Speech at the Commemoration of the 2,565th Anniversary of Confucius' Birth 

Xi Jinping at the Confucius Anniversary Commemoration: "Chinese Communists Are Not Historical Nihilists"


Xinhua, September 24, 2014. Translated by Vero Publishing from the Chinese text. Classical quotations are explained in the translator's notes at the end.

Today (the 24th), Xi Jinping attended a gathering at the Great Hall of the People commemorating the 2,565th anniversary of the birth of Confucius and delivered a speech. Xi pointed out that Chinese Communists are Marxists who adhere to the scientific doctrine of Marxism and uphold and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics, but that Chinese Communists are neither historical nihilists nor cultural nihilists. We have always held, he said, that the basic tenets of Marxism must be closely integrated with China's concrete realities, that we should take a scientific attitude toward our national traditional culture and toward the cultures of all other countries, and that we should arm ourselves with all the fine intellectual and cultural achievements created by humankind.

The full text of the speech, as released by Xinhua, follows.

Speech at the Opening of the International Academic Symposium Commemorating the 2,565th Anniversary of the Birth of Confucius and the Fifth General Assembly of the International Confucian Association

September 24, 2014

Xi Jinping

Distinguished guests,

Experts and scholars,

Ladies and gentlemen, friends:

"Is it not a joy to have friends come from afar?"[1] Today, guests, experts and scholars from China and around the world have gathered in Beijing for the International Academic Symposium Commemorating the 2,565th Anniversary of the Birth of Confucius and the Fifth General Assembly of the International Confucian Association. This meeting is a grand occasion for the world's Confucian scholars and for the international academic community. Let me begin by offering my warm congratulations on the opening of the meeting and my sincere welcome to all our friends!

The theme of this meeting, "Confucianism: World Peace and Development," reflects a humanistic concern for the future of the world and the destiny of humankind. It is a topic of great practical significance.

Peace and development are the themes of our times, and the two great questions on which the happiness and well-being of every people depend. People everywhere want to live in peace and harmony, and hope that war and violence will be kept far from humankind. People everywhere also want to live in security and health, and hope that hunger and poverty will be kept far from humankind. Yet the real world is not as fine as people would wish. Local wars keep breaking out one after another, poverty and hunger remain widespread, and continual warfare and extreme poverty still threaten the lives and survival of great numbers of people. Many women and children in particular are still struggling in the shadow of war and poverty. When we think of these unfortunate people, our hearts are filled with sympathy and a sense of responsibility. The international community should join hands to safeguard world peace and promote common development. Only then will there be hope for peace and hope for development.

Safeguarding world peace and promoting common development call for action on many fronts and by many parties working together, and one very important aspect is to establish the idea of peaceful development in people's minds. In March this year I visited UNESCO headquarters. A sentence engraved in many languages on a stone tablet in front of the building made a deep impression on me: "Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed."[2] These words make good sense. I believe that firmly establishing a love of peace in people's hearts plays a vital role in achieving peace.

The Chinese nation has always loved peace, and the love of peace has deep roots in Confucian thought. Since ancient times the Chinese have esteemed such ideas of peace as "harmony among all nations," "to be close to the benevolent and friendly to one's neighbors is a treasure of the state," "within the four seas all men are brothers," "a distant relative is not as good as a near neighbor," "kin wish kin well, and neighbors wish neighbors well," and "however great a state may be, if it loves war it will perish."[3] The love of peace is deeply embedded in the spiritual world of the Chinese nation, and it remains today a basic principle in China's conduct of international relations.

From the outbreak of the Opium War in 1840 to the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the Chinese nation suffered foreign invasion and internal turmoil on a scale rarely seen in the world, and the Chinese people endured unprecedented suffering. At one point the nation stood on the brink of subjugation and extinction. In the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression alone, the Chinese nation paid the heavy price of 35 million casualties. Having endured long years of suffering in modern times, the Chinese people understand better than anyone how precious peace is and how important development is. The Chinese people know well that peace is as essential to humankind as sunlight and air; without sunlight and air, nothing can live or grow.

"Do not impose on others what you do not wish for yourself."[4] China needs peace and loves peace, and is willing to do its utmost to safeguard world peace and sincerely help those who still suffer the torments of war and poverty. China will unswervingly follow the path of peaceful development, and it hopes that all countries will follow that path too, putting the idea of peaceful development into their policies and actions.

Ladies and gentlemen, friends!

