3

ArticlesSome Keywords in Chinese Historical Thinking:
An East Asian and World Perspective
Chun-chieh HUANG* and Alan T. WOOD**

Preface:

The two authors of this article first became friends more than forty years
ago in graduate school at the University of Washington. Both of us were
inspired by Professor Hsiao Kung-ch’uan 蕭公權, one of the great scholars ofChinese political thought in the twentieth century. At that time, he had retired
from teaching at the University but often visited the campus for colloquia andother events. Although Chun-chieh and Alan’s subsequent careers developedin universities geographically distant from each other, the former at National
Taiwan University and the latter at a new campus of the University ofWashington, we have reconnected later in life and discovered that Professor
Hsiao’s insights into the Confucian tradition have continued to illuminate ourscholarship throughout the years.
Chun-chieh has focused his attention on the impact of the Confucian
thinker Mencius on Chinese political thought, as well as the impact ofConfucianism on the East Asian region in general. Alan has complemented
his scholarship on China with a focus on the world as a whole, trying tounderstand how the lessons of governance revealed by China and by the riseand fall of human civilizations might be applied to the world today. Given theconfluence of our two careers and the challenges of governance faced by theincreasingly interdependent world we live in, we have both found ourselves
returning for inspiration to the well of Confucian humanistic wisdom that has
nurtured Chinese intellectuals for more than two thousand years. This essay is
a discussion of some of the key terms in Chinese historiography in the past,followed by some thoughts on how those terms, as well as the holistic
worldview that emerged in the great intellectual synthesis of Confucius and	  * Chun-chieh HUANG 黄俊傑 is Distinguished Chair Professor of National Taiwan
University.
** Alan T. Wood is emeritus professor of history at the University of Washington Bothell.

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then of Zhu Xi, might be relevant to the great issues of our present age. We
do not claim to have answers. Nevertheless, we believe that China—and Asia
in general—deserves to play a greater leadership role in shaping the twentyfirst century. For two centuries, China has been a mirror to the world,reflecting the ideas and institutions of the outside world. Now the world
needs it to be a lamp, illuminating a path into the future by offering guidanceon global statecraft—jingshi 經世.

1. Introduction: East Asian Historical Thinking and theHistoriographical Tradition

The Chinese historiographical tradition is long, and it stands tall besidethe European tradition. When looking at what qualities most comprehensively
manifest the basic characteristics of East Asian culture and thinking, nothingis more long-lasting than the tradition of historical thinking. Since 841 BCE,
China has preserved documentary historical records, a long, unbroken periodof close to three thousand years. Chinese historians wrote about events inorder to seek principles behind them, just as one follows a wave in order tofind its source. As Zhang Xuecheng 章學誠 (1738–1801) said, “By narrating
events in order to reveal principle, talking about li 理, the events become amodel.”1 The power of Chinese history lay in seeking to blend principle andevents into a seamless whole, one whose value lay in the ability to think
deeply about and extract the hidden meaning of specific historical facts. The
historian Jao Tsung-I 饒宗頤 (1917–) has said, “Historians esteemed talking
about historical events, put great worth on evaluating history based on moral
virtue, and definitely did not promote altering virtue based on history.”2 Over
thousands of years, Chinese historians have upheld innate knowledge,
analyzed ancient events and the rise and fall of generations, passed judgmenton the virtuous and the wicked, punished the wicked and flattered thosealready dead, and revealed the dim light of those with hidden virtue.3
Historians used a giant pen to alleviate the suffering among the people, toconsole the souls of those in history who have suffered, and to make, among
the readers of history, the dishonest honest and the weak strong, in order tostrengthen their resolution and gain control of themselves.
In order to write about the past, present, and future, Chinese historians
1 Zhang Xuecheng 章學誠, “Yuan Dao xia 原道下,” in Yeh Ying 葉瑛 ed, Wenshi Tongyi
Jiaozhu 文史通義校注 (Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, 1994), Vol.2, p.139.
2 Jao Tsung-I 饒宗頤, Zhongguo Shixue shangzhi Zhengtong Lun 中國史學上之正統論(Hong Kong: Longmen Shuju, 1976), p.57.
3 Qian Mu 錢穆, Shixue Daoyan 史學導言 [Introduction to History], in Qian Binsi
Xiangsheng Quanji 錢賓四先生全集 [Complete Works of Qian Mu] (Taipei: Lianjingchuban gongsi, 1998), Vol.32, p.68.

Some Keywords in Chinese Historical Thinking: An East Asian and World Perspective 5

established norms, principles, value judgments, and factual judgments in their
historical works.4 The historical discussions in the writings of Chinese historians from the period of Spring and Autumn became the main current ofChinese historiography. After the narration of important events in the
Zuozhuan 左傳, historians used the form “the gentleman said” to judge themistakes and achievements of historical persons, the causes, and the benefits
and losses of historical events. The Grand Historian Sima Qian 司馬遷(145–90BCE) used “one person’s words” to understand “the changes of thepresent and past,” and in the narration of each palace event, he used the term
“The Grand Historian remarks” to interject his own interpretation of thehistorical record and thereby to join the past and present in a single whole.5
Ban Gu 班固 (32–92), in the History of the Former Han (漢書), put at the endof each narrated entry the word “zan 贊,” or remark; Fan Ye 范曄 (398–445)
used “ping 評,” or comments; Sima Guang 司馬光 (1019–1086), in the
Northern Song, used “I, Guang, say 臣光曰” in weighing historical events andcriticizing the intentions of those in control of events. Twenty centuries later,
the great historian Chen Yinke 陳寅恪 (1890–1969), in the Tangdai zhengzhi
shishu lungao6, used the phrase “Yinke respectfully comments 寅恪案” tomark his own interpretation. All of them were continuing the inherited practices of the historiographical tradition.
The tradition of Chinese historiography also became the model forhistorians in the region of East Asia. For example, in 1145, the supervisor ofwriting the national history, Kim Bu-sik 金富軾 (1075–1150), wrote theSamguk Sagi by organizing a narration of historical events of the three kingdoms of Silla, Goguryeo, and Baekje on the Korean peninsula. This was thefirst work of history on the Korean peninsula.7 It was divided into annals,
chronological tables, treatises, records, and biographies. To the annals andbiographies were often appended remarks to comment on and judge individuals, to embody Kim Bu-sik’s intention of establishing the orthodox transmission of the Silla dynasty, and to express his perspective on events, on
mythology, and on the Bohai region.8 During the Japanese occupation of
4 Chun-chieh Huang 黃俊傑, “Zhongguo Lishi Xiezuo zhong Shilun de zuoyong ji qi
Lilun Wenti 中國歷史寫作中史論的作用及其理論問題,” in Rujia Sixiang yu Zhongguo
Lishi Siwei 儒家思想與中國歷史思維 (Taipei: National Taiwan University Press,
2014), Chap.2, p.55–86.
5 Xu Fuguan 徐復觀, Liang Han Sixiangshi 兩漢思想史 (Taipei: Xuesheng Shuju,
1979), Vol.3, p.321–337.
6 Chen Yinke 陳寅恪, Tangdai Zhengzhi shishu lungao 唐代政治史述論稿 (Shanghai:
Shangwu yinshuguan, 1947).
7 Kim Bu-sik 金富軾 김부식, Samguksagi 三國史記 삼국사기 ( Tokyo: Xuesiyuan
Dongyang Wenhua Yenjiusuo, 1964).
8 Cf. Miaowei 苗威,“Guanyu Jinfushi Lishiguan de tantao 關於金富軾歷史觀的探討,” in6

