In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

  • Introduction
  • Liu Kang (bio)

At a time of economic woes, the once glowing neon lights and billboards of globalization have all but dimmed across the continents and nations, from Greece to Iceland and to North America, with only a few exceptions. Radiating with vibrancy and resources nowadays are the BRICS, namely, Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. In Chinese the acronym is translated as "jin zhuan" ("golden bricks"), evocative of a new mythical constellation replacing the Golden Fleece, a treasure sought by humankind for a millennium, with imaginary ancient Greek origins. There is no metaphorical reference to "gold" intended in the English acronym BRICS, as there is in the Chinese augmentation. However, the irony lies precisely in such an expansion or creative interpretation of the terms and concepts from Greek to Chinese. Torch relays of the Olympic Games, for instance, are a Greek ritual reinvented as a modern congregation of nations and peoples in the name of gaming spirits and festivity. In China, the concept was renamed as "sheng huo" ("sacred fire"). And in the Beijing 2008 Olympics, the "sacred fire" was magically transported into one of the five eternal elements of cosmos, that is, gold, wood, water, fire, and earth, which would bring infinite blessing to the revitalized Central Kingdom. Accordingly, China showcased its strength and pride through the global torch relays from Paris to London, San Francisco, Jakarta, Seoul, and Pyongyang. Although the Olympiad-Beijing sacred fire was more than once blasphemed and disrupted in Paris and London and other cities like them, this very reaction signals the unstoppable global emergence of the new cultural icon of a rising China.

In the Western hard-core social sciences and popular media, discussions about the rise of China mainly focus on its effects on the existing world order, established by the West during the industrial revolution and reaffirmed by the two world wars and the end of the cold war. With the [End Page 497] fall of the communist Soviet empire, the end of history was declared by American neoconservatives. And yet the rise of China again casts doubts on the euphoria of Western triumphalism. Is China a revisionist state that will inevitably challenge and collide with the status quo states? Will China repeat the pattern of aggressive Western imperialism and colonialism in its global expansion? What happens when China rules the world (Martin Jacques)?1 Will a "Beijing Consensus" (the authoritarian monopoly) replace the Washington Consensus (free market economy) (Joshua Cooper Ramo) as the new world order?2 There is no lack of Chinese nationalist articulations of a "China model" or newer, updated official versions of "socialism with Chinese characteristics," to fuel the hubris of China's superpower status.

The fluent Mandarin-speaking Jon Huntsman, former U.S. ambassador to China, has stated that the United States unfortunately has no shared values with the Chinese Communist Party or the government but that it "must deal with China from a position of strength."3 The last but not the least of these strengths Huntsman lists is "values": "We have an opportunity to shape outcomes by living up to our ideals and demonstrating we are worthy of the region's admiration and emulation. This approach will not only be consistent with the aspirations of many in China, but it will also leave the door open for a truly strong U.S.-China relationship based on shared values—should leaders in the Communist Party eventually embrace liberal reforms."

Huntsman articulates a deep-seated apprehension about "the lack of shared values" between China and the West. However, as a politician addressing the public, he grossly simplifies the issue by partitioning the Chinese people from the state and demanding explicitly that China embrace Western values. While China's and the United States' soft power in the new round of global competition is being scrutinized from both sides, the mythical, metaphorical, ideological, and, indeed, philosophical roots underlying all the distrust toward, misunderstanding of, and anxiety over China remain yet to be explored. Granted, Sinologists, China specialists, and comparative literature scholars in the West as well as humanists in the East continue to produce a great deal of insightful research on the subject of values...

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