If you look at Chinese culture, and Chinese
culture is
very often presented as one monolithic block,
the so-called 5000 years of unbroken history,
but if you look at this 5,000 years of unbroken history,
it is basically one scattered piece of culture,
in the sense that many
cultural traditions, religious traditions,
philosophical traditions, and so on,
have entered China from the beginning of the
Common Era, roughly speaking,
and have
also changed Chinese culture or have
made Chinese culture what it is,
basically a multi-cultural unity, 
one could say, China is.
And in this sense when we now have this BRI initiative,
this will also have very important
cultural exchanges,
both, from China to the rest of the world or
from the rest of the world, and at first instance 
Central Asia to China.
So, in that sense I would say there is also a 
historical connection there.
Well, it is connected in multiple ways.
One of the ways in which it is connected
is the philosophical, religious content that we
just mentioned.
If you look at Chinese cultural history,
Chinese cultural history is often presented
as being a undivided continuous development from,
well, five thousand years ago,
as is said in China.
But, basically, if you look at
this long history it is a long history
of intercultural contacts.
And these intercultural contacts, obviously,
given the geographical situation of China,
were primarily coming from Central Asia.
It was through Central Asia that lots of
foreign philosophies, religions
have entered China. Buddhism, Islam, Nestorianism,
later on different folds of the Christian faith,
have all entered China through Central Asia.
And Chinese culture on the other hand
has also further  influenced
the peripheral regions, the edges and adjacent regions of China.
So, there has always been a cultural exchange,
predominantly situated in the
Central Asian region,
so in that sense one could say that this BRI, 
the Belt and Road Initiative,
is getting back on these tracks of
or folding in the same folds of this 
historical intercultural exchange.
Another field where you can see, or where you can 
make a comparison with the past,
is the political aspect, in the sense that
through economic contacts basically,
when we speak about the Silk Roads,
the Silk Roads were originally trade routes,
but through these trade routes and 
through the economic
collaboration that has developed between,
again in first instance China and Central Asia,
also political influences have been taking shape.
And this again, of course, if we look at BRI,
will be a an element that is very important there.
And how far does indeed,  as we see,
economic exchange between
China, Central Asia and then
further on to Europe into Southeast Asia,
and how far will that also now bring
along some political involvements and some
changes in geopolitics and global
strategy, and so on.
So these are, I would say, eternal questions 
and in that sense,
the BRI is just a new phase in a globalization
of the world, in which, of course, China
is a very important partner.
Tianxia is a Confucian concept, All Under Heaven,
and it is rooted in the establishment
of the unified Empire in 221
before the Common Era, in the first
Imperial dynasty.
So that unified the then China,
and then shortly after, the first Empire
was a very short-lived one, and in 206
before the Common Era,
when the Han Dynasty,
after which the Chinese are
still called, the Han-people,
when the Han Dynasty was established, they chose
Confucianism as state orthodoxy,
and so the Tianxia concept was basically, took shape
within this period of Han rule.
It was a, it is explained or in
Chinese philosophical texts as a
political concept, one could say part of
Chinese traditional political philosophy,
but again, I would say it is also 
very much rooted in economy
in the sense that, and this is a mere coincidence
again, I would say,
by geography, China as
an agricultural society
was the dominant economic power in East Asia,
and when there is, in some region, 
a dominant economic power,
that means that the
periphery, the adjacent regions
have or are incited to have economic contacts
with this dominant power.
And along with that comes the political influence.
And this is how Tianxia took shape
but we, so Tianxia a gradually became interpreted
as the regions All Under Heaven that are ruled
by the Confucian elites,
and if I say rule, it is not by definition that there was indeed
a representative of a Chinese imperial
government in all these regions,
but it was basically the economic dependence,
that created this concept of Tianxia, All Under Heaven.
We do see, however, that as Chinese history develops,
that this Tianxia  has been constantly reinterpreted,
and while at first the Tianxia concept 
was a very antagonistic concept,
with which I mean, that it was a concept of
we Chinese, with our tradition, with our culture, 
with our rituals and so on,
as being different from the outlying regions.
