CANNOT FIND FILE: pdftitlepage-accessible.princexml Correspondence Author: Wang Ningchuan Email : [email protected] Zip Code : 510900 Mobile Phone : (86) 18620296231; (86)20 87979923 Correspondence Address: Zhujiang College, South-China Agricultural University(SCAU), Bai Tiangang Village, Conghua, Guangzhou city, Peoples Republic of China. (通讯地址：王宁川 华南农业大学珠江学院外国语系 白田岗 从化 广州 中华人 民共和国) Biography: Wang Ningchuan (1977--) is a scholar working in Zhujiang College SCAU, mainland China, whose research area is mainly engaged into the relationship between culture and globalization, including the following two aspects: one is the popular culture’s globalization study, such as fantasy fiction’s or Hollywood film’s globalization; and the other is to use Chinese traditional culture to explain globalization, such as Yin Yang theory, Confucianism, Taoism and so on. Till now, he has published more than 20 papers in both Chinese as well as English journals, such as Contemporary International Relations , Studies in Sociology of Science , Studies of Language and Literature and so on. Yunxiang Kelly Chen : she is a PhD candidate and tutor of the Chinese programme in Uni versity of Canterbury, New Zealand. Email: [email protected] 1 The Dialogue of Civilizations: How the I Ching Can Help Understand The Relationship Between Globalization and Anti-globalization Abstract: I Ching, or the Book of Changes, is a kind of ancient classical philosophy in China, mainly consisting of Yin-Yang theory, Five elements and 64 hexagrams, whose wisdom has influenced eastern Asian civilizations for more than 2000 years. The paper attempts to study the relationships between globalization and anti-globalization via its discourses. The interdisciplinary perspective doesn’t challenge the dominant ideologies in current political study, but only attempts to open up a new avenue in studying international relations and constitute the following codes for reference in IR study : (1) as an analytical model to observe diverse global issues via the Chinese philosophy; (2) as a mirror or medium to understand global conflicts, and to help to exchange ideas, and achieve moral or ethical consensus; and (3) as a new discourse contributive to the global debates on the diversity and complexity of globalizations and anti-globalizations. Key Words : Yin-Yang Theory; Globalization; I Ching; Anti-globalization; Discourse 2 A Brief Introduction: Yin Yang theory, Five Elements and its Related Discourses1 I Ching, or the Book of Changes, is known as the earliest intuitive decision-making system in China. Its theoretical framework is composed of a binary logic system called Yin and Yang—images composed of a broken /Yin ( __ __ ) and a solid /Yang ( _____ ) line. In ancient Chinese philosophy, Yin and Yang are used to describe how two polar or seemingly contradictory forces are intertwined and interdependent in the universe, and how they give rise to each other in turn. Opposites thus only exist in relation to each other. Many natural and social dualities—e.g. dark and bright, female and male, below and above, bad and good, earth and heaven, grassroots and elites, peace and war— are thought of as manifestations of yin and yang (respectively). In short, the Yin-Yang principle suggests the following philosophical underpinnings:(1) Yin and Yang coexist in everything, and everything is dialectically endowed with Yin and Yang aspects; (2) Yin and Yang could give rise to, complement, reinforce and transform into each other; (3) Yin and Yang exist within each other in a symbiotic relationship and interact with each other to form a holistic, dynamic and cyclical unity. This system of circular movement provides a dynamic change and balance discourse in the power games. Therefore in I Ching, there is a classical principle generalizing the above statements that neither Yin nor Yang alone 1 The English translation, introduction, illustration and diagrams about I Ching in this paper mainly draw on the following websites: http://www.iching123.com/brief_a_text.htm , and http://www.friesian.com/yinyang.htm , and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Ching , and Wilhelm (trans.), Richard; Cary Baynes (trans.). "The I Ching or Book of Changes" . http://deoxy.org/iching/1 , and James Legge, "The I Ching" . http://www.sacred-texts.com/ich/, 3 could nurture itself, but do so and develop with mutual generation and promotion. Meanwhile, the fundamental principle of the universe forms the ontological assumptions of the Chinese philosophy and has been further developed into a set of guidelines for Chinese beliefs and behaviors, thus the discourse naturally becomes the central focus in Chinese discursive practices (Chen, 2008). During the past millennia in China, from emperors who sought inspirations to either administer their empires, or make military strategies in the war times, to ordinary citizens who looked for guidance to deal with their business or household affairs, people constantly resorted to it for instruction when confronted with troubles. It has been a guiding-star-like sacred book for ancient