When Civilizations Dialogu e
By Shi Yongming
The upcoming Asian civilization dialogue conference aims to promote exchanges and understanding
The author is an op-ed contributor to Beijing Review and a senior expert on international studies
The Asian civilization dialogue conference to be held in Beijing in May will explore the importance of cultural exchanges and mutual learning.
分时间来看，上海与全国平均水平的差距在日益缩小，表明全国的基本公共服务投入在不断增加；浙江的基本公共服务投入水平与时间的相关性并不明显，即使投入的服务不足，也没有与全国水平差距太大，说明浙江的均等化水平较好，发展较为均衡；比起其他两地，江苏投入相对不足，但有逐年递增的趋势，说明均等化进程有了较大的进展。
Proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping,the conference aims to promote exchanges and dialogue among different civilizations and development models. The participants include state leaders, heads of international organizations and representatives from various fields of humanities.
“We should encourage different civilizations to respect each other and live in harmony so that exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations will become a bridge promoting friendship among the peoples of the world, an engine driving the progress of human society and a bond cementing world peace,” Xi said at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris in March 2014.
A prominent issue facing the changing modern era is how to build a global civilization system in the context of deepening economic globalization. The international community needs to deeply ponder the issue of civilization so as to find the right direction for the future development of human society.
A relative concept
To this day, there is no clear definition of the word civilization. According to A History of Civilizations written by Fernand Braudel, the word first appeared in the mid-18th century,meaning the process of becoming civilized as opposed to the state of barbarism.
东北四省区节水增粮行动项目水资源论证管理工作的实施，探索了农业灌溉项目水资源论证工作技术政策与管理经验，为开展国家水资源论证管理立法、加强全国农业节水灌溉项目水资源论证工作管理闯出了一条新路。
In many other cases, however, interaction among civilizations was achieved through conflict. The spread of modern Western civilization relied mainly on conquest by force. The Western conquest of the world has brought two innovations, namely, globalization and modernization. For Asian countries, traditional cultures are thus challenged. Almost no Asian country has rejected these innovations but they have been challenged as to how to synergize them with their traditional cultures. The dif ficulties in these cultural synergies lie to some extent in differences in cultural structures, but mainly in self-centered Western interventionism, which deprives people of the right to construct their own civilizations and turns the process of mutual learning into a kind of obedience, which is harmful for all.
For example, during the Tang Dynasty(618-907), China sent Xuanzang, an eminent Buddhist monk, to India to study Buddhism. Japan dispatched envoys to China to learn Chinese culture during that same period. This shows Asian countries conducted cultural exchanges in a civilized way in history. Of course, the true meaning of civilization is not simply copying from others, but re-creating after learning.
例6 将一定量的镁铝合金样品分成两等份,一份加入足量NaOH溶液中,充分反应后,收集到标准状况下气体6.72L;另一份加入到足量稀盐酸中,充分反应后,收集到标准状况下气体11.2L。则原合金样品中镁的质量为( )。
Along with a material one, human beings also created a spiritual civilization, the focus of which is social construction. The development of civilization consists of material production capacity that satis fies the needs of human beings and the social construction ability that leads to harmonious and happy lives. The two aspects complement each other and propel each other in the direction of harmony and happiness.Thus, the essence of civilization is the continuous progress of human beings with pursuing happiness as the core. There is no inevitable con flict among different civilizations; instead, there is a driving force for mutual integration. The factors that lead to conflict are precisely based on the reality that we are not that civilized.
Historically, the development of human civilization has been uneven. This imbalance is not only manifest in the difference in time, but also in geographical distribution. The relative isolation of some geographical environments and language barriers have led to cultural differences,which is a manifestation of civilization. In spite of this, there is almost no civilization that is isolated from the world or that can rely solely on its own development.Absorbing and learning from foreign cultures is an important step in the development of various civilizations.
Civilization is the targeted progress of human beings. The essential nature of a specific civilization refers to the material and spiritual wealth created by humanity for its own survival and development, which is a representative feature of human beings.
Learning from others
As a unique accomplishment of humanity, civilization began with the manufacturing of tools, indicating that humans had begun to break away from their natural existence to become intelligent creatures seeking self-existence. The historical progress of humanity parallels the development of civilization,while the manufacturing of tools reflects the improvement of human cognition and creativity.
