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This article discusses the ideational motivations behind China’s connectivity projects, most notably the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and aims to explore which values these infrastructure projects seek to promote. The article is based on various published sources, including Chinese official, and public policy statements. Specifically, those statements and policy papers are qualitatively analyzed through a reflection of their manifested message against the background of Chinese International Relations-related discussions on Chinese worldviews. Based on this analysis, the article argues that China’s connectivity projects may be perceived as part of China’s ideational competition with the West, culminating in the presentation of “Chinese values” as a viable alternative to “universal values.”

Using the translation of Confucian classics as an example, this article discusses the possibility for translations to serve as two-way bridges between two cultures. While translating is often seen as a one-way process, used to export ideas from the source language and culture to those of the recipients, the challenges in translating, and the solutions offered by the translator, may provide valuable insight, even to the benefit of the source culture. This article looks at the Confucian concept of ren (仁), and through its differing translations in different source texts and contexts, suggests that an understanding reached through translation may enrich the intuitive or even analytical understanding of the concept that pre-exists in the Chinese context. *

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