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October 13, 2021

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A word that has changed the world

By Gu Peitong | 08:31 UTC+8 October 13, 2021 | Print Edition

I once looked for the answer to find out which word has changed the world most sig­nificantly. Should it be wars? Disasters? Pandemics? Or per­haps, commerce.

Back to over 2,000 years ago, the world was in a state where empires, kingdoms and tribes were almost isolated from each other. People then were ignorant of foreign lands, alien cultures and even thei r neighbors’ achievements, which kept the world fragmented and stagnant. Luckily, China in Han Dynasty opened up the Silk Road, an ap­preciable commercial Center in which Western and Chinese peo­ple started their international businesses.

In addition to silk, a wide va­riety of other goods was traded, and the network soon turned out to be important for the spread of religion, science, technology, etc. The export of papermaking, gun­powder, printing and compass, a.k.a. the four great inventions and the import of religions such as Buddhism and Christianity, food such as carrots and grapes are certain examples. The mo­ment people stepped on the Silk Road, our world started its great fusion.

However, the fusion hasn’t fin­ished yet. Our country announced the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013 so as to further promote international commerce. China International Import Expo has also been held to encourage import trades since 2018. The word “commerce” takes root in our hearts as a perfect way of eliminating the cracks among countries and cultures.

Or we can say that our world is operating according to the rule of commerce. We cannot even live without commerce. For in­stance, China accounts for about 30 percent of global manufactur­ing, which means that a foreign person won’t have the access to one third of the world’s product if his or her country does not have commercial intercourse with China. Of course our coun­try and most of all the countries look forward to high prosperity in global commerce, telling ev­eryone that our world has been changed irreversibly by a simple word, commerce. It is commerce that has changed the world in peace and civilization, causing effects much more positive and terrific than wars on our world.

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