Allen McChanglan: Understand the four civilizations -China、Japan、Europe and Anglo Cultural Circle
August 29, 2022, 10:25 Source: "China Social Sciences", August 29, 2022, No. 2480 Author: Alan MacFarlane

  Professor Rongxiu, Humanology, Cambridge University、Cambridge University King College Lifetime Academician、Academician of the National Academy of the British National Academy。Comparative research on the origin and characteristics of the modern world,The main research direction is history、Legal History、historical population statistics、Anthropology、Sociology、Calculation and visual media。By "Origin of British Personalism", "Letter to Lily: How the World is Operating", etc.。

I am glad to have the opportunity to participate in academic exchange activities organized by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences。Here,I want to discuss how to understand China、Japan、The four civilizations of the cultural circle in Europe and Anglo。This time I mainly want to explore a major trend in the 21st century,That is, the focus of global power moves from the West to the East。

I will use a simple and easy -to -understand chart to explain this problem (see the figure below)。This chart shows the rapid transfer of global economic focus。The first is to move from the East to the West,Then turn from the West to the East。Now,This transfer obviously has a huge impact,At the same time, it also leads to the situation of stress and tension。This is very similar to when the British Empire is replaced by the Aurrem Empire.。Many people claim,This is likely to lead to the Third World War and other problems。I want to explore a deeper discussion on this background,Because I believe that in order to avoid disasters, we must understand each other,This is also my bet365 live casino games responsibility as an anthropologist。Humanologists have to do to contact and try to understand another culture,Then explain it to the people of the country。Therefore,Cross -cultural understanding is the fundamental goal of anthropology,This is also the goal I tried to achieve in a larger range。

In this short speech,I hope to clarify more problems for everyone。As the saying goes,Give people fish,It is better to grant people with fishing。If you are interested,You can conduct in -depth research,Chinese translations related to related content will soon be available。other,Everyone can also read a Chinese book I published about 10 years ago。This book compiles my speech content in the lecture in the commemorative lecture in the Kingdom of Tsinghua University in 2011。It made part of the explanation of the current problem,It is mainly for Western countries,That is the Anglo cultural circle,Especially explained the British culture and its American culture and other cultures。It explained that when the democratic government did not have certain principles (such as the rule of law, etc.) at the beginning,How does Western modern civilization born。The speech in my lecture in the commemorative lecture in the kingdom was compiled into the book "The Birth of the Modern World",Everyone can start an extension research。

At the other end of the world,It is a Chinese cultural circle represented by China。For the past 20 years,I visit China almost every year,I have been to 17 times in total。Three or four years ago,I decided to summarize everything I know about China in "A book teach you to understand China",The Chinese version of the book is about to be released。It is based on Westerners' views on China,Try to explain the status quo of China to my friends and colleagues,This is the second question I want to say,This is the Bet365 app download two ends of the world。

Now,I want to talk about the third question related to the theme of this speech,This is a book about four civilizations,It determines the corresponding principles for the four civilizations that stand on the world。The book does not involve Islamic civilization,But in the simple version published in other countries,I discussed the question about Islamic civilization with the content of a chapter。You can see,The Chinese version of "China, which has just appeared in China、Japan、Europe and Anglo World: About the Comparison of Four Civilizations "(hereinafter referred to as" Comparison of Four Civilizations ") There is a world map on the cover,It shows the civilization standing in the world。This book borrows from Samuel Huntington's "The Conflict of Civilization and the Reconstruction of the World Order"。I simplified the nine different civilizations in Huntington's book into four: light blue refers to the Anglo cultural circle,is a country that uses English as a common language,and orange -red is the Chinese cultural circle represented by China,The other is the Japanese cultural circle,less conspicuous blue -purple represents the European cultural circle。

What do these cultural circles that dominate the world mean? civilization,In my opinion,Refers to having a common culture,Areas that usually have common languages,But civilization does not necessarily refer to the common government。It represents a social system、A worldview,It takes from South America to Portugal,Or the people from Britain to Australia are tightly united。Different countries may belong to the same impact range,or the same culture,This is what I call civilization。

