Recently, except for the world-changing news of 2020 American president selection, on the opposite site of the Earth cross the Atlantic Ocean, there is another significant event happening, which is more antagonism, more violent and maybe more influential. If we define the American president election as a pure political and internal account, then this other headline will be the crash between two different but major cultures that might lead to considerable consequences. That will be the murder of Professor Samuel Paty and the following stories.

In Oct. 16th, a middle school history teacher Samuel Paty was beheaded by a 18-year-old extreme Islamic terrorist for demonstrating caricatures of the prophet Mohammed to his students. Although the teacher Samuel Paty himself did not announce his own belief or religious opinion and adopted precaution like asking the Muslim student to leave the room when presenting the caricatures, this behavior had brought him threats up to 10 days before the attack, and complaints from parents, which eventually leaded to a murder.

However, this crime is just the prelude of the whole series. Five days later, France honors Samuel Paty with a national tribute in the courtyard of honor of the Sorbonne University. A lay funeral in this 'cathedral' of knowledge and tolerance officiated by the President of the Republic. Emmanuel Macron glossed the figure of the teacher "assassinated because he had chosen to teach his students to be citizens." "Killed because he embodied the republic that is reborn every day in the classrooms." "Killed because Islamists want [to steal] our future and they know that with quiet heroes like him, they will never succeed." "A quiet hero" who "loved books" which speaks of his "passion for knowledge" and his "taste for freedom", and who followed the path of his parents, both teachers.

From then, it seems that president Macron had triggered and intensified the conflict between the believers of freedom and Muslim. And indeed, he did. Countries like Turkey and Jordan objected and criticized openly to Macron’s speech because from their opinion it was blaspheme to their inviolable Allah, which then extended to the whole country, such as a boycott to French products. But other European countries supported Macron’s tough and uncompromising stand towards terrorists.

Spoken from a Chinese citizen who live in the middle “oasis” between west society and middle east countries, I found this news and its following happening rather interesting and provoking. I did some research about the law of freedom of speech in French. The foundation of the French secular society is that "man" precedes "God". Now this secular society does not mean no connection to religious or spiritual matters, but defines as secularism, the belief that religion should not be involved in the organization of society, education, etc. So according to the provisions of the law on the protection of freedom of speech in 1881, slander or racial hatred against individuals will touch the bottom line of the law, but blasphemy and satire do not constitute a crime. And this is where exactly the conflicts took place.

I was quite surprised by how much attention French people put on freedom, for I thought blasphemy and satire on others’ belief should be count as, maybe a little, crime. What Charlie Hebdo drew, and present was a bit excessive to me. Because here in China, we are even more secular, and we are timid and awe to other people and religious. We care very much about our language and the influence of our diction. What we especially hate is the aggressive and extremely tense confliction between us and whatever else and therefore we do not want to put our relationship on the line. We tolerance, we forgive, and we focus on our own stuff, leaving events like 2020 American election or the terrorist in French as funny TV series we talked about after dinner. That said, although we Chinese do not pay attention to freedom as much as French people (and I know this becomes an issue that western medias often accuses on), we leave everyone, those who believe in either Jesus or Mohammed, who come from either east or west, some space and latitude. We do not mock or drew sarcastic cartoons on others’ belief, it is just not the right thing to do in our mediocre thoughts.

However, murdering and terrorists are out in left field and totally wrong, which I hope everyone would think so. There were seldom religious terrorists in China (maybe except in Tibet), because our main religions are Buddhism and Taoism, which do not offer canons that are as strict as in Catholicism or Islamism. On the other hand, we Chinese people are so secular and practical that we seldom committing anything, not to mention crime about religious. And here this secular does not mean secularism, but a philosophical of life. Most of us do not care so much about spiritual world or where shall our soul go after death, we lived more casual and more material. We focus more on our domestic work and our family. What most we do about religion is just burn some incense sticks and pay a visit to several Temper near our home.

We Chinese people value money, even, more than our spiritual god. Can you believe there even a god of money in Chinese culture? Yes. It is not god of wealth or faith, but the actual god of money. In spring festival, the most important holiday throughout a year just like Christmas in Western society, families would gather and spend the new year together not matter how far they are with each other. At this very moment, the first sentence we say to each other is “May you be rich” but not “Happy New Year” or “Merry New Year”.

However, Chinese people do have a strong moral sense of justice. We all have our red lines that no one can touch, both nationally and individually. Although we love money and wealth, we respect religion, life and peace. Unlike the Cathedrals of Christianity in the middle of city or the ubiquitous Muslims on the street, Buddhists and Taoist are living in seclusion in mountains that far from the downtown. We secular people go with our normal lives of working and studying and they religious community perusal and practice their own lessons and strive for virtues. There is a balance that formed through the ages, and we Chinese live upon on this and many balances.

But I am worried too, that French is not like what we saw in the news before. When I was a kid, the impression French leave me is a country of elegance and romance with flower and tulle, just like what I read in “little woman”. From my childish thought, French is the least possible country that terrorism take place. However, with the development of society and innovation of technology, nowadays there is more than ten percent of population of Muslim that migrate to French. Thus, the integration of racial and cultures becomes increasingly essential. So does it happened in China, since globalization and migration turn into the theme of time. If we look aftermath, then all those hatred speech, violence and blasphemy should be considered as improper because we are now citizens of the world. We do not terminate or threaten cultures or civilizations, instead we embrace, adapt and respect each other. We do not impose or mock what we believe on others, instead we study and try our best to interpret them. We do not force people or exile them from where they want to live in, instead we make adjustment and attempt minor revolutions. The world is not the same as usual, and so do we. We should be ready and prepared for the future, gratefully and merrily.