UNDERSTANDING WESTERN CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, RELIGION, LITERATURE AND ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE. Edited by Guobin Xu, Yanhui Chen and Lianhua Xu, 2018
Uploaded by
Francis RijnaUNDERSTANDING WESTERN CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, RELIGION, LITERATURE AND ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE. Edited by Guobin Xu, Yanhui Chen and Lianhua Xu, 2018
Uploaded by
Francis RijnaUNDERSTANDING
WESTERN
C U LT U R E
P H I LOS O P H Y
RELIGION
L I T E R AT U R E
O R G A N I Z AT I O N A L CU LT U R E
E D I T E D BY G U O B I N X U , YA N H U I CH E N , L I A N H UA X
U,ETAL.
T R A N SL AT E D BY K A I J U CH E N , X I Y UA N X I O N G , W E
N Q UA N W U , E T A L .
Understanding Western Culture
Guobin Xu • Yanhui Chen • Lianhua Xu
Editors
Understanding
Western Culture
Philosophy, Religion, Literature
and Organizational Culture
Editors
Guobin Xu
Yanhui Chen
Guangdong University of Foreign
Guangdong University of Foreign
Studies
Studies
Guangzhou, China
Guangzhou, China
Lianhua Xu
Guangdong University of Foreign
Studies
Guangzhou, China
Translators
Kaiju Chen
Xiyuan Xiong
Guangdong University of Foreign
Sun Yat-sen University Press
Studies
Guangzhou, China
Guangzhou, China
Wenquan Wu
Guangdong University of Foreign
Studies
Guangzhou, China
ISBN
978-981-10-8149-1 ISBN
978-981-10-8150-7 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-8150-7
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018930803
© South China University of Technology Press 2018
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively
licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is
concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of
illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any
other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval,
electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar
methodology now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service
marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a
specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective
laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice
and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date
of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a
warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or
for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains
neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and
institutional affiliations.
Cover illustration: Alexander Spatari
Printed on acid-free paper
This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature
The registered company is Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21- 01/04 Gateway
East, Singapore 189721, Singapore
Acknowledgments
We were approached in 2012 by Professor Xu Guobin, Editor in Chief of
the original works Essentials of Chinese Culture and Essentials of Western
Culture, proposing that my research team translate these two books into
English and publish them in English-speaking countries. Almost at the
same time I was contacted with a publishing proposal by Alisa Pulver,
Senior Editor at Palgrave Macmillan. Without the trust and unfailing support
of these two parties over the following years, this large translation project—
based on the 1.1 million Chinese characters in the original works to be
translated for a series of four books, amounting to nearly 400,000
English words—would not have happened so soon after the publication of
the original works. The copyright holder, South China University of
Technology Press, showed immediate support for our translation project, and
our particular gratitude goes to their editors and coordinators: Ms.
Qiao Li and Ms. Wu Cuiwei.
Through the six years of painstaking translation and reviewing, we owe our
sincere gratitude to the experts in the related areas, whose joint effort has
transformed this translation project into the current four books.
Professor Xu Guobin, Chief Editor of the original monographs, always
provided support at each stage. In December 2014, on completion of the
translation and the first review round, Professor Xu suggested and organized
an author–translator symposium, where associate editors Chen
Yanhui and Xu Lianhua, together with all the authors of the original
works, met with the leading translators, Professor Chen Kaiju, Professor
Xiong Xiyuan and Professor Wu Wenquan, together with all the other
vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
translators to discuss the key problems encountered in the interpretation of
the original texts. Some renowned professors in translation studies in
Guangdong—including Mr. Huang Guowen, Mr. Wu Jianguo and Mr.
Liang Ruiqing—attended the symposium, offering enthusiastic com-
ment, sincere criticism, and suggestions for improvement.
Professor Mao Sihui always showed his full support for this project and
happily agreed to write the preface for the series.
At the review stage, four professors proofread and made invaluable
suggestions and corrections: Professor Li Ming proofread Introduction to
Chinese Culture; Professor Chu Dongwei proofread Understanding Chinese
Culture; Professor Chen Kaiju proofread Introduction to Western Culture;
and Professor He Zhigang proofread Understanding Western Culture.
Australian translation expert Alex Graeme-Evans reviewed Introduction to
Chinese Culture and Understanding Chinese Culture during the second
review round. The leading translators and Ms. Xue Ping carried out the final
formal review, wrote the chapter abstracts for each book, and translated all
the references.
Our special thanks also go to Sara Crowley Vigneau, Senior Editor, and
Connie Li (Yue), Editorial Assistant, of Springer Nature, whose constant
help in clarifying all the problems of project management, and format and
content organization, were crucial to the finalization of this project.
Last but not least, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies offered us the
necessary funds; and many experts and leaders from the College of
Continuing Education, the School of Interpretation and Translation
Studies, and the School of English for International Business Studies of the
University also gave us help throughout the project.
However, due to the scale of the project, the need to shorten the original
texts, and stylistic choices made by different translators and reviewers, there
may still be problems, which, of course, are the responsibility of the leading
translators. We sincerely welcome criticisms and suggestions from readers,
critics, and editors so that improvements can be made in later editions.
contents
1 Western Philosophy
1.1 Western Philosophy Before the Modern Age
1.1.1 Greco-Roman Philosophy
1
1.1.1.1
Outline of Philosophical Ideas
1.1.1.2
Major Figures
Socrates
Plato
Aristotle
1.1.2 Medieval Philosophy
1.1.2.1
Overview of Medieval Philosophy
1.1.2.2
Major Figures
6
Augustine
Thomas Aquinas
1.1.3 Philosophy During the Renaissance
1.1.3.1
Overview of Philosophical Thought
1.1.3.2
Major Figures
Niccolò Machiavelli
Martin Luther
1.2 Philosophy in Modern Times
10
1.2.1 Western European Philosophy from the Sixteenth
to Eighteenth Centuries
10
1.2.1.1
Philosophical Thoughts
10
vii
viii CONTENTS
1.2.1.2
Major Figures
10
Francis Bacon
10
René Descartes
11
Baruch Spinoza
12
John Locke
13
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
13
David Hume
14
1.2.2 French Enlightenment Philosophy in the Eighteenth
Century
14
1.2.2.1
Outline of Philosophical Thoughts
14
1.2.2.2
Major Figures
16
Voltaire
16
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
16
Denis Diderot
17
1.2.3 Classical German Philosophy in the Eighteenth
and Nineteenth Centuries
18
1.2.3.1
Outline of Philosophical Thoughts
18
1.2.3.2
Major Figures
18
Immanuel Kant
18
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
19
Ludwig Feuerbach
20
1.3 Modernism and Postmodernism
21
1.3.1 Outline of Philosophical Thoughts
21
1.3.2 Major Figures
23
1.3.2.1
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
23
1.3.2.2
John Dewey
23
1.3.2.3
Bertrand Arthur William Russell
24
1.3.2.4
Edmund Husserl
25
1.3.2.5
Martin Heidegger
26
1.3.2.6
Jean-Paul Sartre
26
1.3.2.7
Jean-François Lyotard
27
1.3.2.8
Jacques Derrida
27
Bibliography
28
2 Political Systems
29
2.1 Introduction to Western Political Systems
29
2.2 Political Systems in Major Western Countries
30
2.2.1 The Political System of the UK
30
2.2.1.1
Evolution
30
2.2.1.2
The UK’s Sovereign
31
ONTENTS ix
2.2.1.3
The Polity
31
2.2.1.4
The Civil Service
32
2.2.1.5
The Local Government System
32
2.2.1.6
The British Constitution
32
2.2.1.7
The Judicial System
33
2.2.1.8
The Electoral System
33
2.2.1.9
The Political Party System
34
The Labour Party
34
The Conservative Party
34
The Liberal Democrat Party
35
2.2.1.10 The Civil Rights System
35
2.2.1.11 The National Flag, Emblem
and Anthem
35
The National Flag
35
The National Coat of Arms
35
The National Anthem
36
2.2.2 The USA’s Political System
36
2.2.2.1
Evolution
36
2.2.2.2
The Polity
36
Congress
37
The US President
41
The US Supreme Court
43
2.2.2.3
The Structural Form of the USA
43
2.2.2.4
The Electoral System
44
2.2.2.5
The Political Party System
44
Evolution
44
Characteristics
45
Major Parties
46
2.2.2.6
The System of Civil Rights
47
2.2.3 The Political System of France
47
2.2.3.1
Evolution
47
The Political System of the French First
Republic
48
The Political System of the French
Second Republic
48
The Political System of the French
Third Republic
49
The Political System of the French
Fourth Republic
49
The Political System of the French Fifth
Republic
50
x CONTENTS
2.2.3.2
The Polity
50
2.2.3.3
The Local Government System
51
2.2.3.4
The Civil Service System
51
Evolution
51
Content
51
Administrations of Civil Servants
53
Characteristics
54
2.2.3.5
The Political Party System
54
Evolution
54
Characteristics
56
Major Parties
56
2.2.3.6
The System of Civil Rights
58
2.2.4 The Political System of Germany
58
2.2.4.1
Evolution
58
2.2.4.2
Basic Law for the Federal Republic
of Germany
58
2.2.4.3
The Bundesrat
59
2.2.4.4
The Federal Constitutional Court
59
2.2.4.5
German Parties
59
2.2.4.6
The Administrative Division
59
2.2.4.7
The National Flag, Emblem
and Anthem
59
The National Flag
59
The National Emblem
59
The National Anthem
60
Bibliography
60
3 Economic Systems of the West
61
3.1 Economic Systems of the European Union
61
3.1.1 Establishment of the European Community
61
3.1.2 Development from EC to EU
62
3.1.2.1
The First Enlargement of the EC
62
3.1.2.2
The Second Enlargement of the EC
62
3.1.2.3
The Third Enlargement of the EC
62
3.1.2.4
The Fourth Enlargement of the EC
63
3.1.2.5
The Establishment of the EU
63
3.1.3 The EC and Its Economy
64
3.1.3.1
Customs Union
64
ONTENTS xi
3.1.3.2
Common Agricultural Policies
66
The Background to Common
Agricultural Policies
66
The Basic Content of Common Policies
66
Monetary Mechanisms of Common
Agricultural Policies
67
Effects of Common Agricultural Policies 68
Reforms of EU Common Agricultural
Policies and Effects
68
3.1.4 Fiscal Systems of EC and EU
69
3.1.4.1
Establishment of Common Fiscal
System
69
3.1.4.2
Nature of Common Finance
69
3.1.4.3
Fiscal Revenue and Expenditure
70
3.1.4.4
New Development in EC Finance
70
3.2 Economic Systems of Major European Countries
70
3.2.1 Germany
70
3.2.1.1
An Overview of German Economy
70
Economic System
70
A Brief History of Economic Development 71
3.2.1.2
The Economy of Federal Germany
from 1945 to 1990
72
Main Characteristics of Post-War
Economy in West Germany
72
Economic and Industrial Structure
Before Reunification
72
3.2.1.3
Post-war Economy of East Germany
73
3.2.1.4
Economy of Germany After
Reunification
73
3.2.1.5
Major Industrial Sectors of Germany
74
The Automobile Industry
74
The Machinery Manufacturing Industry 74
Chemical Industry
75
Electronic and Electrical Industry
75
Steel Industry
75
3.2.1.6
Economic Policies of the German
Government
75
Distinctive Monetary Policies
75
Fiscal Policies
76
xii CONTENTS
3.2.2 France
76
3.2.2.1
An Overview of the French Economy
76
Economic System
76
A Brief History of Economic Development 77
3.2.2.2
French Economy After the Second
World War
77
Features of French Economy
78
Major Industrial Sectors
78
3.2.2.3
Economic Policies of the French
Government
80
3.2.3 UK
81
3.2.3.1
An Overview of the British Economy
81
Economic System
81
A Brief History of Economic Development 82
3.2.3.2
British Economy After the Second
World War
82
An Overview of British Economy After
the War
82
Major Industrial Sectors
83
An Overview of British Economic Policies 84
3.2.4 Russia
85
3.2.4.1
Russian Economic Structure
85
3.2.4.2
An Overview of Russian Economic
Policies
85
3.3 Economic System of the USA
86
3.3.1 An Overview of the US Economy
86
3.3.1.1
Economic System
86
Main Characteristics of the Market
Economic System
86
Strengths and Weaknesses of the US
Economic Model
86
3.3.1.2
A Brief History of American Economy
87
3.3.2 The US Economy After the War
87
3.3.2.1
Economic Development After the War
87
An Overview of the US Economy After
the War
87
Main Features of the Economy After
the War
88
The Economic and Industrial Structure 88
ONTENTS xiii
3.3.2.2
Main Industrial Sectors
88
The Steel Industry
88
The Automotive Industry
89
Building Industry
89
The High-Tech Industry
89
The Machine Building Industry
90
Energy Industry
90
3.3.2.3
Economic Policies
90
US Monetary Policy and Its Evolution
90
US Fiscal Policy and Its Evolution
91
Bibliography
92
4 Western Military Culture
93
4.1 Western Military Practice
94
4.1.1 Changes in Forms of War in the West
94
4.1.1.1
Cold Weapon Warfare
94
4.1.1.2
Hot Weapon Warfare
95
4.1.1.3
Mechanized Warfare
96
4.1.1.4
Nuclear Weapon Warfare
97
4.1.1.5
Information Warfare
97
4.1.2 Western Military Revolution
98
4.1.2.1
Overview of the Western Military
Revolution
98
4.1.2.2
Contemporary Western Military
Revolution
101
Innovation in Military Technology
101
Innovation in Military Theory
102
Innovation in Military Systems
and Organization
102
Changes of the Form of War
102
4.2 Modern Western Military Technology 102
4.2.1 An Overview of Precision-Guided Weapons 103
4.2.2 Classification of Precision-Guided Weapons 104
4.2.2.1
Guided Missiles
104
4.2.2.2
Guided Bombs
105
4.2.2.3
Guided Artillery Shells
106
4.2.2.4
Guided Torpedoes
106
xiv CONTENTS
4.2.3 The Influence of Precision-Guided Weapons 107
4.2.3.1
Improved Operational Efficiency
107
4.2.3.2
New Combat Theory
108
4.2.3.3
Political Benefits
108
4.3 Western Military Thought 109
4.3.1 Modern Western Military Thought 109
4.3.1.1
Theorization
110
4.3.1.2
Systematization and Diversification
110
4.3.2 Contemporary Western Military Thought 111
4.3.2.1
The Hot War Period
111
4.3.2.2
The Cold War Period
113
4.3.2.3
Post-Cold War Period
114
National Security as the Basic Starting
Point
114
Strategic Alliance Thought Playing
a Greater Role
115
Strategic Information Becoming the Focus 115
Bibliography
116
5 Education System
117
5.1 History 117
5.1.1 Primary and Secondary Education 117
5.1.1.1
Emergence of School System
117
5.1.1.2
Rise of Modern Primary
and Secondary Schools
118
5.1.1.3
Establishment of National Education
Systems
118
Germany
118
France
118
The USA
119
5.1.1.4
Foundation and Institutionalization
of Vocational Education
120
Germany
120
5.1.1.5
Formation and Development
of Modern Primary and Secondary
School Systems
121
5.1.1.6
Diversification of Secondary Education
122
5.1.2 Higher Education 122
5.1.2.1
Enriched Discipline
122
ONTENTS xv
5.1.2.2
Establishment of the Basic University
Structure
123
5.1.2.3
Rise of Universities for Applied
Sciences
124
5.1.2.4
Creation of the Research University
125
5.1.2.5
Diversification in the Level
and Structure of Higher Education
126
5.1.2.6
Transdisciplinary Reforms
127
5.2 Unique Features 127
5.2.1 The UK: Diversified Secondary and Further
Education 127
5.2.1.1
Secondary Education
128
5.2.1.2
Further Education
128
5.2.2 France: Coherent School System 129
5.2.2.1
Nursery, Primary, and Secondary
Education
129
5.2.2.2
Higher Education System
131
5.2.3 Germany: Unique Secondary and Vocational
Education 132
5.2.3.1
Secondary Education
133
5.2.3.2
Vocational Education and Training
134
Dual Vocational School
135
Specialized Vocational School
135
Specialized School
136
Specialized Upper Secondary School
136
5.2.4 Sweden: Unique Upper Secondary Curriculum
and Extensive Adult Education 136
5.2.4.1
Upper Secondary Education
137
5.2.4.2
Adult Education
138
Folk High School: The Boarding Adult
College
138
Study Circles
138
Comprehensive Universities
139
5.2.5 The United States of America: Community College
and Education 139
5.2.5.1
Community College
139
5.2.5.2
Community Education
142
5.3 Popular Trends 143
5.3.1 Learning Society and Life-Long Learning System 143
xvi CONTENTS
5.3.2 Links Between Vocational Education and General
Education 144
5.3.2.1
Equivalent Value at Secondary
Education Level
144
5.3.2.2
Interplay Between Higher Vocational
and Higher General Education
145
5.3.3 Informatization 145
5.3.4 Internationalization 146
Bibliography
148
6 European and American Literature
149
6.1 Ancient Greek Literature 149
6.1.1 Epic 149
6.1.2 Ancient Greek Tragedy 150
6.1.3 Ancient Greek Comedy 150
6.1.4 Ancient Greek Lyric 150
6.1.5 Ancient Greek Mythology 150
6.2 Ancient Roman Literature 151
6.2.1 Virgil and the Epic 151
6.2.2 Drama 151
6.2.3 Poetry 151
6.2.4 Prose 152
6.3 Medieval Literature 152
6.3.1 Church Literature 152
6.3.2 Knightly Literature 152
6.3.3 Epic 153
6.3.4 Ballad 153
6.3.5 Civic Literature 153
6.3.6 Dante and The Divine Comedy
154
6.3.7 Chaucer 154
6.4 Renaissance Literature 155
6.4.1 Petrarch and Boccaccio 155
6.4.2 English Literature during the Renaissance 155
6.4.3 Renaissance Literature of France and Spain 157
6.5 European Literature in the Seventeenth Century 158
6.5.1 French Literature 158
6.5.2 English Literature 159
ONTENTS xvii
6.6 European Literature in the Eighteenth Century 160
6.6.1 French Literature 160
6.6.2 English Literature 161
6.6.3 German Literature 163
6.7 European and American Literature in the Nineteenth
Century 164
6.7.1 French Literature 164
6.7.2 German Literature 166
6.7.3 Russian Literature 166
6.7.4 English Literature 167
6.7.5 American Literature 169
6.8 European and American Literature in the Twentieth
Century 170
6.8.1 English Literature 170
6.8.2 American Literature 173
6.8.3 French Literature 176
6.8.4 German Literature 177
6.8.5 Russian Literature 178
Bibliography
180
7 Western Organizational Culture: EU Organizational
Culture
181
7.1 The Origin and Development of EU Culture 181
7.1.1 Definition of EU Culture 181
7.1.2 The Formation of EU Culture 182
7.1.2.1
Homogeneous Culture
182
Ancient Greek and Roman Civilizations 182
Christian Culture
183
Shared Cultural Values
183
7.1.2.2
The “European Union Dream”
183
7.1.2.3
From the European Cultural
Agreement to the Maastricht Treaty
185
7.1.3 The Goals of the Establishment of European Culture 186
7.1.3.1
Consolidating the Political
and Economic Achievements
of European Integration
186
7.1.3.2
Contending with American Cultural
Hegemony, and Strengthening
European Cultural Independence
186
xviii CONTENTS
7.1.3.3
Participating in International
Affairs, Spreading European Culture,
and Enhancing the Status of the EU
in the World
187
7.2 Cultural Features of the EU 188
7.3 EU Cultural Policy 190
7.3.1 Protecting Historical and Cultural Heritage 191
7.3.2 Supporting Cultural Research and Cultural
Industry 192
7.3.2.1
Supporting Two Types of Cultural
Industries
192
Supporting the European Audiovisual
Industry
192
Supporting the European Multi-Media
Industry
193
7.3.2.2
Creating a Sound Competition
Environment
193
Formulating Laws and Regulations
for the Audiovisual Industry
194
Promoting Digitalization
195
Allowing Cultural Industry into
the Capital Market
195
Emphasizing Research and Innovation
195
7.3.2.3
Developing Cultural Industry
in Other Countries
196
Bibliography
197
8 Religious Culture
199
8.1 Introduction to Religion 199
8.2 Christianity 200
8.2.1 Origin and Development 200
8.2.2 Christian Doctrine 201
8.2.2.1
Shaping of Christian Doctrine
201
8.2.2.2
Common Beliefs
201
8.2.2.3
Doctrines of Major Denominations
203
8.2.3 The Bible 204
8.2.3.1
The Old Testament
204
8.2.3.2
The New Testament
205
ONTENTS xix
8.2.4 Church Government and Rites 205
8.2.5 Dissemination of Christianity 206
8.3 Judaism 207
8.3.1 Origin and Formation 207
8.3.2 Sacred Texts and Commandments 209
8.3.2.1
Sacred Texts
209
8.3.2.2
Basic Teachings
210
8.3.2.3
Disciplines
211
8.3.3 Development of Judaism 212
8.3.4 Doctrines of Major Denominations 214
8.3.5 Influence 217
8.4 Islam 217
8.4.1 History 218
8.4.2 Basic Teachings 221
8.4.2.1
Allah (God)
221
8.4.2.2
Prophets
221
8.4.2.3
Angels
222
8.4.2.4
Revelations
222
8.4.2.5
Judgment Day and Resurrection
222
8.4.3 Spread and Development of Islam 222
8.4.3.1
Caliphate
223
8.4.3.2
The Umayyad Dynasty
224
8.4.3.3
The Abbasid Dynasty
224
8.4.3.4
The Ottoman Empire
225
Bibliography
226
CHAPTER 1
Western Philosophy
Philosophy constitutes a fundamental hierarchy of knowledge. It exerts a
deep influence on all aspects of Western society, including politics,
economy, literature, art, and daily life, encompassing many concepts and a
system of knowledge that has profound logical connotations.
1.1 Western PhilosoPhy Before the Modern Age
1.1.1 Greco-Roman Philosophy
1.1.1.1 Outline of Philosophical Ideas
Greco-Roman philosophy emerged in late 600 Bc and ended in around Ad
500. Regarded as the beginning of Western philosophy, this period was
one of the most prosperous periods of ancient European culture, rather
similar to the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period in
ancient China. Various schools and ideas thrived simultaneously, giving rise
to different viewpoints.
Three stages of development may be distinguished.
© The Author(s) 2018
G. Xu et al. (eds.), K. Chen et al. (trans.), Understanding Western Culture,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-8150-7_1
2 G. XU ET AL.
1. 600 Bc: The focus of philosophy in this period is nature. The earliest
materialists are the Milesians represented by Thales, Anaximander,
and Anaximenes and the Ephesian School led by Heraclitus. In their
opinion, the fundamental ingredients of the world were water, fire,
earth, and air. Heraclitus asserted that everything in the world is
ever changing. The earliest idealists were the Pythagoreans typified
by Pythagoras and the Eleatics headed by Parmenides. The former
took abstract numbers as the arche, or first principles, of the universe, while
the latter defined these principles as Being. All the earliest philosophers
discussed the arche of the world.
2. 500–400 Bc: Philosophers of this period also put an emphasis on
social politics, ethics and human beings. Atomism, presented by
Democritus and others, represents the greatest achievement of this
period. Meanwhile, the Sophists turned the emphasis of philosophi-
cal research toward questions of society and human beings, these
explicitly bearing the tint of sensationalism, relativism and agnosti-
cism. Plato put forward objective idealism, insisting that the mate-
rial world was derived from the world of ideas, and that knowledge
of human beings was viewed through the world of ideas. Aristotle’s
philosophy swayed between materialism and idealism. Criticizing
Plato’s Theory of Ideas, he took ideas as forms that could not be
separated from particular substances and existed on their own, and
that form was within particular substances. At the same time, he
held that matter was passive while form was active. The characteris-
tics of matter were decided by its form, which led to idealism.
Aristotle was the first to separate philosophy from other disciplines
and make it an independent one.
3. 300 Bc–Ad 500: The materialist Epicurus inherited and developed
Democritus’ atomism by introducing the swerve theory of atoms,
which overcame the limitation created by denying the existence of
contingency as expressed in Democritus’ theory. Ethics was the
focus of philosophical discussion in this period. As materialists,
Lucretius and Lucian insisted on and defended atomism against reli-
gious theology and idealism. With their permissive attitude toward
reality, their efforts to explain nature and society by teleology, and the
popularization of mysticism and asceticism, various forms of idealism
became prevalent. These ideas became the sources of Christian
theology.
WESTERN PHILOSOPHY 3
1.1.1.2 Major Figures
Socrates
Socrates and Plato (one of Socrates’ students), together with Aristotle (a
student of Plato), are hailed as the Big Three ancient Greek philosophers.
Socrates was born during the golden age of Athens when it was ruled by
Pericles, and died as Athens declined. A historical figure of distinctive
personality, controversy and legend, he was Plato’s teacher but left behind
no written work. His speech and thought can be found in Xenophanes’
works. Accused by aristocrats of corrupting the young, Socrates was
executed by being forced to drink a cup of poisonous hemlock. As a teacher,
he applied a distinctive approach of inspiration and debate in his teaching. In
philosophy, he was the founder of Platonism. Stressing the importance of
ethics, he was the first in ancient Greece to propose the pursuit of universal
ethics through reason and thinking. In founding moral philosophy, his
assertion of reason guided by morality justifies the proposition that virtue
equals knowledge, taking knowledge as the root of goodness and ignorance
that of wrongdoing. The first to suggest idealist teleology, Socrates assumed
that everything was created and arranged by God, which demonstrates
God’s wisdom and telos (purpose). With his proposition that “I know that I
know nothing,” he thought that people were only smart if they forsook the
exploration of nature, which is the realm of the gods, and admit their
ignorance. People should obey the gods because they have the most
knowledge and are the source of knowledge. In logic, according to Aristotle,
Socrates was the one who presented inductive arguments, which identify
definite arguments based on particular instances emphasize general
definitions, thereby precisely explaining concepts. Socrates’ philosophical
thoughts mainly affirm the existence of criteria for what is good or bad.
Plato
Plato was the founder of objective realism. Born into an Athenian
aristocratic family and well educated, he was enthusiastic about politics as
were other aristocrats. After becoming a student of Socrates, he revered the
thoughts and character of his teacher. In order to realize his idea of an ideal
aristocratic state, after the death of Socrates he traveled to various places,
such as Egypt, Asia Minor, and southern Italy in order to undertake political
activities. In 387 Bc he returned to Athens and established an academy
named after Academus, a Greek hero, and taught there for
forty years until his death. Plato was a prolific writer, whose main thoughts
4 G. XU ET AL.
are manifested in The Republic and The Laws. His Academy was the earliest
higher education institution, and it gave its name to future higher scholastic
institutions. Besides philosophy, he taught mathematics, astronomy,
acoustics, botany, and knowledge of other natural sciences, while philosophy
maintained the highest status. The purpose of the Academy was not
to impart practical techniques but to focus on theoretical wisdom, with the
emphasis on thinking and analysis.
The philosophical system of Platonism is both extensive and profound.
From his perspective, the world is composed of the World of Forms and
the World of Phenomena. The World of Forms is the real existence of
permanence, while the World of Phenomena, which can be felt by human
sense organs, is only its faint shadow. Each of these phenomena displays
transience and variation owing to the effects of time and space. With this
starting point, Plato proposed an epistemology of the Theory of Forms
and Recollection, and established this as the philosophical foundation of his
teaching theories.
Aristotle
Aristotle is regarded as a universal genius of ancient knowledge. He was
born in Stagira; his father was a court physician to the Macedonian king
Amyntas and died when Aristotle was very young. Aristotle was sent to
Athens aged eighteen, studied in Plato’s Academy, and remained there as a
teacher. After the death of Plato, he left Athens for Assos to found an
academy for teaching and research. Three years later the Persian Empire
took the city, and Aristotle escaped to Mytilene on the island of Lesbos.
Returning to Athens in 335 Bc, he established a new school near the
Lyceum stadium next to the Temple of Apollo; for this reason his school was
named Lyceum. Compared with Plato’s Academy, it put more emphasis on
practicality, stressed the importance of questioning, and paid attention to
material collection, repeated attempts, and exploration.
Aristotle is universally revered in the history of science because, before the
Renaissance in modern Europe in terms of scholarship, no one was
comparable to him in their systematic investigation and comprehensive
mastery of knowledge, though some attained tremendous achievements in
specific fields. One of the intellectual tasks of the early Middle Ages was to
assimilate Aristotle’s research from incomplete summaries of his works.
After his collected works were published, writers of the later Middle Ages
made every effort to uncover his original meanings. His works were
regarded as the encyclopedia of scholarship in the ancient world. Besides
WESTERN PHILOSOPHY 5
physics and astronomy, he also improved other disciplines that he worked
on. In addition, he was the founder of inductive method and the first pro-
ponent of organized research. Above all, he is celebrated for his contribution
to science and the classification of knowledge. His major works
include Categories, De Interpretatione, Prior Analytics, Posterior Analytics,
Topics, Sophistical Refutations, under the umbrella title of Organon, mainly
dealing with logic; Metaphysics, in which covers general abstract theoretical
problems; Physics, On the Heavens, On Generation and Corruption, and On
the Soul, expounding subjects related to natural sciences; Nicomachean
Ethics and Eudemian Ethics, dealing with ethical topics. He also wrote
Politics, Poetics, Rhetoric, and other works on biology and economics.
1.1.2 Medieval Philosophy
1.1.2.1 Overview of Medieval Philosophy
Medieval philosophy refers to the religious theology of Europe from 500
to 1500, which consists of two stages: patristic philosophy matured into
scholastic philosophy in the eleventh century. The existence of God not
being doubted, the philosophy of the age took it as its responsibility to
comment upon biblical and Christian doctrines, and to justify theology.
After the fifth century, feudalism was established in Europe, and Christianity
became an international organization with the theology of religion as its only
ideology. As the result of the supremacy and monopoly of theology in
ideology, philosophy, without any relative independence, was reduced to
proving religious doctrines and became the handmaid of theology.
However, the sublime nature of God was not able to eliminate struggles
within philosophy itself. Scholastic philosophy inevitably declined owing to
the centuries-long dispute and opposition between nominalism and
realism, the development of science, and the recovery of culture.
The development of medieval philosophy can be divided into early
(the fifth to tenth centuries), middle (the eleventh to fourteenth centuries)
and late (fifteenth century) stages. Medieval philosophy is an important
phase in the history of European philosophy, as its many progressive
“heretical” thoughts (as Christianity was dominant in this period, the thought
that deviated from the theology of orthodox was dismissed as
heretical thought, such as nominalism) inherited and developed the previous
materialism and dialectic to some extent. Meanwhile, its mastery of theories
exceeded that of its predecessors, making considerable contributions to the
development of philosophy.
6 G. XU ET AL.
1.1.2.2 Major Figures
Augustine
Augustine, born in Tagaste, a small town in northern Africa that was part of
the Roman Empire, now Algeria, synthesized the essence of patristic
philosophy. He was converted to Christianity by his mother but became a
follower of Manichaeism (a dualistic religious movement) during his studies
in the rhetoric school. After graduation, he taught rhetoric and oratory first in
Carthage and then in Rome and Milan. Being influenced by Ambrose, the
Archbishop of Milan, he broke away from Manichaeism and became
immersed in the works of Platonism and skepticism. The turning point of his
eventual conversion to Christianity happened when he was reflecting in a
garden. According to his autobiography, Confessions, Augustine heard a
child’s voice urging him to “take up and read! take up and read!” as he was
wondering about his beliefs. He hurriedly opened the Bible that was to hand
and found himself facing the teachings of St. Paul: “Let us walk hon-estly, as
in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and
wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.” This struck
him like lightning as Augustine had lived a frivolous life in his youth. “By a
light as it were of serenity infused into my heart, all the darkness of doubt
vanished away.” At Easter in 387 he was baptized by Ambrose and officially
converted to Christianity. Later, on his return to his hometown, he was
elected a priest of Hippo and promoted to archbishop in 395. During his
tenure, Augustine exerted tremendous energy writing, preaching, organizing
orders, and refuting pagan beliefs. In his later years he witnessed the
invasion of the Vandals, and he died before their occupation of Hippo. After
his death, North Africa broke its ties with the Roman Empire and became
free of the control of the Roman Church. However, Augustine’s works
spread to Europe and became the spiritual treasure of Catholicism and
Protestantism. Among his prolific works, which are regarded as a theological
encyclopedia, Confessions, On the Trinity, and The City of God are his
masterpieces, containing considerable philosophical treatises.
Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas, the most important philosopher in the Middle Ages,
was born in Roccasecca, Italy, on the Aquinas family’s manor. As a
prestigious Lombardic family, the Aquinases were closely connected with
the
Church and the Holy Roman Empire. Thomas was sent to the celebrated
WESTERN PHILOSOPHY 7
Monte Cassino Abbey, where he received the necessary training to one day
become an abbot, as his parents wished. In 1239, the excommunicated
Frederick II sent troops to occupy and close the abbey, forcing Thomas to
continue his studies at the University of Naples. There he began to learn
Aristotle’s works of metaphysics, natural philosophy, and logic, and joined
the Dominican Order. On the recommendation of Albertus Magnus, the
influential Dominican scholar, Aquinas attended the seminary at the
University of Paris and completed his studies in 1256. He wrote exten-
sively, anything up to about 15 million words. Among his works, those
containing philosophical views are On Being and Essence, On the Principles
of Nature, On Truth, Commentary on Boethius’ On the Trinity. His
masterpieces are Summa Theologica and Summa contra Gentiles. Aquinas
wrote commentaries on Aristotle’s works, including Metaphysics, Physics,
Posterior Analytics, De Interpretatione, Politics, Ethics, Sense and
Sensibilia, On Memory, and On the Soul.
Applying Aristotle’s philosophy to theology, Aquinas created a stupen-
dous scholastic philosophical and theological system; he also made
significant contributions to ethics, logic, politics, metaphysics, and
epistemology.
His famous fivefold proof for the existence of God had a great impact in the
future. His philosophical and theological system was authorized by Pope
Leo XIII as the official doctrine of Catholicism, called Thomism; it was not
only the greatest achievement of scholastic philosophy, but the largest and
most comprehensive system of medieval theology.
1.1.3 Philosophy During the Renaissance
1.1.3.1 Overview of Philosophical Thought
Modern philosophy commenced with the Renaissance at the beginning of
the fifteenth century, a significant phase for both the development of
Western classical philosophy and the growth of modern philosophy.
During this period, scholasticism lost its dominance in ideology, with a
massive cultural replacement. Humanism, the cultural movement of the
age, stressed the discovery of, respect for, and value of human beings,
making dignity and freedom the theme of this period. Human beings were
freed from the idea of being created by God. As typical figures, Erasmus
attacked the foolishness and madness of believing in Christianity in his
masterpiece The Praise of Folly which is a satirical attack on superstitions
and other traditions of European society as well as on the Western Church,
while Leonardo da Vinci maintained that sensory experience is the origin of
all knowledge. Philosophers in the Renaissance expressed their thoughts
8 G. XU ET AL.
directly rather than concealing them behind obscure language and
rhetoric. Their attack on theology and Christianity was intense. Rationalism
and humanism were the major subjects of the period.
The achievement of Renaissance philosophy lies first in its break with the
supremacy of feudal theology and its shaking off of the cultural
monopoly of Catholicism. Philosophers deliberately tried to break away
from the constraint of the Church. Protestantism, which appeared after the
Reformation, ended the dominance of Catholicism within Christianity.
Second, the legacy of ancient cultures and thought gained importance.
Third, human value and dignity were restored. The re-establishment of
human beings as the center of a philosophical system paved the way for the
development of modern philosophy. Finally, the close connection of new
philosophy with natural science began. Despite the cruel persecution of the
Church, avant-garde thinkers developed experimental natural sciences,
revealing mysteries of the universe and the world, and opening up new
frontiers in human knowledge. Philosophers began to contrive their own
philosophical systems based on the foundation of natural sciences, initiating
a tradition of modern materialist philosophy.
In this transitional period from the Middle Ages to modern times, phi-
losophy demonstrated that it provided a transition between the restrictions of
the Church and the preparation for the emergence and development of a new
philosophy in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
1.1.3.2 Major Figures
Niccolò Machiavelli
Niccolò Machiavelli, born into a fading aristocratic family in Florence, was
an Italian political thinker and historian. In 1494, he joined the uprising
against the Medici family. In 1498, taking the office of secretary of the
Decemviri, a body for military and foreign affairs, he was in charge of
drafting government documents and matters relating to the military
defense of Florence, and he served as an envoy, traveling to France,
Germany, and Spain. Upon the restoration of the Medici family in 1513, he
was arrested and imprisoned. After his release, Machiavelli dedicated
himself to writing while living in seclusion. In the hope of being assigned a
post, he finally returned to Florence after the exile of the Medicis in 1527,
but his request was rejected because of his previous connections with them.
The worries and anger caused by this rejection led to illness and his eventual
death on June 22, 1527.
WESTERN PHILOSOPHY 9
As an exponent of the newly rising Italian bourgeoisie in the late Middle
Ages, Machiavelli advocated ending political disruption in Italy and
establishing a powerful centralized nation. In his masterwork The Prince
(1513), he proposed the republic as the best form for a country, but
contended that a republic would be unable to end the chaos in Italy; only the
establishment of a monarchy with absolute power could make its subjects
conform and defend themselves against formidable enemies. He justified the
tactics of cruelty, cheating, hypocrisy, lies, and betrayal as long as they
allowed monarchs to rule. This is called Machiavellianism. His other works
include The Art of War and Florentine Histories.
Martin Luther
Martin Luther, the initiator of the German Reformation and the founder of
Lutheranism, was born to a pious Catholic family in Eisleben. His
father, a poor yeoman farmer, later worked as a miner and then became
the owner of an iron mill. Luther spent his childhood in poverty, but was
well educated after his family began to prosper. In 1501, he entered
Leipzig University, where he was awarded Bachelor of Arts and in 1505
a master’s degree. In May 1505, Luther was preparing to become a law-
yer having gained a place at the law school of the University of Erfurt, but in
July of that same year he suddenly decided to enter the Augustinian Order
and become a monk. Various reasons have been proposed for this,
but Luther himself explained it as the result of a loss of self-confidence: this
might refer to his experience of nearly being struck by lightning during a
thunderstorm, which prompted him to seek God’s forgiveness by
promising to enter an abbey. Having devoted himself to the monastic
system in the abbey, Luther was ordained priest in 1507. In the following
year, a bachelor’s degree of the University of Wittenburg was con-
ferred on him. In 1517, Luther published the Disputation of Martin Luther
on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences, which became known as the
Ninety-Five Theses. This advanced his opposition to the sale of indulgences
by the Church, and in essence started the German Reformation.
The strongest argument that Luther proposed is that the supreme
authority of Christian was the Bible rather than the Pope. He was the
first to translate the Bible into German, which, given the spread of printing,
promoted its influence and spread. Soon people began to translate the Bible
into other local languages.
10 G. XU ET AL.
1.2 PhilosoPhy in Modern tiMes
1.2.1 Western European Philosophy from the Sixteenth
to Eighteenth Centuries
1.2.1.1 Philosophical Thoughts
The emergence and development of the bourgeois philosophy from the
late sixteenth to seventeenth centuries was a revolution of Western classic
philosophy, as well as a magnificent era of philosophical development. The
bourgeoisie not only needed science to increase productivity, but used it as a
spiritual weapon to fight against religious theology. Science gained its
independence from philosophy. Progressive philosophers took the
knowledge of nature and human beings as their subjects, and made questions
about the relation between spirit and material, and the sources of scientific
knowledge the themes of philosophy.
From their perspective, the purpose of philosophical research lay in the
development of production, the establishment of new social institutions, and
helping people to break away from feudal theology to live a liberal and
happy life. Questions about human beings became the core and destination
of philosophical research. New world views and philosophical systems were
built, including modern materialism and idealism, which bore plenteous
fruit. In epistemology two opposing factions emerged, empiricism and
rationalism.
Empiricists and rationalists discussed the source of knowledge, its
developmental stages, its methods, and the accuracy and truth of knowledge.
Francis Bacon, the forerunner of English empiricism, concluded the
inductive
method and the empirical methods of scientific experiments. Inheriting
Bacon’s materialist empiricism, Thomas Hobbes accepted some rationalist
factors; meanwhile, there was a tendency toward mechanism in his statement
that philosophy was the knowledge of deduction. Baruch Spinoza, the
typical figure of rationalism, expressed his philosophical thoughts in Ethics,
which put the supreme good as the starting point and center.
1.2.1.2 Major Figures
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon, English philosopher and scientist, was born to an aristocratic
family in London in 1561. His father was the Lord Privy Seal to Queen
Elizabeth I and his mother was also born into nobility. Bacon
WESTERN PHILOSOPHY 11
began to study at Cambridge University at the age of thirteen but only stayed
there for three years. At that time, dominated by scholasticism, Cambridge
stressed theology rather than science in order to justify religious doctrines.
Bacon left Cambridge with a strong dislike of the intellectual atmosphere
there.
In 1620, Bacon summarized his philosophical thoughts in Novum
Organum, where his viewpoint that “knowledge is power” was voiced. In his
opinion, people have to master scientific knowledge in order to control and
utilize nature. As a result, he put special emphasis on scientific experiment,
through which true knowledge could be obtained. Bacon was not
only the most important essayist and philosopher in Britain at the time, but
also achieved much in the field of natural sciences. Nevertheless, he
experienced hardship on his route to political success. Being ignored by the
queen after his father’s death, Bacon only gained gradual promotion after
James I came to the throne, taking the offices of Attorney General and Lord
Chancellor, but in the end his public career ended in disgrace, when he was
accused of corruption. After this, he dedicated himself to the study of
knowledge, which made him the renowned founder of English
materialist philosophy in the Middle Ages.
René Descartes
René Descartes, the famous French philosopher, scientist and
mathematician, was born in La Haye and was awarded a bachelor’s degree at
the
Université de Poitiers. Living in an age of intense struggle between the
bourgeoisie and feudal lords, and between science and theology, he had a
spirit of strong skepticism and criticism, having been resolute in the pursuit
of truth since he had begun his education in school. After finishing his
doctoral study in law, he served in the Dutch army, traveling and all the
while discussing mathematic and scientific questions with his friends.
Seeking the right methods, he founded a philosophy that served the
needs of practice. Descartes was engaged in the study of knowledge in the
Dutch Republic and visited France after leaving the army. His works were
either prohibited from being published or were burned both before and
after his death, and they were listed in the Index Librorum Prohibitorum for
many years after he died.
Whether in mathematics, natural science, or in philosophy, Descartes’
works created a new age. His Discourse on the Method (published in 1637)
became a classical philosophical work. The most interesting thing
12 G. XU ET AL.
about Descartes’ philosophy is his method. He paid particular attention to
numerous wrong concepts which were widely accepted, and was
determined to start from scratch in order to restore truth. This meant he
began to doubt everything: things that were taught by teachers, all the beliefs
he held, all common sense, even the existence of the world and his own
existence. This naturally led to the question of how doubts
could be eliminated so that tenable knowledge could be obtained.
Descartes made a series of inferences in metaphysics and came to a
conclusion that satisfied himself. Owing to his own existence (Cogito ergo
sum/I think therefore I am) God existed, and hence the world existed.
This was the starting point of his thinking.
Baruch Spinoza
In parallel with Descartes and Leibniz, Baruch Spinoza is one of the
important rationalists in the history of modern Western philosophy.
Born to a Jewish family in Amsterdam that had escaped from Spain to
the Dutch Republic, Spinoza had the chance to study Hebrew, the
Talmud, and Jewish philosophy in the local Jewish theological school as his
family was fairly well off thanks to its import and export business.
The greatest of his works is Ethics, published posthumously. This is written
as Euclidean geometry, presenting a set of axioms and formulae, from which
propositions, inferences, and explanations are produced. In philosophy,
Spinoza was a monist or a pantheist, holding the belief that there was only
one entity in the universe: that the universe itself was an integrated object,
and God was identical with the universe. This conclusion was based on a
series of definitions and axioms, which were inferred by logical reasoning.
In Spinoza’s idea, God includes the material world as well as the spiritual
world, and the wisdom of human beings is part of that of God. God is the
inner cause of everything, governing the world through the laws of nature;
therefore everything that happens in the
world has its inevitability. Meanwhile, only God possesses full freedom,
which human beings can never gain despite their ability to eliminate
outside constraints. If we recognize the inevitability of what is happening, it
is easier to unite ourselves with God. For this reason, Spinoza believed that
we should look upon things in terms of eternity. His
famous quote goes that “A free man thinks of death least of all things; and
his wisdom is a meditation not of death but of life.” He practiced this in his
lifetime.
WESTERN PHILOSOPHY 13
John Locke
John Locke, the celebrated English philosopher, was the first writer to
expound systematically basic thoughts about constitutional democracy.
His thoughts exerted immense influence on the founding fathers of the
United States and many philosophers of the French Enlightenment. He
spent his college life at Oxford, gaining a bachelor’s degree in 1656 and a
master’s degree in 1658. In his youth he developed a strong interest in
science, and was selected to be a member of the Royal Society.
Locke made his name with An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
(1690), in which he discussed the origin, nature, and limitation of human
knowledge. The influence of Francis Bacon and René Descartes on him is
obvious, as his viewpoints are basically empiricist. In turn his ideas
influenced such philosophers as George Berkeley, David Hume, and
Immanuel
Kant. Despite the fact that Locke was the founder of English empiricism, he
himself did not pursue it consistently. He believed all human thoughts and
concepts came from or reflected the sensory experience of human
beings. Abandoning Descartes’ “Innate Ideas” (the concept that here are
ideas such as existence, identity, and infinity that are not derived from the
senses and are beyond imagination, but are products of pure reason), he
maintained that the mind was like a blank sheet of paper, whose content was
provided by experience that could be divided into sensory and reflective
ideas. Sense came from the outside world, while reflection originated from
the observations of the mind. Unlike rationalists, Locke stressed that these
two ideas were the sole source of knowledge. In Human
Understanding, Locke attempted to explain the origins and nature of nations
through natural law. Starting from a natural state, he criticized feudal
absolutism, holding firmly to the ideas of the inviolability of private
property, the basis of the nation being contract, legislature as supreme, the
separation of powers, and the right of people to fight against tyranny.
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
An eminent philosopher, mathematician, logician, historian, and linguist in
the German Enlightenment, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz is regarded as
the last universal genius in German and European history. He was born to an
intellectual family in Leipzig. His father, a professor in moral philosophy at
Leipzig University, died when his son was only six, leaving behind a
collection of books that was much more precious than wealth. His
mother, well educated and insightful, sent him to the best school in
Leipzig. Leibniz began to formally express his thoughts when he was
young, and in 1661 a doctoral degree in law was conferred upon him.
14 G. XU ET AL.
As the first objective idealist in the modern West, Leibniz is famous for the
monadic theory of substance. This was the immediate forerunner of German
classical idealism and dialectic, and his viewpoints and criticism were
succeeded by the Encyclopedists, led by Diderot. His thoughts also made an
immense contribution to the establishment of German dialectic thought
systems, from Kant to Hegel. His major philosophical works include
Metaphysics.
David Hume
David Hume, British empiricist philosopher and skeptic, is one of the
most important and influential figures in Western philosophy. Unlike
those philosophers who were ignored when they were alive and only drew
attention after their death, Hume established his philosophical prestige
during his life. He was no transitory figure: like Plato, Descartes, Kant, and
Hegel, he was a philosopher who had a lasting and profound influence on the
development of Western philosophy.
Hume was the last exponent of British empiricism in modern philoso-
phy. Starting from the perspective of empiricism, he reached skepticism in
his A Treatise of Human Nature. However, this skepticism was mild,
disillusioned with the ideal of empiricism. In the history of Western
philosophy, he was the first philosopher apart from Aristotle who presented a
detailed argument about the theory of causal relationship. Carrying on from
empiricism, Hume repeatedly highlighted that people obtained
knowledge about causal relationships from experience rather than from
transcendental inferences; on the other hand, regarding how causal
relationships came into being on the basis of experience and how people
extended their experiences to things that they had not experienced, Hume
stated that causal relationships were just customary associations in thinking.
With the elimination of the substantiality of the causal relationship, Hume
turned to idealism. Despite this, his theory exerts a huge influence on logical
positivism, and has benefited philosophical thinking.
1.2.2 French Enlightenment Philosophy in the Eighteenth
Century
1.2.2.1 Outline of Philosophical Thoughts
The beginning of the eighteenth century witnessed the ferment of an
overwhelming revolution in France, where philosophy guided political
revolution. With the forthcoming death of feudalism and the gradual
WESTERN PHILOSOPHY 15
maturing of conditions in which a bourgeois revolution could take place,
French thinkers vehemently denounced the Catholic Church and absolute
rule, holding rationalism to be the sole judge. Thus, the Enlightenment was
launched. Directed against the feudal system and Catholic theology, the two
most divine authorities of the age, the Enlightenment held rationalism as its
guiding principle, and created its own social and political philosophy and a
system of mechanical materialism and atheism, with
ontology (the philosophical study of the nature of being) at its heart.
Voltaire, Rousseau, and other early Enlightenment thinkers took the
lead in the campaign against feudalism and the Church. Their enthusiastic
introduction of English philosophy and science to France actively
encouraged the emergence and spread of materialism. Meanwhile, they
devel-
oped the bourgeois theory of society and state, which provided the
blueprint for bourgeois revolution and the establishment and rule of the state,
while exerting a far-reaching influence on bourgeois revolutions in other
countries. Enlightenment thinkers observed social problems from
the perspective of human beings, inferring the natural rules of the state and
making profound progress in the history of human epistemology.
Despite its variety of opinions on some questions, French materialists,
centering on the study of ontology, held the same views of atheism and
materialism. There were three aspects to this. First, there was the materialist
view of nature. French materialists all argued that the world was constituted
by a united substance, which was the only existing entity.
Diderot explicitly pointed out that it was impossible to presume an entity
outside the materialist universe. Holbach maintained that the universe, the
aggregation of all existing things, only provides us with material and
movement. Second, there was the materialist theory of reflection. French
materialists unanimously affirmed that the material world was the only
source of the senses and the only object of cognition, and that cognition was
the reflection of objective things through human sensory organs.
Diderot studied the relationship between sense and thinking, and between
perceptual knowledge and conceptual knowledge, on the basis of which
he proposed three major methods through which to understand the
objective world: observation, thinking, and experiment. The third aspect was
militant atheism. Breaking the bounds of deism and revealing the
hypocritical nature and reactionary function of religion, atheism was a
glorious contribution by French materialists and the peak of modern
bourgeois materialist philosophy.
16 G. XU ET AL.
1.2.2.2 Major Figures
Voltaire
Voltaire, French Enlightenment thinker, author, litterateur, and philosopher,
the forerunner of the French bourgeois Enlightenment in the eighteenth
century, is hailed as King of Thought, the conscience of Europe.
An advocate of innate rights, he maintained that all men were born free and
equal, and that everyone had the right to pursue life and happiness, as these
were endowed by God and could not be gainsaid. Born to a middle-class
family in Paris, Voltaire was a son of a lawyer. He gave up studying law
after pursuing this course for some time. Voltaire was witty and versa-tile,
and his works were known for poignancy and sarcasm, which led to his
imprisonment in the Bastille after he was sarcastic about feudal absolutism.
He was forbidden to publish his books and was sent into exile on
several occasions. In 1726, he was exiled to Britain, where he developed a
strong interest in English bourgeois politics and culture. He studied the
constitutional monarchy, Locke’s materialist empiricism, and Newton’s
theory of universal gravitation. After returning to France, Voltaire wrote his
first major philosophical work, Philosophical Letters, usually known as
Letters on the English. Published in 1734, it marked the beginning of the
French Enlightenment.
As an eminent leader of the movement, Voltaire created the thinking
that defined the whole Enlightenment. His major philosophical works
include Philosophical Dictionary, Elements of the Philosophy of Newton,
and Philosophical Letters, his most celebrated piece, which is said to have
been
“the first bomb at the old system.”
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, French Enlightenment thinker, philosopher, edu-
cator, and litterateur, was born into a watchmaker’s family in Geneva,
Switzerland. He was regarded as a pioneer in the thinking behind the
French Revolution, one of the most prominent exponents of Enlightenment
thought. In philosophy, Rousseau argued that senses were the source of
cognition and he insisted on deism. He also stressed the good nature of
humanity and the superiority of belief over rationality. In social affairs, he
persisted in the theory of social contract and advocated the building of a
bourgeois kingdom of rationalism. He stood for liberty and equality and
against private ownership and its oppression. His proposal of natural rights
WESTERN PHILOSOPHY 17
expressed opposition of absolutism and tyranny. As for education,
Rousseau took the cultivation of natural persons to be the purpose of
education. Opposing the injury of children and their ignorance, he requested
an increase in their role in education, reform of the content and methods of
education, an accommodation of children’s nature, and the free development
of their bodies and minds. His major works include The Social Contract,
Discourse on the Origin and Basis of Inequality among Men, Emile, and The
Confessions.
Denis Diderot
Denis Diderot, French materialist philosopher, aesthetician, litterateur, and
educational theorist of the eighteenth century, was the editor-in-chief of the
Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers (
Encyclopedia, or a Systematic Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts, and Crafts),
a general encyclopedia that was published between 1751 and 1772, with
supplements, revised editions, and translations, and represented
Enlightenment thought. Its many writers were known as the Encyclopedists.
During his twenty-five years of editing the Encyclopedia, Diderot was
deeply influenced by Bacon, Hobbes, Locke, and others, but especially
Bacon’s thoughts about editing encyclopedias. Diderot also wrote many
other works, and expressed his materialist thinking in Philosophical
Thoughts and Letter on the Blind, for example. His aesthetic thoughts were
clearly conveyed in Discourse on Drama, Poetry, Paradox on the Actor, and
Thoughts on Paintings. His philosophical thoughts both reflect the thinking
of metaphysics and dialectical factors. In his Letter on the Blind of 1749 he
expounded atheism, which extended to theoretical thoughts rather than
judging things through the senses. Perceiving the world as a huge system,
Diderot argued that there were only time, space, and material. Material itself
had a life, which enabled it to move and to participate. Movement was an
attribute of material, and its inseparability from material created a colorful
and diverse world. The world was united by material, and the unceasing
movement of material produced new things. Everything was interconnected,
and everything could convert into everything else. But Diderot’s idea of
nature still had an element of metaphysics. He summarized everything as
pure increases in quantity, taking factors in nature to be unchang-ing. Things
that were constituted by factors replaced each other through conversion,
which could be defined as recycling.
18 G. XU ET AL.
1.2.3 Classical German Philosophy in the Eighteenth
and Nineteenth Centuries
1.2.3.1 Outline of Philosophical Thoughts
Classical German philosophy was the outcome of Western philosophical
development for over 2000 years since Ancient Greece, and was the peak of
the anti-feudal philosophy of the modern European bourgeoisie.
Philosophers since Kant had advocated rationalism and defended liberty.
No longer confined to the popularization of Enlightenment thought or the
belief that the foundation of social progress laid in the improvement of
rationalism, an increase in knowledge, the elimination of mistakes and
biases, and formal liberty and equality, they fought against feudal theology
using rationalism and freedom, the spirit of Enlightenment being further
demonstrated and elevated to a permanent philosophical principle. One of
the major achievements of classical German philosophy was the systematic
creation of dialectic theory, which was applied to various disciplines to
present a universal law of the development of cognition and spiritual culture.
Under the premise of overcoming mechanism and metaphysics, the
classical German philosophers united the world on the basis of mind and
took the nature of the world to be spiritual. Spirit, self, and subject were the
center of their philosophy. Kant admitted the existence of “noumena”
beyond people’s experience, being the source of sensual experience that
could not be perceived.
1.2.3.2 Major Figures
Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant was the most important thinker of the Enlightenment and
the founder of classical German philosophy. He laid the foundation of what
is called materialist dialectic, and drew parallels between this and the
Copernican revolution, regarding his new philosophical system as a
paradigm shift.
Kant was born in Konigsberg in eastern Prussia to a harness-maker.
Brought up in a devout Lutheran family, he received his education in
church schools. After 1755, he began to teach in Konigsberg University.
During this period, as a teacher and writer, he taught logic, metaphysics,
moral philosophy, geography, physics, and mathematics. In the 1760s, he
wrote The Only Possible Ground for a Demonstration of God’s Existence
(1763) and other works. His Dreams of a Ghost Seer in 1766 inspected the
spiritual world from all viewpoints. In 1770, Kant was appointed a
WESTERN PHILOSOPHY 19
professor of logic and metaphysics. In the same year his dissertation, On the
Form and Principles of the Sensible and the Intelligible World, was
published. In the nine years from 1781 he published a series of great works
of originality that dealt with matters in diverse fields, such as The Critique
of Pure Reason (1781), The Critique of Practical Reason (1788), and The
Critique of Judgment (1790), which together brought a revolution in
philosophical thought. His Religion within the Bounds of Reason Alone,
published in 1793, was accused of abusing philosophy, and distorting and
being contemptuous of the basic doctrines of Christianity. Because of this,
the government censor issued a royal order forbidding Kant from discussing
religious matters in his lectures and writings. But after the death of the king
in 1797, Kant renewed his discussions in his last important treatise, The
Conflict of the Faculties (1798). The central theme of Kant’s philosophy is
identical with that of the Enlightenment: reason, nature, God, and human
beings, the relationship between them, and the foundation and
methods of natural sciences. In many respects, Kant’s philosophy marked
the beginning of modern philosophy and was the origin of philosophical
schools that were fundamentally opposed to each other. The development of
his philosophical thoughts showed the flow of history from natural science
to natural philosophy, and thence to metaphysics, finally entering the age of
critical philosophy.
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
Born into a government official’s family in Stuttgart, G.W.F. Hegel studied
at the town’s middle school. From 1816 to 1817 he was a professor at the
University of Heidelberg. In 1818 he became philosophical professor at the
University of Berlin and was elected university Rector in 1829. An
exponent of modern German objective philosophy and a political
philosopher, Hegel made the most systematic and comprehensive exposi-
tion of the German bourgeois philosophy of nations.
Hegel regarded Spirit as the arche of the world. Spirit was not something
that transcended the world. Nature, human society, and spiritual phenomena
were all presentations of it at different stages of development.
Therefore, the substitution, development, and permanent process of the life
of things constituted Spirit itself. The task and purpose of Hegel’s
philosophy was to demonstrate the Spirit as presented through nature,
society, and mind, and to disclose its developmental process and law. It is a
discussion about the dialectic relationship between mind and existence, and
a display of the dialectic synthesis of the two on the basis of idealism.
