| It's oftensaid that Western interpretations of Chinese culture and values can bemisconstrued. How should we accuratelydepict the culture and values of contemporary China?

The Chinese people have gained a stronger self-confidence in their culture.More and more elements of Chinese culture are found in the most fashionablepart of life in the market economy.

When the business people from the company of a Chinese brand attended NewYork Fashion Week in February 2018, they wore T-shirts embroidered with thefour Chinese characters "中国李宁" (Li-Ning China) on the chest. It was this simpledesign of Chinese characters that went viral when many of the post-95millennials relayed its post. Many of the youth of this age group might nothave known Li Ning, who had won many championships in world gymnasticscompetitions. They simply found this design quite cool.

As it turned out, this design of the "Li-Ning China" brand enabled Li-Ning Company, which specializedin sportswear, to increase its sales to ten billion RMB for the first timeafter many years of oblivion, and push its share price to triple. We can seefrom this case that the design of the Chinese characters "中国" on the chest fully evoked the pride and sense ofidentity in the Chinese people.

This case is not an exception. When Huawei, a high-tech company, aimed topick a brand name for its new generation system, it went off the beaten trackto choose the unfamiliar word Hongmeng(meaning the primordial state of time and space) from the Chinese Classic Chuang Tze as the name for its operatingsystem. The company also named its laboratory Xuanwu (a deity of a combination of the tortoise and the snake inancient legends).

The Chinese people'sconfidence in their culture is also reflected in architectural designs. At thebeginning of the 21st century, iconic buildings at the national level were morereliant on novel Western design ideas, typically the "Bird's Nest" (the main stadium of the Beijing Olympics), the "Dome" (the National Grand Theater), and the "Big Pants" (China Central Television (CCTV), all of which were novel creationsinspired by Western design concepts. However, designers of the new generationare pushing for originality, and instead of simply getting closer to the West,they are incorporating more Chinese elements, which in turn enhances theinternational impact of their works. In 2012, the Pritzker Architecture Prizewas awarded to Wang Shu, a Chinese architect.

| These stories about Chinese elements are stillrather superficial. People might prefer to hear stories related to values. What are the most important values for theChinese people to pursue?

Values are an intertwining system of rich content. Some of the values arethe common pursuit of humanity, such as prosperity, democracy, peace, safety,fairness, justice and freedom. However, the goals of these values may not berealized in all countries at once.

For two rival countries on the verge of conflict, the pursuit of peacemight be paramount for one, yet spell disaster for the other. It's often the case that different countries,political parties, or groups of people might prioritize their valuesdifferently. Even in the same country, political party, or group of people,they might face different challenges in different phases of their developmentand they will have different priorities over their pursuits of valuesaccordingly.

The colonial people'sstruggle for national independence and freedom as well as their use of force tooverthrow colonial rule is generally regarded as just and righteous. At thispoint, it would be hypocritical for someone to advise them to love peace, toignore the oppression of the imperial powers for the time being, and to focuson the pursuit of prosperity and wealth.

When a country puts poverty alleviation, the right to subsistence, and theright to development at the forefront of human rights, it would be unrealisticfor wealthier and long-developed countries to reprimand it for not placingother allegedly higher-level human rights above the right to subsistence anddevelopment.

| Human rights and freedom are the top concerns inWestern discourse. In recent years, there has been significant criticism fromWestern perspectives regarding China's policies in Xinjiang and Hong Kong, with allegations that China hasinfringed upon the human rights of the Uyghur population and the liberties ofHong Kong. The question remains: what isthe reality?

Most of the people who make a big deal out of these topics in the Westernmedia do not know the real situation there and tend to base their opinions ontheir own desires. And it seems to them that the more vehemently an opinion isexpressed, the more "politicallycorrect" and "values-based" it will appearto be.

China's handling of riotous situations in Xinjiang isessentially a matter of combating terrorism, deterring violence, and preventingsecession. Any country would take measures to quell riots under similarsituations.

I wonder if you've watched the50-minute-or-so English documentary FightingTerrorism in Xinjiang which was aired on CGTN in 2019? The programdisclosed for the first time the original videos of many terrorist cases withan abundance of real images. Inexplicably, the Western media chose to remain "collectively silent" on the truth disclosed in this documentary,neither showing any concern nor reporting on it.

Western public opinion often overlooks the positive developments inXinjiang. There are 24,000 mosques in Xinjiang, an average of one mosque forevery 530 Muslims. Since 2014, two million Uyghurs have been lifted out ofpoverty. Xinjiang's stability anddevelopment have drawn both domestic and international tourists, with up to 250million visits in 2019 alone.

This is the truth of Xinjiang today, the true stories about its humanrights.

| International perspectives suggest that theadoption of the national security law in Hong Kong has altered the originaldesign of "one country, two systems," hence impinging on the freedom previously enjoyedin Hong Kong. What do you make of thisallegation?

This issue is straightforward in its logic.

In 2019, Hong Kong experienced a "storm of legislative amendments," which included an overt call for Hong Kong independence, requests forforeign intervention against the Chinese government, and even an assault on theCentral Government's LiaisonOffice in Hong Kong. Such actions cannot be considered as part of the freedomsto which Hong Kong is entitled.

Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China and theimplementation of "one country,two systems" does not mean that Hong Kong is free from theadministration of the Central Government. The National People's Congress (NPC), per its own responsibilities, hasmade relevant laws for the very purpose of plugging the loopholes in nationalsecurity in Hong Kong and fully realizing the original meaning of "one country, two systems." If we have to speak from the perspective of humanrights, this is precisely the human rights story of maintaining Hong Kong's stability and security.

The maintaining of national unity and solidarity holds the utmost value forthe Chinese people. In the West, these concepts may simply serve as strategies,akin to tactics used by sports teams or military units to overcome anadversary. However, in the narratives of Chinese values, unity and solidarityare foundational, setting the stage for achieving other values pursuits.

The interviewee is Chen Jin, Former committeemember of the Institute of Party History and Literature of the CentralCommittee of CPC.   

Liu Xian /Editor    Wu Yongqiang /Translator

YangXinhua /Chief Editor    Ren Qiang /Coordinator

Liu Li /Reviewer

ZhangWeiwei /Copyeditor    Tan Yujie /Image Editor

The views don't necessarily reflect those of DeepChina.