"Comparison of Four Civilizations" aims to explain to those Bet365 app download interested readers to explain what the main constituent units of human society are,How do they work,Because many people know nothing about this。They know their own country,You may also understand your cultural circle。They know,The British and Americans have many similarities,But if you ask them,How does Japanese society and Chinese society operate,What are the differences between the United Kingdom and Europe,They just ask three as soon as possible。They have never thought about,I have not studied these problems in depth。I hope to promote these different civilizations by explaining these differences,The purpose is not to form a single civilization based on the Anglo -cultural circle or the Chinese cultural circle,Instead, let civilization continue to coexist,but but,This needs to be based on objective understanding。

I have adopted a lot of metaphors in "The Comparison of Four Civilizations" and other books,I hope to avoid conflict,The harmonious situation of promoting the coexistence of civilization。I used to use metaphors about music: The whole world can be regarded as a orchestral band。Anglo cultural circle looks like a piano,The Chinese cultural circle is the violin,and the European cultural circle looks like a cello,etc.。They have their own characteristics,Director each,Cooperate with each other at the same time,I will not try to dominate or force the other party。Another metaphor is the big tree。I think,They are oak trees、Ash tree,or bamboo,Together constitutes the so -called forest。In this forest,Various trees in harmony and coexist。These trees are densely turbid,Squeezing it。But in general,They can perfectly symbiotic。This is a very vivid metaphor。

I use the method of tracing the roots,To understand Bet365 app download these civilizations from the source。Because of the use of this method, Tocowl pointed out,We are largely determined by the seeds -we use plants as metaphors,The seeds are the initial form。In this case,Take the Anglo Cultural Circle as an example,Anglo -Saxon's history can be traced back to 1500 years,The law of Anglo -Saxon in the meantime、Political and Social System。Take China as an example,China's history is much longer,It can be traced back to various civilizations in China。Later, Confucianism and Buddhism,But the foundation is Taoism,and a very ancient family system。The interesting thing is,The situation in Europe is quite similar。Europe is based on two conflict civilizations,Roman civilization and Greek civilization,until 4、The 5th century is still dominated by Europe。Then Anglo -Saxon civilization also appeared later,This can also explain why there are conflicts in European history,Cycloping back。

Japan has a very old Shaman civilization。The shaman civilization spread from China to Japan has been circulating to this day,Many characteristics of the shaman civilization have been continued,I explain this a little。The concept of "continuing in evolution" is important for all this。Japanese philosopher Maruyama True Men once proposed that the deep elements of culture have always continued,He calls "Perseverance Bass"。The cultural elements on the surface have been changing,But from the basic level,Elements like language,For example, Chinese language or text,But in the development process, we will adhere to the constant principle。Therefore,The grammar at the bottom layer is eternal,Many elements on the upper layer change instantly。In some aspects,The British also retains the tradition of Biov Bet365 app download and the Qiaoji period。So for me,"Comparison of Four Civilizations" reflects the change of my own thinking mode。This book and the recent published work witnessed this change。As an anthropologist,The first thing I pay attention to is the state at the community level,For example, a village on the Himalayas、A certain county or village in England,And my first work is done like this。Then,I rose to the national level to write a few books about Britain and other countries。

In the past 20 years,With the continuous advancement of the global integration process,I realize that we should more from a higher level,Think about problems from the perspective of civilization。The decisive factor in our world is civilization,instead of the country。But the sadness is,Various nations and countries are still fighting each other。Unified operation only occurs in some multinational companies or Chinese cultural circles,or in Anglo's cultural circle。This is also a question we need to understand,It seems very difficult to do it。But I found,We can learn from the method of some great social science theorists,For example, Max Weber、Methods of Karl Yas Bels, Tocoke and others,This helps us better understand the nature of a civilization and many characteristics of its。

In the various chapters of "Comparison of Four Civilizations",I explained the family system、Ideology、Political system、Legal system and other issues。It is not difficult to describe a civilization simply,This means,Once we travel through travel、Reading、Browse news and other methods to understand all parts of civilization,Then we can build a wider picture,Then we will become more tolerant and understand,It is not easy to get negative conclusions,And this is exactly the source of many problems at present。

bet365 live casino games I think,Various civilizations are completely unnecessary to conflict or fight for "You die, I live"。There will be some competition between civilization,Competition in Western countries is indeed very fierce,But if we can understand each other,Keep tolerant,Try more empathy,Then we can build a better world。Because as a human,We have too many similarities,Although due to historical reasons,Various civilizations have long -term cultural and social differences。

Editor in charge: Chen Jing
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