This year marks the 2,565th anniversary of the birth of Confucius. The Confucian teachings he founded, and the Confucian thought that developed from them, have had a profound influence on Chinese civilization and are an important part of China's traditional culture. Together with the other schools of thought and culture that arose as the Chinese nation took shape and grew, Confucian thought records the spiritual activity, rational reflection and cultural creation of the Chinese nation in its age-old struggle to build its homeland. It reflects the spiritual aspirations of the Chinese nation and has been an important source of nourishment for its continuous life and growth. Chinese civilization has not only profoundly shaped China's own development but also made a major contribution to the progress of human civilization.

The formation and development of China's traditional culture, and above all of the thought at its core, passed through several broad historical periods: the contention of the Hundred Schools of Thought in the pre-Qin era, the flourishing of classical studies in the Han dynasties, the vogue for metaphysical "Dark Learning" in the Wei, Jin and Northern and Southern dynasties, the coexistence of Confucianism, Buddhism and Daoism in the Sui and Tang, and the development of Neo-Confucianism in the Song and Ming.[5] From this historical process spanning more than two thousand years, we can discern several features. First, Confucian thought and the other doctrines in Chinese history stood in a relationship of both opposition and unity, competing with and borrowing from one another. Although Confucian thought held the dominant position for a long time, it always coexisted with other doctrines in a state of harmony without uniformity. Second, Confucian thought and the other doctrines all changed with the times and adapted to circumstances. They kept developing and renewing themselves in response to the needs of China's social development and the advance of the times, and so they have had lasting vitality. Third, Confucian thought and the other doctrines all upheld the principle of practical statecraft. They valued the educative and civilizing function of culture and combined the moral cultivation of individuals and society with the governance of the state, so that each supported and advanced the other.

Historically, the fine elements of traditional Chinese thought and culture, Confucian thought among them, have played a vital role in many respects. They enabled Chinese civilization to take shape and continue for thousands of years without interruption. They helped form and preserve China's political unity, and helped build and consolidate China as a great family of many ethnic groups living in harmony as one. They shaped and enriched the national spirit, inspired the sons and daughters of China to defend their national independence and resist foreign aggression, advanced the development and progress of Chinese society, and helped balance social interests and social relations.

In today's world, human civilization has made enormous progress both materially and spiritually; in particular, today's material abundance would have been utterly unimaginable in the ancient world. At the same time, humankind today faces many acute problems: the gap between rich and poor keeps widening, the pursuit of material things runs to unbridled extravagance, individualism swells unchecked, social trust keeps eroding, ethics and morality are in decline, and the relationship between humanity and nature grows ever more strained. To solve these problems, we need not only the wisdom and strength that humankind has discovered and developed today, but also the wisdom and strength it has accumulated and stored up over its history.

Some perceptive people around the world believe that China's fine traditional culture, including Confucian thought, holds important insights for solving the problems humankind faces today.[6] Examples include the ideas that the Way follows nature and that heaven and humanity are one; that the world belongs to all and that a world of Great Harmony is the goal; that one should strive unceasingly for self-improvement and bear all things with great virtue; that the people are the foundation, and that the people should be kept secure, made prosperous and made happy; that government should rest on virtue, for to govern is to be upright; that one should renew oneself daily, discard the old and establish the new, and keep pace with the times; that one should keep one's feet on the ground and seek truth from facts; that learning should serve practical ends, knowledge and action should be one, and one should practice what one preaches; that one should pool the wisdom of the many, spread benefits widely, and draw on collective effort; that the benevolent love others and one should establish oneself through virtue; that one should treat others with sincerity, keep faith and cultivate good relations; that officials should govern honestly and serve the public diligently; that one should live frugally and shun extravagance; that one should value balance, harmony, seeking common ground while setting aside differences, harmony without uniformity, and living in harmony; and that one should not forget danger in times of safety, ruin in times of survival, or disorder in times of order, but be mindful of danger in times of peace. The rich philosophical thought, humanistic spirit, ideas of moral education and ethical values of China's fine traditional culture can offer useful enlightenment for people seeking to understand and transform the world, useful insights for governance, and useful inspiration for moral development. Those elements of traditional culture that are suited to ordering social relations and encouraging people to strive upward and toward the good should be inherited and carried forward in light of the conditions of our times, and given new meaning. I hope that scholars from China and other countries will exchange views and learn from one another to study this subject well, so that China's fine traditional culture, together with the fine cultures of all other countries, can benefit humankind.

