Philosophy and intercultural communication: the phenomenon of a human being in the Confucian tradition

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Institute of philosophy and sociology of the Polish academy of sciences

Institute of social and political psychology of the National academy of educational sciences of Ukraine

Philosophy and intercultural communication: the phenomenon of a human being in the Confucian tradition

T.V. Danylova,

the graduate school for social research

Warsaw

Kyiv

Abstract

This paper aims to investigate the phenomenon of a human being within the Confucian tradition as well as its interpretations from intercultural perspective. Theoretical basis. One of the ways to understand the deepest level of the intercultural dialogue is to reveal the interpretations of a human being in philosophical traditions, since they refer to the formation of personality and identity within a given culture including interpersonal, intergroup, and intercultural relations. Humanism based on the unity of Human and Heaven runs like a red thread through the philosophical teachings of Confucius, Mencius, Xunzi, Zhu Xi, Wang Yangming defining the ideas of human nature, his/her duties, his/her place and roles in society that shaped the Chinese mentality. Originality. Quite often, Chinese concepts (for example, human dignity beyond the ideas of democracy and mass political participation, guanxi, mianzi) are incomprehensible to the representatives of the Western civilization, which leads to the challenges in intercultural communication. The interpretation of these ideas in the context of Confucianism allows to understand them from the perspective of Others and expand the set of patterns of cultural perception. This ultimately leads to the awareness that there are many social, political, cultural realities, which we perceive through the lens of our own concepts and attitudes. The participants of an intercultural dialogue realize that each of them has a unique experience, own way of posing a problem and resolving it, and no one is better or worse. Conclusions. Confucian philosophy shaped the worldview of Chinese people, defined values, goals, meanings, attitudes, communication models, which affected all spheres of Chinese life and culture. The study of the philosophical heritage of the great Chinese civilization enhances the cultural competence of the intercultural communicators and expands the field of dialogue to the level of global communication.

Keywords: Confucianism; human being; human nature; humanism; intercultural communication

Анотація

Т.В. Данилова

Вища школа соціальних досліджень, Інститут філософії та соціології Польської академії наук (Варшава, Польща), Інститут соціальної та політичної психології Національної академії педагогічних наук України (Київ, Україна)

Філософія та міжкультурна комунікація: феномен людини в конфуціанській традиції

Мета. У статті зроблено спробу дослідити феномен людини в конфуціанській традиції, а також його розуміння в контексті міжкультурної комунікації. Теоретичний базис. Одним зі шляхів усвідомлення найглибшого рівня міжкультурного діалогу є виявлення інтерпретацій природи людини у філософських традиціях, оскільки вони стосуються формування особистості та ідентичності в рамках певної культури, включаючи міжособистісні, міжгрупові та міжкультурні відносини. Гуманістична тенденція, що базується на єдності Людини та Неба, червоною ниткою проходить крізь філософські вчення Конфуція, Мен-цзи, Сюнь - цзи, Чжу Сі, Ван Янміна, оформлюючи уявлення про природу людини, її обов'язки, місце і роль в ієрархічній структурі суспільства тощо. Наукова новизна. Досить часто китайські концепції (наприклад, уявлення про людську гідність поза межами ідей демократії та масової політичної участі, гуансі, мяньцзи) є незрозумілими представникам західної цивілізації, що призводить до проблем у міжкультурному спілкуванні. Інтерпретація цих концепцій у контексті конфуціанської філософії дозволяє осягнути їх з точки зору Інших і розширити набір моделей культурного сприйняття. Це зрештою призводить до визнання того, що існує багато соціальних, політичних, культурних реалій, які ми сприймаємо крізь призму наших власних концепцій і атитюдів. Учасники міжкультурного діалогу усвідомлюють, що кожен із них має унікальний досвід, власний спосіб постановки проблеми та її вирішення, і жоден із них не є кращим чи гіршим. Висновки. Конфуціанська філософія створила смислові карти, які сформували світогляд китайців, визначили цінності, цілі, сенси, атитюди, моделі спілкування, що вплинуло на всі сфери життя Китаю. Вивчення філософської спадщини великої китайської цивілізації підвищує культурну компетентність учасників міжкультурної комунікації та розширює поле діалогу до рівня глобальної комунікації.

Ключові слова: конфуціанство; людина; природа людини; гуманізм; міжкультурна комунікація

Abstract

philosophical intercultural nature

Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet, Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God's great Judgment Seat; But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth, When two strong men stand face to face, though they come from the ends of the earth!

