古老文明對話(huà)與人類(lèi)命運共同體

Dialogue among Civilizations and Community with Shared Future for Mankind

潘 岳

Pan Yue

2019年9月

September 2019

中國國家主席習近平先生指出，文明因多樣而交流，因交流而互鑒，因互鑒而發(fā)展。多元文明的交流互鑒是構建人類(lèi)命運共同體的人文基礎。當世界面臨百年未有之大變局，西方現代文明不再一家獨大，擁有數百年乃至數千年歷史的中華文明、希臘羅馬文明、俄羅斯文明、印度文明、波斯文明、奧斯曼文明等古老文明，正在重煥生機。對人類(lèi)命運共同體而言，古老文明，尤其是完成了現代性轉化的古老文明，蘊藏著(zhù)化解現實(shí)困境的寶貴經(jīng)驗，凝結著(zhù)追求美好未來(lái)的恒久價(jià)值。當某些國家強調本國優(yōu)先而“逆全球化”時(shí)，大多數古老文明卻主張以包容性傳統助推新型全球化;當某些國家將“現代化”簡(jiǎn)化為“唯美國化”時(shí)，大多數古老文明卻主張以文化多樣性追求多元現代化;當某些國家以“文明沖突論”而導致非彼即此時(shí)，大多數古老文明卻主張以“文明的對話(huà)”去塑造和而不同的未來(lái)。古老文明并不都是完美的，但因其內生的開(kāi)放包容傳統，有益于形成各文明間平等對話(huà)的共同體。

As Chinese President Xi Jinping said, diversity spurs interaction among civilizations, which in turn promotes mutual learning and their further development. Interaction and mutual learning among civilizations are the cultural building blocks of a community with shared future for mankind. As the world is undergoing changes unseen in a century, the modern civilization in the West is no longer the dominant one, with a line of ancient civilizations with a history of several hundred or even thousand years re-emerging, including the Chinese civilization, and the civilizations of Ancient Greece and Rome, Russia, India, Persia, and Ottoman. The ancient civilizations, especially the ones that have accomplished the transition to modernity, have amassed valuable experience for meeting realistic difficulties and retained the eternal value of embracing a better future, which is essential to a community with shared future for mankind. As some countries underscore the need to put themselves first for de-globalization, most ancient civilizations assert the inclusive tradition to drive the new globalization; while some are turning modernization into Americanization, most ancient civilizations encourage cultural diversity in pursuit of a diverse modernity; and when some preach the Clash of Civilizations theory, most ancient civilizations seek to shape a future of harmony in diversity through dialogue among civilizations. The ancient civilizations are not perfect, but they all maintain the tradition of being open and inclusive, which is conducive to forming a community where civilizations could have dialogue on an equal footing.

一、古老文明共同體的共同命運

第一，各大古老文明共同締結了人類(lèi)的軸心時(shí)代。德國哲學(xué)家雅斯貝爾斯曾說(shuō)，在公元前600至前300年間，各個(gè)文明都出現了偉大的精神導師，古希臘有蘇格拉底、柏拉圖、亞里士多德，以色列有猶太教的先知們，古印度有釋迦牟尼，中國有孔子、老子……他們提出的思想原則塑造了不同的文化傳統。這便是人類(lèi)文明的軸心時(shí)代。此后漫長(cháng)的歷史時(shí)期，古老文明興衰起伏，文明基因終究未泯。馬克思將古老文明看成“人類(lèi)的童年”，歷史雖然永不復返，但仍然是“一種規范和高不可及的范本”，始終具有經(jīng)久不衰的現代價(jià)值。

第二，古老文明在近代都遭遇了西方現代工業(yè)文明的沖擊。在西方，現代工業(yè)文明的“進(jìn)步力量”背離了古希臘古羅馬文明的不少核心價(jià)值，讓人產(chǎn)生了“越現代越好”的錯覺(jué)，把自由主義玩過(guò)了頭而變成了歷史虛無(wú)主義。他們忘記了，在個(gè)人之上還有城邦，在欲望之上還有美德，在利益之上還有正義，在權利之上還有責任，在民主之上還有善治。在非西方世界，西方現代工業(yè)文明一方面給非西方古老文明國家帶來(lái)了變革，一方面也無(wú)情中斷了非西方古老文明的持續發(fā)展。印度1905年爆發(fā)反英抗爭;伊朗1905年爆發(fā)反帝革命；土耳其1908年爆發(fā)青年土耳其黨人革命;埃及1919年爆發(fā)反英大起義;中國1911年爆發(fā)了辛亥革命。 這些都是古老文明對西方?jīng)_擊的被動(dòng)反應。

