Doctrines of Eastern Culture

Confucianism is a profound and rich doctrine that contains basic views and requirements for the state, society, family, nature and human beings. However, what Confucianism ultimately pursues is a realm with "benevolence" as its core, "virtue" as its foundation, "propriety" as its norm, and "harmony" as its goal. Harmony" is the goal. Therefore, a constant feature of Confucian culture throughout the centuries is "harmony".

"Harmony" is the essence of Confucianism.

"Harmony is the right way of heaven and earth," "There is no greater virtue than harmony," and "Harmony is the most precious of rituals, and the way of the late kings is the most beautiful.

The first meaning of "harmony" is the harmony between human beings, "the timing of heaven is not as good as the geographical advantage, the geographical advantage is not as good as the harmony of human beings," "the harmony of human beings" is in a prominent position.

The value of "and" lies in the harmony between man and nature, "the unity of man and nature" emphasizes the harmony and unity of man and nature, indicating that man should ultimately comply with the laws of nature.

The embodiment of "harmony" is the practice of "the middle way", "do not do unto others what you would not have them do unto you".

The realm of "harmony" is "harmony but difference". The idea is not to "harmonize" for the sake of "harmonization", but to "harmonize without flowing", and if necessary, to "seek common ground while reserving differences".

The foundation of "harmony" is "benevolence". It emphasizes a people-oriented, benevolent government. Ancient Chinese politicians took "the old man's peace, the friend's trust, and the young man's favor" as the ideal of governance.

"Harmony" is extended to foreign relations, advocating "being kind to one's neighbors", "being neighborly with virtue", and "being pleasant to those near and pleasant to those far away". "

Overall, the essence of "peace" is to accurately grasp the balance between different complex things, coordinate various interests, synthesize different opinions, resolve complex conflicts, and ultimately achieve harmony. The historical origin of China's independent foreign policy of peace is also steeped in the long-standing peace concept of Confucianism. China has declared that it will not participate in military alliances and arms races, will not seek spheres of influence, will not set up military bases overseas, opposes the proliferation of nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction, advocates the complete prohibition and thorough destruction of nuclear weapons, and is committed to unconditionally refraining from the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear countries and nuclear-weapon-free zones. China has put forward the peripheral diplomacy policy of treating one's neighbor as a good neighbor and keeping one's neighbor as a companion, as well as the peripheral diplomacy policy of good neighbor, peaceful neighbor and rich neighbor. In its diplomatic practice, China has emphasized and mainstreamed cooperation, seeking peace through cooperation, promoting development through cooperation and solving problems through cooperation. To this end, China has actively promoted the Six-Party Talks, mediated for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and for peace and stability, and put the nuclear issue on the track of dialogue and negotiation.

Under the new circumstances, the new leadership of China, with Hu Jintao as its general secretary, on the basis of summarizing its internal and external experience so far, has put forward the idea of building a harmonious society internally and a harmonious world externally, stressing the need to develop itself by striving for a peaceful international environment, and at the same time to promote world peace through its own development. Making the striving for internal and external harmony the basic goal of our internal and external policies is not only the promotion of the essence of China's 5,000 years of excellent history and culture, but also consistent with the focus of China's socialist system, the trend of the times, the direction of the progress of human civilization, and the fundamental interests of all peoples of the world, and has received wider and wider understanding and support from the international community.

Today's China, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the entire Chinese people are working together to achieve prosperity and concentrate on construction. China's rapid development and modernization have brought benefits not only to the Chinese people but also to the people of Asia and the world. At the same time, China is also facing many new contradictions and problems in the midst of rapid changes. Based on the concept of putting people first and ruling for the people as well as the scientific development concept of sustainable development, the new central leadership has put forward the idea of establishing a harmonious society, committed to the five harmonizations between economic growth and social development, between cities and villages, between the coasts and the central and western parts of the country, between human beings and nature as well as between domestic and foreign countries, with the goal of establishing a society that is characterized by democracy and the rule of law, fairness and justice, honesty and fraternity, dynamism, stability and order, and where human beings and nature live in harmony. The goal is to build a society in which democracy and the rule of law, fairness and justice, honesty and love, vitality, stability and order, and harmony with nature prevail. Looking around the world, globalization and informationization are accelerating, and social prosperity and progress can be seen everywhere. However, localized wars and conflicts, huge disparities between the rich and the poor, environmental and ecological crises, as well as terrorist activities are still threatening people's lives at any time and any place. In this situation, more and more people are thinking about the relevance of Confucianism and Eastern culture, which pursue harmony, to solving contemporary world problems. The proposal to establish a harmonious world will help countries in the immediate vicinity to live in friendship with each other, different social systems to live in peace***, and different civilizations to exist in harmony***, thus contributing to peace and development in the region and the world.

China and Japan are part of the same Eastern culture, and each has made important contributions to the formation and development of Eastern culture. As two major cultural systems influenced by Confucianism, the two cultures have both similarities and differences, but the main point of ****similarity is that both sides attach importance to "peace" and emphasize the status and role of "peace". In order to practice "harmony", both sides also emphasize "trust" and "a man cannot stand without trust, and a country cannot be peaceful without trust". When Sino-Japanese diplomatic relations were normalized, Premier Zhou Enlai said, "Words must be faithful, actions must be fruitful," and Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka replied, "Faith is the foundation of all things," demonstrating the vital importance of mutual understanding and trust to the development of Sino-Japanese friendship. This "and" spirit to the implementation of Sino-Japanese relations, is to inherit and carry forward the fine tradition of interaction between the two countries, mutual respect, mutual reference, enhance understanding, abide by the commitment to promote Sino-Japanese relations on the track of healthy development as soon as possible.

Expanding this spirit of "harmony" to the revitalization of Asia means that countries of all sizes should be equal, enjoy mutual benefits, develop together and open up the future through cooperation.

The spirit of "harmony", when applied to the advancement of human civilization, means respecting the diversity of development models, seeking democratization of international relations, promoting the formation of a just and reasonable international order, and ultimately building a harmonious world.

Today, mankind is in the midst of a period of rapid social change, and it is a wise choice for all countries to meet the challenges of globalization by going back to their roots, promoting tradition, learning from each other, and pioneering and innovating. Confucianism, as part of the world cultural heritage of the Orient, also needs to be continually abandoned, to learn from others' strengths and to advance with the times. Let us carry forward the fine traditions of Oriental culture, succeed our forefathers, benefit future generations, and strive to make our children and grandchildren live in a more peaceful, friendly and prosperous world.