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Xi's civilization view offers insight into today's world(Xinhua) 08:14, May 17, 2021
Villagers walk in Jiabang terraced fields in Congjiang County, southwest China's Guizhou Province, May 4, 2021.(Xinhua/Yang Wenbin)
"Diversity spurs interaction among civilizations, which in turn promotes mutual learning and their further development," Xi told the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations in May 2019.
BEIJING, May 16 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping has stressed the unique and important role of the world civilizations in his address at the 2019 Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations.
"To meet our common challenges and create a better future for all, we look to culture and civilization to play their role, which is as important as the role played by economy, science and technology," Xi told the audience.
Over the past two years, China's culture and civilization has played an important part in contributing to the world afflicted with COVID-19 and conflicts.
As the pandemic still rages and new challenges arise, people across the world need to come together to promote interaction among civilizations and make joint efforts to build a community with a shared future for mankind.
PROMOTING PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT
As the international landscape undergoes profound changes, Xi's remarks on multiple international occasions, which demonstrate China's view on world civilizations, offer an insight.
File photo shows an Asian culture carnival being held during the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations (CDAC) at the National Stadium, or the Bird's Nest, in Beijing, capital of China, May 15, 2019. (Xinhua/Shen Bohan)
"Diversity spurs interaction among civilizations, which in turn promotes mutual learning and their further development," Xi told the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations in May 2019.
"No two leaves in the world are identical, and no histories, cultures or social systems are the same," Xi told the World Economic Forum Virtual Event of the Davos Agenda in January 2021.
"Diversity is what defines our world and makes human civilization fascinating," Xi told the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference in April 2021.
Russian sinologist Yuri Tavrovsky said he was impressed by Xi's remarks at the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations two years ago.
"The meaning of the speech goes far beyond the cultural scope. President Xi hopes that different civilizations will strengthen exchanges and mutual learning to promote world peace and development," he said.
As humanity has been battling COVID-19 over the past two years, regrettably, the debate of "clash of civilizations" resurges, with some countries forming values-based alliances to provoke ideological confrontation.
At this critical time, Xi's remarks may shed light upon how to understand and handle cultural and civilizational differences.
"The moderate tea drinker and the passionate beer lover represent two ways of understanding life and knowing the world, and I find them equally rewarding," Xi said, using a comparison of tea and beer to explain the diversity and inclusiveness of human civilization.
China's view of world civilizations is rooted in its traditional values of peace, harmony without uniformity, and harmonious coexistence, which have not only shaped its own action model but also added impetus to global efforts to promote world peace and development.
China's view of world civilizations is characterized by equality, mutual learning, dialogue and mutual accommodation. It calls for replacing mistrust with exchange, clashes with mutual learning, and a false sense of superiority with coexistence in order to safeguard world peace and development.
FACILITATING DIALOGUE AND COOPERATION
In March, significant discoveries were made at China's legendary Sanxingdui ruins, which show that the region's ancient Shu state civilization may bear similarities with the Maya in their perception of the universe.
People take a photo of an exhibit at the Sanxingdui Museum in Guanghan City, southwest China's Sichuan Province on April 3, 2021. (Xinhua/Liu Mengqi)
"At the end of the day, man is still man independent of time and space, and what we have is that, at this latitude, both that culture and the Maya looked at the same sky, they had the same stars on the horizon," said director of the Chichen Itza archaeological site, Marco Antonio Santos.
Cultural exchange and dialogue prompt the evolution of human civilization. The ancient Chinese Silk Road, for instance, has played a big role in connecting peoples and cultures over centuries. In this day and age, China's exchanges with other countries in culture, arts, archeology and education go far beyond the past.
As the president of a country with an ancient civilization, Xi has made personal efforts to promote exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations.
