Wang Yiwei. An article published by the French weekly "Viewpoint" a few days ago put forward an unbelievable point of view: China is likely to be "fading" a moral crisis and a health crisis that endangers the West in order to carry out "historic revenge" against the West. The article claims that the West had sold drugs to China during the Opium War in exchange for goods cherished by the West;And today, "TikTok is ** the West's perception of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and China's cooperation with the fentanyl issue is not active enough." The West has hurt China in the past, so it is likely that China will "corrupt young Westerners to weaken the West" in the same way. From this absurd statement, we can see some problems in some Western scholars' perception of China and their historical concepts.
For most Europeans, their perception of China stems from several stereotypes, such as China is a nation-state, a communist country, a Confucian country, etc., China is omnipotent, and Chinese are Han Chinese and can do kung fu. The existence of these phenomena is clearly due to misunderstandings – intentional or unintentional. And the reason behind it can be explained by the "3M phenomenon".
One is historical memory. Charles de Gaulle once said that China is a country that is older than history. Whose history?The history of the West, of course. Under the influence of such a world outlook, the West will be caught up in a historical situation and will not be able to extricate itself from the historical situation by comparing China with its own familiar history. Today, the West's hostility to China remains confined to its historical memory, especially the history of the Cold War. Further, Europe's understanding of China is limited to its colonial experience, giving rise to a view similar to "China's rise is motivated by a revenge mentality against a bitter colonial history and Western humiliation."
The second is the subconscious. Eurocentrism - linear evolution - Western superiority is the logic of thinking that Europeans look down on each other. Europe tolerates differences, not appreciates them. This is unsustainable and even self-righteous. Only when we truly appreciate each other and appreciate our differences can we achieve harmony.
Third, it is the methodology. The European method of knowing is to treat the other as an object rather than a subject, the other as a problem rather than self-organization, the other as an object of proving their superiority rather than an object of Xi, and even fall into "self-fulfilling prophecy". This kind of "path dependence" on the party is an important reason that restricts its understanding of the "other" culture. Procedural, partial thinking, and self-centered approaches to knowledge have led Europeans to often tailor and misinterpret China's image.
Behind this "3M phenomenon", it reflects the five major asymmetries that some Europeans look at China:
First, the asymmetry between transcendentalism and materialism. In practice, Europeans often use a self-identified "ideal model" to compare with China, first setting a yardstick and expectations, praising what meets the requirements, encouraging those who achieve it, and condemning it otherwise. This is completely different from the materialist thinking of the Chinese who seek truth from facts.
Second, the asymmetry of the way of thinking. Europeans emphasize either one way or another, either/or, and this binary way of thinking makes it difficult to grasp China's holistic view and inclusive thinking. As a result, the "China threat theory" and the "China collapse theory" have appeared in the European world, which has become a big strange thing.
Third, the asymmetry of temporal and spatial logic. The challenges facing China are temporal, and most of them are an extension of historical logic. The challenge facing Europe is spatial, testing Europe's living environment and cultural boundaries. Some European scholars use the history of the Opium War to understand the logic of China's development, and to a certain extent, they are using the spatial logic of Europe to understand China's temporal logic.
Fourth, the asymmetry of "I am good and you are evil" in values. For example, the Chinese believe that "Zheng He's voyage to the West" is a manifestation of pacifism, but a brochure at a certain attraction in Brussels says that "Zheng He's voyage to the West" did not colonize along the way, believing that this is a sign of lack of adventurous spirit relative to Europe. This self-righteous judgment arises from selective values.
Fifth, the asymmetry between modernity and civilization. The hegemony and hypocrisy of Western discourse are often presented through the concept of stealing, China is a civilized country rather than a European-style nation-state, and if Europeans tailor China's civilization with modernity, it will inevitably lead to the mismatch of the bull's head. For example, there are no religious wars in China's history, so where is there any "anti-Semitism"?Hyping up the "anti-Semitic theory in China" is just treating others with oneself.
Looking back at history, the West's perception of China has gone through three stages: imagination, refraction, and empathy. If they look at China from the perspective of need, they often look up to Chinese civilization;If we look at China from the perspective of expectations, we look down on the logic of China's development.
Why do Western scholars shift their empathy to China and shift the role of "abuser" from the West in history to China today?The root cause of this is that it adheres to the linear evolutionary view of history, and there is a relative lack of reflection on the history of colonialism, and even believes that colonization is a part of the history that promotes the process of global industrialization. The second is to be a thief with a weak heart, who has witnessed the strength and prosperity of China in history, and has hurt China, and is worried that China will return to the prosperous Han and Tang dynasties to retaliate against the West, which is the starting point of the "China threat theory". The third is to shirk the responsibility of domestic governance, and it is always right to "talk about China if there is nothing to talk about, and blame China for something". From climate change to drug trafficking, from populism to racism, China has become a "scapegoat" for the failure of governance at home and abroad in the West, and it is a cheap target to divert topics and attention in the first year. Of course, bullying the weak and fearing the hard, and not daring to blame the hegemon, has no choice but to make fun of China, open the knife, and make fun of China, which is also the norm of the West towards China. (The author is the European Union "Jean Monnet" Chair Professor, and the vice president of the Institute of Socialist Thought with Chinese Characteristics in the New Era, Renmin University of Chinese).