Rudyard Kipling

The third millennium is called the Planetary Phase of human history (Raskin et al., 2002), in which human beings have become the driving force. This phase requires a new paradigm of relationship between individuals, nations, states, and cultures (Danylova, 2016; Khmil, 2016). Nowadays, the problems of the future of both the individuals and cultural/civilizational communities as well as their fruitful dialogue are becoming essential. One of the areas that requires close attention is intercultural communication, the area of serious threats and hidden opportunities for establishing good neighborly relations between the representatives of different cultural and civilizational communities.

Intercultural communication is often carried out under conditions of significant cultural differences. These differences cannot be overcome neither by interdependent economic, technological, political, and social relationships, nor by the unified information environment, as far as the dialogue of cultures unfolds at multiply levels, the deepest of which is the value and raison d'etre level. Thus, in order to develop a promising dialogue between nations and cultures and to create successful projects of the future, researchers need to expand and deepen the field of their activities towards the study of alternative futures, worldviews, myths, and metaphors (Milojevic & Inayatullah, 2015); overcome the binarity that permeates our perception of the world; embrace various types of rationality; be aware of the role of tacit knowledge that shapes our worldviews. «A multitude of alternative worldviews is a characteristic marker of today's multicultural and plural global culture» (Katzenstein, 2018, p. 387).

One of the ways to achieve this goal is to reveal the interpretations of a human being in different philosophical traditions, since they refer to the formation of personality and identity within a given culture including interpersonal, intergroup, and intercultural relations.

The role of China in the modern world cannot be overestimated. Global coverage of international presence, international finance, Chinese economic miracle (Mitter, 2016), culture full of mysteries and very pragmatic - the Chinese phenomenon has raised many questions. Rooted in family traditions and practices, formed over the centuries, China combines a peasant society with the most futuristic cities, advanced technological innovations with the huge layers of powerful meanings rooted in antiquity. The basis of the Chinese mentality is Chinese philosophy, in which a human being occupies a special place. Though Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism are considered the three pillars of Chinese society and Chinese mentality, this paper is focused on the Confucian tradition and aims to investigate the phenomenon of a human being within it as well as its interpretations from intercultural perspective.

Within the ancient Chinese philosophical tradition, a human was seen as one of the myriads of living things; he/she was not superior to the non-human world. «Chinese philosophers early on gave up the attempt to ground human values in a human-like and human-centered divine power» (Perkins, 2022, p. 76). The Chinese Cosmos arises as a result of the interaction of one and many, non-being and being, and Tao gives rise to «ten thousand things», Tai Chi gives life to the plurality of existence (Wen, 2010). There is no Creator as an external force - the force that does not need anything for existence but creates the world of the free will. Judeo-Christian tradition calls this force God who established a certain order of things in the world. Unlike the proponents of the Western concept of creationism, the Chinese philosophers see Cosmos as a process of creatio in situ: one thing is transformed into another. The Chinese Cosmos is a living organism that is integrated into a dynamic wholeness, and the main principle of the existence and development of the world is based on eternal changes. The infinite, immeasurable, formless Tao generates myriads of things, processes, and phenomena that go through the entire life cycle and then return to their original source in order to give life to the other things, processes, and phenomena (Danylova, 2014). A human being is one of the components involved in this process of constant changes.

Hence, the Chinese worldview is grounded on the idea of the one unified Cosmos and its manifestations. The world is not split into two parts: spirit and matter. There are no stone fences between them. Since there is no opposition of materiality and spirituality within the Chinese culture,

The idea of a human as a «thing» coexists quite harmoniously with the recognition of a human's special place in the universe. A human, on the one hand, is regarded as one of the things-creatures of the cosmos within the Chinese tradition, and on the other hand, he stands out among multitude and is put on a par with the dominant forces of the Universe - Heaven and Earth. Thus, a universal cosmic triad (San Cai) is formed - Heaven, Earth, and Human, a triad in which Human occupies the central position as the mediator and the beginning that unites the universe. As an intermediary, Human connects, links together Heaven and Earth, and as a unifying principle, Human is a microcosm («small Heaven and Earth» - xiao tian di) that reflects the diversity of nature and embraces it. On the other hand, Human can overcome his/her «disconnection», «separation» from the world and merge with the body (ti) of the cosmos, having formed a unified whole with all that exists (this aspect of con - substantiality of a human being and the world was especially emphasized not only by Taoism, but also by neo-Confucianism). In its philosophical dimension, the theme of Human as a principle that is connatural to Heaven and Earth, in essence, introduces the theme of presence. The world of the Chinese thought is the presence of the dimensional wholeness-being. A human as a member of the world triad and its unifying principle is not an abstract distilled cognizing subject of Modern European philosophy. He/she is rather the hypostatized (or personified) «who» of presence; he/she is the one through whom being of the world also becomes being in the world, and being itself acquires its complete ness. (Torchinov, 2017, p. 91)