20 G. XU ET AL.
Centering on this basic proposition, Hegel established a spectacular system
of objective idealism that represents the three developmental stages of the
self-evolution of Spirit: logic, natural philosophy, and philosophy of mind.
Hegel carried this dialectic principle into arguments about every concept,
every object, and the whole system, one of the most daring developments in
the history of thinking. Hegel wrote a number of works, including
Phenomenology of Spirit, The Science of Logic, and Encyclopedia of the
Philosophical Sciences. A symbol of the culmination of the German idealist
philosophical movement of the nineteenth century, Hegel’s philosophy
has exerted a profound influence on ensuing philosophical schools, such as
existentialism and Marx’s historical materialism.
Ludwig Feuerbach
Born in Bavaria, Ludwig Feuerbach was a German materialist philoso-
pher. At an early age, he studied at the Faculty of Theology in the
University of Heidelberg. Later he was engaged in philosophical study,
botany, anatomy, and psychology in the University of Berlin, where he
received his doctorate and started teaching. His contribution was the
restoration of the authority of materialism after the dominance of idealism
over German philosophy for decades. A former member of a group
known as the Young Hegelians, he criticized Hegel’s view that regarded
mind and existence as identical, and proposed humanism, which treats
human and nature as the only objects of philosophy. He affirmed that
nature was the objective reality of material. According to Feuerbach,
space, time, and mechanical movement were the forms of material exis-
tence; and human beings were the products of nature, the unity of soul and
flesh. In addition, he expounded the relation between mind and
existence in the materialist way, taking human beings as the subject of
cognition, which could achieve unity with the object through the senses.
According to his intuitional theory of reflection, nature can be learned by
human beings. Feuerbach abandoned Hegel’s dialectic, criticizing his
idealism. His understanding of humanism was that it was the abstract of
natural human beings. Having demonstrated the connection between
religion and idealism in nature, he put forward the proposal that idealism
was theology remolded by rationality. After denying the religions of the
past, Feuerbach attempted to establish a religion without a god to show that
love transcended everything. His major works include The Essence of
Christianity.
WESTERN PHILOSOPHY 21
1.3 ModernisM And PostModernisM
1.3.1 Outline of Philosophical Thoughts
Generally speaking, modern and postmodern philosophies refer to various
philosophical schools that have been prevalent in Western capitalist
countries since the mid-nineteenth century. The development of modern
capitalism promoted the immense progress of science and technology,
alongside new social conflicts and crises, all of which are reflected in
philosophy. Despite the large number of schools and its diversity, modern
Western philosophy can be roughly divided into scientism and humanism.
Inheriting the rationalist tradition of European philosophy, scientism takes
the nature of science as its object of research, with particular interest in the
methods of learning, the truthfulness and certainty of scientific knowledge,
the structure of scientific theories, the characteristics of scientific language,
the laws of science’s development, the relationship between science and
society, and so on. The major factions of this ideological trend include
positivism, pragmatism, empirical criticism (Machism), logical empiricism,
critical rationalism, historicism of science, structuralism, con-structivism,
and systems philosophy. It is rationalistic in its advocacy of reason, science,
criticism, and progress. For instance, positivism highly praises positivity
and science. Logical empiricism insists on the principles of verifiability and
logical analysis. Humanism, a major tradition in
European history, researches the nature of human beings, with their focus
on life, instinct, existence, value, dignity, prospects, and the relationship
between human and nature. Major schools of this trend include voluntarism,
neo-Kantism, philosophy of life, neo-Hegelianism, phenomenol-
ogy, Freudianism, existentialism, neo-Thomism, personalism, Frankfurt
School, hermeneutics, and philosophical anthropology. This trend stands for
irrationalism, highlighting mysticism, fideism (exclusive reliance on faith
alone), and pessimism. For example, voluntarism claims that the
nature of the world is the will, “a blind urge.” Freudianism states that libido
is the source and basis of motivation for all human behavior and
psychological activities. Existentialism claims that the nature of human
beings is anguish, abandonment, and despair. Neo-Thomism promotes
religious beliefs and God-centered humanism.
In the 1960s and 1970s, as capitalism stepped into a mature phase,
an increasing number of phenomena distinct from those in pre-existing
22 G. XU ET AL.
society emerged. Some scholars proclaimed the end of the modern era,
which had lasted for more than 200 years, and the advent of a new one.
Industrial society was turning into post-industrial society, with the
postmodern turn of capitalist society; this provoked heated discussions in
Western educational circles. In the 1950s, a new postmodern era
had already existed. In the 1960s, this postmodern spirit was pushed to
centre stage in the field of thought. Scholars held debates about the
relationship between modernism and postmodernism in the 1970s and
1980s. By the 1980s, in some scholars’ opinion, postmodernism had
become the mainstream of Western spiritual culture and postmodern
discourse a social trend. Whether these descriptions are appropriate or not,
Western spiritual culture has indeed been undergoing profound
changes and has exerted increasing influence on various areas in
different forms.
Postmodernism is a mentality that has emerged from modern capital-
ism, a social and cultural trend in thought, and a lifestyle that is dedicated to
the reflection, criticism, and transcendence of modernism, which is the
existing dominant thinking, culture, and historical tradition that it has
inherited from capitalism. With an attempt to recreate the existing culture of
human beings and to explore paths of innovation that are as diverse as
possible, postmodernism creates an ever-updating, ever-discontented
spirit of self-breakthrough and creation that is unconfined by particular
forms or the pursuit of fixed outcomes. Postmodernism is more than just an
uncentered, nomadic discourse and it is not a systematic theoretical
knowledge; it is a cultural appeal, but not just that. Rather, it is practical
activities of cultural innovation that transcend traditional discourses and
oppose traditional theoretical knowledge. Postmodernism is a historical and
social category, a mode of thought and a cultural category, a lifestyle and a
new mode of human activity, a method of expression and a strategy of
argument, and at the same time a query about and a challenge to the
justified ways and procedures of the new society and new culture. It
continuously realizes and accomplishes the proof and justification of itself
through its own emergence, existence, and continuous criticism, through the
challenge and penetration of modern society and culture, and especially
through its expansion into the psychological activities and mentality of
modern human beings. However, on the other hand, its weaknesses and
limitations are also being gradually exposed.
WESTERN PHILOSOPHY 23
1.3.2 Major Figures
1.3.2.1 Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
A renowned German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche was the originator
of modern Western philosophy, as well as a distinguished poet and essayist.
He had been isolated and sentimental since childhood, and always felt
inferior because of his thin and weak body. For this reason, his spent his life
in the pursuit of a powerful philosophy to make up for this deep sense of
inferiority. Breaking away from the logical development of philosophy,
Nietzsche relied on his inspiration to reach a unique understanding, and
hence his works are poetic and aphoristic rather than obscure as are those of
other philosophers.
Nietzsche dauntlessly opposed the absolute superiority of metaphysics
and the vast system of speculation with rationality at its center that had
lasted for hundreds of years. His ardent love for life made him an
enthusiastic exponent of vitality and willpower. He was a firm believer in
the value of human life and society, and regarded nature as the only real
world. His philosophy transfused fresh blood into the veins of European
classical philosophy and created a brand new era of classical philology.
From this perspective, he initiated a new epoch in the history of thinking,
which was divided into two phases: pre-Nietzsche and post-Nietzsche.
After
Nietzsche, traditional philosophy disintegrated, as it converted from non-
being to being, returned from heaven to earth, and evoked immense
resonance for millions of people rather than remaining in a state of mystery.
Influential works by Nietzsche include The Gay Science, Thus Spoke
Zarathustra, Beyond Good and Evil, and The Will to Power. Nietzsche’s
philosophy had a deep influence on famous thinkers in the following
century, such as Jaspers, Heidegger, Rilke, Hesse, Mann, Shaw, Gide,
Sartre, and Malraux.
1.3.2.2 John Dewey
John Dewey was an American philosopher, psychologist, and educator. As
a pioneer of functional psychology, the founder of the Chicago School of
Pragmatism, an exponent of the American Progressive Educational
Movement, and one of the co-founders of pragmatic philosophy, he is
regarded as one of the most important philosophers in the twentieth century
and an influential person in both Western and Eastern cultures. Born into a
peasant’s family in Burlington, Vermont, Dewey finished his primary
24 G. XU ET AL.
and secondary education in his hometown and then attended the
University of Vermont from 1875. In 1879, he graduated and began his
teaching career, which he had always longed for, and continued to study the
history of philosophy. In 1882, his first dissertation was published in the
only national philosophical magazine, which was tremendously
encouraging for him.
Though his early philosophical opinions drew on Hegel’s thoughts,
Dewey explained that he abandoned nineteenth-century Hegelian
Absolutism because of the impact of biology and the theory of evolution on
his thinking. In his opinion, idea is not something fixed or static; it is not
absolute; rather, it should be regarded as changeable, dynamic, and
instrumental, enabling people to adapt to the external environment more
easily. As Dewey took experience and progress as two of his basic
concepts, his opinion of knowledge naturally falls on the side of
instrumentalism.
His works on pragmatic philosophy include Reconstruction in Philosophy
(1920), Experience and Nature (1925), The Quest for Certainty (1929),
Logic: The Theory of Inquiry (1938), and Knowing and the Known (1948).
1.3.2.3 Bertrand Arthur William Russell
Bertrand Russell, a philosopher, mathematician, sociologist, and Nobel
Prize winner, was born to an aristocratic family in Monmouthshire, Wales.
He is regarded as the most famous and influential Western scholar and
social activist in the twentieth century. Orphaned very young, he was
raised by his grandmother. In 1890 he enrolled in Cambridge University to
study mathematics, turning to a major in philosophy three years later, and
becoming a lecturer in 1908. As a philosopher, his contribution
mainly lies in mathematical logic, as he was one of the founders of logical
atomism and neo-realism. Modern analytic philosophy, based on Russell’s
philosophy, plays a significant role in the history of modern Western
philosophy. As a social activist, he was an ardent participator in political
activities, and he delivered dozens of speeches in support of world peace.
During the First World War, he was imprisoned for six months because of
his engagement in pacifist activities, but this did not moderate his views.
Russell was the focus of the world’s attention and controversy at this time,
while his main responsibilities remained academic, overseeing research and
writing. In the fields of human knowledge and mathematical logic, his
innovation and achievement were unprecedented.
Russell was always able to clearly express obscure academic thinking to a
non-academic audience; his works are unparalleled even in terms of pure
WESTERN PHILOSOPHY 25
literature. Among the more than sixty books he wrote are A History of
Western Philosophy (1945), Human Knowledge: Its Scope and Limits
(1948), Sceptical Essays (1928), Authority and the Individual (1949), and
My Philosophical Development (1959). He was awarded the 1950 Nobel
Prize “in recognition of his varied and significant writings in which he
champions humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought.” In 1959, after
the publication of Western Wisdom, he began writing The Autobiography of
Bertrand Russell, which he finished aged ninety-five in 1967.
1.3.2.4 Edmund Husserl
Edmund Husserl, the founder of phenomenology, is regarded as one of
the most influential philosophers in the twentieth century. His philosophy
constitutes the starting point for reflection upon Heidegger, Sartre,
Merleau-Ponty, Gadamer, and Derrida. Born into a Jewish family in
Proßnitz, then in the Austrian empire and now Prostějov in the Czech
Republic, he studied mathematics and physics, and received his doctorate in
1881. From 1883 he became a student of Franz Brentano, German
philosopher and psychologist, and studied philosophy. He taught in the
universities of Halle, Göttingen, and Freiburg successively, and died in
Freiburg in 1938. The development of his philosophy can be divided into
three stages: pre-phenomenology (before 1900), early phenomenology
(1901–1913), and late phenomenology (after 1913). The first two stages
were mainly devoted to criticism of the psychology of various forms of
empiricism in the nineteenth century, the development of Brentano’s
intentionality of consciousness, and the establishment of descriptive
phenomenology, which returned from particular individual experiences to
the essential structure of experience. Husserl’s phenomenology of the late
stage eventually evolved to a thorough and subjective transcendental
idealism, the objective of which was the return and deepening of phenome-
nology to the immediate data of consciousness, so that the objectivity or
definite nature of knowledge is built up on the basis of pure subjectivity.
Through this phenomenological reduction all the empiricist content is
excluded, while only absolute consciousness or transcendental
consciousness remains. The theme of Husserl’s phenomenology in its late
stage is the constitution of transcendental consciousness and the world of
life, the subject experiences in his visual horizon. Husserl received constant
criticism from the school of phenomenology because of his transcendental
idealism and the standpoint and perspective of his thorough subjectivism.
Among his significant works are Philosophy of Arithmetic (1891), Logical
26 G. XU ET AL.
Investigation (1900–1901), Philosophy as Rigorous Science (1910), Ideas
Pertaining to a Pure Phenomenology and to a Phenomenological
Philosophy (1913), Formal and Transcendental Logic (1929), Cartesian
Meditations (1950), and The Crisis of European Science and
Transcendental
Phenomenology (1954).
1.3.2.5 Martin Heidegger
Martin Heidegger, German philosopher, founder of existentialism, and
one of its major exponents, is hailed as the most original thinker and the
most prominent ontological scholar and critic of technological society. He
became interested in philosophy and began to study Brentano’s philosophy
at school. Later he attended Freiburg University to study theology and
philosophy, and received his doctorate in 1913. After qualifying as a
lecturer having passed an exam hosted by Heinrich Rickert, a neo-Kantist,
he followed Husserl to teach at Freiburg. In 1927, in order to prepare for his
promotion to professorship, Heidegger’s unfinished manuscript Being and
Time was published. It became one of the most significant philosophical
works of the twentieth century. In 1928, Heidegger succeeded Husserl as
Professor of Philosophy at Freiburg University. After the rise of Nazism, he
joined the Nazi Party, and became the University Rector. The connection
between Heidegger and the Nazis repeatedly became a heated topic
among Western philosophers as well as more generally. However, this his
philosophy cannot be described as a reflection of Nazism, and subsequent
anti-Nazi existentialists have been inspired by Heidegger’s works. This
demonstrates that the thought of a great philosopher is far more significant
than his political views at certain times. Heidegger’s other major works
include What Is Metaphysics? , The Basic Problems of Phenomenology, On
the Essence of Truth, Off the Beaten Track, and On the Way to Language.
1.3.2.6 Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Sartre is among the most important philosophers in the twentieth
century, a major exponent of French atheist existentialism. He was a
distinguished writer, dramatist, critic, and social activist as well. Born into a
naval officer’s family on June 2, 1905, he lost his father at a young age and
thereafter lived with his grandfather. At nineteen he attended the École
Normale Supérieure to study philosophy, and became a teacher in
philosophy in a middle school. In 1933 he studied philosophy in Berlin,
accepting Husserl’s phenomenology and Heidegger’s existentialism. After
returning to France, he continued his teaching in the middle school, and
WESTERN PHILOSOPHY 27
began to publish his first batch of philosophical works: Imagination: A
Psychological Critique, The Transcendence of the Ego, and Sketch for a
Theory of the Emotions, for example. In the autumn of 1943, Sartre’s
masterpiece Being and Nothingness, which laid the foundation for his
philosophical system of atheist existentialism, was published.
Perhaps Sartre’s charm lies in his fanatical spirit of worldliness. The famous
formula of existentialism is that existence precedes essence.
Applying this to his outlook on life, he regarded human involvement in
society in the same way that the birth of people was intrinsically haphaz-
ard, as it was just the outcome of the broadcast of sperm. Therefore, the
existence of human beings was not scheduled in advance to a blueprint, and
people should hence be free to be the masters of their own lives and become
totally involved in the society they lived in, where fate was determined by
behavior. This spirit naturally encouraged him to be critical of the society of
the time and supportive of social revolutions. This made him a great social
activist and a political idealist of his age.
1.3.2.7 Jean-François Lyotard
Jean-François Lyotard was a typical French postmodernist thinker. It was he
who formally presented, expounded, and justified postmodernism,
which came into being in the first half of the nineteenth century and
developed over the following century into a systematic philosophical theory
and methodology in the 1970s. His book La Condition Post-Moderne,
published in 1979, is regarded as the cornerstone of postmodern theory. At
that point, postmodernism officially stepped onto the stage of Western
theory and into academia, becoming the most important social trend of the
latter part of the twentieth century. The profundity and breadth of its
influence gave rise to radical changes in the theory and methodology of
Western humanistic and social sciences, as well as in the Western way of
life.
1.3.2.8 Jacques Derrida
Jacques Derrida was a renowned French post-structuralist and decon-
structionist. Owing to his struggle with and defiance of traditional culture
and its basic principles, and his unwillingness to be confined by convention,
Derrida would rather act out a vague image of himself. In his opinion, the
more indefinite he was, the farther he was away from the
range of traditional culture. He repeated that the best trick played by
traditional culture was to define someone as having a certain identity so that
he could be controlled. According to Derrida, traditional philosophy
28 G. XU ET AL.
always stipulates the presence of being and searches for definite
foundations and the first cause. Language does not reflect inner experience,
as nothing fully exists within signs. We are not only unable to present what
we say or write to others, but also to ourselves, because we still need to use
signs when we reflect on our own mind or explore our own soul. This
means that any communication will be insufficient and not completely
successful; therefore knowledge stored and developed by communication
is also doubtful.
BiBliogrAPhy
He Zhaowu. 2003. The Spirit of Western Philosophy. Beijing: Tsinghua
University Press.
Liu Fangtong. 2000. Contemporary Western Philosophy. Beijing: People’s
Publishing House.
Miao Litian, and Li Yuzhang. 1990. The New Introduction to the History of
Western Philosophy. Beijing: People’s Publishing House.
Russell, Bertrand. 2003. A History of Western Philosophy. Beijing: The
Commercial Press.
Zhang Zhicang, and Lin Dan. 2007. Contemporary Western Philosophy.
Beijing: People’s Publishing House.
Zhao Dunhua. 2001a. A Short History of Western Philosophy. Beijing:
Peking University Press.
———. 2001b. A Brief History of Modern Western Philosophy. Beijing:
Peking University Press.
Zhong Yuren, and Yu Lichang. 2007. Critical Biographies of Famous
Western Philosophers. Ji’nan: Shandong People’s Publishing House.
WeBsite
http://baike.baidu.com/view
CHAPTER 2
Political Systems
The political system is part of the social system and structure, and involves
polity, structural form, organizational and operating mechanisms, as well as
political doctrines that are prescribed by constitutions and laws. It reflects
the will of the ruling class and the working principles of the state apparatus.
This chapter deals with the legal design and development of political
systems in major Western countries. Initially it outlines the evolution and
status quo, and then focuses on political systems in the UK, the USA,
France, and Germany.
2.1 IntroductIon to Western PolItIcal systems
In the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries, capitalist political systems were
established successively in Western countries such as the UK, the USA,
France, and Germany, and parliaments composed of elected representatives
exercised the state’s power. This was based on the indirect democracy
invented by the European monarchies and aristocracy in the Middle Ages,
which was gradually integrated with the democratic system in modern
times. The political party system and the interest group are the two key
components of the Western political system.
An interest group is a public organization with specific political views that
pushes for the formulation, amendment, and implementation of policies and
laws in its own interest. Various interest groups were formed in the mid-
nineteenth century along with the structural upgrading and
© The Author(s) 2018
29
G. Xu et al. (eds.), K. Chen et al. (trans.), Understanding Western Culture,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-8150-7_2
30 G. XU ET AL.
transformation of industries, changes in social conditions, and the
expansion of government functions in capitalist countries. These groups, as
the embodiment of political democracy, exert influence on society and
politics to protect their own interests and to maintain social stability.
In the West, elections of party politicians in which individuals cannot
participate are typically a money game. Raising more funds than rivals is a
requisite for winning, and campaigns are vigorous. On account of the
limited party membership dues, business conglomerates and consortia are
ideal sponsors, being willing to prop up representatives of their interests so
that political, economic, and diplomatic policies are made in their favor and
so they can gain more legal or illegal profit. Since the economic base
determines the superstructure, capitalist private ownership underpins the
Western political party system. Essentially, all parties represent the interests
of the monopoly capitalist class and preserve, modify, and develop
capitalism. Hence the Western multi-party system is just a political method
of distributing benefits among the monopoly capitalist class.
2.2 PolItIcal systems In major Western countrIes
2.2.1 The Political System of the UK
The UK has been committed to re-establishing its supremacy since decline
set in after the two world wars. Britain adopted constitutional monarchy
after the modern capitalist revolution, which provided the political
foundation for its status as the world’s powerhouse. Its political system
features two main parties, a permanent civil service, local self-government,
and centers on a parliamentary system, which has had a significant impact
on the establishment of political systems in other countries.
2.2.1.1 Evolution
After the Norman Conquest in 1066, Britain turned into a centralized
feudal monarchy, with the king as the most powerful lord who exercised his
sovereignty through the king’s council. In 1215 aristocrats rose in revolt
and forced King John (who ruled from 1199 to 1216) to sign the
Great Charter, which acknowledged the privileges of aristocrats and
churches and circumscribed the king’s powers.
During the reign of the Tudors (1485–1603), Britain was a feudal
autocratic monarchy and legislative, administrative, and judicial powers
POLITICAL SYSTEMS 31
were conferred on the king. Capitalists and a new aristocracy formed an
alliance in the mid-seventeenth century and transformed the state from a
monarchy to a republic in 1649. In 1653 Cromwell dissolved Parliament
and built a military dictatorship, which was overthrown during the
restoration of the Stuarts in 1660. After the Glorious Revolution of 1688,
the House of Commons exerted the legislative power. From the early
eighteenth century, the king no longer attended cabinet meetings and
appointed the leader of the majority party in the House of Commons to
be the prime minister, who formed the cabinet. In this parliamentary
constitutional monarchy, the king was only the titular head while Parliament
was the legislative authority, with the cabinet exercising administrative
power and answerable to Parliament. The judicial branch, with the Lord
Chancellor as its head, exercised jurisdiction, and counties were
autonomous. After reforms to parliamentary elections in the nineteenth
century, people’s democratic rights were expanded and the two-party
system and
the civil service system were formed. This political system, based on the
constitutional convention, evolved and is still in place today.
2.2.1.2 The UK’s Sovereign
The sovereign was transformed from a victor in wars, a despot with divine
rights, to the titular head of the constitutional monarchy. Centralized
imperial power led to revolutions rather than the abolition of the monarchy,
and in light of constitutional provisions the king or queen is the hereditary
titular head of the state who performs ceremonial roles. The monarch is
indispensable to the British political system as a symbol of unity.
2.2.1.3 The Polity
The UK has a cabinet government. According to the principles of par-
liamentary sovereignty, Parliament has legislative authority and is of
supreme power. It comprises the House of Lords, which wields no real
power, the House of Commons, and the sovereign. The leader of the
majority party in the House of Commons is designated by the sovereign
to be the prime minister, forms the cabinet, and assumes joint responsibility
for Parliament.
Legislative, administrative, and judicial powers are not separated in
Britain. The cabinet controls legislation while the Lord Chancellor,
Attorney General and Solicitor General, nominated by the prime minister
and appointed by the sovereign, are in charge of judicial administration.
32 G. XU ET AL.
The Lord Chancellor is a member of the cabinet and therefore of the
ruling party, responsible for justice, legislation, and administration, and the
appointment of all judges. The House of Lords is the highest judicial
institution for all civil and criminal cases, except for Scottish criminal
cases.
Judicial bodies are not given the power of constitutional review and
interpretation, yet important judicial precedents have the same legal force as
laws. The cabinet is dominant, so much so that there has been a tendency
since the Second World War that sovereignty might be transferred from
Parliament to the cabinet especially.
2.2.1.4 The Civil Service
In the mid-nineteenth century, the UK was one of the first countries to
implement a civil service system that, as a permanent bureaucracy, could
implement policy, even while changes took place on account of kings
bestowing government posts and two parties taking turns in power. Civil
servants are divided into political and administrative officers, with the latter
permanently employed. Progressively, appointment, training, assessment,
promotion, rewards and punishments, salary, welfare, and the
retirement of officers have been institutionalized.
2.2.1.5 The Local Government System
The local government of the UK is partly autonomous, operating either
under a single-tier system—unitary authorities, or a two- tier system—
county and district councils. There are five types of local authority in
England: county councils, district councils, unitary authorities, metropolitan
districts, and London boroughs. Local authorities are entitled to make many
policy decisions, yet some resolutions passed must be approved by central
government departments; consultation is required for legal bills.
Management committees appointed by local councils are responsible for
the administration of various affairs.
2.2.1.6 The British Constitution
Distinct from most constitutions, this consists of statute law, common law,
and conventions. The Great Charter (1215), Habeas Corpus Act (1679),
Bill of Rights (1689), the Act of Parliament (1911, 1949), the amended
Municipal Corporation Act, and electoral and county council laws are the
chief components. There is an independent legal system in Scotland.
Under the constitutional monarchy, the sovereign, as head of state and the
judiciary, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, and the Supreme
POLITICAL SYSTEMS 33
Governor of the Church of England, is nominally empowered to appoint
and remove the prime minister, ministers, senior judges, military officers,
governors-general, diplomats, bishops, and Anglican priests of high rank.
He or she can convene, prorogue, and dissolve Parliament, approve laws,
declare wars, and make peace, but in reality it is the cabinet that wields
ultimate power.
Parliament is the supreme judicial and legislative organization. Members of
the House of Lords include royal descendants, hereditary and life peers,
archbishops and bishops, who join through either political appointment or
recommendation. After the reform of November 1999, more than 600
hereditary peers were removed from the House of Lords, with only ninety-
two remaining in office. Members of the House of Commons are elected
with five-year tenure, based on polls in 650 constituencies with a median
total electorate about 72,400 in England, 69,000 in Scotland, 66,800 in
Northern Ireland, and 56,800 in Wales (2013 figures).
2.2.1.7 The Judicial System
England and Wales adopt the common law system and the system in
Northern Ireland is similar, while a civil law system is adopted in Scotland.
Civil and criminal courts constitute the judicial organs. In England and
Wales, in a bottom-up approach, institutions for civil trial comprise county
and high courts, the civil division of appellate courts, and the Upper House
as the court of final appeal, while institutions for criminal trial include local
and criminal courts, the criminal division of appellate courts, and the Upper
House. The Crown Prosecution Service established in 1986 accepts and
hears all criminal cases from English and Welsh police. The Attorney
General and Solicitor General serve as counsels of the British government
and representatives of the royal family in some national and international
cases.
2.2.1.8 The Electoral System
The electoral system is an integral part of the system of civil rights. It is
prescribed that every British citizen aged eighteen or over has the right to
vote as long as they have lived in the constituency for more than three
months (for soldiers more than one month). British citizens aged twenty-
one or over have the right to be elected to be a Member of Parliament and
are required to pay a deposit of £150. This is turned over to the state
treasury unless their votes outnumber one-eighth of the total cast in the
constituency. A Member of Parliament is elected directly based on ballots,
of which the process follows a majority representation system under a
single- member constituency system.
34 G. XU ET AL.
2.2.1.9 The Political Party System
The UK is representative of countries that pursue the two-party system.
The two major parties developed with Parliament and the cabinet and
their competition with each other intensified after the extension of suffrage
when the Reform Act of 1832 was passed. They control elections,
dominate in Parliament, and the one winning most seats forms the gov-
ernment. With Parliament backing the government, Britain has a more
stable cabinet than states that adopt the multi-party system.
The Labour Party
This was founded in 1900 and was initially known as the Labour
Representation Committee. At the time of writing, 2017, it had been in
power during the periods 1945–1951, 1964–1970, 1974–1979 and 1997–
2010. It is the biggest party in the UK with roughly 400,000 members. In
recent years, the party has tended to favor the middle class and has become
alienated from the unions. The ex-leader Tony Blair put forward the slogan
“New Labour, New Britain” and removed Clause Four in the party
constitution that concerned public ownership. He proposed to rein in public
spending, to maintain steady growth of the macro-economy, and to reduce
government intervention in the economy, as well as establishing a modern
welfare system. Active international co-operation and European integration
were suggested, and the so-called special relationship with the USA was to
be maintained.
The Conservative Party
Its predecessor was the Tory Party, founded in 1679 and renamed in 1833;
its official name is the Conservative and Unionist Party. It enjoyed a
dominant position in politics in the twentieth century and was consecutively
in power from 1979 to 1997. Conservative Prime Ministers led
governments
for 57 years of the twentieth century, including Winston Churchill (1940–
1945, 1951–1955), Edward Heath (1965–1975), Margaret Thatcher
(1979–1990) and John Major (1990–1997). With more than 300,000
members, supporters of the party are mainly from the affluent classes or
business circles; they are in favor of a free market and law and order. They
advocate the curbing of inflation by tightening the money supply and
cutting public spending, and also limiting the power of the unions.
The party has recently focused on social issues, such as education, medical
care, and poverty alleviation on the platform of compassionate
conservatism, and there is an emphasis on safeguarding British sovereignty
against a federal Europe. It asserts that NATO is the cornerstone of British
security and defense.
POLITICAL SYSTEMS 35
The Liberal Democrat Party
With roughly 100,000 members, this is the third largest party in the UK,
committed to co-operation with the Labour Party and urging the latter to
implement the proportional representation system in local and
parliamentary elections. It adopts policies that focus on public service,
social justice, and environmental protection.
Other British parties include the Scottish National Party, Plaid Cymru, the
Ulster Unionist Party, the Democratic Unionist Party, the Social
Democratic and Labour Party, and Sinn Fein.
2.2.1.10 The Civil Rights System
The implementation of civil rights system in the UK takes “government by
law” as the principle. More stress has been laid on the restrictions of rights,
such as the Defamation Law (amendment) of 1888, the Public Meeting
Act of 1908, the Sedition Act of 1934, and the Public Order Act of 1936.
In 2000, the Human Right Act 1998 came into force with the aim of
incorporating into UK law the rights and freedoms contained in the
European Convention on Human Rights. In the meantime, personal free-
dom is secured through the system of habeas corpus—a recourse in law
challenging the reasons or conditions of a person’s confinement under the
color of law.
2.2.1.11 The National Flag, Emblem and Anthem
The National Flag
The Union Jack emerged in 1801. It is a horizontal rectangular flag with a
2:1 length to width ratio. The red cross in the center with white edges stands
for the patron saint of England, St. George, while the white cross represents
St. Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland, and the other red cross stands for
the patron saint of Ireland, St. Patrick. The three overlap-ping crosses
resemble the Chinese character 米 and appear on a dark blue background.
The National Coat of Arms
The British coat of arms is also the coat of arms of the sovereign. The
central design is a shield with three golden lions representing England in
the upper left and lower right quarters against a red background. The red
lion on a golden background in the upper right quarter represents Scotland
and the golden harp on a blue background in the lower right quarter sym-
36 G. XU ET AL.
bolizes Ireland. The shield has a lion with a crown, the symbol of England,
on its left-hand side and a unicorn, the symbol of Scotland, on the right.
Surrounding the shield is the Garter, with the French maxim “Honi
soit qui mal y pense,” which means “Shame on him who thinks evil of it.”
Underneath is a streamer with the words “Dieu et mon droit,” which
means “God and my right.” On top of the shield are a gold and silver
helmet, a crown encrusted with jewels, and a lion wearing a crown.
The National Anthem
The anthem is “God Save the Queen,” which was composed in the eigh-
teenth century; if a king is on throne, “God Save the King” is sung. There
are three verses, all ending with this phrase.
2.2.2 The USA’s Political System
After over 200 years of development since the establishment of its federal
government in 1789, the USA has become the world’s superpower. Its
political system is characterized by a combination of Western European
democratic ideals and the requirements of modern capitalism; these
underpin social stability and growth. As a federal state, the USA forms a
presidential government, has adopted the two-party system, and combines
separation of three powers and associated checks and balances.
2.2.2.1 Evolution
The USA is the world’s first bourgeois republic, and the origins of its
political system can be traced back to the colonial times. The Mayflower
Compact drawn up in 1620 and the Virginia General Assembly set up in
1619 are referred to by Western scholars as the cornerstone of the US
political system. The latter is the first organization that adopted a
representative system in the New World, and this became the basic system
in all other colonies. The Declaration of Independence passed on June 4,
1776
further laid the theoretical foundations and the Articles of Confederation
that came into effect on March 1, 1781 prepared for the implementation of
federalism. Eventually the US political system was established after the
Constitution of the United States of America had been enacted in 1787.
2.2.2.2 The Polity
The president is head of state and government by virtue of the presidential
system. Legislative, executive, and judiciary powers are respectively
POLITICAL SYSTEMS 37
exercised by Congress, the president, and the Supreme Court in a bal-
anced way: the president can veto bills passed by Congress, but this veto
may be overridden by a two-thirds majority of both houses. The president
can nominate senior officials, including the chief justice of the Supreme
Court, provided that they are confirmed by Congress, which is authorized to
impeach presidents and officials. The chief justice of the US Supreme Court
can declare bills passed by Congress unconstitutional and invalid.
Congress
Congress wields the legislative power of the state based on the Constitution
and comprises the House of Representatives and the Senate. The two
houses consist congressmen and senators representing their constituents and
the total electorate.
A) Obligations of Congress
It is prescribed in the US Constitution that Congress has obliga-
tions regarding legislation, representation of constituents, supervi-
sion, and conflict mediation, among which the first two are of
paramount importance.
a. Legislation
Congress is the supreme legislative authority, yet most of the
motions are put forward by executive agencies, political parties,
and interest groups. After considerable debate and discussion, sup-
porters of the proposals form an alliance to make national policies.
b. Representation
This embraces expressing the thoughts and needs of constituents
and representing the interests of the country in a broader sense.
Sometimes congressmen and senators perform acts that are against
the will of constituents because of political horse-trading among
parties, and often they base their positions on constituents’ aspira-
tions, even voting against their parties in order to gain re-election.
Strictly speaking, congressmen and senators are neither com-
pletely the representatives of the state nor of the voters.
c. Serving constituents
Congressmen, senators, and their employees devote much time
to individual constituents and help handle affairs that include
disputes with governments, local business promotion, and inter-
pretation of proposals.
38 G. XU ET AL.
d. Supervision
Congress ensures that all bills passed are properly enforced by
means of holding hearings, investigations, altering departmental
budgets, and examining candidates for executive and law
enforcement agencies who are nominated by the president.
e. Conflict mediation
Interest groups representing people of different races, ideas,
economic organizations, and both genders lobby congressmen
and senators to express their dissatisfaction and to influence con-
gressional decisions. Congress has to mediate these views and
enact laws that meet diverse demands, especially those of the
majority interest groups.
B) Powers of Congress
a. Explicit powers
Article I of the Constitution sets forth most of the powers of
Congress, such as tax collection, regulation of interstate and for-
eign commerce, and the declaration of wars, particularly in
Section 8 where explicit powers are enumerated. Other articles
delegate powers to Congress that override the president’s veto,
regulating the Electoral College and interstate relations, defin-
ing cases that should be reviewed by the Supreme Court, and
proposing amendments to the Constitution. In light of subse-
quent amendments to the Constitution, Congress can elect the
president and vice-president when no candidate gets a majority
of votes in a presidential election (the Twelfth Amendment),
collect income tax (the Sixteenth Amendment), select an acting
president when the president in office is dead or disabled (the
Twentieth and Twenty-Fifth Amendments), and govern
Washington DC (the Twenty-Third Amendment).
Some powers are conferred on the Senate, for instance ratify-
ing treaties, approving or disapproving presidential appoint-
ments of ambassadors, the Supreme Court justices, and officials
of executive departments, and trying impeachments of presi-
dents and officials. The House of Representatives is constitu-
tionally empowered to originate financial bills, elect the president
and vice-president if is no majority in the Electoral College, and
initiate impeachment cases.
POLITICAL SYSTEMS 39
b. Necessary and Proper Clause
Congress has implied powers, deriving from the Constitution’s
Necessary and Proper Clause, to enact laws that are necessary
and proper for the execution of the foregoing powers.
c. Limitation of powers
Congress is constitutionally prohibited to define the national
guiding ideology or obstruct people’s freedom of religion and
speech (First Amendment). Besides, Congress cannot pass bills
permitting trial default or the expropriation of private property,
disfranchising citizens, or the levying of tax and bills that are
retrospective. The Supreme Court decides whether congressio-
nal actions and laws are constitutional.
C) Congressional election
The electoral process is restricted by the Constitution and relevant federal
laws (Section 4, Article I of the Constitution). A senator should be at least
thirty years old, a legal resident of the state he or she represents, and a US
citizen for over nine years. There are 100 senators (2017)
representing fifty states and with six-year tenure. A third of them are re-
elected every two years and they may serve for consecutive terms.
Representatives have to be at least twenty-five years old, live in
the state they represent, and a US citizen for over seven years. They
face re- elections every two years and seats of the House are appor-
tioned among the states by size of population, based on the census
that is conducted every ten years; each state is entitled to at least
one representative. The District of Columbia and the territories of
Guam, the US Virgin Islands, American Samoa, the Northern
Mariana Islands, and Puerto Rico are each represented by one non-
voting delegate, who may participate in investigations and debates.
a. The Election of Candidates
A primary election is held within the party to nominate the can-
didates who will campaign in the general election. Candidates
usually tend to be radical in order to attract votes in the primary
election and moderate in order to win over the middle-of-the-
roaders in the general election.
b. Coattail Effect
Most congressmen and senators win re-election, for they are
obliged to carry out surveys among voters and are widely covered
40 G. XU ET AL.
in the media. In addition, they help candidates from the same
party attract votes in the election to strengthen their positions in
constituencies; this is called the coattail effect. However, con-
stituents may change their votes in the midterm election in light
of the president’s performance.
Constituencies are divided according to their population
density. The Congressional majority proposes redistribution
plans on the basis of the census conducted every ten years.
Though the Supreme Court protects constituents’ rights to
vote, parties still attempt to draw electoral district boundaries to
their advantage, for instance by designing with the aid of com-
puters contiguous districts that pack opponents into as few dis-
tricts as possible.
D) The Structure of Congress
Under the Constitution, the vice-president is the ex officio President of the
Senate authorized to preside over Senate sessions, though he
or she can vote only to break a tie. Senior senators of the majority
party are customarily elected by the Senate to serve as President pro
tempore to preside in the vice-president’s absence.
The Senate party leaders and whips elected by the caucus have
the real power, and the majority leader acts as spokesman. The
House of Representatives resembles the Senate in structure, with
the Speaker of the House presiding over the chamber having similar
powers to his or her counterpart in the Senate. The majority leader
subordinate to the Speaker serves as the spokesman of the party.
Most legislative work is carried out by committees and subcom-
mittees. Proposals are passed to special committees for review and
put to a vote afterwards.
E) Legislation
Congress and executive agencies subordinate to the president can
bring in bills that are usually concurrently proposed to both houses,
except those concerning only one House, such as fiscal plans and
treaties. The proposals are passed to special committees where
experts hold hearings and debates in order to improve them. When
committees report to the houses, the Senate majority leader or the
House Rules Committee will settle on a date for public debates. A
bill becomes a law if the president signs it; otherwise Congress may
offer revisions to gain the president’s favor or override his veto
POLITICAL SYSTEMS 41
with a two-thirds majority (abstention is not allowed). If there are
fewer than ten days left for the congressional session when the bill
reaches the president and he fails to sign it within the time limit, it will be
tabled and invalid but may be put forward again in the next
session. It is required that provided over one-fifth of the congress-
men and senators are present for voting on bills, their votes and
names should be announced in the proceedings of the houses for
their constituents’ oversight.
F) Budget
Congress is empowered by the Constitution to collect tax, but motions
of tax and appropriation are proposed by the House. The president is
required to submit the budget for the next fiscal year, which begins in
October every year. The Office of Management and Budget is responsible
for checking budgets submitted by all departments eigh-
teen months ahead of schedule and for organizing the president’s
budget to be presented to Congress each February. Congress is sup-
posed to approve budgets before the new fiscal year starts; however,
the deadline is often missed, in which case it has to enact temporary
legislations to allow the normal operation of the government.
The US President
The president is head of the state and government of the USA. He leads the
executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief
of the armed forces. The presidency is framed in the US Constitution,
which was passed in 1788: the first president took office in 1789. In light of
the Twenty-Second Amendment, the term of service for presidents is
four years and they can serve two terms at most.
US presidents are hugely powerful and influential as the supreme leader of
the world’s superpower. Traditionally, the wife of a president is referred to
as “the first lady” and his family “the first family.” An African American’s
election as the forty-fourth president was a breakthrough, for all ex-
presidents have been white males.
A president must be at least thirty-five years old, born as a citizen of the
USA (a precondition for presidential and vice-presidential candidates) and a
permanent resident in the USA for at least fourteen years. The official
presidential residence is the White House in Washington DC. The radio
calls for the airplane and helicopter that the president is aboard are
respectively Air Force One and Marine One.
42 G. XU ET AL.
A) The Election of the President
The president is elected indirectly by the Electoral College, all electors
from each state to choose a slate of electors who are pledged to
vote for a particular party’s candidate, their number being equal to
the size of the state’s delegation in both houses (the combined total
of senators and representatives). The party to which the candidate
who wins a majority vote in a state belongs can choose the electors
who vote in the Electoral College.
B) Powers of the President
The USA has adopted a presidential system. According to Article II
of the Constitution, the president is delegated to take care that laws be
faithfully executed. The president leads the executive branch
with over 4 million staff, which includes more than 1 million mili-
tary personnel on active service, and has some legislative and judi-
cial powers.
a. Administrative powers
Members of the cabinet and federal judges are appointed by the
president with the approval of the Senate. A president may make
up to 6000 appointments each year, including heads of executive
agencies, bureaus, and departments, with confirmation of the
Senate, and hundreds of other high-ranking officials in the federal
government. He is empowered to deal with national and federal
affairs and issue government decrees. The president can summon
the National Guard and declare wars even without congressional
authorization. During wars and emergencies, Congress may del-
egate greater powers to him.
b. Legislative powers
A bill does not become a law if the president vetoes it unless the
houses override the veto by a two-thirds vote. The president can
propose legislations in the form of reports, including the State of
the Union Message, the budget, and economic and special mes-
sages. In addition, the president has delegated legislative power,
which indicates he can not only re-organize existing executive
agencies but also set up new ones.
c. Judicial Powers
The president can appoint supreme judicial officials and federal
judges, and even Supreme Court Justices with the Senate’s
approval. The president can grant complete or conditional
POLITICAL SYSTEMS 43
amnesty to anyone who has broken federal laws unless he or she
is impeached.
d. Foreign Affairs Powers
The president is the principal official for foreign affairs: he
appoints ambassadors, envoys, and consuls with the confirma-
tion of the Senate and receives foreign ambassadors and officials.
The president can conclude treaties with foreign countries under
senatorial approval by a two-thirds vote; yet he can always sign
executive agreements instead, as these do not require authoriza-
tion from the Senate.
The US Supreme Court
This is the highest federal court of the USA and was established in 1790 in
Washington DC in accordance with the Constitution. The Supreme Court
consists of the Chief Justice and eight associate justices based on the
congressional decree of 1869. Justices are appointed by the president with
the approval of the Senate and have life tenure; they cannot be removed
without congressional impeachment. If they have been in office for more
than ten years and are seventy years old and above or have been in office
for more than fifteen years and are sixty-five years old and above, they may
voluntarily retire.
It is prescribed in the Constitution that the Supreme Court exercises
original jurisdiction in cases affecting ambassadors, envoys, and consuls or
in which a state is a party. It can review cases that have been heard by state
supreme courts or federal appellate courts, grant writs seeking judicial
review on cases from lower federal or state courts and has the power of
judicial review on the constitutionality of federal and state legislative and
administrative acts. Any judgment of the Supreme Court is final. It is in
session from the first Monday of October to mid-June the following year.
Judgments are given on the basis of the majority votes of justices and the
views of all parties are listed in the verdict.
2.2.2.3 The Structural Form of the USA
This was established as federalism in the Constitution that was drawn up in
1787. The states have their own written constitutions, laws, and
governments while the federation as the main route for international com-
munication sets up supreme legislative, executive, and judicial organs under
unified laws. When state constitutions and laws contradict those of the
federation, the latter are superior.
44 G. XU ET AL.
The federal government, as stipulated in the Constitution, can collect taxes,
contract loans, mint coins, have armies, deal with foreign affairs, and
regulate interstate and international commerce. Under the Constitution, all
powers not granted to the federal government nor prohibited by it are
reserved to the state governments, which are responsible for state affairs,
such as collecting local taxes, governing intrastate industries and labor,
organizing security forces, and preserving order, for example. Jurisdictions
for the federation and the states have changed over the past 200 years.
2.2.2.4 The Electoral System
Constituents in each state elect electors in equal number to the number of
the state congressmen and senators. Electors then vote for the presidency
and vice-presidency concurrently in the state capital cities, this being
referred to as indirect election. Both congressmen and senators are directly
elected in light of the Seventeenth Amendment of the Constitution and
governors, justices of some states, and executive officials for key positions
are directly elected by constituents. Systems of single-member constituency
and majority representation underpin the dominance of the two
major parties in elections at all levels.
2.2.2.5 The Political Party System
The two-party system is an important and influential component of the
US political system, through which the monopoly capitalist class controls
national political institutions and politics. Members of the two parties, the
Democratic Party and the Republican Party, are the primary candidates in
elections, especially in presidential elections, and one or the other rules,
despite the existence of other parties.
Evolution
After the federal government was founded in 1789, serious disagreements
arose between the two parties regarding the interpretation of the
Constitution, jurisdiction of the federation and the states, government
bonds, and the establishment of the state bank. Gradually, the two factions
developed into national political parties: the anti-federalists formed the
Republican Party with Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson as the leader,
whose power expanded after European wars broke out in 1792; Jefferson
won the presidential election in 1800.
In the 1820s, the Republicans split into two groups, of which the
Democratic-Republican Party which supported Andrew Jackson was
POLITICAL SYSTEMS 45
renamed the Democratic Party at the third national convention in 1840.
With the Whigs, a league against the Jackson regime was founded in 1834,
and this joined the new Republican Party formed in July 1854 in Jefferson
City, Michigan. The Republicans became the arch-rivals of the Democrats
and the two-party system was established. After the Civil War, the USA
transformed from a laissez-faire capitalist country to a monopoly capitalist
one, and the two parties both serve the interests of monopoly capitalists.
Other parties are called third parties, and the first of their kind was a labor
party that emerged with the rise of working-class and socialist movements.
The increasing number of workers boosted its campaigns and
national workers’ organizations were set up. Yet without specific political
programs and a stable leading nucleus, the party declined, disintegrating at
the end of the nineteenth century.
The third parties also include those that were born for presidential elections,
such as the Green Party, the Civic Party, and the Democratic Socialist
Organization.
Characteristics
Since the establishment of the two-party system, the Democrats and
Republicans have been in office in turns and their common features are:
• There are no fixed programs, ultimate aims, or long-term purposes.
All they have are programs for the general election.
• Members are not confined to their parties and do not have to pay
dues.
• They both have a four-tier structure: national, state, county, and
constituency committees.
• Government officials including the president, governors, mayors,
congressmen, and senators are mainly from the two parties.
• Presidential candidates are nominated in the two parties’ national
conventions and the ruling party is the one led by the candidate who
wins the presidential election.
• The majority or minority party is distinguished by the number of
seats obtained in congressional elections. A ruling party is not always the
majority party, since the president is elected by the Electoral
College rather than Congress.
46 G. XU ET AL.
Major Parties
a) The Democratic Party
In 1933, when the USA was deeply involved in the global economic
crisis, the Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected to the presidency
and enacted the programs of the New Deal. The government’s intervention
in the economy promoted the development of state monopoly capitalism.
He was elected for four consecutive terms, with the Democrats being in
office for twenty years. During its period in office, the party implemented
the Fair Deal, New Frontier, and Great Society policies, and advocated
expansionism. The Democratic National Convention is the party’s ultimate
authority and this is held every four years, during which members select
candidates for the presidency and vice-presidency and set out election
platforms. The Democratic National Committee, a standing body of the
party with a four-year tenure, is responsible for arranging national
conventions and presiding over campaigns. State committees are in charge
of state elections. The party mascot is a donkey.
b) The Republican Party
Founded in 1854, the party rose to prominence in 1860 with the election of
Abraham Lincoln. It had been in office for twenty consecutive years since
the Civil War, during which period it led the north to quash the revolt by
southern slave owners, abolish slavery, and defend the unity of the
federation. From 1969 to 1976, the Republican President Richard Nixon
was in office: he visited China in February 1972 and issued the Joint
Communiqué of the People’s Republic of China and the United States of
America with Premier Zhou Enlai. In 1981, President Ronald Reagan
proposed an economic recovery plan that consisted of cutting tax and
government expenditure, reducing government intervention, controlling the
money supply, and pushing forward tax reforms. He also proposed the
Strategic Defense
Initiative, better known as the Star Wars Program. The Republican National
Convention is the highest authority of the party and is held in the summer
of the election year. Members nominate candidates for the presidency and
vice-presidency and set out election platforms. The Republican National
Committee, a standing body of the party with a four-year tenure, assumes
similar responsibilities to its counterpart in the Democratic Party. State
committees are in charge of state elections. The party mascot is an elephant.
POLITICAL SYSTEMS 47
c) Socialist Party of America
This was a coalition of the Hillquit group of the Socialist Labor Party and
some other labor parties, and it was formed in 1901. It asserted social
improvement and focused on a parliamentary struggle and winning votes.
During the First World War, the right wing of the party was in favor of
imperialist policies, whereas the left wing was against them; this caused the
party to split.
d) The Communist Party USA
Founded in January 1919, this developed into the United Communist
Party, having allied with the Communist Labor Party in May 1920. After a
coalition with the Labor Party in April 1923, it was renamed the
Communist Party USA in 1930. After the Second World War, the party
was weakened because of governmental suppression. It proposed the
embodiment of people’s rights in government at all levels, controlling
economic lifelines and nationalization.
2.2.2.6 The System of Civil Rights
It is stipulated in the Constitution and in legal provisions that governmental
power is not absolute; it is from the people, for the people, and limited by
laws. Congress cannot enact laws to obstruct the exercise of citizens’
individual freedom of speech, press, assembly, and religion, their rights to
vote and petition, private property rights, and habeas corpus. Citizens and
their residences, documents, and property cannot be searched or detained
illegally and they cannot be deprived of their lives, liberty, and property
without the due process of law.
2.2.3 The Political System of France
In modern times, France is a single unitary centralized state that has alter-
nately adopted the parliamentary, presidential, and semi-presidential
systems.
2.2.3.1 Evolution
In the second century bc, the Roman Empire conquered the ancestors of
the French, the Gauls, and set up a slavery province there. In the fifth
century, France was gradually transformed into a feudal state and in the
48 G. XU ET AL.
fourteenth century the king enhanced his power by suppressing churches,
collecting new taxes, and convening the Estate General with the participa-
tion of monks, aristocrats, and citizens; a hierarchical monarchy that
combined the monarchy with a hierarchical representation system was
formed.
With the economic development and formation of the unified state in the
sixteenth century, the king governed all the territory and replaced the Estate
General with the imperial conference. Henceforth France became
highly centralized, as can be seen from the remark of King Louis XIV
“l’état, c’est moi” (I am the state). The absolute monarchy culminated in the
second half of the seventeenth century and triggered the French
Revolution (1789), which overthrew feudalism and established the mod-
ern capitalist system. Yet the bourgeois republic was not founded until the
establishment of the Third Republic in 1875 owing to the regime changes
from constitutional monarchy to autocratic monarchy and republicanism
in the twentieth century. After the Second World War, the Fourth and
Fifth Republics were established and the capitalist political system
underwent further development.
The Political System of the French First Republic
In 1791, the constituent assembly was convened, in which the constitu-
tion and constitutional monarchy were established, conferring great powers
on the king. But shortly afterwards in 1792 the monarchy was abolished by
the National Convention and the First Republic was founded. In 1793, the
Jacobins promulgated a new constitution, prescribing that France was a
parliamentary republic with the executive, legislative, and judicial powers
separated. Though the constitution was not implemented owing to the
unstable political situation, the foundation of the First Republic marked the
establishment of the modern capitalist political system.
In July 1794, the Jacobin government was overturned in the Thermidor
reaction; universal suffrage and the direct election and unicameral systems
were abolished in the constitution passed by the bourgeoisie in 1795.
Napoleon Bonaparte assumed power after a military coup in 1799 and set
up the First Empire in 1804.
The Political System of the French Second Republic
The July Revolution broke out in 1830 in Paris and led to the fall of the
Bourbons and the establishment of the July monarchy, which was
overturned in the February Revolution in 1848 and replaced by the Second
Republic.
POLITICAL SYSTEMS 49
The Republic adopted the presidential system, with the president who
won the general election serving as head of state and government with a
four-year tenure. He led the army and government and was empowered to
appoint and remove prime ministers and officials, yet the president had to
be authorized by the parliament to sign treaties. The unicameral parliament
could make laws, declare wars, make peace, and ratify treaties, and couldn’t
be supervised or dissolved. Citizens also enjoyed extensive democratic
rights. In 1848 Louis Bonaparte became the president, proclaimed himself
emperor in 1852, and established the Second Empire in 1852,
which brought an end to the Second Republic.
The Political System of the French Third Republic
The French people overthrew the Second Empire after its defeat in the
Franco-Prussian War in 1870 and founded the Third Republic, yet the
bourgeoisie usurped power and signed treaties to cede territory and pay
indemnities to Germany. The people of Paris were indignant and seized
power in an armed uprising on March 18, 1871 and established the Paris
Commune. By the time the commune was overturned by bourgeois
reactionaries, the French people had long been fighting, republicans against
royalists. Eventually the new constitution was passed in the National
Assembly in 1875 and a multi-party parliamentary system was built.
The new parliament comprised the Chamber of Deputies and the
Senate. Deputies assumed office through a general election and held
legislative and supervisory powers, while senators were indirectly elected
and authorized to veto the deputies’ resolutions. The president was head of
state, elected indirectly with seven-year tenure, and could be re-elected.
Presidents could appoint cabinet members and military and political
officials, put forward bills, and dissolve the parliament. The Third Republic
was a product of compromise between republicanism and monarchism.
The powers of the president, parliament, and cabinet were balanced.
When German fascists invaded France in May 1940, the era of the Third
Republic was over.
The Political System of the French Fourth Republic
After the Second World War, the left wing predominated, and under the
influence of democratic tendencies the National Assembly drew up a new
constitution that was passed after a referendum in 1946: thus the Fourth
French Republic was set up. A multi-party parliamentary system was
introduced and the National Assembly became the locus of power, which
was
50 G. XU ET AL.
empowered to make laws, supervise public finance, as well as approve
treaties, the formation of the government, and administrative programs.
Powers of the Senate and president were limited while civil rights were
expanded. Besides the rights enumerated in the Declaration of the Rights of
Man and of the Citizen, citizens had economic and social rights such as the
rights of social security and poverty relief, the right to strike, and women’s
rights to vote and enter politics. The Fourth Republic also established a
relatively complete civil service system, yet it only existed for twelve years
with twenty-four sessions of governments, each of which
lasted for less than six months.
The Political System of the French Fifth Republic
To accommodate the economic, political, and social situations of the
1950s, the De Gaulle administration established a new constitution in
1958 to consolidate presidential and executive powers. This was passed in a
referendum that September. The era of the Fifth Republic began.
2.2.3.2 The Polity
France adopted a semi-presidential system, which falls in between the
presidential and parliamentary systems and is characterized by:
a) The president, directly elected by universal suffrage, is the locus of state
power with seven year tenure and cannot serve more than two
consecutive terms. He is constitutionally delegated to ensure the
proper functioning of authorities and the continuity of the country
by his arbitration. Besides the powers of naming senior officials,
signing decrees, and commanding armies and powers in foreign
affairs, the president can appoint the prime minister, organize the
government, dissolve the National Assembly, hold a referendum,
and declare a state of emergency.
b) The government is the supreme executive authority answerable to
parliament. Its status has been greatly improved and it is empowered to
direct and decide national policies, administer executive agencies,
direct the actions of armed forces, implement domestic and foreign
policies, and issue orders. The prime minister leads the government
and is responsible for national defense and law enforcement, and assists and
takes orders from the president. All members of the government
are nominated by the president on the advice of the prime minister.
POLITICAL SYSTEMS 51
c) The parliament comprises the National Assembly and the Senate,
and cannot intervene in the presidential election or the appointment
of the prime minister.
2.2.3.3 The Local Government System
France was once highly centralized, whereas the powers were devolved
after regions were set up in the 1980s. There are now three tiers of local
governments: regions, provinces, and towns. Local councils have been
more autonomous since the reform.
2.2.3.4 The Civil Service System
The Fifth Republic has improved the Fourth Republic’s civil service and
has drawn up special regulations which combine examinations and the
recruitment and training of civil servants. The civil service is an integral
part of the political system, and is about examinations, recruitment,
appointment, assessment, promotion, training, salary, welfare, retirement,
rewards and punishments, job classification, and administration. By
definition, civil servants are regular employees who serve in public
administration and public administrative establishments, and they are not
elected to these positions.
Evolution
In the sixteenth century the centralized monarchy was set up and officials
were appointed by the king. The French Revolution (1789) specified the
basic essence of the modern civil service system. However, for more than a
century there was no uniform system and administrations could decide their
own qualifications for civil servants. In October 1945, the General
Administration of Public Service (later renamed the Directorate General of
Administration and Public Service) and the National School of
Administration were founded, and a uniform system of recruitment,
training, and appointment of senior civil servants was set up, with the
General Statue of Civil Servants adopted the following year. Gradually a
complete civil service system has been formed.
