Beijing Forum

Dear host, distinguished guests, delegates, ladies and gentlemen,

Good evening.

The Beijing Forum (2006) takes the theme “Harmony of Civilizations and Prosperity for All” with the sub-title “Reflections on the Civilization Modes of Humankind”. I think this is an excellent idea.

Under this theme, the Forum has attracted the most prominent scholars from all over the world to come to Beijing and to discuss with Chinese scholars on harmony of all civilizations. This fully demonstrates that Harmony is the greatest concern of all scholars and the common aspiration of all humanity.

The Chinese culture has five thousand years of history and in its long process Harmony has always been the very essence of Chinese culture. As early as 2,500 years ago, Confucius has described the understanding of Harmony of Chinese people in various forms. He said that if the income gap narrows, then there will not be poverty, and if there is harmony between people and people, there will not be reduction of population, and where there is Harmony, there is prosperity and happiness. He also said that if there is Harmony at home, there is happiness, and if there is harmony in the country, there is prosperity and development of the nation. He also suggested to the administrators at that time that if you can give an order that can delight the general public, then you have Harmony.

His student, Mencius, also said as early as 2,400 years ago that if you want to do something, you’ve got to choose the right time, the right place, and the right people. So there is no exaggeration to say that Harmony is fairly implemented in every aspect of Chinese people’s life and Chinese society. Exactly for this reason, when China has won its bid for the 2008 Olympics, we raised this slogan that we’ve go to have a scientific Olympics, a green Olympics, but most important of all, people’s Olympics.

Olympic Games has a long history. As early as the days of its founders, humanity has been one of the most important aspects of its ideal. And it should serve the harmonious development of all societies. However, the 29th Olympic Games, the Beijing 2008 Olympics, is the first one in Olympic movement that takes the people’s Olympics as its very theme. We can say that this is a great contribution of the Chinese people to the development of the Olympic Games. I think this is of great significance, because in today’s world, we still have many concerns, fears and dangers. What’s behind this?

Personally, I think it is attributed to our over-worship to scientific development, economic indexes, and material wealth. No matter it is a person, or a nation, or a country, or even for the whole world, if it is in the under-development of economy, then attention to material wealth would be the most prime one. However, if we achieve development and if there is no shortage of material wealth, then the fundamental concern of humanity should come first.

Different nations, different cultures have different interpretations of the fundamental concerns of humanity. Some interpret it as the God, some others, the Heaven. However, in the eyes of the Chinese people, it is the boundless internal development of a person. To put it more specifically, to properly handle the relationship between man to man, between man and society, and between man and nature, and also between the present and the future, and in the final analysis, it is ethics and morality.

It is important to have dialogues among civilizations, because it does not necessarily have to be clash between various cultures. It is just like that we have different interpretation of the ultimate concerns. The forms might be different, but the purpose is always the same, i.e. to raise a sharp question. That is, what is the final purpose of a person, a nation, or the whole humanity? Is it the boundless pursuit for material wealth, or the pursuit of Harmony among people and Harmony within a person himself? And in this question, it is necessary and important for various cultures and civilizations to have dialogues in order to draw upon the strengths of each other.

The theme of this Forum is obviously focused on humanities and social sciences. And we have to admit that when we are holding this Beijing Forum, that almost in all countries of the world, natural sciences and especially applied sciences are given the top priority, while the humanities and social sciences are somewhat ignored. However, if a country wants to achieve development and wants to give happiness to its people, then we should never ignore humanities and social sciences. Therefore, it is my view that this Forum is a calling for humanity spirit and social sciences. It is an advocacy for human sciences and humanistic approach.

I believe that in your future discussion, you will achieve personal academic development. But most importantly, you may find that the oriental wisdom may offer an answer to many of the questions of today’s world. It is a golden opportunity for us to spread the oriental culture and oriental spirits.

And let us pool together the wisdom of all peoples and societies, and the oriental culture and the western culture that complement each other. In this way, we can create a future-oriented culture that educate people, unite people, and inspire people.

Finally, I would like to wish this conference a huge success and wish you a good time in Beijing.

Thank you very much.