Of course, even the Confucian doctrine of Ren is no miracle drug to solve all the problems about the existence of civilizations in contemporary society. However, as a set of moral self-regulations based on Ren, it would undoubtedly be of some practical significance to harmonize the coexistence of civilizations if practiced as a principle to regulate intercultural relationships。

　　It is not easy to make different cultures get on in harmony and thus to make states and nations in different cultural traditions coexist in peace. Probably the Confucian doctrine of "Harmony in Diversity" (和而不同)[28] could provide us with an illuminating resource of thinking. According to Confucius, "The virtuous (junzi) get on in harmony without agreeing to each other; the base (xiaoren) agree with others without harmony."[29] Junzi, as intellectuals with moral discipline practicing the Way of Loyalty and Forgiveness, should try to get on in harmony in spite of their different opinions; but those with no morality or discipline always force others to accept their opinions, thus could not stay harmoniously. If this doctrine of "Harmony in Diversity" could be applied as a principle in dealing with intercultural relationships, it should be of very positive meaning to solve the conflicts among states or nations. It would be especially true in dealing with those disaccords and conflicts provoked by cultural differences (e.g. the differences on religious believes or values) among states or nations, that if we practice the teaching of "Harmony in Diversity" as principle to solve these conflicts。

　　"Harmony" and "Sameness" are generally regarded as different concepts in traditional Chinese thinking. There was even "a debate on the difference between Harmony and Sameness". As a story recorded in Zuo-zhuan told us, once the Duke of Qi asked Yan-zi: "Is there only Ju get on with me in harmony?" The reply of Yan-zi was: "Ju merely expresses the same opinion with Your Highness, -- how could it be called harmony?" "Is there any difference between Harmony and Sameness?" asked the Duke. "They are quite different." replied Yan-zi, "Harmony is like well-cooked dish, you must concoct fish and meat with water, fire, vinegar, sauce, salt and plum, and then cook the dish with firewood. The cook harmonizes these flavors to make it moderate. If it is too light, then salt should be added; if too salty, then water. When Junzi dines with such a dish, his heart would be pacified. This is analogous to the relationship between the King and his magistrates... But Ju is different from it. When Your Highness say that something is right, he agrees; when Your Highness say the opposite, he agrees as well. It is as if to moderate water with water, -- who could tolerate to eat such a dish? Or as if a zither always plays the same tune, -- who could tolerate to enjoy such music? This is why Sameness differs from Harmony." (《左传•昭公二十年》) Another saying of Shibo (史伯) was recorded as: "In fact, only Harmony could activate the growth of lives, and Sameness would stop it on the contrary. Harmony is to moderate something with heterogeneous things, -- only in this way, the lives would flourish and find their belongings. If something is supplemented by homogeneous things, it could only be abandoned after exhausted. Thus the ancient virtuous emperors had concocted Earth with Metal, Wood, Water and Fire[30], to transform it into miscellaneous lives." [31](《国语•郑语》). From the quotes above we see that Harmony and Sameness are totally different concepts. Only under the presupposition of difference and correlation could things "be moderated with heterogeneity", and the diverse things progress together in harmony with each other. "To supplement something with homogeneity" is to aggregate the sameness, which would only suffocate the lives. The supreme ideal of traditional Chinese culture is that "miscellaneous lives are nourished together without harming each other; miscellaneous ways are practiced together without counteracting each other."[32] The "miscellaneous lives" and "miscellaneous ways" mean Diversity; the "without harming each other" and "without counteracting each other" mean Harmony. This doctrine would provide us with inexhaustible resource of thinking for the coexistence of diverse cultures。