Content
The civil service system involves the following aspects.
a) Rights, Obligations, and Punishments
It is enumerated in the General Statue of Civil Servants and other relevant
legislation that civil servants have freedom of religion and speech,
52 G. XU ET AL.
and the freedom to strike and to join labor unions, as well as rights of
training, remuneration, leisure, life, hygiene, and health. Full commitment
to their professional activities, hierarchical obedience, and professional
discretion constitute their obligations. When civil servants cannot fulfill
their statutory duties or violate criminal laws, they are put on trial in
criminal courts, and those who break administrative laws are tried in
administrative courts. In cases of a breach of discipline, civil servants are
punished by the executive branch; they may be warned, reprimanded,
demoted, transferred, dismissed, or temporarily removed from office.
b) The Job Classification
After the Second World War, civil servants were divided into corps,
which are grouped in three categories (formerly four) named A to C in
decreasing order of seniority and qualifications. Each category is divided
into different classes, based on job description, recruitment, profession, and
method of promotion. Each class is further divided into various ranks and
subdivided into grades on account of workload, complexity of job,
and responsibilities. Different grades have differing working standards,
responsibilities, and pay, these differences providing the criteria for
recruitment, assessment, promotion, pay, retirement, and budgeting.
c) Recruitment
Civil servants are recruited internally or externally under the principles of
equal opportunity, open competition, and selection made on the basis of
qualification. An independent examination board holds the tests, except
those for senior civil servants (category A) who are recruited through the
entrance exams of the National School of Administration. Examinees are
appraised by test performance and are on probation before they are
officially employed.
d) Training
France attaches great importance to the education and training of civil
servants. Ministerial deputies in charge of personnel and administrative
reforms in the chancellery lead this nationwide, with executive branches
POLITICAL SYSTEMS 53
responsible for training within the branches. There are pre- and in-service
types. The former may last from three months to three years, with its
funds accounting for 70% of the total training budget.
e) Appraisal and Promotion
Civil servants are appraised by their chief executives annually in the
following aspects: physical condition, professional knowledge, competence,
punctuality, neatness, team spirit, spirit of service, initiative, efficiency,
working method, insight, and organizational, oversight, and investigating
capabilities. Promotion includes a rise in rank and pay. A civil servant is
given a rise in rank on account of performance and competence and by
means of selection, examination, or evaluation.
f) Salary and Welfare
These principles are followed: (a) the principle of indexation: salaries for
civil servants of all levels are the products of base pay multiplied by an
index that is directly linked to ranks and prices; (b) the principle of bridg-
ing the gaps; (c) the principle of negotiation; (d) the principle of balancing
the state’s ability to pay with salary levels in private companies. Civil
servants enjoy quarterly allowances as well as base pay, for instance a
housing allowance.
g) Retirement
The government stipulates the retirement age for resident civil servants as
sixty and fifty-five for those who travel a lot. The maximum retirement age
can be up to sixty-eight. Generally, civil servants receive pensions after they
have served for more than fifteen years and paid 6% of their salaries as
retirement savings for at least fifteen years. The amount of pension they
receive depends on length of service.
Administrations of Civil Servants
Heads of the government and department are the leaders for national and
departmental personnel administration. Executive civil service agencies
include the Directorate General of Administration and Public Service, the
Supreme Committee of Public Service, administrative courts, and local
and departmental personnel administrations.
54 G. XU ET AL.
Characteristics
The French civil service system is characterized by:
a) Personnel agencies are set up within administrations to take charge of
recruitment, appointment, assessment, promotion, training, salaries,
welfare, retirement, rewards, and punishments.
b) The self-management of civil servants is emphasized.
c) There is a set of relatively complete written laws and regulations for the
management of the civil service.
d) Except for highly professional or junior administrative posts, civil
servants are recruited through competitive examinations and strict
assessment. A complete training system has been built.
e) Hierarchical management under a unified command. Regions, prov-
inces, and cities are fairly autonomous in personnel matters.
2.2.3.5 The Political Party System
France is representative of modern capitalist nations that implement the
multi-party system, and all its governments have been formed by one party
or a coalition of parties since 1944.
Evolution
The history of French parties can be traced back to two centuries ago and
divided into five phases.
a) The Early Phase (1789–1870)
This phase includes seven periods: bourgeois revolution, the First
Republic (1792–1804), the First Empire (1804–1814, 1815), Bourbon
Restoration (1814–1830), July Monarchy (1830–1848), the Second
Republic (1848–1851), and the Second Empire (1852–1870).
Centering on the vital political issues in each period, there emerged
party factions such as the Jacobins, Girondins, republicans, and radicals,
which laid the foundation for the establishment of subsequent parties.
b) The Third Republic Phase (1870–1940)
Parties were set up successively at this time. With the development of the
labor movement and the spreading of socialist ideas, the first party of the
working class, the French Labor Party, was founded in October 1879.
POLITICAL SYSTEMS 55
Then the Socialist Party of France (1902) and the socialist French Section
of the Workers’ International were founded on the basis of the splitting,
merger, and reorganization of labor parties and socialist organizations.
The ruling party in the Third Republic were the Republican, Radical, and
Radical-Socialist Parties, established by capitalists in 1901.
c) The Second World War Phase
The Vichy regime gave in to the German fascists who invaded France in
June 1940. Consequently parties, except ultra-right-wing parties such as the
French Socialist Party and the French People’s Party, were driven
underground. Meanwhile, guerrillas organized by the French Communist
Party rose up in arms against the invaders, making the party much more
influential and powerful.
d) The Fourth Republic Phase (1946–1958)
Numerous parties were founded or rebuilt after the Second World War.
The cabinet-styled parliamentary government of the Fourth Republic was
held accountable to the parliament. However, the proportional
representation system parliamentary elections that followed prevented the
emergence of a majority party. With loose coalitions of parties taking turns
in power, there were twenty-five governments in twelve years.
e) The Fifth Republic Phase (1958–)
In June 1958, De Gaulle reformed the government and electoral sys-
tems to consolidate presidential power and relegate the parliament to a back
seat. There have been significant changes in parties. (a) From 1958
to 1986 and after June 1988, there has existed a presidential majority in the
National Assembly and the three vital positions of president, prime
minister, and President of the National Assembly have all been held by
candidates from the same party or alliance of parties. (b) Parties began to
polarize. After thirty years of development, up to the early 1980s, two party
groups (left and right wing) and four major parties (the French
Communist Party, Socialist Party, Rally for the Republic, and Union for
French Democracy) were formed. In 2006, Emmanuel Macron, a former
Minister of Economy, Industry and Digital Affairs founded La République
56 G. XU ET AL.
En Marche! (frequently abbreviated REM, LRM, or LREM; officially
LaREM). Observers and political commentators have described the party
as being both socially and economically liberal in ideology, as well as being
a party of the radical center. By winning an absolute majority in the
National Assembly in the second round of the legislative elections on 18
June 2017, La République En Marche! became France’s party of power in
support of the President, Emmanuel Macron.
Characteristics
(a) Diversity. There have been more than 400 parties since the
establishment of republicanism in 1875. By the 1980s, there were still over
forty parties playing an active role in French politics. (b) Instability. It is
common for parties to be split, consolidated, reorganized, or rebuilt. (c)
Socialist and communist parties have a longer history than the other
existing parties.
Major Parties
a) The Socialist Party
This is the largest and long-ruling party of the French centre-left.
Influenced by chauvinism, the party entered politics during the First World
War and disintegrated during the Second World War. It was rebuilt in
1943 and took part in the anti-fascist movement. During the Fourth
Republic, it promoted the nationalization of France and European Union
(EU) integration. In May 1981, its candidate Mitterrand was elected
President of France and appointed the prime minister in June; the party
achieved a governing majority in the National Assembly. The party’s
guiding principles are: solidarity inside the party, implementation of
moderate and realistic policies, opposing racism, and advocating pacifism
and north–
south dialogue. The party journal is Solidarity (a weekly).
b) The French Communist Party
Founded in December 1920 by the majority faction of the socialist
French Section of Workers’ International, it is the largest French left-wing
party. In 1941, it participated in the anti-fascist movement and was among
POLITICAL SYSTEMS 57
the governing alliance for five sessions of coalition governments after
September 1944. In 1946, it became the biggest party in the general
election, but was excluded from the government in May 1947 owing to con-
cerns over communist influence, and the number of members dropped off
henceforth. During the 1960s and 1970s, the communist formulations of
a dictatorship of the proletariat and Marxism-Leninism shifted toward
building French socialism as part of Eurocommunism. In 1981 it was
allotted a minor share in the left-wing coalition government, resigning in
1984. The party journal is Humanity (daily).
c) Rally for the Republic
As a Gaullist Party, this was once the major ruling party of the Fifth
Republic, originating from the Rally of the French People founded by De
Gaulle. This party pursues Gaullism, maintains the political system of the
Fifth Republic, and defends the national independence of France. Since the
1980s, it has been committed to the privatization of state-owned
enterprises.
d) Union for French Democracy
This was set up as an electoral alliance in June 1978 with the founding
parties being Giscard’s Republican Party, the Center of Social Democrats,
the Radical Party, the Social Democratic Party, and the Perspectives and
Realities Clubs. From March 1986 to May 1988, it participated in the
government. The alliance aims to coordinate the actions of member parties,
organizations, and individual participants; it is devoted to national unity,
justice, and the economic and political integration of the EU.
e) Front National
This is one of the ultra-right-wing parties, founded in October 1972.
Its predecessor was the banned fascist New Order Party. Since the 1980s, it
has won an increasing number of votes in European Parliament elections
and indeed French parliaments at all levels. Front National advocates
nationalism, exclusionism, and racism, and is influential among unem-
ployed youths.
58 G. XU ET AL.
2.2.3.6 The System of Civil Rights
Besides the rights enumerated in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and
of the Citizen, citizens enjoy the right to work, join unions, and receive
social security.
2.2.4 The Political System of Germany
2.2.4.1 Evolution
In 1867 Prussia established the North German Confederation. The
German Empire was founded in 1871, uniting all parts of Germany; it
provoked the First World War and collapsed in 1918 after its defeat. In
1933, Adolf Hitler took office and waged the Second World War from
1939. Germany was under dictatorial rule until Hitler was vanquished on
May 8, 1945. In light of the Yalta and Potsdam agreements, Berlin and the
other parts of German territory were partitioned into four military
occupation zones by the Allies. The western sectors, controlled by the USA,
UK, and France were merged on May 23, 1949 to found the Federal
Republic of Germany. The German Democratic Republic was formed in
the Soviet zone on October 7, 1949. On October 3, 1989, Germany
regained full sovereignty and was reunified after forty years of division.
The constitution, the People’s Chamber, and the government of the
German Democratic Republic were abolished, and the former fourteen
districts were redivided into five federal states that conformed to the
organizational system of the Federal Republic of Germany.
2.2.4.2 Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany
This came into force in May 1949 and lays out the framework of the
political system, based on which Germany is a federal parliamentary
democratic republic with the president as head of the state. The federation
administers diplomacy, national defense, currency, customs, aviation, the
postal system, and telecommunications. The parliament comprises the
Bundestag (the lower house) and Bundesrat (the upper house). The for-
mer, with a term of four years, is authorized to elect the chancellor and to
exercise legislative power and the oversight of law enforcement and the
government. Members of the Bundestag from various parties form their
own parliamentary groups.
POLITICAL SYSTEMS 59
2.2.4.3 The Bundesrat
Participating in legislation, it can exert an influence on administration.
Three to six members of state governments are appointed in proportion
to their populations to form the Bundesrat. There are altogether sixty-nine
members. The post of the President of Bundesrat rotates annually
among the minister-president of each federal state. The chancellor and other
ministers organize the government, with the former serving as head of the
government.
2.2.4.4 The Federal Constitutional Court
This is the supreme judicial body and is mainly in charge of the
interpretation of Basic Law and judicial review. The sixteen judges with
twelve-year tenure are elected by the Bundestag and Bundesrat and
appointed by the president.
2.2.4.5 German Parties
Germany has adopted the multi-party system, with the main parties being
the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Christian Democratic Union of
Germany, Christian Social Union of Bavaria, Alliance 90/The Greens,
Free Democratic Party, and Social Democratic Party of Germany.
2.2.4.6 The Administrative Division
Germany is divided into sixteen federal states, which are further subdivided
into several government districts.
2.2.4.7 The National Flag, Emblem and Anthem
The National Flag
Germany’s rectangular flag has a 5:3 length-to-width ratio and is com-
posed of three horizontal equal rectangles in black, red, and yellow. The
tricolor flag can be seen in airports and hotels and at special occasions,
while governments or German embassies in foreign countries hang the
national flag that features a black eagle.
The National Emblem
This is a golden coat of arms with a black eagle. With red claws and beak
and wings spread, the eagle symbolizes strength and courage.
60 G. XU ET AL.
The National Anthem
The national anthem is “Das Deutschlandlied” (the Song of Germany, the
third verse), composed by Joseph Haydn (1732–1809) with words by
August H.H. von Fallersleben (1789–1874).
bIblIograPhy
Hu Kangda. 2000. Relations Between the Central and Local Authorities of
Major EU Countries. Beijing: China Social Sciences Press.
Huan Qingzhi. 2001. Western Theory of Party System: A Comparative
Perspective.
Journal of Shandong University 5: 91–98.
Jiang Jingsong. 2002. Relations Between Parliament and Parties in the Six
Countries: America, the UK, France, Germany, Switzerland and Israel.
People’s Congress Studying 6: 45–46.
Liu Yu’e, and Shi Yongyi. 2002. Western Political Systems. Beijing: China
Renmin University Press.
Ma Xiaoyuan. 2000. A History of Western Political Systems. Beijing:
Higher Education Press.
Mao Shoulong, et al. 1998. Governance Reform of Western Governments.
Beijing: China Renmin University Press.
Shen Yongdong. 2008. Understanding Western Political System from the
Perspective of Interest Groups and Parties’. The Science Education Article
Collects 7: 117–117.
Xu Guangchun. 1998. Similarities and Differences Between the Political
Systems of the UK and America and the Historical Origin. Local
Government
Administration S1: 64–69.
Zhang Dinghe. 1998. The Origin and Evolution of the American Political
System.
Beijing: China Social Sciences Press.
WebsItes
http://usa.bytravel.cn/art/mgd/mgdzzzd/
http://www.hudong.com/wiki/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_R%C3%A9publique_En_Marche!
CHAPTER 3
Economic Systems of the West
3.1 Economic SyStEmS of thE EuropEan union
After its sixth enlargement, in January 2007, the European Union (EU)
has become the most economically powerful and integrated state coalition
in the world, covering twenty-seven countries with a population of more
than 480 million.
3.1.1 Establishment of the European Community
The European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC) was a new undertak-
ing for the six Western European countries, namely France, Germany,
Italy, Holland, Belgium, and Luxembourg, aiming to extend the applica-
tion of the Paris Treaty to other fields. In 1967, the EAEC merged with
European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Coal and Steel
Community to form the European Community (EC), but the EAEC was
still an independent legal entity.
It was decided by the EEC, the European Common Market, to found
the European Investment Bank in order to implement common invest-
ment policies and new industrial plans, and to assist economic development
in backward areas of individual member countries.
© The Author(s) 2018
61
G. Xu et al. (eds.), K. Chen et al. (trans.), Understanding Western Culture,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-8150-7_3
62 G. XU ET AL.
The Common Market and the cooperation regarding tariffs and
agricultural policies between the six countries showed that the EC was
protectionist, but was sure to play an important role in the global economy
and in politics.
3.1.2 Development from EC to EU
After ten other countries (Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary,
Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia) joined the EU
on May 1, 2004 and Bulgaria and Romania joined on January 1, 2007, it
became the largest regional economic integration organization in the
world, with twenty-seven member countries.
3.1.2.1 The First Enlargement of the EC
After long-term negotiations, the UK, Denmark, and Ireland were admit-
ted as new members of the EC on January 1, 1973. The arrival of the UK
elevated the EC’s status in Europe and in the world, promoted its eco-
nomic development, and helped redress the balance between America, the
Soviet Union, and Europe, and maintain the independence of the EC.
3.1.2.2 The Second Enlargement of the EC
On January 1, 1981, Greece became the tenth member state after years of
negotiations lasting from its application in June 1975 to its formal
acceptance in April 1979. Based on this agreement, Greece has enjoyed full
membership of the EC since January 1, 1981 and has all due rights and
obligations. In the five-year transition period, EC regulations came into
effect by stages and Greek monetary policy was one part of the European
currency basket thereafter.
In 1987, the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita of Greece
increased to $4728, compared with $476 in 1961, $2590 in 1976 and
$3366 in 1985. The economy of the EC was further strengthened after
the admission of Greece.
3.1.2.3 The Third Enlargement of the EC
On January 1, 1986, the two comparatively economic backward states
Spain and Portugal joined the EC because of non-economic reasons.
Their admission indicated that unification was the mainstream for Western
European countries despite economic conflicts. Yet new problems were
introduced by this: the economic gap was widened among member
ECONOMIC SYSTEMS OF THE WEST 63
countries; it was more difficult to carry out common agricultural policies;
conflicts escalated in discussions about the EC budget. For example, there
were disagreements between the UK and other members about its share of
the budget. In the long run, though, however severe the economic situation
became, this aggrandizement was significant for every member state.
3.1.2.4 The Fourth Enlargement of the EC
During the 1990s, owing to changing political and economic circum-
stances in Europe, countries in northern, central, and eastern Europe, and
even some Mediterranean countries were applying for membership of the
EC. This was extended to fifteen states after Austria, Sweden, and Finland
were admitted.
Urged on by French president François Mitterrand, the European Bank
was founded on April 9, 1990 with the special purpose of aiding Eastern
European countries and Russia. The EC and its member states held 51%
of the stock. On December 11, 1991, a treaty was signed in Maastricht, the
Netherlands, by EC members, and it was resolved to establish political,
economic, and monetary alliances.
3.1.2.5 The Establishment of the EU
The Maastricht Treaty came into effect on November 1, 1993 after being
approved by parliaments of member states and referenda, and the EC was
renamed the EU. The core of the treaty was establishing European
Monetary Union. There were four criteria for economic convergence,
regarding inflation rate, public deficit, government bonds, and the stability
of the exchange rate. In 1994, the European Monetary Institute was set up,
and this laid a technical and legal foundation for the establishment of
European Monetary Union. By the end of that year, 90% of EU directives
had become laws in member states.
By January 1, 1995, the membership of the EU had expanded to fifteen
countries. In December of the same year, members agreed to launch a
single currency—the euro—on January 1, 1999 and the first eleven states
agreeing to adopt this were France, Germany, Holland, Belgium,
Luxembourg, Italy, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Austria, and Finland. In
1998, member countries stepped up their preparations and publicity
around the establishment of the European Central Bank. This and the
circulation of the euro challenged the European Monetary Union of these
eleven countries, yet facilitated the development of capital and a trade
market with the single currency.
64 G. XU ET AL.
The accession of ten more countries (listed in Section 3.1.2) was
resolved at the council of foreign ministers on November 18, 2002 and
accomplished on May 1, 2004; this was the fifth and also the greatest
enlargement of the EU. Romania and Bulgaria’s admission in January
2007 marked the sixth enlargement and made the EU the most economi-
cally powerful and integrated state coalition in the world, covering twenty-
seven countries that have a population of more than 480 million.
3.1.3 The EC and Its Economy
The prime objective of the EC is to strengthen its economy and to con-
tend with other great powers through economic integration and united
development. Common policies have been made to co-ordinate member
states’ efforts.
3.1.3.1 Customs Union
Tariffs were eliminated progressively from the six countries of the EC
from January 1, 1958 to July 1, 1968, and a single customs system was
adopted. The Customs Union was then established, its major principles
falling into the following areas:
• Internal tariffs. Within the framework of the Rome Treaty, tariff cuts
among member states were carried out in three stages from January
1, 1958 to January 1, 1970, and then it was accelerated by the EC
council and completed by July 1, 1968.
• Trade volume. Stipulations on trade limits were stretched during the
transition period and finally abolished in 1961.
• External tariff. After negotiations of the six countries within the
framework of Rome Treaty, a common external tariff was adopted
gradually,
based on the arithmetic mean of tariffs levied on January 1, 1957 in
the four different tax zones, France, Italy, Germany and the other
members such as Holland, Belgium, and Luxembourg. By January
1995, the Customs Union had expanded to fifteen countries.
Domestic markets within the union were combined and commodities of
member countries circulated freely in the integrated market. The common
external tariff protected producers and consumers against competitions from
other countries and the development of EC was indissolubly linked with the
Customs Union that played an active role in the following aspects:
ECONOMIC SYSTEMS OF THE WEST 65
• First, it boosted the growth of EC foreign trade comprising the trade
among member states and trade between a member state and other
states. After its establishment, trade among member countries
accounted for 51.7% of total EC foreign trade in 1972, compared
with 30% in 1958. In terms of trade with non-members, the volume
increased owing to increasing imports at lower costs than domestic
commodities in countries such as France and the UK that experi-
enced a tariff cut.
• Second, it promoted the internal division of labor and the specialization of
production. Member states cultivated their own competitive
edges.
• Third, it stimulated economic development. In an integrated market
with safe competition, with production and capital concentrated,
fixed capital investment from member countries increased at a higher
speed even than in the USA, which pushed forward equipment
upgrading and the adoption of new technology. Labor productivity
was also enhanced and the economy grew faster.
• Fourth, it provided funds for the EC. Members reached the consen-
sus that 50% of their tariffs should be transferred to EC from January 1,
1971 and progressively up to January 1, 1975, 90% of tariffs were
turned over to the EC, with only 10% left as commissions.
The Customs Union also had negative effects on the EC economy. It
led to the improper allocation of resources and impaired social welfare. It
slowed down industrial restructuring and accounted for the stagnation of the
EC economy from the 1970s to the 1980s, during which period the
EC lagged behind the USA and Japan in high technology owing to differ-
ent technical norms, complex formalities, and restraints in multi-national
businesses. There also existed barriers to economic integration, and many
foreign commodities were rejected by domestic markets.
The integrated form of the EC was transformed from the Customs
Union into the European Common Market after a complete single market
was achieved on January 1, 1993. On January 1, 1994, the EC amalgam-
ated with most of the member states of the European Free Trade
Association and a new economic zone was established with free circulation
of commodities, services, personnel, and capital. On January 1, 2002, the
euro came into circulation and the individual currencies of participating
member states were removed from circulation on February 28, 2002,
when the great plan of European Monetary Union was completed.
66 G. XU ET AL.
3.1.3.2 Common Agricultural Policies
Agriculture is the foundation of the national economies, yet with low
labor productivity and a low degree of self-sufficiency EC agriculture was
underdeveloped and there was a strong urge toward the implementation
of common agricultural policies.
The Background to Common Agricultural Policies
After the Second World War, the six EC founding states had sustained low
labor productivity and a small production scale. The ratio of the agricultural
labor force to the whole workforce and the GDP from agriculture
indicated that farmers had much lower incomes than workers in other
industries. The EC was not self-sufficient in agricultural produce. Plunder
from the numerous overseas colonies before the Second World War had
led to an imbalance between the development of industry and agriculture in
member states. Common agricultural policies consolidated European
integration, and were necessary for dealing with varied situations in
different countries that had impeded competition on an equal footing.
Moreover, common policies helped to reform agricultural structures in
member states.
The Basic Content of Common Policies
It is prescribed in the Rome Treaty that for the operation and development
of a common agricultural market, there must be common agricul-
tural policies among member states, the fundamental objectives of which
are promoting agricultural labor productivity, securing fair incomes for
farmers, stabilizing the produce market, ensuring a sufficient supply of farm
produce, and allowing reasonable prices for consumers. The Rome
Treaty provided a basic framework for EC agricultural policies, which
comprised price and market management mechanisms.
a) Price mechanism. The price system included target price, interven-
tion price, and threshold price. Target price was the ceiling price
decided at the council of ministers at the beginning of each market-
ing year and was the highest price that farmers received. Intervention price,
also known as shore up price or protective price, was the floor price in the
market fixed by the council of ministers annually.
Threshold price was the floor price set for foreign produce reaching
EC ports (the prices at Rotterdam were referred to as the standard)
to control imports.
ECONOMIC SYSTEMS OF THE WEST 67
b) Management of price supports and external protection constituted
the market management mechanism, in which the former ensured
the stability of produce prices through EC intervention and the
mechanism included intervention purchasing, storage subsidy, with-
drawal price, and so on.
Intervention purchasing was made by EC intervention organizations
when produce prices fell to intervention prices in the common market.
Storage subsidy was given to producers or merchants who stored produce in
season and delayed sales to avoid price fluctuation. Withdrawal price was
another kind of subsidy that was granted by the EC for seasonal farm
produce (especially vegetables and fruits) that exited from the market to
stabilize prices. The above three methods were adopted when supply
exceeded demand. In contrary circumstances, produce in storage was sold
to bridge the price gap between export and domestic produce or export duty
was
collected to increase supply so that prices fell below the target price.
Management of external protection included collection of a variable
levy for foreign farm produce besides imposing duties and quota restriction,
and export subsidies and duties, subsidizing EC agricultural exports when
the market price was above the international average price, or when the EC
market price fell below that and farm produce flew out, and especially when
the target price was reached, export duties were collected.
Market management mechanism also included market organization
management by means of support price, intervention, external protection,
direct support, and interest-free loans.
Monetary Mechanisms of Common Agricultural Policies
In 1962, a special accounting unit for the common prices of farm pro-
duce—the Agricultural Unit of Account (AUA)—was established to unify
prices given the different currencies in member states. The EC set common
prices in AUA annually and members converted them into their
domestic currencies based on the price parity. The European currency unit
(ECU) replaced AUA after the establishment of the European Currency
System in 1979.
The price parity between AUA and currencies in member states was
called the green rate. When it changed, farm produce prices were adjusted
in conformity to the common price; for example, when currencies devalued,
prices were raised, and vice versa.
Monetary Compensatory Amounts (MCA) were used to reduce from
the impact of discord between the green rate and market rate and the
68 G. XU ET AL.
consequent speculation. It adjusted prices indirectly by collecting transit
tolls or giving out subsidies, instead of compelling member states with
currency changes to modify prices.
Effects of Common Agricultural Policies
These policies led to great changes in West European agriculture in three
decades. The agriculturally employed population accounted for 7.5% of the
whole workforce yet supported 400 million people in West Europe and
contributed to 3% of GDP, making the EC the second biggest agricultural
exporter internationally, behind America. The agricultural population in
each member country was decreasing while farms were expanding and
modernizing. Agriculture became a vital part of the West European
economy.
Yet there were problems in the EC agricultural common policies, such
as excessive farm produce, heavy financial burdens, and trade friction with
non-EC members.
Reforms of EU Common Agricultural Policies and Effects
Since 1990, there had been several great reforms to the common
agricultural policies. The MacSharry Reform was initiated on May 21,
1992,
touching upon a number of aspects. In terms of society and economy, the
EU planned to rein in the excessive growth in agricultural production and
budget and provide direct subsidies to farmers. In terms of environment,
land management and environmental protection took place. Sustainable
farming and afforestation were encouraged to develop rural economies.
The reform touched the core of EU common agricultural policies—the
price support mechanism—and marked the launch of the biggest policy
intervention and protection in the agricultural market.
Another reform, Agenda 2000, was carried out in March 1999. With
regard to the social economy, support prices were further decreased and
direct payment was made to compensate for the decline in farmers’
incomes. For environmental protection, the EU attached importance to
the environment and rural development. The importance of policies in
rural development as well as the multi-functionality and sustainability of
agriculture were emphasized.
The third reform was the Preizler Reform, which was implemented in
June 2003. The main measures were:
a) Cutting the agricultural budget. After 2006, agricultural expendi-
ture was to be equivalent to that of 2000–2006 with a slight annual
increase.
ECONOMIC SYSTEMS OF THE WEST 69
b) Introducing Green box policies (domestic or trade policies that are
deemed to be minimally trade- distorting) and adopting the Single
Farm Payment (SFP).
c) Applying the policy of direct subsidies. Certain member states
could give out direct subsidies to prevent farmers from abandoning
farmland.
d) Setting new standards for subsidies: agricultural subsidies were
linked with environmental protection, food safety, and animal
welfare.
e) Establishing farm auditing systems and reducing subsidies to large farms.
f) Specifying subsidies for new member countries.
In 2007, the European Commission proposed a new round of reforms
to agricultural subsidies, which involved disconnecting them from output
and using them for rural development; reducing subsidies to large farms and
enhancing support for small farmers; progressively calling off protective
prices for most farm produce and export subsidies; abolishing a fallow
system that had been implemented for more than a decade; and relaxing
restrictions on milk production quotas, and by 2015 canceling them.
3.1.4 Fiscal Systems of EC and EU
A common finance system for the EC was established based on the inter-
nationalization of production and capital and the supranational alliance.
3.1.4.1 Establishment of Common Fiscal System
On November 1 and 2, 1969, EC members restructured financial revenue
and expenditure at the Hague Conference. The new fiscal system defined
three internal resources of revenue: export variable levy and sugar tax on
farm produce, duties collected according to common tariffs, and value
added taxes from member states. The European Social Fund, Development
Fund, and Overseas Territory Development Fund were founded to co-
ordinate the economic activities of member states.
3.1.4.2 Nature of Common Finance
Obligations of members were prescribed through the formation of laws. It
was required that all members should abide by the regulations of revenue
and expenditure or the European Court would interfere. In addition,
there were independent sources of revenue and the common fiscal expen-
70 G. XU ET AL.
diture was distinctive. With most of the expenditure transferred to member
states, only 4–5% was used for administration, while in ordinary
international organizations the ratio was 95–100%.
3.1.4.3 Fiscal Revenue and Expenditure
There were mainly three sources of EC fiscal revenue in light of the Hague
Conference. These were import duty on industrial products, where common
duties collected were to be turned into common finance and the EC
had the priority in tariff revenue; variable import levies on agricultural
produce, which was imposed owing to the gap between the lowest cost,
insurance, and freight price and threshold price; and value added taxes
proportionally from member states. All members turned in 21% of their
value added taxes to the common finance.
The expenditure of common finance underpinned the EC’s function-
ing as a super-state and fell into four groups: expenditure on agriculture,
development of backward areas, foreign aid, and science.
3.1.4.4 New Development in EC Finance
In the early 1990s, financial impediments (including barriers in the free
flow of commodities, capital, and personnel owing to divergent tax systems
and subsidies in member states) were eliminated. The EC developed into
the European Common Market and then into the EU as integration
speeded up. The euro was circulated as the single currency.
On March 20, 2005, a modification of common financial policies was
approved, based on which member states were punished by the European
Commission if fiscal deficits exceeded 3% of GDP. These policies
demonstrated a higher level of flexibility.
3.2 Economic SyStEmS of major EuropEan
countriES
3.2.1 Germany
3.2.1.1 An Overview of German Economy
Economic System
The existing system gradually took shape after the Second World War and
is referred to by German economists as a social market economic system,
ECONOMIC SYSTEMS OF THE WEST 71
in which the state regulates the market through macroscopic readjust-
ments instead of intervening directly in prices and salaries.
The major characteristics of this system are:
a) The market system functions adequately. Full competition of all
commodities is encouraged and protected and spontaneous vicious
competition is restricted.
b) Economic administration strengthens macro-control and concen-
trates investments in basic industries.
c) As one of the first countries in Europe to implement welfarism,
Germany attaches much importance and devotes above 25% of GDP
to it.
d) The system stabilizes the monetary system and curbs inflation by
virtue of Deutsche Bank, the state bank directly answerable to par-
liament, and its lack of regulation by the government ensures the
independence and consistency of policy implementation.
A Brief History of Economic Development
Germany is a newly developed country, and the seed of capitalist
production relations emerged in around the late fifteenth and early sixteenth
centuries. In the 1830s, when the British industrial revolution had come to
fruition, Germany had just started industrialization. At that time, three-
quarters of the residents lived in rural areas and the economy was lagging
far behind the UK and France.
The rise of Prussian militarism boosted the development of industry,
particularly heavy industry. During the years from 1850 to 1870, industrial
production doubled and the proportion of industrial output rose
from 21% to 28% in terms of GDP. In 1870, German industrial produc-
tion accounted for 13.2% of that of the world, surpassing France yet still
falling behind the UK and the USA.
By the end of the 1870s and the early 1880s, Germany had completed an
industrial revolution in its main aspects, and at the beginning of the
twentieth century it was industrialized. In 1913, industrial production
accounted for 45% of GDP with agricultural product reduced to 23%.
Heavy industry had supplanted light industry, and dominated industry
production. Germany had set up a relatively integrated industrial system on
the basis of up-to-date technology and became the strongest capitalist
country in Europe, with gross industrial production higher than that of the
UK.
72 G. XU ET AL.
According to the Yalta and Potsdam agreements, after Germany’s
defeat in the Second World War in May 1945, Germany was divided and
occupied by the USA, UK, France, and the Soviet Union. In May 1949,
the Federal Republic of Germany (Federal Germany or West Germany)
was founded in the incorporated areas occupied by the USA, UK, and
France, and in October, the German Democratic Republic (Democratic
Germany or East Germany) was set up in the eastern Soviet Union-
occupied area. On October 3, 1990, the two Germanies merged, reunified
after forty years.
3.2.1.2 The Economy of Federal Germany from 1945 to 1990
In the early post-war period, the economy was dislocated by hyperinflation,
a rampant black market, and a sharp decline in foreign trade.
Industrial and agricultural production were backward and industrial
production in 1946 was only 22.9% of that of 1938. Despite the havoc
caused by the Second World War, West Germany witnessed a swift
recovery from
the recession on account of the strong reserve force of technology, skilled
workers, and production management organizations. Besides, it enjoyed a
concentrated monopoly of capital and a developed economy, as well as
support from the USA.
Main Characteristics of Post-War Economy in West Germany
The main characteristics of the post-war economy in West Germany were:
a) The national economy grew rapidly and steadily. After a short-term
recovery, the German economy that had once been on the verge of
collapse returned to prewar levels and developed at a much higher
speed than other major Western capitalist countries. The average
annual growth rate of GDP was above 5% during 1950 to 1980.
b) Germany was one of the most economically dependent states on
foreign countries among the seven Western industrialized countries,
next to Canada and the UK.
c) Germany became the European economic giant and the world’s
third greatest economy. It grew into the biggest power in Western
Europe in 1960.
Economic and Industrial Structure Before Reunification
The industrial structure of Germany changed remarkably in the fifty years
after the Second World War: agriculture and industry shrunk in GDP with
ECONOMIC SYSTEMS OF THE WEST 73
each passing year and tertiary industry (including commerce, transportation,
and services) expanded.
There were also internal structural changes. By the end of the 1990s,
sectors such as automobile manufacturing, electrical, electronic and
chemical equipment, machinery, food, and construction made up 31% of the
GDP and became the leading force in the economy.
3.2.1.3 Post-war Economy of East Germany
The division of Germany cut off metal-processing industries from steel and
coal bases and ravaged the national economic framework and uniform
market, which posed enormous difficulties for the recovery and
development of the economy. In the early post-war period, East Germany
nationalized means of production, public utilities and enterprises such as
banks, transportation, postal services, and telecommunications, and
confiscated property, mines and factories belonging to war criminals and
monopoly
capitalists. Meanwhile land reform was carried out and the industrial
structure was altered: the proportion of industry increased from 42.2% in
1949
to 67% in 1989 and that of agriculture and forestry decreased
correspondingly from 30.8% to 9.9%; the proportions of commerce and
service industries also rose. Democratic Germany was a fairly industrialized
socialist country before reunification.
3.2.1.4 Economy of Germany After Reunification
Within the framework of Reunification Treaty signed on August 31, 1990,
five eastern states were incorporated into West Germany on October 3 and
Germany was reunified. In contrast to some developed countries in
recession, examples being the USA and the UK, Germany boasted a
dynamic
economy, with the GDP annual growth rate hitting 1.4% during the years
from 1995 to 2006, allowing it to grow into one of the greatest economic
powers among the capitalist countries.
Reunification began with the formation of monetary union and the
adoption of a common currency—the Deutsche Mark. Meanwhile price
controls of commodities were lifted and merchandise was circulated freely
across the borders, entering the international market. Moreover, the federal
government increased taxes and borrowing in the West to aid the East and
to subsidize investments there. In the East an employment and social
security system was established and the government set up a special trustee
bureau to privatize state-owned enterprises, on which most attention had
been focused since reunification.
74 G. XU ET AL.
Micro-electronics, chemical industries, and automobile industries were the
highlights in the growth of the East, whereas it lagged far behind the West
in infrastructure, capital market, technology and management, and
environmental protection. The East could not adapt to the new economic
system and competitive market owing to the few divisions of labor based on
specialization and the obsolete industrial structure. Consequently, its GDP
dropped by 30% between 1990 and 1991 and from 1989 to 1991,
exports declined by 59%, as the disintegration of the Soviet Union had
deprived it of the Eastern European market and exposed it to the
competition of high-quality Western products. After reunification in 1998,
the overall unemployed population totaled 5 million and the unemployment
rate averaged 12.8% throughout the country. In light of official statistics,
the unemployment rate in the east reached 21.1%, with the actual figure
estimated to be 30 to 35%. The internal cause of the economic stagnation
was the so-called “German disease,” because of the extensive inputs into
revitalizing the economy of the East. External reasons included the
recession in the US economy since 2001, the bursting bubbles in the fields
of communications and technology, sluggish world trade, a deceleration in
international economic growth, and fluctuations in the petroleum price.
Along with the robust recovery of the world economy, Germany witnessed
a moderate growth of 1.8% in 2004, yet the economic resurgence was
unbalanced because private consumption and domestic investment didn’t
improve.
3.2.1.5 Major Industrial Sectors of Germany
The Automobile Industry
With the first car invented there in 1886, Germany is one of the birth-places
of the automobile industry. Calculated by turnover, this is the biggest
industry nationally. In 2006, the output of German automobiles
ranked the fourth in the world, next to Japan, the USA and China. The
biggest car-making center, Wolfsburg, is also known as the Motor City of
Germany, and it is where the headquarters of Volkswagen is located.
The Machinery Manufacturing Industry
This is the third major industry in Germany, with German-made machin-
ery taking up 19.1% of the world market share. Machine building is the
biggest and most traditional industry, with the longest history in Germany.
Products that are made in Germany have an international reputation for
reliability, sound engineering, and excellent service. For years, Germany
ECONOMIC SYSTEMS OF THE WEST 75
has been ranked number one in patent registration and machinery export,
with the USA and Japan placed second and third.
Chemical Industry
The German chemical industry plays a vital role thanks to large-scale and
advanced scientific research and technology. Expenditure on research and
development (R&D) amounted to 6.3% of total turnover, ranking first
among countries with the same industry (Japan was placed second with
R&D expenditure taking up to 5.9% of turnover).
Electronic and Electrical Industry
This is second only to Japan, with around 100,000 types of product.
Siemens is a principal player in this industry, and has an important position
in the fields of computers, communication apparatus, energy, domestic
appliances, industrial control, and electrical and medical equipment. The
core business lies in infrastructure construction and industrial solutions, and
Siemens currently offers roughly 400,000 jobs, creating a profit of 72.4
billion euro according to 2007 statistics.
Steel Industry
Germany is a major producing and trading nation in steel, and about 50%
of total production is for export. On account of the increasing demand for
steel products and the recovery of Germany’s economy, as well as the
growth of industries such as automobile and machinery manufacturing,
and environmental protection, the industry has entered a new phase of
development. In 2006, the export volume of crude steel reached 29 mil-
lion tonnes, ranking fifth worldwide.
3.2.1.6 Economic Policies of the German Government
The social market economic system of Germany is built on free competi-
tion and appropriate state regulation. Macro-control gives full play to the
positive functions of the market economy and promotes economic
development in a virtuous circle by correcting market deviations and
preserving competition.
Distinctive Monetary Policies
The ultimate goals of macro-economic policies in the West are price
stability, full employment, moderate economic growth, and a balance of
international payments, which are described as Rubik’s cube corners thanks
to
76 G. XU ET AL.
the difficulty of achieving them simultaneously. These goals can be
summarized as: economic growth and currency stabilization, which seems
contradictory and leaves policymakers in a dilemma as they can realize only
one at a time. Yet currency stabilization has always been the priority in
Germany, and its monetary policies are constantly against inflation.
Fiscal Policies
Fiscal policies are an important means for the government to intervene in
the economy. In 1998, Gerhard Schröder was appointed prime minister,
and faced with an economic downturn and serious unemployment, he
gave a high priority to cutting government expenditure and the balanced
development of the society. In 2003, Schröder took the most forceful
measures since his assumption of duty and proceeded to cut welfare, ease
burdens on enterprises and the state, and implement measures to boost
employment.
When Angela Merkel was appointed prime minister in 2005, the eco-
nomic problems of Germany not only became a domestic issue but also
affected EU integration and enlargement. She made the employment law
more flexible, decreased unemployment insurance to reduce the fringe
costs of incomes, and levied taxes on the rich. By 2006, the economy had
improved, with a declining unemployment rate, and Germany had
regained its position as top exporter in the world.
3.2.2 France
3.2.2.1 An Overview of the French Economy
Economic System
In general, France has adopted a modern market economic system that has
its own features despite similarities to systems in other Western countries.
a) The state-owned economy plays an important role in the national
economy. After long periods of nationalization, state-owned enter-
prises have become the mainstay in monopolizing industries such as
energy, transportation, finance, and insurance, and hold a dominant
position in such competitive industries as computers, aviation, elec-
tronics, chemistry, steel, and machine manufacturing.
ECONOMIC SYSTEMS OF THE WEST 77
b) The government bases planned regulation on the dominance of the
market mechanism. After the Second World War, France combined
market adjustment with a guiding planning system and started
extensive and thorough intervention in its national economy.
c) The intervention in national economic operation is supposed to be
the strongest among Western market economies. The French gov-
ernment controls the redistribution of national income and amasses
income equivalent to above 40% of its GDP, by virtue of which it
directly invests in infrastructure and emerging industries and affects the
overall economy.
A Brief History of Economic Development
France was one of the first countries to develop capitalism. Its capitalistic
economy had grown rapidly since the French Revolution broke out in
1789. In the 1820s, an industrial revolution was initiated, which was fifty
years later than that in the UK, and until the 1860s the value of French
industrial output was ranked the second in the world, behind only the
UK. By 1914, the French colonies had covered an area of 10.6 million
square kilometers, which was eighteen times larger than the metropolitan
territory.
After the First World War, France regained Alsace and Lorraine and
obtained huge reparations from Germany as well as mining rights over the
Saar coalfield by means of international management, which contributed to
the economic boom in the post-war period. Yet the Second World War
again caused havoc with its economy with losses totaling 4893 billion
francs according to 1945 prices. Owing to the effective measures that were
taken during five years of adjustment and recovery, the economy was
restored to its prewar state in 1949.
3.2.2.2 French Economy After the Second World War
After the end of the 1950s, France witnessed rapid and sustained eco-
nomic development owing to European economic integration, and was
fully modernized in fifteen years. From 1959 to 1974, its GDP annual
average growth rate was 5.7%, higher than that of the USA (3.9%), the UK
(3%), and West Germany (4.7%). From 1985 to 1990, the GDP annual
growth rate averaged 3%, yet declined again in the early 1990s because of
the impact of the global economic recession. The figure dropped from
2.3% in 2004 to 1.2% in 2005, then rebounded to 2% in 2006.
78 G. XU ET AL.
Features of French Economy
a) France is a developed industrial and agricultural state, the fourth greatest
economic power among the capitalist countries, next to the
USA, Japan, and Germany. Its industrial production and foreign
trade both take the fourth place internationally and are second in
Europe.
b) France has been Europe’s biggest agricultural producer and exporter and
the second biggest exporter of farm products and food globally
since 1979, next to the USA, with agricultural exports taking one
fifth of the total. Industry and agriculture are of equal importance in its
economy, similar to the world’s leading power, the USA.
c) France is highly industrialized and has created 7% of the world’s
industrial output. Manufactured goods occupy three-quarters of the
general exports.
d) The French economy is mainly controlled by big monopolies, and
production and capital are increasingly centralized on account of
developed state monopoly capitalism. Two banks among the world’s
top ten and four industrial giants among the world’s top fifty are
state monopolies. Up to the 1990s, French state monopoly eco-
nomic sectors outnumbered those in other developed capitalist
countries. Meanwhile, agricultural production was quickly concen-
trated in very few hands after the war. Small and medium-sized
enterprises play a very important part in the economy.
e) The industrial structure has undergone significant changes after
fifty years of development in the post-war period. In light of statis-
tics from the French national statistics bureau (INSEE), from 1990
to 2004 the ratio of agriculture and building industry trended
downward in gross added value in the national economy while that
of industry and tertiary industry increased.
Major Industrial Sectors
A) Agriculture
Agriculture not only dominates the national economy but labor
productivity is high, ranking the third in the world. France is the
biggest EU agricultural state, with 3.4% of the total labor force
agriculturally employed, creating 4% of GDP. Features of agricul-
tural production include:
ECONOMIC SYSTEMS OF THE WEST 79
a. Superior labor productivity, which is further raised by virtue of
the complete range of agricultural machinery and a high level of
automatization;
b. Diversification and comprehensive development; crop farming,
animal husbandry, forestry and fishery, and agricultural process-
ing industries are all thriving;
c. Farms have decreased in number but increased in scale;
d. High level of specialization, which is an inexorable trend of
modern agriculture. After agricultural mechanization, France
pushed ahead with specialized operation, including regional spe-
cialization, and the specialization of farms and production;
e. Integration of agriculture, industry, and commerce.
B) Industry
France is the world’s fourth greatest industrial nation. One-fifth of the
working population is industrially employed and creates one quarter
of GDP; roughly one-quarter of the manufactured goods are for
export. Sectors such as astronavigation, automobile and land trans-
portation facilities, communication apparatus, nuclear energy, muni-
tions, and agri-food processing are competitive in the international
market and the main force earning foreign exchange. Because of the
lack of mineral resources, particularly energy, industry has shifted to be
knowledge-intensive so as to save energy and raw materials.
The automobile industry as the backbone of French industry
grew rapidly after the Second World War and is placed the fourth in
the world, next to the USA, Japan, and Germany. In 2006, the total
output of cars was 3.17 million, with 70% of the aggregate output
value from export. Renault-Nissan and PSA were respectively the
third and ninth biggest automakers globally in the first half year of
2017.
Aerospace is the third greatest French industry after automobile
manufacturing and the electronics industry, and ranks the third in
the world after the USA and Russia. At present, France boasts man-
ufacturing for military and civil airplanes and many models of tacti-
cal missile. Moreover, it excels at the development and production
of man-made satellites, aerospace equipment, and strategic missiles.
In 2006, the aerospace turnover amounted to more than 30 billion
euro, with exports contributing to three-quarters of that: half of the export
value was from the Airbus project.
80 G. XU ET AL.
Owing to the shortage of conventional energy such as coal and
oil, much importance is attached to developing nuclear power. As
an industry, this has a development history of more than thirty years
and is an international leader. France is also a major exporter of
nuclear power equipment and technology (its development of the
neutron breeder reactor is placed the first in the world and nuclear
waste treatment technology is similarly advanced). Complete sets of
equipment for nuclear power plants are exported to countries such
as Korea, Belgium, Spain, South Africa, and China.
Nowadays the USA, France, and Japan top the list in the world’s
nuclear power industry. There are fifty-nine French nuclear power
plants in operation with an aggregate installed capacity of 63,363
megawatts, which are 14% and 17.6% respectively of the global
totals, second only to America internationally. Nuclear power com-
prises 78% of the gross power generation in France, ranking first
among major industrial countries.
3.2.2.3 Economic Policies of the French Government
After the Second World War, France pursued Keynesianism and intensified
economic intervention. When faced with the stagflation that was pervasive
in Western countries in the mid-1970s, the former president Giscard
d’Éstaing advocated the rationalization and reduction of government
intervention, proposing production be regulated by the market and that the
austerity package be adopted to curb inflation. In May 1981 the
Socialist Party led by Mitterrand came into office, and there were three
stages in policy evolution during the fourteen years of his reign:
• Stage one: from 1981 to May 1982, the party pursued an inflation-
ary policy and unveiled a series of loose fiscal and monetary policies to
stimulate consumption and demand. By means of increasing public
expenditure, minimum wage, and social welfare, the fiscal deficit
and investment in enterprises were raised so that demand, employ-
ment, and economy were boosted. Those measures spurred eco-
nomic development but worsened unemployment, and foreign debts
soared.
• Stage Two: from June 1982 to 1986, policies shifted to control
aggregate demand and curb inflation to stabilize the economy.
Promoting productive investment replaced boosting consumption
and anti-inflation took priority over anti-unemployment. These
deflation policies produced marked effects.
ECONOMIC SYSTEMS OF THE WEST 81
• Stage Three: since 1986, the government has endeavored to build a
free economic regime to invigorate the economy and facilitate its
growth. Meanwhile, reforms in the macro-economic management
system further deepened, with the purpose of reducing state inter-
vention and strengthening market discipline.
The political strongman Nicolas Sarkozy won the election in 2007. In
light of defects in the economic system, he urged the establishment of a free
market economy by reforming the existing welfare and labor system.
As for people’s dependence on the generous national welfare system,
Sarkozy reiterated the value of work and emphasized more pay for more
work. He proposed to ease the burdens of social welfare and tax on
enterprises, thereby stimulating the economy and reducing unemployment.
Measures were also taken in education and society to speed up economic
development and enhance global competitiveness.
3.2.3 UK
3.2.3.1 An Overview of the British Economy
Economic System
After 200 years of development, the UK established a typical hybrid market
economic system with the following features:
a) The distinctive property right system. After the Second World War,
hundreds of large state-owned enterprises were privatized in sectors
such as gas, petroleum, electricity supply, coal, astronavigation,
automobiles, and telecommunications. Business lines of state-owned
enterprises covered the postal service, municipal transportation,
nuclear fuel industry and civil aviation. Though the proportion of
state-owned economy decreases, public and private economies still
co-exist in the UK.
b) A hybrid free-enterprise system; it forms the micro-foundation for
the British market economic system, in which as long as they register
in accordance with laws and pay taxes, everyone has the right to
establish and manage new enterprises that operate independently,
assuming full financial responsibility and risks.
82 G. XU ET AL.
c) A hybrid mechanism of resource allocation; the flexible market system
provides the primary means for resource allocation and the gov-
ernment mainly adjusts aggregate demand and supply by the
requisite macro and indirect regulation and control.
d) A fully functional market system, especially a labor market with a
high level of employment and the financial market, are prominent
for complete and perfect functioning.
A Brief History of Economic Development
From the 1750s to the 1850s, the UK’s industrial revolution took place, and
it transformed from an agricultural country to an industrial one. It became
the most advanced state and the workshop of the world, with
production, trade, and merchant tonnage topping the world. By virtue of a
strong shipping industry, the UK acquired cheap raw materials worldwide,
traded, and obtained substantial profits. London grew into the
international financial center.
By the 1870s, a great colonial empire, the British Empire, was formed.
Up to 1914, the colonies covered an area of 33.5 million square kilometers,
which was 110 times the metropolitan territory, with a population of 390
million. Despite its victory in the First World War, the UK was drained of
strength and lost the edge in shipbuilding, foreign trade, shipping, and
finance. As its economy declined, the Empire was on the verge of collapse.
3.2.3.2 British Economy After the Second World War
An Overview of British Economy After the War
During the Second World War, the collapse of the colonial empire and
damage to industry and finance undermined British hegemony. Enormous
military expenditure and the attempt to control the Commonwealth
nations made it draw upon production funds. Consequential huge deficits in
the national budget led to the alternation or concurrence of financial crisis
and economic stagnation after the war.
In 1979, the Conservative administration headed by Margaret Thatcher
adopted a series of measures that successfully reduced the deficit and
money supply. The inflation rate dropped from the record high of 22% in
May
1980 to 3.9% in 1986. The impetus for sustained economic growth was
increasing real personal disposable income and improving consumer
confidence. After 1996, the British economy grew steadily with low
inflation.
Based on survey data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation
and Development (OECD) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF),
ECONOMIC SYSTEMS OF THE WEST 83
during the decade from 1997 to 2006 the UK’s annual economic growth
rate was 2.7%, while GDP per capita rose from $22,781 in 1997 to
$39,213 in 2006.
Major Industrial Sectors
Tertiary industry is the British economic mainstay, and in terms of
economic value added, the shares of various industries in British economy
are: tertiary industry (including finance, wholesale and retail, and real
estate) 72%, manufacturing and construction industries 23%, energy and
natural resource 4%, agriculture, fishery, and forestry 1%.
a) Financial Service Industry
The modern financial system originated in the UK. Besides the six
financial trading centers nationwide, Edinburgh, Manchester, Cardiff,
Liverpool, Leeds, and Glasgow, London is among the world’s three greatest
financial centers. In 2007 London edged out New York and became
the biggest international financial center, with major financial markets
being foreign exchange, banking, gold, and insurance.
b) Industry
This covers extensive fields and is mainly divided into manufacturing,
energy, and water supply as well as construction industries. The UK takes
the lead in making and exporting an array of commodities such as
machinery, power equipment, radio, airplanes, engines, chemical products
and fertilizer, artificial fibers, and textiles. About 80% of the exports are
manufactured and semi-manufactured goods.
UK boasts the world’s third most complete aerospace industry (next to
the USA and Russia) and the most diversified electronics industry in
Europe. The government invests 70% of its total aerospace expenditure in
European aerospace projects. There are 3000 companies engaged in the
industry creating an annual revenue of £17 billion, 10% of the gross
revenue of engineering manufacturing.
The UK is the sixth greatest producer of chemicals worldwide. The
chemical industry is the biggest sector in the manufacturing industry, placed
second in Western Europe. The major products are organic and
inorganic chemical products, plastic goods, and fertilizer. Recently, the
industry has been restructured and is more specialized and distinctive in
84 G. XU ET AL.
terms of an internationalized market, advanced technology, high added
value, and full production process control.
The UK is a major supplier and market for mechanical and electrical
products that are imported in large quantities from Germany, America,
Japan, and France to meet growing domestic demands. Blessed with rich
resources, the UK is a major producer of petroleum, gas, and coal, and the
world’s fifth and eighth greatest producer of gas and oil respectively. Since
2004, it has become a net energy importer with the volume reaching 52.4
million tonnes of standard oil in 2006. In the future round of economic
development, the UK will be faced with severe tests by the energy crisis.
An Overview of British Economic Policies
At the end of the 1990s, Tony Blair was elected prime minister for his
proposal of “the third way,” and the recession was curbed on account of
institutional and technological innovation. He made a huge contribution to
shaping domestic economic policies.
a) Monetary policies and an interest rate lever were adopted to regu-
late the economy, and the power of adjustment was conferred on the
British Central Bank—the Bank of England.
b) Fiscal means, such as tax cuts and expenditure increase, were used to
ensure economic growth. It has been recognized that the Blair
government invested massively in education, medical care, and
infrastructure, set a minimum wage, and offered training to the
unemployed. The unemployment rate was kept below 4%.
Economic policies toward the EU were typical: on one hand, the UK
never accepted EU economic integration policies entirely; on the other
hand, it was unwilling to withdraw from the EU. Consequently, it
maintained a special status and opted out of the common currency. It
withdrew from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism and refused
negotiation and
co-operation with other member states in some important political fields.
During the ten years while Blair was at the helm, the UK was the
world’s fifth greatest economy with low inflation and low interest and
unemployment rates. In 2007, the Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon
Brown assumed the office of prime minister, and proposed tax cuts to pep
up demand and foster sustained economic growth.
ECONOMIC SYSTEMS OF THE WEST 85
3.2.4 Russia
3.2.4.1 Russian Economic Structure
The main sectors are industry, agriculture, commerce, communication,
transportation, post and telecommunications, and other service industries,
among which agriculture and industry, comprising heavy and light
industries, are of paramount importance. In the Soviet Union, the
development of heavy industry was granted top priority and agriculture and
light industry were disregarded, causing a shortage of consumer goods and
affecting living standards. Russia’s independence in 1991 didn’t help to
improve an unbalanced economic structure due to political instability. After
the failure of shock therapy and a financial crisis in 1998, the Russian
economy did not improve until Putin came into office in 2000.
In light of data released by the Russian Federal Service of State Statistics,
in 2004 the proportion of product manufacture in GDP dropped to 41%
while that of the service industry reached 59%. Currently the main features
of Russia’s industrial structure are the energy industry, which is the pillar,
and military and heavy machinery industries; civilian industry is still
backward.
3.2.4.2 An Overview of Russian Economic Policies
In May 1990, President Yeltsin put forward shock therapy tactics to reform
the economy with such guiding principles as price liberalization,
privatization, and land reforms. The objective was to establish a complete
market economy; but this scheme ended in failure.
Putin’s inauguration in 2000 was the signal for new reforms, and he
was to build a social market economy characterized by mixed ownership,
limited intervention, and social equity and security, which was described as
a third way in contrast to the former planned economic system and
Western radical economic reform. With respect to the micro-economic
system, he advocated the strengthening of administration of enterprises and
state-owned assets on the basis of the Yeltsin-era privatization to improve
economic performance; he was against renationalization. As for the macro-
economic system, Putin proposed to establish an effective
financial system, adopted a proactive fiscal policy, and opposed a minimal
public finance policy that embodied economic liberalism. He adjusted the
existing financial system, drew lessons from the financial crisis, and dealt
with the aftermath. In the new era, remaining on Putin’s reform path,
Russia is shifting from an economy based on energy to innovation.
86 G. XU ET AL.
3.3 Economic SyStEm of thE uSa
3.3.1 An Overview of the US Economy
3.3.1.1 Economic System
The USA is a highly developed free-market economy. The essence of its
economy is that there are few restrictions, responsibilities, or obligations
among the four main economic entities: families, enterprises, banks, and
governments.
Main Characteristics of the Market Economic System
a) Private monopoly dominates the mixed economy. Less than one-
tenth of the US economy is nationalized and what is left belongs to
private owners.
b) There are few government interventions in the economy and mar-
kets. The role of market forces to boost economic development is
stressed and the government takes a back seat. Without nationwide
economic planning, the administration tends to impact economy
through government procurement.
c) The consumer-oriented market economy means that the administra-
tion often regulates the economy in the interest of consumers
instead of producers.
d) On mechanisms of social economy, market competition is the basic
means of regulation, yet orderly competition is favored, which
requires direct legislation as well as efforts from the government.
e) In the free enterprise system there are three primary forms of firms:
individual proprietorship, partnership, and corporations, among
which the third has proven to be the most effective in accumulating
capital for project investment.
f) With respect to the trends and prospects of social economy, freedom is
stressed rather than social welfare.
Strengths and Weaknesses of the US Economic Model
The major strengths are: a highly flexible workforce and product market,
low tax, fierce competition, and shareholder capitalism, which refers to the
exerting of pressure by shareholders on managers to maximize profits. The
weaknesses are a wide income gap, poor welfare, low-quality public
services, such as elementary and secondary education, public services out
of
ECONOMIC SYSTEMS OF THE WEST 87
proportion to social wealth, and low investment and saving rates. This
model is also known as “Anglo-Saxon” or “laissez-faire” capitalism.
3.3.1.2 A Brief History of American Economy
Since the foundation of the USA in 1776, the favorable natural condi-
tions, foreign advanced technology, capital, and the labor force have
underpinned its economic boom. Business tycoons and great financiers
monopolized the economy in the latter half of the nineteenth century.
