The Social View of Maintaining Harmony Without Uniformity

The view of maintaining harmony without uniformity emphasizes the necessity to maintain a harmonious and amiable attitude while refraining from excessively requiring uniformity in details when dealing with relationships with others. According to Zuo's Commentaries on the Spring and Autumn Annals (Zuo Zhuan) and The Discourses of the States (Guo Yu), the Chinese people had already begun to consider the relations between "harmony" and "uniformity" by the end of the Western Zhou Dynasty (1046-771 BC). 

Confucius (551-479 BC) was the first to put forward the idea of seeking harmony without uniformity. He said: "A man of virtue pursues harmony but does not seek uniformity; a petty man seeks uniformity but does not pursue harmony." It clarifies the two kinds of principles held by either men of virtue or petty men for dealing with social relations. A man of virtue develops harmonious and friendly relations with others, but does not agree with others without reservation. Instead, a petty man does not think independently, but only seeks to be completely consistent with others. Living in a real world, we must interact with others. It is an incontestable fact that differences exist between people. Therefore, how to keep the independence of an individual while respecting the differences of others for maintaining harmonious social relations becomes an important issue in social interactions. 

The Chinese people take "maintaining harmony without uniformity" as the basic principle in addressing this issue. Respecting the elderly and caring for the young, maintaining marital harmony and neighborhood solidarity, showing tolerance and understanding toward each other, and treating others with kindness, will bring about harmony among people. When all social strata value equality and harmony, and achieve compatibility, coordination, balance and order, rather than fall into conflict, confrontation, hindrance and chaos, harmony will be achieved in social division of labor and within the whole of society. In such a state, balance, stability and order will be attained between people, between people and society, between humanity and nature, and between various elements within society. Dependent on each other, they will coexist and prosper together, and bring about harmony of the whole of society. 

The social view of maintaining harmony without uniformity is a way of life formed in traditional Chinese society, which reflects the Chinese people's pursuit of harmonious interpersonal and social relations. 

和而不同的社會觀

和而不同，強調在和他者相處時，保持一種和諧友善的態度，而不必在細節上苛求一致。從《左傳》《國語》等文獻來看，大概從西周末年開始，“和”“同”問題就開始被中國人所重視。“和而不同”思想是由孔子提出來的，所謂“君子和而不同，小人同而不和”。這體現的是君子和小人處理社會關系的兩種不同原則，即君子待人和諧友善，但不求與對方茍同；小人則沒有自己獨立的見解，只求與別人完全一致。人生活在現實世界之中，必然與他人交往，而人與人之間的差異是必然存在的。因此，既保持個體的獨立性，又尊重他者的差異性，從而形成一種和諧的社會關系，這是社會交往的一個重要問題。

和而不同是中國人處理社會關系的基本原則。尊老愛幼、夫妻和睦、鄰里團結、諒解寬容、與人為善，這是人與人之間的和諧。社會各階層平等和諧，兼容而不沖突、協作而不對立、制衡而不掣肘、有序而不混亂，這是社會分工和社會內部的和諧。在這種和而不同的狀態下，人與人、人與社會、人與自然之間以及社會內部諸要素之間均實現均衡、穩定、有序，相互依存，共生共榮，從而實現整個社會的和諧。和而不同的社會觀，是在中國傳統社會發展中形成的處世之道，體現了中國人對于和諧人際關系和社會關系的追求。