多样的文明，创造世界共同的未来文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/8598.html
Cultural Diversity Leads to a Shared Future for the World文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/8598.html
文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/8598.html
钱乘旦文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/8598.html
Qian Chengdan文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/8598.html
文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/8598.html
习近平总书记指出：“文明因交流而多彩，文明因互鉴而丰富。文明交流互鉴，是推动人类文明进步和世界和平发展的重要动力。”本文从文明演进的角度，试图说明以下两个问题：一是多样性是人类文明最本质也是最重要的属性；二是近代以后，随着现代化与全球化的深入发展，历史日益转变成“世界历史”，多样的文明愈来愈承担着共同的使命，即构建人类共同的家园。文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/8598.html
文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/8598.html
General Secretary Xi Jinping once said, “Cultures become diverse through exchange and rich through mutual learning. Intercultural exchange and mutual learning are important impetuses for the progress of human civilization and world peace and development.” Adopting a perspective of cultural evolution, this article will attempt to demonstrate two points. First, diversity is the most essential and important characteristic of human civilization. Second, accompanying the advancement of modernization and globalization since the advent of modern times, diversified cultures have increasingly assumed a common responsibility – building a shared home for all humanity.文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/8598.html
文章源自英文巴士-https://www.en84.com/8598.html
一
I
人类文明从一开始就是多样化的，多样化体现着文明的本性。联合国教科文组织通过的《保护和促进文化表现形式多样性公约》指出，文化多样性是人类的共同遗产，应该为了全人类的利益对其加以珍爱和维护；文化多样性创造了一个多姿多彩的世界，使人类有了更多的选择，得以提高自己的能力和形成价值观，并因此成为各社区、各民族和各国可持续发展的一股主要推动力。
Human civilization has been diverse since the very beginning, and diversity embodies the essence of civilization. The UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions states that cultural diversity forms a common heritage of humanity and should be cherished and preserved for the benefit of all; that cultural diversity creates a rich and varied world, which increases the range of choices and nurtures human capacities and values, and therefore is a mainspring for sustainable development for communities, peoples, and nations.
最早的文明多是大河文明，大河为人类先祖们提供了交往的便利，正是频繁的交往，包括交换、掠夺、征服与战争，还有通婚、结盟等，为文明的出现提供了可能性。为了生存的需要以及生存得更好，他们总是吸取来自四面八方的新鲜事物，产生出新的思想，因而改变生活的方式。文明是在交往中形成的，没有交往就不会有文明。这让我们知道，文明在它生成的那个时候，一定是多种思想和多种生活状态相互冲击的结果，多样性正是文明产生的必要条件。
The earliest civilizations were largely river civilizations, as major rivers provided a means of convenient interaction between our ancestors. It was frequent interaction, in the form of exchange, plundering, conquest, and war, as well as intermarriages and alliances that made possible the birth of civilization. In order to survive and to live more comfortably, our ancestors constantly sought to learn new things from far and wide to generate new ideas, which changed their way of life. Civilization was formed through interaction, and without interaction, there would be no civilization. This tells us that civilization, at the moment of its birth, was surely the outcome of clashes between different ideas and states of living, and that diversity is a necessary precondition for the birth of civilization.
事实正是这样，早期文明呈现出丰富的多样性。一般来说，世界最早的文明出现在两河流域，而两河流域恰恰是远古人类便利进出、方便往来的一个十字路口，四面八方的人群进进出出、来来往往，最早的文字、宗教、社会分化和国家建构等，的确是发生在这里。远古时期，这里出现过一批地区性的霸权国家，像阿卡德、古巴比伦、亚述、新巴比伦等等都是大名鼎鼎的古代强国。
Early civilizations demonstrated rich diversity. Generally speaking, the world’s earliest civilization appeared in the Tigris-Euphrates Basin, which was a crossroads for the convenient passage and exchange of ancient humans. With a constant flow of people from all directions, it was here that language, religion, social division, and nation building first emerged. In ancient times, it was also here that produced a number of regional hegemons, such as the Akkadian Empire, Babylonia, Assyria, and the Neo-Babylonian Empire, which were all well-known ancient powers.