With the advent of corporations, technicians—high-salaried professional
managers—replaced big bosses. To meet the demands of the emerging
middle class for government regulation over business and those of farmers
and labors for conciliation, the administration began to intervene more in
the economy, and many regulators were established, examples being the
Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Trade Commission.
During the First World War, as the neutral state, the USA amassed
fabulous wealth by providing munitions for the warring parties and loans
for the Entente countries. After the war it turned into a creditor country with
$10 billion lent, and became the richest state in the world. During the
Second World War, military needs pushed forward the technological
development of the USA and the dollar ascended to become the dominant
currency equivalent to gold. In the post-war period, the country’s economy
has been very prosperous, and it tops the world, a status the USA is always
committed to consolidate.
3.3.2 The US Economy After the War
3.3.2.1 Economic Development After the War
An Overview of the US Economy After the War
The economy witnessed sustained growth after its transition from wartime
to peace. Until the middle of the 1950s, more than half of the world’s
commodities were made in the USA. From 1945 to the early 1970s, GDP
tripled and industrial production increased by 290%, with an annual average
growth rate of 3.6% and 4.3% respectively, and this is known as the golden
age in US history.
Yet in the 1970s the economy entered a recession, even with a trade
deficit. As the gold reserve gradually decreased, the dollar devalued until
the Bretton Woods System collapsed. After 1975, like other major capital-
88 G. XU ET AL.
ist countries, the USA was beset with stagflation reflected in stagnant
production, inflation, high unemployment, rising prices, and a slowdown in
foreign trade growth.
In the 1980s, its contention for hegemony with the Soviet Union
intensified, leaving the country heavily in debt for the development of high-
tech military industry. Then the government adjusted policies and gradually
reversed the declining tendency. In the 1990s, to retain the USA’s
supremacy in the multi-polar world, President Clinton furthered
the reforms and focused on the development of up-to-date technology,
especially the information industry. Since March 1991, new features such as
high growth and income and low inflation and unemployment rate
were present in the booming economy. Another golden age for economic
progress, also known as the new economy, emerged.
After ten years of sustained development, in March 2001, the economy
sunk into a cyclical recession, experiencing a robust recovery in March
2002. From 2002 to 2005, the annual growth rate averaged 2.9% and in
2006, the US economy maintained a rapid growth of 3.4%.
Main Features of the Economy After the War
a) The economy grew steadily, with the center of economic gravity
shifting westward and southward.
b) The economic crisis was less severe after the war.
c) Modern multinational corporations sprang up and grew in leaps and
bounds.
The Economic and Industrial Structure
In 1975, tertiary industry accounted for 65.5% of the gross output value,
and in particular the information industry contributed to 50%. Under the
influence of new technological revolutions, characteristics of the US
industrial structure are the center of national economy shifting to tertiary
industry—that is so-called deindustrialization, the center of manufacturing
transferring to high-tech industry, and cutting-edge technology being
adopted to upgrade existing equipment.
3.3.2.2 Main Industrial Sectors
The Steel Industry
This rose in prominence in the second half of the eighteenth century and
was one of the three US economic pillars, together with the automobile
ECONOMIC SYSTEMS OF THE WEST 89
and building industries. In 1890, the steel output reached 4.8 million tons,
exceeding that of the UK and ranking first globally. Yet the industry began
to decline on account of increasing production costs, obsolete
equipment, and the improvement in competitiveness of Japan and Western
Europe. In the early 1980s, large-scale technical innovation and
restructuring began, and since the twenty-first century US steel output has
remained at 11% of the world’s total.
The Automotive Industry
In 1893, automobiles went into mass production and humans entered a
new era. The traditional automotive industry was concentrated in Detroit
and the surrounding states in the Great Lakes Region, and the Big Three
automakers are located there. They are General Motors, Ford, and
Chrysler. In 2006, they sold 9.058 million cars in total, decreasing by 8%
compared with the sales volume of the previous year.
Building Industry
This is recognized as the US economic barometer and nationally con-
sumes 10% of metallurgical products, 70% of cement, glass, and tiles, 40%
of wood, and 50% of paint, while 8% of the transportation capacity serves
it. The industry mainly deals with housing construction. In 2005, it created
5.1% of GDP, while real estate and relevant rental services contributed to
10.1% of GDP.
The High-Tech Industry
In contrast to the general downturn in traditional industries, the high-tech
industry is vibrant, this comprising micro-electronic technology, computer
software, robots, communications equipment, computer-aided
design, fiber-optic techniques, superconductivity research, bioengineering,
and aerospace technology. According to estimates by the OECD, the USA
takes the lead in high-tech sectors such as computer technology,
electronics and telecommunications, bioengineering, chemistry, and
aerospace, and is second only to Japan in terms of industrial robots,
computer chips, and synthetic metal.
The USA predominates in the production of commercial airplanes,
helicopters, aero engines and components, satellites, carrier rockets, space
station technology, space shuttles, and space science experimental devices.
The Boeing Company keeps ahead internationally in aircraft output, sales
and export volume, profits, and technology.
90 G. XU ET AL.
The Machine Building Industry
With respect to numerically controlled machine tools and industrial robots
the USA faces great challenges from Japan, and foreign products have
seized 75% of its market share.
Energy Industry
This is the biggest industrial sector, including the petroleum, natural gas,
coal, water, electric, and nuclear industries, with the first two being the
principal ones. Above 50% of the national coal output is from the core
producing area around the Appalachians.
Apart from conventional energy, such as oil and coal, new energy, for
instance tidal and solar energy as well as synthetic fuel, is being vigorously
exploited. By December 2007, the USA had built the most nuclear power
stations (104) globally, which produced 19% of the national gross
generation, according to statistics released by the International Atomic
Energy Agency.
3.3.2.3 Economic Policies
The USA is a developed capitalist country with a fully fledged market
economy. It adopts laissez-faire and moderate policies especially toward
domestic large enterprises. These policies actually guide what appears to be
a free economy.
US Monetary Policy and Its Evolution
1) Monetary Policy
It is prescribed in the Federal Reserve Act that the objective of monetary
policies is to curb inflation, promote full employment, and create a
relatively stable financial environment. For a long time, the Central Bank of
America, the Federal Reserve System (FRS) has been committed to
making and implementing monetary policies to regulate the federal funds
rate, that is the interbank rate, and above all the overnight rate.
2) Evolution of the U.S. Monetary Policy
In the 1960s, a cheap money policy was carried out. The increasing
money supply and easy monetary and fiscal policies added up to an
everrising inflation rate and stagflation in the 1970s, when monetary
aggregates
ECONOMIC SYSTEMS OF THE WEST 91
were the intermediate target of FRS regulation. In light of the growth rate,
the tight monetary policy adopted by the FRS led to the economic crisis in
1979.
The FRS shifted to a stable rate policy after inflation was restrained. In the
early 1990s, when the economy sank into recession, the FRS reduced the
interest rate seventeen times between July 1990 and September 1992
and the short-term interest rate dropped from 8% to 3%, which promoted
investment, consumption, and overall economic development. From 1994
to July 1995 the FRS raised the federal funds rate seven consecutive times,
and the overheated economy achieved a soft landing.
In 2001, to stimulate economic growth, the FRS cut the interest rate
for six times in succession between January and the end of June. At the end
of June 2001, the US federal funds rate and discount rate were 3.75%
and 3.5% respectively, a record low in the last seven years starting from the
third quarter of 1994.
US Fiscal Policy and Its Evolution
a) Fiscal Policy
This refers to principles and measures set to accomplish certain eco-
nomic objectives through the regulation of fiscal revenue and expenditure.
By means of altering policies on taxation, budget outlays, transfer payment,
fiscal subsidies, and government procurement, the aggregate social demand
is adjusted and therefore the macro-economy is regulated. Fiscal policies
are mainly drafted by the Treasury and the White House Office of
Management, and the Office of Management and Budget also participates
in making policies on budget, tax, and finance.
b) Evolution of Fiscal Policy
Before the Great Depression, the US federal government pursued
Smith’s fiscal theory of cheap government with a tight and balanced budget.
From the early 1930s to the early 1970s, compensatory and expan-
sionary fiscal policies were adopted for aggregate demand management.
Roosevelt’s New Deal was typical of this, in view of measures such as
government expenditure expansion and the initiation of government
projects to revitalize the economy.
In the 1970s, the economy sustained stagflation with high unemploy-
ment and inflation rate, huge deficits, and low growth. Under such circum-
92 G. XU ET AL.
stances, Ronald Reagan proposed cutting tax and non-defense expenditure,
increase defense spending, reduce government intervention in the economy,
and endorse the FRS’s tight money policy. In the 1990s, supply and demand
were equally stressed and bills were passed by Congress to raise taxes.
After George W. Bush assumed office in 2001, economic policies cen-
tered on tax cuts to boost employment and economy. Yet a budget surplus
turned into huge deficits owing to substantial military expenditure in the
Iraq war and the global war on terrorism, mass unemployment, and the bal-
looning social welfare costs for the retired population reaching their peak.
BiBliography
Chen Baosen. 2007. U.S. Economy and Governmental Policies: From
Roosevelt to Regan. Beijing: Social Sciences Academic Press.
Cheng Xinxuan. 2003. The Changes in the Economic Policy Coordination
System in the EU. Beijing: China Financial & Economic Publishing House.
Chryssochoou, Dimitris, et al. 2003. Theory and Reform in the European
Union.
Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Dobbin, Frank. 2008. Forging Industrial Policy: The United States, Britain
and France in the Railway Age. Shanghai: Shanghai People’s Publishing
House.
Feng Shaolei. 2007. Russia in the 20th Century. Shanghai: SDX Joint
Publishing Company.
Lan Tian. 2006. Mode of the EU Economic Integration. Beijing: China
Social Sciences Press.
Laurent Beduneau-Wang. 2007. Financial System in France. Beijing:
Economy & Management Publishing House.
Liu Ningning. 2006. A Study of the European Economic and Monetary
Union Policy Coordination System. Beijing: Economic Science Press.
Qiu Yuanlun. 2003. Reform of the EU Common Agricultural Policies.
QIUSHI 8: 57–59.
Song Jian. 2003. Economy and Market in Deutschland. Beijing: China
Commerce and Trade Press.
Wang He. 2002. European Economic and Monetary Union. Beijing: Social
Sciences Academic Press.
Wiener, Antje, and Thomas, Diez. 2004. European Integration Theory.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Zhang Jianxiong. 2006. An Introduction to Economic Policies of the
European Union. Beijing: China Social Sciences Press.
Zheng Bingwen. 2002. Annual Development Report of Europe (2001–
2002)-Euro and European Reform. Beijing: Social Sciences Academic
Press.
Zhou Nianli. 2008. A Study of Fiscal Constraint to the European Economic
and Monetary Union. Wuhan: Wuhan University Press.
Zhu Xinmin. 2000. Introduction to Economy of the European Union.
Chengdu: Sichuan University Press.
CHAPTER 4
Western Military Culture
Military culture includes military theories, art, technologies, institutions,
and education created by military practice, military equipment and
installations that involve cultural elements, as well as the unique
psychological state, morality, and cultural awareness possessed by soldiers.
Elements such as the evaluation of soldiers, legal issues around military
operations, army morale, non-war operations, coordination and combined
operations
in the military field, gender and racial equality, service personnels’ quality
of life, and military education are taken by Western scholars to be the
primary components of military culture.
There are many ways in which military culture can be analyzed. Divided by
form, it involves military ideas, systems, behavior and technologies;
divided by discipline, it involves military philosophy, politics, economics,
sociology, ethics, psychology, and history; divided by region, it involves
Eastern and Western military culture; divided by location, it involves bar-
rack, academy, and community military culture; divided by time, it involves
ancient, modern, and contemporary military culture. Military practice, the
basis for the development of military technologies, culture, and thoughts,
also tests the vitality of military culture. Accordingly, this chapter focuses
on an analysis of the development of Western military culture from the
perspectives of practice, technologies, and thoughts.
© The Author(s) 2018
93
G. Xu et al. (eds.), K. Chen et al. (trans.), Understanding Western Culture,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-8150-7_4
94 G. XU ET AL.
4.1 Western Military Practice
The development of human civilization has failed to eliminate war, whose
enlarging scale and increasing damage deepen the threats for the human
race. Many inventions and applications of Western new technology take
place on battlefields, and in the past military revolutions have brought
changes to the forms of war.
4.1.1 Changes in Forms of War in the West
War may be defined as fierce military confrontation that is organized by
opposing forces for political and economic purposes. It is the final way in
which conflicts may be solved between classes, nations, or political groups,
allows the continuation of politics through violence, and is the basic model
for the enforcement of state will. People have been engaged in wars for
thousands of years, attempting to discover how to prepare and prevent
wars. To distinguish the features of current wars from previous wars, a new
concept, “war forms,” has been introduced. There are three standards:
social productivity, military technology, and operation method. According
to these standards, there are four types of war.
4.1.1.1 Cold Weapon Warfare
Before the invention of gunpowder, there was the cold weapon age, when
important technical innovations such as the use of metals and the
emergence of metallurgical techniques appeared. Initially weapons were
basically instruments that could be easily produced for daily use, whilst in
late primitive society specialist war weapons appeared, including bayonets
and throwing weapons, with clubs and stones being the earliest
representatives. As methods that allowed the use of metals developed,
spears, bows, crossbows, swords, and shields were produced. Infantry were
used to construct phalanxes; cavalry were used on plains; in ancient Greece
heavily armed hoplites, or foot soldiers, engaged in set-piece battles; and
sailors used wooden boats as their basis for attack.
It was a long time before clubs and stones were replaced by metal weapons.
The focus of war changed from simple fighting to formations. This has been
called the first generation of war, because weapons were simple and
people’s physical power was the main element of battle effectiveness.
Operational commands such as choosing battlefields and keeping in for-
mation were very simple, and these included gesture, semaphore, gong
WESTERN MILITARY CULTURE 95
and drum, and smoke signals. Commanders were also combatants who
fought from the center of formations, standing up high or sitting on
horseback.
4.1.1.2 Hot Weapon Warfare
The invention and application of gunpowder was an important revolution in
military technology. The displacement of spears and swords by muskets
marked the beginning of the hot weapon age. Mercenaries, supported and
led by individual nations, appeared in large numbers, breeding a new
military system. With the quick exit of heavy cavalry from battlefields, the
infantry became the leading actors, and artillery was increasingly valued. A
new linear formation was favored by military strategists, and in naval
battles boarding was replaced by firing, with intensive shelling becoming
the way in which to triumph. Fighting often began with hot weapons and
ended
with cold weapons, with the combination of infantry and artillery.
Commanders spent a large amount of energy on strategy, and decision-
making did not simply rely on commanders; in other words, reconnaissance
became more important. Assisting professionals, institutions, advisers, and
agents gradually came into being. War form had changed little by the
eighteenth century and can be called the early stage of hot weapon age.
The late eighteenth to the early nineteenth century was the post-hot
weapon age. In this period, the form of war changed, with the use of rifled
firearms that possessed long range, the ability to fire frequently, and high
precision. The adoption of rifling and breech-loading bullets increased
weapons’ lethal nature, and wooden sailing ships were replaced by steel
steamships, which were equipped with broadside cannon. In this period, as
social productivity increased, many states built giant armies and navies.
During the military revolution that was triggered by the second scientific
and technological wave, a bourgeois national army took the place of the
feudal mercenary army, and compulsory military service began to be
implemented. Complex armies including infantry, cavalry, and artillery
came into existence. A mobile strategy was replaced by decisive strategy,
and inflexible linear tactics gave way to decentralized skirmishing from
trenches. The books The Art of War (1834) by Antoine-Henri Jomini and
Principles of War (1812) and the later On War (1832) by Carl von
Clausewitz, as well as the proletariat military theory proposed by Marx and
Engels were the significant military works of this period.
96 G. XU ET AL.
4.1.1.3 Mechanized Warfare
Mechanized war is war that involves the use of such weapons as tanks and
airplanes, and it was the basic form of war in the industrial era. Because of
the second scientific and technological wave and its wide application, the
third and fourth military revolutions arose rapidly one after another. At the
beginning of the Franco-Prussian war, the third military revolution swept
across Europe, North America, and East Asia, in which breech- loading
rifling cannon replaced muzzle loading weapons; smokeless powder
replaced black powder; steamships replaced wooden sailing ships.
Decentralized skirmishing and linear fighting became the basic formation,
and railroads were used for military purposes, so that strategic
maneuverability was greatly improved. Telegraphs and telephones
facilitated military communication; the navy entered the dreadnought era;
and the General Staff Headquarters became the supreme military
commander agency. The fourth military revolution developed in the early
twentieth century, characterized by the use of new weapons and the
replacement of trench attrition by blitzkrieg (“lightning war,” whereby an
attacking force uses overwhelming power, speed,
and surprise to defeat the enemy). In this period, the world witnessed the
existence of two hostile social systems. New weapons such as tanks,
artillery, rocket launchers, airplanes, submarines, aircraft carriers, and
chemical weapons were used on battlefields. Air defense forces, armored
forces, engineering corps, and marines subsequently appeared. The scale of
armies increased unprecedentedly, with the number of troops in some
countries increasing to 10% or even 20% of the total population and the
total number of soldiers in several countries reaching tens of millions.
Mechanized war includes such features as challenging goals, tremen-
dous firepower, impressive maneuverability, operation over large areas, and
the considerable consumption of resources. In this period, with intensive
armed struggles and a high casualty ratio, there were more than 500
wars and large-scale armed conflicts that depended on a tremendous input
of human resources, weapons, military technical equipment, and ammuni-
tion. New operational patterns such as air and ground, infantry and artillery,
infantry and tank co-ordination, and blitzkriegs emerged. On the sea, there
were aircraft carriers, submarines, and anti-submarine weapons.
Battlefields changed from two dimensions to three dimensions with the
development of air force. The main goals of war included improving the
domestic economy and political regime, and affecting these aspects of the
enemy. In military theory, concepts such as “air force winning theory,”
“armor winning theory,” “total war,” and “grand strategy” were devel-
oped and elaborated upon, one after another.
WESTERN MILITARY CULTURE 97
4.1.1.4 Nuclear Weapon Warfare
The appearance of the atomic bomb in the 1940s ushered in the nuclear era.
Because of their immense destructiveness and lethal nature, nuclear
weapons soon incurred strong opposition throughout the world. Rocket
nuclear weapons were the basis of nuclear war, and a strategic nuclear
weapons became a new part of military power. By their use, there were
changes in both the organizational and operational structure of conventional
forces.
Resistance to nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons (the so-called
“three-resistances”) became a requirement and an important part of training
and research tactics. In military thought, there emerged new concepts such
as nuclear war and nuclear deterrence. The primary targets to be
destroyed in the nuclear war involve not only armed forces, but also
important targets and all the residents in the territories of the warring
parties.
Toward the end of the Second World War, the USA dropped two
atomic bombs on Japan; this is the only time that nuclear weapons have
actually been used. These bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and
Nagasaki on August 6 and August 9, 1945. In Hiroshima, which had a
population of 300,000 people, about 15,000 tons of TNT were released.
There were about 144,000 casualties, of whom about 68,000 were killed;
and 67% of the city’s buildings were destroyed. In Nagasaki, which had a
population of 200,000 people, about 20,000 tons of TNT were released.
There were about 59,000 casualties, of whom about 38,000 were killed;
and 40% of the city’s buildings were destroyed.
The long-time nuclear confrontation led to a “Cold War” between the
two hostile systems.
4.1.1.5 Information Warfare
In the 1970s, the third technological revolution, which had information
technology at its core, led to a new military revolution in most countries.
The basic form of war in the information age is that either one or both sides
chooses an information army as its main fighting force. It is generally
agreed that the Gulf War of 1990 was the beginning of this new military
revolution, and it is expected that the revolution will reach its peak in the
mid-twenty-first century.
The wide use of information technology and other new materials and
technologies in the military field led to the changes in forms of war, which
also brought upheaval to the scale of armies, organizational establishment
systems, military theories, strategies, and tactics, and military service
systems. At the end of the twentieth century, major regional wars and
military conflicts showed some new features. First, the operational goal was
98 G. XU ET AL.
not to crush the opposing armed forces, but to destroy the other side’s
economy, military facilities, and command and control system. Second,
the aim was to paralyze the other side quickly. Wars were brief, tight, and
quick. Third, operations were more precise and miniaturized, and the con-
trollability of fighting improved. Fourth, the battlefield was varied,
including ground, sea, air, and space. There was a high degree of integrated
joint operations but combat power was deployed on a small scale and with
higher transparency. The number of combat casualties was smaller than in
fourth-generation wars, but consumption of resources and their losses
increased. Fifth, the method used was strong information assault followed
by intensive real assaults with all kinds of long-, medium-, and short-range
high-precision weapons used without contact (an example being the use
of drones). Although the Gulf War, the Kosovo War, the war in
Afghanistan, the Iraq War, and other main military conflicts at the end of
the 20th century showed some features of information war, they could not
be counted as information wars per se. It is generally believed that no world
state has completely built an information army.
4.1.2 Western Military Revolution
In the early times, owing to the isolation of states, military revolution in a
nation or region rarely had universal significance. By modern times,
because of the development of science and technology and convenient
information exchange, the whole world can be affected by a military
revolution in an individual region.
4.1.2.1 Overview of the Western Military Revolution
Ancient Western city-states and countries implemented a citizen-soldier
system, by which military service was not only a civil right but an
obligation. The Athenian and Roman citizen-soldiers were divided into
different ranks according to the amount of property they had. There were
four
ranks in Athens and five ranks in Rome. Cavalry and heavy and light
infantry were selected from different ranks of citizens. Before the decline
and disintegration of city states, there was no regular army or mercenary
system. After the Peloponnesian War, owing to the development of slavery
and increased social division in Greece, many small producers went bank-
rupt and became vagrants, and some chose to become mercenaries.
After the military revolution (107–101 bc) that began to implement
the mercenary system, Rome established formal regular army at the
beginning of Augustus Principate (27 bc). In the ancient West, the navy was
WESTERN MILITARY CULTURE 99
more important than the land army for some coastal countries. For
instance, Athens established a strong navy which was a major strength in
wars. The first large-scale naval campaign, which was the famous Trojan
War at the end of the Mycenaean civilization (in the early twelfth century
bc), occurred in Greece: it is said that there were 1200 ships involved this
campaign. Rome defeated the powerful Mediterranean nation Carthage
with its strong navy and achieved victory in the Punic War (264–146 bc),
and the Roman navy became the most powerful in the ancient world. In
strategy and tactics, the ancient Westerners were particularly fond of
phalanxes and later three-line legion. In the Mediterranean area, there were
formations such as Assyria, Persian, Spartan, Theban, Macedonian, and
Roman legion phalanxes, among which the Roman legions’ phalanx was
the most powerful in the Western cold weapon age.
The Macedonian phalanx, which was formed by sixteen × sixteen infan-
try with spears and shields, was created by Philip II (Philip II of Macedon),
and was well known at the time, becoming an unbeatable powerful force.
Alexander the Great (356–323 bc, whose name means the guardian of
human beings) often used it to co-ordinate with cavalry: this was called the
drilling hammer tactic. As the King of Macedonia, Alexander kept the
Greek city states unified, and conquered Persia and other kingdoms,
reaching the border with India. But the Greek–Macedonian phalanx was
not suitable for fighting in complex terrains. In the fourth century bc, Rome
narrowly escaped a devastating blow in the Gallic Wars, so Romans decided
to give up the foreign Greek–Macedonian phalanx and replaced it with the
Roman legion. The basic unit of the Roman legion was a small
unit called a maniple composed of two centuries, each of which consisted of
sixty to eighty soldiers. Three of these small units formed a big unit called a
cohort with about 450–570 people. A big unit contained about
120–160 junior soldiers, 120–160 young soldiers, 120–160 middle-aged
soldiers, sixty to eighty adult soldiers and a unit of thirty cavalry. Ten big
units composed a Roman legion, which usually contained 4500–6000
people. The legion had an affiliated legion that was composed of 600 cav-
alrymen. Two Roman legions and two associated legions together consti-
tuted a group army, which was commanded by a consul. A Roman legion
was organized with twenty people per row and six people per column,
with a distance of 1.8–2 meters between two people. The maniples were
small enough to permit tactical movement of individual infantry units on
the battlefield within the framework of the greater army. The maniples were
typically deployed into three discrete lines (Latin: triplex acies). The first
line were young soldiers, who when at a distance of 20 yards from the
100 G. XU ET AL.
enemy threw heavy javelins. After several minutes, the second line,
composed of middle-aged soldiers, replaced those in the first line, who were
held back to have a rest. The light infantry was composed of junior soldiers
who were responsible for covering both wings and the back of the legion.
Meanwhile, usable javelins were needed to supplement the first row. A
battle usually involved several rounds of substitutions. Adult soldiers
served as the reserve team for legions. Since Roman legions’ tactics were
flexible and adaptable to all kinds of terrain, they outperformed the
Macedonian phalanx in wars.
The fief system was popular in medieval European countries. When feu-
dal lords enfeoffed land, they provided the feoffees with the peasants on it
as well, and in return, feoffees were to fulfill obligations that included
fighting for feudal lords. This was the prevalent system in Europe, having
associations with and differences from the citizen-soldier system. The
system of enfeoffment had an economic base, and cavalry was the main
source of
service. It was created by the Frankish statesman and military leader
Charles Martel (686–741) in the early eighth century, who noticed the
important role of cavalry in wars when fighting Arabs and Byzantines. To
build a cavalry army, he enfeoffed state land to subservient subordinates,
meritorious soldiers, and nobles, and ordered that feoffees should perform
cavalry service and fight for their kings in wartime, supplying horses and
weapons.
Other countries in Europe followed suit and the number of cavalry
increased significantly. Some European cities began to recruit landless
knights to make up for the lack of troops, and mercenaries became the main
military force in the fifteenth century. The European cavalry, scattered
among the fiefs and with little focused training, was mainly heavily armed:
they wore chainmail that covered everything except their eyes and horses’
hooves and tails. Light cavalry armor in contrast was made of leather, and
did not cover the whole body. European countries held competitions
presided over by kings and
other feudal lords, in which knights competed in pairs. The winners were
rewarded and encouraged to improve their fighting skills.
The basic tactical unit for some Western European countries, which
implemented the cavalry system, was a small unit composed of knights,
sword guards, archers, and spearmen. Twenty-five to eighty small units
composed a brigade and a number of brigades composed a cavalry legion.
Cavalry was the main force for medieval European armies. After the
seventh century, the important role of cavalry in European war was well
established and it became the force that determined the course of wars;
serving in the infantry was despised as being the business of slaves and
WESTERN MILITARY CULTURE 101
serfs. Though there were always more infantry than cavalry in European
countries, they were mostly those who did not want to fight and rarely had
even basic fighting skills. Some of the freemen infantry were too poor to
provide their own weapons and had to fight with sticks. In the crusade age,
European generals realized that multi-faceted armies were much
more powerful than those that were composed of cavalry only. Many gen-
erals therefore replaced some of the knights and heavy cavalry with
infantry, and after the use of firing weapons became established, infantry
became the main force on the battlefield.
By modern times, with the wide application of gunpowder, the military
field underwent significant transformation. Spears and swords were
replaced by muskets, large numbers of mercenaries emerged, the heavy
cavalry quickly retreated from the battlefield with the infantry becoming the
main force, and artillery began to gain attention. Ancient phalanxes were
replaced by a linear formation. New weapons such as tanks, rocket
launchers, airplanes, submarines, aircraft carriers, and chemical weapons
were used on battlefields. Air forces, navies, armored forces, engineering
corps, and marines appeared subsequently.
4.1.2.2 Contemporary Western Military Revolution
This includes a number of military elements of which every Western
country has a similar understanding. Research from America, namely the
thesis proposed in the American Defense Report in 1997 that could be
summarized into “three innovations and two transformations”, has become
the mainstream—new weapons, theories, and organizational structure, and
transformations in how war and military action are undertaken.
Innovation in Military Technology
Military revolution often starts with military technological innovation. The
major breakthrough in military technology, which promoted weapons and
equipment systems and changed the means by which war could be waged,
was the direct material basis for a military revolution. With the rapid
development and wide application of information technology, the
technology
invested in weapons and equipment is more and more sophisticated. Taking
the US Army as an example, more than half of its military equipment
system has achieved informatization with the successful application of
digital technology. The digital battlefield is characterized by high
transparency, fast information transmission, low military density, and strong
survivability.
The US military has focused on the development of intelligent ammuni-
tion, combat platforms, robots, and command systems.
102 G. XU ET AL.
Innovation in Military Theory
Innovative military theory is the soul of military transformation. Its
transformation plays a key role in military technological transformation and
revolution. It sets the direction, scale, and structure of army building and
determines the patterns both of wars and military educational training.
Innovation in Military Systems and Organization
Military systems and organization carry forward the use of advanced
military technology, weapon systems, and innovative military theory, and
combine military hardware and software. Transformation of military
systems and organization does not only focus on the expansion or reduction
in the size of armies, but also examines the optimized military structure. To
deal with all kinds of fighting forces and military operations,
modularization and integration have to be stressed. Modern combat
formations have tighter internal bonds, more flexible grouping methods,
and stronger combat capacity.
Changes of the Form of War
In the information era, because of the continuing improvements in
maneuverability, reconnaissance, surveillance, and precise attack, a large
number of precision-guided weapons have been developed. From
intelligence and reconnaissance, object localization, command and control,
to effect assessment, all can now be done very exactly. All-weather and all-
spectrum
high-tech surveillance systems allow commanders to reliably learn about
battlefield situations. Advanced global navigation systems can
automatically display three-dimensional coordinates, velocities, and precise
times regarding a target and also provide high-precision positioning
information. The fighting space is no longer limited to direct conflict areas,
but expanded to multi-dimensional areas such as land, sea, air, and space.
4.2 Modern Western Military technology
The improvements in technology have caused changes in weapons and
equipment, combat pattern, military theories, and culture. Intelligence
systems include an early-warning plane that has a number of integrated
technologies; new infantry fighting vehicles have combined functions,
such as air and chemical defense, reconnaissance, and communication;
hovercrafts perform well on water and on land; armed helicopters have
created an airborne army. These changes have led to the development of
different military concepts, thoughts, and culture.
WESTERN MILITARY CULTURE 103
According to its function, modern military technology can be divided
into precision-guided technology, including missiles, guided bombs, and
guided shells; automated command technology, such as control,
communication, computers, and intelligence; reconnaissance and
surveillance technology, including space (using satellites), aerial (early-
warning planes), ground (radar), and underwater reconnaissance (sonar);
camouflage and
stealth technology; night-vision technology, which breaks the barrier of
darkness; military laser technology, such as laser weapons and laser range
finders; electronic warfare technology, mainly aiming to control the elec-
tromagnetic spectrum; military aerospace technology, which is applied to
reconnaissance, surveillance, early warning, communications, navigation,
and weather forecasts with the help of remote sensors, observation
equipment, communications equipment, and weapon systems deployed in
space; nuclear weapon technology; chemical weapon technology; and bio-
logical weapon technology. There are also new-concept weapons involving
directed energy, kinetic energy, and anti-materiel (against military
equipment instead of enemy combatants) features.
4.2.1 An Overview of Precision-Guided Weapons
Precision-guided weapons, whose direct hit probability is higher than
50%, include a variety of missiles, guided bombs, artillery shells, and
torpedoes, and they have been used to attack tanks, aircrafts, ships, radars,
command centers, and bridges. A direct hit means that the circular error
probability is smaller than the lethal radius of the warhead.
During the Second World War, the Germans developed the V-1 missile
and V-2 missile to bomb London. Research into and the manufacturing of
precision-guided weapons leapt forward in the 1960s with the
improvements in technology, especially the rapid development of micro-
electronics and computer technology. The Vietnam War prompted the US
military to
develop guided weapons, and these were tested and improved in actual
combat. To attack the important target of Thanh Hoa Bridge near Hanoi, the
American Air Force dispatched fighter planes on more than 600 sorties and
dropped more than 5000 tons of conventional bombs, but thanks to
anti-aircraft defense from the ground, Thanh Hoa Bridge survived. Indeed,
eighteen aircrafts were shot down and thirty-nine were damaged. Finally,
the US military blew up the bridge by dispatching twelve fighter planes and
using new laser-guided bombs; what is more, no fighter planes were
damaged. Subsequently, the US military bombed twenty oil depots on the
banks of the Haiphong River and destroyed nineteen of them. Precision-
104 G. XU ET AL.
guided weapons shot to fame because of their success in the Vietnam War.
In October 1973, during the fourth Middle East War, the Egyptian Army
destroyed eighty-five Israeli tanks in five minutes and wiped out the Israeli
190th Armored Brigade by using Soviet-made wire- guided anti-tank
missiles. The Israeli Army hit back with US-style anti- tank missiles. In the
first three days, more than 300 tanks were damaged on both sides, 77% of
which were destroyed by anti-tank missiles. Since then, the words
“precision-guided weapons” have been indelibly recorded in the world’s
military history. In the 1980s, with the rapid development and wide
application of information technology, micro-electronics, and photonics
technology,
more types of precision-guided weapons were developed.
4.2.2 Classification of Precision-Guided Weapons
Precision-guided weapons may be divided into precision-guided missiles
and precision-guided munitions. A precision-guided missile is a weapon
that relies on its own power to move forward, with a guidance system
controlling its flight trajectory. Precision-guided munitions have locational
devices but no internal power unit.
4.2.2.1 Guided Missiles
Missiles are generally composed of a warhead, propulsion system, control
system, and a body. Lacking one of these elements, they cannot be called
missiles. According to their operational tasks, they can be divided into
strategic and tactical missiles. The strike range of strategic missiles is
usually more than 1000 kilometers. According to range, they can be divided
into international (>8000 kilometers), long-range (3000–8000 kilometers),
and medium-range missiles (1000–3000 kilometers). They adopt stellar
guidance (the use of angular measurements (sights) between celestial bodies
and the visible horizon to locate one’s position in the world, on land as well
as at sea) and radar-related terminal guidance, and have high-performance
independent warheads to raise hit accuracy and viability. Tactical missiles
are those with a range of under 1000 kilometers that are used to attack
targets deep inside enemy territory. They often adopt inertial or composite
guidance with conventional, nuclear, or chemical warheads.
According to the relationship between launch point and target, missiles can
be divided into:
• land-to-land missiles, launched from the ground to attack ground
targets;
WESTERN MILITARY CULTURE 105
• land-to-air missiles, launched from the ground to attack air targets;
• shore-to-ship missiles, launched from the shore to attack ships;
• air-to-air missiles, launched from the air to attack air targets;
• air-to-land missiles, launched from the air to attack ground targets;
• air-to-ship missiles, launched from the air to attack on-water
targets;
• air-to-submarine missiles, launched from the air to attack
submarines;
• ship-to-ship missiles, launched from ships to attack on-water
targets;
• ship-to-submarine missiles, launched from ships to attack
submarines;
• ship-to-air missiles, launched from ships to attack air targets;
• submarine-to-submarine missiles, launched from submarines to
attack submarines;
• submarine-to-ship missiles, launched from submarines to attack
ships;
• submarine-to-land missiles, launched from submarines to attack
ground targets.
With the development of space technology, the potential distance
between launch point and target has expanded significantly. Missiles using
space platforms as launching points to attack targets have appeared,
examples being anti-satellite missiles and space-based intercepting
weapons.
4.2.2.2 Guided Bombs
Guided bombs, launched from aircraft, include a guidance device that can
control its trajectory and guide it to targets. Unlike a missile, a guided bomb
has no power device in itself, and relies on the initial velocity given by the
aircraft. With the help of guidance equipment, a guided bomb can correct
flight deviation automatically until it hits its target. With a simple structure
and low cost, a guided bomb can be used to destroy air defense systems,
artillery, tanks, armored vehicles, bridges, rugged construction facilities,
and airport runways. Currently there are TV-guided and laser- guided
bombs.
A television-guided bomb is equipped with a television camera, by
which the pilot can observe the position of a target. When the aircraft is a
certain distance away from the target, the bomb is dropped. The tracker
system tracks targets automatically and corrects any trajectory deviation to
guide the bomb. It has high hit accuracy but is weather-sensitive. Equipped
with a laser seeker, a laser-guided bomb adopts semi-automatic homing
106 G. XU ET AL.
guidance, which fires a laser beam at targets. The seeker in the front of the
warhead catches the reflected laser from the target surface, and then
controls and guides the warhead toward the target. Owing to excellent
directivity and tiny divergence of the laser beam, the accuracy of laser-
guided bombs is quite high. They are costly, but their combat effectiveness
is dozens or even hundreds of times higher than that of traditional bombs.
4.2.2.3 Guided Artillery Shells
Launched by ground artillery, a guided artillery shell is mainly used to
attack armored targets. It is composed of a seeker, electronic components,
control devices, and the warhead. While the shell flies to the target area, the
seeker tracks the target automatically. By calculation and correction of the
electronic control system, the warhead can attack small targets, such as
armored targets, bunkers, and firing points.
There are three kinds of guided artillery shells. First is the semi-
automatic laser-guided artillery shell, such as the “Copperhead,” which was
made by the USA in the 1980s. Its hitting accuracy is within 1 meter.
Guided artillery shells can hit tanks, aircraft, and ships accurately at a
distance of 40 to 90 kilometers. Second is the millimeter-wave guided
artillery shell, such as the “Saddam” system developed by the USA and the
“Merlina” system developed by the UK. The three warheads carried by
this shell use a 35 GHz radiometer as passive homing guidance. After the
artillery shell is fired, the fuse delay controls the warhead to the target. On
the warhead there hangs a vortex-shaped parachute that can rotate
automatically and scan targets. When it aims at the center of the target, the
warhead detonates. Third is the infrared homing guided artillery shell, such
as the “Manchester Lux” made by Sweden. The artillery shell is usually
launched by mortars at a distance of 8 kilometers. When the artillery shell
reaches its highest point of trajectory, the infrared seeker starts to search
targets. Once it receives the infrared ray emitted by targets, the seeker will
lock itself, and the artillery shell will then fly to the target under the control
of the guidance system.
4.2.2.4 Guided Torpedoes
Guided torpedoes are offensive underwater weapons launched by subma-
rines and ships to perform anti-submarine and anti-ship missions. Missiles
are the main weapons in long-distance anti-ship combat, but in the field of
underseas warfare torpedoes are of prime importance. Tracking targets by
taking advantage of the sound of moving targets, guided torpedoes initially
adopted passive voice and wired guidance and later active voice and
WESTERN MILITARY CULTURE 107
active and passive combined guidance. The current (up to the year of
2017) operating distance of active voice is 1700 meters while the distance
of passive voice is 2500 meters. To enhance their anti-jamming capability,
modern guided torpedoes often adopt a multi-frequency system. Taking
advantage of pulse code and spectral analysis, guided torpedoes can
distinguish true from false target signals in the complex marine
environment.
Wire-guided torpedoes appeared in the 1960s. They take advantage of a
sonar system to make up for the shortcomings of shortening sound guid-
ance distances at high speed. Initially there was one-way transmission but
now it is mostly two-way. They operate by remote-control and use teleme-
try, while optical fiber is used instead of copper wire to reduce signal
attenu-ation over long distances. Wake-guided torpedoes are powerful
weapons in attacking ships. The changes in bubbles, water pressure, and
temperature generated by the disturbance of propellers can guide torpedoes.
4.2.3 The Influence of Precision-Guided Weapons
Appearing during the Second World War, precision-guided weapons,
known as “smart weapons” or “smart bombs,” were very successful from
the 1960s, although their development goes back to the 1940s.
4.2.3.1 Improved Operational Efficiency
According to statistics, during the Second World War the circular error
probability of a B-17 bomber was 1000 meters, and it needed 9000 bombs
on average to destroy one target. During the Vietnam War, the circular error
probability of the F-105D fighter-bomber was 100 meters and it
needed 200 bombs on average to hit one target. During the Gulf War, the
circular error probability of the F-117 stealth aircraft was 1–2 meters and it
needed only one or two bombs to blow up one target. The probability of
destroying a tank with a “Copperhead” homing guided artillery shell is the
same as that of 2500 general artillery shells.
In June 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon. Under the cover of electronic-
interference equipment, the Israeli Army made an air attack on Beqaa
Valley with a variety of air-to-ground precision-guided weapons. They
destroyed nineteen “Sam-6” anti-aircraft missile bases in just six minutes.
In the subsequent Beqaa air combat with Syrian Army, Israeli advanced
air-to-air missiles helped them to obtain the impressive record of 50:0. In
the Gulf War and Iraq War, precision-guided weapons became essential
firepower. According to incomplete statistics, the precision-guided
weapons’ probability of hitting targets was 85% and the probability of
destroy-
108 G. XU ET AL.
ing targets was 64.8%. Therefore, from the effect in actual combat, its value
is far more evident than that of nuclear deterrence. Precision-guided
weapons have played an important role in unbalanced military conflicts.
4.2.3.2 New Combat Theory
Precision-guided weapons brought changes to combat instruments, theo-
ries, and methods. Non-contact wars are the main combat form of con-
temporary wars. Precision-guided weapons make long-range precision
strike a reality. In the Iraq War, air-launched cruise missiles were thousands
of kilometers away and Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from the sea
by the US Army hit the intended targets; the global positioning system
(GPS) guidance system can work independently in harsh weather and the
millimeter wave guidance system was hardly affected by clouds and dust;
the Patriot air defense missile system can simultaneously track fifty to a
hundred aerial targets and simultaneously control nine missiles to attack
incoming targets from different directions and heights.
“Surgical strike” became a common military means that was adopted
by powerful nations. In April 1986, in the air-strike action on the Libyan
“Golden Valley,” American F-111 fighters and carrier-based attackers
conducted a surgical” strike to five targets on the ground. The military
purpose was reached in twelve minutes. The size of battlefields was
expanded and the boundary between front and rear was blurred. The
striking range of precision-guided weapons was far beyond the definition of
a traditional front. Hand-to-hand fighting on the front was reduced
significantly and battlefields were no longer fixed. In the Gulf War, there
were more than 1.2 million troops and 8000 tanks. However, ground
fighting lasted for only 100 hours and no large-scale infantry fighting or
tank warfare
occurred, for the armored troops of the Iraqi Army had already been
destroyed by the missiles of the multinational force. The Iraq War lasted for
only three weeks. American and British forces occupied Baghdad and won
the war with no serious resistance, and this was inseparable from the heavy
use of precision-guided weapons.
4.2.3.3 Political Benefits
The relationship between contemporary war and domestic politics is
intimate. A lot of national leaders have stepped down because of a poor
record and heavy casualties in wartime. Precision-guided weapons have
provided the technical conditions for quick victories and minimal casualties
on the battlefield. Precision-guided weapons are aimed the enemy’s war
machine, and can force a surrender. Precision-guided weapons can
significantly
WESTERN MILITARY CULTURE 109
reduce civilian casualties and the destruction of infrastructure. This is
effective in winning public support and trust in politics and diplomacy, and
for the world economic order in general.
4.3 Western Military thought
Military thought, an important part of military culture, is rational
knowledge about wars and the army, representing the guiding theory and
basic principles for national defense and army-building. Representatives of
ancient Western military thoughts are those promulgated by the ancient
Greek city-states and the Roman Empire. The military practice of the
ancient Greek military commander Epaminondas, the Macedonian king
Alexander III, the Carthaginian military commander Hannibal, and mili-
tary masterpieces such as Herodotus’ History, Thucydides’ History of the
Peloponnesian War, and Xenophon’s Expedition reflect military thoughts in
some ancient European countries. There is clear analysis of the relationship
between war and politics and diplomacy, operational strategy, tactics, and
military construction. In the seventeenth century, with the rapid
development of capitalism in Europe and America, the industries that
developed produced a large number of new weapons. The Renaissance
and the bourgeois revolution quickened the formation of new classes and
the development of ethnic relations. They also changed war and
construction of armies from form to content. In the twentieth century, with
the expansion in the scale of war, Western military thoughts became more
sophisticated. For example, theories about the navy led to the rapid
development of shipbuilding and marine technology. Later, theories about
the air force and tank design produced important impacts on the
development of military technology and weapons.
4.3.1 Modern Western Military Thought
Modern Western military thought originated in Europe. During the
Renaissance, there was sign of its modernization. The main magnum opus
is The Art of War by the Italian Niccolò Machiavelli in 1521. This book
suggests that in order to consolidate their rule countries must focus on war,
improve military strength, and implement compulsory military service. In
the seventeenth century, some bourgeois military thinkers put forward
revolutionary military thoughts. These were embodied in
Clausewitz’s On War and Jomini’s The Art of War. The books summarized
Napoleonic war experience and were the mark of the establishment
110 G. XU ET AL.
of European modern bourgeois military thought. Compared with ancient
Western military thought, modern military thought has different focuses.
4.3.1.1 Theorization
In ancient Western military thought, there were few specialized military
theoretical writings. Rational knowledge about wars and armies was
scattered, often mixed into historical works (such as Histories about the
Greco- Persian Wars by Herodotus, History of the Peloponnesian War by
Thucydides, The Anabasis of Alexander by Arrian of Nicomedia, and
Commentaries on the Gallic War by Julius Caesar). Early in the first
century, Strategems complied by the Roman Frontinus, tried to break the
space–time structure of traditional history works, but it did not succeed.
At the end of the fourth century, the publication of Concerning Military
Matters, written by the Roman Vegetius, ended the sequence of conflict-ing
military writings and historical works. A large number of military
theoretical writings emerged in the modern West, such as Jomini’s The Art
of War and Clausewitz’s On War. In the seventeenth century, owing to the
rapid development of modern science, a research method relying
mainly on “observation, experiment, collecting and accumulating mate-
rial” gradually took form. What is more, the development of classical
philosophy provided a basis and tools for the research of military thought.
For example, by using the analysis method from Hegelian philosophy,
Clausewitz reached new heights in explaining the reorganization of war.
The comprehensive discussion of the relationship between war and poli-
tics, the profound understanding of the role of spirit, the analysis of
offensive and defensive contradiction, and the elaborate study of winning
factors were the outstanding achievements of modern Western military
thought. In his introduction to The Art of War, Jomini demonstrated many
basic military principles and rules and proposed a variety of factors
determining the success or failure of wars.
4.3.1.2 Systematization and Diversification
In ancient times and the Middle Ages, although there were such military
works as Strategems and Concerning Military Matters, the understanding of
war was not systematic. What is more, cold weapon war and simple
combat patterns revealed the lack of systematization and integrity. In the
eighteenth century, the British-born soldier Major-General Henry Lloyd
made a great contribution, writing the first analytical military history.
While summing up the experience of war, Clausewitz and Jomini system-
atically analyzed and researched the basic issues in the military field.
WESTERN MILITARY CULTURE 111
4.3.2 Contemporary Western Military Thought
Military theory is closely related to the development of the practice of war.
In the twentieth century, technology, complex international relations, and
numerous wars developed. Historically, there are two ways to win wars:
first, by reckless fighting; second, by non-violence or violence plus non-
violence, especially by taking advantage of resources. Contemporary
Western military thought is composed of a series of interconnected basic
military strategic perspectives. “Direct military route” strategic thought can
be divided into sea power, air power, nuclear weapon theories, mechanized
war theory, and total war strategic theory. “Indirect military route”
strategic thought can be divided into alliance and deterrence strategies.
The ultimate goal of these strategies is to crush the enemy’s will. The
development of contemporary Western military thought has experienced
three different historical periods.
4.3.2.1 The Hot War Period
The hot war period refers to the time from the early twentieth century to the
end of the Second World War. In the first half of the twentieth century,
humans experienced two world wars of unprecedented scale, which caused
nearly 100 million casualties and huge property losses. To realize their
strategic goals, countries in the West developed new military thought,
weapons, and equipment to meet the needs of war. With heavy use of
tanks, airplanes, and ships, the pace of war accelerated. On the basis of
summarizing the experience of war, military theorists put forward new
strategic theories and military thoughts.
As early as the end of the nineteenth century, the importance of the
ocean aroused attention from Western militarists. The US naval officer
Alfred Thayer Mahan was the most prominent US strategist, conducting
strategic research into naval battles and proposing the theory of sea power.
The core of this is that sea power, especially its major traffic related to
national interests and trade, is the main factor for a powerful and prosperous
nation. The theory attracted little attention from the Western military
community when it was first put forward, but it caused a sensation in
academia. After the First World War, the significant impact of naval
operations led Western countries to recognize the theory’s significance. It
was followed by theories about the use of aircraft carriers and submarines.
In 1903, the successful powered flight made by the American Wright
brothers marked the coming of the aviation age. The invention aroused
great attention among a number of Western militarists, including the Italian
112 G. XU ET AL.
Giulio Douhet, the American William “Billy” Mitchell and the British Sir
Hugh Trenchard. Douhet foresaw that planes would dominate future war.
With sharp military vision, he boldly proposed the air power theory: he
believed that countries with air supremacy would win wars and that the
losing sides would have to accept any conditions imposed by their con-
querors. This new military thought was verified by the Second World War.
In the early twentieth century, the advent of tanks and armored combat
vehicles changed military theory and brought forth the mechanization
theory, which was made full use of by the armies of Western countries
during the Second World War.
During the interwar period, military thought changed a lot. One of the most
representative theories was that of “total war,” a strategy put forward by the
German general and strategist Erich Ludendorff. In 1935, his book The
Total War skillfully combined theories about land, marine and air fighting,
and boldly proposed the new idea of-total war—the core of which was to
mobilize all available strength, both the army and the general public, to
participate in wars. This became the core military thought during the
Second World War and was applied by Nazi generals. The Blitzkrieg theory,
which included both tactics and strategy, was equally influential. This
theory was first proposed by the German Marshal Alfred von Schlieffen
during the war against France during the late nineteenth century and was
used by
Germany in the First World War. Learning from military theories that
concerned air power, mechanization, and total war, Heinz Guderian and
other generals came up with a new strategy concept early in the Second
World War: that with the co-operation of aircraft and airborne troops, troops
in armed vehicles could raid the enemy’s rear lines in high-speed attacks.
This theory initially brought tremendous success to German troops.
During the hot war period, especially after the First World War, wars
were becoming increasingly complex, involving politics, economy, the
military, technology, and diplomacy. It was difficult to solve conflicts
between nations simply by military force. Under this context, the British
strategic theorist Liddell Hart proposed the indirect route strategy theory,
which was a big step forward for Western military strategic thought. He
also proposed the “grand strategy,” expanding military strategy to a
discipline that encompassed many fields.
In addition, every Western country had to strengthen its military superiority
over neighboring countries to safeguard its own interests. The alliances
strategy was gradually formed, the core of which was a focus on
collective security. However, owing to the constraints of science and
technology, military exchanges and alliances between countries were
restricted.
WESTERN MILITARY CULTURE 113
The First World War was the first world-scale war between the Central
Powers, formed by Germany, Austria, and Italy, and the Entente coun-
tries, formed by Britain, France, and Russia, redividing colonies and
spheres of influence to assure world hegemony.
4.3.2.2 The Cold War Period
The Cold War period started at the end of the Second World War and
ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union. After the Second World
War, and considering the effect of two world wars, the Western coun-
tries concluded that it was necessary to organize certain military alliances to
ensure national security. Therefore, early in the post-war
period, Western countries continued to pursue this strategy and estab-
lished two military alliance systems, the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO) and the Warsaw Pact, formally the Treaty of
Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance. The purpose of these
two organizations was to carry out “collective defense,” which meant
that when any contracting state went to war with other countries, other
member states must offer assistance, including the use of military force.
In fact, the field of co-operation between the two unions was not lim-
ited to military alliance, but also included economy and politics. Later these
two unions became tools of the USA and the Soviet Union, both
of which were aiming at world hegemony.
During the Cold War, the most representative military thought in
Western countries was the nuclear deterrence theory. The huge military
effect produced by the nuclear strikes on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
prompted Western strategists to recognize the enormous power of nuclear
weapons; and then countries competed in developing nuclear weapons
and pursuing nuclear deterrence. During the Cold War, the US (or
NATO) nuclear strategy had five stages: containment, massive retaliation,
flexible response, actual deterrence, and new flexible response. Through
implementing this strategy, Western countries had a lengthy nuclear arm
race with the Warsaw Pact, led by the Soviet Union. The race weakened
the Soviet Union’s economic strength, eventually dragging it down.
In the late 1970s, with the rapid development of micro-electronics,
new materials, new energy sources, and space technology, Western coun-
tries started to research and develop space weapons. A space race with the
Soviet Union was launched, proposing the “high frontier” military strategy,
stressing strategic defense as being “the perfect way to protect
American deterrence.” The direct result of this strategy was the Reagan
administration’s “strategic defense initiative,” which was known as the
114 G. XU ET AL.
“Star Wars” program. On June 10, 1984, the USA launched a missile
from a South Pacific island that successfully hit the warhead of a multiple
warhead international missile that had been fired from Vandenberg Air
Force Base in California to an altitude of 160 kilometers. This was the
beginning of “Star Wars”. To implement the program, the United States
invested $35 billion. The Soviet Union invested tens of billions of dollars to
fight the program, severely weakening its national strength.
4.3.2.3 Post-Cold War Period
East European upheaval and Soviet disorganization marked the end of the
Cold War, which lasted for more than forty years. After a careful analysis of
the new strategic environment, Western military strategists realized that in
this period the most critical issue was to identify an imaginary enemy that
threatened Western countries’ national interests. They started to develop
new strategic approaches, for example, the USA adjusting its
national security strategy while continuing to pursue the nuclear deterrence
strategy. A regional defense strategy was proposed in 1992, based on the
idea that there was no strong opponent to compete with the United
States, yet non-military threats were increasing. After Bill Clinton took
power in 1993, the USA proposed flexibility and an optional participating
strategy. Then in 1997 a new military theory with trans-century
significance, “Shape, Respond, Prepare Now” was proposed by the USA.
In addition, Western countries further developed the alliance strategy theory
after the Cold War. The disintegration of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw
Pact plunged Central and Eastern Europe into a power vacuum,
so to protect their national interests some European countries that had
previously been members of the Warsaw Pact moved closer to NATO and
proposed the idea of joining. Western strategists in NATO put forward
NATO’s eastward expansion as a strategy, but NATO was reluctant to
discard the old mentality and enlarge upon the fruits of its victory in the
Cold War. With a new military revolution and changes in the world strategic
situation during the twenty-first century, Western countries actively
explored new military strategies that were in their own interests.
National Security as the Basic Starting Point
National interests, especially national security, are the starting point and
destination of military strategy. After the Cold War, the international
strategic situation changed dramatically. The security threat to NATO was
no longer in existence, so the USA and other Western countries adjusted
their national security strategies. Western countries have successively
WESTERN MILITARY CULTURE 115
proposed new-century national security strategic thoughts. For example, the
USA believed that, before 2015, no single country or group could
rival itself, so there emerged a so-called “period of strategic opportunities.”
According to this judgment, the USA realized that the focus of the new-
century strategy was to protect American global economic interests. This
was the “Shape, Respond, Prepare Now” strategy in action. “Shape”
means to participate in international affairs and closely combine military
action with diplomacy to create an advantageous environment for the
USA; “Respond” is to improve military capabilities by preventing and
coping with a variety of local conflicts; “Prepare Now” is to prepare for
unpredictable major challenges. Other Western countries also made
timely strategic adjustments.
Strategic Alliance Thought Playing a Greater Role
During the Cold War, most of the unions established among Western
countries were military–political alliances whose major mission was to
guarantee security through military deterrence. But with the end of the Cold
War, these unions turned to political-military alliance. Western military
thought emphasizes alliance and regional co-operation, joint security
responsibilities, rational power use, and group security. NATO proposed the
“NATO new strategy” concept, which is a US-led, globally oriented
military strategy. In the new century, Western countries’ alliance strategy is
more aggressive, and NATO will become the master of Europe. The
current military forces including Russia cannot compete with it as they did
in the Cold War period. In the Kosovo crisis of 1998–1999, NATO took
a tough attitude and upgraded its military presence to the extent of invading
a sovereign state, which was unprecedented before the end of the Cold War.
This all shows that in the new century the strategy of the Western alliance is
more aggressive than before.
Strategic Information Becoming the Focus
In 1995, the US Department of Defense commissioned the famous strate-
gic research think-tank the Rand Corporation to conduct research into
“information war.” The Rand Corporation proposed a “strategic informa-
tion war” in 1996. It affirmed the important role of information domi-
nance in future high-tech wars and new-century military conflicts. This
involves the manipulation of the information flow in networks, destroying
the enemy’s telephone network, oil and gas pipelines and other power
networks, air traffic control system, national fund transfer, bank transfer
system, and so on. Because the targets could hold information about a
116 G. XU ET AL.
country’s basic structure, military, politics, economy, and society, the
information war is strategic and powerful. Taking advantage of superiority
in information, American military force can ensure its leading role in the
twenty-first century. The strategic information war challenges traditional
military strategic thought, and it is foreseeable that theories about the
information war could change military strategy in the twenty-first century.
bibliograPhy
Buzan, Barry. 2001. The Arms Dynamic in World Politics. Changchun: Jilin
People’s Publishing House.
Chang Qiaozhang. 2004. New Concepts in the Military Revolution. Beijing:
Chinese People’s Liberation Army Publishing House.
Gu Wei. 2004. Military Technology and Revolution in Military Affairs.
Shanghai: Fudan University Press.
Li Shenming, and Wang Yizhou. 2001. Yellow Book of International
Politics: Annual Report on International Politics and Security. Beijing:
Social Sciences Academic Press.
Nie Yunlai, and Li Xiaodong. 2004. Annual Report on World Military
Development.
Beijing: Military Science Publishing House.
Niu Xianzhong. 2003. Three Expositions of Military Science of Sun Zi:
From the Ancient Art of War to New Strategies. Nanning: Guangxi Normal
University Press.
O’Hanlon, Michael. 2001. Technological Change and the Future of
Warfare.
Beijing: Xinhua Publishing House.
Shen Weiguang. 2003. The Lead in the Future Warfare: Information-Based
Army.
Beijing: Xinhua Publishing House.
Slipchenko, Vladimir. 2004. The Sixth Generation War. Beijing: Xinhua
Publishing House.
Wang Baocun. 1999. The World Military Affairs Revolution. Beijing:
Chinese People’s Liberation Army Publishing House.
Wang Yue. 2004. A Course in National Defense Technology and Military
Affairs.
Harbin: Harbin Engineering University Press.
Xu Guobin. 2007. Military Theory Course. Guangzhou: Guangdong
People’s Publishing House.
Xue Guoan, and Wang Hai. 2004. Answers to the Hot Issues on the World
Military Affairs Revolution. Beijing: Chinese People’s Liberation Army
Publishing House.
Zhang Zhixue. 1994. The Chinese Micropedia (Military Science). Chengdu:
Sichuan Education Press.
