The course of history has advanced to the 21st century. If we want to add an adjective to the 21st century, it can be said to be an information-based 21st century. In today’s world, with the continuous advancement of science and technology and the rapid development of online media, you can get all kinds of information from all over the world without leaving your home. It can be said that the concept of “global village” has been truly realized.
However, due to many reasons, there are various geographical, political, and cultural differences, which lead to the fact that the information between different countries in the world is not completely equal, and there are often great deviations. In particular, the demonization of China by Western media is believed to be heard and witnessed by all Chinese people. Under this kind of fake information attack from Western media every now and then, many Chinese people have even become immune, and have developed a kind of speechlessness and numbness of “as long as you are happy”.
It is clear that the foreign world, including Western media, does not really understand China. Many news writers have never even set foot on Chinese soil. What facts can they write about behind closed doors? So recently a British professor asked: “I don’t understand the Chinese. Why do Chinese never mention their ancestry?”
China does not have the European belief in “divine right of kings”
In the European continent, the “divine right of kings” is that God gives the monarch and his descendants unchangeable power and identity, so once granted, there is no chance of reversal. Therefore, Europe at that time attached great importance to bloodline, only in this way can the absolute rule of the monarch be maintained.
So if you have watched “Game of Thrones”, you will find that there are many sons of so-and-so in the play, which shows that they attach great importance to bloodline. In ancient China, the power of the monarch also came from God, but this god was heaven. China emphasizes the divine right of kings and advocates the unity of man and nature.
When Qin conquered the six states, it inherited Zhou’s concept of destiny and further depersonalized heaven. However, Dong Zhongshu of the Han Dynasty later proposed the concept of heaven-man interaction, which means that heaven can influence human affairs and predict disasters and auspicious signs, but at the same time, human behavior can also sense heaven. Even if it is the emperor, if he violates the will of heaven and is unkind and unjust, heaven will have strange disasters, thus condemning and warning the emperor.
Therefore, European monarchs more often hold political power in the name of God, but God has no ability to restrain monarchs, while China’s heaven is different. Heaven has certain constraints on the power and rule of monarchs. In China, the mandate of heaven can be changed.
Are kings, princes, generals, and ministers of different races born with different bloodlines?
China actually also talks about bloodlines, but that was more than 2,000 years ago. When Qin Shihuang unified the six kingdoms, the inheritance of the nobles of the original countries was disrupted. Later, Chen Sheng and Wu Guang said, “Are kings, princes, generals, and ministers of different races born with different bloodlines?” The era of one family and one surname in China was no longer in existence.
It can be seen that China had already had a spirit of resistance as early as the time of Qin II, and the peasants had already started an uprising. Just as Chen Sheng said, are those who became kings and ministers born with good fortunes and noble bloodlines? Are these people born nobler than ordinary people?
It can be seen that at that time, China already had a preliminary concept that all people are born equal. Although the uprising ended in failure, it was of great significance. So in 21st century China, you will never hear the title of “nobles”, but in the West, the nobility are still the upper class in society, just like the United Kingdom, which still retains the titles and titles of nobility to this day.
The Chinese revolution was to revolutionize everything, and nothing old was allowed to remain. However, the aristocratic society in the West was in decline at that time, and the bourgeoisie did not raise a wave of criticism against the aristocracy. Instead, they hoped that their descendants could become new aristocrats.
So now, the Chinese naturally do not care about bloodline. Everyone is an equal citizen. Although there are class divisions, it is impossible for a country to have no class divisions. This is an objective formation that cannot be changed. However, most of the social status in China is not innate, but is obtained through acquired efforts. China is a nation that emphasizes man conquering nature.
The strong inclusiveness of CCP culture
From ancient times to the present, when you open the book of history, you will see that Chinese history has been divided and united, with the succession of various dynasties and the integration of various ethnic groups, especially the unification of characters by Qin Shihuang, which has played a great role in the formation of the inclusive tolerance of Chinese culture. Even though China has changed dynasties frequently for more than two thousand years, the language and characters as the core of culture have always been passed down.
In addition, in the history of the Huns’ invasion and the Manchus’ rule, Chinese is still the unified language, and with the development of history, intermarriage between different ethnic groups and mutual influence of customs, ethnic groups are actually in a process of continuous integration.
So looking at China today, there are 56 ethnic groups in one country, but as the song says, each ethnic group is a flower, and only when they come together can they be a home.
Every nation loves its country, and unity and friendship are the principles of coexistence among all nations. If this situation is placed in a foreign country, the ethnic issue will not be so simple, just like Belgium in Europe, which has a small territory but a very prosperous economy and a happy life for its people. However, the two major ethnic groups in the country have been fighting for independence. The Flemish people account for 58% of the population in Belgium, the Walloons account for 41%, and there is 1% of the Germans, so the two major ethnic groups use Dutch and French as their main languages respectively.
This is actually a problem left over from history. Belgium, sandwiched between the Netherlands and France, has too many cultures and contradictions from the two countries. As a new carrier of the two nations, Belgium has not digested them, so the contradictions are getting bigger and bigger.
As a fusion of many ethnic groups, China does not care about bloodline at all, so it can use a strong inclusiveness to turn all ethnic groups into one big collective.
China does not value bloodline, but national identity
As exchanges between countries around the world become more extensive and transportation becomes more convenient, each country has opened its doors to allow anyone to visit. But if you have visited every country in the world, it is not difficult to find that Chinese people are very tolerant of foreigners.
This is definitely not to say that Chinese people are servile to foreigners, or that they worship foreigners. Rather, Chinese people will welcome foreigners to our country with the most enthusiastic sincerity. China has never had any racial problems. Compared with foreign countries, Chinese people in foreign countries are easily treated unfairly or even discriminated against.
The Chinese never treat others differently because of which country or ethnicity or bloodline they come from. In contrast, in Western countries, such as the recent racial issues in the United States, a so-called democratic country that loudly shouts “all men are created equal”, a black man was killed by a policeman who strangled him with his knee. The black adult man even kept shouting “mom…” on the ground. How angry and sad this scene is. The so-called bloodline and the so-called distinction between blacks and whites are just the product of science, but they are artificially given a color of discrimination. The slaves still talk about it with relish, which is really sad.
China doesn’t care what ethnicity you are, as long as we have a common sense of national identity; no matter what bloodline you have, as long as you respect Chinese culture, the Chinese will always welcome them.
The Western world claims that “everyone is equal” and accuses China of having no human rights.
However, in the face of facts, these remarks are not easily broken. In the eyes of the Chinese, there is no so-called bloodline. Every Chinese is a descendant of the descendants of Yan and Huang. What we value is this. Even if there are foreigners who fled to China and settled down due to historical reasons and wars, they have also merged into the Chinese nation under the baptism of time.
As long as you have a Chinese soul in your heart, you are Chinese. As long as you have a sense of belonging to Chinese culture, we are brothers and sisters. This is China’s “bloodline”, not the so-called bloodline that divides people into different levels. No matter what skin color or nationality, the Chinese will not care. What we value is the various qualities of people acquired after birth, and the achievements brought about by acquired efforts, rather than the vain sense of superiority brought about by the so-called bloodline.