So, it was an  antagonistic concept,
and when we develop until, roughly speaking,
the 7th century,
then, through Central Asia, China has become multicultural,
and we do see that the Emperors of the
famous Tang Dynasty, so, and then we are
in the seventh century,
that these Emperors reinterpreted
this All Under Heaven concept 
from an antagonistic viewpoint
to a viewpoint of, what you could call, a benign pluralism.
The idea, that China could take care 
of the political peace,
of economic prosperity
of outlying regions
without becoming or without creating 
an antagonistic relationship.
So, a relationship of, to speak in Confucian terms, harmony.
This concept has further developed 
through the times,
and if you look at contemporary China,
in contemporary China we do see a, be it selective,
but we do see a revival of Confucian values
and Tianxia as a political, political-philosophical concept,
is indeed also in Chinese academia, 
gaining renewed interest,
and a new interpretation, 
an interpretation that is again,
as it has always been,
related to China's contemporary 
economic power in the world.
Economic power in the world, of course,
related to that again growing 
political influence of China
in organizations of global governance,
and well, in the world at large.
And so the Tianxia concept in one of the 
interpretations we’re having now,
is that the, for instance,
the state or the structure of the
world in nation states
is something of well, the 19th century,
has outlived itself
and that this nation state idea
is an idea that leads to conflict, 
that leads to interstate wars
so we should overcome that.
And an alternative proposal we see, 
one of the proposals we see,
is that we should now go to the Tianxia 
or a reinterpretation of Tianxia,
meaning that we should look at a way of,
again, the other Confucian concept Harmony,
looking of how it should not be that
for instance, the West is imposing
its normative values
as the sole normative values,
as also very important criterion
for establishing multi or
bilateral relations.
That we should overcome that, that we should
in a Tianxia way, All Under Heaven, 
accept all
visions of normativity in the world.
 And that China has its own normativity
and in this sense, for instance,
one speaks about the Asian values
and that this is a Chinese concept
as important as Western
normative power
and that it should not be
that one is the, that there is not
one interpretation of
normative power, to take again that example.
so that the Tianxia conecept is now reinterpreted, 
one could say, in a very
pluralistic way, a
pluralistic way that would overcome
struggles between nation-states.
And how far of course, this is feasible,
this is desirable, these are other
questions, of course,
but it is one of the interpretations of Tianxia 
we see in Chinese academia now.
Harmony is a Confucian concept
and this is quite interesting,
as we see that contemporary 
Chinese leadership
is increasingly referring to
China's Confucian past.
And we do see a very important shift here,
from, let’s say the, well up to the 1990s,
when the Chinese intellectual elite was
quite easily, one could say, accepting 
European normative power.
Europe was the model
and Europe was the model, let's say, 
since the middle of the nineteenth century,
and we do see that in Chinese intellectual history
since the middle of the 19th century,
there has been or have been many attempts
to take over from the West, what
would be suitable for China.
Now, with economic, political problems 
in the Western world,
the attractivity of the Western economic model
combined with the Western political system,
has become, in the minds of many 
Chinese academia, less attractive,
and they are therefore
referring back to their own past,
to their Confucian past 
and that's where we see,
how concepts such as Harmony, 
the Harmonious World,
and it is kind of an interesting concept,
because there is a 
global aspect to the term,
the harmonious world
how that is reintroduced into 
Chinese political rhetorics nowadays.
So again, I would say, a very selective,
but still a revival of
Confucian concepts.
And that's why it is interesting 
also to see where,
in origin, this term refers to,
because what is a harmonious world?
What is a harmonious society?
Sounds very nice, of course, 
we all want harmony,
but what is that?
And if you look at the Confucian society
as it was in imperial times,
it was basically a society
with a very strict hierarchical order
where harmony,
and the Chinese for
harmony is he
and it is also the he
that is part of the 
modern concept “Heping”,
which is traditionally
translated as peace.
But is it really peace?  
