“和” can be interpreted both as a verb and as a noun. It can either be a state of having harmonious relationships with others and environment around you or an action of achieving harmony. But whatever it is, it should be connected with the word ritual propriety. Thus, it becomes a perfect combination of concept and action. Chinese people have a vague idea about “law” and what is dominating people’s conduct is the moral code. Thus , by advocating the importance of “he” within the community and then extending the notion to the international field, the peace and order can be achieved. Along with the soaring economic growth, Chinese people are eager to achieve the harmonies relationship between the economic development and the development of other sectors, such as environment and
the well-being of the common people.Some people even consider the dream of achieving “he” , the Chinese Dream in New Era.
Under the administration of George W. Bush, the U.S foreign policies are notorious for its unilateralism. Some people argue that the American invasion to other countries, in essence, is the expression of the will to Christianize the world and redeemed the world to god’s liking. American Protestants ideas about the kingdom of God derived , in part , from the Old Testament stories of Israel as the promised land of God’s chosen people and God promised to bestow them prosperity and fertility in response to their loyalty and faithfulness to God’s reign. English Protestants brought such visions to America in hope of building a new Israel in the wilderness of America. In John Winthrop’s Sermon, “A Model of Christian Charity” The phrase, “city upon a hill” is derived from the metaphor of Salt and Light in the Sermon on the Mount of Jesus given in the Gospel of Matthew. Winthrop warned the Puritan colonists of New England who were to found the Massachusetts Bay Colony that their new community would be a "city on a hill," watched by the world:
For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us. So that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken...we shall be made a story and a by-word throughout the world. We shall open the mouths of enemies to speak evil of the ways of God...We shall shame the faces of many of God's worthy servants, and cause their prayers to be turned into curses upon us til we be consumed out of the good land whither we are going.
After that, John Kennedy and Regal both quoted the phrase in their public speech and the notion of America as the city upon a hill has been rooted in the political blueprint. The sense of mission derived from the belief that Americans are the god’s chosen people has influenced American’s foreign policy and American government are always trying to convert other non-Christian nations and spread Christianity to the world. In a nutshell, when analyzing American foreign policy, we have to take the influence of religion into account; otherwise the conclusion will be lopsided.
to be continued