- Cited in "Speech at UNESCO Headquarters", etc

■Interpretation

During his visit to Europe, Comrade Xi Jinping talked about the pluralism and diversity of civilizations on several occasions. This proverb quoted is precisely to illustrate that "civilization is colorful, and human civilization has the value of exchange and mutual learning because of its diversity." Sunlight has seven colors, so it is gorgeous; The world is wonderful because of its many cultures. The civilization of a country and a nation is the collective memory of a country and a nation. You are in the desert, I am facing the ocean; You are diverse, and I have a long history. In the long course of history, mankind has created and developed a variety of civilizations, from drinking blood to pastoral farming, from the industrial revolution to the information society, constituting a magnificent map of civilization and writing a chapter of civilization that stirs people's hearts. If there is only one flower in the world, no matter how beautiful it is, it will be monotonous. Whether it is the Chinese civilization or other civilizations in the world, they are all the fruits of human creation. Promoting exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations can enrich the colors of human civilization, enable people of all countries to enjoy a more meaningful spiritual life, and create a more selective future.

■Original text

——(Ming and Qing Dynasties) "Ancient and Modern Sages"

■Definition

"Ancient and Modern Sages" is an enlightenment reading book compiled in the Ming Dynasty, bringing together various aphorisms and proverbs of the past dynasties. Later, the literati of the Ming and Qing dynasties continued to supplement, so it is also known as "Zengguang Xianwen".

"A single flower is not spring, a hundred flowers bloom in spring", which means that a single blooming flower cannot represent the arrival of spring, only a hundred flowers are the spring color of the world. The reason why this folk proverb is widely spread is because it is full of philosophy: first, it expounds the dialectical relationship between the whole and the parts, "one flower" is the part, "one flower" is the whole, the function of the part is smaller, and the development of the whole should drive the development of the part; Second, it embodies the idea of connection, which is universal, and "one flower" and "one hundred flowers" are interrelated, so cultural diversity should be respected; Third, it shows that things are objective and develop and change, and "let a hundred flowers bloom" is inevitable, so it is necessary to conform to the historical trend.

There are many versions of this sentence, such as "a flower blooming alone is not spring, a hundred flowers bloom in spring", "a flower blooming alone is not spring, thousands of purples and thousands of reds are in spring", "a flower blooming alone is not spring, thousands of purples and thousands of reds are spring", "a flower blooming alone is not spring, thousands of purples and thousands of reds are full of spring", and so on, it is clearly "a hundred flowers bloom in spring".