Like the notion of tao (the way), or da tong (the great unity), a mere transliteration of yin and yang into other linguistic contexts is preferable to what can only be defective translations. Art, fashion, cooking and aesthetics cannot be understood without a reference to these principles inherent to the Chinese mind. They are the foundations of the rich and vibrant traditional Chinese medicine and contemporary Chinese thinking. They stand as a key to decipher the classic I Ching (Book of Changes) and its combination of broken and solid lines forming the 64 hexagrams. With the passage of time, these constituting elements have certainly evolved, but they have withstood the internal revolutions and external shocks of the incomparably long Chinese history.Īmong China's philosophical concepts, the yin and yang have always had a special status and significance. But it is also a set of more abstract principles that can be considered as constant features of Chinese civilization. The Chinese writing system, which took form on oracle bones more than three millennia ago and is still in use today, is a taste as much as a quest for political unity more reminiscent of the ancient Romans than classical Greece.
The Chinese economic and sociopolitical dynamics are largely covered by the media, but the more arduous study of "civilizational China" as an object of Sinology and cultural history is much less common, even if it better explains the behavior of the "Middle Country". None of the other players of the international community combines these three dimensions of power. Inspiring and explanatory, this traditional concept gives access to the Chinese mind, its cognitive operations and its perception of the worldįor China, being a gigantic market of 1.4 billion people, a potent geopolitical actor having influence across the globe, and an ancient civilization is both a strength and a singularity.
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