第三，各大古老文明被重新激活復興。西方現代工業(yè)文明的弊端越是充分顯露，強調多樣性的古典文明越是彰顯積極意義。在西方，列奧·斯特勞斯、阿倫特、麥金泰爾等西方思想家的理論建樹(shù)無(wú)一不是主張重返古典文明。為了矯正個(gè)人利益凌駕于共同體利益之上，他們在亞里士多德《政治學(xué)》中去重溫“人是城邦的動(dòng)物”這一教誨;為了應對被剝離的政治與道德，人們在古希臘哲學(xué)中去重新尋找“美德倫理學(xué)”;為了應對民粹橫行的亂象，人們在“蘇格拉底之死”的悲劇中認識到了“多數人的暴政”，在柏拉圖理想國中汲取賢能政治的智慧。在中國近代，傳播了一輩子西學(xué)的中國思想家嚴復在一戰中徹底看清西方現代工業(yè)文明容易陷入“利己殺人、寡廉鮮恥”的戰爭漩渦，因而告誡后人不要丟了中國的孔孟;梁?jiǎn)⒊钛辛藲W美政治學(xué)后更是提出，要“拿西洋的文明來(lái)擴充我的文明，又拿我的文明去補助西洋的文明，叫他化合起來(lái)成一種新文明”。這類(lèi)想法在印度詩(shī)人泰戈爾那里也得到明顯呼應。如今的印度正在用印度教民族主義引領(lǐng)國族再造。蘇聯(lián)解體后，俄羅斯正將東正教精神作為社會(huì )主流意識形態(tài)。伊朗在1970年代末期發(fā)起了廣泛的“伊斯蘭復興運動(dòng)”。土耳其也一改全面西方化的政策而重返奧斯曼文明傳統。既要現代化，也要民族化，已經(jīng)成為各大古老文明的集體共識。

1. The shared destiny of the community of ancient civilizations 

First, ancient civilizations jointly made the Axial Age. As German philosopher Karl Jaspers said, great thinkers emerged across all civilizations from 600 BCE to 300 BCE, such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle in Ancient Greece, prophets and prophetesses of Judaism in Israel, Sakyamuni in ancient India, and Confucius and Lao Tzu in China... Their thinking has shaped different cultural traditions. That’s the Axial Age of the human civilization. In the centuries that followed, ancient civilizations rose and declined, but their DNA has never changed. Karl Marx likened ancient civilizations to the childhood of mankind. History will never return, but it still provides “a norm and a lofty template” and always has enduring modern values.

Second, all ancient civilizations suffered the impact from the Western modern industrial civilizations. In the West, the progressive forces of the modern industrial civilizations ran counter to many core values held up in the civilizations of Ancient Greece and Rome, creating the illusion that everything that is more modern is definitely better, and turning liberalism into historical nihilism. But they might forget that there are city-states above individuals, virtue above desire, justice above interests, responsibility above right, and good governance above democracy. In the non-Western world, the modern industrial civilizations in the West triggered transformations on one hand, and interrupted sustainable development on the other. In 1905, the protest against British rule broke out in India and the anti-imperialist revolution was set off in Iran; in 1908, the Young Turk Revolution erupted in Turkey; in 1919, an outburst of anti-British rioting was initiated in Egypt; and in 1911, the Xinhai Revolution emerged in China. These are all passive responses of ancient civilizations to the shock waves sent from the West.