Human civilization has a history of several thousand years. Every country and every nation has arrived at the present by carrying forward the past and opening up the future, and the world has become what it is today through exchange and fusion among the various civilizations of humankind. Promoting exchange, fusion and mutual learning among civilizations is the only way to make the world more beautiful and the lives of people everywhere better.

How to treat correctly the civilizations of different countries and nations, and how to treat correctly traditional culture and present-day culture, is a major question we must handle well. In my view, we should adhere to the following principles.

First, preserve the diversity of world civilizations. "That things are unequal is their very nature."[7] Harmony without uniformity is the law by which all things arise and develop. All things in the world differ from one another and display endless variety. If everything were of one color, the development of things and the progress of the world would come to a halt. The civilization of every country and nation is rooted in its own soil and has its own distinctive character, strengths and merits. We should preserve the diversity of civilizations among countries and nations, and strengthen exchange, mutual learning and mutual borrowing among them, rather than estranging, excluding or supplanting one another. Only then can the garden of world civilizations be filled with a riot of colors and teem with life.

Every one of humanity's many civilizations has its own value. We should handle rationally the differences between our own civilization and others, recognize that the civilization of every country and nation is unique, seek common ground while setting aside differences, learn from others' strengths to offset our own weaknesses, and refrain from attacking or disparaging other civilizations. We should not take offense simply because another civilization differs from our own, and then try by every means to remake or assimilate it, or even seek to replace it with our own. History has proved time and again that any attempt to resolve differences between civilizations by force will not succeed, and will instead bring disaster to the civilization of the world.

Second, respect the civilizations of all countries and nations. Civilization, and thought and culture above all, is the soul of a country and a nation. No country or nation that fails to cherish its own thought and culture, and loses that soul, can stand on its own feet. Every country and nation should cherish and preserve its own thought and culture, and should also recognize and respect those of other countries and nations. The thought and culture of different countries and nations each have their own merits. They differ as flowers of different colors differ, not as higher differs from lower or better from worse. The thought and culture of every country and nation, whether strong or weak, large or small, deserve recognition and respect.

To stress recognition of and respect for the achievements of one's own civilization is not to shut oneself off, still less to claim one's own as the only one that counts, as if to say "this is the only shop, there are no branches."[8] Every country and nation should learn modestly and draw actively on the strengths and essence of the thought and culture of others. This is an important condition for strengthening the self-respect, self-confidence and self-reliance of its own thought and culture.

Third, learn from other civilizations in the right way. Civilizations become richer and more colorful through exchange and mutual learning. Every civilization, whatever the country or nation in whose social soil it arose, is fluid and open. This is an important law of the spread and development of civilizations. Over its long evolution, Chinese civilization has drawn rich nourishment from its exchanges with other civilizations and has also made important contributions to the progress of human civilization. The opening of the Silk Road, the many envoys from Japan who came to China in the Sui and Tang dynasties, the journeys of Faxian and Xuanzang to the West in search of Buddhist scriptures, Zheng He's seven voyages across the oceans: all are vivid examples of exchange and mutual learning between Chinese and foreign civilizations. Confucianism was originally a Chinese learning, but it long ago went out into the world and became part of human civilization.

"To study alone without friends is to be narrow and ill-informed."[9] We should take an attitude of learning toward all the civilizations created by human society, whether the ancient civilizations of China, Greece, Rome, Egypt, Mesopotamia and India, or the Asian, African, European, American and Oceanian civilizations of today. We should actively absorb what is useful in them, so that the fine cultural genes in all the civilizations humankind has created are adapted to contemporary culture and in harmony with modern society. We should carry forward the fine cultural spirit that transcends time, space and national boundaries, has enduring appeal and holds value for our times. In learning from one another, we should proceed from the actual conditions of our own country and nation, take the strengths of others to make up for our weaknesses, choose what is good and follow it, and be broadly inclusive. But inclusiveness does not mean swallowing things whole without discrimination or being unable to make up one's mind. It means discarding the dross and keeping the essence, eliminating the false and retaining the true.

Fourth, take a scientific attitude toward cultural tradition. Only by not forgetting history can we open up the future; only by being good at inheriting can we be good at innovating. Fine traditional culture is the root from which a country and a nation are passed on and developed; to discard it would be to sever one's spiritual lifeline. We should be good at uniting and closely combining the promotion of fine traditional culture with the development of present-day culture, developing as we inherit and inheriting as we develop.

