China News Service, Beijing, May 9 Title: Wang Shi: Why is The Sino-Foreign People-to-People Exchange "Opening the Air Hole"?
China News Service reporter Ying Ni
Human life has become globalized due to the rapid progress of economy, science and technology and informatization, but it still retains the distinctive characteristics of the nation and region, and is inseparable from its own inherent cultural traditions. How should we seek common ground while reserving differences in our respective "cultural identities"? How does the convergence of different cultures lead to new diversity? Why is people-to-people exchange considered to promote humanities and personal affinity like "opening the air hole"? Wang Shi, chairman of the Chinese Culture Promotion Association and cultural scholar, recently accepted an exclusive interview with China News Agency's "East and West Questions".
The interview transcript is summarized below:
China News Service: We have noticed that the trend of the globalization movement in the economic, scientific and technological aspects seems to be exactly the opposite of the spiritual and cultural trend. How to understand the relationship between the positive and negative trends of globalization in different fields and cultural identity?
Wang Shi: The term "cultural identity" was translated by the famous scholar Mr. Tu Weiming. The original English word is "Identity", from "Clash of Civilizations" author Huntington wrote "Who Are We?" at the beginning of this century. He believes that under the background of globalization, all countries and peoples will pay more attention to and identify with cultures with their own characteristics.
Professor Huntington's "Who are we?" "The question is the question of the new Immigrants from Europe, an Anglo-Saxons, which also inspired China." The four words "Chinese culture", from overseas to the mainland, from academic circles to officials, have become the cultural titles and cultural identities of Chinese sons and daughters at home and abroad, and it also occurs in this context.
Freshmen in the first grade of Nanjing Confucius Temple Primary School wore ancient Confucian dresses, and under the leadership of their teachers, they worshipped Confucius, recited the Analects, learned to write the word "ren", and participated in the "opening ceremony" ceremony. China News Service reporter Yang Bo photographed
In 2004, initiated by Xu Jialu, Ji Xianlin, Ren Jiyu, Yang Zhenning and Wang Meng, the Chinese Culture Promotion Association invited more than 60 well-known scholars, scientists, writers and artists at home and abroad to hold a summit forum in Beijing with the theme of "Globalization and Chinese Culture" and issued the "Jiashen Cultural Declaration".
Now it seems that the cultural identity at that time was basically inward identity, that is, all countries and peoples identified with their own cultures. From a global perspective, this tradition and values based on differences are the result of the formation of various ethnic groups in their own development, with obvious independence and characteristics, and it is not easy to move towards integration.
At the forum, Xu Zhuoyun and He Ziquan, two historians, expressed the same view: human culture and human organization, starting from the family society in the primitive social period, the scope and organizational scale are getting larger and larger, so the cultural circle will become larger and larger. In this trend, the convergence of cultures is inevitable, but the process goes through a process of bumping, entanglement, mutual attraction and mutual exclusion.
The world is connected, you have me, I have you. In dialogue and exchange with the world, culture can achieve better inheritance and development. A good culture, both realistic and futuristic, is what the future looks like today.
Students of Nankai Primary School in Chongqing enjoyed oracle bone calligraphy works during the "Oracle Bone Literature Hall" campus activity. China News Service reporter Chen Chao photographed
China News Service: China has not only always adhered to the direction of globalization, but also took the lead in proposing the important concept of building a community with a shared future for mankind in 2012. How to understand the "community of human destiny" from the perspective of traditional Chinese culture?
Wang Shi: The "world" of ancient Chinese is a concept that transcends "country". "Looking at the world from the world" and "the world as justice" obviously has the same meaning as "the world". "Tianxia refers to a world of worldness," the philosopher Zhao Tingyang pointed out in particular, "the concept of international politics defined by the nation-state system, imperialism, and hegemony system is gradually losing its correspondence with the facts of globalization." From the perspective of human development trends and from the perspective of the future world, many traditional and natural concepts should be redefined in terms of "tianxia".
After the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind was proposed, I think there are two points that are very noteworthy. First, in pursuing national interests, we must pay due attention to the legitimate concerns of other countries. "Compare the heart to the heart" "Man is with this heart, and the heart is the same as this reason", this is the meaning.
Second, the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind sets the highest principle of competition as common interests and win-win cooperation, rather than the interests of a certain country being higher than common interests, and opposing zero-sum thinking. I think these two are the most shining ideas of the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind.
In my opinion, in the first stage of globalization, we saw global competition; after the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind was put forward, globalization had a dawn and an ideal, that is, human beings are not only competitive relations, but also cooperative relations. This concept elevates the meaning of globalization.
On November 5, 2019, the "Meet for a Thousand Years charm Silk Road Cultural Tour" activity was held in Athens, Greece, which showed China's excellent traditional culture through various cultural forms and spread the spirit of the Silk Road and the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind. Photo by Li Yang, a reporter from China News Service
China News Service: How do you view the differences and pluralism between different cultures?