Third, all ancient civilizations have been reinvented and re-emerged. The more the drawbacks of the modern industrial civilizations in the West are exposed, the more significant the ancient civilizations that highlight diversity would be. The thinkers in the West, such as Leo Strauss, Hannah Arendt, and Alasdair MacIntyre, all proposed a return to classical civilizations. They revisited the notion in Aristotle’s Politics that says men are animals of city-states, to rectify the attempts that put personal above common interests; they picked up the virtue ethics in ancient Greek philosophy to re-integrate politics and morality that had been separated; and they recognized the tyranny of the majority in The Death of Socrates and gleaned the wisdom of political meritocracy from Plato’s utopia to respond to the prevalent populism. In modern China, Yan Fu, the Chinese thinker who spread the thoughts of the West all his life, finally discerned the nature of the modern industrial civilization of the West that could easily descend into the shameless act of waging wars for their own benefit, and hence warned future generations not to abandon the Chinese Confucianism; and Liang Qichao, a Chinese philosopher in the late Qing dynasty, studied the politics of the US and Europe and proposed to “enrich our civilization with the Western one, improve the Western civilization with the Chinese one, and integrate the two into a new civilization”. Such thoughts also strike a chord with the ideas of the Bengali poet Tagore. Now India is using Hindu nationalism to revive the nation. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia regarded Orthodoxy as the dominant ideology of its society. Iran launched the Islamic Resurgence Movement in the late 1970s. And Turkey also shifted from its policy of full westernization to the tradition of the Ottoman civilization. Hence, it can be seen that embracing both modernization and nationalization has become the consensus among all ancient civilizations.

二、古老文明共同體的共同特質(zhì)

第一，大多數古老文明善于處理傳統與現代關(guān)系。西方現代工業(yè)文明的崛起，僅有幾百年的歷史，只是人類(lèi)文明史的一小片段。與之相比，各大古老文明歷經(jīng)千年風(fēng)雨存在至今，蘊含著(zhù)處理傳統與現代的豐富經(jīng)驗。如中華文明是世界上唯一一個(gè)以國家形態(tài)發(fā)展至今從未中斷的偉大文明，造就了獨特的中華民族共同體，體現了強而不霸、弱而不分的文明根性。如印度文明有著(zhù)阿拉伯文明與西方文明會(huì )通交融的成功經(jīng)驗。如波斯文明即使在人民改信伊斯蘭教之后，仍然遺存了國家文化傳統。古老文明因具有深沉的文明自信，即使跌入歷史最低谷，仍煥發(fā)著(zhù)頑強的生命力。

第二，大多數古老文明善于處理不同族群關(guān)系。如中華文明具有無(wú)與倫比的包容力。習近平主席在亞洲文明對話(huà)大會(huì )上強調，“中華文明是在同其他文明不斷交流互鑒中形成的開(kāi)放體系。從歷史上的佛教東傳、‘伊儒會(huì )通’，到近代以來(lái)的‘西學(xué)東漸’、新文化運動(dòng)、馬克思主義和社會(huì )主義思想傳入中國，再到改革開(kāi)放以來(lái)全方位對外開(kāi)放，中華文明始終在兼收并蓄中歷久彌新。”同樣，其他古老文明如希臘文明，亞里士多德的學(xué)生亞歷山大建立起橫跨歐亞非三大洲的帝國后而開(kāi)啟希臘化時(shí)代，使幾大古老文明東西傳播，封閉的古希臘城邦地方主義文明由此變?yōu)殚_(kāi)放的世界性文明。如羅馬文明在興起之初便包容了美索不達米亞文明和埃及文明，所以，兩河流域的太陽(yáng)神馬爾杜克和埃及女神伊西斯能同時(shí)進(jìn)入羅馬萬(wàn)神殿接受人們的膜拜。羅馬還讓高盧人、不列顛人以及日耳曼人的文明保持了傳統特色，并促進(jìn)它們同拉丁文明的融合。伊斯蘭文明也曾有過(guò)開(kāi)放包容的文明傳統。《古蘭經(jīng)》中穆罕穆德便說(shuō)過(guò)，“智慧即便來(lái)自多神教徒也應采納。”當時(shí)古希臘經(jīng)典在歐洲已經(jīng)失傳，若沒(méi)有早期伊斯蘭的開(kāi)放包容，沒(méi)有早期穆斯林翻譯保存希臘文明經(jīng)典，就沒(méi)有日后歐洲的文藝復興。再如俄羅斯自古以來(lái)就是“西方的東大門(mén)、東方的西大門(mén)”，博采東西方文明優(yōu)長(cháng)而熔煉出自己的獨特文明。相反，那些單純崇尚軍事征服而無(wú)包容性文明傳統的國家，比如亞述人、匈奴人、赫梯人建立的王國盡管一度強盛之極，卻不過(guò)一兩百年就煙消云散。

