Further Readings

China has a long history of economical and cultural exchanges with foreign countries. Zhang Qian of 2000 years ago could be said to be the first Chinese going abroad. Overcoming enormous difficulties, he twice went to the Western Region as an emissary, opening up an important route between China and the inner part of Euro-Asia Continent, and started friendly exchanges with western European countries. It was the beginning of the Silk Road, which greatly enhanced material and cultural exchanges between the East and West.

Monk XuanZang of the Tang Dynasty went on a pilgrimage to India for Buddhist scriptures, opening a new chapter in China's cultural exchanges with foreign countries. Zheng He of the Ming Dynasty sailed with his large commercial fleet to many Asian and African countries seven times, stimulating the development of domestic economy. Xu Guangqi in the late Ming Dynasty met Italian missionary Matteo Ricci and saw a new world map, which opened his eyes. His attitude toward Western culture was“To surpass them, we must first learn from them. ”and“If it is beneficial to our country, never mind where it comes from. ”With this cultural openness and inclusiveness, he introduced many Western science and technologies into China. In this sense, he could also be called a patriot. The Opium War greatly stimulated the patriots at that time. Lin Zexu asked country fellows to open their eyes to look at the world. Wei Yuan proposed“l(fā)earning from foreigners so as to defeat them. ”Enlightenment thinker Yan Fu translated Western works and systematically introduced“Western thoughts”into China.Those examples demonstrated their world-consciousness and their patriotism in saving the nation by looking for remedies from the West.

Patriotism is both an eternal theme and a historical concept.The demand of the nation and historical responsibilities determine the content and approaches of patriotism. Therefore, in different countries and different times, patriotism embodies different connotations, forms and characteristics.The development of Chinese patriotism has apparent features of history and time. The theme of patriotism in ancient China was to strive for national unity and integration, to promote national unification and to strengthen national power. In modern China, patriotism was expressed in the fight against imperialists and feudalists in order to save the nation. In later modern times, patriotism embodied fighting for national liberation and independence, and embarking on a socialist road with Chinese characteristics. Today, patriotism entails new content and feature, that is, to work hard for the realization of national rejuvenation.