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Taiwan (1895–1945), the Taiwanese historian Lian Heng 連橫 (1878–1936)
completed his Comprehensive History of Taiwan,9 in which each chapter’s
beginning and end often used the phrase “Lian Heng says” to cover in detailhis concept of ethnic groups and caste.10 The phrase lunyue 論曰 in the
Samguk Sagi and “Lian Heng yue” 連橫曰 in the Comprehensive History of
Taiwan both illustrate the Chinese historiographical tradition and its continuity in Korean and Taiwanese historiography.
However, in judgments of historical facts and the daily events of people
in the Samguk Sagi and the Comprehensive History of Taiwan, the many value
judgments that were applied were mostly hidden and not obvious. In discussions of the value judgments seen in historical documents, historiographicalworks are obviously very diverse; therefore, the key points of Chinese
historical thought most often covered in this essay will focus on the core ofhistorical thinking and on classifying the main categories of historiographicalthinking. The four divisions of this essay are: 1) the purpose of studying
history; 2) the driving force in historical development; 3) the operating lawsof history; and 4) the golden age of history. This article will focus on classifying and analyzing and discussing the meanings of the specific core terms ofhistorical thinking.

2. The Purpose of Studying History: Comprehensiveness andStatecraftIn looking at the ultimate purpose of studying history, and in weighing
historical events, Chinese historiographers have most often applied two terms:
tong 通 (comprehensiveness) and jingshi 經世 (statecraft). Since Sima Qian,or for the past two thousand years of Chinese historiography, the term “tong”
has been a core term. The Grand Historian, in his letter to Ren Shaoqing 任
少卿 (124–202), expressed his intention in writing the Shiji, stating, “Being
humbly ambitious, I have relied on my untalented language, collected lost old
documents from all over, to examine the processes and operations of history,
and to investigate the basic principle of success and failure and flourishingand decline. In these altogether 130 chapters I aim to explore the relationshipbetween heaven and humanity, to achieve a comprehensive understanding of
Shehui Kexue Zhanxian 社會科學戰線, (2012: 3), p.101–108.
9 Lian Heng 連橫, Taiwan Tongshi 臺灣通史[Comprehensive History of Taiwan](Shanghai: Huadong Shifan Daxue chubanshe, 2006).
10 Cf. Chen Zhaoying 陳昭瑛, “Lian Heng de Taiwan tongshi yu Qingdai Gongyang
Sixiang 連橫的《臺灣通史》與清代公羊思想,” and “Lian Heng Taiwan tongshi zhong deminzu gainian: jiuxue yu xinyi 連橫《臺灣通史》中的「民族」概念：舊學與新義,” in her
Taiwan yu chuantong Wenhua 臺灣與傳統文化 (Taiwan: National Taiwan University
Press, 2005), pp.104–124 and pp.125–144.

Some Keywords in Chinese Historical Thinking: An East Asian and World Perspective 7

the changes from ancient times to the present, in order to establish a unified
outlook.”11
The meaning of the term “tong” was maintained continuously by Chinese
historians through successive dynasties. The Tang dynasty scholar Du Yiu 杜
佑 in the Tong dian (801),12 the Southern Song Zheng Qiao 鄭樵 (1104–1162)
in the Tong zhi (1161),13 and Ma Duanlin 馬端臨 (1254–1324/5) in the Wenxian
tongkao14 all used the concept of “tong” to gain a complete knowledge of thecauses of rises and falls in the Chinese historical system.15 From the Tangdynasty Shi tong of Liu Zhiji 劉知幾 (661–721) and the Zizhi tongjian of Sima
Guang 司馬光 (1019–1086) to the Wenshi tongyi of Zhang Xuecheng 章學誠(1738–1801) in the eighteenth century, all upheld the concept of tong in theirvarious histories. Therefore, Ban Gu 班固 (32–92), having divided history into
periods, is not awarded high stature among traditional Chinese historiographers, even to the extent of Ma Duanlin saying that “comparing Sima Qian to
Ban Gu is like comparing a dragon to a pig.”16 Zhang Xuecheng regarded the
Chunqiu as the beginning of Chinese historiography, its purpose to “covercomprehensively the changes from ancient times to the present, so as to makeit one’s own philosophy.”17 We can therefore say that “tong” is the firstprinciple of Chinese historiography, and the most important key term in
Chinese historical thinking.
The second most important purpose in the study of Chinese historiography
was jingshi 經世 “statecraft.” Chinese historiographers industriously gathered
historical material and were inspired not only to have a desire to explain theworld, but even more to have a desire to change the world, and they believedthat the way to change the world was to write works of history that distinguished those who deserved praise and blame, or the worthy and theunworthy, and works that used historical writings and explanations to makethe world a better place.
Sima Guang used the annalistic method to compile the Zizhi tongjian,
11 Sima Qian 司馬遷, “Bao Ren An shu 報任安書,” in Ban Gu 班固, Hanshu 漢書[History of the Former Han] (Taipei: Yiwen Yinshuguan, 1956), juan 62, p.1257.
12 Du Yiu 杜佑, Tong Dian 通典 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1988).
13 Zheng Qiao 鄭樵, Tong Zhi 通志 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1987).
14 Ma Duanlin 馬端臨, Wenxian Tongkao 文獻通考 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1986).
15 Cf. Hok-lam Chan, “‘Comprehensiveness’ (T’ung) and ‘Change’ (Pien) in Ma Tuanlin’s Historical Thought,” in Hok-lam Chan and Wm. Theodore de Bary eds., Yüan
Thought: Chinese Thought and Religion Under the Mongols (New York: Columbia
University Press, 1982), pp.27–88.
16 Ma Duanlin, “Jingji kao 經籍考,” in Wenxian Tongkao (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju,
1986), Vol.2, p.1622.
17 Zhang Xuecheng 章學誠, “Da Ke Wen Shang 答客問上,” in Ye Ying 葉瑛 ed., Wenshi
Tongyi Jiaozhu 文史通義校注, Vol.5, p.470.

