More than 100 scholars from home and abroad engaged in dialogue to activate traditional Chinese wisdom and respond to contemporary challenges at the Wuyi Forum, hosted in Wuyishan, Nanping city of Fujian province on March 22. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
More than 100 scholars from home and abroad engaged in dialogue at the Wuyi Forum to activate traditional Chinese wisdom in response to contemporary challenges.
The forum was hosted by Renmin University of China and the Nanping government in Wuyishan, Nanping city, Fujian province on March 22.
"The development of socialism with Chinese characteristics provides momentum, not resistance to the world and human progress. It brings blessings, not threats," emphasizes Qin Xuan, a professor at Renmin University of China.
He stresses that socialism with Chinese characteristics has demonstrated the vitality of socialism to the world and expanded the pathways for developing countries to achieve modernization. This is a path that centers on the people and prioritizes their interests. Only by adhering to a people-centered approach and fully leveraging the creative spirit of the public can modernization gain inexhaustible momentum, Qin says.
A new book on cosmology of Chinese civilization is launched at the forum. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
Young-Seo Baik, emeritus professor at Yonsei University, South Korea and an expert in East Asia and China's modern and contemporary history, suggests that the world should seek new paths for modern civilizational transformation from classical Chinese thought.
"To achieve the coexistence of tradition and modernity, we need to introduce the perspective of civilizational exchange," he says.
He proposes the integration of Chinese philosophy into daily life to break rigid self-perceptions and reshape interactions between individuals and the world, and combine Neo-Confucianism with institutional innovation to explore how traditional culture can better drive reform and development.
Robert Chard, emeritus professor at St Anne's College, University of Oxford and a visiting professor at the Peking University's Department of History, shares his observations from decades of teaching Chinese students.
A graduate school for fine traditional Chinese culture research and training base is unveiled at the forum. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
He notes that many Chinese students possess a far deeper understanding of Western civilization than Western students do of Chinese civilization — and sometimes even more than Western students know about their own culture.
To further popularize "Chinese knowledge" in Western societies, Chard encourages Chinese humanities scholars to take on greater responsibility. This includes using non-traditional channels such as popular books, films and games to translate China's millennia-old wisdom and modernization stories for a global audience, while strengthening academic exchanges between China and the West.
A high-level cross-Strait academic consortium on Chinese civilization is founded at the forum. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
Yang Huilin, former vice-president of Renmin University of China, says that every tradition contains both "enduring ideas" and "mutable, shared elements."
He emphasizes that "mutual reference" and "mutual interpretation" allow civilizations to move toward each other and complement one another despite their differences. This approach points to a future where civilizational exchange transcends barriers, mutual learning overcomes conflicts, and inclusiveness surpasses superiority.
In dialogical research, tracing and reconstructing the theoretical tools and problem sources of both Chinese and Western traditions is a fundamental task for "resolving the debates between ancient and modern, East and West," Yang says.
