This invaluable book provides a reflective analysis on European civilization through a Chinese cultural perspective, along with the author's diplomatic experiences in Brussels on the Chinese Mission to the European Union.The book has three main focuses: maritime civilization, human civilization, and the relations between Chinese (East) and European (West) civilization. It aims to stimulate discussion to rethink the East-West relations in terms of globalization and its contributions to a new post-maritime human civilization.Hai Shang (海殇) means elegy of the sea.He Shang (河殇) means elegy of the river.

This volume approaches China’s Belt and Road Initiative as a process of culturalization, one that started with the Silk Road and continued over the millennium. In mainstream literature, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has been portrayed as the geo-economic vision and geo-political ambition of China’s current leaders, intended to shape the future of the world. However, this volume argues that although geo-politics and geo-economy may play their part, the BRI more importantly creates a venue for the meeting of cultures by promoting people-to-people interaction and exchange. This volume explores the journey from the Silk-Road to Belt-Road by analyzing topics ranging from history to religion, from language to culture, and from environment to health. As such, scholars, academics, researchers, undergraduate and graduate students from the Humanities, Social Sciences, and Business will find an alternative approach to the Belt and Road Initiative.

A project by Asia Competitiveness Institute (ACI), Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore (NUS) on the competitiveness analysis for Indonesian provinces.