It is not a cliché to emphasize the role of the youth for a bright future.
Well educated young people are the building material of a bright future. Education is a process that allows people to access knowledge and self-improvement. It cannot be perceived as theoretical as well as exclusively self-oriented and cut-off from society notion, but, on the contrary, as a launching pad that transforms people into empowered and socially aware members of the society with the necessary knowledge, technical skills and spiritual tools to pursue a useful and fulfilling life. To this effect the cultivation of young people to function in a society as individuals and team members is the core and the ferment of civilization. I look at you all as proud new cultural ambassadors to the world. Maybe some of you have not yet fully grasped your mission as well as your responsibility. Allow me to share with you my belief that your studies at the Center of Greek and Chinese Ancient Civilizations under the guidance of your professors here in China unlock entirely new horizons for personal and professional growth and advancement.
The Center of Ancient Greek and Chinese Civilizations presents you with the unique opportunity to wade into the twin ancestral tributaries of the eternal stream of global civilization and deep-dive into their legacy.
I believe that the promotion of dialogue between civilizations requires among many other prerequisites the study of the Greek and Chinese global civilizations, as they have developed and interacted over time until today. I would suggest that this work be done on a synthesis rather than on a comparison basis. The action of comparing carries the risk of slipping into a “beauty contest”; along the line of who “got it right” – the Greeks or the Chinese? The West or the East? That would have been counterproductive.
There are important differences between Greek and Chinese thought. There are also many similarities. For example, both Greeks and Chinese pondered about the nature of man, that is, if man is naturally good or not. Sometimes the Greeks agree with the Chinese and sometimes the Greeks, as well as the Chinese, disagree with each other. The same is true on many other issues. The notion of Love in Confucius differs from that of Plato. Mozi also developed his own special teaching about Love. Epicureans did the same, as well as from a different angle the Stoics and so many others in both Greece and China. Buddhism and Christianity proposed their own understanding of Love.
Duty and relations offer an interesting example of many diverging but also converging teachings of the Greeks and the Chinese, which still exert a catalytic social influence, reflected also in literature, architecture and arts. But let’s not forget that societies then, as well as now, differ in many aspects. Beneficial analysis of lessons we can draw requires not only comparison, but also synthesis. This is what the unsurpassed great Greek and Chinese thinkers, as well as their students of every color and race have been teaching ever since.
A good example of converging teachings is offered to the world by Cleovoulos and Confucious who both stressed the need of finding the right measure in everything we do in life (METRON ARISTON in Greek – ZHONG YONG in Chinese).
The interaction of Greek and Chinese civilization is profound and needs to be studied on a new basis. In doing so, I believe that scientific research should adopt a new, fresh and critical approach.
In this context, I also believe that the study of Greek or Chinese civilization requires direct linguistic access to the original sources in Greek or in Chinese. The use of translations from third languages as an intermediary, although very useful especially in the past, cannot always convey the full meaning and deeper understanding of the text.
Greek and Chinese civilizations as genuinely global civilizations share values, ideas, as well as historical bonds. Greeks have been the first urbanized western society Chinese came to contact with, in Central Asia more than 2.400 years ago. Alexandria the Furthest, one of the cities amongst the ones Alexander the Great built in Central Asia, in nowadays Tajikistan, was a hub in the trade routes of the time that connected East and West.
Two centuries later, the Indo-Greek King Menander the Savior, a Buddhist himself, may have contributed to the expansion of Buddhism in Central and North Asia. Although we all associate Greece with Europe and the West, the truth is that the Greek civilization expanded and left deep traces in Asia. The two civilizations have continued to interact throughout history on different levels and sometimes in completely unexpected ways.
I would like to conclude my brief remarks by highlighting a glaring yet often overlooked reality, which is the continuously compounding value of the Greek language as a vehicle of civilization. Greek as well as the Chinese language out of 2.700 existing languages today worldwide, are the only two continuously spoken languages whose existence has been documented in written form for thousands of years. Beginning with the Minoan script – linear B is fully translated whereas linear A only partially, the Greek writing can assert 40 centuries of existence. In any case, the contribution of the Greek language – judging by its influence on the formation and content it has exerted on the European languages – is irreplaceable. The influence of the Greek – through its alphabet, its vocabulary, its syntax, its scientific corpus, and its literary production across all genres – has been and continues to be unparalleled.
