Draw on the Achievements of Other Civilizations
Chinese civilization respects guests from afar and attaches importance to comparing oneself with others and learning from their strengths. The first chapter of The Analects of Confucius emphasizes the importance of learning and understanding. The book stresses the importance of drawing from the strengths of others with axioms such as "When three people walk together, at least one teacher is always available" and "When we see a man of virtue and talent, we should emulate him." These old sayings underscore the importance of learning from others' strengths.
Historically, Chinese civilization learned, digested, and absorbed many concepts of Buddhism, a foreign religion, to form various schools of localized Chinese Buddhism. Buddhism merged with local Confucianism and Daoism to produce Neo-Confucianism, which later spread to East Asian neighbors and gained dominant influence in the East Asian cultural circle. In the middle of the 16th century, Matteo Ricci and other missionaries ventured to China to spread Catholicism and Western culture. China began to learn from Western culture, an endeavor that has continued for more than 400 years since.
The Chinese civilization excels at drawing on the strengths and essence of other civilizations and integrating them into a whole to create a more brilliant Chinese civilization. Contemporary China, following the principles of inclusiveness and openness, learns from all the outstanding achievements of human civilization like a vast ocean welcoming all rivers, and deepens exchanges and mutual learning among human civilizations to promote the construction of a better world.
借鑒吸收人類一切優(yōu)秀文明成果
中華文明尊重遠(yuǎn)客，重視比較，努力汲取眾家之長。儒家經(jīng)典《論語》首章即強(qiáng)調(diào)學(xué)而知之的重要性。《論語》中還強(qiáng)調(diào)“三人行，必有我?guī)熝伞薄耙娰t思齊”，這些古語都在強(qiáng)調(diào)學(xué)習(xí)他人長處的重要性。
歷史上，中華文明曾經(jīng)學(xué)習(xí)、消化、吸納外來佛教文明，形成本土化的中國化佛教諸流派，佛教又與本土的儒、道教融合，形成了理學(xué)，后傳到東亞，成為東亞文化圈的精神文明。16世紀(jì)中葉，利瑪竇等傳教士來華，傳播天主教與西方文化，中國又開始了400多年學(xué)習(xí)西方文化的歷程。
中華文明善于博采眾長，借鑒吸納其他文明的長處與精華，融會(huì)貫通，自成一體，由此鑄就了中華文明的輝煌燦爛。當(dāng)代中國秉持兼收并蓄、開放包容的理念，以海納百川的寬闊胸襟借鑒吸收人類一切優(yōu)秀文明成果，深化人類文明交流互鑒，推動(dòng)建設(shè)更加美好的世界。