Is it peace in the sense as
in a Western concept,
as we would see peace?
Basically it is not, if you look at he
it is a very much social
concept not a political concept
it is social in origin, social 
in the sense that
it was referring to a society
that is ordered according to 
very strict hierarchy
In which the task of the elite
basically was to provide 
the common people with
basic needs, so that they would not,
they would not call into question
leadership,
this is basically what the
term harmony is.
A harmony that is then
the opposite,
in traditional Confucian texts, of chaos.
And chaos is, when the
population revolts against the leaders.
So, if you look at this concept and the
renewal of the idea
of harmonious society and harmonious world,
I would say, it is
important to analyze it
in the sense of,
would that mean that indeed this new
world order
and the Chinese concept of
the Harmonious World,
would that indeed
be a hierarchical structure,
would that indeed be 
that not all nations are equal?
And we do see, I do not say that every
Chinese academic would agree with that,
but you do see voices in which it is
said that, well you know
China is a big country 
and that is a fact.
China is a big country and should indeed 
take care of
should be higher in the 
hierarchy of nation-states
than small countries.
So, and this again is then interpreted, 
well but this should not be a problem,
because it is as within
a big family,
the older brother takes care
of the younger brother,
so what is wrong with that?
Again, I do not say that
every Chinese political thinker
follows these lines but these are views
that you  see appearing in 
Chinese academic literature.
As a, well, interpretation of 
what is a harmonious world?
I think it is important to
look at China from within China.
With which I mean, we have, and this is
historical development, which is probably
unavoidable
that is, that Western Europe
or the Western world, and taken larger,
that the West has, since the middle of
the 19th century,
being the dominant
economic, political power,
and that from this perspective, this is 
also the perspective
from which we look at others,
in a 
still far too often very patronistic way
and we tend to forget that we are the other
for China.
That now China is the rising power
and that we should, in our
relations with China,
also take account
of the way China perceives us.
We are their others,
and if we do not do that,
this will lead to conflicts, much
more easy.
It is important, especially I would say,
for China,
to look at China
from within,
because the Chinese are traditionally
very much engaged in history.
They know their history, I would
say, generally speaking,
much better than
European political leaders do,
and for them,
the 19th century, 20th century
dominance of Western Europe
was an exception to the general rule.
In Chinese world view, 
China was the dominant power
and this, of course, was in the then world
I mean, they were indeed economic power
of East Asia
and Europe was far away, I mean,
in the earlier times they didn't even know
that Europe exists,
so, but this
reversal, now, of economic 
and political power,
has in China revigorated the idea,
that the world order is now back to its
just order.
That is, with China as
dominant power or at least
as one of the
dominant powers
And China, from this historic respective
wants to be respected as such.
This of course does not mean that we
cannot have discussions, this is,
I would say natural,
that you have discussions.
But recognizing China
as a dominant power and recognizing
Chinese cultural tradition
is something, I would say,
that we tend to overlook.
Which is, of course, again, understandable,
it is also, of course, for
Western Europe
or for the Western world
such a difficult transition
to accept, that we are no longer the only
norm, that we are no longer the only
superpowers, that there is, you know,
competition in the world, and we have to
take that into account.
And for that, I would say,
for young scholars
it is important to
never forget history,
never forget history,
this is,
and I do know that people tend to
forget history, and that history
as a result
repeats itself.
Be it in various ways, 
but
we have to avoid, I would say,
this as much as possible.
Try to get into the mind of
the other,
be part of the other,
do not think in
antagonistic ways,
and in this respect,
I would say, that
if you look in the
political sphere,
it would be important to 
diversify also,
there is more that binds us
or there is more that we have in common,
then that divides us.
Look at a common ground, and
from the common ground
you can overcome the difficulties.
It is a matter, also, of attitude
if you only focus at the difference,
you will never overcome the difficulties.
You can only overcome
antagonism, when you start off
from what you have in common.
And I  think this is important, if you
look at other cultures, other traditions,
to keep in mind,
first look at what is
common and we have more in common
than you might think.
