Title: Some Reflections on New Confucianism in Chinese Mainland Culture of the 1990s
Abstract: My comments on New Confucianism in this essay will be focused on two broad issues: the rise of New Confucianism in Chinese mainland during the 1990s and the questions that New Confucianism addresses in this context. The rise of New Confucianism in contemporary Chinese mainland has attracted much attention internationally, in particular among scholars in the Chinese-speaking world. It is therefore important to give shape to this development by defining its salient features. To my mind, the founding of the International Confucianism Association (Ruxue Lian-hehui, ICA) in October 1994 in Beijing is a very significant moment in the rise of New Confucianism. To date, the ICA has had little influence on its immediate social environment, but the very fact of its existence, considered in the context of the issues I will be discussing below, would tend to suggest that Confucianism might one day play an important ideological role in several Asian countries. But why should Confucianism assume such importance in these countries? It is worthwhile to note the following points. First, the inaugural conference to mark the founding of this Confucian federation in Beijing was attended by representatives from practically every country in the East and Southeast Asian region. Previously, this kind of conference on Confucianism would attract representatives from mainly China, Japan, and South Korea. When I say China, I include Taiwan and Hong Kong because they are important parts of the Chinese-speaking world. But at this 1994 conference, in addition to participants from these countries, there were also academics from Vietnam, Singapore, and even the Philippines. Participation from across the Asian region greatly broadened the cultural scope of this conference and clearly exceeded the scope of the previous ones. Second, scholars such as Zhang Dainian who took part in this conference and those who participate in the activities of the ICA are among the foremost scholars of Confucianism in the world today. There were also several young scholars in attendance. The conference was graced by the presence of distinguished scholars such as Kenji Shimada from Japan and a notable number of prominent scholars based in the United States such as Theodore de Bary, Tu Weiming, and Cheng Zhongying. There were also several Taiwanese and Russian scholars there. By contrast, there were very few scholars from the European countries.
Publication Year: 2014
Publication Date: 2014-12-04
Language: en
Type: book-chapter
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 4
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