One

  This trip to Europe was originally intended to further find contrast coordinates for Chinese civilization. However, Europe is indeed too powerful, and every time I step in, it makes people infatuated. I only know that every step forward, whether deep or shallow, has a feeling, and I wrote a lot every day, but forgot the purpose of the trip.

  While traveling in Europe, I can also read a lot of materials locally. I read Medici in Florence, Havel in Prague, and Sagya in Iceland, all of which were very fascinating. As a result, I am getting further and further away from Chinese civilization.

  It wasn't until now, on the night train in Northern Europe, that I finally came to my senses. This train had only a few passengers besides us, and I occupied a fully-equipped sleeper car by myself. Outside the window was an endless expanse of snow, but this snowy landscape couldn't be found on any map. The road was so long, the night was so long, and in this vast unfamiliarity that was in motion, I almost disappeared. I calmed down and began to organize my thoughts about the experiences I had along the way that were comparable to Chinese civilization.

  There are too many images of Europe, the topic is scattered, and it's hard to summarize a logical contrast with Chinese civilization. I can only give up generalizing, keep my feelings, and recall which images have contrasting value along the way. I took out two pieces of paper from my luggage, wrote more than 30, felt too many, deleted some, and finally narrowed down to seven contrasting images, that is -

  A single line of letters;

  A cemetery

  A chart

  A castle

  A group of idle people

  A huge boulder

  A blue flag with one side.

  Two

  Look at that line of letters.

  Those letters M-E-D-I-C-I are found in Florence, Italy, on street corners, door walls and on the ground. This is the spelling of the Medici family.

  According to the traditional Chinese way of thinking, a wealthy and powerful aristocratic family is often an obstacle to historical progress and a target of social revolution. However, the Medici family surprised us.

  The simplest fact is that without the Renaissance, modernity would be unthinkable; without Florence, the Renaissance would be unthinkable; and without the Medici family, both Florence and the Renaissance would be unthinkable.

  The Medici family created a new cultural center at a critical moment in history, using wealth and power as the backdrop for gathering humanist art masters, forming a powerful existence that was both challenging and exemplary. History took a big step out of the Middle Ages under these circumstances. The footsteps were heavy, the footprints deep. Dante's mask was enshrined in their home, Michelangelo and da Vinci's traces were everywhere, David's statue stood proudly, and human glory had begun to illuminate those narrow alleys paved with small stone slabs. Although Florence at that time did not yet produce profound modern thinkers, this city laid the foundation for modern Europe.

  In China's historical transformation, it is always difficult to see the benign convergence of power resources, wealth resources and cultural resources. China's social reformers have thought more about deprivation, which, even if it contains justice, can easily make the historical transformation lower in rank amidst vacillation.

  In the middle, the most crucial thing is cultural resources. The Medici family did exceptionally well in this regard, they didn't hold the power of cultural creation tightly in their own hands and distribute it at will, but instead sought out true creators with the utmost sincerity. They discovered, cultivated, disseminated, and protected generations of artists, making new ideas sensual and new eras beautiful.

  The citizens of this city have long followed the Medici family, and the Medici family has followed the great masters of art; these two followings have completed a collective elevation concerning humanity.

  China's progress and transformation have often been reduced to short-term gains, neglecting the establishment of a new spiritual and cultural foundation, and mistakenly believing that temporary sacrifices in culture are a necessary cost. In fact, the key to successful social transformation lies precisely in concentrating power resources, wealth resources, and cultural resources to create a new culture together.

  Three

  Look at that cemetery again.

  I'm talking about the graves of Fichte and Hegel in Berlin, Germany. In fact, there are many scholars' tombs in Europe that can be visited, as well as a large number of former residences and statues, allowing later generations to appreciate the souls of these wise men.

  Similarly, as intellectuals, their German counterparts are far more pure and grand in overall. Throughout history, Chinese literati, even the most excellent ones, have been closely tied to the power structure, whether they were escaping or rebelling, it was still a close reverse connection. Therefore, their "secular" words and deeds deconstructed independent cultural thinking; their "out-of-the-world" words and deeds, on the other hand, showed a kind of pretentiousness. Until today, Chinese literati are still wandering between the hustle and bustle of politicians and the silence of bookworms, all with a hypocritical self-deception.