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narrating 1,362 years of historical events. Although he never used the term“jingshi,” it is easy to see that he emphasized the practical uses of historiography to exhort and enlighten. In explaining his purpose in compiling theZizhi tongjian, Sima Guang himself said, “I only desired to write about therise and fall of the states, the joys and sorrows of people, so that observers
could select for themselves what they liked or disliked, what worked andwhat failed, in order to protect themselves; it wasn’t like the Chunqiu, to lay
down the rules for praise and blame. It was really to bring order out ofchaos.”18 In his memorial submitted to emperor Shenzong, he echoed thosesentiments: “The Zizhi tongjian principally aimed at chronicling the rise andfall of the states, and was concerned with the joys and sorrows of people, sothat they could take the best as a model, and guard against the worst.”19 In
Zhang Xuecheng’s statement that “the concept of statecraft in historiography
was definitely not empty talk,”20 written in the eighteenth century, one can see
the basic essence of traditional Chinese historiographical works and thesecond main reason for the purpose of the study of Chinese history.

3. The Driving Force in Historical Development: Propensity,
Principle, and Ritual

In Chinese historical thinking concerning the key terms for the motive
forces of historical development, there are three concepts: 1) propensity(shi 勢); 2) principle (li 理); and 3) ritual (li 禮). We will consider these threeterms in order.
1) Propensity (Shi 勢). When Chinese historiographers pondered thedriving force of history, the most important key term was shi, propensity. In
the history of ancient Chinese thought, the concept of shi was divided into
temporal propensity, shishi 時勢, and situational propensity, xingshi 形勢. The
former was concerned with time, and the latter, with space.
Sima Qian in the Shiji often used the term xingshi, as in chapter 17, “The
Chronological Table of the Feudal Lords from the Beginning of the Han”:“[When] the great states of the feudal lords rose to power, the Son of Heaven
was too weak to be able to restore them to order. It was not that his virtue
lacked purity, but that the circumstances rendered him helpless.”21 And in
18 Sima Guang 司馬光, “Weiji (1) 魏紀一,” in Xinjiao Zizhi Tongjian zhu 新校資治通(Taipei: Shijie shuju, 1976), juan 69, p.2187.
19 Sima Guang 司馬光, “Jinshu biao 進書表,” in Xinjiao Zizhi Tongjian zhu, p.9607.
20 Zhang Xuecheng 章學誠, “Zhedong Xueshu 浙東學術,” in Ye Ying 葉瑛 ed., Wenshi
Tongyi Jiaozhu 文史通義校注, juan 5, p.524.
21 Sima Qian 司馬遷, “Hanxing yilai Zhuhowang nianbiao 漢興以來諸侯王年表,” in Shiji
史記 [Historian’s Record] (Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, 1959), Bk.3, juan 17, p.801.
The English translation follows Burton Watson’s translation of the Shiji (vol.1,

Some Keywords in Chinese Historical Thinking: An East Asian and World Perspective 9

chapter 65, “Biographies of Sunzi 孫子 and Wu Qi 吳起”: “Wu Qi said thatthe military lords believed that situational power was not as good as virtue,
so when applied to Chu, by being cruel and tyrannical, they lost their very
bodies.”22 Sima Qian called it one of the driving factors of history, a structural factor apart from any single individual motive, as in economic or
geographical factors, similar to what the English historian Peter Burke(1937–) calls the “collective agency” in Western historical thinking.23
However, Chinese thinkers and historiographers, in talking about historical“situational power,” apart from their focus on objective “collective factors,”
stressed the more active qualities of people in contemporary historical trends.
When Zhu Xi 朱熹 (1130–1200) spoke about the changes from ancient times
to the present, although he said “such-and-such was not done by humanaction,”24 he especially emphasized on the other hand that “only sages areable to find their principle in the midst of constant change.”25 Zhu Xi definitely did not consider individuals to be mere objects ruled by the uncontrollable currents of history. Twenty years after Zhu Xi, the historian Ye Shi 葉適(1150–1223), in examining those who dominated history, also wrote, “Thesages of the past, such as Yao 堯, Shun 舜, Yu 禹, Tang 湯, Wen 文, Wu 武,
Gaozu 高祖, and Guangwu 光武 in the Han, and Taizong 太宗 in the Tang, saw
themselves as using the power of heaven. Although their merits and virtues
were deep, and the results of their rule broad, yet the power of heaven lay
with them and not with circumstances.”26 Ye Shi was similar to other Chinese
thinkers. All stressed the power of individuals in history to control events.
2) Principle (Li 理). The second concept that is most often regarded in
Chinese historical thought as the most commonly used explanation for thedevelopmental forces of history is principle, li. Li was a core term in Chinese
historical thinking. After the rise of neo-Confucianism in the eleventh
century, the term profoundly permeated the later phenomena of Chinese
historical thought. In the Northern Song, Cheng Yi 程頤 (1033–1107),27 alongp.488).
22 Sima Qian 司馬遷, “Sunzi Wu Qi Liezhuan 孫子吳起列傳,” in Shiji 史記 [Historian’s
Record], Bk.7, juan 65, p.2169.
23 Peter Burke, “Western Historical Thinking in a Global Perspective: 10 Theses,” inJörn Rüsen ed., Western Historical Thinking: An Intercultural Debate (New York,
Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2002), pp.15–30.
24 Zhuxi 朱熹, “Gushi Yulun 古史餘論,” in Zhuzi wenji 朱子文集 [Literary Corpus of
Master Zhu Xi], Bk.7, juan 72, p.3639.
25 Ibid.
26 Ye Shi 葉適, “Zhishi 治勢,” in Shuixin Xiansheng wenji 水心先生文集 [Literary
Corpus of Mister Shuixin] (Taipei: Taiwan Shangwu Yinshuguan, 1965 Sibu
congkan chubian suoben), juan 4, p.53.
27 Cheng Yi 程頤、Cheng Hao 程顥, Henan Chengshi yishu 河南程氏遺書 [Surviving