古埃及在公元前3000年左右就完成了上、下埃及的统一，法老作为太阳神的子孙牢牢地控制着国家，实行神权加王权统治。这样的制度，在世界其他地区尚未见到文明的曙光时，已在尼罗河流域维持了近2000年，其理念和框架基本不变。如此稳定的政治结构，在古代世界实属少见。但这个文明在古希腊人和古罗马人的统治下慢慢解体了，最后融入了伊斯兰世界。
Ancient Egypt completed its unification around 3000 BC, and the pharaoh, as son of the sun god, firmly controlled the country by exercising theocratic and monarchic governance. At a time when civilization had yet to emerge in other parts of the world, this system had already lasted nearly 2,000 years in the Nile Basin, with its principles and framework basically unchanged. Such a stable political structure was rare in the ancient world. However, under the governance of ancient Greeks and ancient Romans, the ancient Egyptian civilization gradually fell apart and eventually became a part of the Islamic world.
印度的情况又不同。印度河流域曾经有过远古文明，后来雅利安人到来，消灭了原有的古老文明，带来了种姓制。在种姓制影响下，南亚次大陆长时间小国林立，政治上相当动荡，但社会结构却高度稳定，一如磐石。种姓制使社会阶层几乎不变，相互关系也几乎不变，因此无论政治上如何动荡，社会状态却是固定的。政治的不统一和社会结构的超常稳定是古印度的显著特色，这种情况使印度次大陆屡遭外来入侵而难以抵抗，直至成为英国的殖民地。
The case of India was different again. There was once an ancient civilization in the Indus Basin, which was later destroyed by the Aryans, who then introduced the caste system. Under the influence of the caste system, there were many small countries clustered around the South Asian subcontinent for a long period of time, which were quite turbulent politically but were highly stable and rock-solid in terms of social structure. As a result of this system, social strata and the relationships between them almost never changed, and therefore, no matter how politically turbulent things became, social conditions remained unaffected. Political disunity and an extraordinarily stable social structure were the distinctive features of ancient India, a state of affairs that rendered the Indian subcontinent powerless to resist frequent foreign invasions before eventually becoming a British colony.
古希腊是欧洲文明的发源地，但希腊文明和前面几个古代文明显著不同。第一，它的源头在地中海东岸，换句话说，“西方文明”起源于“东方”。第二，古希腊也在水边，但那是一片海、而不是一条河，这让希腊人有更广阔的水上活动空间，结果造成了向海外殖民的传统。第三，古希腊以“城邦”为其政治结构，这使它在整个古代世界与众不同，大约200个城邦分割了希腊这块土地，彼此间冲突不断、战争不断，结果，古代希腊城邦文明在历史的长河中一闪而过。古希腊的另一个特点是城邦公民民主制，这被后来的一些人说成是“普世”的。然而需要指出这样一些事实：第一，古希腊是一个奴隶制社会，十分之九的人不是“公民”，并不在“民主”的范围内。第二，在希腊数百个城邦中，伯里克利式的雅典民主是一个特例，在雅典自己的历史上，也只存在了几十年；至于在其他希腊城邦，比如斯巴达，则存在着不同的政治制度。伯罗奔尼撒战争后，人们普遍认为是雅典的制度造成了雅典的失败，而亚里士多德对希腊城邦民主制的负面评价影响了整个欧洲的政治观念。将古代希腊乃至雅典说成是古代世界的“标准”模式，其实是后人的编造。
As the cradle of European civilization, ancient Greece was markedly different from the aforementioned civilizations. First, it originated from the east coast of the Mediterranean, or to put it another way, the origin of Western civilization was actually in the East. Second, ancient Greece was also located near water, but it was an ocean, not a river. This meant that the Greeks had more space for maritime activities, consequently leading to a tradition of colonization. Third, with its political framework based on city-states, ancient Greece was different from the rest of the ancient world. Its land was home to about 200 city-states that clashed and warred with each other constantly, and as a result, the city-state civilization of ancient Greece lasted only a brief moment in history. Another feature of ancient Greece was democracy for citizens of city-states, later claimed by some as a “universal value.” However, the following facts should be noted. To begin with, ancient Greece was a slave society, where nine out of every ten persons were not “citizens” and were certainly not able to live under “democracy.” Secondly, among the hundreds of Greek city-states, Pericles’ Athenian democracy was a special case which only lasted for several decades within the history of Athens. Meanwhile, there were also different political systems that existed in other Greek city-states, such as Sparta. After the Peloponnesian War, it was widely believed that the defeat of Athens was attributable to its system, and Aristotle’s negative comments on Greek city-state democracy influenced the political notions of Europe as a whole. Describing ancient Greece and even Athens as a standard model for the ancient world was in fact a later fabrication.
