——Quoted in "Speech at the Conference Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations between China and France".

■Interpretation

This sentence spoken by Mencius is the way of the "inner sage and outer king" in traditional China, which embodies the character and mind advocated by the Chinese nation. China's single-minded handling of its own affairs is not only responsible for itself, but also for contributing to the world. Comrade Xi Jinping's new diplomatic situation has broken the problem with the "Chinese Dream" - "the realization of the Chinese Dream requires a peaceful and stable international and surrounding environment" and "work with the international community to promote the realization of the world dream of lasting peace and common prosperity...... The Chinese Dream is closely related to the African Dream, the Asian Dream and the World Dream. From Moscow to Mexico City, from four Central Asian countries to Southeast Asian neighbors, the same concept has been emphasized again and again, seeking the greatest common divisor of understanding and recognition in the world, and becoming a well-deserved "diplomatic hot word" on the international stage today, which has effectively enhanced China's international influence, moral appeal and cultural affinity, and enabled the world to more deeply understand the international strategic thinking of contemporary China and the historical logic of the relationship between China and the world.

■Original text

(Song sentence Mencius) said: "How can you be arrogant? He said: "If you respect virtue and righteousness, you can be arrogant." Therefore, the poor do not lose their righteousness, and they do not deviate from the way. Poverty does not lose righteousness, so the soldier gets his own; The people are not disappointed. The ancients, the will, Zejia to the people; Unwilling, self-cultivation is seen in the world. If you are poor, you will be good to yourself, and if you are good, you will be good to the world. ”

——(Warring States) Mencius "Mencius: Devoted to the Heart"

■Definition

The above is a dialogue between Mencius and Song Jujian. Song Jujian asked Mencius, "How can we be at peace?" Mencius replied, "If you respect virtue and love righteousness, you will be at peace." When a scholar is poor, he does not lack benevolence and righteousness, and when he is prominent, he does not deviate from morality. When you are poor, you do not lack benevolence and righteousness, so you can be at peace and contentment; When it is manifest, it does not deviate from morality, so that the people will not lose hope. In ancient times, people were kind to the people when they had a will, and they cultivated their bodies and minds to stand in the world when they were not. In the end, he concluded: "If you are poor, you will be good to yourself, and if you are good, you will be good to the world." Later generations changed "both good" to "both good". It means that when you don't have a will, you must cultivate yourself, and when you have a will, you must strive to benefit everyone in the world.

"If you are poor, you will be good to yourself, and if you are good, you will be good to the world" concisely expresses the political choice and life attitude of Confucianism when he enters and leaves the world, and has become the motto of many intellectuals from ancient times to the present. This not only contains the profound internal contradiction between advance and retreat, but also demonstrates the ideological method and spiritual bearing of Confucianism.

Confucius once said: "If you use it, you will do it, and if you give it away, you will hide it." "If there is a way in the world, you will see it, and if there is no way, you will hide it." "If there is a way, then there is a way; If there is no way, you can be involved. It can be seen from this that Mencius inherited and developed Confucius's thought.