BELGRADE, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Chinese civilization offers a distinctive lens through which to understand the world, according to Alexander Lukin, academic head of the Institute of China and Contemporary Asia of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Lukin said in a recent interview with Xinhua in Belgrade that as a vast and distinctive civilization, China has played an influential role in the world's rich cultures and ideas.

To understand both world history and the contemporary world in their political, economic, cultural, and intellectual dimensions, one must understand China and its civilization, he added.

The Russian scholar underscored the great significance of the continuation of Chinese civilization in preserving cultural diversity in the contemporary world.

For Europeans, studying China is of particular importance, as they are often "prone to Eurocentrism and asserting the European path of development as the only possible one," he said.

Lukin first visited China in 1983. He later studied in Beijing and made multiple visits to Liang Shuming, a renowned Chinese philosopher, to seek his guidance.

As he learned more about China, he began to rethink his earlier positions from a new angle, and "my Eurocentric views at the time suffered their first severe blow," he said.

"My entire life has been connected with China. I have spent most of it doing academic research," he said, adding that he strongly agrees with the idea of "harmony in diversity" from The Analects of Confucius.

In Lukin's view, globalization is an inevitable trend, but "this doesn't mean that people can't do all this in different cultural forms. Without them, humanity would become colorless," he said.

"By getting to know China better, we will learn more ... about ourselves," he added. ■