Interpreting China’s Centrism

 

Interpreting China’s Centrism

 

Agudengba led his donkey and walked on the rugged mountain road when he suddenly saw the tent inn in front of him. When Agudengba approached the tent inn, the owner and his wife warmly received the guests from afar and gave Agudengba milk tea.

While drinking milk tea, Agudengba stared closely at an embroidered thangka hanging on the wall. This thangka turned out to be the famous "General Map of the World", which is a map that puts China at the center. world map.

Agudengba asked the innkeeper curiously:

Why is this thangka embroidered with "General Map of the World"?

The innkeeper smiled and said:

A customer once gave me a Thangka map. I didn’t know what the map was about, but I just thought it was different from common Thangkas, so I hung the Thangka map the customer gave me on the wall. Later, a professor came to my place as a guest. After seeing this map, he told me that it was a "map representing the four barbarians." The "four barbarians" refer to Dongyi, Nanman, Xirong, and Beidi. This is the Han people's disdain for ethnic minorities. It is not appropriate for you to hang this kind of map here. It is easy for people to misunderstand and cause ethnic conflicts. I was very surprised and scared after hearing what the professor said. It was given to me by a Tibetan living in India. So I removed this "Picture of Sibari Representation".

Later, I don’t know how long it took, a few young college students came to me and gave me this embroidered thangka of "The General Map of the World". The students told me that the professor commissioned embroidery and specially gave it to me. So I hung this thangka here.

Agudengba asked the innkeeper:

Why did the professor give you this map?

The innkeeper said:

I don't know his intention. But those college students told me that this map represents the central idea of Chinese culture and politics, that is, the "Greater China Thought." In fact, it is the centralism of China’s geopolitical regime, which is China’s Han culture-centered doctrine. In fact, I still haven’t figured out what Sinocentrism is?

Agudengba said to the innkeeper:

Sinocentrism (English: Sinocentrism), also known as Celestialism, is a concept that believes that "China", including China in the ancient geographical concept and China in the modern national concept, is the civilization center of the world and an ancient Chinese concept. a worldview. The ancient Han cultural circle also regarded Chinese etiquette and customs, national systems, and moral standards as the standards of civilization. However, this concept was not overturned until the late Qing Dynasty when Western powers forcibly opened the country. In fact, during the Middle Ages, many nations, like China, exhibited cultural centrism.

In terms of politics, Sinocentrism is the core of the foreign relations of Chinese dynasties. Words such as "China", "Zhonghua", "Zhongtu", "Four Seas" and "Si Yi" that appear in ancient to modern classics also belong to a certain sense of Sinocentrism.

The area where the Central Plains people live is the center of the world, while the peoples outside China are called "foreign people" or "barbarians". Historically known as the "Four Barbarians", namely Dongyi, Nanman, Xirong, and Beidi.

Under this idealism, China's emperor is the Son of Heaven, China's dynasty is the "Celestial Dynasty" or "Shangguo", while the relationship between other ethnic groups and China is that of tributary and vassal states, and their leaders can only be called kings. In the history of East Asia, except for tribal countries organized by nomadic peoples, there are few examples of small neighboring countries that can challenge China’s diplomatic dominance in East Asia.

In this system, all Chinese dynasties regarded themselves as the center of civilization. Radiating from the center outwards, there are different levels according to the degree of "enlightenment". They include in order: the Fan, Miao, Yi and local chieftains who have lived in the land for generations and guarded the country's borders; the vassals who guard the gates and pay tribute and serve as ministers; outside the vassals is the land of Huawai, and its people are the people of Huawai.

The innkeeper obviously still didn’t understand Agudengba’s explanation.

Agudengba then said:

In ancient China, Dayu used Gaoshan and Luoyang as the geographical and administrative center, and divided the East Asian continent into nine parts, known as Chixian Shenzhou, which later became the Han area. "Yu Gong" has nine states, with Yuzhou in the middle. Luoyang is located in the middle of the Central Plains, so Luoyang and China are often interchangeable.

