, digital civilization and new national system of Chinese science and technology. He is the author of "The Way of the Minister: The Unity of Mind and Reason" (Zhonghua Bookstore, 2013) and other monographs.