Thereby, «Heaven - Earth - Human» is the basic triad of Chinese philosophy. Heaven refers to pure yang, while Earth refers to pure yin. The Qi of Heaven controls the Qi of Earth. Human is the fruit of the union of Heaven and Earth. He/she embraces both kinds of energy, the Qi of Heaven and the Qi of Earth: human's feet are on the ground and his/her head is in the sky. The harmonious life is possible only if Heaven and Earth remain in their initial places and follow the pre-established cosmic order. As it is said in the famous Taoist treatise «Tao Te Ching»,

«The human being follows the earth.

Earth follows heaven.

Heaven follows the Tao.

Tao follows what is natural» (Lao Tzu, 2011, ch. 25).

A characteristic feature of the Chinese culture is its intuitive openness to the wisdom of nature. According to Taoist views, Heaven and Earth last forever being unborn and detached. «Through selfless action, they attain fulfillment» (Lao Tzu, 2011, ch. 7). This thought resonates with the ideas of the Confucian tradition presented in «Analects» («Lun Yu»): «How majestic was the manner in which Shun and Yu held possession of the empire, as if it were nothing to them!» (Confucius, 2017, 8:18).

The Chinese cosmology is based on naturalism, holism and immanence: «unified and holistic Cosmos is permeated with flows of vitality, Cosmos, all elements of which are interrelated and harmoniously united and at the same time are constantly transformed and changed in its original energetic plasticity» (Torchinov, 2017, p. 30).

As a rule, naturalistic explanations suggest the lack of ethically meaningful relationship between Human, Heaven, and Earth (Chua, 2022). However, within the Chinese tradition, harmony was the main forming principle. As a Chinese scholar W.-T. Chan put it:

If one word could characterize the entire history of Chinese philosophy, that word would be humanism - not the humanism that denies or slights a Supreme Power, but one that professes the unity of Man and Heaven. In this sense, humanism has dominated Chinese thought from the dawn of its history. (Chan, 1969, p. 3)

Thus, being in subordinate harmony with Heaven and Earth, Human naturally embraces their energies and follows the outlined path. Such a concept is the basis of the Chinese holistic worldview.

Chinese sages believed that everything depended on the Mandate of Heaven (tianming), which was embodied by the Son of Heaven (tianzi) that led to the idea of a direct connection of the Divine Forces with a ruler. Eventually, Heaven had been interpreted from the standpoint of morality. According to the prominent Chinese philosopher Confucius, a superior man always recognizes the ordinances of Heaven. Heaven was believed to punish the unworthy and reward

the virtuous. To maintain the Mandate of Heaven, the rulers must be fair to the people and be in harmony with the universe, otherwise they can lose their legitimacy as the rulers. This idea of the legitimacy of power justified popular revolts.

What determines people's moral actions? What do people tend to bring into the world - good or evil? For centuries, there has been a never-ending moral debate that addresses the inner nature of a human: good, evil, or ambivalent.

Confucius believed that humans lived in the moral world. Morality is an integral part of the structure of the universe. According to the philosopher, people are basically good - every human can be a benevolent sage. All people can cultivate virtue and act in accordance with the Mandate of Heaven. Confucius made the concept of jen the main theme of his conversations: jen (humanity) became general virtue. The human of jen is the perfect human. The concept of jen is closely related to the concept of li (propriety). «If a man be without the virtues proper to humanity, what has he to do with the rites of propriety?» (Confucius, 2017, 3:3). Yi (righteousness, or justice) is another essential virtue. Shu (reciprocity) is one more Confucian concept that refers to a method of moral thinking, «what you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others» (Confucius, 2017, 15:24). Shu is a way of showing jen.