第三，大多數古老文明善于處理西方與非西方關(guān)系。西方現代工業(yè)文明以資本為動(dòng)力，以普世為旗幟，以自我為中心，不斷征服貶損其他文明共同體。反觀(guān)非西方的古老文明共同體，反倒更加開(kāi)放更加虛心地學(xué)習西方工業(yè)文明的長(cháng)處，不斷調適自身與西方文明的關(guān)系。中華文明的學(xué)習精神體現于中華民族偉大復興整個(gè)歷史進(jìn)程中。1840年以來(lái)，我們通過(guò)洋務(wù)運動(dòng)學(xué)西方技術(shù)；通過(guò)維新變法學(xué)君主立憲；通過(guò)新文化運動(dòng)學(xué)習科學(xué)民主。不到一百年時(shí)間，各種主義、各種方案、各種思想流派粉墨登場(chǎng)，幾乎重演了西方不同現代化版本。中國入最后選擇的社會(huì )主義，也是學(xué)習來(lái)自西方的馬克思主義。同樣，日本、土耳其、印度、伊朗、埃及等古老文明都是通過(guò)學(xué)習西方的科學(xué)知識、體制機制、現代教育和工業(yè)體系，而完成了現代轉型。歐洲也曾向各大古老文明學(xué)習。比如魁奈、伏爾泰等法國啟蒙家在中國儒家思想中獲得了大量理性元素并付諸實(shí)踐。英國借鑒中國的科舉制而建立了文官制度。遺憾的是，后來(lái)的某些大國拋棄了西方早期的開(kāi)放精神和學(xué)習傳統，認為自己是文明演進(jìn)的最高階段最高形態(tài)，是歷史的終結，這完全違反了文明自身發(fā)展規律。古老文明的發(fā)展歷程一再表明，并非所有雜交產(chǎn)物都是優(yōu)良品種，但所有的優(yōu)良品種都是雜交而成。

2. Common characteristics of ancient civilizations 

First, most ancient civilizations have proved to be adept at handling the relations between tradition and modernity. The rise of modern industrial civilizations in the West experienced only several hundred years, which is a tiny part of the entire history of human civilization. In contrast, the ancient civilizations survived till today after many twists and turns, making them much experienced in handling the relations between tradition and modernity. For example, as the only civilization that has never been interrupted as a nation-state in the world, the Chinese civilization has become a unique community of the Chinese nation that reflects the nature of civilization characterized by the persistence in refusing to seek hegemony when it’s strong or fragment when it’s weak; the Indian civilization has had its experience of successful communication with Western civilizations; and the Persian civilization still retained its national cultural tradition after its people converted to Islam. All of these indicate that ancient civilizations were still very resilient and strong with great confidence in their own civilizations even when they declined to the very bottom.

Second, most ancient civilizations have proved to be adept at handling the relations among different ethnic groups. For example, the Chinese civilization is remarkably inclusive. As President Xi Jinping stressed at the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations, Chinese civilization, as an inclusive and integrated whole, has become what it is today through constant interactions with other civilizations; it has been enriched by the introduction of Buddhism and the confluence of Islam and Confucianism in the old days, by the introduction of Western learning, the launch of the New Culture Movement, and the introduction of Marxism and socialism in modern time; and all-round opening-up of the country, starting with the reform and opening-up programme, has added to its vitality today. This is true for other ancient civilizations as well. For example, in the Greek civilization, Aristotle’s student Alexander the Great founded the empire extending across Europe, Asia, and Africa and ushered in the ancient Greek era, making it possible to extend the reach of ancient civilizations to the East and West and turn the closed local civilizations of the ancient Greek city-states into open global civilizations. For example, as the Roman civilization received the Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations in the early days of its prosperity, Marduk of ancient Mesopotamia and Isis of ancient Egypt could be worshiped by people in the Pantheon. Ancient Rome also allowed the Gauls, the British, and the Germans to retain the traditions of their civilizations and promoted their integration with the Latin civilization. The Islamic civilization also had the tradition of being open and inclusive. As Muhammad said in the Quran, even wisdom from the polytheists shall be absorbed. Had it not been the openness and inclusiveness of the Islam in its early days or the effort of early Muslims to translate and preserve the ancient Greek classics that was almost lost in Europe at that time, there wouldn’t have been the subsequent Renaissance in Europe. And as the East Gate to the West and the West Gate to the East, Russia has drawn upon the advantages of the Eastern and Western civilizations to form a unique civilization. In contrast, those that upheld military conquest with no regard for inclusiveness, such as the Assyrians, the Huns, and the Hittites, survived for only a few hundred years, though they had their heyday.