古代中国发展出了独特的文明，在许多人眼里，它既神秘又难理解。中华文明有多重起源，黄河不是唯一的摇篮。大约在5000多年前，从黄土高原到东海之滨的广阔土地上，已经有众多的文明结合点，这些结合点渐渐融合，最终向统一国家的方向发展。4000多年前，夏已经是一个庞大的地域性国家；至少在3500年前，商朝用文字记录了它的存在；3000年前，周天子用分封制规范了土地的分配形式和社会的等级秩序。分封制出现的时候有它的道理，适合大面积土地的分层管理，但它最终却造成严重的社会解体，战乱延续了数百年之久。有过这一段经历后，秦始皇在公元前3世纪统一中国，统一从此就成为中华古代文明中最珍贵的遗产，它保证了中华文明的绵延不断，保证了国家的永续长存。在世界所有文明中，中华文明是唯一自远古至今未曾中断的一个文明，政治统一是它的保障。
Ancient China developed a unique civilization, which was mysterious and difficult to understand in the eyes of many. The Yellow River was not the only cradle of Chinese civilization, which had multiple points of origin. More than 5,000 years ago, the vast area spanning from the Loess Plateau to the shore of the East China Sea was home to several converging points of civilization. They gradually became integrated with one another, and eventually developed into a single country. Over 4,000 years ago, the Xia Dynasty was already a huge regional nation; at least 3,500 years ago, the Shang Dynasty was keeping written records; 3,000 years ago, the king of Zhou adopted an enfeoffment system to standardize land allocation and social hierarchy. There was good reason for the emergence of such a system as it facilitated the tiered management of large areas of land, but it eventually led to the serious dissolution of society and caused wars lasting hundreds of years. After this historical period, the First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty unified China in the 3rd century BC, and from that moment onward, unity became the most precious heritage of ancient Chinese civilization, as it guaranteed the continuation of our civilization and lasting national development. Among all the world’s civilizations, only China’s has been uninterrupted since ancient times, and political unity has been its guarantee.
除了政治统一这个因素，还有一种强大的思想粘合剂，那就是孔子的学说。孔子生活在严重动荡的时代，战乱不断，他希望回归秩序，恢复和平，因而设计了一套关于秩序的学说，将人和自然都置于其中。这套学说承前启后，倡导和平、反对战争，颂扬公德、斥责私利。几千年来，它一直是中华文明的主要精神载体，在很大程度上保证了中华文明的生生不息。
Beyond political unity, there was a strong theoretical force that bound the country together – the doctrines of Confucius. Confucius lived in an era of severe turmoil and endless war, and longed for the restoration of order and peace. It was for this reason that he created a set of doctrines on order, which dealt with both humans and nature. Building on past achievements to blaze a new trail, the doctrines of Confucius advocated peace, opposed war, upheld public morality, and criticized the pursuit of self-interest. For thousands of years, this remained the main theoretical vessel of Chinese civilization, and, to a great extent, guaranteed the continued progress of Chinese civilization.
文明有两个载体：一是政治的载体即国家，二是精神的载体即意识形态。相比于其他古代文明，中华文明的特殊之处，就在于早在公元前2世纪，中国社会就已将孔子的学说（精神载体）与帝国的结构（政治载体）契合起来，形成了思想与国家的完美对接。在中国几千年历史上，社会稳定和经济繁荣有直接的关系：社会稳定，经济就繁荣；社会动乱，民生就遭殃。孔子的学说之所以成为中华古代文明的核心观念，有其深刻的社会历史根源。
Civilization has two vessels: the political vessel, which is country, and the theoretical vessel, which is ideology. In comparison with other ancient civilizations, the unique feature of Chinese civilization was that as early as the 2nd century BC, Chinese society had combined the Confucian doctrine (the theoretical vessel) with the imperial structure (the political vessel) to realize perfect integration between theory and country. Throughout the several millennia of Chinese history, social stability and economic prosperity have been directly related: social stability has led to economic prosperity, while social turmoil has caused the people to suffer. The reason why the Confucian doctrine became the core principle of ancient Chinese civilization has profound social and historical roots.
