At the United Nations' sixtieth anniversary summit in 2005, Chinese President Hu Jintao introduced a new concept of “harmonious world” to the world, a move that has been viewed by many as a reflection of China's rising power and as an endeavor to enhance its soft power. This edited book of ten chapters, the product of a 2007 conference in Britain, seeks to examine China's intellectual search for a new world order. A welcome addition to the study of Chinese worldviews from historical and theoretical perspectives, this book should be a stimulating textbook for graduate seminars and for scholars.
The book is divided into three parts. The first part features three of China's prominent public intellectuals and seeks to rediscover traditional ideas. In his thought-provoking essay, Zhao Tingyang proposes China's traditional notion of “all-under-Heaven” (Tianxia) as an alternative to the modern international system. Although his criticism of the existing system may be valid, his proposal is a hard sell, not only because the concept is too vague, complex, and moralistic, as testified by his own identification of three rather different meanings, but also because no such governance has existed even in China, as he acknowledges (p. 27). Qin Yaqing calls for a Chinese school of international relations (IR) theory, which should draw on three sources: traditional ideas and practices, modern ideas of sovereignty and revolution, and contemporary reform and opening. The chapter succeeds in highlighting the possibility and desirability of such a school, and in identifying peaceful integration into international society as its theoretical core, but more specific suggestions on issues and methods would be beneficial. In his analysis of the ancient thinker Xunzi, Yan Xuetong skillfully situates the master's ideas within modern IR theories, uses international events to illustrate them, and maintains their relevance to “China's rising strategy.” Although his reading of the master is appreciative rather than critical, Yan sets an excellent example of bridging the gap between ancient Chinese thought and modern Western theories.
Part II mixes past, present, and future. Co-editor William Callahan starts with a fair summary of Zhao's Tianxia utopia based on his popular book published in China, and then offers a critical assessment. He questions the author's idiosyncratic use of existing texts and theories, and attributes its influence to the popular debates on China's rise in the world. He criticizes Zhao's all-inclusive system for marginalizing “the West, the people and other nations along China's border” (p. 102), and argues that, while traditional China was not as peaceful as claimed, the West did not lack its own utopian tradition. Although convincing and perceptive, this chapter fails to substantiate the claim that Zhao's book has serious “ethical” problems (p. 110). Christopher Hughes focuses on the dichotomy of Chinese essence (ti) and Western function (yong) in Chinese views of their interaction with outside worlds. While the dichotomy was coined rather late, Chinese have always wondered what and how they should learn from the outside world. Hughes masterfully reviews the dichotomy in the discourse from the mid-nineteenth century all the way to the present, but a more comparative perspective would be more enlightening. After all, similar dichotomies can be found in other nations' discourses. David Kerr broaches an important but understudied subject—China's relations with the Islamic world. His comparison of the Chinese and Islamic types of governance is as intriguing as his examination of evolving boundaries between the two worlds is informative. What makes the chapter more relevant to the theme is his discussion of post-1949 Xinjiang and internal and external developments therein after the end of the Cold War.
The relationship between tradition and modernity in popular and state discourse is the focus of Part III. Co-editor Elena Barabantseva sheds light on different Chinese ways of thinking about the world by adopting a unique and informative approach. She compares two films released in 2004: a video made by the Confucius Institute aims at increasing outsiders' interest in China, whereas a Chinese feature film The World (Shijie) portrays the views of the outside world held by several ordinary Chinese. Sébastien Billioud does well in describing the growing influence of traditional culture—especially Confucianism—in Chinese discourse, official or otherwise, and correctly ascribes its popularity to the government's efforts to use traditional cultures to boost its legitimacy and to the rediscovery of traditional values on the part of Chinese society.
William Callahan deserves special credit for not only co-editing this timely book but also contributing three solid chapters. His introduction merits careful reading, as he identifies a common theme among somewhat diverse chapters. Going beyond a summary of the book, his last chapter introduces many dichotomous concepts in an ideal-typical way, hence broadening and deepening our understanding of the issues under study.