Greek has been since the antiquity the means of expression of major authors and thinkers, philosophers and scientists. Homer, the greatest poet, Plato and Aristotle, the pillars of philosophy, Herodotus, the father of History Hippocrates, the father of modern Medicine, Archimedes, the father of engineering, Eratosthenes, the first person to calculate the circumference of the earth, Pythagoras the great mathematician, they all spoke and wrote in Greek.
Greek remained the main international language from the age of Alexander the Great, 4th Century BC, to the fall of the capital of the Byzantine empire, in the 15th Century AD. I cannot find another international language that dominated the world for almost 2000 years. The universality of Greek is reflected in the fact that it was the language in which the Christian New Testament was written and into which the Old Testament was translated in the early Hellenistic period. Even after the fall of Constantinople, Greek language and culture were transferred along with Greek-speaking scholars to the West and contributed greatly to the intellectual and cultural Renaissance of Western Europe.
Actually, English and Latin languages speaking people, speak Greek without having realized it. For example, out of 178.903 English words, 51.807 are of Greek origin. Economy, politics, mathematics, astronomy, geography, calligraphy, diet, history, algebra, numismatic, music, strategy, energy, Europe, Asia, are all Greek words.
Why did I bring up the language issue? For sure it is one of my favorite topics. However, that’s not all.
I believe that one aspect of the answer is also of interest to you, as students of the Center of Greek and Chinese Ancient Civilizations. Greek language and the Greek civilization, being the vehicle on which Western civilization has been erected, can reveal the source codes of Western thought. For Asians that can be a tool for intellectual and professional success since it allows them to better understand the other halve of the world. Of course, this holds equally true for the Westerners, as long as they comprehend the Chinese civilization, the bedrock of the Eastern Civilization.
Furthermore, Greece is a member of the EU and Greek is one of the EU official languages. The Greek economy has been developing fast in the last years and the Greek merchant marine is the largest in the world. Greece is an energy and trade hub with important Chinese investments. Being a Greek speaker could also invite job opportunities.
Dear students,