  It is rare for German scholars to have such a situation, even if they are like Goethe in Weimar, it does not affect the creation of "Faust". Hegel's grand philosophical framework and aesthetic system are even more impossible to be timely works. He served as the president of the University of Berlin, which was a considerable administrative position, but he also adhered to the tenets of the university's founder Wilhelm von Humboldt, implementing full academic freedom and not allowing official administrative interference.

  Kant's thinking is even more open-minded than Hegel's, who has lived in the countryside all his life, thinking about the mysteries of the universe and humanity.

  However, Kant also opposed the intellectual pretension of refusing society and getting rid of the masses with a high profile. He took French Enlightenment thinkers as an example and put forward the behavioral standard for intellectuals: "Dare to apply reason in all public domains." This is precisely the fatal weakness of Chinese intellectuals. Even our respected predecessors left little spiritual wealth to the "public domain".

  Therefore, the tombs and former residences of Chinese intellectuals are often deserted.

  The outstanding model of contemporary European intellectuals, I think, is Havel, who was the President of Czech for more than a decade. In beautiful Prague, I locked myself in the hotel for several days, reading his recent writings. I wrote his main ideas into the fourth section of "Havel Does Not Regret", and truly hope that more Chinese readers can carefully read it.

  Four

  Let's talk about that chart again.

  A chart in a museum in Lyon, France lists the creations and inventions of this city in the 19th century. I read it three times carefully, each item directly promoted the modernization of all mankind, from textile machinery to film technology, with more than a dozen items.

  This is just Lyon. If we expand it to the whole of France, how much will there be? But then I saw that by the end of the 19th century, whether it was French officials or intellectuals, they all reflected painfully: compared to the creations and inventions of the United States and Germany, France was far behind!

  It is this chart that reminds us that the Chinese should no longer be complacent about their distant "Four Great Inventions".

  China, due to its long-term closure, not only did not participate in the creation of modern human civilization but also knew very little about the ever-changing creative momentum of the Western world. As a result, until today, most of the main components that make up various aspects of modern life were not invented by Chinese people. What's more heart-wrenching is that our next generation cannot feel this pain and are still deeply indulged in some "national essence". This situation has made cultural conservatism increasingly severe, seriously hindering the pace of innovation.

  Some Western scholars have high praise for China's early inventions, which are often misread by us. Therefore, when I was at Oxford University, I once borrowed Mr. Joseph Needham's book "Science and Civilization in China" to remind my fellow countrymen:

  I hope Chinese readers will not take away the environment in which his works were produced, and only seek one-way comfort from him, thinking that all human progress is covered by those few ancient Chinese inventions. It should be known that at the same time he wrote this book, Britain was still continuously creating firsts. The first bottle of penicillin, the first electronic tube, the first radar, the first computer, the first television... Even recently, they have successively announced the news of the first cloned sheep and the first test-tube baby. It is a kind of style for the British to organize ancient Chinese inventions more completely than the Chinese themselves in such a wave of creation. If we are proud of this, it would be narrow-minded.

  Five

  That castle.

  I am referring to Windsor Castle of the British royal family and Eton College nearby.

  Chinese civilization originally believed in the doctrine of the mean, but in the crisis of China's modern salvation, it was deeply influenced by French radicalism. From the French Revolution to the Paris Commune, passionate and generous words and bloody struggles infected many Chinese reformers. In comparison, the gentle and gradual reform path of Britain was alienated.

  Later on, they even didn't know that the French society finally stabilized under what kind of system, closing the door to become extremely radical. Even in peaceful years, they still worshipped violence, including language violence.

  It is easy to eulogize this kind of radicalism as idealism. Even after experiencing the extreme radical disaster of the "Cultural Revolution", there are still many people who take "poor and violent beating" as a basic cultural behavior. In fact, this radicalism has caused huge harm to the social atmosphere, destroyed folk etiquette, and deprived human rights and humanity, which has already led to disastrous consequences, not only harming the current generation but also harming future generations.

  I had long been aware of this in my mind, but it wasn't until I strolled around Windsor Castle and Eton College on a deep autumn day that I was fully convinced emotionally.

