Cultural Identity of the Chinese Dream

At the end of 2012， the U.S.-based National Intel- ligence Council （NIC） issued a report titled Global Trends 2030： Alternative Worlds， which predicted that China’s economy will surpass the United States to become the world’s largest a few years before 2030. Economic growth represents a part of the Chinese Dream. However， the Chinese Dream cannot depend entirely on economic development. It should also be culture-oriented. It is culture rather than economics that create new civilizations for the world. A few decades ago， Japan ranked as the world’s second largest economy， and bought half of Hawaii’s real estate and many properties in New York City’s Times Square in the 1980s and 1990s. Japanese citizens once eyed becoming “first” in the world， but fell into recession. So when it promotes the Chinese Dream， China needs to consider how to use cultural strength to accompany China’s peaceful rise and how to build a chain of Chinese cultural values.

Culture is the foundation of social， economic， scientific， educational and ecological development. It is also a reflection of the success of humankind. Culture is both abstract and concrete. Cultural evolution and personal identity in many ways provide the basics for development. And these basics， over the course of development， can promote human achievements to the masses and create new trends or tides of culture. The ultimate goal is to develop a new Chinese culture which is compatible with other cultures and benefits the whole world. Even as China becomes a global leader， it will not impose its philosophy on others as Western countries did in the 19th and 20th Centuries. The cultural identity of the Chinese Dream will be near the heart of global civilization in 21st Century.

As renowned 20th Century British historian Arnold Joseph Toynbee （1889-1975） predicted in his later years， the 19th Century belongs to the U.K.， the 20th belongs to the U.S.， and the 21st belongs to China. This prediction brought anxieties to many Westerners， which partially resulted in the China threat theory. So an external problem with the Chinese Dream is that many countries， tracing the behavior of Western nations after they became powers， believe that the Chinese rise is about hegemony. In order to eliminate misunderstandings， the Chinese Dream needs to set new cultural values and a distinct identity.

For four centuries， capitalism has been unable to establish a reasonable global ethical system， which has aroused reflections from Western visionaries. In the wake of World War I， British philosopher Bertrand Russell questioned Western culture and civilization and hoped that the world would adjust its developmental direction. He declared that it was a mistake for Japan to become Westernized after its Meiji Restoration and hoped China would not follow Japan in blind Westernization after China’s May 4th Movement （1919）.

The Western world needs to tolerate a renaissance of Eastern civilization， which will become the key driver of global development in the next decade. Also， China needs to find the foundation of new Chinese civilization after merging traditional and modern Chinese cultures and promote the co-existence of global cultures. Diversity of civilization should be a key feature of the 21st Century.

The Chinese Dream represents not only Chinese people’s pursuit of new vitality for development， new life contentment and a balanced ecology， but also their efforts to contribute new values such as equality and harmony to global civilization. Only by building a chain of cultural values can the Chinese Dream be embraced by the world and help create a planet that can be enjoyed by everyone.