Harmony Begets New Things

This notion can be traced to Discourses of the States (Guo Yu). It was advanced by Court Historian Bo Yangfu during the late Western Zhou Dynasty (1046-771 B.C.). According to him, harmony means coordinating and balancing different things. Only by maintaining differences does harmony beget new things, which will then thrive by absorbing external elements. Progress cannot be sustained merely by combining things of the same type.

Therefore, harmony is even the strategy to accomplish the goal of begetting new things, with differences being a prerequisite. This idea promotes fostering respect for differences and opposes homogeneity. New things will emerge over time through various elements interacting, coordinating, and balancing each other. Influenced by this idea, the Chinese tend to look at changes in a positive way and embrace new things. This idea also underpins China's advocacy of cultural exchange and mutual learning to drive the progress of society and humanity.

和實生物

和實生物出自《國語·鄭語》，由西周末年太史伯陽父提出。在伯陽父看來，把不同的東西加以協調平衡叫作“和”。有差異的“和”才能生成萬物，“和成”的物才能豐富發展，并令外物來歸附聚集。如果僅僅把相同的東西予以疊加，是不能持續發展下去的。

“和實生物”意味著“生”是目的，“和”是實現“生”的方式，而差異性是“和”的前提。這一理念一方面尊重差異，另一方面又反對固化差異，從而充分看到具有差異性的各個要素相互作用、協調平衡，在時間延續中不斷形成新的事物。基于這一理念，中國人樂于以正面的眼光看待發展變化，擁抱新生事物。中國主張以文明交流、互學互鑒，促進人類文明發展和社會進步，體現了和實生物的原則。