Third, most ancient civilizations have proved to be adept at handling the relations between the West and the non-West. The modern industrial civilizations in the West have conquered and derogated other civilizations with capital and the so-called universal values in a self-centred way, whereas the ancient civilizations in the non-Western world have remained open-minded to learn from the industrial civilizations in the West and adjust their relations with the West. The willingness of the Chinese civilization to learn has been well reflected throughout the entire historical process of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Since 1840, we learned technologies from the West through the Westernization Movement, the constitutional monarchy through the Hundred Days’ Reform, and science and democracy through the New Culture Movement. In less than a hundred years, various doctrines, plans, and thoughts appeared in China as almost all versions of modernization in the West. And socialism, as China eventually chose, is also the Marxism exported from the West. Likewise, other ancient civilizations such as Japan, Turkey, India, Iran, and Egypt, all made their transition to modernization by learning science, systems, and modern educational and industrial systems from the West. Europe learned from ancient civilizations as well. For example, the Enlightenment thinkers in France such as Quesnay and Voltaire acquired many rational elements from the Chinese Confucianism and put them into practice, and the UK established the civil service system by drawing inspiration from China’s imperial examination system. But unfortunately, some countries in the West abandoned the open-mindedness and learning tradition, believing that they are the end to the human history as the highest level of civilization, which completely goes against the law of the development of a civilization. The evolution of ancient civilizations has repeatedly indicated that not all hybrids are superior varieties but all superior varieties are all hybrids.

三、古老文明共同體的共同使命

第一，超越文明中心論，重塑文明多元性。古老文明自身多具有多樣性。例如，中華文明內部保持著(zhù)豐富的多樣性，形成既有統一性、又有差異性的治理體系。在宗教關(guān)系上，中華文明強調“多元通和、政主教從”，比西方更早提出政教分離，從未發(fā)生過(guò)宗教戰爭；在民族關(guān)系上，中華文明強調“和而不同、多元一體”，既有一個(gè)共同的中華民族，又有各具特色的少數民族。在國家結構上，中華文明既有一竿子插到底的郡縣制，也有因俗而治“一國多制”傳統。即使在歐洲，越是具有深厚傳統的文明，越是提倡文明多樣性。比如法國始終具有文化自豪感，始終高揚文化主體性，始終堅信葡萄酒比可樂(lè )更高貴，率先提出文明多樣性理念。無(wú)獨有偶，同樣具有深厚文化傳統的德國在戰后始終強調文化多元主義。當代德國哲學(xué)家哈貝馬斯提出了多元文化之間的“交往理性”，他的弟子霍耐特則提出了不同文明之間的“承認倫理”。在德國、法國、希臘、意大利、西班牙、葡萄牙等歐盟國家共同推動(dòng)下，聯(lián)合國教科文組織通過(guò)了《保護和促進(jìn)文化多樣性公約》。

第二，超越單一現代化，探索多樣現代化。文明多元化決定了現代化道路的多元化。世界并非只有美國一種模式。同一個(gè)現代化，有拉美模式、有東亞模式、有阿拉伯模式和中國模式。同樣是市場(chǎng)經(jīng)濟，美國有新自由主義市場(chǎng)經(jīng)濟，德國有國家與市場(chǎng)相結合的市場(chǎng)經(jīng)濟，中國有社會(huì )主義市場(chǎng)經(jīng)濟。即便在民主政治內部，美國的三權分立與英國的君主立憲不同；歐美的選舉政治與亞洲的選舉政治也不同。每一個(gè)國家根據自己的國情尋找符合自身發(fā)展的道路，恰恰是多元文明的特征。然而令人遺憾的是，正是得益于多元文化交融而強大的某大國，卻企圖用自己?jiǎn)我坏哪Ｊ絹?lái)取代全球的多元模式。

