Beijing believes that its superior civilization provides the leadership with the necessary skills to lead mankind in the process of building a utopian world order, known by Chinese since ancient times as Tianxia.
A widely accepted translation of Tianxia is “all under the heaven,” referring to the union of all the lands and peoples on earth. It is worthwhile to note that historically, the gods did not appoint Chinese emperors to rule just over a limited region of the world such as the Central Kingdom, but over Tianxia, over all the lands and peoples under the heaven. Hence, uniting the whole Chinese Empire would result in its frontiers overlapping “the limits of the Universe,” i.e. the whole earth. Additionally, for the full establishment of Tianxia, the emperors had also to achieve “a universal agreement in the hearts of all people,” a common identity, and a global institution to grant “universal order.”