Vsevolod Ovchinnikov (1926- ), Russian journalist and author
“The roots of different cultures and civilisations are tightly intertwined”. This is a central argument of the legendary Russian writer, internationalist, and journalist Vsevolod Ovchinnikov. His opinion is shared by thousands of readers. At 82, Mr Ovchinnikov enjoys so huge a popularity that a collection of his works saw a new edition this year. The books written by Mr Ovchinnikov are a rich collection of cross-cultural knowledge based on an equally-rich personal experience. He spent 25 years of his life working in China, Japan, and Britain as a journalist, and his books provide a profound insight into the nature of western and eastern civilisations. His most popular works about Japan and Britain, A Branch of Sakura and The Roots of an Oak-Tree, have been translated into many languages. Also, he published a collection of works under the title Eyewitness Account, which describes a round-the-world trip from New Zealand to South America, and a fabulous story about Tibet called Ascension to Shambhala.
Mr Ovchinnikov said, “I investigate the ‘living grammar’ of foreign peoples. For example, look at the Chinese in contrast to the Japanese; they believe they are the masters of creation, who rule everything material. Conditionally speaking, Chinese consider that it is possible to carve out a living doll from a log, whilst the Japanese are certain that they must preserve a log as it is, to protect its created nature. The Japanese will trim a tree a bit, he will touch it up, but, it must be as close as possible to the tree in its natural growth. Likewise, a city, in his opinion, it must grow as naturally as the forest grows. Tokyo and, for example, London, these are precisely such cities; they grew, ‘like the forest’. But, let us say, Peking, Paris, and St Petersburg, these are cities created entirely on another concept”. He once remarked, “We often tend to think that people from other countries think and react as we do, but, this is not so. In order to avoid mistakes, you ought to investigate ‘the soul of a people’, and on peoples’ souls, I build my travel guide”.
Studying the world outlook and psychology of different civilisations and cultures, Mr Ovchinnikov reveals their differences and similarities, take, for instance, China and Russia. “The basic teachings of Confucius start with a phrase that calls for continuous learning and application of the material learned as a supreme joy. Confucianism in China led to a cult of knowledge, which was seen as a main route of social mobility. In feudal China, for 2,000 years, government posts were distributed through open competitions in the knowledge of Confucian texts and the ability to apply them to settle everyday problems. The winners were assigned posts that could be as high as ministers in the imperial court. The cult of knowledge is equally relevant for present-day Russia. We are faced with a similar task, to, as a Confucian would say, ‘transform a quantitative jump into a qualitative improvement to create a knowledge-based economy’, which is the very innovation-based transformation currently developing in our country”.
One of the conclusions Mr Ovchinnikov draws from years of professional and life experience is that “it’s wrong to measure other people by your own yardstick and lean on your own values, because no values are universal, like the grammar rules of a language”. He argues, “That for supreme harmony, the present-day world should follow a symphonic pattern in its development, when every nation, like a musical instrument in a symphony orchestra, plays its own part”. A guide to national souls, Vsevolod Ovchinnikov sees an ideal future in unity in diversity.
24 July 2008
Olga Bugrova
Voice of Russia World Service
http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=rus&q=77996&cid=24&p=24.07.2008
Voices from Russia 
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