Unesco has been advocating “cultural diversity” and “intercultural dialogue” in the wake of the events of September 11^th, 2001. This should be encouraged, but only if it goes along with truly intercultural, twoway synergies, such as those implemented several times in the history of the Western world. We should not forget, though, that this happened in a number of other places. A case in point is China, which opened to the outside world on several occasions, first to India, then to the West (mainly from the 19^th century onwards). All cultural areas must be brought into contact with one another in our globalized world, something which cannot be satisfactorily achieved without translation.