  I wrote:

  The UK may be criticized for being too gentle and gradual, but upon closer inspection, they have done everything that needs to be done in terms of social development, crossed all the necessary thresholds in terms of civilizational progress, and possess all the ideas that a modern society should have. What more can you say?

  Less stormy weather, less harsh sounds and colors, fewer German-style profound theories, just a smooth and comfortable journey, following feelings, walking along experiences, bypassing obstacles, taking the path that consumes the least energy, taking the path that develops the fastest - this social behavior has been proven by history to be a feasible and effective way.

  Six

  Another contrast we have to face is the crowds of idle people seen everywhere along the way.

  In Europe, you can often see many people holding a cup of beer or coffee, leisurely sitting at small tables by the roadside. They don't eat much, but sit for a long time, some chatting, some reading newspapers. Occasionally they lift their heads to look around the street, with calm and contented eyes, looking very dignified.

  This is in stark contrast to our Chinese people's ecological environment.

  I remember discussing this issue with some local friends in Italy. Now there are many Chinese immigrants making a living in Europe, and my Italian friends have mixed feelings about them. They admire how they work day and night to establish themselves locally and accumulate considerable wealth; but they also find it puzzling that these immigrants seem to have no leisure time, no vacations, and their hard work seems to lack purpose. When asked, they say it's for the sake of their children, but when the children grow up, they repeat this busy lifestyle.

  To be honest, I can fully understand the behavior of my compatriots. Having been in poverty for a long time before and even after getting rid of it, they still lack a sense of security and have to work hard to accumulate wealth.

  The problem is that when this endless hard work evolves from group behavior to psychological habit, it falls into blindness. The biggest crisis of this blindness is the isolation of public space and public ecology. Originally, they could get rid of this crisis there.

  When I was in Rome, I saw the vast majority of citizens going out on public holidays and almost emptying the city. This made me think of the significant differences between them and the Chinese people in terms of civilized ecology.

  The Chinese are diligent and hardworking, occasionally taking holidays, but only to work better; Europeans, on the other hand, think that working hard every day is mostly for the sake of taking holidays. Because it is only during holidays that one can interrupt worldly affairs, freeze anxiety, return to one's body, and reunite with loved ones. In other words, make people temporarily leave their alienated state and restore their humanity. This idea dissolves the core principles of Western personal rights, returning to nature, etc., and is easily widely disseminated, deeply entering people's hearts...

  It's easy to see that when I talk about taking a break, my focus is not on the break itself, but on "enabling people to temporarily leave their alienated state and restore their humanity". This is a fundamental problem in life, yet it is often obscured by the blind habit of pragmatism. Therefore, leisure may be a kind of awakening, while busyness may be a kind of confusion. Chinese civilization emphasizes practical rationality and neglects ultimate thinking, with less concern for humanistic ideals on the path of economic development. In this regard, Europe often makes me feel awake. For example, some Northern European countries have not had rapid economic growth in recent years, mainly because they have implemented relatively thorough social welfare policies, making leisure a widespread possibility.

  For this, I wrote a passage in Stockholm, Sweden:

  I've been learning and summarizing a series of logical relationships here -

  Social security is achieved through common welfare.

  Common prosperity is achieved through economic development.

  Economic development is achieved through market competition.

  Market competition is achieved through normal order;

  Normal order is achieved through social responsibility.

  Social responsibility is achieved through civic duty.

  Property must manifest itself as obligation and freedom as responsibility, this is the cultural ethics of modern economy.

  Thinking of this, I understand more. The Swedish model, which looks slow and warm, should not be ridiculed by countries in rapid development.

  So, take a closer look at those leisurely crowds often seen on the streets of Europe. Have the Chinese who are rapidly accumulating wealth ever thought about their own future ecological model? With unlimited wealth but limited life, when the twilight of life finally arrives, where will you be?

  Seven

  Next is that giant boulder.

  In Iceland, I went to see the giant rock between the lava fields of Tingvellir, which everyone calls "the Law Rock".

  When I went there, it was extremely cold, but I gritted my teeth and stood for a long time. At first, I heard that it was the place where the Nordic pirates voluntarily accepted legal arbitration, and I just wanted to take a look out of curiosity. But standing there, I thought of one of the hidden veins of Chinese civilization, and after returning to Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland, I spent several days writing several articles in a row.

