Alterity and Common Value: The Paradigm Transformation and Value Redirection of International Understanding Education in the Age of Globalization

At present, the deepening of globalization makes cultural communication inevitable, while cultural differences exist objectively and inevitably. Under this background, all of the cultural subjects are facing an common significant issue. That is how to live together among diversified cultures full of heterogeneity. International understading education aims to make cultural coexisting possible through understanding cultural differences, other cultures and the interculturality. "distinction" and "strangeness" are two types of common cultural understanding paradigms which view the interculturality from the perspective of interiority and exteriority respectively. Based on this two paradigms, the international understanding education guided towards two completely different value positions of universalism and relativism respectively. However, the educational problems are hidden in both of them. While an cultural understanding paradigm of "alterity" may become an oulet for transcending "distinction" and "strangeness" and reversing the dilemma of international understanding education. The paradigm of "alterity" views intercuality in an perspective of both exteriority and ethics, establishing an inter-alterity ethical co-existing relationship with each other. To this end, international understanding education turns to a relational and generative common value standpoint, and attaches importance to constructing the common value among cultural subjects in the dialogue and communication to make the coexistence and development of multicultures possible.