You have full access to this open access chapter. You have full access to this open access chapter, Download chapter PDF. He teaches Chinese development and global shifts, globalization and social change, war and the media. Although the Chinese civilization is highly modernized and has learned from the advanced cultures of the Western civilization in its process of development, the difference is that China has a unique and long history.
Continuity of history, philosophy and code of conduct, which is centered on the Confucian tradition and historically integrated with Taoism and Buddhism, pervades contemporary Chinese politics. One has to know the real China in order to build a benign, peaceful and visionary partnership. That is the minimum requirement. Intellectuals like American historian John King Fairbank and Italian economist Giovanni Arrighi emphasized that China had five centuries of peace from the fourteenth to the nineteenth century, barring a few exceptions, but Europe had only about a century of sustained peace, from to In general, China was not an expansionist nation since ancient times, nor has it promoted an arms race like the West.
Second, peace and peaceful development are an important feature and vision of socialism and a prerequisite for national liberation and development. In modern history, China has been an important force against imperialism and a supporter of the non-aligned movement in the developing world.
Third, peace is the basic principle of contemporary Chinese diplomatic culture. China proposed the Belt and Road Initiative in , which aims to build peaceful relations through exchange, dialogue and mutual understanding. Besides fostering commercial and financial interdependence, it is also a platform to promote political coordination, people-to-people exchanges and mutual understanding among countries.
It was proposed to address inter-regional connectivity issues and covers the whole world. The history of exchanges and cooperation along the ancient Silk Road provides an important cultural foundation for the creation of this initiative.