  The great hidden pulse of Chinese civilization is the spirit of martial arts. The popularity of martial arts and martial arts films to this day proves that the potential power of this hidden pulse still exists. Often starting with family revenge, each setting its own justification for justice, the behavior is thrilling and magnificent, permeating the worship of "good Han character". However, this hidden pulse is inherently disregardful of the law, thus also causing a serious obstruction between Chinese civilization and modern society. Countless facts have proven that the "good Han character" can easily transform into the "violent mob character", poisoning society.

  In front of the "Law Rock" in Tingvellir, Iceland, I discovered how the Nordic heroes spent hundreds of years painfully changing their honor coordinates and rewriting heroic emotions.

  The result of the change and rewriting is to put down the long sword and poisonous oath, to listen to the judgment of the law and the sound of the church bell. This is quite different from the problem of "accepting amnesty or not" encountered by Chinese heroes. If we also use the word "amnesty", then they were "amnestied" by law and religion. I wrote:

  Many heroes originally rose up to seek social justice, but ultimately brought even greater injustice to others. Such examples are numerous, so both East and West have many stories of vendettas, with no rules yet yearning for rules; even when the most just laws are hoped for, they often cannot calm the heart. This is a spiritual crisis that humanity finds difficult to pass through but must pass through; only by passing through this spiritual crisis can one truly step onto the path of civilization and move towards today.

  What I pay special attention to is the struggle of Nordic heroes through this spiritual ordeal, and "Saka" has a detailed description of this struggle. In contrast, the "social justice" in the hearts of Chinese heroes has always been one-way, revenge-oriented, and therefore has always been in opposition to the law, colliding with it.

  The Saga says that the best of men, Njál and Gunnar and others like them, saw both the old honour based on revenge and the new one based on reason. They also saw that the representative of the law at that time was a small man. Yet they were willing to give their lives for the new honour and the law, and endure mockery.

  Such a character image cannot be found in Chinese stories of the same era, and it is even harder to find later on.

  From this, I took "Legal Stone" as an important contrast point.

  The stories that happened here once thrilled Scott, Wagner, Hemingway and Borges, but due to the danger of the sea and the desolation of the land, none of them were able to come to Iceland. I was lucky enough to have made it, and now I am thinking about Chinese culture.

  Eight

  The last major contrasting point is a blue flag.

  This blue flag is the flag of the European Union, which can be seen all over Europe, but it flies more authoritatively at the entrance of the EU headquarters in Brussels. Just forty kilometers away from the EU headquarters is the Waterloo battlefield, which rewrote modern European history. This close proximity left me deeply shocked.

  Immortal feats, heroes of triumph and defeat, are forever linked to Waterloo and many other battlefields. Eternal gaze is always fixed on the flag that rose last amidst the cannon fire and smoke. However, Europe has finally told us that the last rising flag has nothing to do with victory or defeat, nor with countries, nor with nations, but with a united flag, the same color as the blue sky.

  We Chinese have already paid attention to this reality, but as for the profound meaning contained in this reality, we are still relatively indifferent.

  As for wars between nation-states, Europe is particularly vocal. From ancient times to modern times, the most legendary and cruel chapters in world history have mostly occurred between European nations. In this regard, Europe has even more grandiose conscience, putting forward counter-evidence.

  The Chinese civilization has an open and boundless global consciousness by nature. The concept of nation-state, however, emerged when it was threatened by internal chaos and external forces. At present, as China finally takes big strides into the international community, there is a possibility that it will show its grandeur with an opened-up vision, or it may retreat back to narrowness due to intense competition.

  So I think there are some words that should be written from European soil to Chinese culture:

  Kant believed in human reason, determining that humanity would overcome opposition and move towards harmony, and individual nations would regulate their behavior, gradually establishing a good international alliance, ultimately establishing a "universal legislative citizen society" with world significance. It was precisely this idea that became the theoretical basis for the later European unification movement.

  I naturally prefer Kant, who advocates for the universal good that transcends borders and conceals his foresight behind rigorous thinking. National sovereignty has its local rationality, but Europe's bloody history has long proven that excessive emphasis on it will be a disaster for humanity. The common civilized principles of humanity must be the ultimate direction. Any noble nation should be the maker, practitioner, and defender of these common principles.