相比之下，精神载体与政治载体的结合，在其他文明中就没有那么顺利，比如在欧洲，思想与国家长期不能对接，这对它后来的发展造成极不利影响。如果说在公元前3世纪至公元后3世纪，世界上有两个帝国即汉和罗马，它们分别称雄东西方，均盛极一时，是当时的“超级大国”，那么在“蛮族入侵”后，罗马帝国解体了，西欧进入封建时代，这个时代最大的特点就是国家权力与意识形态分离，所谓“上帝与凯撒各管其事”。中世纪的欧洲与世界其他地区相比落伍了，这以后，东西方文明拉开距离。“东方”几个文明光彩迷人，包括印度、阿拉伯、奥斯曼土耳其，甚至拜占庭都是这样。中华帝国则一枝独秀，按照美国加州学派的估算，在18世纪之前的1000年里，中国的国内生产总值始终世界第一，东方“先进”、西方“落后”的局面长期不变。
Comparatively speaking, integration between the theoretical and political vessels was not so smooth in other civilizations. For example, the long-term failure of Europe to integrate theory with country had an extremely negative effect on its later development. Looking at the period from 3rd century BC up until 3rd century AD, there were two empires in the world, i.e., the Han and the Roman which respectively dominated the East and the West and thrived as superpowers during that time. However, after the Barbarian invasions, the Roman Empire collapsed, marking the beginning of the feudal period in Western Europe. The most distinctive feature of this period was the separation of state power and ideology, namely to “give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” Medieval Europe lagged behind the rest of the world, leading to a widening gap between the civilizations of the East and the West. The East was home to several glorious and fascinating civilizations, including the Indian, Arab, Ottoman, and even Byzantine empires, yet the Chinese empire outshone them all. According to an estimate by the California School, China’s GDP remained the largest in the world throughout the millennium prior to the 18th century, and for a long period of time the East was “advanced” while the West was “backward.”
为什么在这1000多年的时间里，东方始终“先进”、西方一直“落后”？原因其实很简单，那就是西欧的封建制度使社会高度碎片化，缺少凝聚力，处在无穷无尽的动荡和战乱之中。这种情况在中国此前1000多年前就已经历过，秦汉的统一才改变了中国的命运。因此，西方想要摆脱中世纪的落后，就需要整合社会，重新建立统一的国家。这个过程是从西欧中世纪晚期开始的。
Why was the East advanced while the West backward for more than a millennium? The answer is actually very simple: Western Europe’s feudal system meant that its society was highly fragmented, lacking in cohesiveness, and stuck in a state of endless turmoil and wars. More than 1,000 years prior to this, China experienced the same situation, and it was only the country’s unification in the Qin and Han dynasties that changed its destiny. Therefore, for the Western world to escape its medieval backwardness, it had to integrate society and re-establish united nations. This process began in Western Europe during the late Middle Ages.
二
II
文明之光最初出现时，是在无边的黑暗中点亮蜡烛，烛光所及，只照亮周边一小块，其光影孤独。因此，如果在广大的地区只燃起一支蜡烛，这支烛的光亮就很容易被扑灭，风吹雨打而不能经久。只有在相隔不远的地域里连续出现文明的光亮，彼此之间相互辉映，此生彼长，文明才能够延续并成长。所以，不同文明生长点之间的相互支持就成了远古文明维持下来的必要条件，这正说明：交往为文明的出现提供了可能性。
In the beginning, civilization was like a candle lit against darkness, its lonely glow only able to illuminate the immediate surroundings. If a single candle is lit in a large space, it is easily extinguished by wind or rain. It was only when the lights of early civilizations were successively lit across nearby regions and were able to shine brightly together that those civilizations were able to survive and grow. Therefore, mutual support was a necessary condition for the survival of ancient civilizations, indicating that interaction made the emergence of civilization possible.
文明是从“点”开始的，“点”是文明的发源地。通过点与点之间的交流与接触，点就连成面，面再连成片，片继而连接成文明圈。圈与圈之间相互沟通。这是一个从分散到整体的历史过程，从这个过程可以看出：共同的命运意识是从最小的基本单位“点”开始孕育的，以后才越扩越大，最终扩充至全世界。
Civilizations grew out of small areas that we call the birthplaces of civilization. Through mutual exchange and contact, these areas continued to expand until they became culture circles, and different culture circles began to communicate with one another. This is a historical process of isolation to integration, and it shows us that a sense of a shared future was conceived in the smallest areas before expanding to eventually reach all corners of the world.
世界历史从分散到整体、纵向发展和横向发展同步进行的理论，是由中国历史学家最早提出来的，它高度总结了人类历史发展变化的规律性现象，也从历史的角度，论证了人类从分散到聚合、最终连接为整体的过程。
It was Chinese historians who introduced the theory that world history developed from isolation to integration in simultaneously temporal and spatial terms. This theory offers a highly condensed summary of the patterns of historical development and change, and adopts a historical perspective to expound on the process in which humanity developed from isolation to integration and eventually connected to form a whole.