第三，超越文明沖突，促進(jìn)文明對話(huà)。文明沖突的根源不是古老文明的現代復興，而是單一文明的唯我獨尊。相比文明沖突論，各大古老文明都有對話(huà)協(xié)商的文化傳統。比如，中華文明追求天下為公的大同境界，而非弱肉強食的叢林法則；堅持“遠人不服則修文德”的溝通方式，而非“力量即正義”的實(shí)力原則；秉持“民胞物與”的共同利益，而非“非敵即友”的二元觀(guān)念。所以，中國即使是在綜合實(shí)力最強的時(shí)候，也沒(méi)有對外擴張、沒(méi)有殖民掠奪、沒(méi)有炮艦政策、沒(méi)有強加于人的不平等條約。再比如，上世紀50年代，中印率先倡導“和平共處五原則”，印度提出的不結盟運動(dòng)，顯然有助于跳出西方二元對立的思維模式，彌合東西方文明斷裂的鴻溝，以合作共贏(yíng)的新思維代替零和博弈的舊思維。因此，以文明對話(huà)超越文明對抗，是早已為古老文明所印證的共生共存智慧。

第四，超越文明優(yōu)越論，促進(jìn)文明交流互鑒。現代西方文明具有根深蒂固的“文明優(yōu)越感”，而古老文明歷經(jīng)風(fēng)雨榮辱，既不妄自尊大，更不妄自菲薄。單一的西方現代工業(yè)文明如果不與各大古老文明交流借鑒，更加無(wú)法成為普世文明。與此同時(shí)，我們當然相信，不與西方文明交流互鑒，非西方文明也難以發(fā)展壯大．各大古老文明絕非完美，當年之所以被西方超越和沖擊，正是因為自身深重的積弊。古老文明必須保持開(kāi)放的心態(tài)，堅持不懈地交流互鑒，與西方現代文明攜起手來(lái)，形成更可持續發(fā)展的人類(lèi)文明力量。我曾提出，生態(tài)文明可成為一個(gè)融匯不同文化、不同宗教、不同意識形態(tài)的中西文明交流平臺。這樣的平臺還能找到很多。

朋友們，習近平主席指出，“人類(lèi)只有膚色語(yǔ)言之別，文明只有姹紫嫣虹之別，但絕無(wú)高低優(yōu)劣之分。認為自己的人種和文明高人一等，執意改造甚至取代其他文明，在認識上是愚蠢的，在做法上是災難性的。”當世界走到新的十字路口，全人類(lèi)面臨著(zhù)諸多共同挑戰。我們是要文明一元化，還是要文明多元化；是要單一現代化，還是要多樣現代化；是要文明的沖突，還是要文明的對話(huà)；是要文明的自我封閉，還是要文明的交流互鑒?正確答案，不言而喻。我堅信，古老文明共同體的復興之路，就是構建人類(lèi)命運共同體之路。各大古老文明秉承開(kāi)放包容傳統而彼此借鑒學(xué)習，形成多元文明共同體，正當其時(shí)；各大古老文明在構建人類(lèi)命運共同體的歷史進(jìn)程中淬煉出人類(lèi)共同價(jià)值，形成東西文明交流新格局，正當其時(shí)！

