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World
Print Edition> World
UPDATED: April 12, 2010 NO. 15 APRIL 15, 2010
On Civility and Civilizations
The European vision of multipolarity and the Chinese vision of a harmonious world indicate a path toward a world of equilibrium
By DAVID GOSSET
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Despite the obvious dissimilarities between Francis Fukuyama's post-Cold War essay The End of History and the Last Man (1992) and Thomas Friedman's bestseller The World Is Flat (2005), they introduce a world where growing techno-economic interdependence leads to political, cultural and intellectual convergence.

Globalization, however, is a paradoxical process wherein connectivity does not entail the fusion of cultures but, to a certain extent, underlines what differentiates them.

If the complexities and realities of the 21st century international reality neither provide a uniformly post-historical and integrated system, nor do they mean that—in reference to Samuel Huntington's terminology—civilizations must clash. Rather, they must coexist—not as distant objects of curiosity but as close neighbors.

In such a context, the Sino-European disposition toward complexity, compromise and negotiation is more apt than America's posture of being the world's self-proclaimed leader.

In a re-interpretation of the Greek concept of cosmopolitanism, Ghanaian author Kwame Anthony Appiah suggests that universality and difference are not mutually exclusive.

Indeed, to a certain extent, the formation of Europe has been, on the scale of a relatively small continent, an attempt to realize the ideal of cosmopolitanism. In the 18th century, European society was a concrete reality: Its elites spoke French without abandoning their particular identities.

In fact, one can still peruse 182 letters that Pushkin (1799-1837), the founder of modern Russian literature, wrote in flawless French! The EU continues Europe's effort to balance universality and difference. In the words of the Lisbon Treaty, which now structure the continent's political life, the 27 EU member states agree that "the European Union shall respect its rich cultural and linguistic diversity, and shall ensure that Europe's cultural heritage is safeguarded and enhanced."

China's intellectual tradition developed the concept of datong—or grand union—as its own version of cosmopolitanism. The grand union refers to a moment of conciliation where "the public and common spirit rule all under Heaven." It remains China's highest political ideal.

After his visit to Europe in 1919 and a direct contact with the Western realities, Liang Qichao regrettably had to admit that "one has to recognize that it is as yet too early to hope for the grand union and that, for the time being, nations will not disappear."

Liang Qichao, as a genuine Chinese humanist, on the other hand, did not relinquish the universal when he added, in the same context, that "we hope that the talents of every individual in the nation can be expressed so that they can make the greatest possible contribution to the betterment of universal civilization."

In The Analects, Confucius presents a gentleman who values more the universal than the particular—while the inferior does exactly the opposite. Confucius also states that harmony does not mean assimilation or uniformization.

European cosmopolitanism and the Chinese grand union envelop the necessary balance between universality and difference—their modern expressions, multipolarity and harmonious world, that is, indicate the path toward a world of equilibrium.

A true world civilization would grow from constant dialogue, exchanges and cross-fertilizations between the ancient traditions, while doing much to flatten their depths or to reduce their differences. It would also mature, owing to their experiences and wisdoms, through an endless conversation.

The author is the director of the Euro-China Center for International and Business Relations at the China Europe International Business School, Shanghai, and founder of the Euro-China Forum

(The viewpoints in this article do not necessarily represent those of Beijing Review)

 

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