Not long ago, I participated in a seminar titled International Dialogue on the Chinese Dream in Shanghai and gave a speech. After my speech, a foreign friend asked me if the Chinese Dream contradicted the world peace and development advocated by China, which would be prioritized? I have heard such questions before, which shows that the international community still has some misunderstanding about the Chinese Dream. Therefore, it still needs us to spell out the international significance of this Dream to the world with continuous in-depth exchanges with the international community.

When chairing the 12th group study of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed that the Chinese Dream demonstrates the good faith of the Chinese nation for a greater contribution to the peace and development of mankind. This has not only reiterated China's determination and commitment to world peace and development, but also expounded the international significance of the Chinese Dream. The Chinese Dream is the appeal for self-respect of the Chinese nation on the basis of self-reliance and self-improvement. It is committed to a greater Chinese contribution to world development while not constituting any threat to other countries and civilizations. In this regard, three historical missions should be endowed in interpreting the international significance of the Chinese Dream.

The first one is to answer the question of what is the source of China's rejuvenation. If we cannot clarify the inherent logic that the sustainable development of China is for the purpose of the lasting development of mankind, we cannot let the world understand the international significance of the Chinese Dream. Chinese civilization is the inexhaustible source of the Chinese Dream. The essence of the dream is civilization revival. That is, to transform Chinese civilization in the globalization era from an agricultural one to an industrialized one, from a land-oriented one to ocean-oriented one, and from a regional one to global one. The rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is actually to rejuvenate and surpass the achievements of the 5,000-year Chinese civilization and contribute huge energy to the evolution of the world civilization. Rejuvenating the global civilization via rejuvenating Chinese civilization is not only the historical mission of the Chinese Dream but also the expectation and demand of the international community for the development of China. From this point of view, the lasting peace and common prosperity of the world is also the everlasting pursuit of the Chinese Dream.

The second mission is to answer the question of why China is seeking rejuvenation. The question is concerned with a Western theory–the recycling tragedy of binary opposition. The Western "universal value" has regarded the brief leading position of the West to be everlasting and said the regional theory a global one, which is actually a kind of monopoly of voice. Expounding the Chinese Dream will help to break the fallacy that theories with Chinese characteristics are incompatible with other civilizations. Learning from history, we can see they are completely inclusive and compatible. For instance, from the Eastern Han Dynasty (25 BC-220 AD) to the Tang Dynasty (618-907), Buddhism was well included in Chinese culture. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by German sociologist Max Weber had informed the world about the rise of Germany as well as a new type of civilization at the beginning of the 20th century. Now, the cultural rise of China around the world also needs to end the estrangement of different social systems and values of humankind to upgrade the Chinese Dream to the high level of creating a new civilization of mankind and make it an expectation of the whole world.

The third mission is to answer the question that how China views the rejuvenation of other nations. If China cannot tell clearly what the rejuvenation of China can benefit the whole world and bring to the rejuvenation of others, it cannot bring expectation and delight to the world. China expects the rejuvenation of all world civilizations and hopes the world to return to the track of multi-polarization. A unipolar world is called by some philosophers as a "non-world." The value of the Chinese Dream is providing materials, institutions and spiritual public goods of "coming from China but belonging to the world" for the development of the world. From encouraging other countries to choose development paths that fit in well with their particularities to promoting the achieving the dream for peace, development, cooperation and win-win result of the international community, the development of China has injected new value pursuit choices to the world. The Chinese Dream is the new emotional bond for China and the outside world. It will surely resonate with the whole international community.

In short, the Chinese Dream is interconnected with the dreams of the people around the world for pursuing a better life. To some extent, the Chinese dream is the world dream as it contributes to the transition of the world. China is committing to contribute the world by solving its own problems and it will achieve self-fulfillment via helping the world to achieve the self-fulfillment of the mankind. That is the global significance of the Chinese Dream.

(The author is a professor of the School of International Relations at Renmin University.)