10

Journal of Cultural Interaction in East Asia Vol. 9 2018with Zhang Zai 張載 (1027–1077), used the concept of the principle ofheaven, tianli 天理, to explain the historical traces of Yao and Shun.28
In his explanation of history, Zhu Xi used li (and sometimes dao) to
describe the motive power of historical development. He pointed out thatduring the period of the Three Dynasties 三代 (san dai), it was popular to
attribute the collapse of the Qin and Han to an overflow of emotions; he used
li to gain a complete knowledge of his historical perspective valuing theancient past. Zhu Xi’s use of history to explain li, since it was both a naturallaw and a human standard, was both historical actuality and also a normativeimperative.29 Zhu Xi sometimes saw this motive power of historical development as “the natural power of li.”30
3) Ritual (Li 禮), ritual or ceremony. Sima Guang was a representative of
those Chinese historiographers who took the li of ritual as the motive powerof history. The Zizhi tongjian he compiled narrated the development of 1,362
years of Chinese history, from 403BCE to 959CE. He emphasized that themost important factor in the driving force of history was li. The origin of li
was related to the ceremonies and sacrifices to the gods and ancestors in thesociety of remote antiquity, and it then spread to become the standard norm
for all human relationships. By the Spring and Autumn period (722–481BCE), people had already taken li to be the “basic core of the individualself”31 or the “basic core of the country.”32 The reference to li as “that which
manages the country, establishes the altars to the gods of earth and grain, putsin order the people, and benefits all descendants”33 became the common
understanding of the term during the Spring and Autumn period. The first
historical event that Sima Guang described in the Zizhi tongjian was the

28
29
30

31
32
33

Works of the Henan Chengs], collected in Er Cheng ji 二程集 [Complete Works of
the Two Chengs] (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1981), juan 6, pp.3–7.
Zhang Zai 張載, “ Jingxue Liku 經學理窟 [Explanations of the Learning of Classics],”in Zhang Zai ji 張載集 [Complete Works of Zhang Zai] (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju,
1978), p.256.
See Chun-chieh Huang 黃俊傑, Rujia Sixiang yu Zhongguo Lishi Siwei 儒家思想與中國歷史思維, chap.6, p.184.
Li Jingde 黎靖德 ed., “Yi Gang lu 義剛錄,” in Zhuzi yulei 朱子語類 [Classified
Conversations of Master Zhu], collected in Zhuzi Quanshu 朱子全書 [Complete worksof Master Zhu] (Shanghai: Shanghai Guji chubanshe; Hefei: Anhui Jiaoyu
chubanshe, 2002), Vol.18, juan 139, p.4296.
Yang Bojun 楊伯峻, Chunqiu Zuozhuan Zhu 春秋左傳注 [Commentaries on the Zuo
Commentaries of the Spring and Autumn Annals] (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1981,1990), Vol.2, p.860.
Yang Bojun 楊伯峻, Chunqiu Zuozhuan Zhu 春秋左傳注 [Commentaries on the Zuo
Commentaries of the Spring and Autumn Annals], Vol.1, “Xi Gong shiyi nian 僖公十一年,” p.338.
Yang Bojun, Chunqiu Zuozhuan Zhu, Vol.1, “Yin Gong shiyi nian 隱公十一年,” p.76.

Some Keywords in Chinese Historical Thinking: An East Asian and World Perspective 11

threefold division of Jin 晉 in 403BCE. After narrating events here, Sima
Guang uses the phrase “chen Guang yue” 臣光曰 (Your servant Guang says)
to open his discussion, emphasizing that “there is no greater duty of a prince
than li, with li nothing greater than analysis, with analysis nothing greater than
reputation for integrity—this was the celebrated ‘discussion of analysis andreputation mingfen lun 名分論.’”34 One can say that li was the most important
term in Sima Guang’s historical explanations, whether or not it evolved to
become the dominant form of history.

4. The Operating Laws of History: Dao 道 and Xin 心

In Chinese historical thinking, the terms dao and xin are the mostimportant terms for describing the laws of history.
1) Dao 道: Since the time of the Spring and Autumn period, the term dao,
whether or not it was used throughout the Chinese world, was the standard of
judgment and conduct for the sages and men of virtue to decide whether totake or leave office. Confucius said, “Should the Way fail to prevail, I would
put to sea on a raft,”35 and advised a gentleman to “Let yourself be seen when
the Way prevails in the empire, but keep out of sight when it does not.”36
Confucius believed that “When the Way prevails in the Empire, the rites andmusic and punitive expeditions are initiated by the Emperor”; and if the dao
does not prevail, then “they are initiated by the feudal lords.”37 Zhang
Xuecheng said, “The origin of history is rooted in the Chunqiu; the meaningof the Chunqiu is clearly shown in the way it corrects the composition. The
meaning of correcting the composition was undoubtedly to give laws toheaven and man, and to advocate the great Way.”38 Historical writings
confirm the efficacy of the term dao in history. The Grand Historian Sima
Qian, in writing the biography of Boyi (伯夷列傳), wrote that in conveying thestory of Bo Yi and Shu Qi, he encountered feelings of endless sorrow andregret, raising doubts whether or not there was “a dao of Heaven” inhistory.39
When we get to Zhu Xi’s historical explanations, the term “dao” becomeseven more the operant model for history. Zhu Xi talks about history in the
34 Sima Guang 司馬光, Hu Sanxing zhu 胡三省注, Zhang Yu 章鈺 eds., Xinjiao Zizhi
Tongjianzhu 新校資治通鑑注, juan 1, pp.2–3.
35 D. C. Lau trans., The Analects (Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 1992),
Bk. V, Chap.7, p.37.
36 D. C. Lau trans., The Analects, Bk. VIII, Chap.13, p.73.
37 D. C. Lau trans., The Analects, Bk. XVI, Chap.2, p.163.
38 Zhang Xuecheng 章學誠, “Da kewen shang 答客問上,” in Ye Ying 葉瑛 ed., Wenshi
Tongyi Jiaozhu 文史通義校注, juan 5, p.470.
39 Sima Qian司馬遷, “Boyi Liezhuan 伯夷列傳,” in Shiji 史記, juan 61, p.852.

