Zhang Zhiqiang: Why does China not become another Western country?
China News Service, Beijing, October 20 Title: Zhang Zhiqiang: Why does China not become another Western country?
China News Service reporter Gao Kai Li Jingze
China's growth has always been accompanied by the eyes of the world. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, some Western political observers have predicted and even asserted that if China wants to grow and develop, it will have to implement a Western institutional model.
However, with China's development, especially since the reform and opening up, it has made all-round progress, and the facts show that although it has been learning from the West, China has not followed the "same trend" as the United States and Europe. Both institutionally and culturally, China has adhered to its own characteristics and has not embarked on the path of "another Western country" as some predict.
Why won't China become another Western country? The answer may be rooted in the "depths" of Chinese civilization. Zhang Zhiqiang, director of the Institute of Philosophy of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, recently gave an exclusive interview to the China News Agency's "East and West Questions", pointing out that the difference in civilization genes makes it impossible for China to become another West, but the genes of civilization also make us not treat the West in a Western way.
Data map: Liangzhu Ancient City Ruins Park. Photo by Zhang Yuhuan
The interview transcript is summarized below:
China News Service: In recent years, more and more scholars have begun to discuss the impact of civilization on a country's development path, and the concept of civilization genes has been discussed more and more. How should the genes of civilization be understood within the framework of national development?
Zhang Zhiqiang: Genes are biological concepts, and civilization genes are a metaphor. Specific to the genes of Chinese civilization, it should refer to the most basic archetypal force that promotes the formation of Chinese civilization. These archetypal forces have continued to play a role in the 5,000-year history of Chinese civilization, maintaining the stability and continuity of Chinese civilization. Therefore, exploring the nature of these archetypal forces and the way they function is the key to understanding the continuous development and endless vitality of Chinese civilization.
Why is the gene of civilization a "force" rather than a "factor"? Because the factors are static, and the power is dynamic. Using genes as a metaphor for the archetypal power of this civilization is actually to show that civilization, like a living body, has a vitality to overcome internal and external challenges and strive to achieve its own, which not only creates life, but also continuously maintains and promotes the development of life. Therefore, to use genes as a metaphor for civilization is to focus on the nature of the living organism of civilization.
Any civilization needs to overcome various internal and external challenges in the process of development in order to realize its own inner purpose. Therefore, the survival of civilization is actually a process in which civilization itself continuously exerts its historical initiative. The survival of civilization depends on its ability to creatively adapt to conditions and change the environment dynamically, thereby promoting its own growth. The mystery of the long-term survival of Chinese civilization must be found in the genes that gave birth to this historical initiative.
Data map: The Palace Museum in Beijing. Photo by Du Yang, a reporter from China News Service
China News Service: Can you talk about how the genes of civilization have influenced China's path choice in light of history? What are the salient genetic traits of Chinese civilization?
Zhang Zhiqiang: When we compare Chinese and European civilizations, we often overlook a factor, that is, Chinese civilization is a civilization condensed into a country, while European civilization has not rebuilt a unified political system since the collapse of the Roman Empire, although the roman ideal has appeared from time to time in history and has never disappeared. European civilization did not eventually condense into a unified state, but formed a series of nation-states in modern times.
Strictly speaking, only China is a civilization condensed into a country, although historically, this civilization has condensed into a system of heaven with central power. Compared with the modern European nation-state system, China's political system has a broader scale.
The biggest difference between Chinese civilization and Western civilization is the difference in the dynamics of power formation. The reason why Chinese civilization has been able to condense a political system on a broader scale is because it gives legitimacy to politics with the symbol of heaven representing all the people under the heavens, and the totality of the people under the heavens has become the basis for the politics of great unification, and the values of the great duke and the methodology of balance between the middle and the balance of the middle contained in the totality of heaven have become the fundamental observance of political power.
Importantly, great unification is not only a description of the concentration of political power, but also a portrayal of the unity of the world community. The political community shaped by the symbolic authority of heaven is above the demands of power based on part, group, and class. This ensures the political stability of the tianxia community, and thus makes "unification" the basic political concern of the tianxia community. European civilization, on the other hand, due to the dichotomy of caesar and God's power, led to religion constantly becoming the driving force of political revolution, making it difficult to truly maintain the unity of political authority, making division the norm. It should be said that this is the fundamental difference in the genes of Chinese and Western civilizations.
