Page 9 - ON BUILDING A HUMAN COMMUNITY WITH A SHARED FUTURE

ON BUILDING A HUMAN COMMUNITY WITH A SHARED FUTURE

civilizations and in promoting world peace.
Thank you.

Note
1
The Mencius (Meng Zi). This is a Confucian classic compiled by Mencius and his
disciples. The book is a collection of anecdotes and conversations of the Confucian thinker
and philosopher Mencius during the Warring States Period (475–221 BC). It is one of the Four
Books of Confucianism, the other three being The Great Learning, The Doctrine of the Mean,
and The Analects of Confucius.
2 Zheng He (1371 or 1375–1433 or 1435) was a navigator of the Ming Dynasty.
He began his service at the imperial court in the early Ming Dynasty and was later promoted
to be the Grand Director (Taijian) of the Directorate of Palace Servants. He eventually served
as chief envoy during his seven grand sea voyages between 1405 and 1433 when he traveled
to more than 30 countries and regions in Asia and Africa, including Southeast Asian countries,
the Indian Ocean, and the Red Sea, as well as the east coast of Africa and Mecca — the sacred
place for Islamic pilgrimages (Zheng He was a Muslim). His expeditions greatly boosted the
economic and cultural exchanges between China and other Asian and African countries.
3 Xuanzang (600 or 602–664), also known as Tang Seng, was an eminent monk of
the Tang Dynasty, translator of Buddhist scriptures, and co-founder of the Vijnaptimatrata
(Consciousness-only) School. He requested to take Buddhist orders at the age of 13, after
which time he learned from many masters who confused him with different ideas, causing
him a dream of journey to India — known as the “western regions” at that time. His dream
came true in 629 (or 627) when he headed to India for the study of Buddhist sutras. After
his return to Chang’an, capital of the Tang Dynasty, in 645, Xuanzang committed himself to
translating 75 Buddhist scriptures in 1,335 volumes and writing a book, Great Tang Records on the
Western Regions (Da Tang Xi Yu Ji).
4 Journey to the West (Xi You Ji) is a mythical novel attributed to Wu Cheng’en
(c.1500– c.1582), a novelist of the Ming Dynasty. It recounts the legendary pilgrimage of the
Tang Dynasty monk Tang Seng (Xuan Zang), who traveled to the “western regions” (India) to
obtain sacred texts (sutras) with his three disciples, Sun Wukong (Monkey King), Zhu Bajie (Pig
of the Eight Prohibitions), and Sha Wujing (Friar Sand), and returned after many trials and
much suffering subduing demons and monsters. It is dubbed one of the four great classical
novels of Chinese literature, the other three being Romance of the Three Kingdoms, The Water
Margin, and A Dream of Red Mansions.
5 Xu Beihong (1895–1953) was a Chinese master painter and fine arts educator.

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