Marching Ahead in Exchanges and Mutual Learning

The Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations (CDAC) held last month in Beijing pooled the splendid achievements of civilizations from countries in Asia and beyond together. It provided a platform for those involved to draw wisdom from each other, and on the basis of that to work hand in hand with confidence and implement new ideas towards common prosperity.

However, in an economically globalized world, crises faced by different civilizations also tend to be quickly globalized, represented by various political and cultural crises and terrorist activities. As to the reasons – the lack of mutual respect, the barriers, and the misunderstandings between countries take the blame.

Asia is the biggest continent in the world, and the cradle of human civilizations. President Xi Jinping highlighted the outstanding contribution of Asian civilizations to the whole world in his speech delivered at the CDAC opening ceremony,

“Think of what Asia stands to offer in terms of religion, philosophy, ethic code, law, literature, painting, drama, music, and even the building of towns and villages. They speak volumes for Asia’s profound and proud achievements, extensive systems of social customs, immortal classics that have endured for millennia, fine, exquisite art, and diverse institutions among others. All these offer rich choices for civilizations the world over to draw upon.”

If you take a look at the human history, you’ll be astounded by the fact that the five major religions of Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Taosim were all born in Asia. The majority of the great thoughts now influential worldwide, such as the ultimate care of life, humanism, moral code of conduct, and social justice can also find their deep roots here.

Until 1800, Asia had contributed to more than 70 percent of the world’s economic aggregate.

Then the Industrial Revolution in Europe changed it all. The center of the world shifted from Asia to Europe, and Asia’s splendor was thus gone forever. Not until the 20th century, as the vast majority of Asian countries turned into republics from monarchies or other systems, did rejuvenation finally arrive in the continent. The subsequent Four Asian Tigers (Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, and South Korea) and the Tiger Cub Economies (Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia) in Asia, and today, China and India’s economic surge, are once again injecting vigor and vitality into Asia.

Xi expressed his sincere hope for a better Asia at CDAC, “We Asian people hope that all countries will reject selfexclusion, embrace integration, uphold openness, and work to promote policy coordination, and facilitate connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration, and people-to-people bonds. In this way, we can jointly foster a community with a shared future for both Asians and all humanity.”

To gain development, civilizations intrinsically demand exchanges and mutual learning. Xi said at CDAC, “A civilization can flourish only through exchanges and mutual learning with other civilizations. Such exchanges and mutual learning should be reciprocal, equal-footed, diversified, and multidimensional. They should not be coercive, imposed, onedimensional, or one-way. We need to be broad-minded, and strive to remove all barriers to cultural exchanges. We need to be inclusive towards other civilizations to promote the common development of Asian civilizations through exchanges and mutual learning.”