In its formation and development, traditional culture was inevitably constrained and influenced by the limitations of the knowledge, historical conditions and social systems of its time. It therefore inevitably contains things that are outdated or have become dross. This requires that in studying, researching and applying traditional culture, people make the past serve the present and bring forth the new from the old, making the right choices in light of new practice and the needs of the times, rather than carrying everything wholesale into the present and applying it mechanically. We should make the past serve the present and use the past as a mirror for the present. We should treat tradition with discrimination and inherit it critically, taking what is good and discarding what is not, rather than exalting the past over the present or using the past to condemn the present.[10] We should strive for the creative transformation and innovative development of traditional culture, so that it blends and connects with present-day culture and together they serve the task of our times: educating and cultivating people through culture.

Ladies and gentlemen, friends!

"Writing is the vehicle of the Way," and culture is the means of civilizing people.[11] Contemporary China is the continuation and development of historical China, and contemporary Chinese thought and culture are the heritage and sublimation of traditional Chinese thought and culture. To understand today's China and today's Chinese people, one must gain a deep understanding of China's cultural bloodline and an accurate grasp of the cultural soil that nourishes the Chinese people.

Studying Confucius and Confucianism is an important way to understand the national character of the Chinese people and the historical origins of their spiritual world today. In the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, the Confucians, the Legalists, the Daoists, the Mohists, the Agriculturalists, the Military Strategists and other schools of thought debated with and stimulated one another, creating the great cultural spectacle of the contention of the Hundred Schools and enriching the spiritual world of the Chinese people of that time. Although Confucian thought later held the dominant position in Chinese thought and culture for a long time, Chinese thought and culture continued to develop in many directions and forms. These schools of thought embody the worldview, outlook on life, values and aesthetics that the Chinese nation formed and passed down from generation to generation in production and daily life, and their most essential content has become the most fundamental cultural gene of the Chinese nation. These fundamental cultural genes are the distinctive marks, setting the Chinese nation apart from other nations, that gradually took shape as the Chinese nation and people cultivated themselves, ordered their families, governed the state and brought peace to the world;[12] respected the times and kept to their proper place; understood the constant and mastered change; unlocked the nature of things to accomplish their tasks; and achieved great deeds.

The ideals and struggles of the Chinese people, and their values and spiritual world, have always been deeply rooted in the fertile soil of China's fine traditional culture. At the same time, they have kept renewing themselves day by day and advancing with the times as history moves forward.

Chinese Communists are Marxists who adhere to the scientific doctrine of Marxism and uphold and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics, but Chinese Communists are neither historical nihilists nor cultural nihilists.[13] We have always held that the basic tenets of Marxism must be closely integrated with China's concrete realities, that we should take a scientific attitude toward our national traditional culture and toward the cultures of all other countries, and that we should arm ourselves with all the fine intellectual and cultural achievements created by humankind. In the long historical practice of leading the Chinese people in revolution, construction and reform, Chinese Communists have always been faithful inheritors and promoters of China's fine traditional culture. From Confucius to Sun Yat-sen, we have taken care to absorb what is positive and nourishing.[14] The Chinese people are now working to achieve the Two Centenary Goals. The term xiaokang, "moderate prosperity," in the goal of completing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects, comes from the "Evolution of Rites" chapter of the Book of Rites, and describes the ideal state of society that the Chinese nation has pursued since ancient times.[15] Using the concept of xiaokang to set China's development goals both fits the reality of China's development and is easily understood and supported by the broadest masses of the people.

In short, only by advancing from history toward the future, and by forging ahead while carrying on the bloodline of our national culture, can we do well in the work of today.

Ladies and gentlemen, friends!

"Review the old to learn the new."[16] Knowledge includes both the knowledge passed down by our predecessors and the knowledge created by people today. The knowledge passed down from the past accumulates humanity's historical understanding of and experience in handling the relationships among the individual, society and nature. The knowledge created today embodies the wisdom and exploration with which people respond to the problems of their times. Both kinds of knowledge are vital as humankind carries forward the past and opens up the future.

Today, in the twenty-first century, all the rational and practical knowledge humankind has accumulated over thousands of years remains an important foundation for its creative advance. Only by continually uncovering and using all the fine thought, culture and rich knowledge humankind has created can we better understand the world, society and ourselves, and better shape the future of human society.

I wish the meeting every success!

Translator's Notes