All under Heaven is a landmark text in global political philosophy. Laced with historical examples and philosophical arguments, Zhao Tingyang's protean reflections purport to offer a way to redirect the emerging world order. The author is a leading political philosopher-cum-futurist in China. A decade ago, two realizations stirred him to “reinvent” the ancient Zhou notion of “tianxia” for the 21st century: first, Kantian-style world peace cannot be pursued amidst the clash of civilizations, and second, the mechanisms of international politics are ineffectual in dealing with global conflict (xiv). More recently, he has been stirred by the sweeping impact of globalization – how it permeates every dimension of human life and challenges our state-centric outlooks and institutions. Existentially, globalization impacts our “very mode of being in the world.” He attempts to retrofit tianxia not only as a way to ameliorate the clash of civilizations and reconfigure international politics as world politics, but more deeply as “a fitting ‘order of being’—an order that would emerge from the transformations going on in the world.” He calls “this order… the tianxia system” (p. 1).

In Zhao's perspective, the systemic problems of the political world today are driven by inadequate ideals. The rights of the sovereign citizens of modern states are mutually contradictory and “impl[y] all sorts of ethical dilemmas.” Moreover, rational egoism and instrumental reason empower the sovereign selves of modern society and economy, exacerbating the contradictions and oppositions, causing the lifeblood of modern politics to be opposition, “division,” and “borders” (pp. 15–16). Meanwhile, “Globalization has… changed the mode of being of the world and the… nature of political problems.” It reveals the pretences of the universalist claims of modern political philosophy, such as human rights, democracy and justice. Zhao avers, “If national democracy were elevated to a global democracy… the developed nation-states would object…. Justice too is accepted as a universal value, but the developed nation-states… are the least likely to accept the terms of any global justice” (p. 17). In conclusion, he charges that modern political theory is not universal in scope and has severe limitations as a theory of nation states.

Zhao begins his solution with a call for a “world internalizing principle,” that is, “a holistic conception of the world, wherein every level of politics receives a systematic ‘transitivity’ and internal ‘coherence’,” one which has “universal application to the entire world” (p. 18) and would support “a political language game with universal effectiveness … able to … resolve conflicts as they emerge” (p. 19). He maintains that tianxia, which involves the principle of coexistence and relational reasoning, offers the ground of a world internalizing principle (p. 36). He claims the principle of coexistence was present in the early Zhou tianxia system in that all the fiefdoms of the Zhou tianxia paid tributes above and were interactive below. For Zhao, coexistence is a key link in internalizing the world (pp. 17–18). As to relational reasoning, he argues that it complements people's individual reasoning. While individual reason is directed toward personal interests, relational reason is directed to common interests and group well-being. His claim is that individual reason presupposes relational reason, just as individual existence presupposes coexistence. The problem is to persuade people that coexistence and relational reason deliver not just increased harmony and security, but prosperity.

How is tianxia construed? Zhao presents tianxia as a three-tiered conception, with geographic, social-psychological and political levels (pp. 49–51). The geographic level refers to the layout and pattern of the physical world, all the lands and seas. This is an expansion of the early Chinese view of the world as an interlocked checkerboard of 81 separate Nine Realms, with the Central States at the core (p. 51). The socio-psychological level pertains to the aspirations and deliberations of the people. Meeting the people's aspirations is key to holding tianxia. Through properly arranged education, rites and customs, people's aspirations will be unified and linked with the tianxia dream. And the political level refers to the truly world political order, which allows the world to have full political being. “The ultimate achievement of tianxia is the full coincidence of the natural, social-psychological, and political worlds of value” (p. 51).

Zhao elaborates on the conditions necessary for maintaining the tianxia system: everything must “correlate with tian.” That is, the ecology of earth and human affairs should be in keeping with the natural order, such as the procession of the seasons. Moreover, everyone and every institution must be integrated into the tianxia political system; there shouldn't be any private or underground spheres. Zhao invokes the age-old Zhou conceptions of (a) tianming, redefined as “heavenly invoked order,” as a naturalistic source for the values and rules that support tianxia, and (b) virtuous power (de) and harmony (he) as the affective cohesive of charismatic, enlightened rule and interpersonal harmony. The pivotal realization to instill in people is that tianxia is ground-zero. Tianxia – not the state, not the family, certainly not the individual – is the ultimate political subject.

This is the barest skeleton of Zhao's argument for tianxia. This book also discusses avatars of tianxia in Chinese history as well as a prospective tianxia order.

Zhao Tingyang's contentions and arguments are original, stimulating and provocative. He doesn't address how tianxia would be installed or operate. Would it arise from the ashes of globalization? While the Zhou tianxia system was supported by standardized rites, music and historical documents, the installation of the system required intimidation and brute force. The idea of tianming as “heavenly invoked order” and ground for values begs the question as to the desirability of this order and values. Finally, the recruitment and role of the central rulership of a tianxia system appears to be a black box. Would the people have to take it on faith that the leaders were dedicated to serving their best interests? Would a system of review and accountability be in place?

All under Heaven is a challenging intellectual tour de force. The temptation of the tianxia system is that, to some, it may seem a natural outcome of contemporary globalization and accelerationist trends. The author artfully questions many of humanity's cherished political ideals and boldly proposes a new world politics premised on the priority of the whole, pressing us to rethink our own assumptions. He opens new vistas of reflection to the reader. I recommend this book for the existential challenge it poses as well as the window it opens into a strain of futurism in China today.