The Chinese civilization based on the symbolic authority of heaven derives the value of "people first" from the totality of heaven, the "seeking truth from facts" methodology based on the overall situation and the humble and realistic nature of the nature of heavenly persistence, and the political pursuit of the unification of the world from the unity of the community under heaven, all of which affect the path choice of Chinese civilization in a certain way of civilization genes and constitute the basic trend of China's road.
Infographic: "Flag" sculpture. China News Service reporter Han Haidan photographed
China News Service: In modern times, various ideological trends in China have been fading and disappearing, and Chinese finally chose Marxism in active exploration. In the process of integrating with Marxism, what kind of characteristics of the times do you think the genes of Chinese civilization show?
Zhang Zhiqiang: Chinese civilization has indeed encountered some difficulties in modern times, which are caused by the challenges of the West on the one hand, and related to the problems of the metabolic mechanism of the civilization organism itself on the other hand. In a certain sense, these problems have revealed some bottlenecks that restrict the development of Chinese civilization. The founding of the Communist Party of China and its century-long struggle have fundamentally broken through these bottlenecks that restrict the development of Chinese civilization, thus restoring the vitality of Chinese civilization.
In a sense, the emergence of the Communist Party of China actually fully demonstrates the strength of the inherent regenerative forces of Chinese civilization. And this renewal of vitality is precisely the result of the Cpc's creative application of Marxism to fully activate the inherent strength of Chinese civilization. The Communist Party of China fully embodies the civilization gene of Chinese civilization to actively exert its historical initiative in the face of historical difficulties.
This gene is an ability to constantly bear disadvantages and changes, an ability to constantly open up new realms from historical dilemmas, and an ability to continuously bring ancient civilizations into new realms and new states. It is this ability that has made Chinese civilization timeless, long-lasting and large. In the long course of history, no civilized organism can always maintain a state of youth, but only Chinese civilization can develop continuously because of its principle of self-reliance.
The process of Chinese people's choice of Marxism is actually the process of integrating Marxism with China's specific reality, with China's excellent traditional culture, and with Marxism with Chinese civilization. The premise on which the two can be combined is that Marxism itself is the product of a thorough philosophical revolution in the Western metaphysical tradition, and That Marxism itself has a philosophical spirit of proceeding from reality. At the same time, the Marxist concept of the social organism also gives it a people's view based on the whole. These spiritual and ideological qualities are intrinsically consistent with Chinese civilization. The condition for the combination of the two lies in the creative practice of the Chinese Communists, and it should be said that the process of sinicizing Marxism is the process of the Communist Party of China creatively integrating Marxism with China's reality and Chinese civilization.
In this process, the political tradition of great unification, the values of the supremacy of the people, the methodology of seeking truth from facts, and other excellent genes hidden in Chinese civilization have gained new forms and won new consciousness. In this process, the Communist Party of China has broken through many bottlenecks and problems restricting the development of Chinese civilization, and through metabolism and decadence, it has enabled Chinese civilization to realize modernization, embarked on a path of Chinese-style modernization, and created a new form of human civilization. In this process, the Communist Party of China firmly grasped the historical initiative, completely changed the fate of all Chinese people being enslaved and oppressed, and created a new situation in the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
Infographic: Cultural relics in the collection of the Confucius Museum. Photo by Hao Xuejuan
China News Service: Over the years, China has experienced a process of learning from developed countries in the West, which includes exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations. What do you think are the commonalities between Chinese and Western civilizations? What are the civilizational genes that determine that China cannot become a "nother Western country"?
Zhang Zhiqiang: If we return to the reality of civilization, we will find that all civilizations are common, and they are all living worlds and civilized worlds created by people in the process of adapting to their respective environments and meeting external challenges. If we can proceed from reality, not from the prejudices of any civilization or ideology, then civilizations can fully understand and learn from each other.