3. The shared mission of the community of ancient civilizations 

First, break the civilization centralism and reinvent the civilization pluralism. Ancient civilizations are diverse. For example, the diversity of the Chinese civilization is reflected in its governance system of both uniformity and diversity. In dealing with religion, the Chinese civilization adopted the approach of allowing the state to play a dominant role and religion to play second fiddle in a way that encourages diversification and harmony, earlier than the West in proposing separation of religion and the state, yet without any religious wars fought. In handling ethnic relations, the Chinese civilization asserted the community of the Chinese nation for harmony in diversity with ethnic groups diversified yet integrated as one. And in establishing the structure for the state, the Chinese civilization put forward both the one-size-fits-all approach of the system of prefectures and counties and the tailor-made systems for different regions of the state. Even in Europe, civilizations with deeply rooted richer traditions have been more vocal in encouraging diversity. For example, France has always had a sense of cultural pride, always held up the subjectivity of culture, always firmly believed that wine is more noble than coke, and was the first to introduce the civilization diversity theory. Germany, a country with a rich culture and tradition too, has always highlighted cultural diversity as well after the World War II. Contemporary German philosopher Jürgen Habermas came up with the concept of communicative rationality for interactions between civilizations, followed by the ethics of recognition introduced by his disciple Axel Honneth. And with the joint efforts of Germany, France, Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal and other EU countries, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization adopted the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions.

Second, reject singular modernity and explore plural modernity. Civilization diversity ensures diverse paths to modernization. The US model is not the only model in the world. There are the Latin American, East Asian, Arabian, and Chinese models for modernization. And for the market economy, there are the neoliberalism in the US, the state-market approach in Germany, and the socialist market economy in China. Differences even exist among the political systems of democracies: the separation of powers in the US is different from the constitutional monarchy in the UK, and the electoral politics in Europe and the US also differ from that in Asia. Each and every country to find its development path that fits own conditions precisely indicates the pluralism of civilizations. But unfortunately, a great power that has benefited from cultural diversity and interactions has attempted to replace the global plural model with a singular one.

Third, discourage clash of civilizations and encourage dialogue of civilizations. The clash of civilizations originates not from the modern rejuvenation of ancient civilizations, but from the egoism of a particular civilization. All ancient civilizations have the cultural tradition of dialogue and consultation as opposed to the clash of civilizations. For example, the Chinese civilization pursues the future of a world as one community with universal peace, rather than the law of the jungle; it advocates the way of winning the hearts and minds of people with virtue, rather than the principle of strength that preaches power as justice; and it seeks to share the interests with the people as brothers and sisters rather than as either friends or foes. That’s why China didn’t resort to expansionism, colonization, the gunboat policy, or coercive unequal treaties even in its heyday. And in the 1950s, China and India established the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, and India initiated the Non-Aligned Movement, both of which helped eclipse the mentality of binary opposition in the West, bridge the gap between the East and the West, and replace the zero-sum game with win-win cooperation. Hence, it can be seen that dialogue of civilizations rather than clash of them was already a lesson learnt by ancient civilizations long ago for coexistence.

Fourth, abandon superiority and push civilizations to interact. Modern civilizations in the West have a deep-rooted sense of superiority, whereas ancient civilizations don’t have false pride or belittle themselves after going through many twists and turns. Without interactions with ancient civilizations, any one modern industrial civilization in the West wouldn’t become a universal civilization. In the meantime, we also believe that non-Western civilizations wouldn’t thrive if they didn’t interact with the Western ones. No ancient civilizations are perfect, and it was just because of their drawbacks that they were once surpassed by the West. Ancient civilizations have to remain open and committed to interactions and work together with modern civilizations in the West to form a human civilization for more sustainable development. As I said, ecological civilization may present a platform for Chinese and Western civilizations to interact where different cultures, religions, and ideologies would meet. Such platforms are many.

My friends! President Xi Jinping said, “civilizations only vary from each other, just as human beings are different only in terms of skin colour and the language used. No civilization is superior over others. The thought that one’s own race and civilization are superior and the inclination to remold or replace other civilizations are just stupid. To act them out will only bring catastrophic disasters.” When we are at a new crossroads where the entire human race is confronted with a myriad of shared challenges, what should we choose? Singular or plural civilizations? Singular or plural modernization? Clash of civilizations or dialogue of civilizations? Self-imposed isolation or interaction? The answers are self-evident. I firmly believe that the path to rejuvenation for the community of ancient civilizations is to build a community with shared future for mankind. Now is the time for all ancient civilizations to remain open, inclusive, and committed to interacting with and learning from each other for a community of diverse civilizations, and to extract the shared human values from the efforts to build a community with shared future for mankind to usher in a new landscape of interactions between the East and the West.