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Journal of Cultural Interaction in East Asia Vol. 9 2018

Dachen tongfuba: “Ren refers to a specific person, and dao refers to a specificdao—is that not the difference between the periods of the three dynasties, theHan and the Tang?”40 Zhu Xi believed that the dao was the practical law ofhistory, stating, “From ancient times to the present there is only one system;
those who follow it succeed, and those who defy it fail.”41 He furthermore
said that if rulers “significantly lack the dao,” then history would enter into“a kind of primal chaos, human society would collapse, and rise again
another day.”42 Zhu Xi believed that the explanations of Chinese history
demonstrated a kind of “worship of ancient historical outlook,” and that thedao of Yao, Shun, the three kings, Zhougong, and Confucius was neverimplemented in heaven or earth for even one day.”43
2) [Xin 心 heart] The practical principle in Chinese historical thinking
lies in the purity of the ruler’s “heart.” Chinese historiographers were saturated in traditional Confucian thought, believing deeply that to see whether or
not history followed the right path, one must look closely at the “heart” ofthe rulers. Mencius therefore said that one must take “rectifying the evils in
the prince’s heart” as the key task.44 At the end of the Ming and the beginning of the Qing, Wang Fuzhi (1619–1692) created a broad overview ofhistorical successes and failures. In pointing out the practical principles ofhistory, he said that “the qualifications to rule are solely in the heart. If one
uses the heart to govern, then whoever rules cannot avoid benefiting thepeople…Therefore the qualifications of a ruler lie only in the heart, and forma mirror to history.”45 In Chinese historical thinking, history becomes a matterof making concrete the good and evil of the human heart (particularly theheart of the ruler) and the process of its development.

5. The Golden Age of History: The Three Dynasties

In Chinese traditional historical thought has always existed a yearning to40 Zhu Xi 朱熹, “Da Chen Tongfu Ba 答陳同甫八 [Eighth Reply to Chen Tongfu],” inZhuzi Wenji 朱子文集 [Literary Corpus of Master Zhu Xi], Vol.4, juan 36, p.1464.
41 Zhu Xi 朱熹, “Da Chen Tongfu Jiu 答陳同甫九 [Ninth Reply to Chen Tongfu],” inZhuzi Wenji 朱子文集 [Literary Corpus of Master Zhu Xi], Vol.4, juan 36, p.1466.
42 Li Jingde 黎靖德 ed., “Yang lu 揚錄,” in Zhuzi yulei 朱子語類 [Classified
Conversations of Master Zhu], collected in Zhuzi Quanshu 朱子全書 [Complete worksof Master Zhu] (Shanghai: Shanghai Guji chubanshe; Hefei: Anhui Jiaoyu
chubanshe, 2002), Vol.14, juan 1, p.121.
43 Zhu Xi 朱熹, “Da Chen Tongfu Liu 答陳同甫六 [Sixth Reply to Chen Tongfu],” inZhuzi Wenji 朱子文集 [Literary Corpus of Master Zhu Xi], Vol.4, juan 36, p.1458.
44 D. C. Lau trans., Mencius (Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 1984), Vol.1,
Bk. IV, Part A, chap.20, p.152.
45 Wang Fuzhi 王夫之, Du Tongjian lun 讀通鑑論 [Remarks Gathered from a Readingof the Comprehensive Mirror to Aid in Government] (Changsha: Yulu shushe, 1989),
Vol.10, pp.1181–1182.

Some Keywords in Chinese Historical Thinking: An East Asian and World Perspective 13

return to the golden age of antiquity. This is expressed by the term “threedynasties”, which constantly appears in the narrative of traditional Chinese
histories. Confucius made the Xia 夏, Shang 商, and Zhou 周 (the “threedynasties”) into the golden age of China, “He transmitted the ancient traditions of Yao and Shun, and he modeled after and made brilliant the systemsof King Wen and Wu.”46 Confucius often glorified the three dynasties,
comparing them with the period of Spring and Autumn. Mencius, in looking
back on history, regarded it almost as a law of history, saying, “The threedynasties won the Empire through benevolence and lost it through cruelty.
This is true of the rise and fall, the survival and collapse, of states as well.”47
Confucius and Mencius, in discussing the role of the three dynasties in
Chinese historical thinking, often saw them as related to the rise and fall of
the dao. In regarding the three dynasties as the golden age of antiquity in
Chinese historical thought, the historical discussions of Confucians andhistoriographers often treat it as a contrast or counterpoint to the “realworld,” and thus have a “counter-factual” characteristic.48

6. Conclusion on Chinese Historiographical Terms

This essay has thus far discussed and summarized key terms that frequently
appear in Chinese historical narrative and Chinese historical explanations.
According to this essay, Chinese historiographers, in expressing the purposeof studying history, most frequently employed the terms “comprehensiveness” (tong 通) and “statecraft” (jingshi 經世). Ever since Sima Qian, thephrase “to comprehend the changes from ancient times to the present” (tonggujin zhi bian 通古今之變) has been the unresolved goal of Chinese historians.
Therefore, the Tongzhi, Tongdian, and Wenxian tongkao, in systematically
carrying out the above-mentioned principle in writing history, and the Zizhi
tongjian, in using the annalistic method of narrating history, provide a mirror
to the rulers. The fact that Chinese historiography especially emphasized“tong gujin zhi bian” demonstrates that the main goal of writing history wasstatecraft. Chinese historiographers used not only the heart and mind to
explain the world; they also used power to change the world.
Second, with regard to the motive of historical development, Chinese
historiographers also focused on the three terms shi 勢, li 理, and li 禮.
However, although Chinese historiographers admittedly emphasized the
46 Wing-tsit Chan, trans., The Doctrine of the Mean, collected in A source Book in
Chinese Philosophy (Princeton New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1973),
p.111.
47 D. C. Lau trans., Mencius, Vol.1, Bk. IV, Part A, chap.3, p.141.
48 See Chun-chieh Huang 黃俊傑, Rujia Sixiang yu Zhongguo Lishi Siwei 儒家思想與中國歷史思維, pp.115–120, for more reflections on this subject.

