Dialogue and Humanism

Volume 4, Issue 2/3, 1994

Universality in Chinese Culture

Chinese culture may be identified as Confucian in that the ideas initiated by Confucius and reinterpreted by Confucius' defenders have overwhelmingly molded the Chinese way of life since the Han dynasty. There are elements which, in the long evolutionary process in both theory and practice, can be considered universal in terms of sustaining, enjoying and searching for the meaning of life. This paper attempts to single out such characteristics in Chinese culture for references for universality. They are: 1) the twofold complementary and contradictory world view, 2) the concept of self-realization of the creative mind to practice reciprocity in resolving human relations, and 3) the attempt to establish a universal state, and 4) the potential of Chinese written characters as a universal computer language.