Zhang Xiaoxiang, and Zhang Yiren. 2005. Modern Technology and
Warfare.
Beijing: Tsinghua University Press.
CHAPTER 5
Education System
5.1 History
5.1.1 Primary and Secondary Education
5.1.1.1 Emergence of School System
School systems in Western culture emerged as early as the Archaic Period
(800–500 bc), when private schools for grammar, music, and physical
culture (gymnasiums) arose in Athens, in ancient Greece. During the
Classical Period (500–330 bc), what are recognized today as institutions of
secondary or higher education were created by famous scholars such as
Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.
Hellenistic Greece (330–30 bc) witnessed the establishment of secondary
grammar schools that studied classical plays and poems as well as grammar
and natural sciences. In the same period, a more formal and coherent
system was shaped in Athens, which, much like the one predominating in
modern society, included three tiers of education—primary, secondary, and
higher.
In the Roman Republic (509–27 bc), a dual-track system came into
being, under which the plebs and the patricians attended school in two
different systems: children of the rank and file went to extremely shabby
primary schools, while those from noble and rich families progressed from
primary tutorials at home to secondary grammar schools, and then to
higher rhetorical schools.
© The Author(s) 2018
117
G. Xu et al. (eds.), K. Chen et al. (trans.), Understanding Western Culture,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-8150-7_5
118 G. XU ET AL.
5.1.1.2 Rise of Modern Primary and Secondary Schools
In the Middle Ages ( c. 500–1500), formal schooling mostly fell under the
control of the Church and was largely the purview of monasteries,
cathedrals, and parishes, primarily aiming to train clergymen for holy
orders. In the sixteenth century, when the Protestant Reformation (1517–
1648)
against the Roman Catholic Church dismantled the unity of medieval
European Christendom, the divided ecclesiastical denominations and
entities that broke from the stranglehold of Catholicism began to set up
larger numbers of primary schools to teach the common people to read,
using
this as a tool to preach their particular doctrines. Primary education was
therefore expanded to wider classes of people and much larger populations.
At the same time, in the wake of the Renaissance (fourteenth century to
seventeenth century), which brought about widespread and
far-reaching educational reforms, capitalist industry and commerce rose in
importance. In response to the changing society and the capitalists’
demand for a better education for their children, there appeared in Europe
new types of secondary schools, which, standing outside the traditional
monastery and cathedral system, may be recognized as the precursors of
modern secondary schools.
5.1.1.3 Establishment of National Education Systems
Germany
Germany was the first country in the world to establish a national education
system. In 1619, regulations were issued in Weimar stipulating
that all school-age children should attend school all year round and that
local government should take responsibility for urging parents to send their
children to school. This is recognized as initiating German compulsory
education. In 1872, the German government promulgated its
first general school law providing compulsory education for all children
from the age of six to fourteen, which increased primary school enroll-ment
in Germany to 100% by the end of the nineteenth century and
made it the world’s pioneer in promoting and practicing universal com-
pulsory education.
France
On the eve of the French Revolution of 1789, many French people were
influenced by Enlightenment thought. They criticized feudal monarchy and
EDUCATION SYSTEM 119
supported secularization and democratization in education. Secularization
of education involved the ending of the Church’s monopoly on education
and the establishment of a national education system; changing the social
function of education from serving the Church to serving the state; and
ensuring that religious preaching in schools was replaced by secular moral
education. The democratization of education urged the implementation of
universal education, extending educational rights to every citizen and at the
same time guaranteeing that men and women should enjoy equal
opportunities in education.
After the Revolution, Napoleon issued a decree that set up the Imperial
University, which, from January 1, 1809, was in charge of public instruction
throughout the France. The Imperial University was the highest
administrative authority, supervising and organizing every aspect of French
national education, with authority over the twenty-seven previously
independent universities (“académies”). A highly centralized educational
administration system is still in use today, remaining a unique feature of
French education.
In 1881 and 1882, the Jules Ferry Laws established mandatory educa-
tion for six to thirteen year olds as well as free public primary schooling.
In 1889, the School Act defined primary school teachers as being as
important as government functionaries. Under these laws and acts, in
France there was founded a system of free, mandatory, secular, public
education. By the end of the nineteenth century, French compulsory
primary education had benefited 100% of school-age children.
The USA
Since the late eighteenth century, the USA has been making continuous
attempts to tailor education to the needs of the nation. It first established a
non-sectarian, single-track, free, public, primary education system in the
nineteenth century. For example, in 1834 the Pennsylvania State Congress,
prior to other states, passed a non-compulsory free school act. In 1852,
Massachusetts enacted the first mandatory attendance law, the first in the
USA. Another historical event which was a turning point in American
education history was the famous Kalamazoo School Case, which occurred
in 1873–1874, in which a lawsuit was filed by three Kalamazoo citizens
who intended to prevent the local school board from taxing the citizens in
order to fund a high school; they failed. When the ruling in favor of the
school board was made by the Michigan Supreme Court, a tax-supported
120 G. XU ET AL.
high school was explicitly signed into law. This decision was soon cited by
many other states, and there was a surge in the number of publicly funded
high schools throughout the country. Thus was a universal public school
system shaped in the USA.
5.1.1.4 Foundation and Institutionalization of Vocational Education
Germany
Germany also led the way in vocational education. In the early eighteenth
century, the growing industry, commerce, and urbanized lifestyle that all
demanded practical knowledge gave rise to a new type of school, the
Realschule, which focused on practical sciences and expertise. They
reached their most rapid growth in the mid-eighteenth century.
In the years between 1760 and 1840, the Western world witnessed the
Industrial Revolution, which, dominated by mechanized production and
changing employment relationships, promoted technical and vocational
education and training, but failed to make them an officially indispensable
part of the national school education system.
It was in the twentieth century that vocational education was institu-
tionalized in most Western countries. For example, in 1919 the French
parliament ratified the Vocational Technical Education Bill, historically
referred to as the Charter of Technical Education. Since then, the French
government has repeatedly promulgated supplementary statutes to perfect a
system of technical and vocational education. Similar to France, Britain
issued the Butler Education Act in 1944. Consequently, technical secondary
schools began to share an equal position with other schools, and they were
included in the main body of the British education
system.
At the end of the nineteenth century, a variety of high schools were
established in the USA for different purposes: industrial, agricultural,
commercial, polytechnic, and so on. At first, these schools were unequal in
status, regarded as less worthwhile than general public schools. To
eliminate this imbalance, in 1918 the Commission on the Reorganization of
Secondary Education issued the “Cardinal Principles of Secondary
Education,” which required both general and vocational aspects in sec-
ondary education and the establishment of comprehensive schools for
instruction in a range of subjects across the academic, liberal, and
vocational spectrum. Following these principles, in the 1920s various
specialized
EDUCATION SYSTEM 121
middle schools were converted into comprehensive high schools that
embraced all curricula in a single unified organization.
In the first half of the twentieth century, most Western countries
enacted legislation to define and regulate vocational education, making it an
indispensable part of national education systems and one of the major
impetuses for social production and economy growth.
5.1.1.5 Formation and Development of Modern Primary
and Secondary School Systems
Western modern primary and secondary school systems were shaped in
the mid-nineteenth century and were basically institutionalized in the mid-
twentieth century, with dual-track and single-track systems
developing.
The dual-track system comprised two educational systems which were
separated from and unrelated to each other, serving children of the ruling
classes and of the lower classes respectively. Some European countries such
as the UK, France and Germany were historically typical in their
implementation of such a system. For this reason, it was also referred to as
the European or Western European system. In the above-mentioned three
countries, the system serving the ruling classes was developed first, made
up of secondary and higher schools. Grammar schools in the UK, French
national schools, and German liberal arts schools all fell into this category.
The system for the masses, on the other hand, was mainly made up of
primary schools for elementary instruction and secondary schools for
vocational education. Primary schools could trace their origin to the
medieval schools founded in Western Europe by the burghers who were
becom-
ing more prominent in the increasingly important cities and newly founded
population centers. Secondary schools, such as the Realschule of Germany
and the modern schools of England and France, however, were built up by
the emerging bourgeoisie during the first Industrial Revolution, which
taught the mother tongue, basic knowledge of modern sciences, and
modern foreign languages. Unfortunately, until the beginning of the
twentieth century governments in most cases neither recognized the
secondary schools as formal educational institutions nor admitted their
pupils as qualified candidates for higher education.
To improve the situation, in the first half of the twentieth century the UK,
France, Germany, and some other Western countries set a goal to
establish a single-track school system, which was basically achieved around
the Second World War.
122 G. XU ET AL.
The single-track school system covered several stages of national
education. Citizens in principle had equal opportunities to receive education
at every stage, and had equal access to schools with the same quality of
services. Such a system played an important role in guaranteeing equal
education opportunities. The USA was one of the countries that employed
such a system, so the single-track system is also referred to as the
American-style system.
5.1.1.6 Diversification of Secondary Education
After the mid-twentieth century, in response to the diversification in
industrial structures, the branch-type school system was created to cultivate
varied types and levels of talents.
A branch-type system is one that introduces a single and uniform ele-
mentary and partial secondary system for all children, after which the
system is diversified into a variety of grade-level configurations or streams.
The system formed in this way is like a fork, so it is also called the fork-
system. One example is US grade-level schools. After the Second World
War, several reforms were made in the USA and, succeeding the 8–4 plan
that dominated the country from the 1920s to the 1950s and the 6–6
plan that followed, the 6–3–3 pattern was formed, covering six years of
elementary school, three years of middle school, and another three years of
high school. This plan began to bloom in many other countries after the
Second World War and was developed into different variations or
schemes in the USA, such as 5–3–4, 4–4–4, and 6–2–4 patterns.
Meanwhile, in Britain, on the other hand, four major types of public
secondary schools were established: grammar schools, technical schools,
secondary modern schools, and comprehensive schools; in France general
high schools, technical high schools, and vocational high schools
developed; and in Germany there were four distinct tracks: the
Hauptschule, Realschule, Gesamtschule, and Gymnasium.
5.1.2 Higher Education
5.1.2.1 Enriched Discipline
Western higher education may date back to ancient Greece, when poets
and natural philosophers began to impart their doctrines and theories to
their students. Akademia, founded by Plato in 387 bc, for example, was a
place for himself and his students to study and research philosophy and to
EDUCATION SYSTEM 123
carry out group activities; this is believed to be the origin of ancient
Western higher education.
In the first century bc, institutions focusing on rhetoric began to take form.
Their curricula were partially adopted by some of the universities that were
organized in the medieval period.
After the Roman Empire split, the Eastern Roman Empire became the
center of higher education. In 425 ad the University of Constantinople was
founded, offering a variety of higher learning.
5.1.2.2 Establishment of the Basic University Structure
It is generally believed that the establishment we call a university today was
first founded in medieval Italy and France, and gradually spread to other
regions, such as Britain, in the Late Middle Ages.
In the late eleventh century, crowds of eager students from many parts of
Europe headed for Bologna in northern Italy to study law. They banded
themselves into various unions and associations divided by language and
ethnicity, then recruited masters and scholars; and eventually in 1088 the
University of Bologna was created, autonomously administrated by
students. It is recognized as the first independent legal higher education
entity.
However, the University of Paris, which took shape between 1150 and
1170 and was characterized both by discipline-based organizational and
administrative units (faculties) and by a wider variety of courses such as
liberal arts, law, medicine, and theology, among which theology was the
highest and liberal arts was preparatory for the others, is more widely
regarded as the mother of European universities and the archetype of all
other medieval universities throughout Northern Europe.
Different from those on the European continent, the medieval universi-
ties in the UK, typically the University of Oxford founded in 1185 and the
University of Cambridge established in the early thirteenth century, took
colleges as their essential teaching and administrative units. At first these
were boarding and lodging houses arranged for poor students, then they
gradually developed into places where teachers and students of the same
discipline lived, taught, and studied, and later they became autonomous or
semi-autonomous academic bodies, equipped with libraries,
accommodation, and dining halls, as well as teaching facilities. In the
sixteenth century, colleges became autonomous institutions specializing in
teaching. Except for the privilege of awarding degrees, the universities at
this time had no right to interfere in the administrative affairs of their
colleges.
124 G. XU ET AL.
In conclusion, by the end of the fifteenth century European universi-
ties embodied four chief features. First, they enjoyed autonomy. Second,
permitting students and scholars to flow freely at least within Europe, they
were really international academic institutions. Third, with their strong
religious overtones, a large number of medieval universities were
dominated by the Christian Church. Fourth, the syllabus was typically
limited to four disciplines: liberal arts, law, theology, and medicine. The so-
called “liberal arts” covered both arts and sciences: grammar, rhetoric,
logic, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music. Completion of
liberal arts was a prerequisite for students who wanted to study the
other three disciplines.
5.1.2.3 Rise of Universities for Applied Sciences
In the first half of the eighteenth century, in response to the demands made
by the growth in national economies, institutions that aimed to
foster practical talents began to emerge in Western countries. France
and Germany were among the earliest countries in the world to open
such institutions.
France enjoyed a boom in economy and industry in the eighteenth
century. To drive the wheels of expanded production, a variety of
professionals and specialists were in great demand. In the meantime,
ambitions for colonies throughout the world put the nation in urgent need of
qualified servicemen. The government therefore decided to open up small
professional schools ( écoles spéciales) to cultivate applied talents that
would provide professional knowledge and production skills. These
schools were higher institutions established under the principle of imparting
a science, a skill, or a profession. Among the earliest were the Artillery
School (1720), the Road & Bridge School of Paris (1747), and the
School of Mines in Paris (1783). These schools, covering engineering,
business, administration, agriculture, and higher education in general,
initiated a new level of specialist training in France, and later they were
collectively referred to as the grandes écoles. Of these grandes écoles,
engineering institutions accounted for a large proportion, and as they stood
out for being prestigious and for training high-qualified engineers, they
were also called engineering schools. With the rise of education for
practical professionals, the domination of four disciplines (arts, law,
theology, and medicine) in higher learning, which had been the case in the
Western world since the Middle Ages, was broken.
EDUCATION SYSTEM 125
Late in this period, a large variety of specialized schools and technical
colleges, such as the Mine College, Berlin Technical Institute, the
Veterinary School, and Berlin Architecture School, were opened in
Germany, laying much weight on practical applications and concentrating
on training students to be capable technicians and administrators. By the
mid-nineteenth century, some of these schools had developed into
polytechnical schools or technological universities.
In the nineteenth century, cultivating qualified professionals became a
prestigious task for higher education in many Western countries. In 1826,
for example, London University was established in the UK. Theology was
dropped from the syllabus but a wide range of natural sciences and
engineering subjects were introduced, with a focus beginning on training
applied professionals. This ushered higher education in the UK into the
modern era.
Under the influence of London University, in the latter half of the
nineteenth century the UK witnessed the rise of city colleges to train
qualified commercial and industrial personnel, such as factory managers,
designers, industrial researchers, and sales forces.
Similar changes were made in the USA. After the American
Revolutionary War (1775–1783), voices that suggested building practical
studies became louder. The Military Academy at West Point and Rensselaer
Polytechnic were set up in 1802 and 1824 respectively, thus triggering the
reform of disciplines and specialties in traditional arts and science institutes.
Thereafter, professional and technical training was made part of American
higher education. A few decades later, responding to the industrial
revolution, the Morrill Act of 1862 was enacted, and accordingly federally
controlled land was granted to every state: this could be sold for funds to
establish and endow “land-grant” colleges, most of which ultimately
became large public universities.
5.1.2.4 Creation of the Research University
Under the leadership of Wilhelm von Humboldt, a liberal Prussian
educational reformer, the first Western research-oriented university was
founded in Germany in 1810, and given the name Humboldt University of
Berlin.
With ideas centered around the new humanism, such as independence of
academia, autonomous administration, academic freedom, the unity of
research and teaching, and the integration of the natural sciences, social
sciences, and humanities, the Humboldt University emphasized both
teaching and research and established an academic degree system that
granted PhD degrees, thus setting an example for other Western
universities.
126 G. XU ET AL.
Under the impact of this, the renowned yet traditional Cambridge and
Oxford decided to introduce natural sciences and scientific research into
their curricula, beginning the move to intensive academic specialization.
The German model also attracted students from all over the world,
especially from the USA, most of whom on returning to their own countries
became the main force behind the spread of modern German higher edu-
cation ideals—and the backbone of prestigious US universities such as
Harvard, Yale, Johns Hopkins, and Princeton.
5.1.2.5 Diversification in the Level and Structure of Higher Education After
the Second World War, the recovery and prosperity of social production and
economic construction promoted an unprecedented development
in higher education: the educational structure became more diversified and
more rational. A large number of non-traditional higher institutions
emerged: the French STS and IUT, the British polytechnic, the German
fachhochschule, the US community college, among others. Meanwhile, all
the higher institutions, traditional or non-traditional, were included in the
same system, with credits equally granted and interchanged.
Besides the STS and the IUT, which were short-run higher technical
programs, France established the master’s degree in 1966 for the universités
and the doctorate in the 1970s for the grandes écoles, the two long- term
institutions that made up the French dual system of higher education.
Like France, the UK also diversified its higher education structure.
After the Second World War, the British tradition which gave too much
emphasis to elite education changed with the increased demands of society
for practical talents. In 1963, the government issued the Robbins Report,
recommending the immediate expansion of universities and stating that all
post-secondary education should be regarded as higher education. In
1965, the UK further stated that the relatively autonomous traditional
university sector should co-exist with the predominantly public institutional
establishments (mostly technical colleges and colleges of education).
Thereafter thirty-one polytechnics were set up, mainly responsible for
training technical engineers. These offered more professionally oriented and
locally relevant courses, which created more chances for the students to
apply their knowledge in practice. At the start of the 1990s, all the
polytechnics were promoted to universities.
In the post-war years Germany, responding to economic and social
development, also put more weight on the cultivation of practical talents.
EDUCATION SYSTEM 127
With the Humboldt tradition broken, new types of universities such as
Ruhr-University Bochum and the University of Konstanz were established
in the 1960s and onwards. Meanwhile, vocational higher education was
enhanced and the “3+1” curriculum structure was defined: three years
learning theory at school and a one year internship in firms and factories.
Improvements were also made in the USA. At the turn of the twentieth
century, two-year junior colleges were established. The University of
Chicago took the lead in 1896 by defining the first two years of university
studies as “junior college,” and associate degrees were awarded from
1900. Following this, in 1907 the California State Legislature authorized
high schools to found local junior colleges. This triggered a nationwide
surge in the number of junior colleges, which stood apart secondary
schools and universities. In 1947, the President Commission Report titled
“Higher Education for Democracy” renamed junior colleges as commu-
nity colleges. In 1960, California initiated a tripartite system in its Master
Plan, which once again blazed a new trail ahead of other states.
5.1.2.6 Transdisciplinary Reforms
A further transition began in the 1980s, with transdisciplinary and multi-
disciplinary studies highlighted in higher education. In the UK, for
example, integrated curricula were set up: physics plus mathematics,
biology plus economics, and mechanical engineering plus French, for
example.
5.2 UniqUe FeatUres
The history of social development and educational traditions being different
from country to country, there are various education systems in
Western cultures. The unique features of five typical systems are sketched
in this section.
5.2.1 The UK: Diversified Secondary and Further Education
The UK system is quite complex, with lots of variants in different areas.
Mainly it covers early years, primary, secondary, further, and higher
education. Primary and secondary education is compulsory for all children
aged five (four in Northern Ireland) to sixteen years old, upon the
completion of which children (except those in Scotland) take GCSE
examinations,
and then move on to diversified options.
128 G. XU ET AL.
5.2.1.1 Secondary Education
A wide variety of secondary schools co-exist in the UK. Because of their
sources of funds, these schools can be broadly classified into two groups:
state-maintained schools and independent schools. State schools include
grammar schools, modern schools, technical schools, and comprehensive
schools, the last being the most common. The different types are
distinguished from each other in their tasks and purposes.
Almost all secondary schools in the UK provide both junior and senior
levels of secondary education, which, often covering three and two years
respectively, have no clear cut-off point in between. In general, what is
taught at school in the first three years is a broad base of mandatory
subjects, while in the fourth and fifth years most are selective courses for
GCSEs, which normally mark the end of compulsory education. However,
after taking GCSEs at sixteen, some pupils stay at school and choose to
study GCE A-level courses or more vocational qualifications. To meet the
needs of these pupils, many secondary (mostly grammar or comprehensive)
schools extend their service to seven years, spanning three consecutive
stages, the last of which, covering the final two years (Year 12 and Year
13), is for post-secondary further studies. In England and Wales, this stage
is commonly termed the sixth form.
5.2.1.2 Further Education
By law, children who have completed their GCSEs at the age of sixteen can
either leave school for work or continue into further education. Further
education in the UK is a general heading for a long list of post-compulsory
learning and training, ranging from very basic to university entrance level,
covering the required preparatory courses offered to sixteen- to eighteen-
year- old school children who plan to move on to college or university and
part-time or full-time career-based training for adults who are at work.
There are a wide variety of further education institutions in the
UK. They include sixth forms within secondary schools, independent
sixth-form colleges, and further education colleges.
Originally designed to prepare academically elite students who stayed
on in grammar schools to transit from secondary to higher education,
sixth forms are characterized mainly by specialized academic subjects that
most typically lead to A-level (or equivalent) qualifications, a prerequisite
for admission to colleges and universities.
Further education colleges, on the other hand, offer a wider range of
subjects to a greater diversity of population. Apart from full- or part-time
EDUCATION SYSTEM 129
academic programs, there are a long list of work-based training courses,
such as technology, craftsmanship, art and design, catering, engineering,
and finance, from which the students can choose more flexibly. Alongside
secondary school leavers, a further education college also serves
community members, on-the-job employees who hope to receive further
training, adults who want to enter a new career or return to school to study,
and those who want to develop new skills or specialties.
In institutions for further education, students are free to choose courses or
create their own selections. The most popular programs include
A-levels, GNVQs, BTECs, NVQs, and international baccalaureate diploma
programs. Some of these programs can be taken in a wide range of sub-
jects and at different levels.
5.2.2 France: Coherent School System
The school system in France is well planned, with all its parts interlinked.
It covers three major consecutive stages: primary, secondary, and higher
education, each of which includes several substages or cycles. All the
substages, cycles, and stages are streamlined and tightly interlinked. The
overall framework contains nursery school ( école maternelle) for ages two
to five, primary school ( école primaire) for ages six to eleven, lower
secondary school ( collège) for ages twelve to fifteen/sixteen, upper
secondary school ( lycée) for ages sixteen to eighteen, followed by
university ( université).
5.2.2.1 Nursery, Primary, and Secondary Education
Nursery schooling in France is not mandatory or compulsory, but it is
given exactly the same importance as primary education. Although
affiliated to primary schools, French nursery schools have their own
specific teaching programs, which take games as the major teaching
method.
In primary schools, pupils sharing similar intelligence, learning ability, and
interests join in homogeneous groups, where the members, at their own
physical and life pace, work on the subjects that particularly cater to their
groups.
Primary school students are given time to rest and relax. Normally, a
year’s schooling time involves only thirty-five academic weeks and five
equal terms. Besides the two-month summer vacation, students enjoy two
weeks of rest after each term, which lasts only seven weeks.
French secondary education contains two substages: the lower and the
higher. The lower is fulfilled by collèges and often lasts four years, while
the upper is carried on by lycées in three or four years.
130 G. XU ET AL.
The classes at collège level are structured into four grades, the sixth, fifth,
fourth, and third (from lower to upper). In the sixth grade, students
consolidate the knowledge they acquired in primary schools, begin to study
new subjects, and explore new learning methods, and as a result they
transition from primary to secondary education. The fifth and fourth are
grades in which students learn in depth and in breadth. In the third grade,
guidelines for entrance to three different types of upper secondary education
and information about jobs are given, so that the students can decide which
type of lycée they would like to go to and which major they should choose.
Similar to primary schools, the collèges also adopt homogeneous
groupings. These groups are not fixed in the collèges. To ensure educational
equality, they manage to keep pace with the changes in the students’
learning levels in a reflection of French educational ideals: no student is to
be given up on or underestimated.
Lycées, on the other hand, are divided into three streams: the lycée général,
the lycée technologique, and the lycée professionnel. At the end of the final
year of schooling in each type, the vast majority of students are awarded a
baccalauréat diploma (colloquially le bac). To obtain it they must pass the
multi-subject national baccalauréat examinations, different types of which
vary with the series and streams the students have
chosen at their lycée.
The lycée général and the lycée technologique are the mainstream part of
French upper secondary education. Both of them cover three years of study
and two learning cycles, namely cycle de détermination (the first year) and
cycle terminal (the second and third years). The first year involves as many
as nine major subjects covering a wide range and two specialist subjects
selected from a prescribed list, which ensures a broad general education. In
the second year the pupils are divided into general and technological
streams, where they stay until the end of the third year. Under these
streams, there are several series of courses to choose (four series for the
general stream and eight series for the technological stream). Students from
different series take different baccalauréat examinations at the end of their
secondary education, after which those from the general stream often step
on to two or more years of post- baccalauréat university studies, while
those from the technological stream mostly go on with short-term studies.
Unlike general and technological education, good-quality vocational
training and vocational courses are provided in separate professional lycées,
where career-based curricula are offered to students who prefer a hands- on
educational approach and would like to go straight to work rather than con-
EDUCATION SYSTEM 131
tinue into higher education. To satisfy the specific needs of various
industries that the students may work for after graduation, a total of more
than 100
types of vocational diplomas are arranged for the students. French
professional high school programs may last two or four years, leading to the
Certificate d’Aptitude Professionelle (CAP), the Brevet d’Etudes
Professionelles (BEP), or the Diplôme du Baccalauréat Professionnel
(DBP).
5.2.2.2 Higher Education System
The French higher education system provides three levels of programs,
with short or long cycles. Short-cycle programs are offered by university
Institutes of Technology (IUT) and Sections of Technicians Superiors
(STS) in lycées. Long-cycle programs are provided mainly by publicly
funded universities (universités) and the elite higher education
establishments known as grandes écoles.
To gain entry to public universities, students must possess a baccalauréat.
For this reason, the academic levels in university are identified in four
grades, with Bac+1 +4 respectively recognized for grades 1–4.
Public university comprises three successive cycles, each corresponding to
a nationally recognized diploma. The first cycle, which is multi-
disciplinary, covers two years of learning and leads to the Diplôme
d’Etudes Universitaires Générales (DEUG). The second cycle lasts one to
two years, and is open to students with a DEUG. Qualified graduates who
complete
the first year of learning get a license. If they stay on for a second year and
fulfill all the learning tasks, they are awarded a maîtrise. The third cycle
(two phases of another one to four years) opens up three tracks after the
maîtrise. The first lasts one year and leads to a Diplome d’Etudes
Approfondies (DEA), the prerequisite diploma preparing students for PhD
studies, or the parallel Diplome d’Etudes Supérieures Spécialisées (DESS),
an advanced professional qualification for access to professional life. In
most cases, if you hold a DESS you cannot apply for a doctorate degree.
Following the DEA is the second phase of doctoral study, lasting two to
three years. In this phase, students further study a specific field or subject
and learn to undertake research by working in a research team, based on
which they prepare their dissertations, this being overseen by their doctoral
supervisors. After successfully completing their studies and passing their
dissertation examination, the candidates are awarded a doctoral degree.
In 2002, the French government issued a significant decree, demand-
ing the implementation of the tripartite LMD system which is widely
adopted in Europe: License (Bachelor, bac + three years), Master ( bac +
five years), and Doctorate ( bac + eight years).
132 G. XU ET AL.
Different from the public universities, the grandes écoles, often prestigious
institutions focusing on a single subject area, such as engineering or
business, offer three-year programs to elite students who have stood out in
national written and oral exams. Before being enrolled in a grande écoles,
students must attend two or more years of initial higher education after
receiving a baccalauréat from high school. For the most part, this
preparatory education is given in special classes known as prépas. Prépas
are located in a number of selected high schools throughout the country and
are often quite selective in their admission of students. After two years of
prépas, students take the most selective examinations. Only those who
achieve excellence are granted admission to a grande école. These are
widely regarded as prestigious, and traditionally have produced the most
competitive graduates for the government and prestige enterprises.
5.2.3 Germany: Unique Secondary and Vocational Education
Germany was one of the first countries in the world to have enforced
national compulsory education. The twelve years of compulsory education
begin for all children at the age of six and end at the age of eighteen.
Students must attend at least nine years of full-time general education
(although the school day ends fairly early). Afterwards, they must receive
three more years of compulsory education at upper secondary level in
either a full-time school (general or vocational) or a part-time vocational
school, such as a Berufsschule, which teaches part-time vocational courses
in conjunction with on-the-job training, such as apprenticeship by industry.
In general, children attend primary school ( Grundschule) for four years
(six years in Berlin and Brandenburg). Having completed their primary
education, those in most states often attend one of the three traditional types
of secondary schools: the Hauptschule (typically five to six years), the
Realschule (typically six years), and the Gymnasium (typically eight to nine
years). So beginning with primary schooling, the longest basic education in
Germany lasts thirteen years.
Traditionally, the German education system is dominated by public
schools, and almost all of these are tuition fee free (international students
may have to pay fees for some programs); textbooks and other school
supplies are partly free.
Despite the general situation described above, it should be noted that since
each of the federal states ( Länder) is responsible for its own educational
policies, the German education system has a decentralized structure, with
quite a few variants from state to state.
EDUCATION SYSTEM 133
5.2.3.1 Secondary Education
Secondary education in Germany is unique, with the traditional tripartite
system as its distinguished feature; this includes the above-mentioned three
types of traditional schools.
Pupils complete their primary education at such a young age that it
tends to be their parents as well as teachers who help them to make the
choice about which type of school to attend for their secondary education;
this in some ways determines their prospects for self-development and
potential job orientation after leaving school.
If children get into the Hauptschule, they will learn both fundamental
academic courses and a wide variety of specific courses that are closely
related to their real-world life and future career. As a general intermediate
school for mandatory education in Germany, the Hauptschule places a
major emphasis on preparing students for vocational education or training.
Graduates with a leaving certificate from a Hauptschule typically go into
vocational schools for a wide range of job training. Upon completion of the
training, they often start their work as technicians.
The Realschule, a popular type of secondary school in Germany, is an
intermediate school that underlines both general academic learning and
various specialized capability training, so as to cultivate all-round talent.
Applied natural and social sciences closely related to students’ lives are
highlighted. The Realschule entitles its graduates to transfer to a regular
Gymnasium or to enter a full-time vocational school, such as a dual
vocational school or a Fachoberschule (higher technical school).
As opposed to the Hauptschule and the Realschule, the more distinguished
Gymnasium, historically the top selective school for a small number of
royal or gifted children, provides the most stringent and top-ranking
academic education in the liberal arts to the academic elite. A Gymnasium
contains two phases: orientation (under Grade 7) and post-orientation
(Grades 7–13), the latter covering two levels. Level I (Grades 7–10) is
compulsory, focusing on the foundation courses; while Level II (the last
two to three years) offers selective courses according to individual
preference (with certain prerequisite conditions and restrictions).
An eligible Gymnasium leaver can go straight to university, which produces
senior professionals, high-level executives, and competent voca-
tional trainees. In comparison with those from the Hauptschule and the
Realschule, graduates from a Gymnasium often have more promising
futures and broader choices of career.
134 G. XU ET AL.
Beyond the tripartite system, in some German states there is a new type of
secondary school—the Gesamtschule, a combination and substitute for the
three traditional types, similar to the US comprehensive high school in
some ways. It was first introduced in Germany in the spring of 1969 on the
initiative of the German Education Council and was established during the
1970s and 1980s as an experimental alternative to the tripartite system for
three reasons: to accommodate the growing democratic trend
and to release the competition for entry to the Gymnasiums or the
Realschule; to provide equal education opportunities for all young people
and thus eliminate the barriers that exist between different social classes;
and to integrate all types of programs into a single school, thus facilitating
the students’ switching between different tracks in accordance with their
aptitude and special requirements. In 1982, secretaries for cultural and
educational affairs from each state attended a joint conference at which they
arrived at an agreement that recognized the equivalent validity of
Gesamtschule diplomas awarded across the country, making the
Gesamtschule an integral part of the recognized school system. But
eventually factors such as politics, economy, and historical culture stopped
the Gesamtschule system from taking the place of the tripartite system; it
developed into a supplementary track.
The Gesamtschule may be co-operative or integrated. A co-operative
Gesamtschule retains the traditional hierarchical structure by incorporating
the three traditional tracks ( Hauptschule, Realschule, and Gymnasium), but
allowing convenient transfer across the three tracks. An integrated
Gesamtschule, on the other hand, does not use the three-track organizational
structure but combines them into one, in which students are divided into
different classes based on their subject competence or their preferences.
The Gesamtschule leavers stream into different paths, similar to the
corresponding traditional school leavers.
5.2.3.2 Vocational Education and Training
The German government has always put vocational education and train-
ing (VET) at the core of its ambition, and has set the world a good example
in pushing forward the nation and its economy through the
development of a successful and sophisticated VET. German citizens do
not run the rat race in pursuit of higher education diplomas; instead,
youngsters are offered opportunities to receive various types of VET. The
Vocational Education and Training Act is a solid basis for vocational
training, under which the completion of three years’ compulsory vocational
EDUCATION SYSTEM 135
training is required of every citizen who has failed to continue their
secondary education in a Gymnasium after completing nine years of
compulsory general education.
German vocational education enjoys a high reputation because of its
capacity for cultivating high-quality talents in a broad spectrum of profes-
sions. For example, in 2006, the country recognized 342 training occupa-
tions (legally regulated and given national validity), covering almost all
aspects of life, society, and economy, and establishing a complete,
interactive, and integrated system of job training. The VET services in
Germany are mainly offered in the following types of school.
Dual Vocational School
The dual vocational school is a major type of German compulsory
vocational school, serving those who have passed through a Hauptschule or
a Realschule.
It is noted for its dual-track training system, which combines part-time
theoretical grounding in the school and practical training in an enterprise.
Based on the framework of a dual training contract, every week the
trainees take one to two days of part-time courses at school and three to
four days of practical job training at a host company. There is also a choice
of block release programs, in which both theoretical learning and practical
training are offered.
This schooling and apprenticeship normally lasts three years in total.
Successful completion leads to a graduation diploma offered by the school
and a certificate of training by the company, with which the school leaver
can enter a particular field of work as an apprentice, an assistant, or a
skilled worker. But in fact most graduates choose to move to a specialized
vocational school and study there for one to three years, and then sit the
examinations for various vocational qualification certificates; for master
craftsman, technician, decorator, sculptor, accountant, and so on.
Specialized Vocational School
Of the other important establishment for vocational education in Germany
is the specialized vocational school. This is responsible for both practical
training and theoretical instruction. Unlike the dual-track school, it prepares
and trains students for a specific vocational area within the school
independently, instead of in co-operation with an enterprise. It offers a wide
range of training, including those normally not undertaken by enterprises or
workshops, such as childcare, geriatric nursing, business assistant, music,
and foreign languages. The duration of schooling and admission
requirements
136 G. XU ET AL.
vary from school to school. Normally, one to three school years are
required.
Graduates from the Hauptschule, the Realschule, and the dual-track
vocational school are enrolled in different schools based on the schools’
entry requirements. Those who successfully complete their schooling in a
three-year full-time specialized vocational school graduate with a
vocational qualification certificate, which is nationally recognized for the
relevant jobs.
Specialized School
In Germany, people who need to run businesses individually or do any
administrative job at middle level need more than a junior-level vocational
qualification certificate. They are required to sit further examinations to
obtain an advanced qualification certificate in their particular area of
business or industry. For this purpose they go to a specialized school, which
is designed to offer further education to those who enjoy both practical
experience and a junior certificate. The educational tasks mainly cover
more specialized vocational education, special training for changing jobs,
and further general education. Successful completion of this is a
prerequisite for starting a business in one’s own name and for careers in the
middle levels of business, administration, and so on. A specialized school is
available to students who have some work experience or a junior-level
qualification certificate in their field.
Specialized school courses may be taken part time, full time, or in the
evening, for six months to two years. Upon completion, students are
granted both recognized professional and technical certificates and
qualifications for a specialized college.
Specialized Upper Secondary School
Combining general education with vocational training, this type of school
mainly aims to prepare students for a specialized college, and thus focuses
on both general knowledge and professional theory and practice.
A specialized upper secondary school lasts two years (Grades 11–12),
with graduates from the Realschule or the equivalents as its major
enrolment.
5.2.4 Sweden: Unique Upper Secondary Curriculum
and Extensive Adult Education
Sweden attaches special importance to education. Education from primary
school to university is free, and the cost of adult education is shared
between the government and employers.
EDUCATION SYSTEM 137
The nine-year compulsory education is mostly completed in the same
school, without primary or secondary division. There are also some
schools that divide the nine years into sections that are six and three years
in duration.
5.2.4.1 Upper Secondary Education
Upper secondary education is not mandatory, but about 98% of students
enter a senior high school after the nine-year compulsory schooling is
complete. Senior high school lasts for three years, with a uniquely designed
curriculum structure.
In 1971, upper secondary education in Sweden was reorganized into
an integrated system that encompassed both general and vocational high
schools. In 1993, the content and organization underwent substantial
changes. The curricula were further divided into sixteen national pro-
grams, including natural and social sciences, arts, business administration,
and childcare. In the school year 2000–2001, a technology program was
added. Which programs a student takes depends on his specific interests
and skills. For example, a student who aims to go to college may take the
natural or social science program, while another may choose the arts
program. Whichever programs the students choose, they must study eight
common core subjects, which cover a third of total class periods.
The programs are endowed with the following characteristics:
1) The sizes of programs vary greatly. Of the seventeen national pro-
grams, the most common two are social science ( samhällskunskap) and
natural sciences ( naturvetenskap), which give priority to general education
and enjoy about 45% of the total enrolment. Each of the
other fifteen programs, primarily oriented toward vocational educa-
tion, cover less than 5% of the total enrolment.
2) There is only one type of comprehensive upper secondary school in
Sweden, but no single school covers all seventeen programs. About half of
the schools teach natural sciences and social science; the less common
programs, such as those focusing on energy, food, and natural resource
utilization, are taught by only less than a tenth of the schools.
3) It is the types and the timing of the programs, rather than the ages of the
students, that determine which classes they will attend.
Grades do not exist. The students do not stay down but re-take if
they fail a program.
4) Whichever program is taken, it leads to students’ qualifications for
higher education.
138 G. XU ET AL.
5.2.4.2 Adult Education
Adult education in Sweden is basically free of charge. Laws and regulations
stipulate that the government has an obligation to offer job training to those
aged sixteen to eighteen who failed to enter high school and
failed to get a regular job. Employees have the right to ask for leave with
pay for further studies, and are able to obtain special financial aids. People
can receive free labor market (re-employment) training and at the same time
get a living allowance. Since the 1990s, vocational and adult education have
been the focus of Swedish education reform, which mainly aims to build a
more flexible education system to better adapt to the demands of the market
and society.
Adult education takes many different forms. The following are the
major types.
Folk High School: The Boarding Adult College
The folk high school is one of the oldest adult education institutions in
Sweden. In 2008, there were about 150 folk high schools throughout the
country, with an enrolment of about 250,000 students each year. They
have the freedom to decide on syllabuses under the relevant laws and
regulations and offer various courses to students. These last two or three
years and some entitle students to attend college.
Study Circles
A study circle is a group of friends who collectively decide on a subject or
topic of study and then embark on a journey of discovery in an organized
and collaborative way, often through conversations and discussions.
The most distinctive features of study circles include: they are made up of
friends and have overall criteria and specific terms that all the members
must abide by; members must work together in advance to make their
choice on the fields or subjects to be studied; and they must create a
systematic scheme to fulfill their pre-planned learning tasks.
A study circle does not need teachers. To facilitate study, one of the
members acts as the leader. Content and learning methods are determined
by the participants themselves, based on their common interests and
needs. Reading material is often used. Arts and citizenship lessons take up
about two-thirds of the total learning time. Study circles can enjoy
government subsidies.
The study circle began in 1902 in Lund in northern Sweden, and is
now is the most common Swedish adult education method.
EDUCATION SYSTEM 139
Comprehensive Universities
Comprehensive adult universities in Sweden offer extensive educational
services at both upper and post-upper secondary levels, ranging from
popular education (such as culture, language, and arts) to vocational
training (such as continuing education and labor market training). The
courses, either formal or informal, can be provided during the day or in the
evening. The teaching is organized in accordance to adults’ characteristics,
highlighting the development of their abilities and skills, stressing the link
between theory and practice.
The Swedish adult education system also covers other kinds of schools
and programs, such as adult schools run by the municipalities, training
programs supported by the Swedish National Labor Market Board, free
programs for short-term training, on-the-job training offered by enterprises,
broadcast education programs, correspondence courses offered by post-
secondary institutions, and those by many upper secondary schools and
universities. All such organizations and programs help to make up an
extensive educational network for adults.
5.2.5 The United States of America: Community College
and Education
There were two great educational inventions in the USA in the twentieth
century. First was the foundation of the “6–3–3” system in middle and
primary schools, which deeply influenced countries all over the world;
second was the establishment of a higher education system that has special
characteristics and also community colleges.
5.2.5.1 Community College
American community colleges grew rapidly in the years between 1955 and
1965, when a new one emerged every week on average. The colleges
adhere to the principle that they should serve the local community all the
time, claiming not to set restrictions based on students’ backgrounds, such
as skin color, race, religious beliefs, and age. Their multiple educational
functions, flexible teaching management system, diversified methods of
learning, cheap tuition, and high graduate employment rates mean they are
well received by the US public and are widely recognized as institutes of
the people. At present, 44% of US college students and 50% of freshmen
are studying in community colleges. They have taken a very
important place in the education system.
140 G. XU ET AL.
Community colleges are different from the general institutions of
higher education in the following ways.
First, they belong to and are an important part of the community. With their
supreme aim to serve the needs of the community, they often update their
departments, subjects, and teaching content. They also open their stadiums,
theatre auditoriums, libraries, and other educational resources to community
residents. Taken as cultural and educational centers and a powerful force in
the construction of community, they receive community funds and
resources that improve convenience in research, teaching, and other aspects.
Second, they perform multiple functions:
1) Transfer. Having completed the first two years of courses for an
associate degree in a community college, students can transfer to
Grade 3 of a four-year institution of higher education and begin to
study the last two years of courses to obtain a bachelor’s degree.
2) Vocational preparation. Roughly half of the community college stu-
dents are majoring in vocational or technical courses, and this num-
ber continues to increase.
3) Remedial education. This is for high school graduates who are not
academically ready to enroll in college-level courses.
4) Community courses. These are, for example, housekeeping, employ-
ment counseling, leisure entertainment, gardening, and crafts,
which in most cases do not lead to a degree, diploma, or credit.
5) General education. The colleges provide a comprehensive education
with a variety of disciplines and fundamental studies from multiple
perspectives, teaching students to practice rights and obligations, to develop
ideas about ethics and values, and to improve their abilities, such as those
related to effective communication and reading, substantive independent
thinking, problem-solving, and value identifi-
cation, as well as imparting knowledge about culture and
environment, health and disease, conflict and insecurity, family life
arrangement, and activity creation.
6) International education. Educating and training globally competi-
tive and multi-cultural citizens by offering international study plans, short
term study and travel plans, special lectures or courses, international
exhibitions, and learning resources exchange.
EDUCATION SYSTEM 141
Third, they enjoy remarkable adaptability:
1) They have multi-disciplinary and comprehensive faculties and cur-
ricula which cover almost everything: mechanics, chemical industry,
vehicle repairing, medical care, automation, accountancy, law, cos-
metology, sculpture, tailoring, photography, and so on.
2) They meet the various needs of the students. There are courses for
two-year associate or four-year bachelor’s degrees, or a one-year life
education certificate as well as those without credits or certification.
The teaching differs from one person to another to provide the most
convenience for the students. Special conditions of learning are cre-
ated for the disabled and there are nurseries for the children of
young parent students.
3) They keep pace with the development of the community, making
timely extensions and adjustments in their goals and continuous
renewal of the courses, departments, and teaching content. For
example, originally they focused on transfer education, but today
vocational technical education accounts for half of the total courses.
On the other hand, some departments have been eliminated.
4) The cheap tuition favors students. Apart from the public and various
foundations, funding for community colleges in large measure
comes from local tax revenue. With favorable tuition fees (generally
only 50–60% of those of a public university) the colleges have pro-
moted the popularization of higher education in the USA.
5) Part-time teachers, who account for more than half of the faculty,
outnumber full-time teachers, although the courses they are respon-
sible for are in smaller demand. As entrepreneurs who are familiar
with the status quo of their industries, experts in their fields, or
experienced front-line engineers and technicians, they are in a good
position to teach short-term professional courses. Full-time teach-
ers, in comparison, tend to teach long-term basic courses that are in
greater demand.
6) Several community colleges in a big city can be combined into a city
university. The city university headquarters is based at one of the
community colleges, mainly playing a role in coordinating the needs
of city education, so as to avoid the waste of resources and allowing
direct intervention regarding the administration of the staff and col-
lege property.
142 G. XU ET AL.
5.2.5.2 Community Education
A community college functions as just one of the major bases for
community education. As an indispensable part of life for the public,
community education must be adjusted to different residents who have
different
needs, and therefore should be organized and implemented through a
diversity of channels.
Together with community colleges, general schools at all levels and
newly built community schools can provide education for communities.
The general-school-based programs cover more than 200 topics in
forty-seven categories and are usually timetabled in the evenings or at
weekends to accommodate full-time working people. Besides courses, the
programs include seminars, lectures, cultural and sports activities,
exhibitions, consultations, and other kinds of services. Some of the courses
are related to credits and the granting of certificates and diplomas. Others
aim to help people gain occupational skills that will better prepare them for
the workplace and potential job openings, or raise the quality of their
participation in household management, recreation, and leisure.
With the common goal of recognizing and serving the needs of the
local community, education offered by the newly built community
schools or colleges is diverse in objective, form, and content. The
schools of the community mainly provide secondary-level education.
Such schools include common community schools, community central
schools, community comprehensive secondary schools, and community
primary professional schools. The community colleges are mostly
engaged in higher education.
In community activity centers and other public places, there are pro-
grams provided by community organizations related to health, welfare,
youth, and so on, focusing on physical and psychological health, ethnic
relations, employment, environmental protection, pollution control,
citizenship, and combating crime. Community education also comes
from some business people and enterprises, mainly involving business
management, vocational and technical skills, interpersonal relationships,
and leisure activities. This kind of education is often provided to members
of the community and employees. To ensure the implementation of
public policies, the government at all levels also carries on educational
activities for the community.
EDUCATION SYSTEM 143
5.3 PoPUlar trends
5.3.1 Learning Society and Life-Long Learning System
American educator Robert M. Hutchins, in a book first published in 1968,
argued that a “learning society” not only offers part-time adult education to
every man and woman at every stage of life, but succeeds in transforming
society’s values in such a way that learning, fulfillment, becoming human is
its aim, and that all its institutions are directed to this end.
In its report “Learn to be: the World of Education Today and
Tomorrow,” issued in 1972, the United Nations Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) states that the advent of a learning
society “can only be conceived as a process of close interweaving between
education and the social, political and economic fabric, which covers the
family unit and civic life. It implies that every citizen should have the
means of learning, training and cultivating himself freely available to him,
under all circumstances.”
In 1990s, many countries aimed to build a learning society. For instance, in
1995 more than a dozen member countries of the European Union
co- signed the white paper “Teaching and Learning: Toward the Learning
Society.” This sets out the actions to be taken in member states and the
support measures to be introduced at community level. The main courses of
action envisaged at the European level for 1996 include the following
objectives:
• to encourage the acquisition of new knowledge;
• to bring schools and the business sector closer together;
• to promote social harmony;
• to develop proficiency in three European languages;
• to treat capital investment and investment in training on an equal
basis.
The idea to build a learning society was also put forward by the British
government in the green paper “The Learning Age: a Renaissance for a
New Britain,” which was issued in 1998. A scheme to build universities for
industry in a learning society began in 1999: this attempts to provide high-
quality products and services for British society through modern web and
communication technology, developing relationships and links
between the resources of the learning providers and the needs of the
144 G. XU ET AL.
learners. In this scheme people can learn flexibly and conveniently at home,
at work, and in community learning centers. The study circles in Sweden
and the community colleges of the USA, mentioned above, are
both typical organizations in a learning society.
On the way to building a learning society, all Western countries emphasize
that learning and education are a life-long process, which is ongoing and is
interwoven through society.
The idea of life-long learning dates back to the 1960s and the term
came into use more generally in the 1970s to replace “life-long educa-
tion,” indicating that learning should be a personal, self-motivated, and
voluntary pursuit. In 1996, the International Commission on Education
for the Twenty-First Century delivered a report which pointed out that, in
order to progress to a learning society, long-life learning must be the
citizens’ first choice.
In life-long learning, all the stages, levels, and types of learning are
component parts of a single process. The development of the theory and
practice of life-long learning is closely related to and largely affects adult
education, including its overall concepts, development strategy, systems,
structures, and personnel training. The emphasis is on a combination of
various forms and content of learning.
5.3.2 Links Between Vocational Education and General
Education
The idea of life-long learning has enlarged the connotation and denotation
of education, and led to changes and adjustments in the global education
structure.
To cope with this trend, many Western countries have managed to
bridge the gaps between general education and vocational education at
the secondary level.
5.3.2.1 Equivalent Value at Secondary Education Level
In the USA, for example, the two tracks are integrated. This can be seen
from how comprehensive high schools, first established in the 1920s,
organize the curricula. Typically, the courses are organized into three tracks,
namely vocational, academic, and general, from which the students may
freely choose according to their specific needs and interests. Under this
curriculum system, general education and vocational education are
considered equally important. Students may make plans of studies to suit
EDUCATION SYSTEM 145
their individual needs, and may shift from one plan to another in order to
experience a broad variety of courses.
Another example is Sweden, which in 1993 integrated more than 500
previously specialized courses into sixteen national study plans, all leading
to higher education qualifications.
Similarly, in Germany higher education is equally available to vocational
secondary school graduates and their equivalents from complete secondary
schools.
5.3.2.2 Interplay Between Higher Vocational and Higher General
Education
While vigorously developing short-term technical institutions and junior
colleges, Western countries are showing a growing concern for links
between different types and stages of higher education. For example, in
France those who have received a certificate from a short-term higher
education program are allowed, if qualified enough, to move on either
into a job, a higher school, or even a grande école.
5.3.3 Informatization
In the 1990s, information technology was rapidly developed, exerting a
great influence on global education. In many countries, it became an
indispensable part of national curricula and an important aid to teaching.
To a large extent, it facilitates not only classroom learning, but also long-
distance teaching and learning. As a key strategy of adjusting to the
knowledge- based economy, online education became popular. It breaks
up the limitation of traditional campuses and is a convenient channel that
allows people to learn what they want, without worrying about conditions
such as time, age, and occupation. Online education has also helped to
guarantee people’s equal chance of learning. In June 2006, the Annual
Conference of European Distance and E-learning Network Association
held at Vienna University of Technology pointed out that information and
communication technology would help to promote the linking of education
training with enterprises; an integrated lifetime learning model was taking
shape, connecting education, training, workplace, and home.
To respond to the requirements of learning under these new high tech-
nology conditions, Finland, France, and Scotland designed a new type of
experimental schools, which had fewer classrooms and more flexible
teaching space than traditional schools. Based on existing libraries, the new
146 G. XU ET AL.
schools expanded their electronic resource centers and added videotapes,
DVDs, and interactive learning software. The multimedia system began to
be widely applied to teaching. As this function was expanded, these schools
become full-time community learning centers, and they are open to the
public all the year round.
In France, the government encourages everyone to make full use of
Internet resources to develop their education. To achieve this goal, the
French Ministry of Education has taken a series of measures that include
setting up a digitized university, increasing the Internet surfing rate on
campuses and among families, and offering information technology training
to teachers.
By the autumn of 2004, when the new term began, more than half of
the public universities in France were able to access wireless Internet
surfing. The French Ministry of Education is taking efforts to co- ordinate
universities and colleges, so that resources can be shared among people
who work in the same field. As a result, the French government has
successfully established several digitized universities, which predominantly
serve medical science, engineering, law, economy, and management.
5.3.4 Internationalization
The integration of the global economy, the rise of the knowledge econ-
omy, and the rapid development of information technology have largely
extended education service trades and increasingly strengthened inter-
national co-operation in education. To make up for possible educational
deficiencies, most countries have opened the door and continue to try
to learn how to make use of the resources that can be provided by other
countries. A typical example is the efforts made by European countries at
the turn of the twenty-first century toward the integration of higher
education.
In 1998, the Ministers of Education from France, Germany, Britain,
and Italy signed the Sorbonne Declaration at the University of Paris to
promote the integration of European higher education. In 1999, the
twenty-nine European Ministers in charge of higher education convened
in the famous Italian city of Bologna and signed the Bologna Declaration
regarding the harmonization of the European higher education system’s
architecture. The objectives and action plan proposed in this declaration
inherited and developed the theme laid down in the Sorbonne Declaration,
and hence started the Bologna Process: this aimed at creating a European
EDUCATION SYSTEM 147
Higher Education Area by 2010. The declaration was followed up by a
series of meetings between European ministers, in which relevant schemes
were outlined, including the following:
• the adoption of a system of easily readable and comparable degrees;
• the establishment of a system of credits, the European Credit Transfer and
Accumulation System (ECTS);
• the promotion of mobility of students and teachers between
institutions;
• the promotion of international competition, attractiveness, and
prestige;
• the provision of life-long education;
• the involvement of higher education institutions and students in the
Bologna Process.
With more and more transnational franchises, course cohesion,
overseas branch campuses, and distance education, Europe has accu-
mulated much experience in such aspects as development speed, scale,
and school pattern.
Franchising is a common operation in transnational higher education.
A franchiser (an institution) will grant a foreign institution (a franchisee)
the privilege to import services such as course-teaching and degree-
awarding to its country. Through the mandate and agreement of both
sides, the franchiser can enhance its reputation and benefits, while the
franchisee can fulfill its obligations and offer a diversity of choices of
education to meet the needs of different students.
Another operation is course cohesion. To allow credits to be inter-
changeable, and thus to facilitate further education and employment, two or
more universities or colleges will co-operate to define the curriculum
according to the credit transfer principles. At present, the ECTS is the most
influential. This is a standard for comparing study attainment and higher
education student performance across the European Union and
other collaborating European countries. The ECTS provides a common
measure which facilitates the transfer of students and their grades between
European higher education institutions, and tackles the problem of different
grading approaches in distinct educational systems across Europe.
The internationalization of education can also be achieved through
degrees awarded by an overseas campus, which are the same as those
awarded by the main campuses in the host country.
148 G. XU ET AL.
A new development is online education, which is rising as the
development of network technologies increases in speed. It is offered by
cyber universities and numerous media corporations in collaboration with
traditional universities and other traditional educational institutions.
To promote the integration of European education, the Bologna
Process has constantly been accelerated. More than forty European
countries have participated in it. Obviously, the internationalization of
education has become an irreversible and indispensable trend.
bibliograPHy
Chen Yuan. 2004. Basic Education in France. Guangzhou: Guangdong
Education Publishing House.
Fang Tong. 2004. Basic Education in the Kingdom of Sweden. Guangzhou:
Guangdong Education Publishing House.
Faure, E., et al. 1972. Learning to Be: The World of Education: Today and
Tomorrow.
Paris: UNESCO.
Hutchins, R.M. 1969. The Learning Society. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Lü Da, and Zhou Mansheng. 2004. Important Literature on Contemporary
Educational Reforms in Foreign Countries, The Book of the United
Kingdom.
Vol. 1 & 2. Beijing: People’s Education Press.
Shan Zhonghui. 2006. A History of the Problems of University Education in
Foreign Countries. Ji’nan: Shandong Education Press.
Yang Huimin. 2004. Basic Education in the United States. Guangzhou:
Guangdong Education Publishing House.
Yang Yingsong. 2000. Introduction to Community Education in Different
Countries. Shanghai: Shanghai University Press.
Zhang Kechuang, and Li Qilong. 2005. Basic Education in the Germany.
Guangzhou: Guangdong Education Publishing House.
Zhang Dewei, and Liang Zhongyi. 2006. A Comparative Study of
International Upper Secondary Education. Beijing: People’s Education
Press.
Zhong Wenfang. 2006. A History of Modern Western Elementary
Education.
Shanghai: Shanghai Scientific & Technological Education Publishing
House.
Zhu Huaixin. 2003. Basic Education in the United Kingdom. Guangzhou:
Guangdong Education Publishing House.
CHAPTER 6
European and American Literature
6.1 Ancient Greek LiterAture
6.1.1 Epic
The Ancient Greek epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey, represent the
culminating accomplishment of ancient Greek literature, and some even
regard these two works as the fountainheads of European and American
literature. They are believed to have been written by the blind poet Homer
(about 580 bc), and thus are called the Homeric epics for short. However,
some people believe that epics should not be ascribed to one author, and
indeed these are made up of oral lore that was collected and then rewritten
by Homer or a group of poets. This is a common feature of early literature.
In China, The Book of Odes comprises ballads compiled by Confucius.
The Homeric epics draw on material from the Trojan War, the difference
between them being that the Iliad describes the war and its heroes, while
the Odyssey concentrates on one Greek hero Odysseus and depicts his
arduous ten-year journey returning from the war. The two epics are written
with grand structures, plain language, and abundant metaphors. They
contain a huge number of myths and heroes and are the main sources for
Greek mythology.
© The Author(s) 2018
149
G. Xu et al. (eds.), K. Chen et al. (trans.), Understanding Western Culture,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-8150-7_6
150 G. XU ET AL.
6.1.2 Ancient Greek Tragedy
Ancient Greek tragedy marks the high point of all tragedies. From
Aristotle’s time to the eighteenth century, ancient Greek tragedies were a
yardstick for critics to measure the value of a play. The three most famous
ancient Greek tragedians are Aeschylus ( c. 546–525 bc), Sophocles ( c.
496–406 bc) and Euripides ( c. 480–406 bc). Aeschylus is described as the
father of tragedy, and his plays include The Persians, Seven against Thebes,
and Orestes.
Sophocles’ masterpieces are Oedipus the King and Oedipus in Colonus, and
Antigone, while Euripides’ masterpieces are Medea and The Trojan Women.
6.1.3 Ancient Greek Comedy
Both ancient Greek comedy and tragedy developed from parades celebrat-
ing the wine god Dionysus. Tragedy indicates the irresistibility of destiny,
while comedy derides life and expresses irony about the weakness of
human nature, embodying the conviviality and absurdity of life. The
greatest Greek comedian is Aristophanes ( c. 456–386 bc). Eleven of his
comedies survive, including The Wasps, The Frogs, and Lysistrata.