From the actual perspective of the history of civilization, different civilizations are not distinguished and indifferent to each other, but horizontal interactions continue to occur at multiple levels, and on the historical cross-section of each civilization, the traces of multi-civilization interaction can be seen. For example, the Western civil service system was learned from China's imperial examination system, and China's continuous study of Western scientific and technological civilization in modern times is the key to China's ability to get rid of poverty and backwardness.
If we maintain a practical view of civilization in which civilizations interact and blend, we will not accept the view of the clash of civilizations. In fact, the clash of civilizations theory is a hypothesis derived from Western historical experience. The essence of the clash of civilizations is a dualistic view of opposites derived from monotheism, a kind of authoritarian universalism. This monotheistic view of dualism is completely different from the chinese civilization's view of the reality of civilization based on the whole.
The so-called practical view of civilization based on the whole always requires understanding the world from the perspective of the world and understanding the self from the perspective of others, emphasizing the epistemology of "doing one's best and not benefiting others", emphasizing the moral concept of "do not do to others what you do not want", emphasizing the order concept of "harmony and difference, and disunity and unity", and emphasizing the ability to understand "feeling and passing". It is precisely these civilization genes that make China never become a "nother West", another "West" that "lives by itself", "self-centered", and "is not in line with each other".
The difference in the genes of civilization makes it impossible for China to become another West, but the genes of civilization also make us not treat the West in a Western way. In today's world, there is an urgent need for a great civilization that can proceed from the world as a whole, base itself on the destiny of mankind and tolerate different civilizations. This great civilization takes the community of human destiny as the ideal and the purpose of building a world shared by all mankind, and this great civilization will enable all people and all civilizations to obtain the conditions for their survival and development. Chinese civilization is a civilization with the potential of such a great civilization, and only Chinese civilization can tolerate different civilizations, unite all mankind, and jointly create a new form of human civilization.
China News Service: In 1973, the British historian Toynbee asserted that the hope of the world is in the East, the hope of the East is in China, and Chinese civilization will provide endless cultural treasures and ideological resources for the future transformation of the world and human society in the 21st century. How do you think we should creatively promote the contemporary transformation and future development of Chinese civilization?
Zhang Zhiqiang: It should be said that Toynbee's statement is far-sighted. However, Toynbee's statement is still a speculation based on the comparison of his civilization types, and the achievements of Chinese civilization today give us more confidence to clarify Toynbee's truth.
In my opinion, the course of the CPC's century-long struggle is the course of the contemporary transformation of Chinese civilization, and we need to deeply understand the internal rationale of the century-old party history, comprehensively sum up the historical experience of the century-old party history, and at the same time put the century-old party history into the different historical dimensions of the 5,000-year civilization history, the 500-year world history, and the 200-year world socialist history to thoroughly grasp it, and fully understand the internal truth of the combination of Marxism and Chinese civilization.
Only by fully understanding the internal rationale of the century-old party history will we be more conscious of the historical initiative of promoting the contemporary transformation of Chinese civilization in the future, and only by fully understanding the internal rationale of the century-old party history will we be more conscious and more confident in the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, so that all the Chinese people will have more confidence in Chinese civilization, more ambition for the Chinese nation, and more backbone for socialism. (End)
Respondent Profiles:
Zhang Zhiqiang, Director of the Institute of Philosophy, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Researcher, Professor of the University of chinese Academy of Social Sciences, doctoral supervisor. Editor-in-Chief of Philosophical Studies. Hundreds of millions of national-level candidates for the Talent Project have won the title of "National Young and Middle-Aged Experts with Outstanding Contributions" and enjoy the special allowance of the State Council. He is the vice president of the Chinese Society for the History of Philosophy, a member of the Academic Committee and a member of the Chinese Committee of the International Confucian Federation, a standing director of the Chinese Confucius Society, and a standing director of the National Society for the Study of Classics. His research interests include the history of Chinese Buddhism, Ming and Qing dynasties to modern times, and his research specialties are modern Buddhism, qing dynasty to modern classics, Yangming studies, and the relationship between the three religions since the late Ming Dynasty.
Source: China News Network