Chinese people to turn to when they were in need of inspiration for resolution against doubts, for enlightenment, and for correct decision-makings. In Chinese ancient metaphysics, Yin and Yang also refer to two cosmological forces, called Qi (Chi), which is rhetorically a form of cosmic breath circulating in the universe. If well-balanced or harmonized, their interaction would give rise to a living Qi (Yang), refreshing, energetic and creative, symbolizing vigor, production and fertility. Or else, it would turn into dead Qi (Yin), dull, sterile, inert and infertile symbolizing stagnation, turmoil and death. In old times, Chinese people affirmed that the living Qi could engender life, closely related to the welfare of human beings in a region. Therefore, it should be harbored or congealed. However, the flow of the Qi was driven by the direction of the wind. Therefore, there are two classical principles for decision-makers to follow, if they want to harness the Living Qi: one is that the living Qi would both be disseminated and dispersed by wind, but harbored by water , 4 and the other is that the living Qi could be congealed by way of channeling wind. And in I Ching, the yin-yang discourse is encoded into 8 trigrams (figure 1, 2, 3), representing a range of interrelated concepts and diverse relations between various phenomena. Separately each of them represents a distinctive thing of similar nature in the world, while the nature of these things could also be categorized into the generation and overcoming circles of Five Elements (metal, wood, water, fire and earth) , of which the cosmology is composed as follows (figure 4, 5): Generation Circle: Wood generates Fire; Fire makes Earth (ash); Earth bears Metal; Metal carries or could be transformed into Water (as in a bucket or tap, or the melted metal in liquid state); Water nourishes Wood. Overcoming Circle: Wood holds Earth; Earth absorbs Water; Water quenches Fire; Fire melts Metal; Metal chops Wood. Also: Wood absorbs Water; Water rusts Metal; Metal breaks up Earth; Earth smothers Fire; Fire burns Wood. And then, the combinations and permutations of the eight trigrams constitute sixty-four hexagrams of I Ching (figure 6). Every hexagram comprises of six horizontal lines, each of which symbolizes a particular kind of human characteristic or situation. The brief texts that accompany each hexagram symbol are cryptic aphorisms that serve as metaphors for contextualizing and negotiating situations by providing a vocabulary for sorting out the relationships among things as they come together and constitute themselves in unique compositions (Fung, 1952, p261). And 5 according to the philosopher François Jullien (1989, 2004, 2007, 2008), I Ching aims to clarify the way events unfold. Thus, the hexagram operates not as a predetermined, abstract, and codified intellectual representation or construct, but as a pure transformational structure to be maneuvered as a perceptual diagram. The hexagram structure is the only one capable of expressing the ongoing mutations of the universe, which he calls “process,” through a concrete system of representation, or “concrete figuration.” For more than 2000 years, this ancient system of cosmology and philosophy has been engraved into the heart of Chinese cultural beliefs, and valued by dominant ideologies. This philosophy centers on the ideas of the dynamic balance of opposites, the evolution of events as a process, and acceptance of the inevitability of change. Robert Paul Weller (2006, p189) has enshrined it as an intricate combination of nearly all systems of cosmic correlation ever devised in China, reinforcing the ideas of balanced interaction and harmony within a broad order of heaven and nature and harnessing the energy of the universe for human benefits. Now, the Yin and Yang discourse has not been merely confined to the traditional cultural domains but extended to modern science, where some correlations could also be perceived by scholars. According to Fung (1952), he praised that I Ching was one of the few books in the Orient that had no counterpart in the West. People now regard the hexagrams as a cryptic but metaphorical matrix, extending its discourse from oracle to other realms, such as politics, economics, management, mathematics, as well as scientific research, such as DNA, new physics, and complexity theory. An essential 6 ideal among those modern scholars is to tap unseen aspects of reality, its substances and its processes, compatible to what modern scientists do with experimental methods in subatomic and medicine. Though sometimes those who are raised with modern science methods found such metaphysical discourse unconceivable, yet it was considered useful in the hands of a creative and wise sage who could read the sign and offer advice by consulting the reality at all levels (Kurtz, 2007, p73). For instance, the Yin-Yang theory could be thought as a binary system corresponding to the binary numeral system in mathematics. Yin, represented with a broken line ( __ __ ), corresponds to 0, and yang, as a solid line ( _____ ) corresponds to 1.