Aristophanes’
comedies cover a wide range of topics: some concern war and peace, some
attack authority, some ridicule sages, and others retell myths. His language
is either buffoonish or elegant and exerted a profound influence upon
later playwrights, such as Shakespeare.
6.1.4 Ancient Greek Lyric
Another important constituent of ancient Greek literature is lyric poetry.
Unfortunately, only a small amount of this is preserved. The beloved and
widely-read Greek lyrical poets are Pindar ( c. 522–443 bc), Theocritus
(third century bc) and particularly the poetess Sappho ( c. 630–570 bc). Her
poetry depicts the tender inner world of love, and several ancient sources
refer to her as the “tenth Muse.” Sappho was adept at writing odes, and was
believed to be the founder of this form. Theocritus was the father of
pastorals and his writing style was copied by the Roman poet Virgil (70–19
bc).
6.1.5 Ancient Greek Mythology
Greek mythology is not an independent literary genre. Most of it is
preserved through the Homeric epics, Greek plays, and historical and
philosophical works, yet its significant influence cannot be neglected.
Because
EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN LITERATURE 151
Greek mythology was well preserved during Roman times, it is also called
Greek and Roman mythology. It describes the origin and pedigree of
gods, the duties of and stories about gods, the origin of human beings, and
the disputes between humans and gods. One feature that distinguishes
Greek and Roman mythology from Chinese mythology is the endowment
of gods with human characters. Gods in Greek and Roman mythology are
just as aggressive, jealous, and revengeful as human beings. In spite of the
differences between gods and human beings, their intimacy is beyond the
imagination of Chinese mythology. The humanism derived from Greek
and Roman mythology became one of the backbones of Western culture
and was the impetus for Renaissance literature and romantic literature in the
nineteenth century. The abundant myths and characters in this mythology
become an eternal fountainhead for Western literature and an indispensable
part of Western language.
6.2 Ancient romAn LiterAture
6.2.1 Virgil and the Epic
Similar to the Iliad and the Odyssey, the Aeneid also draws on the Trojan
War. The Iliad and Odyssey focus on Greece, while the Aeneid mainly deals
with the Trojan War hero Aeneas, and describes how he leaves Troy and
builds the city of Rome. Virgil’s language was exquisite and he was adept at
rhetoric, even exceeding Homer in his descriptions of the inner world and
sensations.
6.2.2 Drama
With regard to plays, there were no major achievements in ancient Roman
literature. Roman plays were basically an imitation of Greek works. Some
people believe that the Roman preference for wrestling and other physical
activities were responsible for their mundane plays. Large-scale state
patronage of sports meant the theatre was neglected.
6.2.3 Poetry
Ancient Roman poetry, by contrast, displayed significant achievement.
Besides the great poet Virgil, other renowned Roman poets are Catullus ( c.
84–54 bc), Ovid ( c. 43–17 bc), and Horace ( c. 65–27 bc). Catullus
152 G. XU ET AL.
expressed romantic emotions with enthusiasm and passion and his style
was inherited by later poets, including Sidney, Shakespeare, Burns, and
Shelley. Ovid’s Metamorphoses assembles all myths involving
metamorpho-ses in Greek and Roman mythology and seems more
influential than
Virgil’s Aeneid, in spite of its inferior literary achievements. The myths in
Metamorphoses also become inspirational sources for later writers and
artists. The poetry written by Horace is elegant and Nietzsche spoke highly
of him: “To this day no other poet has given me the same artistic delight
that a Horatian ode gave me from the first.” The famous painting
Primavera by Italian Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli was inspired by
Horace’s poem “Spring”: “Now Cytherean Venus leads her dancing bands
with the moon hanging overhead, and the seemly Graces linked with
Nymphs shake the earth with alternating feet, while burning Vulcan visits
the great forges of the Cyclopes.”
6.2.4 Prose
Ancient Romans excelled in meditation and debate. Their representative
here is Cicero ( c. 106–43 bc). He was a statesman, a philosopher, a
historian, and an orator. His prose is masculine and eloquent, and he has
received the epithet “the father of Western prose.”
6.3 medievAL LiterAture
6.3.1 Church Literature
The Middle Ages were ruled by Christianity, and church literature played a
significant role. Church literature includes biblical stories, hagiography,
prayers, miracle plays, and religious plays.
6.3.2 Knightly Literature
Chivalry prevailed in the Middle Ages. Knights were loyal to their lords
and valued reputation over everything; and of course they were devout
Christians. Every knight had a beloved lady and dared to attempt any
adventure for her: knightly literature was a vivid portrayal of this
phenomenon. France was at the heart of the chivalric spirit and was the
place where knightly literature was the most prevalent. Its predominant
forms are lyrical and narrative poems. Lyrical poems describe knights’
admiration
EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN LITERATURE 153
for noblewomen and originate from southern France, specifically Provence.
On the contrary, narrative poems originate in northern France. They
describe the adventures that knights go through in order to win honor
and the admiration of noble ladies, and the expeditions they undertake to
denounce heretics and to protect Catholicism. A constant topic in narrative
poems is King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table, a theme
that appears in literary works from France, Germany, and England. The
twelfth-century legend of Tristan and Iseult is one of the most widely retold
narratives.
6.3.3 Epic
Just like the epics of Homer and Virgil, epics in the Middle Ages portrayed
important historical events of a specific nation and eulogized national
heroes. The most well-known in this age are the Teutonic Song of
Hildebrand, the Anglo-Saxon Beowulf, the French The Song of Roland, the
Spanish The Poem of the Cid, and the German The Song of the Nibelungs.
6.3.4 Ballad
Apart from these epics, a number of ballads were also handed down from
medieval times. A well-known example is the English A Geste of Robyn
Hode, which exerted a huge influence upon later literature.
6.3.5 Civic Literature
Another part of medieval literature was generated from daily life; it was
thus called civic literature. It satirizes and mocks monks and feudal lords.
One masterpiece is the Roman de Renart, which tells the story of Reynard
the Fox. Many stories originating in France in the ninth and
tenth centuries were based on the same character, and circulated around
other countries in Western Europe. Another representative work is the
thirteenth-century The Romance of the Rose, which also originated in
France. Although it was written in two stages by two poets, about
forty- five years apart, stylistically and structurally it was consistent. The
stated purpose of this long poem is both to entertain and to teach readers
about the Art of Love. It illustrates secular life under the religious culture
and chivalric fashion of medieval times. The fourteenth-century English
poet Chaucer was influenced by the poem.
154 G. XU ET AL.
6.3.6 Dante and The Divine Comedy
Dante’s long poem The Divine Comedy is widely considered to be the
greatest work in Italian literature, and indeed one of the greatest in Western
literature since the Homeric epics and Virgil’s Aeneid. The Divine Comedy
offers a vivid description of the hero’s experience in Inferno, Purgatorio,
and Paradiso, using dreams and imagination. This magnum
opus embraces all the knowledge in the world and builds a wide range of
characters successfully, including historical characters, contemporary
characters, and gods in Greek and Roman mythology. It follows medieval
Christian theology, particularly the redemption of humanity, and affirms
secular emotions as well, combining deity, rationality, and human nature.
The Divine Comedy is divided into three canticas, with each part
comprising thirty-three cantos. An initial canto serves as an introduction to
the poem, and this is generally considered to be part of the first cantica,
bringing the total number of cantos to 100. The verse scheme used is terza
rima, which hendecasyllabic (with lines of eleven syllables), the lines
having the rhyme scheme aba, bcb, cdc, ded, and so on. Such a form
implies veneration of a trinitarian God (one God with three aspects) and
achieves a uniformity of form and content.
6.3.7 Chaucer
The appearance of Geoffrey Chaucer ( c. 1343–1400) on the literature stage
marked an end of English literature’s reticence and the beginning of the
English Renaissance. Chaucer’s perennial masterpiece is The Canterbury
Tales, which adopts a frame-narrative structure (another example being The
Arabian Nights), in which stories with assorted themes are arranged in a
coherent order. The storytellers in The Canterbury Tales are a group of
pilgrims heading for Canterbury Cathedral. They are representatives from
different social classes: knight, miller, reeve, cook, “man of law,”
friar, merchant, and so on. Everyone’s story is different: some are serious
and tragic while others are joyous and comic. The characters are so vivid
and lifelike that readers are offered a panorama of the social life in
fourteenth- century England. Chaucer wrote in medieval English, laying the
foundations of English as a literary language and confirming the
London dialect as standard English, although the influence of the court and
bureaucracy is a more likely influence on the development of modern
English. Chaucer’s other long poems such as Troilus and Criseyde
EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN LITERATURE 155
were also written with wit and humor. There is no doubt that he deserves
the title of “the father of English literature.”
6.4 renAissAnce LiterAture
6.4.1 Petrarch and Boccaccio
The representative writers of Italian Renaissance we will discuss are the
poet Petrarch (1304–1374) and the novelist Boccaccio (1313–1375).
Petrarch was the most famous early master of the sonnet form, opening up a
new era for verse. With a higher reputation even than Dante, he was
regarded as the second “poet laureate” since the classical age. The
“Petrarchan sonnet” was a model for English Renaissance poets. Petrarch’s
masterpiece is Song Book, a collection of 366 love poems for Laura.
Boccaccio is deemed as one of the founders of Western literature thanks to
his work The Decameron, which includes 100 stories narrated by ten men
and women gathering at a villa just outside Florence to escape the Black
Death. Some stories are drawn from the author’s imagination, while some
are adaptations of folktales and others draw on ancient French ballads.
Boccaccio portrayed every aspect of fourteenth-century Italian society in
humorous and witty language. The Decameron is a masterpiece of Italian
prose and an important work of European literature. English poets from
Chaucer to Keats were all inspired by it (with Chaucer’s The Canterbury
Tales being an obvious imitation in both structure and content).
6.4.2 English Literature during the Renaissance
England was the center of the European Renaissance, and English literature
was at the peak of Renaissance literature. The main accomplishments of the
English Renaissance were poetry and plays. The most famous poets are Sir
Philip Sidney (1554–1586), Edmund Spenser (1552/1553–1599),
Ben Jonson (1572–1637) and William Shakespeare (1564–1616), Jonson
and Shakespeare being more famous for their plays. Sidney excelled in
short poems; while Spenser’s short poems are as beautiful as his longer
works, laying a foundation for his notable status: the late eighteenth/early
nineteenth-century essayist and poet Charles Lamb praised him as the
“poet’s poet.” His long poems are The Shepherd’s Calendar and The Faerie
Queene. Shakespeare’s sonnets descended from and further developed the
Italian Petrarchan sonnet, and were an incomparable accomplishment.
156 G. XU ET AL.
The most stupendous achievement of the English Renaissance was its
drama. A group of playwrights named the “University Wits,” repre-
sented by Christopher Marlowe (1564–1593), emerged before
Shakespeare, and Shakespeare’s contemporary playwright Ben Jonson
was also a gifted writer, but unfortunately, being born in Shakespeare’s era,
their artistry is overshadowed.
Shakespeare composed thirty-seven plays in his lifetime, and they are
generally separated into histories, comedies, and tragedies. They have been
constantly put on stage and adapted to films for almost 400 years, and no
other works from other writers can compete with their popularity.
Shakespeare’s plays are perhaps the most widely studied texts except for the
Bible. Most of his plays are based on history, Greek and Roman
mythology, or previous writers’ stories; nevertheless, his genius infused an
immortal vitality into these characters and materials. When reading
Shakespeare’s plays, even today readers cannot sense the chronological
barrier between history and the present, because his language is fresh and
interesting and feels contemporaneous. It is reasonable to call Shakespeare
our contemporary. The overarching motif in Shakespeare’s plays, whether
history, comedy, or tragedy, is always humanity, though the histories may
carry another intention, that of admonition. The theme of Shakespeare’s
comedies is generally love, the plot is charming yet convoluted, and the
language is quick-witted and humorous. A Midsummer Night’s Dream, As
You Like It, The Taming of the Shrew, Much Ado About Nothing, and The
Merchant of Venice are names familiar to everybody. Shakespeare’s
tragedies are usually believed to be his most accomplished work; the four
most renowned are Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth, and Othello. These expose
the weaknesses of human nature. The heroes are either of noble birth or of
celebrated status, and their dignified qualities match their notable position.
However, flaws in their character result in their tragic ends, examples being
Hamlet’s irresolution and vacillation, King Lear’s prejudice and cre-dulity,
Macbeth’s avarice and ambition, and Othello’s undue suspicion.
The tragedy caused by the weakness of human nature forms a sharp
contrast with the heroes’ noble quality, which arouses strong compassion
among readers and audiences. Another reason for the eternal vitality of
Shakespeare’s plays is his deep understanding of human nature.
Brilliant as Shakespeare is, the light that he shines does not show us all the
wonders of English Renaissance literature. In the same way the splen-dor of
Dante is not able to lighten the gloomy skies of the Middle Ages.
Another eminent playwright is Ben Jonson. In the seventeenth century,
EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN LITERATURE 157
his fame exceeded even Shakespeare’s. He was of great erudition and
versatility, and this is expressed in his plays. Jonson’s Roman play
Poetaster is composed of dialogues between Virgil, Horace, Ovid, and
Timbales,
and the language that each speaker utters resembles the ideas in his own
writings. Some believe that even Shakespeare could not have written such a
talented work. The eighteenth-century English critic John Dryden said:
“I admire him, but I love Shakespeare.” As with Shakespeare, Ben Jonson
was an excellent poet and a greatly talented playwright.
Apart from Shakespeare and Jonson, other notable playwrights during the
English Renaissance were John Webster ( c. 1580– c. 1634), Francis
Beaumont (1584–1616), and his collaborator John Fletcher (1579–1625).
Together
with other great writers, they bedeck the starry night of the Renaissance.
Francis Bacon (1561–1626) was a great Renaissance scholar, philoso-
pher, and essayist. His most prestigious work, Essays, was written in
precise and accurate language, and is imbued with wisdom. Many famous
sayings
in it have been passed down through history, examples being. “Knowledge
is power” and “Histories make men wise; poets, witty; the mathematics,
subtle; natural philosophy, deep; moral, grave; logic and rhetoric, able to
contend.” Francis Bacon is the founder of British philosophy and the
father of English prose.
6.4.3 Renaissance Literature of France and Spain
The Renaissance literature of France and Spain is no less remarkable than
that of Italy and England. French literature had already achieved a few
notable accomplishments in medieval times, but in the sixteenth century
two literary masters emerged in France: one was the author of Gargantua
and Pantagruel, François Rabelais (between 1483 and 1494–1553), and the
other was the essayist Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592). Gargantua and
Pantagruel is a novel in five volumes that describes the adventures of the
giant Gargantua, his son Pantagruel, and the useless jokester Panurge; it
faithfully reflects every aspect of contemporary society through their
adventures. The novel ridicules all kinds of malpractices through the use of
amusing stories and language. On one hand, it criticizes society’s
hypocrisy and cruelty and the harm caused to children by scholasticism; on
the other hand, it confirms the humanity and creativity of men. The giants
in the novel are powerful, knowledgeable, broad-minded, and peace-loving,
incarnating the spirit of the Renaissance.
158 G. XU ET AL.
Very different to Rabelais, Montaigne was tranquil and calm. His essays
feature wisdom, humor, and skepticism. He has been called “the king of the
essay” and was the first great French essayist, exerting much influence on
other writers. It is said that Shakespeare’s The Tempest was based on one of
Montaigne’s essays.
Spanish literature started to gain attention because of a great novelist who
lived during the sixteenth century, Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616).
His original intention in writing Don Quixote was to satirize the romantic
knightly literature that had been popular since the Middle Ages.
Surprisingly, the novel gradually developed its own life and developed into
a work of unique style and thought. The hero Don Quixote is enchanted
by knightly novels, and his behavior is ridiculous because of his frenzied
addiction. However, he later becomes a hero because of his perseverance,
his lack of vice, his integrity, and his kindness. He is a funny yet pitiful
hero. As it goes on, the novel changes from satire to an attack on society,
also being a eulogy to humanists who are courageous enough to make
changes. Don Quixote and his servant Sancho Panza are a pair of classical
literary characters, but to the average person one of them appears to be a
lunatic with an unrealistic imagination, while the other is a fool who
appears to only accidentally speak words of wisdom.
6.5 europeAn LiterAture in the seventeenth
century
6.5.1 French Literature
The most accomplished form in seventeenth-century French literature is
drama. Great playwrights who abided by classicism were Pierre Corneille
(1606–1684), Jean Racine (1639–1699), and Molière (1622–1673).
Corneille composed more than thirty tragedies and comedies, and many
of them are still in theaters’ repertoires, an example being Le Cid. Racine
was also a great playwright, his masterpieces including Andromaque. The
most remarkable playwright in French history is Molière. His works
include The Misanthrope, The School for Wives, and Tartuffe. Moliere’s
comedies contain far-reaching ideas that appear amid laughs and mockery,
and readers may feel a sense of misery behind the humor. He infused the
majesty of tragedy into comedy.
Another influential writer in seventeenth-century France was the alle-
gorist Jean de La Fontaine (1621–1695). Fontaine ridiculed human life
EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN LITERATURE 159
through fable. Children lose themselves in the fairy tales while adults savor
the gorgeous writing and its implied meanings.
Seventeenth-century French poetry dedicated itself to the imitation of
ancient Greek poetry. The seven poets who venerated Greek poets called
themselves “The Pléiade.” Members of the group attached great importance
to form and shared the defining characteristics of Baroque style.
Although their poetry was not popular for long, their impact on the forms of
French poetry was decisive and crucial. Three representatives of the Pléiade
are Pierre de Ronsard (1524–1585), Joachim du Bellay ( c.
1522–1560), and Jean-Antoine de Baïf (1532–1589).
Nicholas Boileau-Despreaux (1636–1711) was a seventeenth-century
French poet and critic. It was he who discovered the aesthetic interest of
Racine and the talent of Molière. His work The Art of Poetry was modeled
on T he Art of Poetry ( Ars Poetica) by the Roman poet Horace and
presents detailed guidance for the composition of poems, laying a
foundation for French poetry. He is regarded as the most talented critic after
Aristotle and before the English Matthew Arnold (1822–1888).
René Descartes (1596–1650) was a seventeenth-century philosopher.
“I think, therefore I am” is one of his renowned philosophical propositions.
His admiration for reason corresponded with the literary classicism of the
time. Descartes’ rational philosophy influenced following generations to a
great extent.
6.5.2 English Literature
The representative poet of the metaphysical school is John Donne
(1572–1631). He was adept at using elusive and inventive metaphors in his
poetry and was referred to as a metaphysical poet by the poet and critic
John Dryden in the eighteenth century. The metaphysical poets were
underval-ued for a long time, with the artistic value of their work not being
valued until their re-evaluation by the great twentieth-century poet and
critic T.S. Eliot. Donne is now deemed to be one of the best British poets
ever.
John Milton (1608–1674), born thirty years after Donne, was stylisti-
cally different from him. His metaphysical poems are short and contain
magical images; they resemble Homeric epics in form and draw on material
from biblical stories. Composed of grand structures and magnificent
language, they are imbued with courage and heroism. His masterpieces
are Paradise Lost and Samson Agonistes. Milton is another great master,
second only to Shakespeare.
160 G. XU ET AL.
Another writer worth-mentioning from seventeenth-century England
is John Bunyan (1628–1688). His allegorical novel The Pilgrim’s Progress
describes how the hero Christian experiences arduous hardships before
finally arriving in Paradise. His language is clear, plain, and simple, but is
occasionally decorated with sentences that have a biblical style. The work is
intended to enlighten people through the use of uncomplicated stories, and
is a paradigm of Protestant literature.
6.6 europeAn LiterAture in the eiGhteenth
century
6.6.1 French Literature
Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu
(1689–1755), generally referred to more simply as Montesquieu, was a
writer as well as a historian. He is well known for his early work Persian
Letters, which satirizes the malpractices of Church, government, and
literature. His historical work Considerations on the Causes of the
Greatness of the Romans and their Decline (1734) influenced Edward
Gibbon’s The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776–
1789).
Montesquieu’s work On the Spirit of the Laws is a documentation of law,
society, and government, as well as a study of the customs of various
countries from ancient times until his times.
Voltaire (1694–1778) was the nom-de-plume of François-Marie Arouet.
He was a leader of the French Enlightenment, his works covering almost all
genres of literature, including plays, poems, novels, histories, literary
criticism, and letters. In essence, they all serve the same end, that of
campaigning for Enlightenment ideas. For instance, the tragedy Brutus
advocates the idea of a republic, another tragedy Mahomet is a study of
religious fanaticism, and the romantic tragedy Zaïre reveals sin caused by
religious prejudice.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) was also an important leader of
the Enlightenment movement. His works Emile, or On Education, Julie, or
the New Heloise, The Social Contract, and Confessions of Jean-Jacques
Rousseau exert a far-reaching influence upon philosophy, history, literature,
politics, and society in general.
Denis Diderot (1713–1784) compiled Encyclopedia, or a Systematic
Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts, and Crafts, which is a collection of
science, literature, philosophy, and other disciplines, and contains the
wisdom of many influential philosophers.
EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN LITERATURE 161
Three major playwrights emerged in eighteenth-century France: Alain-
René Lesage (1668–1747), who was also a novelist, Pierre de Marivaux
(1688–1763), and Pierre Beaumarchais (1732–1799). Lesage’s novel Le
Diable Boiteux is witty and humorous. Marivaux experimented with
different genres using unique language. Just as the word “Kafkaesque”
(gro-
tesque) was coined to describe the work of Czech writer Franz Kafka
(1883–1924), the new French word Marivaudage refers to Marivaux’s
elusive literary style. His masterpieces are A Matter of Dispute and The
Game of Love and Chance. Beaumarchais’ comedies, The Barber of Seville
and The Marriage of Figaro, accompanied by Mozart and Rossini’s music,
are well known to virtually everyone.
6.6.2 English Literature
Representative writers of English prose in the eighteenth century are
journalists who wrote for The Spectator, Joseph Addison (1672–1719) and
Richard Steele (1672–1729). Their articles are enjoyable, educational, witty,
and funny. The writing is clear, and a model of English prose.
However, the greatest master of prose from the era is Jonathan Swift
(1667–1745), whose Gulliver’s Travels uses human beings and other crea-
tures, for instance Lilliputians (tiny people), Brobdingnagians (giants), and
Houyhnhnms (intelligent talking horses), to satirize the ridiculousness of
human society. The novel has been popular among children and adults ever
since it was published. The word “Yahoo” (describing the deformed crea-
tures that resemble human beings whom Gulliver meets) has entered the
English language. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe (1660–1731) exerts
the same wide influence as Gulliver’s Travels. The story of Robinson
surviv-ing alone on an island (later with his companion “Friday”) provides
readers with endless space to imagine and courage to adventure. Perhaps
this is one of the key elements to inspire early American immigrants.
The stories of Gulliver and Robinson Crusoe are similar to contem-
porary travelogues in some respects, but the epistolary (letter form)
Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded by Samuel Richardson (1689–1761) can be
considered to be the first English novel. Published in 1740, it is
equipped with all the elements a novel requires. Based on the thread of the
heroine’s emotions, it describes a poor maidservant whose master
makes unwanted and inappropriate advances toward her. The novel was
a huge success when it first appeared, and its fame spread to France and
Italy. It had a profound effect on contemporary novels. Because of this,
162 G. XU ET AL.
Richardson has been called “Father of the English Novel.” However,
the first great novelist was Henry Fielding (1707–1754). Carrying on
the tradition of Spanish and French picaresque novels, The History of Tom
Jones, a Foundling portrays the emotional life and ups and downs of Tom, a
foundling who became a gentleman. Although this is not a
unique subject, Fielding’s humor and his reflections on human nature
together create a classic among English novels. “Since the author of
Tom Jones was buried,” said the novelist William Makepeace Thackeray
(1811–1863), “no writer of fiction among us has been permitted to
depict to his utmost power a Man.” Another novelist, Laurence Sterne
(1713–1768), left his name in the literary arena thanks to The Life and
Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, which can be considered as the
first stream of consciousness fiction thanks to its loose structure, jumping
from one subject to another. Some critics regard Sterne as the founder of
contemporary narrative styles.
The central figure of literature and culture in the eighteenth century is
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784). He integrated knowledge, wit, and humor,
and attracted myriad admirers. He established the highest standard of
literary criticism in the era. His most influential work was A Dictionary of
the English Language (1755), the preeminent English dictionary until the
publication of the Oxford English Dictionary 173 years later. Because of his
larger-than-life personality, Johnson made a huge impact on the first great
biography writer James Boswell (1740–1795). Through their close
contact and communication, Boswell’s Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)
achieved the most vivid and personal biography published up to that
point, and often described as the greatest biography ever written.
While prose enjoys full blossom, play remains silent. Richard Brinsley
Sheridan (1751–1816) was the only master playwright at this time. The
Rivals and The School for Scandal are rich in wit and humor, and the latter
is considered to be the best English comedy since Shakespeare. Another
interesting writer is Oliver Goldsmith (1728–1774). He wrote novels, plays,
and poems, creating unforgettable masterpieces in all these genres. His
novel The Vicar of Wakefield is only next to Robinson Crusoe in terms of
popularity.
His play She Stoops to Conquer, along with Sheridan’s The Rivals and The
School for Scandal, were staged regularly for half a century. His poem The
Deserted Village remains melodious and touching for readers today.
Edward Gibbon (1737–1794) was perhaps the greatest English
historian. His The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire is
the most spectacular historical document among English works.
EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN LITERATURE 163
Four very influential English poets appeared at this time. They are John
Dryden (1631–1700) and Alexander Pope (1688–1744), representatives
of classicism, and William Blake (1757–1827) and Robert Burns
(1759–1796) of romanticism. Dryden was an excellent poet, a literary
critic, and a playwright. His poetry is neo-classical: he used heroic couplets,
which established their status as one of the fundamental rhyme
schemes in English poetry. Dryden was appointed Poet Laureate in 1668.
In literary criticism, he was the first great critic, whose reflections on
metaphysical poetry led to its neglect for centuries. It was not until the
twentieth century, when T.S. Eliot reassessed its value, that people
rekindled their interest in metaphysical poetry. Dryden’s best-known drama
is All for Love. Pope was the most outstanding neo-classical poet. His
poetry is smooth, symmetrical, refined, and delicate, and he skillfully used
heroic couplets. The Rape of the Lock is his most famous work. Pope was
also a great critic. Many of his sayings have become epigrams, for instance,
“To err is human, to forgive, divine,” “Fools rush in where angels fear to
tread,” and “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.” He was also a bril-
liant translator, translating the Iliad and Odyssey into English.
In the late eighteenth century, William Blake and Robert Burns were
considered as the pioneers of romanticism. They both loved nature,
human beings, and animals. Their poems are a natural flow of emotions.
Blake believed in God, and his poems are suffused with mysticism.
Burns is unique because of his preservation and application of Scottish
ballads. His sincere and melodious poems, such as “A Red, Red Rose”
and “Auld Lang Syne” enjoy fame not only in English-speaking coun-
tries, but also around the world.
6.6.3 German Literature
After the civil war of 1648, German literature started to attract the world’s
attention. Two consummate masters entered the arena: one was Johann
Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) and the other was Friedrich von
Schiller (1759–1805). As epoch-making as Dante and Shakespeare, Goethe
won German literature an important place in European literature. Just like
The Divine Comedy, his monumental play Faust is also a personal epic that
searches for the meaning of life. The hero Faust is a scholar who is avid for
life. Under the allurement of the devil Mephistopheles, he dedicates himself
to the empirical world, indulging in erotic enjoyment and the acquisition of
power. He is a hero who pursues dreams as well as a playboy who is
164 G. XU ET AL.
addicted to enjoyment. Goethe indicated the abundance, complexity, and the
meaning of life. The fame of his earlier novel The Sorrows of Young
Werther is treated as marking the beginning of German romanticism.
Schiller was a great playwright, poet, and literary theorist. He followed the
freedom of spirit. His play The Robbers expresses his liberal thought and is
a milestone of German drama. His other works include Intrigue and Love
and Don Carlos. Schiller’s literary theory influenced later philosophers and
theorists, such as Hegel.
Another person that is worth mentioning here is the playwright, ide-
ologist, and critic Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781). His aesthetic
work Laocoön: An Essay on the Limits of Painting and Poetry is a classic
text about painting and poetry criticism.
6.7 europeAn And AmericAn LiterAture
in the nineteenth century
6.7.1 French Literature
Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850) is renowned for The Human Comedy, a
book consisting of ninety-one realist novels with more than two thousand
varied characters, thereby providing what can be regarded as an
encyclopedia of human society, and because of this Balzac, transcending
boundaries of geography and time, gains eternal vitality through his works.
Victor Hugo (1802–1885) was Balzac’s friend. It is difficult to com-
pare their literary talent and status, so few objections can be made if Hugo
is considered to be the greatest French writer. His representative writings
are The Hunchback of Notre-Dame and Les Misérables. While we may find
it hard to judge whether Balzac’s The Human Comedy belongs to
romanticism or to realism, Hugo’s writings are very evidently romantic.
Besides his talent for fiction, Hugo was also a great playwright, poet, and
political commentator.
Alexandre Dumas, père (1802–1870), one of the most popular authors
of the nineteenth century, succeeded in gaining a great reputation as a
historical novelist, especially for such works as The Three Musketeers and
The Count of Monte Cristo.
The most outstanding work of Alexandre Dumas, fils (1824–1895) is
The Lady of the Camellias. With beautiful sentences and sincere emotion,
the novel indicts the destruction of truth by hypocritical capitalism; more-
EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN LITERATURE 165
over, the novel has been adapted as a drama and is one of the early works
that expresses French realism.
George Sand (1804–1876) was the greatest French female writer, and
she is often compared with Englishwoman George Eliot partly because
of their literary status and partly because they take country life as their
theme. The common themes explored by George Sand are the rights and
obligations of life and free love. She may be regarded as one of the
earliest feminists.
If the aforementioned writers and their works are more or less roman-
tic, Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880) and Guy de Maupassant (1850–1893)
were undoubtedly masters of realism. Flaubert’s representative work is
Madame Bovary, while Maupassant is famous for his short stories, such as
“Ball of Fat” and “The Necklace.”
Concerning other writers such as Émile Zola (1840–1902), Marie-
Henri Beyle (1783–1842), better known as Stendhal, Prosper Mérimée
(1803–1870), Alphonse Daudet (1840–1897), Pierre Loti (1850–1923),
and Marcel Proust (1871–1922), they may all be classified as naturalist
writers except Loti, who is regarded as an impressionist. Naturalism is
extreme realism or naked realism in which writers use almost cruel methods
to uncover the reality, the animality of humans, the cruelty of nature, and so
on. Zola’s works include Nana and The Downfall. A couple of Stendhal’s
works are The Red and the Black and The Charterhouse of Parma, while
the novella Carmen by Mérimée became a household name after it formed
the basis of Bizet’s opera.
The nineteenth century also witnessed the development of French
poetry. Briefly speaking, they can be classified into three groups: romantic,
Gothic and symbolic.
Representative romantic poets are Alphonse de Lamartine (1790–1869),
Victor Hugo, and Alfred de Musset (1810–1857). A representative Gothic
poet is Théophile Gautier (1811–1872). Poets such as Charles Pierre
Baudelaire (1821–1867), Stéphane Mallarmé (1842–1898), and Arthur
Rimbaud (1854–1891) represent the school of symbolism. However, this
classification is not absolute, because the Gothic poets also used elements
of reminiscence and nostalgia from romanticism, while both the Gothic
and symbolist poets valued form above all.
It is worth mentioning is that the French symbolist poets were influ-
enced by the American poet Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), and in turn
transmitted that influence into English poetry.
166 G. XU ET AL.
6.7.2 German Literature
Although the nineteenth century witnessed a multitude of poets, play-
wrights, and novelists, the overall achievements were not as great as they
had been in the previous century. Poetry stood out among all the genres, and
the Romantic lyric poets are represented by Heinrich Heine
(1797–1856), Georg von Hardenberg (1772–1801), who wrote under
the name of Novalis, Friedrich Hölderlin (1770–1843), and Ludwig
Uhland (1787–1862). Their poetry was set to music by Franz Schubert,
Robert Schumann, and Johannes Brahms, so they are well known.
The North Sea, a cycle of poems, is Heine’s best work. Another romantic
writer worth mentioning is E.T.A. Hoffmann (1776–1822), who was
a composer as well. His works are weird and absurd, and his usage of
techniques such as alienation, free association, inner monologue, and a
multi-level structure has influenced many modernist or postmodernist
writers. His works have inspired lots of musicians; for example, Pyotr
Ilyich Tchaikovsky got his inspiration for The Nutcracker from Hoffmann’s
“The Nutcracker and the Mouse King”.
6.7.3 Russian Literature
The nineteenth century was the golden age for Russian literature, which
started with romanticism and then turned into realism and critical realism.
Poets such as Alexander Pushkin (1799–1837) and Mikhail Lermontov
(1814–1841) were representative romantic poets, while romantic novel-
ists included the renowned writers Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910), Fyodor
Dostoyevsky (1821–1881), and Ivan Turgenev (1818–1883).
Alexander Pushkin symbolized the beginning of Russian literature,
being described by Maxim Gorky as “the father of Russian literature.”
In early times, his poems were romantic, but his style later changed to
realism. A representative work is Eugene Onegin, a novel written in poetic
form, which describes faithfully the aristocratic life of Russia in the 1820s,
presents the customs of Russia, and successfully shapes an
image of the noble youth.
Leo Tolstoy was one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century,
with the two books War and Peace and Anna Karenina being his
masterpieces. War and Peace is set during the Napoleonic wars, and the
grand set-pieces contain vivid descriptions of people from different social
classes.
Anna Karenina becomes more and more exquisite and touching as the
EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN LITERATURE 167
characters develop. In the two books, the description of reality both in its
breadth and depth reaches new heights. In his later years, Tolstoy wrote
another great work, the novel Resurrection.
Fyodor Dostoevsky, virtually as famous as Tolstoy, was good at reveal-
ing people’s inner hearts against the social and historical backdrop of the
nineteenth century. His works include Crime and Punishment and The
Brothers Karamazov, among many others. Dostoevsky is regarded by many
as “the father of realism,” using objective descriptions without commenting
on characters’ divergent views on a certain event, and using the stream of
consciousness technique to reveal people’s inner worlds. All these
techniques are well presented in the novel Crime and Punishment.
Another novel, Notes from Hell, expresses the absurdity and agony that is
later shown in works by existential writers.
Ivan Turgenev was another great Russian novelist of the nineteenth
century. He is always mentioned together with Dostoevsky and Tolstoy,
yet while the latter two often explored religion and morals, Turgenev was
dedicated to art itself. He was particularly adept at describing inner
emotions, especially those of women. As Turgenev himself said about the
way in which he portrayed nature, “I am hard to be surpassed.” His works
include the short story collection A Sportsman’s Sketches and the novels
Fathers and Sons, On the Eve, and Torrents of Spring.
6.7.4 English Literature
The nineteenth century was another glorious time for English literature.
The first half of the century was occupied by romanticism, while realism
began to prevail in the second half. Romantic poetry was the greatest
flowering of romantic literature, which started with the publication of
Lyrical Ballads by William Wordsworth (1770–1850) and Samuel Taylor
Coleridge (1772–1834). Wordsworth and Coleridge were both pioneers
of romanticism and practiced their theories in their poetry. Wordsworth
used plain words to praise nature, the natural spirit, and the common
people. In 1843, he became Britain’s Poet Laureate. His argument that
“poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings” has become a
poetic definition that is agreed upon by most people. Coleridge’s poems,
full of exoticism and mystery, represented another tendency of romanticism.
His poem “Kubla Khan” stemmed from his dream of China and was
involved with mysterious oriental beauty. Other famous romantic poets
include Lord Byron (1788–1824), Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822),
168 G. XU ET AL.
and John Keats (1795–1821). Byron and Shelley had a great influence on
poets in France and other European countries. They created both short
and exquisite lyrical poems such as “Ode to the West Wind” by Shelley
and epic poems such as Byron’s Don Juan, Shelley’s The Revolt of Islam
and Prometheus Unbound. Although Keats wrote no epic poems, his lyrical
poems are exquisitely formed and are infused with fierce emotion, so that
readers cannot put them down. His most famous poems include “Ode to
Autumn” and “Ode to a Nightingale.”
With the reciprocal radiance that romanticism and realism shone upon
each other and the talent of both male and female writers, the nineteenth
century became a fabulous era for English novels. An exemplar of romantic
novelists was Walter Scott (1771–1832), who drew material from
Scottish historical legends and myths to create romantic stories that
enchanted readers in Britain and indeed throughout Europe. Writers after
Scott included Charles Dickens (1812–1870) and William Makepeace
Thackeray (1811–1863), with Dickens being the most popular novelist
after Scott. His novels reveal the craftiness and cruelty of real society as
well as exposing the innocence and naivety of children. Children are the
heroes of many of his novels, which seek to make observations about this
sophisticated world by contrasting it with the innocence of children. His
fifteen novels (he also wrote hundreds of short stories and non-fiction
articles) include David Copperfield, The Pickwick Papers, Nicholas
Nickleby, and Oliver Twist. In his masterpiece Vanity Fair, Thackeray
portrayed characters and society with depth and craftsmanship: he was one
of the greatest realist writers of the nineteenth century and one of the
greatest novelists in English history.
The nineteenth is the epoch when English female writers gained more
prominence. They include Jane Austen (1775–1817), Charlotte Brontë
(1816–1855), Emily Brontë (1818–1848), Anne Brontë (1820–1849),
and George Eliot (1819–1880). Austen’s novels are based on family life and
mainly concern romantic love and marriage. They exhibit the marital
problems of women and English families with humor, wisdom, and deli-
cacy. Her novels have won everlasting popularity, so that even today
readers and movie directors alike admire them greatly. Representative
works of the Brontë sisters are Jane Eyre (Charlotte), Wuthering Heights
(Emily), and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (Anne). Jane Eyre is the novel that
first depicts the love story of a girl who is marked by an independent
personality rather than an attractive appearance, and the eponymous
character has become a paradigm for female literature. The violent passion,
unsociable
EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN LITERATURE 169
hero, and solitary environment of Wuthering Heights brought a new
perspective to the English novel. Some people regard George Eliot as the
most remarkable female writer in nineteenth-century England, for her
books are full of in-depth psychological insights. Her masterpieces are
Adam Bede, The Mill on the Floss, and Middlemarch.
There are other great writers in nineteenth-century England: they
include the great essayists Charles Lamb (1775–1834) and Thomas
Carlyle (1795–1881), the great critic Matthew Arnold, and the scientist and
writer Thomas Huxley (1825–1895). Lamb’s prose is of great wit and
humor as well as extraordinary talent. His masterpiece is Essays of Elia.
Arnold’s essays are classics of criticism. Huxley’s essays “Man’s Place in
Nature” and “Debate with Wilberforce,” combining science and literature,
are examples of clearly expressed scientific thinking.
6.7.5 American Literature
With the gradual independence and increasing prosperity of America,
American literature started to attract attention. In succession to the
romanticism seen in Europe, American literature in the nineteenth century
was also colored by romantic characteristics. Two leading figures were the
philosopher and writer Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) and
Henry Thoreau (1817–1862). They denounced traditional Christian doc-
trines and espoused nature and natural being, and exerted a seminal effect
on later poets, such as Walt Whitman (1819–1892) and Emily Dickinson
(1830–1886). Washington Irving (1783–1859) was the first internation-
ally best-selling American writer, and his masterpiece was The Sketch Book,
a collection of short stories that included “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.”
A contemporary of Emerson’s was Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–1864),
who was famous for his novel The Scarlet Letter. This revolves around a
love affair between a married woman and a priest, and reveals the struggle
between religion and human nature. Hawthorne also wrote a Gothic
novel The House of the Seven Gables.
A great master of the Gothic novel in the nineteenth century was Edgar
Allan Poe (1809–1849). His novels share the features of Gothic, detec-tive,
and psychological novels, and develop each of these genres. The
greatest American novelist is perhaps Mark Twain (1835–1910). When
reading his masterpieces The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn, readers find themselves living the curious and adventur-
ous childhoods he describes. Though there is shadow among the childlike
170 G. XU ET AL.
world in these novels, it is cast by the sun, which is the opposite of the evil
world seen by children in Charles Dickens’ novels. Mark Twain also
unfolded an idyllic picture of the American landscape in these two novels.
Another great novelist after Mark Twain was Henry James (1843–1916),
who was a master of psychological description. His works center on gen-
teel society, and his masterpieces include The American, The Portrait of a
Lady, and The Golden Bowl.
The best poets in nineteenth-century America are Edgar Allan Poe,
Walt Whitman, and Emily Dickinson. Poe’s poetry is characterized by
aestheticism and concentrates on rhyme and meter as well as diction. He
preferred the theme of death, and his representative works are “The
Raven” and “Annabel Lee.” If Poe’s poetry represents the decadent
beauty of gloom and death, Whitman’s poetry is a powerful song of self,
song of nature, and song of liberty, and represents the bright and optimistic
American spirit. His poetry is an embodiment of the doctrine of self-
reliance expressed by Emerson and Rousseau and marks the beginning of
free verse. Whitman is deemed to be the representative poet of American
spirit and was an exemplar for later poets. Opposed to Whitman’s bold
and unrestrained passion, Emily Dickinson lived in her own private world,
although she agreed with Whitman in terms of her fervent love for nature
and acquiescence regarding religion. She paid close attention to tiny crea-
tures as well as her own internal world. Another contemporary poet was
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882). His poetic accomplishments
were less conspicuous than those of the poets mentioned above.
6.8 europeAn And AmericAn LiterAture
in the twentieth century
6.8.1 English Literature
Thomas Hardy (1840–1928) was a good poet and an excellent novelist. His
novels are filled with pessimism and helplessness against irresistible fate.
His masterpieces include Jude the Obscure and Far from the Madding
Crowd.
George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) was a critical realist playwright
who was influenced by socialism. His plays humorously mocked and
criticized social evils in education, marriage, government, and social
welfare.
For his outstanding achievements, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for
Literature in 1925. Shaw’s works include Man and Superman, Pygmalion,
Saint Joan, and Major Barbara.
EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN LITERATURE 171
Though H.G. Wells (1866–1946), John Galsworthy (1867–1933),
and William Somerset Maugham (1874–1965) wrote in the twentieth
century, their works continued Hardy’s realist tradition. H.G. Wells is
famous for his science fiction, represented by The War of the Worlds. The
Nobel Prize winner John Galsworthy’s achievement in literature is
manifested in his trilogy The Forsyte Saga, Modern Comedy, and End of
the Chapter, which recounted the history of the fictional Forsyte family.
Through their story, John Galsworthy portrayed a realistic picture of
British society from the late nineteenth century to the early twentieth
century. This series also described the vicissitudes of the British
bourgeoisie.
Somerset Maugham was famous for his novels Liza of Lambeth and Of
Human Bondage, and he also wrote a large number of short stories. Many
of his works are full of exotic flavor owing to rich experiences during his
extensive travels.
James Joyce (1882–1941) was one of the pioneers of Modernism. His
masterpiece Ulysses, which is based on one day’s experience of an ordinary
man, imitates Homer’s Odyssey. While the Odyssey describes the
experience of Greek hero Ulysses, who surmounted all sorts of obstacles
before finally returning home, Joyce’s Ulysses reflects the spiritual journey
of a modern person through the device of a single day in the life of an
ordinary man. In this book, despite the seemingly common materials, the
past and the present permeate each other and daily trivia becomes profound,
while extreme erudition is mixed with crude humor, fully reflecting the
primary characteristics of modern literature. Another of Joyce’s masterpiece
is Finnegans Wake, which general readers can barely understand because of
all the allusions and innuendos that are included.
Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) was a distinguished writer in the twen-
tieth century, and is famous for her skillful use of the stream of
consciousness. Representative novels are To the Lighthouse, The Waves, and
Mrs Dalloway.
The novels of D.H. Lawrence (1885–1930) novels reflect the repressed
humanity in industrial society. The bold depiction of sex in his novels
meant that some of them were banned, but he is now recognized as one
of the pioneers of modern fiction. His works include Sons and Lovers and
Lady Chatterley’s Lover.
Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) was dedicated to revealing the dark side
of imperialism. His novels, such as Heart of Darkness and Lord Jim,
established his position as a great novelist.
172 G. XU ET AL.
W.B. Yeats (1865–1939) was one of the greatest British poets and play-
wrights of the twentieth century. His early works were influenced by
romanticism and symbolism, whereas his later works could be defined as
including aspects of postmodernism. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for
Literature in 1923 and his poems include “Sailing to Byzantium” and
“The Tower.”
T.S. Eliot (1888–1965) was a British poet who was born in the United
States. He was a leading modernistic writer and is particularly famous for
his poem The Waste Land. The historical allusions and references in the
book are as elusive as in Joyce’s Ulysses. Eliot expounded upon the
spiritual sterility of modern people and modern society. He was also the
best critic since Arnold, and his criticism has contributed to the re-reading
and re- assessment of many literary works. For instance, the metaphysical
poetry of the seventeenth century was given attention again thanks to his
evaluation of it.
Eliot won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1948.
W.H. Auden (1907–1973) was also an important poet in the early
twentieth century, and his political poetry and poetry of war affected
Chinese poets of the 1930s.
In the mid-twentieth century, British literature was represented by the so-
called “Angry Young Men,” who expressed their dissatisfaction with
war and social injustice. Among their number were the novelist Kingsley
Amis (1922–1995) and the playwright John Osborne (1929–1994).
William Golding (1911–1993) was a famous writer in the 1950s and
later. He is represented here by Lord of the Flies, and he won the Nobel
Prize for Literature in 1983. Lord of the Flies is an allegorical novel that
reveals the evil of human nature in its description of the process whereby a
group of children on an deserted island change from kind to vicious,
civilized to savage: it aroused strong responses on publication.
In the late twentieth century, there were two prominent female
writers. They were Doris Lessing (1919–2013) and Iris Murdoch
(1919–1999). Doris Lessing, who was often viewed as the spokesperson
for the feminist movement, wrote many works with communist, psy-
chological, and sci-fi themes during different phases of her life. Concern
about women’s fate in modern society is the theme of a large number of her
books. Lessing’s masterpieces are The Grass is Singing, The Golden
Notebook, and Memoirs of a Survivor. For her outstanding contribution to
literature, she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2007, the
oldest winner ever of this award.
Iris Murdoch was another prominent writer of the twentieth century.
Influenced by Freud and Sartre, most of her novels were about ethics and
EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN LITERATURE 173
sex. They often center on middle- and upper-class intellectuals, and are
usually humorous, dark, and mysterious. Her novels include Under the Net,
The Bell, and The Black Prince, with Under the Net being selected by the
American Modern Library as one of the best 100 English novels of the
twentieth century.
In the twentieth century, the greatest playwrights in Britain were
Samuel Beckett (1906–1989) and Harold Pinter (1930–2008). Samuel
Beckett was one of the founders of the Theater of the Absurd. In his
masterpiece Waiting for Godot, two tramps endlessly “wait for Godot” in
the wilderness. The waiting is boring. What are they waiting for? Why are
they waiting? How long will they wait? And what is Godot? Neither the
characters nor the audience know the answers. By distinctively displaying
an ordinary situation, Beckett revealed the awkward position of humans in
an absurd world, and this won him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969.
Harold Pinter was also a representative of the Theater of the Absurd
and the greatest playwright in Britain after Beckett. His masterpieces are
The Room, The Birthday Party, and The Caretaker. He won the Nobel Prize
for Literature in 2005.
6.8.2 American Literature
With America’s rising economic status in the twentieth century, its literature
began to flourish and many writers became celebrities during this period. In
addition to white male writers, black female writers and Jewish writers won
international recognition, accomplished great achievements, and became
eminent representatives of literature in the second half of the twentieth
century.
In the first half of the twentieth century, the most outstanding writers, who
mainly focused on realist writing, included Theodore Dreiser
(1871–1945), Jack London (1876–1916), John Steinbeck (1902–1968),
Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961), and F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940).
The works of Theodore Dreiser mainly exposes American society’s pur-
suit of money and status and the resultant disasters that ensue. His works
include Sister Carrie and An American Tragedy.
Jack London’s masterpieces are The Call of the Wild and White Fang.
The former exposes the law of the jungle, while the latter is written
from the viewpoint of the titular canine character and depicts the violent
worlds of wild animals and men, also exploring themes of morality and
redemption.
174 G. XU ET AL.
John Steinbeck was a typical writer of the American Great Depression
of the 1930s. His novels depict how poverty-stricken ordinary people create
beautiful lives by fighting and working hard. The Grapes of Wrath is his
most outstanding work. In 1962 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for
Literature.
Ernest Hemingway wrote about wars in the twentieth century; other
themes include love and loss. His works are characterized by their narrative
conciseness. The heroes of his stories are often very brave, striving to keep
their dignity even in a harsh environment. His works include For Whom the
Bell Tolls, The Sun Also Rises, and The Old Man and the Sea. He won the
Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954.
F. Scott Fitzgerald represents the writers of the 1920s Jazz Age. His
novels reflect the uproar and the pursuit of pleasure of that era. The Great
Gatsby is his most renowned work.
In the first half of the twentieth century, representatives of modernism
among American writers included the poet Ezra Pound (1885–1972), the
playwright Eugene O’Neill (1888–1953), and the novelists William
Faulkner (1897–1962) and J.D. Salinger (1919–2010).
The poetry of Pound shares many similarities with that of T.S. Eliot,
such as the frequent employment of cultural metaphors and the outstanding
mastery of crafted images rather than logic on which traditional poems are
based. Pound sought the redemption of Western society through the
employment of metaphors and observations about history and culture. He is
a representative poet of imagism, and his master work is The Cantos.
Eugene O’Neill was a pre-eminent and prolific American playwright of
the twentieth century. His works include The Emperor Jones, Desire under
the Elms, The Hairy Ape, The Iceman Cometh, and Long Day’s Journey into
Night. His plays reflect the stress experienced by and the historical destiny
of modern people, and their dilemma concerning an eagerness to
communicate that contrasts with a fear of communication.
William Faulkner took Yoknapatawpha County, a fictional Southern
town, as the background for his novels and short stories, vividly elaborating
the historical and cultural psychology of Southern society. With the
application of the stream of consciousness style as well as multi-angle,
multi-level viewpoints, his works reveal the complexity and mys-tique of
modern life. His novels include The Sound and the Fury and Absalom,
Absalom.
EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN LITERATURE 175
J.D. Salinger was a writer who gained worldwide literary fame for just one
novel, The Catcher in the Rye, and a number of short stories. Through the
narration of the young protagonist Holden Caulfield, the novel deals with
the complex psychological nuances and problems that young people
experience as they grow up. It has been a bestseller ever since it was
published in 1951.
To simply divide writers of this period into realists and modernists
would lead to the exclusion of many writers, because many realistic writers
employed modernistic writing traits in order to depict reality. Looking at
authors from another perspective, it is noteworthy that in addition to
mainstream writers a lot of non-mainstream authors, such as Toni
Morrison (1931–) and Alice Walker (1944–), rose to fame in the twenti-
eth century. With talent and intelligence, they composed a series of classics
that have brought them international fame. Their works not only
attach great significance to racial and feminist issues but also incisively
touch upon the universal problems in American society. In 1993, Toni
Morrison was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature; her most famous
work is Beloved. Alice Walker’s most important works include Meridian
and The Color Purple, which won her the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the
National Book Award for Fiction. Both authors are innovative in their
approach to writing and language.
Jewish authors have also achieved much in the twentieth-century
American literary world, with the most renowned including Saul Bellow
(1915–2005), Isaac Bashevis Singer (1902–1991), and Arthur Miller
(1915–2005).
Saul Bellow won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1976, and his works
include Herzog, Henderson the Rain King, and Humboldt’s Gift. His works
often have a Jewish hero, pay special attention to how modern people live,
and insightfully uncover their various material and spiritual problems.
Another Nobel Prize-winning writer is Isaac Bashevis Singer. Jewish
elements and culture abound in his works, the most famous being The
Magician of Lublin.
Arthur Miller, among much else, wrote the play Death of a Salesman,
which is one of the classics of modern tragedy.
176 G. XU ET AL.
6.8.3 French Literature
Romain Roland (1866–1944) succeeded Honoré de Balzac as the master
of the realist tradition. His most renowned work is the ten-volume novel
Jean-Christophe. With epic grandeur and profundity, his works are broad-
minded, insightful, and vivid, combining poetic passion, philosophical
exploration, and realist depiction. With symphonic structure and splen-dor,
Jean-Christophe develops a new artistic style of its own, in which the
presentation of nature is saturated with musical beauty. As the author
remarked, this book is “a musical novel.”
Roger Martin du Gard (1881–1958) was the author of the eight-
volume novel The Thibaults, which shows the social contractions and the
mindset of intellectuals during the First World War in France. With the
approach of the stream of consciousness, the work reflects social reality in a
modernistic way and shows an anti-war attitude on humanitarian
grounds. The author won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1937.
André Gide (1869–1951) was another French writer who won the
Nobel Prize for Literature. His early works usually have some symbolic
elements, but he opposed excessive attention to form and a detachment
from reality. His most outstanding work is The Counterfeiters, in which the
counterfeiters are not only the outlaws who make counterfeit money, but
also symbolize those writers who only have names as authors but no really
good works. The novel has many modernistic characteristics, such as a
complex plot, numerous characters, and a structure in which stories
develop simultaneously but with no connections between them.
Louis Aragon (1897–1982) was a poet, novelist, and journalist, and a
master of French surrealism, whose long book Le Paysan de Paris
describes a bizarre and colorful France from the perspective of a peasant in
an imaginative manner. It became one of the most successful surrealist
works in French literary history. The author later joined the Communist
Party and adopted some principles of socialist realism, but finally gave up
on this and returned to his surrealist roots. His works cover novels, prose,
poetry, and literary criticism, in which not only the history of the political
struggle is recorded, but also the trends in French literature are foreseen.
Paul Verlaine (1844–1896) was a renowned scholarly poet. His repre-
sentative poem is “A Seaside Cemetery,” in which he shows his philo-
sophical thinking about statics and dynamics, life and death. With abundant
images, profound thought, and strict poetical meter, the poem is a
masterpiece, in which modern ideology is expressed in a classical way.
EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN LITERATURE 177
The French novelist Marcel Proust was the writer of the seven-volume
novel Remembrance of Things Past, which won him fame as master of
modern fiction. The interwoven remembrances in the novel make the
work a symphony of time from which reality emerges. It is a classic work
that describes modern people’s understanding of life and time.
Representatives of French existentialism are Jean-Paul Sartre
(1905–1980) and Albert Camus (1913–1960).
Jean-Paul Sartre was both a philosopher and a writer. His main philo-
sophical works include Being and Nothingness and Existentialism is a
Humanism. His existential philosophy reflects Western people’s increasing
awareness of crisis, sense of alienation, and consciousness of insecurity
after the Second World War. Beginning with the premise that “existence
precedes essence,” his philosophical works come to the conclusion that
“freedom of choice” provides a way to get out of the survival predicament.
As a writer of fiction, his most famous works are the novel Nausea and the
play Hell is Other People, which expose the absurdity of modern society
and the indifference, entanglement, and frustration of interpersonal
relationships.
Albert Camus was another representative of French existentialism. He
also revealed the absurdity of modern society and the impossibility of
totally changing it. However, unlike Sartre, he advocated that people
should confront and resist this absurdity with the hero spirit, and in the
course of this show the beauty of human nature. His work The Plague
perfectly shows beautiful human nature fighting absurdity; while another
work, The Stranger, expounds the real passion behind the superficial
“flatness” that people experience when confronted with absurdity in a
plain style. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957, “for his
important literary production, which with clear-sighted earnestness
illuminates the problems of the human conscience in our times.”
Eugene Ionesco (1909–1994) was a distinguished Romanian French
writer, who was also one of the founders and representatives of the Theatre
of the Absurd. His works include The Chairs, Rhinoceros, Exit the King,
and The Bald Soprano.
6.8.4 German Literature
Gerhart Hauptmann (1862–1946) was a great playwright. He showed
great compassion toward human beings and viewed the tragic sins as
something inside the universe or the human race instead of in individual
lives. The characters are lifelike and his works render readers a general
178 G. XU ET AL.
picture of the life in an era or a country. Gerhart Hauptmann was awarded
the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1912. His works include The Sunken Bell,
Henry the Leper, Lonely People, and The Weavers.
Thomas Mann’s (1875–1955) masterpiece is Buddenbrooks. The writer
explored the aristocracy in nineteenth-century Germany by describing the
vicissitudes of the Buddenbrooks family using sarcastic and exquisite
language. This, together with The Magic Mountain, won him the Nobel
Prize for Literature in 1926.
Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) was an eminent poet, playwright, and
drama theorist. He proposed the theory of defamiliarization, which exhibits
to the audience the taken-for-granted incidents in life in a non-
traditional manner, in order to surprise people and make them think. In
terms of acting and stage design, Brecht tried to deliberately break the
illusion created while watching a traditional play, intending audiences to be
ready to judge and criticize everything they saw on stage. His works include
Drums in the Night, Man Equals Man, Life of Galileo, and Mother Courage
and her Children.
Heinrich Theodor Böll (1917–1985) was a writer who focused on the
catastrophe and trauma that war brought to human beings and society in
general. His masterpiece is Group Portrait with Lady, and in this novel he
exploits pastiche, reflecting on the historical appearance of German society
over half a century through the description of the relationship between a
woman and people of various sorts. He won the Nobel Prize for
Literature in 1972.
Günter Grass (1927–2015) is famous for The Tin Drum, a novel with an all-
pervading sense of absurdity. The story is told from the bizarre perspective
of a dwarf, Oscar, with the physical height of a three-year-old child and a
superior intelligence, and it reveals the deformed history of German society
between the two world wars. The author won the Nobel
Prize for Literature in 1999.
6.8.5 Russian Literature
Leonid Andreyev (1871–1919) was an early realist writer, yet his works
exploit contemporary writing techniques, such as expressionism and
symbolism. With exaggerated features and intense colors, The Red Laugh
combines a series of absurd scenes, like nightmares, to express the horror of
war. In the play The Life of Man, a candle is lit, burning and extinguish-ing
to symbolize a man’s life. The Seven That Were Hanged even blends
EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN LITERATURE 179
different writing skills. With the help of writing techniques other than
realism to explore reality, his works are extraordinary.