The ideological basis of the Confucius's concept of a human is rooted in traditional Chinese views on the structure of the universe. He considers a human as a part of nature who obeys it, but at the same time is able to resist it due to the intermediary position between Heaven and Earth. Human nature includes two levels: innate qualities and the ability for self-improvement. It is not enough for an individual to have certain characteristics, traits; one must also be able to apply them concentrating the will and regulating his/her behavior. Given this idea, it becomes clear how people who are similar in innate qualities turn out to be so different socially and morally.

Since the abilities of people to regulate their behavior are different, special requirements are imposed on each social strata and different patterns of behavior are prescribed. Confucius associates the social positions of people with their moral characteristics. He describes an individual who is in line with Confucian moral precepts and embodies the ideal of junzi - a noble human, gentleman (literally, ruler's son or noble son) (Stefon, 2016). He/she is a person of the golden rule - the principle of treating others as one wants to be treated. This person of humanity, «wishing to be established himself, seeks also to establish others; wishing to be enlarged himself, he seeks also to enlarge others. To be able to judge of others by what is nigh in ourselves - this may be called the art of virtue» (Confucius, 2017, 6:30).

The opposite of a noble human is a mean human, who does not have proper knowledge, so his/her behavior is not regulated by etiquette:

There are three things of which the superior man stands in awe. He stands in awe of the ordinances of Heaven. He stands in awe of great men. He stands in awe of the words of sages. The mean man does not know the ordinances of Heaven, and consequently does not stand in awe of them. He is disrespectful to great men. He makes sport of the words of sages. (Confucius, 2017, 16:8)

A noble human is responsible for maintaining order in the Celestial Empire (China). According to Confucius, striving for humanity is in human nature, and to manifest it means to follow this nature and not to distort it. This idea was developed by the disciples of Confucius, in particular, by Mencius.

The preeminent Chinese philosopher Mencius took a step forward in explaining human nature. He declared that human nature was originally good. Evil is not inborn but due to a human's failures and inability to avoid evil influences from the outside world. Mencius said:

If you let people follow their feelings (original nature), they will be able to do good. This is what is meant by saying that human nature is good. If man does evil, it is not the fault of his natural endowment. The feeling of commiseration is found in all men; the feeling of shame and dislike is found in all men; the feeling of respect and reverence is found in all men; and the feeling of right and wrong is found in all men. The feeling of commiseration is what we call humanity; the feeling of shame and dislike is what we call righteousness; the feeling of respect and reverence is what we call propriety (li); and the feeling of right and wrong is what we call wisdom. Humanity, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom are not drilled into us from outside. We originally have them with us. (Chan, 1969, p. 54)

This concept of basic human goodness, along with the Mahayana Buddhism doctrine, according to which all beings have Buddha nature and are inherently perfect, has remained the firm belief of the Chinese.

Another famous Confucian thinker Xunzi took an opposing viewpoint on human nature. It is well-known that Xunzi's thesis «Human nature is evil» is meant as a critique of Mencius' position «Human nature is good» (Scarpari, 2003). According to Xunzi, human nature is evil and his/her goodness is the result of his/her activity:

All propriety and righteousness are results of the activity of sages and not originally produced from man's nature. The potter pounds the clay and makes the vessel. This being the case, the vessel is the product of the ar-tisan's activity and not the original product of man's nature. The artisan hews a piece of wood and makes a vessel. This being the case, the vessel is the product of the artisan's activity and not the original product of man's nature. The sages gathered together their ideas and thoughts and became familiar with activity, facts, and principles, and thus produced propriety and righteousness and instituted laws and systems. This being the case, propriety and righteousness, and laws and systems are the products of the activity of the sages and not the original products of man's nature. (Chan, 1969, p. 130)

This idea allows Xunzi to place great emphasis upon the necessity for education and moral upbringing. All humans are the same in their basic nature, but those who become sages attain moral understanding and insight through learning.

Despite the opposing views on human nature expressed by Mencius and Xunzi, the debate between them represented a disagreement over the nature of morality more than a disagreement about the empirical facts of human nature (Soles, 1999). Xunzi admitted the human's striving for goodness: «People desire to be good because their nature is evil» (Chan, 1969, p. 130). To become virtuous, people need external help.

The Neo-Confucian thinker Zhu Xi contributed greatly to Chinese philosophy and reshaped the Chinese worldview giving Confucianism new meaning that has been dominated for centuries. In assessing human nature, Zhu Xi agrees with Mencius considering it to be good. At the same time, he explains that by nature which people get from Heaven he understands just a general principle. Then qi is added to it. The unity of the good nature-principle and qi creates individual nature, which can be both good and evil. This nature differs depending on kinds of qi a person got.