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dispositions of shi and li, and the power of structural elements, they did not
believe that these inevitably operated according to some mechanistic law;rather, they emphasized the active agency of individuals, emphasizing thatpeople had free will in order to lead history in a positive direction.
Third, in Chinese historical thought relating to the laws of historicaloperation, the terms most often used were dao 道 and xin 心. Chinese historiographers deeply absorbed Confucian values, believing that in history, thepresence or absence of dao was indicative of order or chaos, and the key
especially was in whether historical figures and rulers preserved xin. All thisshows that Chinese historical thinking was permeated with a strong spirit of
optimism and a foundation of humanism.
Fourth and last, the three dynasties period in Chinese historical thinking
became the golden age that all Chinese historiographers yearned for. Chinese
historiographers often idealized the three dynasties in order to criticize andinstruct real life politics, with the intention of converting the “is” of the realworld to the “ought to be” of the virtuous world. The humanistic spirit of the
tradition of Chinese historiography, and the faith in transforming the world, isfully manifested in this tradition.
From our discussion here of the main terms in Chinese historical thinking,we can see that the aim of Chinese historiographers in writing history, and inwriting about the driving force of history, the laws of historical change, andtheir yearning for the golden age, all manifested how deeply they stressed therole of human action in history. They believed not that people were passive
tools of objective historical forces but that the upright human will wascapable of overturning heaven and earth and of being a solid rock in aconstant stream of historical change. Therefore, in the eyes of Chinese
historiographers, the purpose of studying history was not just to accumulate
historical facts. It was to receive heartfelt inspiration by reading about theancient worthies and past sages and to devote oneself to making the world abetter place, ordering the state, and saving the world.

7. Further Thoughts on the Relevance of the Chinese
Historiographical Tradition for the Future of the World: Three
Periods of Grand Synthesis

This part focuses on how the terms outlined in the proceeding sectionsof this paper might be applied to the challenges facing the current generationof leaders, not only the challenges in China but those in the world at large.
The authors of this essay believe that these terms convey profound wisdom,and that they therefore offer insight into the problems we face today as ahuman community. As discussed above, in the past, the li of principle and theli of ritual were rooted in a belief that the moral laws of human behavior

Some Keywords in Chinese Historical Thinking: An East Asian and World Perspective 15

were modeled on the natural laws of the cosmos itself. When those laws wereignored or violated, then heaven (tian) intervened to punish the evil andreward the good. The historian’s role was to reveal those laws in specifichistorical events so that the future could apply the relevant lessons to practical statecraft (jingshi). The underlying assumption was that nature wassystemic and that its fundamental essence consisted of relationships.
Everything was assumed to be connected to everything else, such that theinternal motivation of the heart (xin) was the key to evaluating external
behavior and judgment. One could not gain a full understanding of any given
phenomenon by looking only at one aspect of it. One had to look at thewhole, at the larger context. One had to be, in short, comprehensive (tong).
To be otherwise was to grasp only a part of the truth.
All these perspectives are immediately relevant to the great questions of
our age today. This section will outline one possible avenue of “making theworld a better place, ordering the state, and saving the world” by looking at
two periods in Chinese history in the past that produced a grand synthesis ofideas and then suggesting that these two periods offer an insight into a
potential third period of synthesis in the future. The first period was the lifetime of Confucius himself and his followers in the Eastern Zhou. The second
period was the neo-Confucian revival of the Northern and Southern Songdynasty (960–1279). We are now on the threshold of a third major period ofsynthesis, this time calling for China to take a global perspective, a perspective that embraces the full expanse of all under heaven, tianxia. All three
periods share one important quality—an existential crisis threatening the very
foundation of orderly life and requiring a re-design of the basic institutions ofgovernance.
First synthesis
The first period of synthesizing renewal—during the time of Confucius
and then of Mencius—gave rise to the basic concepts and terms discussed in
the previous sections. The Eastern Zhou was fraught with constant conflict.
China was divided into hundreds of states, forming and dissolving alliances,competing for power, and falling in and out of war. The bonds of trust necessary for cooperation had broken down. In this world of disorder, the central
preoccupation of doers and thinkers alike was governance: how to re-build astrong and just society in an imperfect world. The key insight of Confucius
and his followers was that all institutions of good governance must be rooted
in the deepest yearnings of the human heart for justice and meaningful
human relationships. Force alone is insufficient for keeping power over a long
period. To be legitimate, as well as sustainable, government had to be built on
a foundation of a shared code of moral behavior, which Confucius identified

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Journal of Cultural Interaction in East Asia Vol. 9 2018as “humanity” (“benevolence,” “reciprocity,” ren 仁). That was a remarkableassertion, given that during his lifetime politics seemed to be far more
focused on force than on moral virtue.
Second synthesis
The second period of renewal occurred in the Song dynasty. Then, as
during the time of Confucius, China was facing an existential threat to theunity of Chinese civilization. In the 740 years from the end of the Handynasty to the beginning of the Northern Song, China had been divided for
574 years (including the period in the Tang following the An LushanRebellion); in other words, for 77 percent of the time, China had been
vulnerable to civil war or to attack and occupation by Central Asian peoples.
Now, in the tenth century, China had been reunified under a new dynasty. The
question was how that unity could be sustained. The first step was to preventthe rise of local military commanders, the jiedushi 節度使, who had undermined the unity of China in the Tang. Song thinkers tackled the problem of
how to centralize power, shi 勢, by advocating a doctrine of zunwang rangyi
尊王攘夷, “revere the ruler and expel the barbarians.” The initial vehicle forthese ideas were commentaries on the Chunqiu, of which the most prominent
in the Northern Song was the Chunqiu zunwang fawei 春秋尊王發微 of Sun Fu
孫復 (992–1057). (In a fascinating example of the relevance of these earlySong thinkers to the larger region of East Asia, the term zunwang rangyi wasborrowed by late Tokugawa reformers in Japan in the nineteenth century to
become the rallying cry of the Meiji Restoration—sonno joi.)
The underlying intention of the Song political philosophers, however, was
not so much to concentrate power in the person of the individual ruler as it
was to centralize the institutions of government into the hands of a highly
educated, morally upright elite imbued with the ethical values of public
service and the wisdom of historical experience. Song thinkers believed
deeply that the strength of China depended on nothing less than the moral
renewal of Chinese society. That moral renewal, in turn, required them tobreathe new life into the Confucian worldview, which in the centuries after
the fall of the Han dynasty had lost its pride of place among the Chinese
literati. Daoism, with its cosmological metaphysics, and Buddhism, with its
complex philosophical speculation on the nature of being as well as suffering,
had come to dominate the intellectual terrain of China. In order to makeConfucianism relevant to their own age, the Song thinkers had to take into
account the perspectives of the Daoist and Buddhist worldviews that hadclaimed the attention of Chinese intellectuals for so many centuries. They did
so not by denying the validity of those two traditions but by affirming them,incorporating their essential truths into a new Confucian whole, a synthesis,

