A Chinese proverb says "It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness". Even before the new era, the Chinese lit candles to dispel the darkness, to illuminate themselves as a nation and their paths to the nations around them. They lit candles in order to step as safely as possible into other people's and unknown spaces. Candles helped them to become more enlightened and advanced, to reach distant places and get acquainted with the knowledge and achievements of other cultures, whose experiences they would benefit from for their further development.
Under the light of lit candles, the Chinese developed their civilization in a continuity that spans millennia. The Chinese built a legendary trade route into which the network of roads of the large, insufficiently connected world at the time flowed. The path was born, developed, flourished, died down, refreshed, resurrected, connecting the human mind and its achievements. The road was named "Silk Road". In our age, the routes of the extremely important and increasingly mentioned "Silk Road" in world history are being renewed at the initiative of contemporary China under a new name - "Belt and Road".
We have the opportunity to meet the Chinese, their technological solutions and scientific achievements more and more often, both in our area and in the wider environment. Watching television, reading newspapers, we inform ourselves and find out that in recent decades the Chinese have been rapidly making their way through the dark vilayets of the Balkans.
In our country, in Montenegro specifically, it is not just the route of the highway that the Chinese built, and we drive it safely and quickly from Podgorica to Mateševo. There are also many other interventions, projects and useful exchanges with contemporary China. In our small Balkan country and in the wide area around it, from the Aegean Sea to the Danube and the Rhine, there are many roads opened by the Chinese against the backdrop of large and diverse populations on the European continent. The Chinese are a rational people with a vast civilizational experience. They don't waste time on unnecessary things.
When I noticed the Chinese edition of the book Dr. Radoslav Raspopović "History of Diplomacy of Montenegro: 1711-1918." to whose appearance the cultural public of Montenegro did not react, apart from curtly and strictly informative, at least as far as I know, I decided to write this short text.
Looking at the cover of the book, I was surprised, delighted and asked at the same time what is the interest of a great and powerful civilization to get acquainted with the diplomatic pretensions and ways of a small state that tried to get closer to European civilization during the last two centuries. The inertia, bureaucratism, self-sufficiency and ideological toxicity of the Montenegrin cultural scene have been known to me for a long time. I approach the book in Chinese, which concerns our diplomatic history, from the point of view of a person who rejoices at all the successes of scientific research, especially basic ones. How the history of Montenegrin diplomacy captured the attention of the Chinese publisher is not just a rhetorical question for me.
In every question lies half the answer. And this is a proverb. She will help me to continue the story by asking an even more specific question - With what motive was Radoslav Raspopović's book "History of Diplomacy of Montenegro 1711-1918" translated into Chinese?
My answer is short. It was translated to serve as a useful manual, a guide for people engaged in Chinese diplomacy, politics, culture, economy who are professionally connected or whose jobs bring them to the Balkans. It is still important for the Chinese to light up the space they enter. I believe that it is precisely for this reason that the history of Montenegrin diplomacy interested the Chinese. By getting to know what happened in these areas two centuries ago, the Chinese will understand more quickly and easily what is happening today, in which they themselves participate.
Both Chinese history and the lives of Chinese people are imbued with Confucianism. Confucianism can be connected with both philosophy and religion, although it is closer to the philosophy of life. I assume that the Chinese will be close to the "History of the Diplomacy of Montenegro" precisely because of Confucianism, whose presentation in the time period from 1711 to 1918 largely coincides with the dynasty's political engagements Petrović Njegoš whose bishops were both spiritual and secular rulers of Montenegro. The management of the country and the messages of the bishop from the holy Petrović line reflected the life philosophies of our mountain man, which has a certain touch of Confucianism, especially present in his works. Petar Prvo Petrović Njegoš and his nephew Peter the Second Petrović Njegoš. I believe that this can be one of the reasons for the success of the translation of Radoslav Raspopović's book into Chinese. Perhaps the "History of Diplomacy of Montenegro 1711-1918." to interest someone from the extremely large Chinese readership and encourage publishers to translate some more of our books close to the spirit of Confucianism, which includes philosophy and religion related to the life of the people.
In addition, it is extremely important to point out that the translation of such a book bypasses certain language barriers because "History of Diplomacy of Montenegro 1711-1918." is a book of factual and documentary type. There is no suggestive content in it, as there would be, for example, in books related to the state of society, culture, education, politics, information and the like.
I believe that the Chinese will read the content of the book about the actions and manifestations of Montenegro in terms of international representation and connection with an understanding that we sometimes lack. I'm sure he'll read the book with less passion than we do. On the topic of history and diplomacy, we are often unnecessarily burdened. With reason, I assume that the book will be useful to the Chinese in the "Belt and Road" policy.
I don't know how many books published in Montenegro got their counterparts in the Chinese script of equal, neatly arranged, eye-pleasing squares filled with characters, but I think that "History of Diplomacy of Montenegro 1711-1918." well on its way to opening the door for new translations of our literature into the Chinese language.
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