由点到面、由面到片、由片到圈、再到全世界，这就是文明生长的过程。通过这个过程，历经几千年演进，在资本主义形成之前，世界上形成了几大文明圈，主要有东亚文明圈、南亚文明圈、西亚北非文明圈和欧洲文明圈，还有一个文明圈正在形成中，即美洲印第安人正在成长的文明。每一个文明圈都包含着若干亚文明圈或亚亚文明圈，以及更小的文明范式。文明圈、亚文明圈、亚亚文明圈等有共性也有个性，文明的多样性十分明显，由此组成五彩斑斓的世界。那时候，各种文明之间的关系是平等的，尽管它们有可能相距遥远，彼此不了解甚至没有来往，但每一种文明都有自己的特点，不存在哪一种文明高于其他文明的情况。
From small areas to large areas, large areas to culture circles, and from these circles to the whole world – this is how civilizations grow. Through this process and after several millennia of evolution, the emergence of capitalism was preceded by the existence of several major culture circles. These mainly included those of East Asia, South Asia, West Asia and North Africa, and Europe, as well as the budding civilization of American Indians. Every culture circle contained several sub or sub-sub culture circles, as well as even smaller cultural paradigms. These culture circles, sub culture circles, and sub-sub culture circles shared similarities in some aspects yet also maintained their uniqueness; they were extraordinarily diverse, and together formed a riotously colorful world. At that time, relations between different civilizations were equal. Despite the long distances between civilizations, and their lack of mutual understanding or even prior interaction, all civilizations had their own distinctive features, and there was no one civilization that was considered superior to the rest.
资本主义首先在西欧出现，它的出现改变了这个格局。从中世纪晚期起，西欧就开始了重新整合的过程，封建时期碎片化的欧洲按地域整合，形成一个个“民族国家”。民族国家是一种新的国家形态，与世界上曾经出现过的所有“国家”都不同，它以民族共同体作为政治支撑点（政治载体），以民族认同感作为思想支撑点（精神载体），政治载体和精神载体由此结合。在这种国家的扶持下，西方开始了它在近代的崛起，改变了此前1000年东方“先进”、西方“落后”的状态。
This landscape was altered when capitalism first appeared in Western Europe. In the late Middle Ages, a process of reunification began in Western Europe, during which a fragmented Europe under feudalism was unified based on location, forming “nation-states.” The nation-state was a new form of country, and was different from all “countries” that had previously existed in the world. With the national community as its political support (political vessel) and national identity as its theoretical support (theoretical vessel), the nation-state thus combined the political and theoretical vessels. Supported by these nation-states, the West began its contemporary rise, thereby changing the state of affairs in which the East was advanced and the West backward that had existed for more than a thousand years.
这样，从1500年前后开始，世界发生巨大变化，一种新的文明在西方兴起。它以资本和市场为动力，在整个世界无限制地扩张。一种新的意识形态主宰社会，在这个社会中，资本是中轴，工业和商业围绕它旋转，崇拜上帝变成了崇拜金钱，科学和技术是它的工具。“西方中心论”就是从那个时候开始的，“普世”之说也由此而起。普世主义的真正含义是将西方等同于世界，把西方说成是世界的共同方向。由此一来，文明的多样性就不复存在了。
And so it went that from around the year 1500, the world witnessed great changes, and a new civilization emerged in the West. Driven by capital and the market, this civilization expanded across the globe without constraints. A new kind of ideology began to dominate society – capital was the axis around which industry and commerce revolved, worship of God turned into worship of money, and science and technology were the tools of capital. It was around this time that the theory of Western-centrism was introduced, from which the idea of universal values emerged subsequently. The true meaning of universal values is to equate the West with the world, and to make the whole world follow the Western path, which is the death of cultural diversity.
西方的扩张从新航路开辟起，对殖民地的争夺也愈演愈烈。但是当工业革命爆发、资本携带着工业的力量冲向世界时，全世界就都无法抵挡了。经过几百年的争夺，到19世纪末，世界已经被瓜分完毕，西方的霸权终于确立。人类文明自古以来多种并存的局面似乎走到了尽头，一种“文明优越论”随之而生，它将西方文明视为“先进”，将其他文明都斥为“落后”，并且预言：西方文明将一统天下，全世界都将按西方的模式被重新塑造。然而，历史和现实都一再表明，这一观点是错误的。
With the discovery of new sea routes, Western countries began to expand and colonize new lands with increasing ferocity. However, after the Industrial Revolution broke out and capital joined hands with industrial forces to sweep across the globe, the world was powerless to resist. After centuries of struggle, by the end of the 19th century the world had been carved apart and Western hegemony had been established. It seemed that the time-honored system of coexistence between different civilizations had reached its end, and from the ashes emerged the theory of cultural superiority, which regarded Western civilization as advanced and other civilizations as backward. According to this theory, Western civilization would one day dominate the whole world, which would be reshaped in line with the Western model. However, history and reality have repeatedly disproved this theory.
