Closing Remarks to Sino-US Colloquium (VI): A New Type of Major-country Relations and The Roles of Media
Closing Remarks
The Third “Knock”
A New Silk Road
Dr. Patrick C P Ho
Deputy Chairman and Secretary General
China Energy Fund Committee
Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen
I am very much impressed by the depth and candor of the discussions exchanged among the participants in the last two days inside this ball room at the National Press Club.
All along, when Americans looked at China, they saw a fast growing, but always-doing-wrong, full-of-problems China. Its government is operationally rigid, politically closed, and morally illegitimate. Its media are state-run, opaque, and therefore inherently unreliable and untrustworthy. “China needs political and media reform!” they cried.
Chinese regarded such a reading as a rhetorical trap hidden behind a political bias, as American critics have decided a priori what kinds of changes they wanted to see, and only such changes can be called “reform”. In fact, Chinese leaders never hesitated to call for reform. But these reforms may not always suite the Western concepts. Over the past 30 years, from government to media, in every aspect of Chinese society, reforms had never ceased.
Changes in Media and Government: From Tangshan to Wenchuan
I can never forget in 2008, just a few months earlier the Beijing Olympic, when the country was moved by a sudden and devastating Earthquake centered in Wenchuan (汶川), Central China. The efficient rescue efforts touched people around the world when the New York Times reported that China “was better in handling the situation compared to what Washington had done to deal with Hurricane Katrina in 2005”. I was also impressed by the media coverage of this tragedy as it brought back some distant memories about the Tangshan (唐山) earthquake in 1976.
When the Tangshan earthquake hit China in 1976, people had little access to disaster news sources because all the communication channels had been shut down. It took 6 hours for the central authorities in Beijing to learn that the city had been completely leveled and it took days to mobilize the military and start relief operations. Of course, then was the time when the Chinese media were more concerned with the dynamics and aftermaths of the ten-year Cultural Revolution. Most information came to the people by way of rumors and by word of mouth.
In contrast, Xinhua News Agency confirmed the occurrence of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake 20 minutes after the first tremors. 10 minutes later, the China Central Television (CCTV) began live coverage of the disaster on the scene. And just 90 minutes after the earthquake, then Premier Wen Jiabao flew to the earthquake area to oversee the rescue work. Hundreds of journalists including correspondents of the foreign media converged in the damaged areas, and information sharing networks were formed online and even on cell phones, producing unprecedented media coverage.
From 1976 to 2008, form Tangshan to Wenchuan, from the government to media, China has demonstrated what may well be the fastest, most far-reaching national metamorphosis in human history. I do not know what other country in this world, in the past 30 years, has changed its society and the individual fates of its nationals with such magnitude.
Perhaps we should switch position, and look at China from the perspective of 1.3 billion very ordinary Chinese. What do they want? What kind of reform do they seek? What are their priorities in life?
Cultural Differences in Relationship Building
Why is the Chinese story so difficult to understand? Perhaps, we should trace back to the beginning, the social and cultural differences between the East and the West.
The concept of today’s nation state comes from the Peace of Westphalia of 1648 following the Renaissance in Europe. However, China, with 5000 years of history and going through more than 50 different dynasties each with a differing size of governing territory, can best be regarded as a civilization state. “Chinese-ness” of its nationals is defined by the traditional identity, social relation, and cultural legacy.
The Renaissance has brought Humanism into the European society previously dominated by the Church. Whereas western humanism centers on the “self” and emphasizes individualism, oriental humanism focuses on interpersonal relationship which thereby prescribes the essence of a Chinese person.
Throughout much of Chinese history, the fundamental glue that has held society together is the concept of guanxi (关系), relationships among people. A Chinese person is defined by his relationship with the people around him. And the interpersonal relationship and distance is prescribed by a set of values.
Confucius, China's greatest philosopher established a system of ethics, morals, hierarchy and behavior, setting the rules for people dealing with other people. This code of behavior is called “Li” (礼) or the social and ethical norms that guide people to do and say the appropriate things at the right time, manifesting respect and kindness. Li is important because it does not only affect the relationship between people, but dictate the relationship and protocol between countries.
Let me tell you the story of the first Western diplomatic mission to China in 1793. The objective of that diplomatic mission led by George McCartney, the special envoy of King George the Third of England, was to persuade the Chinese Emperor Qianlong (乾隆) to allow more freedom to British traders. The British, however, were puzzled by a custom of paying respect in China at the time.
Chief British envoy George McCartney, wrote, “It is interesting that an ambassador had to kneel down three times and kowtow nine times in front of the Chinese emperor. I would not do so for the sake of Britain’s honor.”
The British were prepared to go down on both knees only in front of God, and they could not understand what the kowtow meant in Chinese rites.
George McCartney had brought with him products representing the most sophisticated science and technology in Britain, and he hoped that the Chinese would not only be interested, but also buy huge quantities of these products. He believed, wrongly, that the dispute over rites was unimportant.
Emperor Qianlong, after learning that the members of the British mission refused to kneel down in front of him, drew the following conclusion: They know nothing about Li and protocol. The ignorant barbarians do not deserve a courteous reception.
George McCartney had failed to open up the market in China he had hoped for, and instead he spent all his time totally preoccupied with matters of protocol and never once got the chance to speak of the goal of his journey. More than 200 years on, much has changed. But the cultural difference is still at issue. In the 21st century, we are still at odds with one another’s custom, rites and respective systems of etiquette that we become so preoccupied with rhetoric that we often lost sight and are rendered oblivious of the real reason for communication.