Vladimir Mayakovsky (1893–1930) was the most prominent Russian
poet of the twentieth century. He wrote on different themes with intense
emotion and created the ladder poem, which strengthened rhythm and
enriched expressive power. His works include Vladimir Ilyich Lenin and All
Right! .
Maxim Gorky (1868–1936) was called an outstanding representative of
proletariat literature by Lenin. His most famous works include The Mother
and an autobiographical trilogy, My Childhood, In the World, and My
Universities. By portraying a series of proletariat revolutionists, especially
the working class, The Mother represents the awakening of Russian
revolutionists, the combining process of Marxism, the labor movement, and
the prospect of the doom of capitalism and the success of socialism.
Gorky’s autobiography describes the living conditions in Russia during the
1870s and 1880s, exposes the cruelty of the exploiting class, the mean
habits of the petite bourgeoisie, the misery of the working class, and a real
image of Alexei, who is diligent, never surrenders to dark powers, pursues
the
brightness, and explores the revolutionary truth.
Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov (1905–1984) was also a remarkable
Russian writer, his most famous works being And Quiet Flows the Don and
Virgin Soil Upturned. And Quiet Flows the Don is an epic novel. Based on
the two revolutions (February Revolution and October Revolution) in
1912 and 1922, the First World War, and the Russian Civil War, the novel
describes the huge changes that 5 million Cossacks went through during the
war. The novel has a complicated yet well-knit structure with threads of
social life and personal life intertwined. Well-rounded portrayal of
characters, vivid language, the use of unique and funny Cossack dialects,
many folksongs, a depiction of the magnificent scenery of the grasslands of
the Don River, all create a romantic atmosphere. Sholokhov was awarded
the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1965.
Boris Pasternak (1890–1960) was a prominent Russian poet and novel-
ist. The first half of Doctor Zhivago is a novel, and this is followed by over
twenty poems. Centering on Zhivago and his lover Lara, and many other
characters, the novel presents the themes of life in both society and family.
By describing the experience of the decade of the October Revolution and
Russian Civil War, the novel shows the old intellectuals’ ambivalence and
confusion about the revolution. With minute expression of family and
emotion issues, the novel is a tragicomedy of love. It brought Pasternak
180 G. XU ET AL.
tremendous fame, and he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in
1958. However, the work was claimed to be “resenting Socialist revolu-
tion,” and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was enraged, and
this brought suffering to the author.
Ivan Alekseyevich Bunin (1870–1953) inherited the Russian Realist
tradition. He mainly portrayed life in aristocratic manors and in his early
works criticized the spiritual sterility and degeneration of the aristocrats.
Later he moved on to rustic subjects, depicting the darkness and back-
wardness in rural areas and the peasants’ ignorance. Bunin emphasized the
depiction of characters and environment, and his language is vivid. Gorky
praised him as “one of the finest Russian stylists.” Ivan Bunin’s famous
works include To the Edge of the World and Other Stories, The Village, and
Antonov Apples. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in1933.
Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn (1918–2008) was conferred the
Nobel Prize for Literature in 1970 for revealing the conditions in forced
labor camps in his novel The Gulag Archipelago, and was consequently
expelled from the Soviet Union.
bibLioGrAphy
Chen Jia. 2002. A History of English Literature. Beijing: The Commercial
Press.
Fang Hanwen. 2005. A History of Comparative Literature of the East and
the West.
Beijing: Peking University Press.
Grant, Neil. 1998. History of Literature. Trans. Qiao Heming, et al.
Taiyuan: Hope Publishing House.
Macy, John. 2004. The Story of the World’s Literature. Trans. Yu Huiping.
Guiyang: Guizhou People’s Publishing House.
Sporre, Dennis J. 1990. A History of the Arts. London: Bloomsbury Books.
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. http://en.wilcipedia.org/wiki
Xu Baogeng. 2003. The Pilgrimage of Western Literature. Shijiazhuang:
Hebei Education Press.
Zhu Weizhi, Zhao Li, and Huang Jinkai. 2004. A Concise History of
European and American Literature. Beijing: China Renmin University
Press.
website
http:dxnc.gs.edu.cn/jiaoan/auweiwangye/jal-l.htm
CHAPTER 7
Western Organizational Culture: EU
Organizational Culture
Organizational culture usually refers to a shared value system that may be
distinguished from other value systems. The organizational culture
of the European Union (EU) can be regarded as the best example of
Western organizational culture. Formed on March 25, 1957, the EU
has become a twenty-eight-member regional organization, with a popu-
lation of about 500 million and a GNP amounting to $12 trillion
(2007), the biggest in the world. With this overall strength, its willingness
to participate in international affairs is increasing, and so is its influence on
the international stage.
Cultural factors have played a crucial role in the European integra-
tion process, leaving an influence not only on the mode of develop-
ment, basic tenets, legal system, institutional setting, and voting
mechanism, but also on the scope and standards of the EU’s eastward
expansion. Meanwhile, European culture itself has become more
embracing and colorful.
7.1 The Origin and develOpmenT Of eU CUlTUre
7.1.1 Definition of EU Culture
In the Modern Chinese Dictionary, culture is defined as “the total of
material and spiritual wealth created in the development process of human
history, especially spiritual wealth, such as literature, art, science, etc.”
© The Author(s) 2018
181
G. Xu et al. (eds.), K. Chen et al. (trans.), Understanding Western Culture,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-8150-7_7
182 G. XU ET AL.
Culture is the accumulation of national intelligence, the prerequisite for
national development, the reflection of economic and political status, and
the foundation of national integrity. Since the 1980s, because of globaliza-
tion and the quick development of information technology, the importance
of culture in shaping social and economic activities has been more evident
than ever. It has become a sign of self-identification in many areas, since
the first criterion in telling the difference between two societies is the value
system and creativity of their people rather than monetary or natural
resources.
Initially, EU integration was focused on the economy. As the economic
integration level rose, culture was found to be extremely important in
cultivating a sense of belonging in Europe. The renowned American scholar
Samuel P. Huntington pointed out that “the EU is the result of European
shared culture” since “the basis of economic cooperation lies in similarities
of culture,” and held that “Countries with cultural kinships could cooperate
economically and politically. International organizations that are built with
cultural similarities are more likely to be successful than those that are not.”
All EU member countries should respect each other’s unique national
characteristics. This consensus should be extended to a higher level to
enrich European cultural heritages and to encourage international cultural
exchange.
7.1.2 The Formation of EU Culture
7.1.2.1 Homogeneous Culture
European integration was based on a shared culture. Commercial
interaction and wars among European countries had led them to know each
other better. Though there were differences, they shared the same basic
historical tradition and cultural origin.
Ancient Greek and Roman Civilizations
Greece is the fountainhead of European civilization, and the word
“Europe” originates from Greek myth. The Greeks made important
achievements in philosophy, mathematics, science, and city-building, and
the Greek civilization became the cultural origin of Europe. Later, Ancient
Rome inherited and developed Greek civilization; more importantly, as its
territory expanded it combined several European countries, which had a
significant cultural impact on them. Ancient Roman civilization became the
origin of the Renaissance and Enlightenment. These two civilizations
together provided a framework for European civilization, which has been
deemed “one of the top events in human history.”
WESTERN ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE: EU ORGANIZATIONAL
CULTURE 183
Christian Culture
Religious factors were important in laying the foundation for European
integration. All European countries have a Christian cultural background,
which was significant in inheriting European civilization. Christian culture,
including ancient ethics and dogmas, evolved into a spiritual bond that
broke individual, familial, or even national boundaries, and was expected
to, through the work of missionaries, combine the individualistic Greek
culture, the Roman culture that stressed the importance of nation, legion,
and law, and the familial Germanic culture. Europe is a Christian continent,
where people share the same “heaven” and god, the same spiritual world
that brought forth
“European awareness”. There are Christian characteristics in social
structure, painting, music, and architecture, as well as in other areas.
Democratic peace reduces the conflicts between European countries, and
since they share the same cultures and values, their ideologies have
common features. This is exactly why the EU can be such a powerful unity.
Some have argued that
“Christianity could bond the disintegrating western Europe through religion
and religious organizations. It facilitated the cultural and social exchange
between western European countries, accelerated the recognition process,
and laid a base for the development of Christian culture in the Middle
Ages.”
Shared Cultural Values
J. Aldebert et al., the authors of History of Europe, commented, “Though
European history witnessed hatred and plundering, or even betrayal,
blood- shedding, there was mutual beneficial interaction.” Having
experienced the “Renaissance” and “Enlightenment,” the Europeans pursue
freedom and democracy, believe in Kant’s philosophy, and stress justice and
reason. European countries have built the democratic legal system
that takes constitutionalism, the separation of powers, universal suffrage,
representative system, judicial independence, and the supremacy of law as
the basic principles and core contents. Democratic and legal awareness,
rooted in public attitudes, became a principle of daily life. Cultural values,
such as democratic politics, scientific thinking, a humanistic spirit,
rationalism, and romanticism, were accepted by the Europeans.
7.1.2.2 The “European Union Dream”
After the seventeenth century, as wars plagued European countries, men of
insight came up with the idea of building a European union that
would ensure peace and development. In 1713, the French Abbé de
Saint-Pierre proposed the establishment of a “European Confederation”
in the “Plan for Perpetual Peace”. Napoleon once said, “We should have a
184 G. XU ET AL.
European Code, a Supreme Court of Europe, unified European currency,
measurement, and law. I should see the people of Europe as a unified
people … this is the only ideal outcome.” In 1925, the Prime Minister of
France, Édouard Herriot, said that his ultimate hope was that one day he
would be able to witness the emergence of the United States of Europe. In
1929, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Aristide Briand, proposed the
idea of a United States of Europe to the German government, and in 1930
submitted a memorandum to the governments of European countries that
proposed a union for sovereign states. The two world wars
destroyed not only the sense of pride cultivated by the European industrial
revolution, but the overall strength of the whole of Europe. Post-war
division and the Cold War were frustrating, forcing Europeans to reflect on
the past. They realized that their suffering was caused by the splits in
Europe, and the only way to recover was to build a European unity.
Therefore, the voice calling for the establishment of a unified Europe was
louder.
In September 1946, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill pro-
posed the establishment of a United States of Europe. “We must create
united states of Europe, which is the only way that the hundreds of millions
of the hardworking people can regain the joy of making life valuable and
hopeful … Why cannot there be a European organization, in which
people on this turbulent and powerful continent could be more patriotic and
have a common citizenship? Why should not it have its rightful place and,
together with other large groups, decide its people’s destiny? There must be
a faith that hundreds of millions of families voluntarily believe in.”
On May 9, 1950, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs Robert Schuman
proposed the establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community.
“The first step of the European Confederation is to stimulate the economy.
Association of coal and steel industries immediately provides the basis for
it, and changes the fate of those areas engaged in the manufacturing of
weapons of war … for peacekeeping, the establishment of European
Confederation is essential. We have to work together to start basic
production and set a senior authority to constrain the power of France,
Germany and other
member states.” On April 18, 1951, France, Germany, Italy, the
Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg signed the Treaty on Establishing
the European Coal and Steel Community in Paris. On July 25, 1952, it was
established.
On March 25, 1957, in Rome, six countries signed two treaties regarding
the establishment of the European Economic Community and the European
Atomic Energy Community, which together were called the Treaty of
Rome. On April 8, 1965, the same six countries signed the Treaty of
WESTERN ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE: EU ORGANIZATIONAL
CULTURE 185
Brussels, which was aimed at merging the three organizations and renaming
it the European Community (EC).
In 1973, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Ireland, Greece, Spain, and
Portugal joined the EC, whose number of member states therefore
expanded to twelve. Within the EC there was established a Customs
Union, which unified foreign trade policy and agricultural policy, and
created the European monetary system, a unified budget, and a political
cooperation system. The EC gradually became an agent for European
economic and political interests. In this way, the dream of European
integration gradually came into reality.
7.1.2.3 From the European Cultural Agreement to the Maastricht
Treaty
In 1954, fourteen member states of the EC (Belgium, Denmark, France,
Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands,
Norway, Sweden, Turkey, and the United Kingdom) signed the European
Cultural Agreement. In this agreement, the signatory states expressed
their desire to promote European culture and committed themselves to
taking joint actions and adopting similar policies. In 1985, the Berlin
Declaration was passed at the Meeting of Ministers of Culture of the
European Commission, and this further clarified the goals. It was held that
cultural, social, economic, and technological factors together constituted the
realization of social harmony and development.
On December 11, 1991, the Maastricht summit passed the Treaty of
European Union, known as the Maastricht Treaty, to form the EU and
establish European economic, monetary, and political union. Culture was
under consideration in it. Section 128 in Chapter 9 of the Maastricht Treaty
reads: “the Community is committed to promoting the common
cultural heritage and cultural development of all member states, to
respecting the cultural diversity of the other countries.” In Section 151, it is
proposed that the EU should strive to improve cultural development
through education and training in member states. According to the
Maastricht Treaty, the EU can take action when member states cannot
fully achieve these objectives. Such action by the EU was not to replace the
function of member states, but was used as reinforcement, aimed at
encouraging cultural co-operation. Cultural terms stipulated that in the
implementation of the Maastricht Treaty cultural factors should be
considered for the purpose of promoting cultural diversity.
186 G. XU ET AL.
7.1.3 The Goals of the Establishment of European Culture
7.1.3.1 Consolidating the Political and Economic Achievements
of European Integration
After continuous efforts over half a century, the EU has become a
successful union of sovereign states. The EU has become one of the major
eco-
nomic entities in the world with its GDP being equivalent to a quarter of the
world, exceeding that of the USA. However, in the integration process, with
the increasing number of member states, cultural differences between
member states brought considerable distress to the EU. Various arguments,
doubts, or even conflicts appeared between different cultures.
Jean Monnet, “Father of the EU,” after experiencing several setbacks in
applying common foreign and defense policies, said, “if we can restart the
process, I will start from culture.” In order to strengthen the sense of
belonging so that “European consciousness” could be rooted in people’s
minds, and then to consolidate the political and economic results of
European integration, the EU found that the only way was to use various
cultural carriers and cultural activities to popularize the idea of European
integration. Europeans should know how to understand and respect each
other. They need to be aware that their own national culture is an integral
part of the common culture of Europe. EU member states will not lose
their own culture because of integration, but will share the common cultural
development and the civilization of Europe as a whole. On January 1, 1999,
the Euro was issued and on March 1, 2002 this single European currency
went into circulation. The EU entered a new developmental
stage. The Euro presented a unified image of Europe, enhancing the
identification of European citizenship.
7.1.3.2 Contending with American Cultural Hegemony,
and Strengthening European Cultural Independence
After the Cold War, American culture, in the form of digital content,
controlled the production of 75% of television shows and 60% of radio
shows throughout the world thanks to a combination of advanced
commercial
mechanisms and high-tech industries. No European country can avoid the
influence of American films. According to European film critics, they
accounted for 70–80% of the European film market. The percentage in
France was slightly lower, yet American films also accounted for 50% of
the film market there. Through the export of cultural products, the USA not
only obtained huge economic profits, but also spread its social and political
WESTERN ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE: EU ORGANIZATIONAL
CULTURE 187
philosophy, values, ideology, and culture, which was a kind of cultural
colonization. In fighting against this American cultural hegemony and
monopoly, European countries were consistent in believing that they
should stop American cultural products from jeopardizing European cul-
ture. At the final phase of the 1993 Uruguay Round, the EU was in intense
confrontation with the USA in terms of market access for cultural products,
and was resolutely against the idea of opening up the market. The EU
refused to give specific commitments and a schedule, and the USA
had no choice but to compromise. Facing the massive invasion of American
culture, the EU on the one hand struggled with the USA and on the other
hand adopted a policy of cultural diversity to support the development of
European culture, so as to compete with American culture. In order to
reduce American cultural influence, the EU adopted a series of measures.
First, some EU member states introduced restrictions on films, and a ceiling
on the number of non-European films in cinemas; for example, the
French ceiling was set at 40%. Second, a control for film imports was
introduced: only a small number of American films were imported to meet
the needs of the EU film market. In France, from each ticket sold by the
French cinemas, a small part of the revenue would be used to fund French
film production. Third, the EU member countries further opened their
markets to each other, and at the same time introduced a number of non-
European and non-American films.
7.1.3.3 Participating in International Affairs, Spreading European Culture,
and Enhancing the Status of the EU in the World
The EU believed that culture was not only one of the most important
elements in economic and social development, but also played an important
role in democracy and social stability. If there was no cross-cultural
communication, it was impossible to have peaceful co-existence. Therefore,
the EU member states not only advocated the protection and promotion
of European culture, but also incorporated culture into the management of
such major issues as peace, aid, and development. The EU participated in
international affairs to spread its culture. It signed cultural co-operation
agreements with many non-member states. Cultural affairs were jointly
dealt with by international organizations such as the Council of Europe and
the United Nations. The EU’s Culture 2000 subsidized cultural cooperation
projects, such as exhibitions and carnivals, with non-member countries. The
Media Plan subsidized the spread of European cultural
products in the international market.
188 G. XU ET AL.
Plans for visual arts supported, in addition to projects in European
countries, a number of major projects in Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean
areas. Examples include an exhibition of paintings in Dominica and Haiti,
and a cultural co-operation agreement between Angola, South Africa,
Cuba, and other non-member states. Early cultural co-operation between the
EU and non-member states appeared in Africa, the Caribbean region, the
Mediterranean region, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and Central
Asia. Based on the European Development and Cooperation Policy, the
EU and seventy-seven Pacific countries strengthened co-operation to
spread national cultural elements, stimulate cultural creativity, and build
necessary cultural infrastructure.
In Asia, the 1996 Bangkok Summit was aimed at strengthening Asia–
Europe relations. The President of the EC and the heads of states in Asia
(China, Brunei, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) laid out a co-operative scheme. This
was later called the Asia–Europe Meeting, focusing on political, eco-
nomic, and cultural affairs. Under the scheme, exchanges were encour-
aged to promote Asian and European culture, protect intellectual
property, and deal with specific events (mainly for young artists). The
Eurasia Foundation supported meetings, seminars, and carnivals relating to
cultural industry, protection of cultural heritages, heritage tourism, and
cultural works (dance, painting, and music). The Asia Urbs Program
supported joint programs in the cities of Europe and Asia. The successful
integration of the EU made a set of systems, rules, standards, values, and
cultures influential in other countries and regions, including those
surrounding the EU, such as Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and the
Mediterranean countries. Many of these countries had expressed a
willingness to participate in the European integration process, and meet
European standards
in practice. This was significant in further expanding the influence of EU
culture on the international stage.
7.2 CUlTUral feaTUres Of The eU
Although there is a homogeneous history, EU culture has been diverse.
Every country has its proud culture, such as Austrian music, Dutch wind-
mills, Italian fashion, French wine, and German industrial design. On
December 7, 2000, The EU published the Charter of Fundamental Rights
of the European Union. Section Twenty-Two specifies that the EU
respects the diversification of culture, religion, and language. In Portugal,
WESTERN ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE: EU ORGANIZATIONAL
CULTURE 189
France, Italy, Spain, Luxembourg, Monaco, Ireland, and Poland, more
than 90% of the residents are Catholic; but other religions, such as Judaism,
Buddhism, Islam, and Hinduism, also have their space.
The multi-lingualism of the EU reflects the diversity of European cul-
ture. In accordance with the principle that “all languages are equal
regardless of their usage,” the EU must ensure that, in addition to the
official languages, all other languages are respected. On the electronic
screen at the daily press conference, several languages are used in
displaying questions and answers. With the arrival of the Bulgarian people,
Cyrillic characters will become the third alphabet, after the Latin and
Greek, to be adopted by the EU. With Ireland using Gaelic as its second
official language, and Spain adopting the Basque language, Catalan, and
Galician as
“semi-official languages,” the number of EU official languages has
increased to twenty-three, and official documents, including the 90,000
pages of treaties and agreements, must be written in all of them. The EU
has a special Commissioner responsible for language services, which
reflects the degree of attention paid to the subject.
The Council of the EU, the main decision-making and constitutional
body, used a unanimous voting system from the very beginning. But this
mechanism was not practical, especially when the number of member
states increased. When the efficiency of decision-making decreased and the
process of European integration was hindered, the “simple majority”
and “effective majority” voting systems came into being, the latter
becoming the Council’s main voting mechanism. From the cultural
aspect, different voting systems reflected different meanings. “Unanimous
agreement” expressed national characteristics by expressing a
consciousness of nationalism, as each member state had a veto. With a
strong
nationalist mindset, the French Charles de Gaulle implemented the
“empty chair” policy for up to six months in order to amend the voting
mechanism. But “simple majority” and “effective majority” had
supranational attributes and a strong “European” consciousness, giving
voice to the unity of Europe. This was the developmental trend in the EU’s
political culture.
The Euro designs represent the cultural unity and diversity of the
EU. Designs for Euro notes and coins are different. Euro banknotes show
some common characteristics with other currencies. The European
Parliament, in the design of banknote patterns, denied the use of buildings
that were nationally recognizable such as the Eiffel Tower, Arc de
Triomphe, or the Colosseum. Therefore, there were no evident national
190 G. XU ET AL.
characteristics expressed on the Euro notes. Seven kinds of Euro notes
illustrated the European Classical, Roman, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque,
Rococo, and steel and glass styles, as well as doors and windows of the
20th century. On the other side were bridges in various styles, symbolizing
the exchange among countries in Europe and the results of integration. In
1996, the EU gave each member state the right to design a pattern on the
back of coins of its own, on the condition that there should be twelve stars,
the symbol of the EU. Therefore, one side of all the coins was the same: 1
and 2 Euro coins included a map of EU member states, symbolizing a no-
border Europe; the 50 cents, 20 cents, and 10 Euro coins used a map of
Europe, showing the EU was a combination of different nations; the
remaining three coins illustrated Europe on a globe. The symbol of the Euro
is the third English letter “C” (the fifth Greek letter) with two horizontal
lines in the middle. The EU states that this symbol originated from the
Greek letter ε, which symbolizes the cradle of European culture and the first
set of European letters. Parallel lines represent the stability of the Euro.
Whichever country it is issued in, a Euro coin is usable in all Eurozone
member states. The unified yet distinctive characteristic of the Euro patterns
embodies the basic principles of the EU cultural integration policy:
emphasizing the European shared culture and at the same time
striving to protect its diversity.
7.3 eU CUlTUral pOliCy
European integration started with economic integration. Against the
background of a higher level of economic integration, the EU started to take
culture into consideration, and formed an EU cultural policy. In
1992, the Maastricht Treaty officially gave the EU the right to manage
cultural affairs. Section 128 of Chapter 9 of the Maastricht Treaty specifies
that the EU is committed to protecting common cultural heritage,
facilitating the development of each member country’s culture and
respecting cultural diversity. The EU, according to specific circumstances,
has coordinated the uneven cultural regulations of each member state into a
series of cultural policies that can be directly or indirectly applied to all EU
members. It has advocated the development of national cultures and
encouraged the free flow of personnel and products. The EU has stressed
the national macro-management of culture, and provided support to the
protection of intellectual property rights and local culture. These measures
have played a positive role in prospering European culture, and have
quickened the European integration process.
WESTERN ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE: EU ORGANIZATIONAL
CULTURE 191
7.3.1 Protecting Historical and Cultural Heritage
The EU attached great importance to the protection of cultural and natural
heritage. In 1974, the European Parliament adopted a resolution that
pointed out the necessity of common actions in order to protect cultural
heritage. In 1993, the Maastricht Treaty provided a legal basis for the
protection of cultural heritage. Section 151 stipulates that member states
must take action to protect their heritages. In 1997, the EC, in order to
conduct a comprehensive assessment of city development, held a city
forum and gathered a group of experts. This led to a resolution passed by
the European Council and the European Parliament in 2001. This was
about the establishment of a co-operation framework that was aimed at
the sustainable development of cities, covering tourism and leisure
activities related to cultural heritages. A key objective of the Culture 2000
plan was to promote the value of cultural heritage and to provide funds for
important heritage projects, and about 34% of the total budget for this plan
was devoted to the realization of this objective. Culture 2000 also supported
co-operation projects in the field of cultural heritage, such as training and
experience-sharing. In 1999, the EU put forward three
guidelines in the European Spatial Development Perspective, one of which
was the “special management and protection of cultural and natural
heritage.” The goal demanded effective protection and reasonable develop-
ment of cultural and natural heritage.
To deal with the illegal transaction of cultural products, the EU has
taken measures. In 1992, the EU accepted the French concept of “cul-
tural exception” and introduced six standards related to this. It held that
cultural products were different from other commodities. In the trade
among member states, the EU banned import, export, or transshipment
of artistic, historical, or archaeological treasures. The EU monitored exports
of cultural products and facilitated the return of illegally exported national
treasures. In June 2001, the European Parliament passed a resolution that
required co-operation between member states in prohibiting the illegal
trading of cultural products, especially in the expanded EU. The project
City and Cultural Heritage of Tomorrow, carried out by the EU, funded the
repair, preservation, and promotion of cultural heritage. From the fourth
French five-year (1961–1965) plan onwards, culture was
included. The protection of cultural heritage was always listed at the top of
the list. The EU tried to promote the understanding of cultural heritage
through education and training programs. The Socrates Plan funded
education programs in schools and museums involved in cultural heritage.
The Da Vinci Plan financed other projects, such as training in traditional
192 G. XU ET AL.
arts and crafts and the restoration of cultural heritage. In addition, the EU
took special action to protect local and minority languages. In 1999, the EC
launched the Europe, A Common Heritage campaign, the contents of
which included photography, Europe’s oldest universities, handicraft
industries, and the European musical tradition.
In 2006, the EC, together with the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), established the
European Cultural Heritage Report Award, aiming at encouraging
European cultural reporters to improve the quality of cultural news and pay
more attention to the cultural heritage of Europe. The organizers
believed that cultural news reports were increasingly important in cultural
heritage protection and in influencing private and social organizations and
governments. In 2007, the EU launched new plans for cultural heritage
protection. The Council of the EU adopted the plan that was submitted
by the EC, which included Culture 2007, Media 2007 and the digitiza-
tion of cultural heritage. The EC set up a new website to support the free
flow of personal and museum collections, and to introduce more intercul-
tural dialogues, so that people in Europe could have more contact with the
cultural heritages of different countries.
7.3.2 Supporting Cultural Research and Cultural Industry
Film, audiovisual media, publishing, music, and other cultural industries,
employing up to 7 million staff, were one of the major sources of jobs in
many EU countries. They made contributions to the communication
between different cultures. Therefore, the EU developed a supporting
plan for the cultural industries, which included giving more capital and
regulatory support, and therefore creating a sound environment for them.
7.3.2.1 Supporting Two Types of Cultural Industries
Supporting the European Audiovisual Industry
Since 1991, the EU had formulated in succession the Media Plan, Media
Plan II, and Media Additional Plan to strengthen the European audiovi-
sual industry. The EU, through supporting promotion campaigns, enabled
the audiovisual industry to gain a foothold in the global market. The
Media Plan was not meant to provide sponsorship for production, but to
take measures to ensure stable production. Another objective was to
promote the sales of European audiovisual products (including films,
cartoons, and documentaries) in other countries. Through the
implementation of
WESTERN ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE: EU ORGANIZATIONAL
CULTURE 193
these plans, the European audiovisual industry fitted in with the economic
changes. The EU paid special attention to countries with low production
capacity and marginal languages. At the same time, training recognized by
EU member states was carried out to help professionals adapt to changes in
the industry by applying European and international standards in practice,
and to promote their connections with training institutions.
Supporting the European Multi-Media Industry
Developing the Internet and electronic business was a global trend. To gain
an advantage in economic, social, and cultural competitions, Europe had to
produce, use, and disseminate digital resources of its own. In order to
improve industrial competitiveness and promote the use of the Internet
among Europeans, the EU formulated the European Global Network of
Digital Contents, namely the E-Content Programme, in December 2000.
This plan encouraged the use of digital technology in the information
industry, especially in public sector and in the field of cultural diversity. It
focused on sponsoring projects that could link manufacturers and public
institutions. At the same time, language and cultural diversification, training
and funds for small and medium enterprises, and legal issues of property
rights were considered.
With the rapid development of Information Technology (IT), broad-
band, and 3G, the market of digital content changed. From 2005 to 2008,
the EU injected up to 149 million Euro to stimulate innovation and the
production of digital content, to strengthen communication and cooperation
between member countries, and to create a clustering effect
between practitioners with a common goal. Its strategic objective was to
develop, use, and spread European digital information in the global
network, to protect the diversity of network language and culture, and to
provide network service for all citizens. In addition to English, other
languages such as French, German, and Spanish were also employed,
because some of these languages not only had a large number of speakers
but also contained a lot of outstanding cultural essentials. Digital
technology was especially required to preserve these languages.
7.3.2.2 Creating a Sound Competition Environment
Financial assistance from the EU was part of the support plan for cultural
industry. Competition in the cultural industry not only demanded a fair legal
and financial environment, but also the ability to create wonderful content.
To provide a sound environment, the EU focused on the following.
194 G. XU ET AL.
Formulating Laws and Regulations for the Audiovisual Industry
In the policy framework for the audiovisual industry, the EU developed a
series of European standards, which not only supported national specific
policies but also considered the economic, cultural, and social standards of
the industry. On October 3, 1989, Television without Frontiers was
passed, becoming a milestone in the regulating of the audiovisual industry
by the EC. The directive was first amended in 1997 and then again on
December 13, 2005. After the implementation of this directive, satisfactory
results were achieved: the number of TV stations increased, popular
television programs spread beyond national borders, a reasonable time
ratio was arranged for films and television programs from different member
states, the free flow of television programs within the community was
promoted, and cultural diversity and the interests of minor groups and
consumers were protected.
On February 12, 2001, the Council of the EU stressed that the impor-
tance of providing state aid to film and audiovisual industry lay in the
protection of cultural diversity and creating a European audiovisual market.
The EC, the Council of the EU, the European Parliament, the
European Economic and Social Committee, and the Committee of
Regions jointly formulated the Regulation on Films and Audiovisual
Works in September 2011. This described the general principles of
providing state aid to films and television shows from the perspective of the
EC. It specified the standards used to determine whether an aid plan was in
compliance with EU treaties. The EU, with the additional protocols of the
Amsterdam Treaty, pointed out that as long as the broadcasting
company played a role in democracy, society, and cultural development,
member states were required to provide funds. The Law of European
Commission Communication, formulated in October 2001, provided
rules for governmental aid to public broadcasters. As film and audiovisual
industries failed to make full use of the internal market, the EC spotted the
technical and regulatory barriers existing in film distribution and the
protection of audiovisual heritage. Solutions were proposed, such as
establishing common principles in Europe for intellectual property right
registration, freeing the classification of audiovisual works from the media
and other interference. The EU also protected cultural diversity in
international trade. In the negotiations with the World Trade Organization,
the EC and the member states stressed free development and the
implementation of audiovisual public policy.
WESTERN ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE: EU ORGANIZATIONAL
CULTURE 195
Promoting Digitalization
In 1999, the EC passed a law on principles and guidelines of audiovisual
policy in the digital age, proposing the use of different rules for
transmission facilities and audiovisual content. Agencies providing
audiovisual content should be regulated according to its properties, not its
transmission means. On May 24, 2005, the EC asked twenty-five EU
member states to
accelerate the process of digital broadcasting, to end analog transmission
before 2012, and to realize complete digitalization. If the EU could achieve
this goal as scheduled, it would be in the forefront of digital broadcasting.
Allowing Cultural Industry into the Capital Market
To support research and development into cultural industries, the
European Investment Bank provided long-term loans for cultural invest-
ment projects. The EU proposed Innovation 2000, in which it suggested
offering loans or venture capital for companies engaged in audiovisual and
other cultural industries (including fiction, documentary, animation, and
multi-media). The plan should co-ordinate with the EC’s plan, to promote
audiovisual content and research in the EU’s most backward areas.
The EU’s business policy, in addition to emphasizing free competition,
provided capital for small and medium-sized enterprises in cultural and
tourism industries. In the Electronic Content Plan, the EU provided
money for projects concerning training, building networks and services,
strengthening the partnership between small and medium-sized enterprises
and investors, and improving small and medium-sized enterprises’ ability to
do well in the capital market. The EU Media Plan mainly supported
movie production and distribution; therefore, it was more easily accepted by
the market. This measure made it easier for EU citizens to have the
opportunity to appreciate the cultural products of other member states,
which was also beneficial to maintaining EU cultural diversity.
Emphasizing Research and Innovation
The EU attached great importance to knowledge, research, and innova-
tion, believing that knowledge was the best resource in Europe, an
important guarantee for European economic growth, competitiveness, and
jobs.
Investment into research accounted for 3% of GDP. The EU created the
Research Framework Program, which covered all fields associated with
digital technology. The EU had formulated and implemented seven
research framework programs. Cultural industry had benefited from these,
for example by the use of research results and the implementation of the
196 G. XU ET AL.
Multimedia Content and Tools program, which advocated the idea of a
user-friendly information society. The plan pushed the EU to adopt new
methods in the management of cultural industry and to draw up new laws
and regulations. Details included the management of the relationship
between different types of content (image, video, music, and text),
intellectual property rights, and manufacturers, the relationship between
creation and publishing of digital content, and between users and content
providers. Users were able to acquire cultural heritage data from online
libraries, museums, and archives.
7.3.2.3 Developing Cultural Industry in Other Countries
The EU not only developed cultural industries within member states, but
also paid attention to European non-member states and other countries.
According to the agreement on co-operation with non-member states, the
EU supported the development of technology, tourism, media, and the
audiovisual industry. This kind of support was more prominent in
partnership with nations in Africa and the Caribbean region, the Pacific, and
the Mediterranean region.
In June 2000, the EU, in the economic capital of Benin, Cotonou,
reached the Cotonou Agreement with seventy-seven countries from
Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific region. This agreement prioritized
cultural development, helped countries develop their own cultural
characteristics, and promoted communication between different cultures. It
also protected cultural heritages and finally gave their cultural products an
opportunity to become available in a larger market. To support the
development of the audiovisual industry in Mediterranean countries, the EU
established the 2000–2004 Europe Audio-Visual Program with a budget
of 20 million Euro. In 2005–2007, the budget of the Europe Audio-
Visual Program II was 15 million Euro. In addition, the EU formulated
the European Heritage Plan for the protection of cultural heritage and
tourism industry in this area. The European Heritage Plan I with a budget of
17 million Euro started in 1998, and funded sixteen projects in six years.
The European Heritage Plan II, started in 2001, was a seven-year plan,
which emphasized the number of experts and the protection of
intangible cultural heritage in the Mediterranean area. The plan sponsored
eleven projects with a budget of 30 million Euro. The European Heritage
Plan III began in 2004 and funded four projects.
The Audiovisual Eureka was an intergovernmental organization with
thirty-five European countries as its members. Its main role was to boost
WESTERN ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE: EU ORGANIZATIONAL
CULTURE 197
co-operation and exchanges in the audiovisual industries of European
regions (including Middle and Eastern European countries). The EC was
a part of the European Audiovisual Observatory, which was founded in
December 1992. With thirty-five countries and the EU as its members, it
was a information collecting and disseminating center whose purpose was
to provide professional information for the audiovisual industry. Under the
current trend of digital technology and media convergence, the EU
has followed two principles of cultural industry: one was to encourage free
competition; the other macro-management. On the one hand, the cultural
industry of the EU was a business entity, stressing the value of free
competition in improving competitiveness. The EU has done a lot to
improve the competitiveness of European cultural industry, such as the
formulation of a series of laws and regulations, the elimination of barriers
among EU countries, co-ordination of industrial policies to survive pressure
from the American media industry, and provision of support in technical
training, research, and innovation. On the other hand, the EU has deemed
cultural industry to be the basic carrier of ideology, and has provided direct
or indirect financial assistance to small and medium-sized enterprises and
protected cultural diversity. On macro-management, the EU set a timetable
and goals to speed up the development of cultural
industry and to improve its standing in the world.
BiBliOgraphy
Chen Chunchang. 2003. Cultural Diversity During the European
Integration.
International Review 1: 27–31.
Guo Lingfeng. 2007. EU Cultural Policies and Cultural Governance.
Chinese Journal of European Studies 2: 64–76.
Luo Qing, and Lange, Andre. 2007. Establishing the System of ‘Cultural
Protectionism’ Under the Mechanism of Market-Guidance—Reflection on
the Mode of Public Funding for Film and Audiovisual Works in the EU.
Modern Communication 2: 108–112.
Ma Shengli. 1997. Important Task in the European Integration.
Deutschland-Studien 3: 50–54.
Wang Yu. 2000. On the Cultural Identity During the Contemporary
European Integration—With Comments on EU Cultural Policies and the
Intention. The Journal of International Studies 4: 120–126.
Wang Yamei. 2007. Analysis on Significance of Protecting and Developing
the Cultural Industry to EU. Deutschland-Studien 22: 51–58.
198 G. XU ET AL.
Wang Yamei, and Tan, Xiaozhong. 2004. EU Cultural Polices Indicated in
the Euro Patterns. Social Science Research 2: 155–159.
Yao Qinhua. 2002. The Political Function of National Cultures—A
Perspective of Understanding the European Integration. Journal of World
Peoples Studies 3: 21–28.
Zhang Ji, and Yan Lei. 2004. On the Influence of Cultural Factors on the
European Integration. Issues of Contemporary World Socialism 1: 83–93.
Zhao, Boying. 1999. The Origin and Development as Well as the Historical
Heritage of ‘European Unity’. Theory Front 1: 16–17.
Zhou Hong. 1998. The Sources of European Civilization. Chinese Journal
of European Studies 4: 18–26.
WeBsiTes
http://ec.europa.eu/index_en.htm
http://www.cjcb.com.cn/news_SpecialTopicShow.asp?id=873
http://www.delchn.ec.europa.eu/index.php?=&1=cn
http://www.europe.sdu.edu.cn/ouzhouzhongxin/php/article.php/36
http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/ce/cebe/chn/default.htm
CHAPTER 8
Religious Culture
8.1 IntroductIon to relIgIon
Religion is a strong spiritual and supportive force derived from a person’s
persistence in holding on to particular hopes. Religion is sometimes
considered a social behavior consisting of a guiding ideology (religious
faith), organizations (such as the Church), conduct (activities held within
religious organizations, such as worship and ritual), and culture
(architecture, paintings, music). A successful religion is one that is accepted
by many people and exercises an influence on human social developments
over a
certain period of time.
Throughout human history, various schools of thinkers have defined
religion in varied ways. James George Frazer defined religion as an ingra-
tiation and reconciliation with supreme powers; Herbert Spencer defined
religion as belief in a particular power that is beyond man’s cognition;
Francis Herbert Bradley regarded religion as people’s pursuit of goodness;
while others believed that religion was the connection between individuals
and society and was a moral norm; and some considered religion as an
attitude towards life. Marxist-Leninist religious views describe religion as a
social phenomenon that comes into being when human society and
men’s thinking enters a certain developmental level. Religion, as an
ideology, demonstrates convictions in a particular form. It is also a cultural
phenomenon that contributes to human cultural, civil, and social progress.
As an integral part of world civilization, religion develops as human
civilization advances.
© The Author(s) 2018
199
G. Xu et al. (eds.), K. Chen et al. (trans.), Understanding Western Culture,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-8150-7_8
200 G. XU ET AL.
Religion is a common cultural phenomenon of human society. All
countries in the world have their own distinctive religions, which in
turn reflect different cultures, ethnic habits, legal systems, and political
systems. Religion plays a special role in people’s social lives and is an
attribute that separates one ethnic group from another. Religions are
generally divided into three types: primitive, ethnic, and world. Primitive
religion covers an extensive range of beliefs in spirits and nature gods,
totemism, and various forms of magic. Ethnic religion is diverse and
includes
Hinduism, Judaism, and Shintoism, among many others. World religion
refers to Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam. In conclusion, religion is awe
and respect for a divine providence and a behavioral rule. It is a social and
historical phenomenon. The discipline that studies religion is called
Religious Studies.
8.2 chrIstIanIty
Christianity is a religion based on the belief that Jesus Christ is the savior of
humanity. It has a number of divisions, the primary three being Roman
Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Protestantism. Christianity is the
world’s largest religion, with approximately 2.14 billion adherents, who are
known as Christians, and it is growing most rapidly in Asia and Africa.
8.2.1 Origin and Development
Christianity, a religion that emerged in the Jewish community in Palestine
in the first century, inherited some of the Jewish concepts including that of
a Messiah as savior of the world, and recognized the Hebrew Bible as the
Christian Old Testament.
The founder of Christianity, according to Christian scripture, is Jesus Christ,
who began his ministry in Palestine at the age of thirty (ad 30).
He proclaimed that he would not replace the commandments recorded
in the Jewish scriptures but would fulfill them. When asked what the
greatest commandment was, Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God
with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind’ … And
the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Matthew
22:37–39). Jesus preached the gospel to all humanity, teaching people to
rectify their behavior and refrain from sin.
RELIGIOUS CULTURE 201
8.2.2 Christian Doctrine
8.2.2.1 Shaping of Christian Doctrine
Christianity originated from Judaism. There were distinctions as well as
aspects in common from the very beginning. As Christian theologians
sought instruction from Jewish biblical scholars, Jewish mysticism exerted
a constant influence on mystical Christian denominations. Christianity
likewise drew on Greek culture from the second century. Some theologians
hold that the concept of Logos in Greek philosophy is the Messiah, who
was later revealed as Jesus Christ. Plato’s idealist explanations about the
world and Aristotle’s theories about existence and knowledge were
presented in Christian teachings. Some Christian worship rituals and litur-
gies can be traced back to Greco-Buddhism and mysterious philosophy. In
the times when Christianity was regarded as the state religion of the
Roman Empire, particularly in the late fourth century after Emperor
Theodosius came to the throne, heresy was seen as a crime that was subject
to legal punishment, and any objection to the Church was considered as
betrayal of the Empire. Between the fourth and eighth century, bishops
attending religious symposiums used to consider those who held different
opinions as heretics and eliminated them as traitors. For the protection of
orthodox doctrine, the Inquisition was established by the medieval Church
and the Expurgatory Index (a list of proscribed books) was promulgated.
8.2.2.2 Common Beliefs
There are three primary divisions of Christianity, which however share the
consistent basic creeds: creationism, original sin, heaven, and hell. The
Bible, consisting of the Old Testament and the New Testament, is the
sacred scripture of Christianity. The cross is a Christian symbol. Christians
believe in the Trinity, the belief that God is three in one: God the Father,
God the Son (Jesus), and God the Holy Spirit.
God: Christians believe in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as one God, also
known as the Trinity. The Father is unbegotten and the Creator of all
beings; the Son was begotten of the Father; the Holy Spirit proceeds from
the Father and operates within every living thing. That proceeding from the
Son operates through the Church. Trinity does not imply three gods, nor
that each member of the Trinity is one-third of an infinite God; Trinity is
defined as one God or a Godhead in three persons.
Creation: Christianity believes that God created the universe (time and
space) and all beings, including the first human beings, Adam and Eve.
202 G. XU ET AL.
Sin: Adam and Eve committed the original sin when they violated
God’s word of love in an attempt to gain wisdom without the help of God
and ate the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. Because of this they were
forever estranged from the source of all life, and were bound to suffer from
sin and the Devil and end up with diseases and death. Since men are the
offspring of Adam and Eve, they are all born to commit the same sins,
which finally lead to the end of mankind.
Redemption: The hope of mankind lies in the belief in Jesus as God,
who made atonement on the cross for all the sins of men, and was
resurrected three days after his death to forgive his believers, despite all the
sins they committed and to give them eternal life that would overcome the
Devil and death.
Soul and immortality: Most Christians believe that human beings expe-
rience divine judgment particular to the individual soul upon physical death,
and that people who have faith in Jesus before death are rewarded with
eternal life, whereas non-believers are rewarded with eternal damna-tion.
There will be an end to the human world, but in the new world that God
creates there is immortality.
Essential views concerning God in Christian teachings are as follows:
• God is one God with personhood.
• God is the creator of the universe.
• God dominates history/is the dominator of history.
• God saves men, forgives their sins, and makes them his sons and
daughters.
• God judges men at the Last Judgment.
The Devil, Satan, is created by God as his opponent and enemy, who
revolts against God’s salvation plan.
Ever since the foundation of the Christian Church, there have been
various conceptions of Jesus Christ. The Gospel of St Mark depicts that
“In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by
John in the Jordan. Immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the
heavens opening, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him; and a
voice came out of the heavens, ‘You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-
pleased.’” This view is followed by nearly all Antioch theologians in their
studies of Christian theories. The Gospel of St. Mark, however, proclaims a
different view, which describes Jesus as the incarnation of divine Logos
through whom all things were made, as the object of veneration, a view to
RELIGIOUS CULTURE 203
which most Alexandrian theologians adhere. Jesus proclaimed the coming
of heaven and started to construct heaven. Believing in Jesus is to believe in
heaven. Christian eschatology is related to God’s pledge about the
Messiah that is recorded in the Old Testament. Before the coming of
Jesus, revolts under the name of the Messiah erupted one after another, but
Jesus refused to be the Messiah in political terms, which disappointed those
people who were longing for heaven on earth. Another kind of
eschatology believes not in the Messiah in the human world but in heaven,
building a heaven that is not of the earth.
The veneration of the Virgin Mary, or St. Mary, became pervasive after
Constantine the Great declared Christianity to be the state religion of the
Roman Empire. Nationalities inhabiting Mediterranean areas and the
Near East felt it hard to comprehend the supreme authority of God the
Father, and thus for thousands of years they had been worshiping a goddess,
a holy virgin, the Virgin Mary; and this spread from Babylonian and
Assyrian folk religion to Greek culture. Although Christian gospels
expressed opposition to the reverence of this goddess, it was continued as
the worship of St. Mary. It is believed that in the body of Mary the Holy
Spirit, united with humanity, became Jesus Christ.
The Holy Spirit, according to Christian doctrine, is as free as the wind.
The spirit of prophecy and the spirit of knowledge cannot be disposed by
any prophets or wise men. The revelation of the Holy Spirit is presented
through prophecy or in wise words, namely the Bible. The Holy Spirit is a
renewing force that advances the Church and boosts creativity.
Humans, as expressed in Christian doctrine, are created in the image of God
and thus play a crucial role in God’s revelation. Since humans reflect the
image of God, God inevitably needs man’s cooperation to accomplish His
plans. God and humans depend on each other so much that they exist for the
sake of each other. Christian doctrines hold that the Church is a community
composed of people chosen by God and blessed by the Holy
Spirit. The Church is made up of Jesus’ disciples, both Jews and non-
Jewish people. All members of the Church are “new Israelis,” the chosen
people of God; the Church is the incarnation of Jesus Christ, and Church
members are the “living stones” that construct the Church.
8.2.2.3 Doctrines of Major Denominations
The seven sacraments—Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Communion,
Confession (the Mass), Marriage, Holy Orders, and the Anointing of the
Sick—are the core of Catholic church life. Among them the Mass is
204 G. XU ET AL.
broadly considered the most important. Chanting is also a ritual for
Catholics as are prayers such as the Lord’s Prayer, the Apostles’ Creed and
the Rosary.
Eastern Orthodox theology and its interpretation of Scripture are con-
sistent with the beliefs that were passed on from the earliest days of
Christianity. Great endeavors are made to continue and pass on that which
Jesus Christ revealed to his twelve apostles, as well as the theology and
beliefs that they imparted to the earliest churches. The Eastern Orthodox
Church, in this sense, is the most conservative Christian denomination.
Protestant doctrines are distinctive from those of the Eastern Orthodox and
Roman Catholic Churches. The doctrine of Justification by Faith says that
justification requires no good deeds but faith. Everyone can be a priest
because (1 Peter 2:9) “But you are a chosen race, a royal priest-hood, a holy
nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the
excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his
marvelous light.” The Bible is the supreme authority for the Protestant
Church, which recognizes Baptism and the Eucharist as the only two
sacraments: this represents a salient distinction from the Catholic and
Orthodox traditions of sacraments.
8.2.3 The Bible
The Bible is the sacred book of Judaism and Christianity, a canonical
collection of texts composed of the Old Testament and the New Testament.
The Old Testament is the canonical book of Judaism and the New
Testament is a collection that records the words, conduct, and stories about
Jesus Christ and his disciples.
8.2.3.1 The Old Testament
The Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church recog-
nize forty-six books (fifty-one books with some combined) as the canonical
Old Testament, including several that are considered uncanonical by other
denominations. The Protestant Old Testament of today has a thirty-nine-
book canon. The Hebrew Bible, which combined a number of scrip-
tures with short chapters into one book, consists of twenty-four books,
whose content is consistent with the Old Testament.
RELIGIOUS CULTURE 205
8.2.3.2 The New Testament
The Bible consists of sixty-six books, thirty-nine from the Old Testament
and twenty-seven from the New Testament. The Old Testament was
finished hundreds or even more than a thousand years prior to the birth of
Jesus. For instance, the five books of Moses or the Torah (the biblical books
of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy)
were written in 1400 bc and the book of Malachi in the late first cen-
tury. Collectively it took over 1500 years to write the New Testament
and the Old Testament.
There were approximately forty authors involved in the writing of the
Bible; they were of diverse backgrounds and lived in many places. Isaiah
was a prophet, Ezra was a priest, Matthew was a tax collector, John was a
fisherman, Moses was a shepherd, and Luke was a physician. Despite such
variety, the sixty-six books teach consistently and without contradiction on
a wide range of issues. The authors each present a different perspective, yet
they all proclaim the same God and the same singular path of salvation—
Jesus Christ.
8.2.4 Church Government and Rites
The Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church implement episcopacy,
which is government of the church by bishops. Despite religious reforms
and strong opposition from puritans and independents in England,
Episcopalian theories and practice have been inherited by the Anglican
Church. The Swedish Lutheran Church also preserves this tradition. In
Germany, however, the episcopacy of the Evangelical Church has been
abolished. The Presbyterian Church in Scotland and North America as
well as most puritan churches follow this tradition, which operates in a way
similar to a democratic republic. Congregationalism is another system of
church government in which each member church is self-gov-
erning in its conduct of missionary work, church services, administration,
and so on.
Worship may differ among denominations, but personal prayer and
family worship are commonly emphasized by all Christians. Family is the
basis of the Christian community. The form and frequency of social
worship activities vary among denominations.
206 G. XU ET AL.
8.2.5 Dissemination of Christianity
Christianity has spread around the world more widely than any other
religion. Before Islam came to the Western world, churches in the
East had vigorously engaged in missionary work. Eastern Christian
churches, in particular the Nestorius Church, were introduced to
China, Middle Asia and Mongolia in the third and fourth centuries. It
also diffused into a variety of Slavic communities through Byzantium.
Missionary work, civilization, and colonialism always go hand in hand.
As a result, missionaries from advanced cultures often bring about
significant changes to culturally backward regions. Protestant missionary
work was from the beginning impacted by a Pietist theory that the
“dark” heretic world had to be illuminated by the light of the Christian
gospel. In the twentieth century European and American churches
initiated Ecumenism, a movement promoting unity among Christian
churches or denominations.
Christianity was introduced to China in 635 ad during the reign of
Emperor Tai Zong (627–649) of the Tang Dynasty. Nestorius Christianity
(known in China as Nestorianism at that time but today Maronite
Christianity) was regarded as heretic and was prohibited in 845. Its second
entry into China occurred in the Yuan Dynasty, in the name of Nestorianism
and Catholicism, which came to an end after the fall of the Yuan Dynasty.
In 1582, Ricci, a priest sent to China by the Catholic Church, was allowed
to settle and preach Christianity in Zhaoqing, Guangdong Province. His
missionary work earned the Catholic Church a foothold in China. The
Eastern Orthodox Church started to spread in China in 1727 and in 1807
a Protestant priest, Robert Morrison, brought Protestant Christianity to
China. Christianity embraced its rapid development in coastal trading
ports in China. Hung Xiuquan, the leader of a peasant revolutionary war
who founded the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom (1851–1864), called himself
the younger brother of Jesus, and established the Society of God
Worshipers in 1843.
The journal Heavenly Wind commenced publication in February 1945,
published by the Association of Christian Publishers in Chengdu. It became
the official publication of the National Christian Council after 1949. The
number of Catholics in China was 2.7 million after the foundation of the
Republic of China and reached 5 million in 2006.
RELIGIOUS CULTURE 207
8.3 JudaIsm
Judaism is the oldest religious belief and one of the three world religions.
It embodies the belief and lifestyle of the Jewish people, as are described in
the Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible.
8.3.1 Origin and Formation
Judaism originated in the Middle East, around the valleys of the Euphrates
and the Tigris, historically known as the cradle of human civilization.
Sumerian culture flourished in 2300 bc but then declined around 1800 bc,
the year when Abram left Ur, a city south of the valleys of the Euphrates
and the Tigris, passed Babylon, Mari, and Haran, and traveled to Beersheba
in Canaan (now Palestine). According to the Bible, the Lord told Abram to
leave his country and kindred and go to a land that he would show him,
promising to make a great nation, to bless him, to make his name great,
bless them that bless him, and curse him that curses him (Genesis 12:1–3).
When Abram was ninety-nine years of age, God declared Abram’s new
name to be Abraham, and that he was “a father of many nations” (Genesis
17:5). After this, Abraham begat a son, Isaac, and Isaac begat Jacob.
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are the three patriarchs and progenitors of the
Jewish people, and the founders of Judaism.
People in Abraham’s hometown believed in Sabianism, a religion that
worshiped the sun, the moon, and the stars, and observed the sun as their
supreme God. But Abraham held a different opinion, claiming that God the
Creator was greater than the Sun and should be venerated. For this, he was
opposed by the majority of people and put into prison by the king, who also
confiscated his properties and banished him to Haran, to prevent him from
spreading ideas that would threaten polytheism. Later, Abraham left Haran
and settled in Canaan, where he gave up polytheism and converted to a
belief in one God, El. In the Semitic language El is a general word for the
highest God.
El has different names, for instance El Shaddai (God Almighty or God of
Mountains), El Elyon (God Most High), El Roi (the God Who Sees), and El
Bethel (The God of House). Among them El Shaddai is the most respected,
for it is believed to be the name of the Lord used by Abraham’s family, who
instructed him, made a covenant with him, and blessed him, according to
the Book of Genesis. This is why later generations of Israelis observe El
Shaddai as the Lord who was worshiped by Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
208 G. XU ET AL.
Despite the various names given to God in the early history of Judaism,
Jews have always believed in a single god. Despite these different names
Judaism was a monotheistic religion from the very beginning. If the
transformation from polytheism to monotheism could be defined as a great
leap forward in human history, it is because of the contribution of its Jewish
progenitors.
Jacob had twelve biological sons, whose offspring became the twelve
tribes of Israel, also known as the Israelites. In 1720 bc, the Israelites left
Canaan for Egypt owing to a severe famine, hence starting a history of 430
years of slavery and misery in Egypt. In the fourteenth century bc, a great
Jew was born whose name was Moses. Moses and his fellow Hebrews
could not bear their mistreatment by the pharaoh, so they decided to leave
Egypt and go back to the promised land, Canaan, the land where their
ancestors had lived. In 1290 bc, Moses and his fellow Hebrews escaped
from the pharaoh’s army, went out of Israel, crossed the Red Sea, and
entered the wilderness of Sinai. This was a milestone in Jewish history, and
Moses is hence universally recognized as a great leader and a national hero
for Israelites.
The Israelites did not go to the promised land of Canaan directly after the
Exodus from Egypt but stayed on the Sinai Peninsula for forty years, where
Moses received laws from the Lord on Mount Sinai. There are three
versions of this in the Hebrew Bible, in Exodus 20:1–17, Deuteronomy
5:6–21, and Exodus 34:10–26. The descriptions may differ in detail, but
they all convey the same truth that the laws that form the basis of Judaism
were established through Moses, and thus Moses is the actual founder of
Judaism. According to Exodus 20:1–17, the Lord descended upon Mount
Sinai in a fire and spoke to the Israelites those words that included the Ten
Commandments and a range of other laws. Afterwards, the Lord summoned
Moses to Mount Sinai twice more, asking him to wait there for
forty days and forty nights after which he would give him tablets of stone,
with the laws and the commandments written on them.
After Moses descended the mountain, he followed the words of the
Lord and made an ark of acacia wood, placed the tablets of stone in it, then
put the ark in the tabernacle built in accordance with what the Lord had
showed him. From then on, the Lord of the Israelites was with
them, guiding them through the forty years of hardship in the wilderness
and helping them to defeat the seven tribes in Canaan, before entering the
“promised land” of milk and honey, where they established the
Kingdom of Israel.
RELIGIOUS CULTURE 209
By receiving the laws from the Lord on Mount Sinai, the Israelites
renewed the covenant they had made with the Lord. The Hebrews main-
tained that they had made a covenant with the Lord through Abraham:
that Abraham shall worship the Lord as the only one God, and the Lord
would make for him a great country, making him into the ancestor of a
multitude of nations, giving to him the land of Canaan in perpetuity, and
blessing his offspring (Genesis 12:2,17,22). However, over the course of
time, particularly after over four hundred years of slavery in Egypt, the
Israelites’ awareness of the covenant gradually faded. After they had left
Egypt, they had to adapt to harsh living conditions in the desert while they
prepared to go back to Canaan. It was a time when they were in desperate
need of a binding force and for confidence in their future. It was at such a
crucial time that the Lord gave laws to the Israelites, through which their
perpetual covenant with the Lord was made. According to the Bible, the
Lord was the God of their ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of
Isaac, and the God of Jacob (Exodus 3:14–15): “Now therefore, if you
obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured posses-
sion out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, but you shall be
for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation” (Exodus, 19:5–6). All the
people answered with one voice, and said, “All the words that the Lord has
spoken we will do” (Exodus, 24:3). With the covenant made, the status of
the Israelites as the chosen people of God was therefore set. The Israelites
have since regarded themselves as the chosen people who have maintained
a special relationship with God. The awareness of being the chosen,
together with the laws given by the Lord, became a strong bond-ing force
for the Jewish nation.
8.3.2 Sacred Texts and Commandments
8.3.2.1 Sacred Texts
There are three Jewish holy books. The first is the Old Testament, also
known as the Tanakh or Hebrew Bible, which all Jews must observe
faithfully. The first five books of the Old Testament are called the Torah or
the Five Books of Moses, and they make up one of the most significant
books of Judaism. The second Jewish sacred book is the Talmud,
expounding on the “613 Principles” in the Torah and other Jewish texts.
