國際關系與國際政治塑造著我們當今的世界；因此，為了更好地理解它們，我們需要密切關註國際結構的各個組成部分;而對於許多學者來說，國家是國際關系的基本因素，是國際關系最基礎的結構：了解國家能夠使我們更好地理解各國的行為和它們的政治策略。然而，塞謬爾·亨廷頓在《文明衝突論》一書中指出：了解文明與文化背景可以幫助我們看穿各國利益和行為的大局;不同的文明背景可能會導致國家之間的衝突。在本文中，我分析了中國和美國的一些文明特徵、它們的差異以及根源，同時我也指出中美之間的誤解和不信任都是由於觀念的差異所造成的。最後，我建議兩種文明之間需要進行更多的文化交流，以便雙方能夠深刻地理解對方文明不同的歷史進程。

International relations and international politics are shaping our modern world, and in order to understand them better it is necessary to closely observe the components that conform to the current international structure. For many scholars, states are the atoms, the most basic structure, of international relations. Understanding states allow us to better comprehend countries’ behavior and political strategies, however, when Samuel Huntington wrote his book The Clash of Civilizations, he pointed out that, civilizations and culture can help us to see the big picture of states’ interests and behavior; besides, different civilizational backgrounds can lead to a clash. In this thesis I analyze some of the civilizational features of China and the United States, their differences and origins, and ascribe their mutual misunderstandings and mistrust of each other to these features. Based on the conclusions of this thesis, policy proposals will be made which call for increasing cultural exchanges and deepening understanding of the different historical processes that shaped both civilizations.

1.	Introduction                                       01
1.1	 Research Topic                                    01
1.2	 Research Motivation                               04
1.3	 Research Methodology                              06
1.4	 Research Limitations                              09
1.5	 General Results                                   09
2.	Literature Review                                  11
3.	Civilizations                                      13
3.1 What is a civilization?                                13
3.2 Does the civilizational issue matter?                  15
4.	Chinese and Western Civilizations World Outlook    21
4.1	Chinese Weltanschauung                             21
4.2	Chinese Perception of the Western political values 33
4.3	The Western Civilization                          35
5	The Clash of Two Civilizations                    43
5.1	Mutual Misunderstanding and Failure in Consensus  43
5.2	The Consequences                                  55
6	Conclusion                                        58
Bibliography                                              62

Allison, Graham.  “China vs. America, Managing the Next Clash of Civilizations”, Foreign Affairs, vol. 
96, no. 3, (September/October 2017).

Allison, Graham. Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides’ Trap?,  (Boston: 
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017).

Ambrose, E. Stephen. “The Presidency and Foreign Policy”, Foreign Affairs, vol. 70, no. 5, (Winter 1991-
92).https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/1991-12-01/presidency-and-foreign-policy 

Bader, A. Jeffrey. Obama and China Rise: An Insider’s Account of America’s Asia Strategy. (Washington: 
Brookings Institution Press, 2012). 

Bernkopf Tucker, Nancy. China Confidential, (New York: Columbia University Press, 2001).

Bernkopf Tucker, Nancy. Strait talk, (Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2009).

Bierstedt, Robert. “Indices of Civilization”, American Journal of Sociology, vol. 71, no. 5 (Mar., 1966): 
483-490 

Campbell, M. Kurt. The Pivot, The Future of American Statecraft in Asia. (New York: Hachette, 2016).

Dorn, A. Walter. World Order for A New Millennium. (New York: St. Martin’s Press,
1999).

Economy, C. Elizabeth. “History with Chinese Characteristics, How China’s Imagined Past Shapes Its 
Present”, Foreign Affairs, vol. 96, no. 3, (July/August 2017).

Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., (Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica, 2010).

Feigenbaum, A. Evan. “China and the World, Dealing with a Reluctant Power”, Foreign Affairs, vol. 96, 
no. 1, (January/February 2017).

Gardels, Nathan. The Changing Global Order, World Leaders Reflect, (Massachusetts: Blackwell 
Publishers, 1997).

Gelber, Harry. Nations Out of Empires, (Houndmills: Palgrave, 2001).

Gerth, Heinrich Hans and C. Wright. From Max Weber, Essays in Sociology, (New York and London: 
Routledge, 2009).

