Above Harmony: Notes on the Global Potential of Chinese Thinking

Abstract

The paper explores the significance of the Chinese concept of harmony (he 和, xiehe 谐和) for establishing a stable and efficient global governance. The author assumes that to meet demands of the emerging global community, this concept should be assessed in the context of two other important notions of Chinese tradition: commonality (yong 庸) and unity or sharing (tong 同). A particular attention is paid to the notion of synergy (xietong 协同). The merging of these concepts has been a real basis of the Chinese tradition and it can serve as a foundation of a new global order based on the principle of synergy.