Musicians from Kazakhstan play traditional instruments during the opening ceremony of the 2016 Silk Road International Expo in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, on May 13, 2016
An Indian yoga teacher with her students at the Yunnan Minzu University in Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan Province, on April 27, 2017
The European alphabet was created by ancient Egyptians, traveled through Greece and Rome, and finally was introduced to the rest of Europe. Learning what already exists is much easier than creating something new;this simple truth shows that a civilization that is willing to develop is also willing to learn from others. Therefore, mutual learning among different civilizations is a natural occurrence, but something that may be more common in Asia.
While inspiring the Japanese to learn from modern Western civilization, Yukichi Fukuzawa, a famous Japanese intellectual,also pointed out that the wars initiated by Western countries are barbaric acts.Therefore, he suggested, when learning from Western civilization, Japan must make innovations instead of being satisfied with what it learns. But ironically, Fukuzawa, along with many others in the country who were inspired by his ideas, learned from the elements of barbarism displayed by Western civilization and embarked on a path of militaristic aggression and expansion.
Even today, Western civilization tends to use force to solve problems and exercise power politics in the international arena. This is the biggest problem human civilization has encountered in its development.
Downside of interventionism
The concept of civilization has an absoluteness that shows that the social governance system of human beings has developed to a certain extent. However,since civilization is the opposite of barbarism, its connotation is relative. That is, a specific form of civilization usually carries the limitations of its times. It may be a civilized society compared to the society before it, but it may very well be a barbaric society in comparison to the society that comes after.
2．范围更广，更加难以抗拒。正如哈贝马斯所说:“当今的那种占主导地位的，并把科学变成偶像，因而变得更加脆弱的隐形意识形态，比之旧的意识形态更加难以抗拒，范围更加广泛，因为它在掩盖实践问题的同时，不仅为既定阶级的局部统治利益作辩解，并且站在另一个阶级一边，压制局部的解放的需求，而且损害人类要求解放的利益本身”。［10］(P69)科学技术在国家干预的推动下，成功的渗透进政治、经济、社会、文化等各个领域，成为一个巨大的帷幕，笼罩着整个资本主义世界。
After World War II, with the establishment of the United Nations, the construction of human civilization entered a new stage of economic cooperation based on sovereign equality, cultural diversity and social development. However, the Cold War led to estrangement and rivalry among some countries in Asia.
小规模限制性在线课程（Small Private Online Course，SPOC）这个概念最早是由加州大学伯克利分校的阿曼德·福克斯教授提出并使用的。SPOC中的Small与Private是相对于MOOC中的Massive与Open而言，Small是指学生规模相对较少，一般在几十人到几百人，Private是通过对学生设置限制性学习的准入条件，达到要求的申请者获得批准，才能被纳入SPOC教学课程[2]。单纯的MOOC平台教学显然无法直接应用于地方高校，因此，地方高校开展SPOC混合教学模式成为当代教学改革的一种趋势与选择。
With economic globalization after the Cold War, the cooperation momentum in the Asian region was enhanced. But mutual recognition is still obstructed by several factors. The clash of civilizations and values as well as geopolitical conflicts in the international community have posed many problems for cooperation among Asian countries.
The common issue facing Asian countries is how to develop their own countries.The process of modernization is not merely about economic development, nor is it a simple process of upgrading the superstructure, which may involve a cultural transformation as well. Since modernization features Western civilization at its core, it still contains the barbaric factors Fukuzawa once pointed out.
Asian countries need to absorb the essence of human progress, discard the dross,carry forward the fine traditions of their own civilizations, and walk their own path of mutual learning and re-creating. Promoting dialogue among Asian countries is a joint effort to re-create civilization and build a bright future for all.
样品为神威药业集团有限公司生产的人参配方 颗 粒（ 批 号 ：1504213、1504213、1504214、1603212、1603214、1603215）、红参配方颗粒（批号：1502210、1502216、1502213、1605210、1605211、1605212）、西 洋 参 配 方 颗 粒（批 号 ：1501233、1501234、1501235、1604211、1604212、1604216），经薄层色谱法鉴别及含量测定均符合药典规定。
Copyedited by Rebeca Toledo
Comments to yulintao@bjreview.com
标签：CIVILIZATIONS论文; IMPORTANCE论文; XI论文; Jinping论文; Beijing Review论文;