Harmony Under Heaven
Closely related to the idea of harmony between the upper and the lower, this notion extends the status of harmony to relations among different states and further to all under heaven. Harmony among all states or harmony under heaven was the most ideal social state in the eyes of the ancient Chinese.
The ancient Chinese had a grand world view, rather than confining themselves to narrow nationalism. The ideas such as "bringing peace to all states" and "realizing the ideal of universal harmony" all embody their pursuit of a harmonious world, and manifest their ideal design of the world order and basic orientation toward harmony and mutual benefit. This fully shows that dealing with international relations according to the Hehe philosophy has always been China's consistent position since ancient times.
和合天下
和合天下，是在上下和合基礎上，進一步把和諧狀態拓展到國與國之間，進而推廣到整個天下。和合天下、和合萬國，是古人心目中最理想的一種社會狀態。
中國古人對于世界的看法是一種宏大的天下觀，而非狹隘的國家主義。“協和萬邦”“大同理想”等，都體現了和合天下的思想境界，表達出古人對于世界秩序的理想設計，強調了和諧互利的基本取向。這充分表明，秉持和合理念處理國際關系，是中國自古以來的一貫立場。