Haass, Richard. “World Order 2.0, The Case for Sovereign Obligation”, Foreign Affairs, vol. 96, no. 1, 
(January/February 2017).

Herzog, Roman. Preventing the Clash of Civilizations A Peace Strategy For the Twenty-First Century, 
(New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999).

Hilsman, Roger. To move a nation; the politics of foreign policy in the administration of John F. 
Kennedy, (New York: Doubleday, 1967).

Howard French. Everything Under the Heavens, (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2017).

Huntington P. Samuel. The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, (New York: Simon 
& Schuster, 1996).

Huntington, P. Samuel. “The Clash of Civilizations?”, Foreign Affairs, vol. 72, no. 3 (Summer, 1993):
22-49.

Hunt, Michael H. The Genesis of Chinese Communist Foreign Policy, (New York: Columbia University 
Press, 1996).

Jaguaribe, Helio. Un estudio crítico de la historia, (México: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2001).

Kausikan, Bilahari. “Asia in the Trump Era, From Pivot to Peril”, Foreign Affairs, vol. 96, no. 1, 
(January/February 2017).

Kissinger, Henry. On China, (New York: Penguin Books, 2012).

Kissinger, Henry. Orden Mundial: Reflexiones sobre el Carácter de las Naciones y el Curso de la 
Historia, (México: Debate, 2016). 

Kyle Crossley, Pamela. Lynn Hollen Lees, John W. Servos. Global Society, The world since 1900, 
(Boston: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2013).

Lieberthal, Kenneth and Wang Jisi. “Addressing US-China Strategic Distrust”, Monograph Series, no. 4, 
(March 2013). 

Lijphart, Arend. “Comparative Politics and the Comparative Method”, The American Political Science 
Review, vol. 65, Issue 3, (Sep., 1971): 682, 683.

Mearsheimer, J. John. The Tragedy of Great Power Politics, (New York: Norton & Company, 2001).

Merriam Webster Dictionary, (Springfield: Merriam-Webster, 1998).

Moore C.G. Gregory. The Open Society and its Enemies in East Asia, The relevance of the Popperian 
framework, (New York: Routledge, 2014). 

Morgenthau, Hans. Politics Among Nations, (New York: MacGraw-Hill, 1960).

Naff, E. William. “Reflections on the Question of East and West from the Point of View of Japan”, 
Comparative Civilizations Review, vol. 13, no. 14 (Fall 1985 & Spring 1986).

Nye, Joseph S. Jr. “Will the Liberal Order Survive? The History of an Idea”, Foreign Affairs, vol. 96, no. 
1, (January/February 2017).

Parvin Phil. Karl Popper, (New York: Continuum, 2010).

Pomfret, John. The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom, (New York: HenryHolt and Company, 
2016).

Popper, R. Karl. The Open Society and Its Enemies, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1950). 

State Bogdan, Patrick Park, Ingmar Weber, Michael Macy. “The Mesh of Civilizations in the Global 
Network of Digital Communication”, accessed June 15, 
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4449232 

Stephen M. Walt, The Origin of Alliances. (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1987).

Thomson Jr., C. James. “On the Making of U. S. China Policy, 1961-9: A Study in Bureaucratic Politics”, 
The China Quarterly, no. 50 (Apr. - Jun., 1972).

Toynbee, Arnold Joseph. A Study of History, (London: Oxford University Press, 1955).

Tucker Bernkopf, Nancy. China Confidential, (New York: Columbia University Press, 2001). 
Turner, Oliver. American Images of China, (New York: Routledge, 2014).

Weber, Max. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 
1958).

Weber, Max. On Capitalism, Bureaucracy and Religion, A Selection of Texts, (London: George Allen & 
Unwin, 1983). 

Wendt, Alexander. Social Theory of International Politics, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 
1999).

Wu Janglian. Understanding and Interpreting Chinese Economic Reform, (Ohio: Thomson/South 
Western, 2005).

刘峥著, 中国地缘政治的战略选项,人民出版社, 北京,2017.

孫子兵法,中華書局, 香港, 2016.

吳宏一，論語新繹，聯經出版社，台北 ，2010年.