Some Keywords in Chinese Historical Thinking: An East Asian and World Perspective 17

that was greater than the sum of its aggregate parts.
There were many thinkers in the Northern Song who laid the philosophical foundation for this neo-Confucian renaissance. Common to all was adesire to link the terms discussed in the first part of this essay into a single
unifying body of theory, and to do so by drawing on the Daoist and Buddhist
philosophical heritage as well as the Confucian classics. The oldest of thegroup that was to have a transformative impact on this renaissance was Shao
Yong 邵雍 (1011–1077), who was fascinated with the Yijing 易經 (Book of
Change) and its exploration of the relationship between numbers and nature(much as Western thinkers were intrigued by the way in which mathematics—a purely human invention—reveals fundamental patterns in nature).
Others included the brothers Cheng Hao 程顥 (1032–1085) and Cheng Yi 程
頤 (1033–1107), who focused on principle, li, and its connection with heartand-mind, xin, and dao. Zhou Dunyi 周敦頤 (1017–1073) made a central
contribution by borrowing from Daoist cosmology the concept of theSupreme Polarity, taiji 太極, a dynamic and complementary unity of opposites.49 Zhang Zai 張載(1020–1077) also focused on taiji, which he believed
to be the source of all the constituent matter in the universe—qi. Represented
visually by the taijitu 太極圖 (the yin-yang symbol), this concept became oneof the central ideas of the neo-Confucian movement.
These various threads created by Northern Song thinkers were woven intoa single tapestry unifying thought and action by Zhu Xi’s grand synthesis in
the Southern Song. Using the agency of taiji, Zhu Xi joined into a single
whole the two concepts of principle, li 理, and material force, qi 氣, in such a
way that the central Confucian virtue of reciprocity became a manifestationof the basic nature of the cosmos itself. The result was a stupendous intellectual achievement—a synthesis on a scale commensurate with that ofThomas Aquinas (1225–1274) in thirteenth-century Europe. For the next
thousand years, Confucianism once again formed the basis of the culturalunity of China and the standard by which all institutions of governance were
measured not only in China but in the East Asian region as a whole.
In the context of world history, the cultural and political sustainability of
the ideas and institutions of Confucian China is remarkable and unique.
Lasting for two thousand years, and comprehending one-quarter of the earth’s
total population at a time when communication over long distances was soslow as to be virtually non-existent (at least by today’s standards), its genius
49 We follow Joseph A. Adler’s translation here. See his Reconstructing the Confucian
Dao: Zhu Xi’s Appropriation of Zhou Dunyi (Albany: State University of New York
Press, 2014), especially ch.4, pp.111–136. The term has been traditionally translated
into English as the “Supreme Ultimate.”

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lay in its ability to balance opposites over time and to see the world in its fullcomplexity as a system of dynamic and inherently moral relationships. It was,simultaneously, both centralized and de-centralized, unified and divided, topdown and bottom-up, integrated and autonomous, idealistic and realistic,favoring continuity but enabling change, rooted in the past but preparing forthe future, encouraging cooperation but permitting competition. Above all, itbrought life and thought, theory and practice, into a synoptic vision of moral
truth. Everything was related to everything else, and moral responsibility
grew naturally out of seeing the world as a vast network of relationships.
Third synthesis
The third period of grand synthesis in Chinese history is the present, ormore precisely, the immediate future. At the beginning of the twenty-first
century, three major developments have converged, fundamentally changing
the landscape of Chinese—and human—civilization and presenting an existential challenge on the same order of magnitude that occurred in the time ofConfucius and Zhu Xi. First, the massive military power that Europe had
acquired in the Scientific and Industrial Revolutions, and which had been
directed at conquering overseas colonial empires in the nineteenth century,
was in the first half of the twentieth century turned inward on Europe itself.
In two world wars only twenty years apart, Europe essentially self-destructed.
By the middle of the twentieth century, after centuries of global ascendancy,
it was no longer a player on the world scene. The second major development,in the second half of the twentieth century, was that the industrial revolution
itself crossed the Pacific Ocean to Asia. China is now poised to reclaim its
prior status as the main engine of the global economy. India is close behind.
The third major development was globalization itself. Until the relatively
recent past, the technology of transportation, communication, and information
was such that most nations of the world could maintain at least the illusion ofautonomy and independence. Those days, for the first time in human history,
are over. The global scale of the challenges we now face, among the mosturgent of which are climate change, disease, weapons proliferation, migration,and crime, transcend the artificial borders of our nation-states. Now thehuman species is facing an existential challenge to the future welfare of theentire population of the earth, requiring a quantum leap in the level of cooperation on the same order of magnitude as the great institutional transitions of
the past (from hunter-gatherer to village to city to state), this time to a truly
global level of cooperation. Yet the ideas and institutions of governance wehave inherited from the past are no longer adequate to address those challenges successfully. As in the late Zhou and the Northern Song, there is noconceptual framework that can facilitate cooperation among all the competingSome Keywords in Chinese Historical Thinking: An East Asian and World Perspective 19

