Chapter 32 2. Harmonious Middle Way

"Harmonious Middle Way" is a concept in Chinese culture.The "Book of Changes" long before the creation of Confucian civilization put forward the idea of ​​"middle way". It is generally believed that the concept of "harmony" is derived from "middle way". The "harmonious middle way" is not a negative compromise, nor a passive middle way, but a positive balance of opposites, seeking common ground while reserving minor differences in a principled way.In the past 30 years of reform and opening up, this spirit has been truly reflected.An important feature of Deng Xiaoping's thought on reform and opening up is to oppose the "Left" and guard against the "Right", and take a positive and steady middle road to ensure that China will no longer go to extremes and take any radical line, so that the country can be in a Realize the modernization of the country and society in a relatively stable and orderly political environment.

After 30 years of reform and opening up, we have made great progress in all aspects, but at the same time, many discordant factors have emerged.Our cultural traditions have always emphasized harmonious culture, especially the harmony between people, the harmony deep in people's hearts, and the harmony between people and nature. However, with the rapid development of market economy and social changes, these three aspects have emerged Harmony means that there is less mutual trust between people, more conflicts in people's hearts, and more damage to nature.Now the slogan of building a "harmonious society" is put forward, in a sense, it is calling for a return to tradition and rebuilding these three kinds of harmony on a new basis.When a society undergoes earth-shaking economic and social changes, it is inevitable that there will be disharmony. Other countries have experienced similar problems during the industrial revolution.But how to build a harmonious society at a higher level of social development is a new challenge for us.

However, China has a profound cultural tradition of "harmony and the middle way", which provides us with valuable cultural resources for returning to harmony.As long as a Chinese understands Chinese, can read and write, cultural elements such as "harmony", "the middle way" and "being kind to others" will always be melted in his blood.This cultural heritage is mainly reflected in two aspects. One is that our society generally yearns for harmony, which is a huge social "need".Today's craze for Chinese studies, Chinese culture, philanthropy, and returning to nature actually reflects our people's longing for harmony among people, for inner harmony, and for harmony between man and nature.The second is that this cultural heritage, once activated, will become a great spiritual force for our nation to move towards harmony.The Wenchuan Earthquake Relief immediately activated this cultural heritage hidden deep in the hearts of the Chinese people. Our people demonstrated the great kindness, great love and Chinese kinship that transcends occupation, status, and income, and blood is thicker than water.This is a "supply" of great spirit.There is demand, there is supply, and "supply" and "demand" echo each other, which together constitute the spiritual motivation for Chinese society to move towards harmony. This motivation enables us to have the confidence to rediscover the hearts of the Chinese people while the material civilization is developing rapidly. The homeland ultimately makes our society more harmonious, humane and warm.

Chinese society needs harmony, and the international community also needs harmony.With the development of globalization, global governance issues are increasing day by day. From anti-terrorism to global warming, from environmental governance to poverty eradication, from epidemic prevention to international financial system reform, etc., all countries in the world need to properly deal with them through consultation .But there are always some countries in our world who must transform other countries according to their own will, otherwise they will be restless and sleepless at night.After the Cold War, two theories became popular in the West. One is called "Democratic Peace Theory", which holds that democratic countries do not fight with each other, so as long as a Western democratic system is established, the world will be peaceful.The other is called the "end of history conclusion", which believes that the world has developed to the stage of the Western liberal and democratic system, which means the end of human history, and the rest is the West leading the countries of the world to follow the Western path.

Under the influence of these two theories, the United States is pursuing the so-called "value diplomacy", which has made the world very discordant.The United States first invaded Iraq in disregard of the condemnation of the international community, and then promoted the so-called "color revolution" in Georgia, Ukraine, and Kyrgyzstan. It also promoted American-style democratization and liberalization throughout the third world, but the effect was not good.The chaos in Iraq has become the pain in the heart of the US's out-of-control anti-terrorism; the political chaos in Georgia has not yet ended.I have visited both Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan: The Ukrainian elections show that the pro-Russian and pro-Western people are evenly matched. As a result, disputes continue, the country has no peace, and the whole society cannot be harmonious.Kyrgyzstan also quickly fell into endless party struggles, weak social integration, stagnant economy, and the overall level of development lags far behind our Xinjiang region.As for the "value diplomacy" promoted by the West in developing countries, it has led to political turmoil in many countries, intensified racial and ethnic conflicts, and made people's livelihood more difficult.America's reputation in the world has never been worse.