I invite you all to redouble your efforts and to serve as cultural Ambassadors, promoting cultural dialogue and interaction between not only Greece and China but also between the West and the East.
强调青年对于美好未来的作用，绝非陈词滥调。受过良好教育的年轻人是创造美好未来的基石。教育是一个让人获取知识、实现自我提升的过程，它不应被视作仅停留在理论层面、完全以自我为导向且与社会脱节的概念；相反，它应被看作是一个助推器，能将人们塑造成为有能力、有社会意识的社会成员，赋予他们必要的知识、技能和精神素养，去追求有益且充实的生活。从这个意义上讲，培养年轻人以个体和团队成员的身份在社会中发挥作用，是文明的核心与驱动力。我把你们视为自豪的新文化使者，肩负着走向世界的使命。或许部分同学尚未完全明晰自己的使命和责任。请允许我与你们分享我的观点：在中方教授的指导下，你们在中希文明互鉴中心的学习，将为个人成长和职业发展开拓全新的视野。
中希文明互鉴中心为大家提供了难得的契机，让你们能够涉足希腊文明和中华文明这两条全球文明永恒长河的源头，并深入探究它们的遗产。
促进文明间对话需要诸多前提，对希腊和中国这两大全球文明的研究不可或缺，这两大文明随着岁月发展并相互影响至今。我建议，这项研究应建立在综合分析而非单纯比较的基础上，单纯比较存在陷入“选美竞赛”的风险，纠结于希腊人和中国人谁“做得对”，西方还是东方更胜一筹，反而适得其反。
希腊思想和中国思想之间既有显著差异，也有诸多相似之处。例如，希腊人和中国人都曾思考过人性善恶问题，观点有时一致，内部也各有分歧。在其他诸多问题上亦是如此。孔子对 “爱” 的理解异于柏拉图，墨子也提出了自己关于“爱”的独特思考，而伊壁鸠鲁学派、斯多亚学派乃至佛教和基督教都在对“爱”的问题的思考中各执一端，希腊和中国众多思想家从自己的思考出发提出了不同的见解。
“责任” 和 “人际关系” 是一个有趣的例子，希腊和中国在这方面的思想既有分歧又有共通之处，至今仍在社会上发挥着深刻的影响，在文学、建筑和艺术领域均有所体现。但我们不能忽视，无论是过去还是现在，不同的社会在许多方面都存在差异。若想从这些思想中进行有益的分析，不仅需要比较，更需要综合的研究。这正是伟大卓越的希腊和中国思想家，以及他们来自各个肤色和种族的后学们孜孜以求的。
克莱奥布卢斯与孔子都强调做事要把握分寸（希腊语“METRON ARISTON” ，中文“中庸” ），这为世界提供了一个教义相通的绝佳例证。
希腊文明和中华文明之间的相互影响深远，需要在新的基础上展开研究。在此过程中，科学的研究应采用全新、独到且批判性的方法。
在这样的背景下，研究希腊或中华文明，需要直接通过希腊语或中文去接触原始文献。过去借助转译译文虽有帮助，但往往无法完整传达原文含义，也无法让人深入理解文本。
希腊文明和中华文明都是真正意义上的全球文明，它们共享价值观、思想理念，并且有着深厚的历史纽带。希腊人是中国人在中亚最早接触到的西方城市化社会，这段悠久的历史可以追溯至2400多年前。亚历山大城是亚历山大大帝在中亚建立的城市之一（位于今塔吉克斯坦），曾是连接东西方贸易路线的枢纽。
两个世纪后，印度-希腊国王米南德一世（救世主）本人是佛教徒，可能推动了佛教在中亚和北亚的传播。尽管我们通常将希腊与欧洲和西方联系在一起，但事实上，希腊文明在亚洲也得到了传播，并留下了深刻的印记。在历史长河中，这两种文明在不同层面持续互动，有时甚至以完全意想不到的方式进行。
在结束我的简短发言之前，我想强调一个显而易见却常被忽视的事实，那就是希腊语作为文明载体，价值不断累积。在当今世界现存的2700种语言中，希腊语和中文是仅有的两种有文字记载且数千年来一直被人们使用的语言。从米诺斯文字（线性文字B已被完全解读，线性文字A部分被解读）起，希腊文字已有4000年的历史。从希腊语对欧洲语言的形成和内容所产生的影响来看，它的贡献是不可替代的。希腊语在字母、词汇、句法、科学文献以及各类文学作品等方面的影响力，过去是，现在也依然是无与伦比的。
自古以来，希腊语就是众多重要作家、思想家、哲学家和科学家的表达工具。伟大诗人荷马，哲学巨匠柏拉图和亚里士多德，历史学之父希罗多德，现代医学之父希波克拉底，工程学之父阿基米德，首位计算出地球周长的埃拉托色尼，伟大的数学家毕达哥拉斯，他们都用希腊语进行交流和写作。
从公元前4世纪亚历山大大帝时代到公元15世纪拜占庭帝国首都沦陷，希腊语一直是主要的国际语言。我想不出还有哪种国际语言能像希腊语这样，在近2000年的时间里主导世界。希腊语的普遍性还体现在，基督教《新约全书》是用希腊语写成的，《旧约全书》在早期希腊化时期也被翻译成希腊语。即使在君士坦丁堡陷落后，希腊语和希腊文化随着说希腊语的学者传播到西方，为西欧的思想文化复兴做出了巨大贡献。
实际上，说英语和拉丁语的人，也在不知不觉中使用希腊语。在178903个英语单词中，有51807个源自希腊语。“经济”（economy）、“政治”（politics）、“数学”（mathematics）、“天文学”（astronomy）、“地理学”（geography）、“书法”（calligraphy）、“饮食”（diet）、“历史”（history）、“代数”（algebra）、“钱币学”（numismatic）、“音乐”（music）、“战略”（strategy）、“能源”（energy）、“欧洲”（Europe）、“亚洲”（Asia），这些都是希腊语单词。
我提及语言问题，不仅因为我个人的理论偏好，更重要的是，这与中希文明互鉴中心的同学们息息相关。希腊语和希腊文明是西方文明的基石，通过研究希腊语，能够揭示西方思想的 “源代码”。对亚洲人而言，这是获取知识和职业成功的工具，有助于人们更好地了解世界的另一半；对西方人来说，理解作为东方文明基石的中华文明也同样如此。
此外，希腊是欧盟成员国，希腊语是欧盟官方语言之一。近年来希腊经济发展迅速，希腊商船队规模居世界首位。希腊作为能源和贸易枢纽，吸引了大量中国投资。掌握希腊语，可以为大家带来更多的就业机会。
亲爱的同学们，我呼吁大家加倍努力，担当好文化使者的角色，不仅要促进希腊和中国之间的文化对话与交流，更要推动东西方之间的文明互鉴。