Wang Shi: Differences are widespread. It is often said that there are no two leaves in the world that are exactly the same. But on the other hand, there are no two completely different leaves in the world. If it's completely different, it can't be compared, and it's not a leaf. "Commonality" is shown in a wide range of differences, and the same and different are two sides of the same coin. Therefore, human commonality is an extremely important issue. The so-called "great unity", in my opinion, the things under the world, the people under the world, look at the small differences, the big view is the same.
At present, there are two voices in the development of human culture: one is called pluralism, and the other is called integration. Pluralism is both historical and a real state of existence, but the trend is constantly converging, which is related to the way human beings are socially organized. The larger the social organization of human beings, the greater the culture, so Chinese have a thought: as long as you identify with each other's culture, you and I are a family, which means "brothers in all corners of the world". The state of existence is pluralism, history and reality are pluralism, and pluralism is gradually formed in the course of development, and new cultures emerge in pluralistic integration.
In the trend of integration, we should have cultural self-confidence, cherish our own traditions and culture, and at the same time, do not separate ourselves from other countries and ethnic groups because of the emphasis on characteristics.
For example, Mr. Qian Zhongshu said in "Tan Yi Lu" that "the East China Sea and the West Sea are psychologically the same; the south learns the north, and the Taoism is not cracked", that is, the culture of the whole world is the same in basic terms, all cultures are the world, and there is no need to distinguish them. So when it comes to Chinese culture going out, it is very important to go out and do what? Go out and make friends, go out and let others know us, go out and understand others.
There are also opportunities for development in differences. Oil painting came out of Europe, oil painting developed; symphonies came out of Europe, Japan and China had symphonies, and symphonies developed. These facts all show that breaking the border and going out will strengthen yourself. The contact, exchange and integration of different cultures will produce new diversity. The introduction of Buddhism to China gave rise to The Sinicization of Zen Buddhism, and the fusion of Western symphonic music with Yue opera music produced the violin concerto "Liang Zhu".
On March 16, 2017, the "Liang Zhu Symphony of Love" concert was held at the National Taiwan University of the Arts in New Taipei City, Taiwan. China News Service reporter Chen Xiaoyuan photographed
China News Service: Why is it said that cultural exchanges are the basis of all foreign exchanges? In the process of people-to-people exchanges, what are the things or details that move you to share?
Wang Shi: Between different cultures, even without considering the negative factors such as prejudice, resistance, confrontation and conflict, it is a complex process from strangeness, curiosity, vigilance, and contact to understanding, accepting, and appreciating.
In the face of differences, in the face of cultural choices, there should be sufficient estimation and lasting patience. People-to-people exchanges are often small in scale and short in duration, and each time there is only a "little flash" exchange, but if it continues to be carried out, countless air holes and countless doors and windows will be opened. Affinity between the people is the ultimate value.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the Chinese Culture Promotion Association, and there are many moments that touched me in terms of people-to-people exchanges. At the beginning of our establishment, we held the 20th Century Chinese Music Classics and selected more than 100 of the most important Chinese music works of the 20th century. Composer and professor of the Central Conservatory of Music Xia Zhiqiu composed "Song of eight hundred heroes" was selected, praising the glorious deeds of Xie Jinyuan, the heroic leader of the Songhu Battle, who led eight hundred soldiers to defend the Sihang Warehouse alone, singing "China will not die". Professor Xia knew that he was critically ill when he knew it, and said to his wife, "You are going to participate in the award for me, take the award certificate back for me, and put it on my urn." "The selection of Chinese music classics in the 20th century is not only music, it opens up the space of the Chinese world and Chinese culture, and contains the cultural identity of the big family of the Chinese nation."
In international exchanges, we should see more of the commonality of civilizations in different regions, pursue the common values and common psychology of mankind, and should not artificially set up obstacles. The practical trend of globalization and the community of human destiny will not be reversed by temporary difficulties. (End)
Respondent Profiles:
Wang Shi, born in 1948, his ancestral home is Xiangyuan, Shanxi, the chairman of the Chinese Culture Promotion Association, a cultural scholar, the vice president of the China Non-Governmental Organizations International Exchange Promotion Association, a special researcher of the Central Research Museum of Literature and History, and a senior researcher of the Advanced Research Institute of Arts and Humanities of the China Academy of Arts. He has taught at the People's Liberation Army Academy of Arts and Peking University, where he teaches introductions to art and has authored a variety of plays and cultural commentaries. Since 1992, he has been committed to the establishment and development of the Chinese Culture Promotion Association, successively serving as deputy secretary-general, secretary-general and executive vice chairman of the association; founding more than 150 regional organizations, industry cooperatives and professional committees of various disciplines at home and abroad; planning and leading the implementation of a series of chinese music classics in the 20th century, the compilation and publication project of "Twenty-four Histories of the Present Commentary", the Chinese Culture Forum, the Annual Figures of Chinese Culture Appraisal Activity, the Sino-US Music Forum, the Asian Cultural Cooperation Conference, the Cross-Strait Humanistic Dialogue, A number of major cultural projects such as the China-Mongolia-Russia City Cooperation Summit of the Wanli Tea Ceremony, as well as the establishment of the Central Digital Calligraphy and Painting Channel, the Audio-Visual World Channel and the World Heritage Geography Magazine, are representatives of the development of Chinese non-governmental organizations (NGOs) since the reform and opening up.