I sometimes think about this question: Why is the United States absolutely unwilling to promote harmony among countries in terms of foreign policy?I have been to the United States no less than ten times, and most of them departed from Europe. I got such a feeling: a big difference between the United States and Europe is that religious forces have a greater influence.Especially after "9.1l", the religious sentiment in the United States became stronger and stronger, and the churches were overcrowded on Sundays. This resulted in a more intensified "missionary spirit" in the United States, which believed that the United States was God's "special choice". country", and it is "only I am orthodox, and everyone else is pagan".Coupled with the "democratic peace theory" and "the end of history" mentioned above, all this finally led to the United States religiousizing democracy and striving to spread the "gospel" of American democracy around the world.As long as this mentality of this superpower remains unchanged, it may be difficult to achieve world harmony.

But looking at human history, the way of thinking "I am orthodox and everyone else is pagan" has led to religious and other wars in Europe for thousands of years, and almost destroyed European civilization.Europeans have finally learned some lessons from it, but many Europeans are still unwilling to give up the so-called "color revolution".The United States does not seem to have learned many lessons.In fact, once any religion or theory, including the democratic model, becomes unique and extreme, it will easily become fundamentalism. If it is imposed on another nation, it will most likely cause resentment and resistance, because it often damages the The collective dignity of a nation, especially if this nation has experienced the bullying of the West and has some unpleasant memory of humiliation towards the West.

Our concept and practice of being kind to others and "harmonious world" have won more friends and reputation for China.A series of international public opinion surveys in recent years have shown that China's international image is better than that of the United States. In the first half of 2005, the British Broadcasting Corporation conducted public opinion surveys in 22 countries on the role of China, the United States and Russia in the world, and affirmed China's role in the world. Only 38% of Americans are positive about the United States, and only 36% of them are positive about Russia.In the same year, the Pew Center, a large American polling agency, surveyed Europeans’ impressions of China and the United States in Europe. The results showed that in major European countries including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, and the Netherlands, people’s impressions of China were better than those of the United States. Impressions of America.For a country that is rising so rapidly, most countries do not feel that it is a threat, but that it is a good thing. This is not easy.In a sense, this is also an affirmation of China's soft power.Of course, we must be clear-headed, because the results of polls will change frequently due to various reasons. After the Western media distorted the report of the Tibet incident in 2008, the results of Western polls on China have changed.In recent years, the United States has provoked the relationship between China and its neighboring countries, which has also caused some changes in the opinion polls of these countries.Therefore, we still need to continue to expand our hard power and soft power. We don't need to be influenced by the ups and downs of the results of international polls.

"Harmonious world" is not only a world view, but also a method.When we interact with the West, we can use this to point out the ignorance of their extremist tendencies.For example, if the West wants to promote democracy in the third world, we can persuade them with good words. Your method is too extreme, and the effect will not be good. Maybe you will shoot yourself in the foot.If you really care about other people's democracy, I suggest you take three steps, first help them develop economy and education, then help them build civil culture and a society ruled by law, and finally they have an internal demand for your democratic system, and then you It's never too late to help others.How can it be possible for someone to do it in one step?The history of your own democratization has come this way.If you want others to learn from you, it is best to let them learn from the "harmonious middle way" method advocated by China. The result will definitely be better than your current method.In fact, moderation (moderation) is also a commendatory concept in the West, which is similar to our "moderate" concept, but once they feel good about themselves, they forget about it, and we can remind them.In the end, only when China, the West, and other countries in the world join hands, learn from each other's strengths, and cooperate sincerely, can we jointly deal with the various severe challenges facing the entire human race and build a more harmonious world.