Zhuangzi, another great Chinese philosopher, once said, “The friendship of a gentleman is insipid as water.” (君子之交淡如水), It may also be translated as “a hedge between keeps friendship green”. Basically it means friendship will last longer by respecting each other's individuality or personal space that is privacy. Chinese gentlemen were taught to speak earnestly but with reservation, to act responsively but not proactively, and to control one’s emotion. No wonder many had observed that Chinese could seldom express themselves the way that westerners do.
Here, the Chinese character of dan (淡), which suggests a kind of blandness, blankness or insipid is a good example of explaining the Chinese concept of friendship and culture. The word is composed of a symbol for water (the three drops on the left) and two small figures representing fire. This idea of bringing opposites into harmony is one of the great characteristics of Chinese culture.
Yes, no matter inside China or among the world, we have different values and sometimes they seem to be contradicting. But we believe those values are not incompatible. Instead they constitute a set of values at the two ends of the spectrum, just like the ying (阴) and yang (阳) of tai chi (太极). The two sets of values operate with one another as two opposing principles in nature complementing and supplementing one another. One will be incomplete without the other.
Therefore, modernization is neither a zero-sum game nor a life and death competition. It is a free zone offering unlimited opportunities for diverse development and mutual cooperation while our respective heritage could be preserved. By combining the strength of the East and the West, we can make possible a multi-polar world order for the modern century.
Perhaps it appears unfathomable that China is a land of great opposites but yet it is a harmonious society? For Westerners, I remembered what John Fairbanks once said: “To truly understand the Chinese thinking, one will have to become a Chinese.” In another words, one can truly understand China only with a Chinese perspective. And for Chinese, as a modest nation which has not been familiar to express openly in the past, perhaps we will need to do some self-reflection, to actively engage with others in dialogues, let ourselves be understood, and tell a China story in ways that could be easily received.
Mutual Understanding and Trust Building
That is why we are here today - to organize a media forum directly engaging our American counterparts in earnest discussions on aspects related to Sino-US relations in an open and honest communications. We are not only making news but making friends.
That is why we are here today. We believe media should and can play a crucial role in promoting mutual understanding of the two countries and diffusing tension when conflicts loom. Media dialogue between China and the United States will be pivotal to promoting communications and understanding leading to a new type of major-country relations which is not only crucial to the two countries, but most pertinent to the entire world.
Media dialogue is indispensable in mitigating and resolving conflicts. But a dialogue is meaningful only when both sides, besides stating their respective positions, also listen to the other’s position so that an understanding of one another’s rights and difficulties can be achieved. But a relationship can only be successful if it is humanized. Understanding with empathy can place us in one other’s shoes and help us realize why and how the other side acted the way it did, and took the decisions it made. Only with this humanizing touch and empathy can the relationship be endowed with respect. Trust must be built on respect; mutual respect of one another’s plight and of one another’s struggle and mission. We can only trust the people we respect, and respect the people whom we trust. With trust and respect, cooperation arrives easily and automatically.
The Third “Knock” – The New Silk Road
Looking back in history, Chinese has built two silk roads to the West. In the Han Dynasty 2,000 years back, we had the first Silk Road on land set out by Zhang Qian offering trades and peace; and in the 15th Century, we had the second Silk Road at sea championed by Zheng He bringing trades and peace. These were the two occasions in which China had reached out to the world wanting to understand and be understood. China knocked twice.
The 21st Century will see us embarking on the third Silk Road. It is the third “knock” by China. The two previous Silk Roads traded tea, silk, spices, exotic fruits, jewelry and gold. The 21st Century Silk Road trades for, apart from creative ideas, views and perspectives, traditions and legacies, it trades values. It exchanges kindness. It offers peace.
This modern Silk Road travels neither by sea nor on land, nor goes from one place to another, but travels through the network of media which uphold social responsibilities to promote the true, accurate, comprehensive, and objective communication among nations and peoples.
This modern Silk Road merges intellects and aligns visions and policies to form alliances in exploring the commonality among cultures and community values.
This Silk Road sees citizens of different cities and countries sharing common aspirations and inviting one another into their dreams that life is celebrated through cultural pursuits, and our people are enchanted by the arts, enlightened by cultural differences and enriched by social diversity.
This Silk Road teaches us to learn with mutual respect that despite our different backgrounds and upbringings, there are some fundamental values we all hold dear, some basic principles we all respect and certain core understanding we all embrace.
The purpose of this Silk Road is not to establish an empire of might but to extend our empire of minds.
A very famous Chinese, Sun Yat-sen, once had this dream: “Once our goal of modernizing China is accomplished, the dawn of a new century will shine upon our beautiful country, and the whole of humanity will enjoy a more brilliant future.”
A not-so-famous Chinese, Patrick HO, also had a dream: “I have a dream. I dream of a cultural China, with ideas and values to inspire humanity. The redefinition of Chinese core values signifies the awakening of a modern humanity, and would eventually lead to another human Renaissance of the modern time.”
As what President Xi Jinping told President Obama at the Annenberg Retreat, the Chinese dream is interlinked with the American dream which is inclusive of the beautiful dream of the people from countries around the world.
This Chinese dream, is not only the Dream of 1.3 billion Chinese over 5,000 years, it is also a World Dream. It is a Dream of Peace under Heaven, and the World as One.
This dream belongs to all of us. It belongs to you, and me.