Comparative Analysis Of Chinese Exceptionalism And American Exceptionalism

There are a large number of works about American exceptionalism. Under the background of America's decline, discussions of American exceptionalism are more intense than ever, even U.S. President Barack Obama was involved into this discussion. On the other hand, research on Chinese exceptionalism is a relatively new subject. Chinese exceptionalism is a new term, although scholars at home and abroad have been paying attention to China's unique history, development model and strategic culture for a long time. In recent years, with the rise of China's political and economic power, discussions on China's exceptionalism are more and more popular, developing into a discourse of "sino-speak". However, existing research results have not answered questions like what is exceptionalism, what's the difference and similarity between Chinese exceptionalism and American exceptionalism, and what's the effect of exceptionalism. Therefore, it's possible to think about Chinese exceptionalism with the same logic of American exceptionalism. This kind of simple analogy can cause confusion and misunderstanding easily. The future of China, America as well the relationship between the two is unclear, so it's very important to clarify the connotation of exceptionalism and it's impact.On the basis of referring to the existing research works, this article tries to clearly define the core connotation of exceptionalism, explain the specific connotation and main contents of American and Chinese exceptionalism, compare the difference and similarity of the two, and explore the influence or potential influence of exceptionalism on the two countries' foreign policy, Sino-US relations, and the world order. The author believes that Chinese and American exceptionalism are essentially different in their origin and its background, definition and basic content, the evolution process and other various aspects, along with its practical significance, although there exists something in common on the definition of the concept.In terms of structure arrangement, the thesis first explain why I choose this topic, introduces the existing research works at home and abroad, and then presents the main themes and the thesis structure. In the first chapter, it will introduce American exceptionalism, including its basic contents, historical evolution and future trends. American exceptionalism is built on the religious concept of "city upon a hill" and "manifest destiny", with freedom, equality, individualism, laissez-faire, constitution and political system as its specific contents. After the war of independence, the domestic territorial expansion, and the two world wars as well as a half-century cold war, American exceptionalism is finally established to the degree that it's very hard to shake its status both at home and abroad. But at the same time it's also gradually becoming more extreme and rigid.The second chapter discusses in detail the basic content of Chinese exceptionalism, historical evolution and future trends. Chinese exceptionalism is on the basis of secular concept of "world system", while with some Confucian concepts such as datong, wangdao, he, ren as its specific contents; In addition to the aspect of world outlook, the tradition of strategic thought is also one of the important component of Chinese exceptionalism. The evolution of Chinese exceptionalism began in modern times, when China was in danger of national crisis. Several generations of Chinese people work to find the unique spirit that made China exists till now. Going through the time of Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, the efforts of exploration continue till today. In 2005, under the circumstance of the rise of China, President Hu Jintao put forward the idea of "harmonious world", initiating the wide discussion on Chinese exceptionalism both from home and abroad.The third chapter will compare American and Chinese exceptionalism in a comprehensive way, including background, main characteristics, and their influence on foreign policy. Besides, different attitude towards interventionism is chosen to be the example to confirm as well as specify the comparing results.The fourth chapter discusses the exceptionalism and its interaction, and their impact or potential impact on the their foreign policy, Sino-US relations the world order. Firstly, the existence of exceptionalism will make scholars of this field not to take America and China as enemies, like what happened to all other empires and great powers. Secondly, there are some problems in the current world order. Interaction and cooperation between American and Chinese exceptionalism not only helps to stabilize relations between the two countries, but also helps to reshape the world order in a good way.The last part is the conclusion of the thesis.