Zhu Xi distinguished between two types of nature - original nature and established nature of a human. Original nature is the pure pattern of li; and this nature is good. Since the same pattern of li is inherent in all people, they are all inherently good by nature. Zhu Xi wrote:

What is received by them from Heaven is called nature. But in the carrying out of the Mandate of Heaven, there must first be the interaction, mutual influence, consolidation, and integration of the two material forces (yin and yang) and the Five Agents (of Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth) before things can be produced. Man's nature and destiny exist before physical form [and are without it], while material force exists after physical form [and is with it]. What exists before physical form is the one principle harmonious and undifferentiated, and is invariably good. What exists after physical form, however, is confused and mixed, and good and evil are thereby differentiated. Therefore, when man and things are produced, they have in them this material force, with the endowment of which they are produced. (Chan, 1969, p. 597)

During their lives, people interact with the environment, and their natures and qi configurations may be changed. As a result, human original nature can be changed and even become evil. Thus, the source of evil in Zhu Xi's interpretation refers to qi, but qi itself is not the source of evil. Zhu Xi comes to conclusion that evil is a part of nature and acts as a material force that is insufficiently pure. Good and evil constitute the principle of nature. After all, not all people become evil, therefore, upbringing and education are of great importance. «The nature of all men is good, and yet there are those who are good from their birth and those who are evil from their birth. This is because of the difference in material force with which they are endowed… The objective of learning is to transform this material endowment» (Chan, 1969, pp. 624-625). In his teaching, Zhu Xi combined the opposing theories on human nature introduced by Xunzi and Mencius and elaborated the Confucian idea that evil could be overcome (Chan, 1969).

One of the great masters of Confucianism Wang Yangming interpreted human nature as good. Like all Confucianists, he proceeded from the essential unity of human nature and the universe, where a human was between Heaven and Earth. Wang Yangming was convinced that every person could become perfect, as far as he/she had an internal knowledge of the good. The source of goodness is inside a person. Inner goodness is manifested in love for oneself and one's family, one's community, and all other living beings. Moral behavior is the natural expression of the inner knowledge of the good. Wang Yangming said:

The great man regards Heaven and Earth and the myriad things as one body. He regards the world as one family and the country as one person.

As to those who make a cleavage between objects and distinguish between the self and others, they are small men. That the great man can regard Heaven, Earth, and the myriad things as one body is not because he deliberately wants to do so, but because it is natural to the humane nature of his mind that he do so. Forming one body with Heaven, Earth, and the myriad things is not only true of the great man. Even the mind of the small man is no different. Only he himself makes it small. (Chan, 1969, p. 659)

All things make up a unified body with a person as the manifestation of li and qi. Like Zhu Xi, Wang Yangming interprets qi as the beginning of both spiritual and physical at the same time. Li and qi differ not on the basis of spirituality but on the basis of orderliness and, in this sense, rationality. If li embodies an ordered principle with a moral connotation, then qi is a chaotic and irrational principle. Humans are integral beings, both spiritual and corporeal, and they are capable of activity.

Wang Yangming constantly emphasized that a person who strived to become a perfect sage was able to achieve harmony of consciousness without special examination of external things. These ideas became the basis for the practice of introspection.

The ideas of the Chinese philosophers have had a huge influence on the Chinese culture and still determine the Chinese mentality finding expression in various spheres of human activity. Quite often, they are incomprehensible to the representatives of the Western civilization and can cause confusion, anxiety, irritation or even aggression in intercultural encounters. A deep understanding of the Chinese narratives that shaped the Chinese world makes it possible to extend the set of patterns of cultural perception. This will eventually lead to the awareness that there are many social, political, cultural realities, which we perceive through the lens of our own concepts and attitudes (Danylova, 2013). «Respect for other cultures is one of the key needs in communication. No one should look down on those with different customs, languages or cultures, but try to look through their eyes and to understand, what and how they are seeing the world» (Herzog, 2010, p. 3). The participants of an intercultural dialogue suddenly realize that each of them has a unique experience, own way of posing a problem and resolving it, and no one is better or worse. They are just different.

