More than 600 years ago, on 11th of July, 1405, a grand Chinese fleet left the Liujiagang Port in Suzhou to embark on a voyage through the Yangtze River and out into the Pacific Ocean. This pioneered the greatest oceanic voyage in China's history as well as the history of the world at that time. The fleet contained a number of powerful ships, the largest being 148 meters long and 60 meters wide, with a freight weight of over a thousand tons and the capacity of 1,000 passengers. However, the missioni was not one of looking for gold or other treasures, but to preach the benevolent virtue of the emperor of the Ming Dynasty to the island countries of the South Pacific in the hope of achieving a friendly co-existence with them. It was a world of difference from the motivation of Columbus when he sailed the ocean to find wealth across the Atlantic.

The Chinese nation has a long history of the cultural tradition. In the long process of civilization, China has learned profound lessons as well as achieved political experience in cherishing a peace-loving spirit. This book aims to show the cultural resources and binding forces of ideals in China's current and future peaceful development through an exploration of the Chinese tradition of peace and an analysis of ancient and modern Chinese cultural ideals.

Foreword

Chapter Ⅰ Ancient Wisdom Pointing Toward Harmony

1. Soup-cooking and Political Wisdom for Harmony of the Chinese People

2. Accord of All States

3. “To Keep Intact for Supreme Harmony, Under Which Interest will Be Virtuous”

Chapter Ⅱ Zheng He's Oceanic Voyages and China's Foreign Policy of Peace

1. Zheng He's Seven Oceanic Voyages

2. Zhang Qian Sent as an Envoy to the Western Regions

3. Peace Through Marriage

4. “Treating Those from Afar Who Are not Convinced”

5. If Kings and Dukes Abide by Morals, Everything will Fall into Place

Chapter Ⅲ The Silk Road and the Economic Ethics of China's Peaceful Development

1. The Silk Road and the Way for Developing the Economy and Spreading Culture

2. Profit Established Through Righteousness

3. “Extended Love and Shared Profit”

4. Controlling Profits with Righteousness

5. Legitimacy of Profit-making Behavior in the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties

Chapter Ⅳ The Ideology of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and the Ecological Ethics of China's Peaceful Development

1. Traditional Chinese Medicine and Union of Heaven and Human kind

2. “Prohibition Against Shooting Sleeping Birds”

3. “The Highest Good Is Like That of Water”

4. To Conduct Heavenly Way by Human Laws

Conclusion The Great Wall. a Model of the Idea of Defensive Strategy,

Witness to China's Peaceful Development

1. Analyzing the Ideology of the Great Wall as a Defensive Strategy

2. “Valuing Harmony,” “Harmony with Differences” and the Independent Foreign Policy of Peace

3. Ideology of “Great Harmony”' and the Peace-loving World Outlook of the Chinese People

4. Application of Moral Politics and Establishing a Peaceful International Political Order