context: To shore up ethnic cohesion, the PRC advances the concept of a Zhonghua (Chinese) national community, advancing cultural unity within. The State Ethnic Affairs Commission explains that the Zhonghua identity is shared by those with united cultural norms and historical experiences, which expands beyond ethnicity, territory and religion. In practice, the concept is employed to support both domestic ethnic integration and cross-strait unification.
Xinjiang culture is not only diverse, but also harmonised with Zhonghua (Chinese) culture, contends Pan Yue 潘岳 Central United Front Work Department vice director and State Ethnic Affairs Commission Party Secretary.
Pan criticised the unrealistic international narrative that depicts Xinjiang culture as a separate, or even opposing, entity from Zhonghua culture. Archeological facts tell us that
- Xinjiang has been a major part of the Zhonghua cultural sphere since the beginning of history
- many Confucian or central dynastic artifacts are found in Xinjiang
- central-Xinjiang exchange existed as early as the neolithic period
- Confucianism does not encompass exclusivity
- is a form of humanism, not religion
- allows multiple religions to coexist
- welcomes cultural tolerance and openness
Another incorrect narrative involves painting the Xinjiang-Zhonghua relationship as a form of assimilation. For Pan, this is a form of ignorance towards Chinese history. Certain Chinese classics and historical figures also originated from Xinjiang. The Zhonghua nation is built partly with the help of ethnic minorities in Western China.
Western observers should not understand 'diversity' and 'unity' as absolute dichotomies. Chinese philosophy is rather fluid, allowing diversity to collide into unity, and contradicting concepts to integrate into one.
Xi Jinping 习近平 contends Zhonghua philosophy is formed by a collision of Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism
- Buddhism absorbed
- Confucianism’s concept of filial piety
- Taoism’s method of understanding the way
- Confucianism absorbed the Buddhist laws of nature
Now, the three remain separated, while serving as a united philosophy that shores up the Zhonghua spiritual world.
Similarly, Islam gradually integrated into Zhonghua culture when entering the Chinese territory. The process of clash and integration is not for destroying one another, but to build a more advanced civilisation through mutual learning.
The same principle could be applied to explain the integration of Marxism and Zhonghua culture. Under such a combination, the PRC upholds the following beliefs
- national territory cannot be split
- the state cannot descend into chaos
- the race cannot be disintegrated
- the civilisation must not perish