When the Olympic Games began, ancient Greece was a land of warring city-states, ethnic groups, and social classes. Yet through carefully devised rituals, worked out with much difficulty, the Games provided a context in which all of these, mainly hostile, groups could compete together cooperatively. The social harmony required for the Games, however crude it might have been, was an astonishing creation in the midst of a conflictual society. To hold the next Olympic Games in Beijing is particularly interesting in light of the long tradition of ritual analysis and practice in China. From ancient times, beginning with Confucius and, especially, Xunzi, the Chinese have understood ritual as a kind of social dance within which people whose interests are at odds with one another still can cooperate for the harmony of the larger society. The Confucian tradition has a deep understanding of ritual. Although today's modern society might think of itself as too pragmatic to pay attention to ritual, ...更多that is an unfortunate view. Without ritual, groups with conflicting interests have no way of interacting except in direct, often violent, competition. One of the most pressing needs in the contemporary international situation is to bring economic, political, and military competition into a framework of ritual diplomacy. A new contemporary ritual needs to respect the interests of all people, and to be understood and appreciated by all people. The ritual quality of the next Olympic Games in Beijing can be a symbol of the next phase in the development of a global harmonious situation. The ritual quality of the Games provides for participation without agreement, and every nation has the dignity of participation, regardless of winning or losing competitions. The Games can be a model for diplomacy.