The third is the Mishnah. The Tanakh (also Tenak, Tanach) consists of three
sections: the Torah, Nevi’im (the eight Books of the Prophets), and
Ketuvim (eleven
210 G. XU ET AL.
books, usually entitled “Writings” or “Hagiographa”). In total, there are
twenty-four books, so the Tanakh is also referred to as the twenty-four-book
canon. Tanakh is an acronym of the first Hebrew letter of each of these
three divisions: Torah, Nevi’im, and Ketuvim—hence TaNaKh. It
was written by a group of Jewish rabbis and writers who collected and
edited traditional Jewish religious texts, laws, and ordinances. The Tanakh
is the canon of the Hebrew Bible. The Talmud is another important canon of
Judaism, second only to the Tanakh.
In 70 ad, the Temple in Jerusalem was burned down by the Roman
emperor and the Jews were expelled from the land of Judah. Later, some
Jewish scholars living in Israel began to compile the six books that were
entitled Mishnah, a series of scriptures that conserved the ordinances,
principles, and customs of Judaism. In the mid-fifth century, the series of
books that became the Gemara added supplementary notes to the
Mishnah, including notes and discussions that dated back to the times of
Israel and Babylon, and the oral arguments between Jewish priests. This
became the second part of the Talmud (oral scriptures). It set the basic
norms and principles for the Jewish people to observe when learning
about belief, concepts, laws, and ordinances.
8.3.2.2 Basic Teachings
At the core of Jewish teachings are the thirteen commandments summa-
rized by the rabbi Maimonides:
• God exists, and is the creator.
• God is one and unique.
• God is not physical.
• God is eternal.
• Prayer is to be directed only to God.
• The words of the prophets are true.
• The prophecies of Moses are true; he was the greatest prophet.
• The Torah was given to Moses.
• There will be no other Torah.
• God knows the thoughts and deeds of all.
• God rewards the good and punishes the wicked.
• The Messiah will come.
• The dead will be resurrected.
RELIGIOUS CULTURE 211
The primary principle of Judaism is faith in one God, the God that is
not physical but eternal. He blesses all, practices justice, gives mercy, and
creates man in his own image. Therefore, all men have dignity and shall be
treated respectfully.
The Jewish people observe the Lord by learning and praying, and by
obeying the commandments of the Five Books of Moses. They believe that
their covenant with the Lord is a call from God, and is thus their
commitment and mission for the world. But they do not urge other nations
to follow their beliefs or rituals because they are convinced that people will
be judged on what they have done rather than what they have believed in,
and that all righteous people will live together in the peaceful world to
come. This is why Judaism is not a missionary religion. Those who convert
to Judaism and are recognized by the Church shall abide by the principles
set by the Jewish authorities, for conversion is much more than an act of
self-identification.
8.3.2.3 Disciplines
Jewish canon law regards the Passover, Sukkot, and Pentecost as the three
major festivals, and also recognizes a number of others, such as Hanukkah,
Rosh Hashanah, Purim, Yom Kippur, and Shabbat.
Besides the Ten Commandments, there are a variety of rules and laws
concerning almost every aspect of Jewish daily life, from social ethics to
food. A person born to a Jewish mother is a Jew. Every Jewish male must
be circumcised when he is eight days old, as a sign of the covenant with
God.
After death, the body must be cleaned with water and wrapped in white
cloth before it is buried. There are also dietary rules and taboos. The symbol
of Judaism in ancient times was the menorah (a nine-branched candela-
brum), but after the medieval period the Star of David became identified
with the Jews, and has long since been used as a symbol of Judaism.
Jewish religious activities are generally carried out at home. These usually
consist of three prayers throughout the day, in the morning, after-noon, and
evening. Group prayer is conducted in local synagogues, places for Jewish
worship and learning. On Monday, Thursday, the Sabbath, and High Holy
Days, people read the Torah and Prophets at the synagogue.
Worship is normally hosted by a learned person from the congregation, or a
cantor or rabbi, who are professional priests trained by the Jewish
theological school Yeshiva. The responsibility of rabbis is to guide the
people in daily and weekly learning, provide a counseling service, and
explain how they can practice the Jewish commandments and traditions in
everyday
212 G. XU ET AL.
life. Rabbis help with interpersonal conflicts or disagreements, but more
serious issues such as withdrawing from Judaism must be handled by
higher authorities.
Traditional Jews follow the strict dietary laws recorded in Leviticus.
Milk and meat shall not be eaten together. Animals shall be slaughtered in a
humane fashion. Eating blood, pork, or fish without fins and scales is
prohibited. These foods may be beneficial to physical health but are
prohibited in order to train people in self-control, abstinence, and morality.
One is expected to unconditionally obey the rules of the Torah even under
the hardest circumstances. However, the observance of these dietary
disciplines, laws, and traditions differ among the three Jewish
denominations (Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform).
8.3.3 Development of Judaism
Between 2000 and 1800 bc, some pastoral tribes from the northeast of the
Arabian Peninsula crossed the Euphrates and entered Canaan (in present-
day southern Palestine). Known as the Hebrews, their offspring became
twelve tribes, who later left Canaan during a severe famine and settled in
Egypt. Around 1100 bc, the Israelites emancipated themselves from
Egyptian slavery under the leadership of Moses and made a covenant with
God on Mount Sinai, hence establishing Judaism as their national religion
with unified teachings and rituals. After the Israelites settled in Canaan,
they founded the Kingdom of Israel in 993 bc and built the Holy Temple in
the capital of Jerusalem.
The kingdom was then divided into the Southern Kingdom of Judah
and the Northern Kingdom of Israel. In 722 bc, the Kingdom of Israel was
conquered by the Assyrian Empire and its ten tribes were exiled. In face of
this severe national crisis and social conflicts, a group of prophets rose from
the ordinary people, advocating admiration of the one true god, criticizing
priestly religions that overemphasized outward rituals, and putting forward
the idea of inner beliefs and moral disciplines. In 586 bc, when the
Babylonians overran Jerusalem, the Temple in Jerusalem was burned down
and many Jewish captives were put into prison. In the following decades of
exile, the Jews reviewed their history and reflected on the commandments
and laws given by God. In 538 bc, when the Persian Empire conquered
Babylonians, the Jews, released from prison, returned to Jerusalem and built
a second temple, to be destroyed by the Romans in 70 bc.
RELIGIOUS CULTURE 213
Once again the Jews were scattered across the country, subject to the
rule of the Roman Empire and the Persian Empire. To adapt to the cur-
rent conditions, the Jews found it necessary to redefine their religious laws
and texts. The destruction of the Temple replaced the sacrificial rituals
based around a temple with a tradition of studying and learning centered
around local synagogues. These are led by religious teachers, the rabbis.
Thus Judaism is also known as Rabbinic Judaism, and it emphasizes social
ethics, religious rituals, and the learning of canon law, especially oral laws.
Around 200 ad, Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi redacted and edited the Mishnah
based on Jewish oral traditions and laws. This began to prevail in the early
third century and was passed down for generations until the fifth century,
when it was compiled into another redaction of oral laws, the Talmud,
which became a set of standards for daily behavior and religious worship of
the Jewish community, penetrating laws and social life alike.
After the rise of Islam, Jewish communities were rejuvenated, with
Babylonia replacing Palestine as the center of Judaism. In the early eighth
century, the Babylonian interpretation of laws was recognized by the Jews
as their compulsory law. The yeshiva academies of Babylonia not only
provided training courses for rabbis but also established legislation
institutes that exercised governance over the Jewish community worldwide
and
applied common laws, traditions, and lifestyle to Jewish people
everywhere.
The late tenth century witnessed within the Jewish community a trend of
reform, during which some Jews appealed to rationality and developed
medieval Jewish theology and philosophy. One of the representative figures
of this reform was Rabbi Maimonides, who compiled a compendium of
laws in order to help the Jews break away from the constraint of
complicated traditional doctrines and adapt to new situations. He
summarized Jewish beliefs into thirteen commandments, which were
widely accepted
by the Jews as their basic teachings. Some Jews explored the spiritual world
through mysterious beliefs that comprised a theosophical doctrinal system
known as medieval Jewish mysticism, or Kabbalah (received tradition).
In the Middle Ages, the Jews were regarded as an inferior race in many
European countries, suffering religious persecution, economical restrictions,
and deprivation of political rights and freedom. Forced to live in ghettos,
their spirit and soul allowed them to indulge in their traditional learning
framework based on the Talmud. The ghettos separated them
from the rest of the country and they were seen as “aliens” by the rest of the
population. Nevertheless, circumstances changed after the French
Revolution in 1789, after which Jews across Europe gradually obtained
214 G. XU ET AL.
their civil rights and came to enjoy equal status, freedom, and dignity to
other nationalities. This actualization of their centuries-old aspiration, also
known in Jewish history as the Liberation, started an era of Jewish
prosperity. In this sense, the French Revolution, as a famous Jewish scholar
put it, marked the end of the Jewish medieval period.
In the late eighteenth century, Hasidic Judaism emerged among lower-
class Jewish communities in Eastern Europe; this was known as the
Hasidic Movement. Hasidic Judaism was opposed to the over-emphasis
on confession. Instead, it put the religious laws in a secondary place and
accepted rabbis as spiritual mentors. According to Kabbalah writings, it
emphasized inner dimensions of mystical thought, internalization of
Jewish mysticism, and continuous prayer to approach God. It required
absolute belief in the goodwill of God and in the eventual coming of a
future Messiah to save the Jews from misery.
Europe in the eighteenth century was dominated by rationalism. Nearly
all kinds of ideologies including religion were subject to the judgment of
rationality, Judaism being no exception. This trend in the Jewish
community in Europe was known as the Haskalah or the Jewish
Enlightenment,
through which Jews integrated into European society and culture. It
denied the traditional Jewish lifestyle and the authority of rabbis, promoting
reform of the traditional education system focusing on the oral Torah,
advocating science, and assimilating secular culture, all of which led to
modernized Jewish community life. As a result, the Haskalah gained
support from many Jewish merchants in Europe and evolved into the
Zionism of capitalist nationalism. On the one hand, the Haskalah was aimed
at
breaking away from the restriction of the ghetto and transforming Jews into
genuine Europeans; on the other, it tried to maintain the ethnicity of the
Jewish nation. These two seemingly inconsistent goals gave birth to
religious reform within the Germany Jewish community.
This reform resulted in the division of Judaism into Reform Judaism,
Orthodox Judaism, and Conservative Judaism, which became
Reconstructionist Judaism in the USA in the twentieth century. These
denominations divided Jews into different groups and caused the division in
the Jewish nation that continues today.
8.3.4 Doctrines of Major Denominations
Orthodox Judaism adheres to the laws and ethics of the Torah and rejects
the reform of Judaism. It believes in the eternity of God and the Torah given
by God. Any change to the laws and commandments in the Torah
RELIGIOUS CULTURE 215
would be considered heresy by Orthodox Jews. They also believe in the
eventual coming of the Messiah to rejuvenate the Jewish nation, rebuild the
Temple, and restore Jewish sacrificial rituals. Orthodox Judaism is
generally divided into Modern Orthodox Judaism, ultra-orthodox or
Haredi Judaism, and Hasidic Judaism.
Haredi Jews stick to the traditional Jewish belief system and follow
strict doctrines and customs, oppose modern science and culture, and
indeed anything that is modern. They do not recognize the State of Israel
(although many of them live there) or co-operate with other streams of
Judaism. Modern Orthodoxy acknowledges the Hebrew Bible and the
Talmud as the authoritative books of Jewish teaching. It observes Jewish
festivals, customs, and traditional ethics, with flexibility.
Orthodox Jews pray in Hebrew at synagogue, with men and women
seated separately and with the absence of music. They engage in modern
scientific and cultural activities, and seek peaceful co-existence and
cooperation with other streams of Judaism. Modern Orthodoxy in general
places a high significance on the State of Israel, and engaged in institutions
that are typically Zionist in orientation.
Hasidic Judaism originated in Eastern Europe in the eighteenth cen-
tury as a school of Jewish mysticism. It deprecates rationalism and
scientific knowledge but emphasizes human feelings as a means to connect
with God through sincere prayer. It advocates prayer in a simple form
anywhere at any time as long as it is directed to God. It encourages dance,
singing, and other bodily movements to stimulate emotional feelings in
prayer.
Although Orthodox Jews account for only 6% of the total Jewish popula-
tion of 6 million in the United States, they exert considerable influence in
many European countries, such as France and the United Kingdom.
At the core of Reform Judaism is the rational view that Judaism, like
other ideologies, should abandon irrational and outdated factors in order to
adapt to the needs of modern life, and hence develop alongside changing
times. Reform Judaism defines Judaism as a monotheistic religion that lives
in harmony with science and rationalism. It promotes the cosmopoli-tanism
ideal of world peace, justice, and equality. Many medieval customs were
abandoned by Reform Jews. For instance, men and women are
allowed to sit together when praying in the synagogue; Bible reading and
learning are in the local language as well as Hebrew; and a choirs and pipe
organs are introduced to the synagogue. It practices the principle of equality
between men and women, giving women the right to become a rabbi
(the first female rabbi was appointed in 1972). Prior to 1960, Classic
216 G. XU ET AL.
Reform Judaism was against Zionism, but it later changed its stance to
become an important supporting force for Zionism and the State of Israel.
The hub of Reform Judaism was Germany before the Second World War
but this transferred to North America after the war. Reform Jews are 42%
of the total Jewish population in the USA, being the largest and fastest-
growing denomination of Judaism today.
Conservative Judaism is a stream of Judaism that observes a range of
beliefs and practices more liberal than those affirmed by the Orthodox and
more traditional than Reform Judaism. It has its roots in the school of
thought known as Positive-Historical Judaism that developed in Germany.
During the religious reform of the nineteenth century, some German Jews
found that Orthodox Judaism placed too much value on traditions in
order to be able to face realistic needs, while Reform Judaism put too much
emphasis on reality to observe Jewish tradition. Conservative Jews,
therefore, decided to adopt a neutral path that could link tradition with
modern life. Conservative Judaism recognizes and supports Zionism. It
used to be the largest Jewish denomination in the USA but today it
comprises only 40% of the Jewish population there. It is parallel with
Orthodox Judaism in terms of the conservation of Jewish laws and rituals,
and overlaps with Reform Judaism in terms of its tolerance for the change
and
evolution of the Halakha. Hebrew is the language used in conservative
synagogues, where men and women are seated separately. Conservative
Judaism started to assign female rabbis in 1985, marking its recognition of
equality between men and women.
Reconstructionist Judaism originated as a branch of Conservative
Judaism in the USA, based on the ideas of Mordecai Kaplan, who held
that Orthodox Judaism, Reform Judaism, and Conservative Judaism
could not meet the needs of modern Jewish life and therefore should be
reconstructed as a naturalistic and democratic religion. He viewed Judaism
as a progressively evolving civilization, consisting of three equally
important elements- the Lord God, the Torah, and Jews. He claimed that
God
was not personal or supernatural but a salvation force within all in the
universe. Despite the similar religious rituals to Conservative Judaism,
Reconstructionist Judaism is more radical than Reform Judaism, in that it
encourages the free interpretation of Jewish tradition, democratic Jewish
life centered around synagogues, and the construction of the State of
Israel. As the smallest denomination of Judaism, Reconstructionist
Judaism accounts for 2% of the Jewish population in the USA, but exerts an
ideological influence on Jews.
RELIGIOUS CULTURE 217
8.3.5 Influence
Judaism is a religion limited to the Jewish nation with a modest
population of followers. Nevertheless, as the origin of two of the world
religions, Christianity and Islam, it greatly influences religious communities
worldwide. Despite the limited Jewish population, even smaller
than that of Sikhs or Shintos, Judaism is referred to in almost every com-
mentary on religion for its profound influence on the world religious
community.
As Jews have suffered persecution and disasters throughout history, the
Jewish population has been scattered around the world, with their oral and
written traditions separate from those around them. Under such
circumstances, Judaism has been the only bond that has preserved the eth-
nicity of the Jewish nation. Traditional Jewish belief holds that the Messiah
of Israel is yet to come, while Christians view the Messiah in the person of
Jesus. The disparity between these two views has often led to persecution
and discrimination by Christians. When Zionism arose in the nineteenth
century, Jews around the world sought to return to Palestine via means such
as land trading, and they finally built the State of Israel there, causing
severe conflicts with the Arabs who had been living in Palestine for over
2000 years. Despite the difference between Islam and Judaism, both
religions claim to arise from the patriarch Abraham, and are therefore
considered Abrahamic religions by some religious scholars.
8.4 Islam
Islam, together with Judaism and Christianity, is one of the three world
religions. It was referred to by multifarious names in ancient China, such as
the Tianfang religion. Islam is the Arabic word for “obedience” and
“peace,” denoting the worship of and total obedience to Allah, the
sovereign master of the universe, and his will in pursuit of peace and safety
in this life and the afterlife. An adherent of Islam is called a Muslim (a
word that means “conformist”).
Muslims today (over 700 million in number) account for 18.54% of the
world’s population, residing in over forty Muslim-majority countries in
Asia and Africa. Islam is the state religion of over thirty countries. Islamic
countries and Muslims are playing an increasingly important role in
international political life. All Muslims, regardless of their nationality, skin
color, language, or residence, adhere to the same belief in the only one God
Allah and to the teachings of the Qur’an.
218 G. XU ET AL.
8.4.1 History
Islam came into being as an inevitable outcome of the social, economic,
political, and religious development of the Arabian Peninsula. Between the
late sixth century and the early seventh century, the Arabian Peninsula was
under a transitional period in which the primitive tribal society was being
replaced by a class society. The social, economic, and political development
was uneven, mainly owing to geographical differences.
Foreign invasion and changes in Arabian commercial routes worsened
the economic crisis and social conflict. The intensifying social crisis and
constant foreign invasions pushed the Arabian nation to seek a way out.
The nobility, who wanted to safeguard their reign, were trying to occupy
new lands and control the commercial routes, while the vast lower-class
majority were aspiring to peace and stability, freedom from economic
exploitation and political persecution, and poverty alleviation. At this
moment, Islam emerged as an ideology that spoke to people’s aspiration for
social, economic, and political reform. Muhammad created Islam and used
it to lead a social reform campaign that finally realized the unification of the
Arabian Peninsula.
Muhammad, the founder of Islam, is an eminent historical figure. Born
into the Banu Hashim clan in about 570 ad in the Arabian city of Mecca,
Muhammad was orphaned at an early age; he was raised by his paternal
grandfather and paternal uncle. He dropped out of school and worked as a
shepherd in his early childhood. At the age of twelve, he accompanied his
uncle’s trading caravan to Syria, Palestine, and the eastern coast of the
Mediterranean Sea. During his career as a merchant there, Muhammad
learned about the social circumstances of the Arabian Peninsula and Syria
as well as the primitive religions, Judaism, and Christianity. This provided
him the social and religious knowledge necessary to preach Islam later. At
the age of twenty-five, he married Khadijah, the widow of his employer,
and enjoyed a prosperous life and improved social status. Influenced by the
thoughts of Hanif, he occasionally retreated to a cave in the mountains for
seclusion and self-cultivation, to reflect on possible ways in which he could
help the Arabian nation out of its troubles. It was said that in the year 610,
during his meditations on Mount Hira near Mecca, the angel
Gabriel appeared to him and commanded the forty-year-old Muhammad
to recite verses that were revelations from God.
Henceforward, Muhammad proclaimed that he had received a mission
from God and started preaching these revelations in Mecca privately
RELIGIOUS CULTURE 219
among his close friends. In 612, he began to preach Islam publicly, telling
people to worship Allah instead of idols or deities and that Allah was the
creator of the universe and the only one true God. He criticized polytheism
for bringing ignorance and moral failure to the Arabs, and preached on the
concept of resurrection of the dead and the Day of Judgment,
when polytheists would be punished and sent to hell while adherents of
Allah would be rewarded with admission to heaven. He also advocated
that all Muslims were brothers whatever clan they belonged to, and
therefore should be united with the ending of all blood feuds. He proposed a
set of ideas for social reforms: that usury should be forbidden, the wealthy
should give relief to the poor, and orphans, widows, and slaves should be
treated well or released. These ideas gained wide support among the vast
lower classes, who gradually converted to Islam. As the teachings of Islam
profoundly threatened the tradition of polytheistic faith in clan-patronized
deities, as well as the religious privilege and economic interests of the
nobles and merchants who were governing Kaaba, Muhammad met
hostility and persecution from some tribes, which made it difficult for him
and his followers to stay in Mecca.
To escape persecution, Muhammad and his followers migrated to
Medina in September 622, marking the beginning of a new era for Islamic
development. Muhammad led the Muslims as they carried out a series of
political, economic, and religious reforms. He appealed to them to submit to
Allah and his messenger. He also sent some of his disciples to preach Islam
among the Arabian clans in Mecca, converting the majority of local
residents to Muslims. He drafted a document known as the Constitution
of Medina, specifying guidelines for both Muslims and Jews in handling
civil affairs and foreign relations. He also reached certain agreements with
the Jewish tribes concerning religious freedom, alliance, and peaceful co-
existence. After he united the tribes under the Constitution of Medina,
Muhammad replaced the governance by clan kinship with the common
belief in Islam and under the slogan of “All Muslims are brothers” he
united the muhājirūn and ansār into the Ummah (meaning “nation” or
“community”), a political–religious governance system, establishing the
Islamic faith system and various social systems in the name of revelations
from God. At this point, Muhammad had become the highest leader in
Medina in terms of religion, politics, the military, and jurisdiction, with Abu
Bakr al-Siddiq, Umar, Uthman, and some other famous disciples
constituting the supreme leadership regime. He articulated the Pillars of
Islam, the five basic acts considered obligatory for all Muslims. He also
220 G. XU ET AL.
built a jurisprudence system containing religious doctrines, civil laws,
criminal laws, commercial laws, and military laws, thus establishing a set of
social norms and morals centering on the core principle of forsaking evil
and promoting goodness.
To consolidate his power in Medina, Muhammad built a Muslim army.
In the name of Allah, he launched the battle of Ghazwah Badr, the battle of
Ghazwah, and the battle of Ghazwah al-Khaildaq against the Meccan
nobility during 624 and 627, which severely harmed the Meccan army,
placing Muslims in an advantageous position. In 628, Muhammad led an
army into the suburbs of Mecca, where he forced the Meccan nobles to
sign the Agreement of Sulh al-Hudaybiyyah that provided for a ten-year
ceasefire. He took advantage of this peaceful period to further preach Islam
among Arabian clans in neighboring countries and the Peninsula,
after sending envoys with letters of credence to kings and tribal chieftains.
In the meantime, he sent punitive expeditions against the Jews inhabiting
Khaybar and surrounding areas, to eliminate opposition to Islam.
In 630 Muhammad accused the Meccan nobility of violating the
Agreement and gathered an army of around 10,000 Muslim converts to
attack the city of Mecca. The attack went largely uncontested and Abu
Sufyan, the head of Meccan nobles, was forced to surrender and recognize
Muhammad as the prophet and Islam as the religion for all in Mecca.
Muhammad destroyed all the pagan idols in the Kaaba except the Black
Stone and renamed the Kaaba as the Mosque. Since then the Kaaba has
been the center of prayers and pilgrimage for Muslims worldwide. By the
end of 631, all clans of the Peninsula had converted to Islam and accepted
the leadership of Muhammad, signifying the Peninsula’s political
unification. In March 632, Muhammad, accompanied by a group of 100,000
Muslims, went to Mecca for his last pilgrimage, known to history as the
Farewell Pilgrimage. During this, he established a set of ordinances and
rites of Hajj pilgrimage for all Muslims to follow. After completing the
pilgrimage, Muhammad delivered a famous speech, known as the Farewell
Sermon, at Mount Arafat, east of Mecca. He declared: “Today I have
perfected your religion, and completed my favours for you and chosen
Islam as a religion for you” (Qur’an 5:3). A few months after the Farewell
Pilgrimage, on June 8, 632, Muhammad died in Medina. Before his death,
most of the Arabian Peninsula had converted to Islam and Islam had
become a spiritual bond for the whole Arabian nationality. This opened a
new era in the history of Arabia.
RELIGIOUS CULTURE 221
8.4.2 Basic Teachings
The core tenet of Islam is the absolute belief in Allah (God) and
Muhammad, the Messenger of God. “He is Allah, the One and Only;
Allah, the Eternal, Absolute; He did not beget, nor is He begotten; And
there is none like unto Him” (Qur’an, Chapter 112:1–4). The Qur’an
teaches Muslims to obey Allah and Muhammad. Islam believes in angels.
They were created by Allah to fulfill their mission and the responsibilities
given by him. All the good and bad deeds of human beings are overseen
and recorded by the angels. The Qur’an is the holy book of the revelations
of Allah. Everything that occurs in the world has been preordained by
God. Islam claims that Allah created all and controls all, both nature and
human society. This is known as predestination. Although events are
preordained, man possesses the faculty to choose between right and wrong,
and is thus responsible for his own actions. Islam believes in the
resurrection of the dead and the Day of Judgment. It holds that everyone
has to go through this life and an afterlife, and that all in the world will
disappear when the final day arrives. On this day, all that have ever lived
will be resurrected to receive the judgment of Allah, who will send good
men to
heaven and sinful ones to hell. The present life is temporary but the afterlife
is eternal, so man should take responsibility for both lives.
There are five articles of faith in Islam.
8.4.2.1 Allah (God)
Islam believes that Allah is the only one God, the Supreme God of the
universe. According to the Qur’an, Allah has ninety-nine names and
attributes, being unique, eternal, absolute. He knows all, controls all, and
deposes all. Muslims believe that everything in the universe was brought
into being by God’s command and that the purpose of existence is to
worship God. Monotheism is the most fundamental concept of Islam.
8.4.2.2 Prophets
The Qur’an mentions the names of numerous figures who are considered
prophets in Islam, including Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus, to
name a few. Among them, Muhammad is seen by Muslims as the last
prophet (Seal of the Prophets) sent by God to convey the divine message of
Allah to the whole world, and thus all adherents of Allah shall defer to him.
222 G. XU ET AL.
8.4.2.3 Angels
Muslims believe that angels are made by Allah out of light and assigned by
him to govern heaven and hell, to communicate revelations from Allah,
and to record every person’s actions. There are four primary archangels in
the Qur’an: Jibra’il (Gabriel), Mikhail, Azral, and Israfil, respectively
responsible for delivering messages from Allah to the prophets and
revealing the Qur’an to Muhammad, bringing rain and thunder to Earth,
part-
ing the soul from the body at the time of death, and blowing a horn to
signify the coming of Judgment Day.
8.4.2.4 Revelations
The Islamic holy books are the records which most Muslims believe were
dictated by God to various prophets. The Qur’an is viewed by Muslims as a
holy book of revelation and the literal word of God that all Muslims must
observe and follow; it shall not be altered or vilified. Islam recognizes the
previously revealed scriptures from Allah (such as the Bible), but maintains
that all adherents must align their acts to the Qur’an.
8.4.2.5 Judgment Day and Resurrection
Muslims believe that the Day of Judgment connects this life and the
afterlife, on which the world will come to an end and Allah will make his
ultimate judgment on mankind’s good and bad deeds.
8.4.3 Spread and Development of Islam
The growth of Islam, from a national religion limited to Arabia into an
international one observed by multiple nations, is a process of the
expansion, economic and commercial trade, cultural exchange, and
active missionary activity on the part of Arabian Islamic countries with the
rest of the world.
After the death of Muhammad in 632, Islam entered the era of Four
Rashidun Caliphs. With the continuous expansion of the Arab Empire,
Islam was widely spread beyond the Peninsula, known to history as the
Expansion of Islam. The year 661 marked the beginning of the era of the
Arab Empire, spanning the Umayyads Dynasty and the Abbasids Dynasty.
This period is known as the Golden Age of Islam, and it lasted until the
Arab Empire collapsed in the mid-thirteenth century because of foreign
invasions that gave rise to declarations of independence by dynasties in the
east and west of the Empire. In the late Middle Ages there were three
RELIGIOUS CULTURE 223
empires—the Ottoman Empire, the Safavid Empire, and the Mogul
Empire. Among them the Ottoman Empire was the largest and most pow-
erful. This period of time is known as the Third Expansion of Islam.
Western colonist countries started their invasion into the Islamic world in
the mid-eighteenth century, many Islamic countries becoming colonies or
semi-colonies. The Islamic states, in the name of “holy war” and religious
movements, launched numerous anti-colonial battles that caused heavy
blows to the colonist countries. After the Second World War many Islamic
states declared independence, which formed the international Islamic
landscape that exists today. The spread and development of Islam
demonstrates features peculiar to specific historical periods.
8.4.3.1 Caliphate
After Muhammad’s death in 632, he was succeeded by four of his disciples
in succession—Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, and Ali, called the four rightly
guided caliphs (meaning “successor of messenger of Allah”), who made
great contributions to the spread and growth of Islam during their
thirty years of their reign. Abu Bakr crushed the apostasy led by the self-
proclaimed prophet Musaylimah in southern Yemen, Yamama, eastern
Bahrain, and the Mahra region, thus consolidating the unity of the Arabian
Peninsula and his rule in Medina.
When Umar took office as the second caliph following Abu Bakr, the
Persian Empire and the Byzantine Empire had been at war for years. He
took the opportunity to conquer Syria, Palestine, Iraq, Persia, Egypt, and
surrounding areas. He made a tremendous contribution to the growth of
Islam into a multi-national religion with his efforts to convert the local
residents of the conquered states to Islam by implementing a policy that
freed Islamic converters from paying the poll tax. He established the
administrative system, judicial system, military system, land system, and
distribution system for the country. He also established the Islamic
calendar and set 622 as the first year of the calendar, in honor of the hijra
(migration) of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina.
After Uthman assumed the office of caliph, succeeding Umar, he con-
quered Armenia in the east and North Africa in the west, taking Bourke,
Tripoli, and Carthage. He suppressed a rebellion in Persia and Khorasan
with his expeditionary army that later arrived in Kabul, and converted many
of the local residents to Islam. Uthman obtained the complete manuscript of
the Qur’an compiled by the first caliph, Abu Bakr, and sum-
moned the leading compiling authority to conduct research and
224 G. XU ET AL.
investigation, proofread, and redact a standard version, the Uthman
Version of the Qur’an, which was accepted by the Muslim community as
an authoritative sacred book that spread Islam and the Arabic language to
the rest of the world.
During the reign of Ali, the fourth Rashidun caliph, conflicts within the
leadership regime of the Islamic community led to the first Islamic civil
war. The Battle of the Camel, the Battle of Siffin, and the Battle of
Nahrawan, coupled with disputes over religious ideas and political
leadership, gave rise to schisms in the Muslim community. When Ali was
assassinated in 661, the era of the Rashidun Caliphate (or the Rightly
Guided Caliphs) came to an end. Mu’awiyah came to power and began the
Umayyad Dynasty.
8.4.3.2 The Umayyad Dynasty
The Umayyad Dynasty was founded by Mu’awiyah (600–680) in 661,
with Damascus as its capital. After stabilizing the social turbulence and
suppressing the revolts against the Umayyad regime, the Umayyads
continued Muslim conquests in the mid-seventh century. By the mid-eighth
century, the realm of the Umayyad Empire had reached the Indus Valley
in the east, the Atlantic Ocean in the west, the Aral Sea in the north, and the
Nile in the south, crossing Asia, Africa, and Europe. It was the largest
empire the world had ever seen.
8.4.3.3 The Abbasid Dynasty
The Abbasid Dynasty was founded by Abu al-Abbas (722–754) after
taking over leadership of the Muslim empire from the Umayyads in 750.
The caliph proclaimed himself as the “reflection of Allah on earth.” He
implemented a policy that integrated religion with secular life, and inherited
an administrative system from Persia which emphasized the centralization
of authority with the caliph as the highest leader. The Abbasid caliphate
established religious schools, libraries, observatories, and hos-pitals across
the country, contributing to the nation’s academic and cultural development.
The House of Wisdom was founded in Baghdad,
where both Muslim and non-Muslim scholars sought to gather, pre-
serve, study, and translate the classic literature of Greece, Persia, and India
into Arabic. Islam became the dominant religion of the empire
that penetrated into political, economic, and cultural fields, being a social
lifestyle for all Muslims.
RELIGIOUS CULTURE 225
The Sunni and Shi’ite sects had evolved from political parties into
Islamic branches, having their own distinctive teachings and theological
views. Mu’tazilism, another branch of Islam, flourished during the reign of
the Abbasid Caliph al-Ma’mun (833). Ash’arism (or the Ash’arite
school of Islam) gradually became a dominant theological school of Islam
in the tenth century. Sufism was introduced into the Islamic belief system
by theologians, Al-Ghazali in particular, and became a form of Islamic
philosophy. In 1055 the Seljuq Turks took hold of Baghdad, and the
caliph was reduced to a political puppet under the control of the Seljuq
king. The conquest by Hulagu Khan’s Mongols in 1258 brought an end
to the Abbasid Dynasty.
8.4.3.4 The Ottoman Empire
Decades after the Ottoman Turks came to prominence in the early thir-
teenth century in central Asia, the Ottoman Empire was founded in 1299
when the tribal chieftain, Osman I, proclaimed himself as the sultan. In
1453, the Ottomans, under Mehmed II, defeated the Byzantine Empire
and captured its capital, Constantinople, which was renamed Istanbul and
thereafter served as the Ottoman capital. By the end of the fifteenth century,
the Ottomans had conquered the entirety of Asia Minor and the
Balkan Peninsula and brought Islam to southwestern Europe. The six-
teenth century witnessed the zenith of the Ottoman Empire, its realm
having expanded to countries and regions including Armenia, Georgia,
Syria, Egypt, Baghdad, Mesopotamia, Tripoli, Algeria, Hijaz, and Yemen.
It also controlled the sacred Islamic cities Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem.
Occupying most of the territory of the Byzantine Empire and the Arab
Empire, the Ottoman Empire became a powerful multi-national Islamic
empire stretching over Asia, Africa, and Europe.
At the end of the thirteenth century, the descendants of Mongols who
had settled down in central Asia converted to Islam. Islam was introduced
by Sufi preachers to Kazakhstan in central Asia and Bengali in the
subcontinent of southern Asia in the fourteenth century. It was also
brought to China in the mid-seventh century through the Silk Road by
Muslim merchants and scholars from Arabia, Persia, and central Asia. In
the late fourteenth century, Muslim merchants in Gujarat, western India,
introduced the Islamic religion to the Indonesia Archipelago, and it grew
into the major religion there and in the Malay Peninsula in the seventeenth
century. Islam was brought to the southern Philippines by mer-
chants and priests during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. It was
226 G. XU ET AL.
preached in Western Europe and north America by Islamic migrants, busi-
nessmen, and scholars in the twentieth century, and has been growing
rapidly ever since.
bIblIography
Bulgakov. 2001. The Orthodox Church. Beijing: The Commercial Press.
Jin Yijiu. 1987. An Introduction to Islam. Xi’ning: Qinghai People’s
Publishing House.
Lü Daji. 1998. New General Theory of Religion. Beijing: China Social
Sciences Press.
Sha Zongping. 1995. Islamic Philosophy. Beijing: China Social Sciences
Press.
Sun Shangyang. 1996. Christianity and Confucianism in Late Ming
Dynasty.
Taipei: The Eastern Publishing Co., Ltd.
———. 2001. The Sociology of Religion. Beijing: Peking University Press.
Walker, Williston. 1991. A History of the Christian Church. Beijing: China
Social Sciences Press.
Zhang Zhigang. 1995. A Path to Holiness—Issues and Approaches of
Modern Religious Studies. Beijing: People’s Publishing House.
Zhang Baichun. 2000. Contemporary Theology of the Orthodox Churches.
Shanghai: SDX Joint Publishing Company.
Zhang Zhigang. 2002. What Is Religious Studies. Beijing: Peiking
University Press.
Zhao Dunhua. 1994. Christian Philosophy in 1500 Years. Beijing: People’s
Publishing House.
Document Outline
Acknowledgments
Contents
Chapter 1: Western Philosophy
1.1 Western Philosophy Before the Modern Age
1.1.1 Greco-Roman Philosophy
1.1.1.1 Outline of Philosophical Ideas
1.1.1.2 Major Figures
Socrates
Plato
Aristotle
1.1.2 Medieval Philosophy
1.1.2.1 Overview of Medieval Philosophy
1.1.2.2 Major Figures
Augustine
Thomas Aquinas
1.1.3 Philosophy During the Renaissance
1.1.3.1 Overview of Philosophical Thought
1.1.3.2 Major Figures
Niccolò Machiavelli
Martin Luther
1.2 Philosophy in Modern Times
1.2.1 Western European Philosophy from the Sixteenth to
Eighteenth Centuries
1.2.1.1 Philosophical Thoughts
1.2.1.2 Major Figures
Francis Bacon
René Descartes
Baruch Spinoza
John Locke
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
David Hume
1.2.2 French Enlightenment Philosophy in the Eighteenth
Century
1.2.2.1 Outline of Philosophical Thoughts
1.2.2.2 Major Figures
Voltaire
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Denis Diderot
1.2.3 Classical German Philosophy in the Eighteenth and
Nineteenth Centuries
1.2.3.1 Outline of Philosophical Thoughts
1.2.3.2 Major Figures
Immanuel Kant
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
Ludwig Feuerbach
1.3 Modernism and Postmodernism
1.3.1 Outline of Philosophical Thoughts
1.3.2 Major Figures
1.3.2.1 Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
1.3.2.2 John Dewey
1.3.2.3 Bertrand Arthur William Russell
1.3.2.4 Edmund Husserl
1.3.2.5 Martin Heidegger
1.3.2.6 Jean-Paul Sartre
1.3.2.7 Jean-François Lyotard
1.3.2.8 Jacques Derrida
Bibliography
Website
Chapter 2: Political Systems
2.1 Introduction to Western Political Systems
2.2 Political Systems in Major Western Countries
2.2.1 The Political System of the UK
2.2.1.1 Evolution
2.2.1.2 The UK’s Sovereign
2.2.1.3 The Polity
2.2.1.4 The Civil Service
2.2.1.5 The Local Government System
2.2.1.6 The British Constitution
2.2.1.7 The Judicial System
2.2.1.8 The Electoral System
2.2.1.9 The Political Party System
The Labour Party
The Conservative Party
The Liberal Democrat Party
2.2.1.10 The Civil Rights System
2.2.1.11 The National Flag, Emblem and Anthem
The National Flag
The National Coat of Arms
The National Anthem
2.2.2 The USA’s Political System
2.2.2.1 Evolution
2.2.2.2 The Polity
Congress
The US President
The US Supreme Court
2.2.2.3 The Structural Form of the USA
2.2.2.4 The Electoral System
2.2.2.5 The Political Party System
Evolution
Characteristics
Major Parties
2.2.2.6 The System of Civil Rights
2.2.3 The Political System of France
2.2.3.1 Evolution
The Political System of the French First Republic
The Political System of the French Second
Republic
The Political System of the French Third Republic
The Political System of the French Fourth
Republic
The Political System of the French Fifth Republic
2.2.3.2 The Polity
2.2.3.3 The Local Government System
2.2.3.4 The Civil Service System
Evolution
Content
Administrations of Civil Servants
Characteristics
2.2.3.5 The Political Party System
Evolution
Characteristics
Major Parties
2.2.3.6 The System of Civil Rights
2.2.4 The Political System of Germany
2.2.4.1 Evolution
2.2.4.2 Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany
2.2.4.3 The Bundesrat
2.2.4.4 The Federal Constitutional Court
2.2.4.5 German Parties
2.2.4.6 The Administrative Division
2.2.4.7 The National Flag, Emblem and Anthem
The National Flag
The National Emblem
The National Anthem
Bibliography
Websites
Chapter 3: Economic Systems of the West
3.1 Economic Systems of the European Union
3.1.1 Establishment of the European Community
3.1.2 Development from EC to EU
3.1.2.1 The First Enlargement of the EC
3.1.2.2 The Second Enlargement of the EC
3.1.2.3 The Third Enlargement of the EC
3.1.2.4 The Fourth Enlargement of the EC
3.1.2.5 The Establishment of the EU
3.1.3 The EC and Its Economy
3.1.3.1 Customs Union
3.1.3.2 Common Agricultural Policies
The Background to Common Agricultural Policies
The Basic Content of Common Policies
Monetary Mechanisms of Common Agricultural
Policies
Effects of Common Agricultural Policies
Reforms of EU Common Agricultural Policies and
Effects
3.1.4 Fiscal Systems of EC and EU
3.1.4.1 Establishment of Common Fiscal System
3.1.4.2 Nature of Common Finance
3.1.4.3 Fiscal Revenue and Expenditure
3.1.4.4 New Development in EC Finance
3.2 Economic Systems of Major European Countries
3.2.1 Germany
3.2.1.1 An Overview of German Economy
Economic System
A Brief History of Economic Development
3.2.1.2 The Economy of Federal Germany from 1945 to
1990
Main Characteristics of Post-War Economy in
West Germany
Economic and Industrial Structure Before
Reunification
3.2.1.3 Post-war Economy of East Germany
3.2.1.4 Economy of Germany After Reunification
3.2.1.5 Major Industrial Sectors of Germany
The Automobile Industry
The Machinery Manufacturing Industry
Chemical Industry
Electronic and Electrical Industry
Steel Industry
3.2.1.6 Economic Policies of the German Government
Distinctive Monetary Policies
Fiscal Policies
3.2.2 France
3.2.2.1 An Overview of the French Economy
Economic System
A Brief History of Economic Development
3.2.2.2 French Economy After the Second World War
Features of French Economy
Major Industrial Sectors
3.2.2.3 Economic Policies of the French Government
3.2.3 UK
3.2.3.1 An Overview of the British Economy
Economic System
A Brief History of Economic Development
3.2.3.2 British Economy After the Second World War
An Overview of British Economy After the War
Major Industrial Sectors
An Overview of British Economic Policies
3.2.4 Russia
3.2.4.1 Russian Economic Structure
3.2.4.2 An Overview of Russian Economic Policies
3.3 Economic System of the USA
3.3.1 An Overview of the US Economy
3.3.1.1 Economic System
Main Characteristics of the Market Economic
System
Strengths and Weaknesses of the US Economic
Model
3.3.1.2 A Brief History of American Economy
3.3.2 The US Economy After the War
3.3.2.1 Economic Development After the War
An Overview of the US Economy After the War
Main Features of the Economy After the War
The Economic and Industrial Structure
3.3.2.2 Main Industrial Sectors
The Steel Industry
The Automotive Industry
Building Industry
The High-Tech Industry
The Machine Building Industry
Energy Industry
3.3.2.3 Economic Policies
US Monetary Policy and Its Evolution
US Fiscal Policy and Its Evolution
Bibliography
Chapter 4: Western Military Culture
4.1 Western Military Practice
4.1.1 Changes in Forms of War in the West
4.1.1.1 Cold Weapon Warfare
4.1.1.2 Hot Weapon Warfare
4.1.1.3 Mechanized Warfare
4.1.1.4 Nuclear Weapon Warfare
4.1.1.5 Information Warfare
4.1.2 Western Military Revolution
4.1.2.1 Overview of the Western Military Revolution
4.1.2.2 Contemporary Western Military Revolution
Innovation in Military Technology
Innovation in Military Theory
Innovation in Military Systems and Organization
Changes of the Form of War
4.2 Modern Western Military Technology
4.2.1 An Overview of Precision-Guided Weapons
4.2.2 Classification of Precision-Guided Weapons
4.2.2.1 Guided Missiles
4.2.2.2 Guided Bombs
4.2.2.3 Guided Artillery Shells
4.2.2.4 Guided Torpedoes
4.2.3 The Influence of Precision-Guided Weapons
4.2.3.1 Improved Operational Efficiency
4.2.3.2 New Combat Theory
4.2.3.3 Political Benefits
4.3 Western Military Thought
4.3.1 Modern Western Military Thought
4.3.1.1 Theorization
4.3.1.2 Systematization and Diversification
4.3.2 Contemporary Western Military Thought
4.3.2.1 The Hot War Period
4.3.2.2 The Cold War Period
4.3.2.3 Post-Cold War Period
National Security as the Basic Starting Point
Strategic Alliance Thought Playing a Greater Role
Strategic Information Becoming the Focus
Bibliography
Chapter 5: Education System
5.1 History
5.1.1 Primary and Secondary Education
5.1.1.1 Emergence of School System
5.1.1.2 Rise of Modern Primary and Secondary Schools
5.1.1.3 Establishment of National Education Systems
Germany
France
The USA
5.1.1.4 Foundation and Institutionalization of
Vocational Education
Germany
5.1.1.5 Formation and Development of Modern Primary
and Secondary School Systems
5.1.1.6 Diversification of Secondary Education
5.1.2 Higher Education
5.1.2.1 Enriched Discipline
5.1.2.2 Establishment of the Basic University Structure
5.1.2.3 Rise of Universities for Applied Sciences
5.1.2.4 Creation of the Research University
5.1.2.5 Diversification in the Level and Structure of
Higher Education
5.1.2.6 Transdisciplinary Reforms
5.2 Unique Features
5.2.1 The UK: Diversified Secondary and Further Education
5.2.1.1 Secondary Education
5.2.1.2 Further Education
5.2.2 France: Coherent School System
5.2.2.1 Nursery, Primary, and Secondary Education
5.2.2.2 Higher Education System
5.2.3 Germany: Unique Secondary and Vocational Education
5.2.3.1 Secondary Education
5.2.3.2 Vocational Education and Training
Dual Vocational School
Specialized Vocational School
Specialized School
Specialized Upper Secondary School
5.2.4 Sweden: Unique Upper Secondary Curriculum and
Extensive Adult Education
5.2.4.1 Upper Secondary Education
5.2.4.2 Adult Education
Folk High School: The Boarding Adult College
Study Circles
Comprehensive Universities
5.2.5 The United States of America: Community College
and Education
5.2.5.1 Community College
5.2.5.2 Community Education
5.3 Popular Trends
5.3.1 Learning Society and Life-Long Learning System
5.3.2 Links Between Vocational Education and General
Education
5.3.2.1 Equivalent Value at Secondary Education Level
5.3.2.2 Interplay Between Higher Vocational and
Higher General Education
5.3.3 Informatization
5.3.4 Internationalization
Bibliography
Chapter 6: European and American Literature
6.1 Ancient Greek Literature
6.1.1 Epic
6.1.2 Ancient Greek Tragedy
6.1.3 Ancient Greek Comedy
6.1.4 Ancient Greek Lyric
6.1.5 Ancient Greek Mythology
6.2 Ancient Roman Literature
6.2.1 Virgil and the Epic
6.2.2 Drama
6.2.3 Poetry
6.2.4 Prose
6.3 Medieval Literature
6.3.1 Church Literature
6.3.2 Knightly Literature
6.3.3 Epic
6.3.4 Ballad
6.3.5 Civic Literature
6.3.6 Dante and The Divine Comedy
6.3.7 Chaucer
6.4 Renaissance Literature
6.4.1 Petrarch and Boccaccio
6.4.2 English Literature during the Renaissance
6.4.3 Renaissance Literature of France and Spain
6.5 European Literature in the Seventeenth Century
6.5.1 French Literature
6.5.2 English Literature
6.6 European Literature in the Eighteenth Century
6.6.1 French Literature
6.6.2 English Literature
6.6.3 German Literature
6.7 European and American Literature in the Nineteenth Century
6.7.1 French Literature
6.7.2 German Literature
6.7.3 Russian Literature
6.7.4 English Literature
6.7.5 American Literature
6.8 European and American Literature in the Twentieth Century
6.8.1 English Literature
6.8.2 American Literature
6.8.3 French Literature
6.8.4 German Literature
6.8.5 Russian Literature
Bibliography
Website
Chapter 7: Western Organizational Culture: EU Organizational Culture
7.1 The Origin and Development of EU Culture
7.1.1 Definition of EU Culture
7.1.2 The Formation of EU Culture
7.1.2.1 Homogeneous Culture
Ancient Greek and Roman Civilizations
Christian Culture
Shared Cultural Values
7.1.2.2 The “European Union Dream”
7.1.2.3 From the European Cultural Agreement to the
Maastricht Treaty
7.1.3 The Goals of the Establishment of European Culture
7.1.3.1 Consolidating the Political and Economic
Achievements of European Integration
7.1.3.2 Contending with American Cultural Hegemony,
and Strengthening European Cultural Independence
7.1.3.3 Participating in International Affairs, Spreading
European Culture, and Enhancing the Status of the EU
in the World
7.2 Cultural Features of the EU
7.3 EU Cultural Policy
7.3.1 Protecting Historical and Cultural Heritage
7.3.2 Supporting Cultural Research and Cultural Industry
7.3.2.1 Supporting Two Types of Cultural Industries
Supporting the European Audiovisual Industry
Supporting the European Multi-Media Industry
7.3.2.2 Creating a Sound Competition Environment
Formulating Laws and Regulations for the
Audiovisual Industry
Promoting Digitalization
Allowing Cultural Industry into the Capital Market
Emphasizing Research and Innovation
7.3.2.3 Developing Cultural Industry in Other Countries
Bibliography
Websites
Chapter 8: Religious Culture
8.1 Introduction to Religion
8.2 Christianity
8.2.1 Origin and Development
8.2.2 Christian Doctrine
8.2.2.1 Shaping of Christian Doctrine
8.2.2.2 Common Beliefs
8.2.2.3 Doctrines of Major Denominations
8.2.3 The Bible
8.2.3.1 The Old Testament
8.2.3.2 The New Testament
8.2.4 Church Government and Rites
8.2.5 Dissemination of Christianity
8.3 Judaism
8.3.1 Origin and Formation
8.3.2 Sacred Texts and Commandments
8.3.2.1 Sacred Texts
8.3.2.2 Basic Teachings
8.3.2.3 Disciplines
8.3.3 Development of Judaism
8.3.4 Doctrines of Major Denominations
8.3.5 Influence
8.4 Islam
8.4.1 History
8.4.2 Basic Teachings
8.4.2.1 Allah (God)
8.4.2.2 Prophets
8.4.2.3 Angels
8.4.2.4 Revelations
8.4.2.5 Judgment Day and Resurrection
8.4.3 Spread and Development of Islam
8.4.3.1 Caliphate
8.4.3.2 The Umayyad Dynasty
8.4.3.3 The Abbasid Dynasty
8.4.3.4 The Ottoman Empire
Bibliography
You might also like
- Understanding Chinese Culture Guobin Xu PDF Download100% (3)Understanding Chinese Culture Guobin Xu PDF Download59 pages
- The Routledge Handbook of Corpus Linguistics, Second Edition (OKeeffe Anne (Ed) McCarthy Michael (Ed) ) (Z-Library)No ratings yetThe Routledge Handbook of Corpus Linguistics, Second Edition (OKeeffe Anne (Ed) McCarthy Michael (Ed) ) (Z-Library)755 pages
- Introduction To Chinese Culture Guobin Xu Download100% (3)Introduction To Chinese Culture Guobin Xu Download59 pages
- The Power of Metaphor - Examining Its Influence On Social Life (PDFDrive)100% (10)The Power of Metaphor - Examining Its Influence On Social Life (PDFDrive)311 pages
- Between Tradition and Modernity by Li Zonggui100% (1)Between Tradition and Modernity by Li Zonggui430 pages
- Understanding Chinese Culture by Guobin Xu100% (2)Understanding Chinese Culture by Guobin Xu262 pages
- Michael Oakeshott and Leo Strauss - The Politics of Renaissance and Enlightenment (PDFDrive)100% (1)Michael Oakeshott and Leo Strauss - The Politics of Renaissance and Enlightenment (PDFDrive)227 pages
- Imagining Mary - A Psychoanalytic Perspective On Devotion To The Virgin Mother of God (PDFDrive)100% (1)Imagining Mary - A Psychoanalytic Perspective On Devotion To The Virgin Mother of God (PDFDrive)373 pages
- Bilingual Chinese Poems The Works of Tao Yuanming PDFNo ratings yetBilingual Chinese Poems The Works of Tao Yuanming PDF321 pages
- The World of Biblical Literature. Robert Alter, 1992100% (5)The World of Biblical Literature. Robert Alter, 1992245 pages
- (By Deshun Li) On Chinese Culture 2647888 (Z Lib - Org)No ratings yet(By Deshun Li) On Chinese Culture 2647888 (Z Lib - Org)303 pages
- THE AND Theaetetus Philebus. of Plato: H. F. Carlill, M.A100% (1)THE AND Theaetetus Philebus. of Plato: H. F. Carlill, M.A227 pages
- REINVENTING EDEN. The Fate of Nature in Western Culture. Carolyn Merchant, Second Edition (Updated With A New Foreword and Afterword), 2013No ratings yetREINVENTING EDEN. The Fate of Nature in Western Culture. Carolyn Merchant, Second Edition (Updated With A New Foreword and Afterword), 2013334 pages
- Bilingual Chinese Poems - The Works of Tao Yuanming100% (2)Bilingual Chinese Poems - The Works of Tao Yuanming321 pages
- World Religions - A Guide To The Essentials - Robinson, Thomas A - (Thomas Arthur), 1951 - Rodrigues, - 2014 - Grand Rapids, Michigan - Baker Academic - 0801049717 - Anna's ArchiveNo ratings yetWorld Religions - A Guide To The Essentials - Robinson, Thomas A - (Thomas Arthur), 1951 - Rodrigues, - 2014 - Grand Rapids, Michigan - Baker Academic - 0801049717 - Anna's Archive372 pages
- Between Tradition and Modernity: Philosophical Reflections On The Modernization of Chinese Culture by Li Zonggui100% (1)Between Tradition and Modernity: Philosophical Reflections On The Modernization of Chinese Culture by Li Zonggui430 pages
- The Populus of Augustine and Jerome A Study in The Patristic Se PDF100% (1)The Populus of Augustine and Jerome A Study in The Patristic Se PDF296 pages
- Latin-English Dictionary (IA Latinenglishdict00good)No ratings yetLatin-English Dictionary (IA Latinenglishdict00good)580 pages
- Peacemaking Peacekeeping International RelationsNo ratings yetPeacemaking Peacekeeping International Relations24 pages
- The Bloomsbury Handbook of The Cultural and Cognitive - Anne Koch Katharina Wilkens - 2019 - Bloomsbury UK - 9780470752968 - Anna's ArchiveNo ratings yetThe Bloomsbury Handbook of The Cultural and Cognitive - Anne Koch Katharina Wilkens - 2019 - Bloomsbury UK - 9780470752968 - Anna's Archive555 pages
- (Brills Humanities in China Library) Chen Lai - Tradition and Modernity - A Humanist View (2009, Brill)No ratings yet(Brills Humanities in China Library) Chen Lai - Tradition and Modernity - A Humanist View (2009, Brill)397 pages
- Summary of An Essay On The Development of Christian Doctrine0% (1)Summary of An Essay On The Development of Christian Doctrine10 pages
- The Three-Personed God The Trinity As A Mystery of Salvation (William J. Hill)No ratings yetThe Three-Personed God The Trinity As A Mystery of Salvation (William J. Hill)756 pages
- (Graeco-Roman Memoirs 61) British Academy - Proceedings of The XIV International Congress of Papyrologists, Oxford, 24-31 July 1974. (1975)No ratings yet(Graeco-Roman Memoirs 61) British Academy - Proceedings of The XIV International Congress of Papyrologists, Oxford, 24-31 July 1974. (1975)424 pages
- Parshall Et Al (2002) Practical Considerations in Computer-Based TestingNo ratings yetParshall Et Al (2002) Practical Considerations in Computer-Based Testing233 pages
- (Corpus and Discourse) Ruihua Zhang - Sadness Expressions in English and Chinese - Corpus Linguistic Contrastive Semantic Analysis (2014, Bloomsbury Academic) - Libgen - LiNo ratings yet(Corpus and Discourse) Ruihua Zhang - Sadness Expressions in English and Chinese - Corpus Linguistic Contrastive Semantic Analysis (2014, Bloomsbury Academic) - Libgen - Li257 pages
- Modern Notions of Civilization and Culture in China: Weigui FangNo ratings yetModern Notions of Civilization and Culture in China: Weigui Fang128 pages
- Appealing To Creed Theodore of Mopsuesti PDFNo ratings yetAppealing To Creed Theodore of Mopsuesti PDF20 pages
- Understanding Chinese Culture 1st Ed. Edition Guobin Xu Instant DownloadNo ratings yetUnderstanding Chinese Culture 1st Ed. Edition Guobin Xu Instant Download50 pages
- Janua Linguarum: Studia Memoriae Nicolai Van Wijk DedicataNo ratings yetJanua Linguarum: Studia Memoriae Nicolai Van Wijk Dedicata100 pages
- Passions of The Soul 9781399415699 1399415697No ratings yetPassions of The Soul 9781399415699 139941569786 pages
- Understanding Chinese Culture 1st Ed. Edition Guobin Xu PDF DownloadNo ratings yetUnderstanding Chinese Culture 1st Ed. Edition Guobin Xu PDF Download75 pages
- Europe Byzantium and The Intellectual Silence of Rus Culture Donald Ostrowski Instant DownloadNo ratings yetEurope Byzantium and The Intellectual Silence of Rus Culture Donald Ostrowski Instant Download31 pages
- Your Parents Are Your Paradise and They Are Your HellNo ratings yetYour Parents Are Your Paradise and They Are Your Hell4 pages
- TSLB3043 English Phonetics and Phonology Kemaskini 2021No ratings yetTSLB3043 English Phonetics and Phonology Kemaskini 20219 pages
- Jesus and The Other Names - Christian Mission and Global Responsibility. Book Title by Paul Knitter, Reviewed Here by Richard A. RhemNo ratings yetJesus and The Other Names - Christian Mission and Global Responsibility. Book Title by Paul Knitter, Reviewed Here by Richard A. Rhem8 pages
- O You Benevolent Intelligence of Celestial Light DignifiedNo ratings yetO You Benevolent Intelligence of Celestial Light Dignified3 pages
- Use of Ict in Higher Education: Dr. Imaniyal S. KondraNo ratings yetUse of Ict in Higher Education: Dr. Imaniyal S. Kondra5 pages
- In Pairs, Practice The One-Verse Evangelism IllustrationNo ratings yetIn Pairs, Practice The One-Verse Evangelism Illustration4 pages
- The Cosmological Argument For The Existence of God: by Sarah Allen100% (1)The Cosmological Argument For The Existence of God: by Sarah Allen32 pages
- David Joseph Wellman Curriculum Vitae: Dwellman@depaul - EduNo ratings yetDavid Joseph Wellman Curriculum Vitae: Dwellman@depaul - Edu9 pages
- Ethics Demonstrated in Geometrical Order - SpinozaNo ratings yetEthics Demonstrated in Geometrical Order - Spinoza136 pages
- Latin Fathers of The Church: LATN 304-Spring 2008 Daniel J. NodesNo ratings yetLatin Fathers of The Church: LATN 304-Spring 2008 Daniel J. Nodes31 pages
