Research on the Inheritance and Transcendence of Confucian Thoughts of “Grand Union” by the Concept of “A Community of Shared Future for Mankind”

Abstract

In the 21st century today, economic globalization and the advent of an information age have greatly unleashed and boosted productive forces. They have presented unprecedented opportunities while make climate change, ecological imbalances, financial risks, refugee crises, and major infectious diseases cross the national borders to become a global challenge for humanity. The Chinese communists headed by Xi Jinping, through in-depth analysis and rational thinking of the historical trend, the trend of current times, and the law of human civilization development, have put forward the concept of “a community of shared future for mankind” .With peace, development, cooperation, and win-win as its core value, the concept is a “China solution” to meet global challenges, to safeguard world peace, and to promote the common development of all countries. It also represents “Chinese Wisdom” and “Chinese Responsibility” as a rising power in the world. The concept of “a community of shared future for mankind” is rooted in the broad and profound Chinese traditional culture and is a scientific prediction based on the characteristics of the times and the direction of the development of human society.
In September 2017, the 8th World Conference on Confucianism was opened in Qufu, Shandong Province, hometown of Confucius. Domestic and foreign experts conducted discussions on the theme of “Confucian Thoughts and A Community of Shared Future for Mankind”. Zhu Jieren, President of the Chinese Historical Literature Research Association, as one of participating experts, mentioned: “Confucius, in his era, had proposed the idea of “Grand Union” and in his thought, mankind is a community of shared future.” (Li, 2017) Confucian thoughts of “Grand Union” is precisely coincides with the concept of “a community of shared future for mankind” both in values and pursuits. If the “Grand Union” thought is the pursuit of Chinese ancient thinker for an ideal human society, then the concept of “a community of shared future for mankind” is the pursuit of Chinese communists for a peaceful and progressing world (Sun, 2016). Based on common pursuits and values, the two thoughts are proposed based on different historical backgrounds and realistic conditions. Therefore, it is of great realistic and practical significance that by analyzing and comparing the two thoughts, the innovation and internationalization of Confucianism studies can be greatly promoted and the construction of a community of shared future for mankind can be also pushed forward.