  Europe's cultural conscience, including Goethe and Hugo whom I particularly admire, also holds this view.

  It has been proven and will continue to be proven that many evil deeds often hide behind the banners of "nation" and "state". We should lift these banners, expose those huge undercurrents that are anti-humanity, anti-society, anti-life, anti-order, and anti-intelligence in broad daylight, and work together to defeat them. Otherwise, humanity will face a series of common disasters. Everyone has seen that today's vast majority of disasters have already transcended national and state boundaries.

  This is my "last lesson" in Europe.

  Nine

  In Europe for inspection, of course it won't be as terrifying as the last time in North Africa, Middle East and South Asia, but also not as safe as expected.

  In northern Spain, separatist groups are constantly creating incidents, and when we were there, we received tense reminders every day; Germany's "new Nazis" specifically target foreigners, which makes us always on high alert; In Naples, southern Italy, we were told that even if you stop to eat at the side of the road, it is likely that half of your car wheels will be gone when you come out; A local said: "At least half of the people in our district have been to prison", which may be a bit exaggerated, but the police sirens chasing the mafia are indeed often heard; In various parts of Europe, there are many vagrants from all over the world, so theft is a common occurrence...

  A major theft occurred in our fleet in Paris, and several large boxes on the car were gone. Later, after careful recollection, it was found that due to our unfamiliarity with urban traffic, the driver temporarily hired had a huge suspicion. He is likely to be a member of the theft group and intentionally did not lock the car door when parking.

  In Amsterdam, Netherlands, we stopped at different parking lots and several cars had their windows smashed to pieces. Several laptops were gone, including my digital camera with precious survey photos. When reporting to the police station, the policeman calmly said that it was done by marijuana addicts who didn't have money, but such cases happen every day and are never solved.

  All this shows that although I have been looking for the shortcomings of Chinese civilization with European civilization as a reference, European civilization itself has encountered many troubles. Many human disasters are intertwined, and the dangers I saw in the Middle East and South Asia also have obvious projections in Europe. Even in Toulouse, France, which was thought to be one of the most peaceful cities, we experienced a big explosion. Unfortunately, excellent Europe has lost its sensitivity and concern for disasters in other parts of the world, and lacks the ability to respond to crises that have already arrived at its doorstep. I wrote:

  In the past, many Eastern cultural people looked at European civilization with admiration and yearning, resulting in a kind of sentimentalism and superficiality based on misreading. This tendency also exists in Europe itself. When history no longer holds pain, time is no longer burdened with mission, and memory no longer bears responsibility, it may enter a state of spiritual confusion due to self-loss.

  My travels in Europe made me think of Francis Fukuyama

  a

  Francis Fukuyama in his book "The End of History" expounded on the French philosopher Alexandre Kojève's

  d

  The view of Francis Fukuyama has raised doubts. This view holds that Europe concentrated various nutrients from Christian civilization to the French Revolution, defeated many opponents, and has entered a historical state of termination in terms of material abundance, individual freedom, system democracy, and social stability. In the future, although there will still be local conflicts, the overall trend is consumption and entertainment under the background of global integration.

  I think this perspective is a kind of self-imposed blindness and deafness, hiding in one's own value system, and also a deliberate omission of the actual crises, grievances, terror, and violence that exist everywhere. This mindset will also bring great insecurity to Europe itself, because when a civilization cannot face its external world, it certainly cannot face its own history, which can only weaken its own vitality.

  In the face of this situation, when we learn about European civilization, we can no longer adopt the attitude of blindly admiring and emulating our cultural predecessors, but should conduct some deeper overall thinking.

  Chinese civilization and European civilization are very different, but since they are both called "civilizations", they must respond to the common enemy of all civilizations, that is, all non-civilized forces, such as terrorism, nuclear competition, environmental pollution, natural disasters...

  This is also where I disagree with Professor Huntington, who only pointed out the possible conflicts between different civilizations. In fact, the most fundamental conflict in the 21st century arises between civilization and non-civilization. Safeguarding the overall civilization of all humanity is an urgent task for our generation.