ABSTRACT
Throughout Chinese history, relationalism, in this sense the most elaborate interconnectedness, was repeatedly tested. The first test came with the Mongols, who conquered China in 1297 C.E. and the second by the Manchus, who began a reign in China beginning in 1644 C.E. These horseback warriors came from tribal lands outside of China and brought their combative and competitive values, which were completely foreign to the Chinese. Such cultural differences no doubt seriously threatened the Chinese relational cultural beliefs and the ideal of a relationally harmonious society. But the Chinese people, with their well-honed conviction and skills in relationalism, not only resisted the Mongol’s alien values and their brutal and combative culture, but also successfully assimilated the best of the Manchurian values, incorporating them into their system of relationalism. When, starting from the 1600s, Christian priests and businessmen scuttled in from Europe with the hope of converting the Chinese from their beliefs in family and relationalism into the religion of God, ideology, opium, and technology, the Chinese met the challenges with a relational policy called “zhongxue weiti, xixue weiyong” (Chinese traditions as foundation and Western knowledge as techniques). This policy ingeniously preserved the Chinese tradition but also allowed the adaptation of Western knowledge in science and technology.
