I、Aim

This workshop aims to make a contribution to the ongoing project of overcoming the consequences of misapplying Western languages and vocabularies in China Studies as a result of a lack of understanding of the differences between Chinese and Western cosmologies, and thus to assist in promoting mutual understanding, harmonious coexistence and productive dialogue between different cultures.

II、Lecturers

Roger T. Ames

Roger T. Ames is Humanities Chair Professor atPeking University, a Berggruen Fellow, and Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University ofHawai’i. He is the past editor ofPhilosophy East & Westand the founding editor ofChina Review International. Ames has authored interpretative studies of Chinese philosophy and culture:Thinking Through Confucius(1987),Anticipating China(1995),Thinking from the Han(1998), andDemocracy of the Dead(1999) (all with David L. Hall), and most recentlyConfucian Role Ethics: A Vocabulary(2011). His publications also include translations of classical Chinese texts: theSun-tzu: The Art of Warfare(1993); theSun Pin: The Art of Warfare(1996) (with D.C. Lau); theConfucian Analects(1998) and theClassic of Family Reverence:The Xiaojing(2009) (both with Henry Rosemont),Focusing the Familiar: The Zhongyong(2001), andThe Daodejing) (2003) (with David L. Hall). Almost all of his publications are now available in Chinese translation, including his philosophical translations of Chinese canonical texts.

Chenshan Tian

Chenshan Tian earned his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and he has lived, taught and given public lectures in Hawai’i, in North Dakota, and in China. Professor Tian started his teaching career in China at Beijing Foreign Studies University in 2005 and is currently the Director of the Center for East-West Relations, which operates under the egis of the School of International Relations and Diplomacy at BFSU. In October 2009, Dr. Tian was elected to the post of Director of the International Confucian Association. As a contemporary Chinese-American academic,ChenshanTian specializes in comparative Western and Chinese political philosophy. Recently, his research has focused on exploring the differences between Eastern and Western world views, alternative ways of thinking, and different forms of scientific understanding. His book,Chinese Dialectics: From Yijing to Marxism, focuses on explaining the fundamental differences between Chinese and Western Marxism. This work makes the simple but profound observation that much of the history of Western thought, including scientific thought, has essentially been derived from, and limited by the Christian faith in a transcendent “God.” This model can be expanded to involve an ontology of Being and Nonbeing, a teleological order from beginning to end, and a plethora of dualisms, such as a final distinction between the natural world and human culture, time and space, mind and body, ontology and epistemology, and so on. Tian advocates an intellectual world derived from theYijing, which seems much more in tune with the mysteries of organic life, with human behavior, and with the nature of material and energy inherent in quantum mechanics and in the relativity theories of modern physics.

Wen Haiming

Wen Haiming is a professor of philosophy atRenmin University. He received his Ph.D. InComparative Philosophy from the University ofHawaii, and his MA from Peking University. Hisresearch interests include Chinese philosophyand comparative philosophy. His works includeConfucian Real Meaning Ethics(儒家实意伦理学)，Chinese Philosophy, andConfucian Pragmatismas the art of Contextualizing PersonalExperience and World. HisChinese Philosophyhas been translated into English, French, Spanish,and Arabic.

III、Organizers

International Confucian Association

The International Confucian Association was formally established in 1994 in Beijing,China and it has legal status as an international academic community. Aimingat promoting the freedom of human equality,development and lasting peace andprosperity, the Association’s mission is to study and inherit the essence of Confucianismand carry forward its spirit.

In October 1994, the International Confucian Association held its inaugural meetingin Beijing to celebrate the 2,545th anniversary of the birth of Confucius. It wasthe largest conference on Confucius ever held. Prominent regional leaders, 300scholars and 1,000 participants attended this important event. Key representativesincluded Li Ruihuan, one of the seven top leaders of the Chinese Communist Partyand Chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Congress, Gu Mu, thethen Honorary President of the China Confucius Foundation, widely credited as aprime architect of Deng’s economic modernisation program, and Lee Kuan Yew,Singapore’s Senior Minister.

Specific responsibilities of the International Confucian Association include: conductingacademic research and its evaluation; holding international conferences;holding/hosting academic seminars and lectures; promoting Confucian education;compiling and publishing academic books, periodicals and information; editing andissuing reviews of both the activities of the Association and international academicfield; promoting international academic exchange and cooperation; raising fundsfor international research on Confucianism; exploring other activities which mayhelp the development of Confucianism.

In July, 2013, academic representatives from traditional Confucian cultures—China, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam—met at Sungkyunkwan University in Korea andagreed to establish a World Consortium for Research in Confucian Cultures.The inaugural conference of this Consortium was held at the University of Hawaiʻiat Mānoa and the East-West Center in October, 2014. Theconference broughttogether leading scholars from partner universities around the world tocriticallyexplore the meaning and value of Confucian culture in a newly emerging world cultural order.

Center for East-West Relations, School of InternationalRelations and Diplomacy, BFSU

The Center for East-West Relations (CEWR) was founded within the School of InternationalRelations and Diplomacy at BFSU in 2008. CEWR was founded as a hub for academicand cultural activities that encourage nuanced and thoughtful dialogue betweencultures East and West.

CEWR MISSION STATEMENT: The peoples of the East and the West will confrontunique opportunities and challenges during the course of the 21st century. These willencompass social, political, economic, environmental, scientific and cultural relations.Technological advances have brought formerly remote and isolated regions of the worldinto close communication, making mutual understanding and accommodation vital tothe intercourse of daily life, while the information revolution has brought a growingawareness of the profound diversity and complexity of the world’s cultures. Withoutknowledge, understanding and sensitivity, contrasting and conflicting world-views cangive rise to ethnocentrism and fundamentalism. These can allow suspicion and distrustto politicize cultural, ethnic, religious, and racial differences. Managed with wisdom,however, these same differences can be the inspiration for a more varied, resourcefuland harmonious global community.The Center sponsors a number of events and programs toencourage cross-culturalunderstanding. Besides organizing the Confucian Studies Summer Institute, the Centeralso sponsors interdisciplinary conferences on philosophy, international relations, business,and politics, for instance, the WE Forum. Past conference titles at the WE Forumhave included: “Summit on Global Economic and Cultural Issues: The Global FinancialCrisis and its Cultural Implications” (2009), “Confucian Scholarship in the 20th Centuryand the Renaissance of Eastern Civilizations” (2010), and “Confucianism and the SinizationofMarxism” (2011).

IV、Date and Location

Date：December 6th-12th, 2015

Location：3rd floor, New Library Building, Beijing Foreign Studies University

V、ContactUS

Email:1185123257@qq.com

Phone/Fax:(86)-10-88816235 (international calls/ faxes)   18001197375(Sun zhihui)