Luoyang was the central area of the capital of the Zhou Dynasty since the Duke of Zhou and Duke Zhao established Luoyi during the reign of King Cheng of Zhou Dynasty. During the reign of King Wu of Zhou, the Zhou Dynasty's intention to establish its political center in the eastern region had already been formed. Today's Luoyang can be said to be "among the world" in ancient China.

In ancient China, with the royal capital as the center, the places outside the royal territory were divided from near to far into five services, each of five hundred miles, as follows: Dianfu, Houfu, Suifu, Yaofu, and Huangfu. "Serving" means serving the dynasty. With the royal capital as the center, the area within a thousand miles radius was named Dianfu. Dianfu was under the direct jurisdiction of the emperor and belonged to a civilized zone. The rest belong to semi-civilized areas or barbaric areas according to geographical distance, from close to distant.

The innkeeper still seemed to understand but didn't understand.

Agudengba thought for a while and then said:

The system of the Zhou Dynasty was highly praised by Confucius, and the Zhou Dynasty's governance became a synonym for China's national system, and extended to cultural Sinocentrism. In the past, "Zhonghua" referred to the Han nationality at that time, and "Neiyi" referred to the non-Han nationalities who were subordinate to the Tang Dynasty.

In the Song Dynasty, due to the confrontation with the foreign dynasties in the north, the traditional Chinese concept of Huayi changed. The mainstream concept of the scholar-bureaucrat intellectual class about the world, China and the four barbarians also changed from the tianxia doctrine that the whole world is nothing but the king's land. Self-imagined nationalism and resistance to foreigners are manifested in the elaboration and exaggeration of inherent civilization, such as the "orthodoxy theory" in history and the "anti-foreign theory" in Confucianism. They are all highlighted from various angles, or in other words, It re-constructs the civilizational boundaries of the Han center and rejects the invasion and penetration of foreign or heretical civilizations.

Then the innkeeper's wife laughed:

I couldn't understand anything the gentleman said. Could you please make it simpler.

Agudengba smiled and said:

Do you know that the Chinese say that they are the "Chinese nation"?

The boss’s wife said: I have heard of it, but I don’t know what Huaxia means.

Agudenba said:

Xia represents the greatness of etiquette. Hua refers to the beauty of the clothes. Clothing and etiquette are often used to refer to civilization. Hanfu is the traditional clothing of the Han people based on the Han people in the Central Plains. Centered on Chinese culture, it is mainly reflected in several aspects such as clothing, customs, food, and language. The Chinese calendar started from the Xia Dynasty, so it is also called the Xia calendar. In Chinese history, traditional Chinese characters were mainly used in formal occasions.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, foreign religions were introduced into China, which aroused resistance among some Chinese people. After the failure of a series of foreign wars in the late Qing Dynasty, the so-called Sinocentrism was no longer glorious. The Westernization Movement and the Reform Movement of 1898 appeared in China. In layman's terms, the gap between China and Western countries is getting wider and wider. Some experts and scholars advocate total westernization. Chinese nationalism has also evolved from emphasizing China's superiority to striving for national equality, dignity and rights during the May Fourth Movement. Chinese officials once de-emphasized China-centrism and instead focused on seeking common ground while shelving differences and mutual assistance on an equal footing. China actively developed economic cooperation and equal diplomatic relations with neighboring countries, and proposed the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence as its diplomatic policy.

Agudengba met the innkeeper and his wife who still seemed not to understand his narration, but said casually:

Today's China once again advocates the revitalization of the Chinese nation and the realization of the Chinese dream. Maybe, you also know.

The boss's wife laughed and sang an impromptu song "Chinese Dream":

 

I'm singing

you are singing

Our songs ring around the world

Revitalizing China is the Chinese dream

Chinese dream, Chinese dream

We pursue our dreams and embark on a new journey

 

you are singing

I'm singing

Our singing shocked the world

A strong country and rich people are Greater China

Chinese dream, Chinese dream

Follow the lead of dreams and move forward