The common value of all mankind not only embodies the basic value consensus of people from all over the world, but also draws on the wisdom of China’s excellent traditional culture. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized when presiding over the 39th collective study of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee: “promoting the common values of all mankind contained in Chinese civilization”. In the long-term development process of Chinese civilization, a culture with its own national characteristics has been formed, and some universal ideas and values have also been formed, which can provide important inspiration for solving the current problems faced by mankind.
In the process of dealing with relations with different neighboring countries and ethnic groups, and with foreign cultures, Chinese civilization upholds the philosophical wisdom of harmony while differences, seeking common ground while reserving differences. Confucianism, represented by Confucius, put forward the ethical principles of great enlightening significance, namely, “Do not do to others what you do not want to do to yourself”; This principle is reflected in the cultural field, which is to adopt a humble and open attitude to communicate and learn from different civilizations. For example, Buddhism originated in ancient India, and after it was introduced into China, after a long period of evolution, it was integrated with Chinese Confucian culture and Taoist culture, and finally formed a Buddhist culture with Chinese characteristics, and spread from China to Japan, South Korea, Southeast Asia and other places. Many of the classics respected by the three schools of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism are “you have me, and I have you”. For example, the Tao Te Ching is a Taoist classic, an important ideological resource of Confucianism, and a text that many famous Buddhist monks scramble to annotate. Historically, China has had multiple ethnic groups and multiple religions, but no matter how diverse ethnic groups are, they can always be integrated by fate and commonality; no matter how diverse religions are, they can always coexist harmoniously through exchanges and mutual learning. Chinese civilization is a civilization that was born on the land of China, and it is also a civilization formed by continuous exchanges and mutual learning with other civilizations. This provides a reference for promoting countries to work together to maintain lasting peace in the world.
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out at the opening ceremony of the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations: “Benefiting the people and benefiting the people, making peace and enriching the people are the distinct value orientations of Chinese civilization.” The excellent traditional Chinese culture contains a wealth of people-oriented ideas. As early as the Shang and Zhou dynasties, there was a people-oriented concept of “respecting morality and protecting the people”. People’s Thought. The main manifestations of Confucian people-oriented thought are: advocating the value orientation of taking filial piety as the foundation, benevolent government and loving the people, and advocating a political management system that uses both etiquette and law. “Wait. The main manifestations of Taoist people’s thinking are: the idea of advocating respect for the objective laws of nature and natural justice, as well as the principle of political governance that respects public opinion, such as “the sage is impermanent, and the people’s heart is the heart” and so on. Today, the gap between the rich and the poor and the North-South divide are huge challenges facing the world and an important cause of social unrest in some countries. To promote economic and social development, all countries need to realize that development is for the people, development depends on the people, and the fruits of development are shared by the people, not just a small number of people benefiting, and most people not enjoying development dividends; insisting on common development and promoting win-win cooperation, Provide more support to the people of the least developed countries and solve the problem of global development imbalance. The idea of benefiting the people and benefiting the people, making peace and enriching the people inspires us to deeply grasp the true meaning of development. China has proposed a global development initiative, adhered to important propositions such as people-centered, inclusive and inclusive, and responded to the prominent problems facing global development, and vigorously promoted development to better benefit the people.
Today, mankind is facing an increasingly severe ecological environment crisis, and the relationship between man and nature is becoming increasingly tense. To meet this challenge, in addition to environmental governance, we should ideologically correct the misunderstanding of the relationship between man and nature. The idea of Dao, law, nature, and the unity of man and nature in the excellent traditional Chinese culture still has important implications for people today. Nature is the cradle of all living things, including human beings, and is the basic condition for human survival and development. In the long process of agricultural social development, Chinese civilization has deeply realized that human production and life must conform to the laws of natural operation, and gradually formed the ideological concept of “harmony between man and nature”, and pursued the harmonious coexistence of man and nature. This concept holds that man and nature are an organic whole that is interrelated and interacting with each other. If the natural ecology is seriously damaged, all human development will lose its support. The development of subjective initiative must be based on respect and compliance with the laws of nature. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: “Man and nature are a community of life” and “jointly build a community of life on earth”. Protecting the common natural environment of mankind and building a community of life between man and nature is the basis for building a community with a shared future for mankind. Human beings must uphold the concept of a community of life between man and nature, abandon the development model that damages and destroy the ecological environment, adhere to the path of green development, jointly respond to challenges and assume responsibilities, so that human civilization can continue to progress in sustainable development.
(The author is a professor at the School of Philosophy, Wuhan University)