"The beauty of harmony lies in the fusion of differences." The diversity of human civilization is the basic feature of the world and the source of human progress. Asia is an important birthplace of human civilization, with 47 countries and more than 1,000 ethnic groups flourishing. Various civilizations complement each other on this land, composing an epic of the development of Asian civilizations.

On April 20, the sub-forum of the 2022 Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference "Asian Civilizations: Diversified Coexistence, Facing the Future" was held. Scholars from East Asia, West Asia, Central Asia and other regions combined online and offline methods to discuss the development of Asian civilizations. Diversity and commonality and future development put forward their own views.

Different natural challenges breed diverse and common Asian civilizations

Although Asia is a multi-civilization and multi-cultural region, it has the same philosophy and value foundation. Regarding the relationship between Asian civilization and values, Zheng Suyi, Dean of the School of Religion at Sogang University in South Korea, believes that civilization is rooted in the natural challenges that human beings face in the region. Asia accounts for nearly 30% of the world's land area...Different natural challenges have led people to form a variety of lifestyles, thus developing different cultural concepts and civilizational value orientations. She believes that the value orientation of Asian civilizations is diverse, but no matter how diverse, any civilization is to make life better. In this regard, civilizations have commonality.

The commonality has led to the development of many consensuses among Asian civilizations in the process of modernization. Jia Qingguo, Director of the Chinese-Foreign People-to-People Exchange Base of the Ministry of Education, explained this Asian consensus with five concepts: the first is security, that is, respect for life, hope for peace, and oppose war and aggression; the second is good order, such as family order, world order Order, etc. are based on formal and informal rules; the third is good governance, which means that people's welfare and life are valued, and there is an efficient and clean governance model; the fourth is tolerance, that is, not imposing one's own opinions on others. There is no difference between high and low civilizations. We must insist on mutual respect. The fifth is patience. When conflicts arise, we need to communicate with each other in good faith, so that everyone can appreciate and learn from each other, so as to achieve world peace and prosperity.

Exchange and mutual learning are the essential requirements for the development of civilizations. Only by deepening people-to-people and cultural exchanges can we eliminate barriers and misunderstandings, break down barriers to values, and promote people-to-people bonds. Hamed Wafai, head of the Department of Chinese at the University of Tehran, believes that Asia should have more dialogues among civilizations. He said that in order to achieve dialogue between the East and the West, we must first realize the "dialogue between the East and the East". "As an Iranian, I want to understand China." Similarly, China wants to understand India, India wants to understand Singapore... Only when eastern countries understand each other and communicate what they have, can world-wide East-West dialogue be realized.

Achieving progress through exchanges, mutual learning and interdependence

At present, with the in-depth development of world multi-polarization, economic globalization, and social informatization, the instability and uncertainty of the international situation have become more prominent. To cope with common challenges and move towards a better future requires not only the strength of economy and technology, but also the strength of cultural civilization. strength. How to promote the expansion cooperation and harmonious development of Asian countries? Zheng Xiaojun, a specially invited scholar of the International Confucian Association, skillfully expressed his understanding of the inheritance and development of civilizations with the "digital story of exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations". She said that in the past, the numbers in ancient Chinese poems "one to two or three miles, four or five smoke villages, six or seven pavilions, eighty or ninety flowers" were catchy; the "Arabic numerals" originated in India Introduced to the Arab region, and then all over the world. At present, computers based on numbers based on 1 and 0 connect human beings, a mobile phone can travel the world, the Internet has turned the earth into a village, and civilization has thus crossed geographical restrictions. In the future, the continuous development of big data will make digital a new connection point, and countries will learn from each other and achieve mutual benefits, so that mankind can achieve common progress. In this sense, numbers seem to be a cultural symbol throughout the development of Asian civilizations.

In fact, cultural symbols are not limited to numbers, but also silk, porcelain, tea... Asian civilization in history has endowed us with rich cultural heritage and humanistic wisdom. Only by upholding an open and inclusive mentality and breaking the barriers of cultural exchanges can we Promote common progress among Asian civilizations through exchanges and mutual learning.

Chinese culture is an important part of Asian civilization, and it is the rich nourishment for the continuous growth and development of the Chinese nation. An Lezhe, vice president of the International Confucian Association, believes that the concept of "family" in traditional Chinese concepts is an important contribution to Asian values. The family is a foundation, a cell, an order that runs through a culture. In contrast to Western individualism, the family conveys the idea of interdependence and cooperation.

At present, the epidemic is impacting the society and people's lives in various countries. Toru Kataru, Vice President of the Kanji Society of Japan, believes: "Each country has different anti-epidemic experience and prevention and control policies, and one model cannot adapt to the national conditions of each country. Different anti-epidemic The model is also the presentation of cultural diversity." We must not only respect the policy choices of various countries, but also establish a sense of community with a shared future in you and me. Only by establishing the concept of big family and win-win cooperation can Asian countries obtain the best solution in the fight against the epidemic.

"With the real life, the same will not continue." Civilizations communicate because of diversity, learn from each other because of exchanges, and develop because of mutual learning. In the midst of great changes unseen in a century, Asian countries need to continuously build consensus and strengthen unity through dialogue, so as to promote the harmonious development of Asia, and make diversity and commonality an inexhaustible driving force for Asian social progress and a natural form of Asian civilization.