Let's take a look at the Chinese concepts of human dignity, guanxi, and mianzi. The philosophical beliefs that a human is naturally good or that he/she strives for goodness has formed a Chinese concept of human dignity based on duty (the concept of moral personality). «The Confucian idea of human dignity is thus closely related to its central concepts of innate virtues, the characters of the gentleman (junzi), and the Principle of the Mean (Zhong Yong)» (Zhang, 2000, p. 306). The Doctrine of the Mean is the main doctrine of Confucianism: «Perfect is the virtue which is according to the Constant Mean! Rare for a long time has been its practice among the people» (Confucius, 2017, 6:29). An individual who follows this principle unites him/herself with Heaven and bridges the gap between personal morality and social harmony (Suh, 2020), which is the highest goal of personal and social development.

The idea of human dignity in Chinese philosophy is based on the recognition of the innate potential of each person and the ability of people to actualize this potential, which is not given to everyone. The rejection of the ideas of democracy and mass political participation in traditional China does not mean a rejection of human dignity, but it indicates that human dignity within the frameworkoftheChinesephilosophyhastwocomponents:innatepotentialanditsactualization, manifestation in real life. This fundamentally distinguishes the interpretation of human dignity in the Eastern and Western traditions but does not diminish any of them. As Q. Zhang (2000) put it: «I argue that the idea of human dignity, which is firmly rooted in Confucianism, does contain the potential of receiving new interpretations that can bring about basic compatibility between the Chinese cultural tradition and the prevailing Western notion of liberal democracy» (p. 301).

The perfect human of the Confucian world seeks to fulfill his/her duty rather than claims his/her rights. This perfect human lives in a society based on mutual obligations. Chinese society is hierarchical, and everyone has his/her own place in this structure. If everyone follows the rules and fulfills the duties, then harmony reigns in the society/state. In the traditional Chinese culture, all relationships are seen as a copy of kinship relationships. Each of the parties to these relations has both rights and obligations in relation to the other party, which creates the necessary balance. This perception of the world through the lens of a large family led to the emergence of the phenomenon of guanxi - an emotionally charged system of transactional social ties based on kin and pseudo-kin relationships. Being a fundamental feature of Chinese society, guanxi is defined by a strict ethic of reciprocity and obligations (Tian, 2020).

To some extent, guanxi is an informal institution of power that connects people at different levels. Guanxi is based on unwritten laws, regulates social relationships, and helps in solving issues in all spheres of human life. Thus, the family-centered and family-like society, developed on the ideas of Confucius and his followers, determined the special type of human relations in China.

In China, guanxi is a kind of social capital that must be preserved and increased. The wider the social and affectionate networks, the stronger guanxi of a given person, the more influential he/she is in Chinese society. As A. Kipnis (1997) pointed out, these networks consist of three elements - affect, reciprocal favor, and mianzi. Mianzi is a concept derived from Confucian teachings, according to which all people have their duties, responsibilities defined by their social roles. Every role is manifested through public face - mianzi. Mianzi is a social assessment of how much an individual complies with his/her social roles and, respectively, how much he/she is worthy of respect.

Though face describes the phenomenon that exists in every society, it is particularly important in China. Actually, the notion of face includes two components - social face (mianzi) and moral face (lian). Mianzi is related to social status, wealth, power, respect, prestige, while lian is related to moral character. Both concepts are derived from the Confucian concept of morality. Ritual, etiquette, even common politeness are associated with mianzi that reflects Chinese thinking. Mianzi is of crucial importance to Chinese people. A human who loses face falls out of the Confucian hierarchy and thus out of society. He/she cannot be considered respected and influential, in fact, he/she ceases to exist. Mianzi is still one of the most powerful regulators of relations in the public life of China. However, as B. Kang (2022) states, nowadays young people do not care much about mianzi, «for them, mianzi does not depend on how others look at you but on your own level of satisfaction - be it from career achievements or high-quality living».

Though the Chinese worldview does not remain unchanged and traditional values coexist with modern practices within Chinese society, it should be stressed that Chinese philosophy now, as in ancient times, largely determines the daily life of Chinese people. The ideas on human nature, perfect human, human dignity, his/her duties, his/her place and roles in society shaped the Chinese worldview, defined values, goals, meanings, attitudes, preferences, patterns of communication, which ultimately influenced all spheres of life in China. The study of the philosophical heritage of the great Chinese civilization enhances the cultural competence of the intercultural communicators and expands the field of dialogue to the level of global communication.

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