ABSTRACT
We find an abundance of peaceful thought in Chinese traditions. The Middle Way. the basic principle of action delineated by Confucius, harmoniously unifies ren - benevolence - with li - correct behaviour. The essence of ren is to love others It is the highest internal standard, to act honourably when handling relationships among people, while li functions as a kind of external norm for one's behaviour. Confucian doctrine shows some resemblances to Aristotle's thought, in that both reckon it significant to mediate reasonableness and sensibility through a Middle Way. Confucianism advocates a moral, peaceful ideal, namely that interpersonal and also international conflicts should find resolution through moral means rather than by war. even if war be the 'Just War' proposed by some Christian thinkers. Confucius was the first prophet in China to put forward the ideal as 'to convince others by morality', laying the foundation for the subsequent Confucian mode of resolving disputes. This ideal demonstrated such enormous power in politics that it could even substitute violent mechanisms, like criminal laws or military power, in governing a countiy. Meanwhile, Daoist thinkers also developed flexible or compromising ideas on peace. As Jolian Galtung, the founder of peace studies puts it: 'thoughts of peace and violence coexist in Daoism, warning people to be prepared for danger in times of safety', and he specially emphasizes that peace studies is as practical a science as medicine, using Chinese traditional medicine as an excellent analogy. Therefore he lias adopted the principle of maladjustment and rebalancing between yin and yang in his writings.