interests of the existing states. In the absence of a fundamental level of trustthat comes from a shared cultural background, or a shared system of moral
values, or a fair and equitable institution of administering justice, power alone
prevails.
Given our current predicament, and the similarity of the challenges we
confront today to those of the two periods of Confucian synthesis noted
above, are there any insights that could be gleaned from the past to apply tothe present? Drawing from what Chinese historians and thinkers did in the
past—as illustrated by all the terms covered in the first part of this essay—
there appear to be at least three necessary conditions for a sustainable systemof global governance:
1. A unifying goal or system of thought based on evidence that hasuniversal credibility.
2.	A system that is fundamentally moral in order to inspire trust andcooperation.
3. A system capable of reconciling opposites and competing interests—
which are inevitable in both nature and human society—in thecontext of a larger and complementary whole.
No one system of thought now in existence is able to meet all three ofthese criteria to provide a coherent vision for global governance capable ofaddressing the most urgent challenges of the twenty-first century. The dim
outlines of such a truly global worldview, however, may already be lying on
the table in front of us. Modern science certainly possesses the first criterionof universal credibility in the modern world in spite of its lack of the second
and third criteria. Its success in producing the scientific and industrial revolutions has bestowed a mantle of authority enjoyed by no other system ofthought in the modern world. The Confucian worldview, on the other hand,certainly possesses the second and third criteria, and it has demonstrated its
sustainability over the past two thousand years. If so, then the next logicalquestion to ask is whether there is any evidence that these two worldviews,
one from the West and the other from the East, might be combined in a new
synthesis on the same order of magnitude accomplished by Confucius himself
and then by Zhu Xi.
There might well be. For decades, the basic mechanistic paradigm ofWestern science (based on nature, of course) has itself already been moving
in a direction compatible with the Chinese paradigm of yin-yang complementarity of opposites (also based on nature) employed by Zhu Xi to synthesize
Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism. Many sciences are adopting a more
holistic, systems, ecological, and interdisciplinary understanding focused oncomplex relationships and interconnections. The new trend began a century

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ago with quantum physics, when it was discovered that in the subatomic
world, the classical laws of physics do not apply. Within the atom, matter andenergy seem to be entirely complementary, perpetually changing back andforth in such a mysterious way that they are best understood as both matterand energy simultaneously, depending entirely on how they are measured.
Certainty was balanced by uncertainty, objectivity by subjectivity, determinantcause by probability, independent variable by interdependent variable, linear
by non-linear. The core constituent substance of the cosmos, moreover, was
not a static material reality but a dynamic shifting network of relationships.
Quantum physics was thus the first shot across the bow of the mechanistic
perspective that until then had characterized the modern scientific worldview.
Gradually scientists in other fields, in ecology, biology, engineering, mathematics, the cognitive sciences, and medicine, began to notice that nature wascomposed of complex interactive systems whose properties emerged only at
the level of the whole, systems that could not be fully understood byanalyzing the parts alone. The systems perspective has since continued tospread to other disciplines.50 In other words, a major conceptual shift is now
beginning to take place in Western academic institutions, which, for morethan a century, divided human knowledge into isolated silos known as disciplines and focused on them largely in isolation from the insights of otherdisciplines. They did this for perfectly justifiable reasons stemming from theneed to specialize in order to master the vast complexity of that knowledge
base. In doing so, however, they lost sight of the interactions of those parts ina larger whole and are now moving to address that gap in the form of interdisciplinary programs and teams. In essence, science is now discovering aholistic perspective that has been at the core of the Chinese worldview for
thousands of years, one that was most clearly articulated in the Daoist andConfucian concept of taiji. Like the spans of a bridge from two sides of ariver joining in the middle, the two continents of thought, one from the Eastand the other from the West, are now reaching out to each other.
If science is moving toward a more systemic, organic, and holistic
perspective, what about the moral component, the second and third requirements mentioned above for a sustainable system of governance? Given thehuman potential for hatred, violence, cruelty, and self-destruction, how can
one possibly expect people to acknowledge the existence of moral truth?
Does not every society, including China, provide plenty of evidence ofhuman perversity? Certainly. But the real issue is not whether humans can
50 For a more complete understanding of the history of systems thinking, see Fritjof
Capra and Pier Luigi Luisi, The Systems View of Life: A Unifying Vision (New York:
Cambridge University Press, 2014).

Some Keywords in Chinese Historical Thinking: An East Asian and World Perspective 21

become perfect. Rather, it is whether they can become better, able to curb
their selfish desires enough to form cooperative civilized institutions. The
institution of law goes a long way in making that possible. But in the end,
law can only prevent people from doing what is wrong. It cannot inspire
people to do what is right. Only morality can do that. Morality, in turn,comes from realizing that we are related to each other so intimately thatharming someone else is harming oneself, and that benefiting someone else isbenefitting oneself. Morality, in other words, is based on relationships,
starting with the most basic relationship in nature—the love between a motherand her baby. Moral principle is not something imposed from without but
something that grows naturally from within, something that stems from theessential unity of all things and from the need for the interrelated parts of alarger whole to cooperate with each other. That was the core insight ofConfucius, of Zhu Xi, of the Buddha, and of all major religious figures
throughout the human experience. It was behind the northern Song thinker
Zhang Zai when he wrote in the “Western Inscription” the following passage
basing humanistic ethics on the unity of all things: “Heaven is my father andEarth is my mother, and even such a small creature as I finds an intimate
place in their midst. Therefore that which extends throughout the universe I
regard as my body and that which directs the universe I regard as my nature.
All people are my brothers and sisters, and all things are my companions.”51
Science, starting with quantum physics, is now coming around to thatunified perspective as well by focusing on complementary relationships as thebasic principle of all reality, such that subject and object, observer andobserved, matter and energy, are in a mutual and interactive dance—the taiji.
Perhaps that convergence may form the basis for a new synthesis of East andWest that can apply to our own age the li of principle, and carry forward into
the next century Sima Qian’s grand intention “to explore the relation between
heaven and humanity.” Just as Sima Qian’s Shiji was revolutionary in his own
time by expanding historical experience to cover all of the known world, notjust China, we are proposing that the principles of Chinese historiography
covered in the first sections of this essay might usefully be expanded tocomprehend the full expanse of the human prospect and provide the language
for a global humanistic ethics.
Such a synthesis of ideas and institutions now requires the participationof the entire human community. Asia, where 60 percent of the world’s
51 Wm Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom, eds., Sources of Chinese Tradition from
Earliest Times to 1600, 2nd edition (New York: Columbia University Press, 1999),
p.683. “乾稱父，坤稱母；予茲藐焉，乃混然中處。故天地之塞，吾其體；天地之帥，吾 其性。
民，吾同胞；物，吾與也.”

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population lives, must play a leadership role commensurate with its economic
and political stature. A global system of governance that does not incorporate
Asian perspectives and Asian leadership will be neither workable nor sustainable. So what is needed now is a dialogue among Chinese philosophy andhistory, global ethical and religious traditions, and science to develop acommon language of global humanism that will lay the foundation for new
institutions of trust and cooperation that transcend the nation-state and thatcan bring lasting peace to the world, or in the words of Confucius himself—
ping tianxia 平天下.