Du Weiming: Harvard has become a place where Chinese Studies are often discussed in Mandarin

Read Time:28 Minute, 54 Second

Source: Guangming Daily

Du Weiming: How big is the Chinese culture classroom?

　　Digression: By now China had established Confucius Institutes and Confucius Classrooms in over a over a countries and regions to spread Chinese culture. So I was moved by S﹒ H﹒ E The song sung by the three little girls:

　　The whole world is learning Chinese. Confucius’ words are becoming more and more international.

　　”Some things, if you don’t do them, others will do them. Some things, if you don’t do them, no one will do them.”

　　The black bag he carries is covered in airline tags. Later I learned that he flew a lot and the airline gave him a discount. If he bought a regular ticket, he could fly in first class, and as long as there was no one around him, he would be given three seats. He usually schedules his classes from Monday to Thursday. After class on Thursday, I go straight to the airport. On Mondays, I often go straight from the airport to the classroom. He has been flying without jet lag and gives a speech as soon as he gets off the plane. Occasionally, he encounters bad weather and the plane hovers in the sky and cannot land. The students have already entered the class on the ground. Where is Du Weiming?

　　Here he is, up there. He arrived, but couldn’t get off. What a Flyingman.

　　No matter how tired I am from running around, as soon as I talk about academics, I feel refreshed, as if I have just gotten off the plane and been dusty, but have just taken a refreshing shower in the shower. Different listeners will feel that what he talks about is relevant to them – even though he is mostly talking about Confucius and Mencius more than 2,000 years ago, or Cheng Zhu more than 1,000 years ago, even though most of the listeners are modern American youths.

　　Some of Harvard’s core courses are required general education courses for doctoral students. Originally, Mr. Du Weiming taught mostly Western courses. Around the end of the 1980s, he proposed to the school to open a course on Confucian ethics. The school officials doubt whether such a Chinese course can be taught – that is, whether students can continue to listen?

　　Du Weiming started teaching Confucian ethics in ordinary classrooms, but later there were too many students and he changed to teaching in trapezoidal classrooms. The students couldn’t sit still anymore, so they moved to the auditorium for class. I couldn’t sit still anymore, so I gave lectures at Harvard’s largest theater, Sanders Theatre. President Jiang Zemin came to Harvard to give a speech, and it was here.

　　The first and second floors of Sanders were filled with six to seven hundred students. At first, Du Weiming saw students sitting crowded on the floor and outside the door of the classroom, and said that he hoped you would not go to the wrong place – he himself did not expect that there would be so many listeners at once.

　　Do the teachings of Confucius and Mencius and Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism have anything to do with modern American youth?

　　American students receive individualistic education from an early age, emphasizing that they are independent people. Now they are very interested to hear that there are still some people in the world who don’t think about things that way and say that people are concentric circles. Through their own efforts, people spread out layer by layer and influence others. This is how the ideal path of traditional Chinese scholars is to cultivate their moral character, manage their families, govern their country, and bring peace to the world. In the context of Chinese culture, people are not isolated people, but concentric circles that influence each other.

　　Of course, Du Weiming spoke in English, but language is only a vehicle for transporting ideas. In the United States, pedestrians abide by traffic rules, but at Harvard, people cross the road in a hurry, grabbing time and opportunities. The Chinese Confucian culture conveyed by Du Weiming has attracted so many Harvard students who are the most independent-minded and unfettered! In such a large Harvard, only Du Weiming takes classes at Sanders. Du Weiming’s class is the largest, and the class where Du Weiming teaches Chinese culture is the largest.

　　Why are Chinese culture classes so big?

　　Du Weiming’s left hand was half inserted in his trouser pocket, and he walked around the podium with gestures with his right hand, elegant and graceful. His left shoulder is slightly higher than his right shoulder, and his left eyebrow is slightly higher than his right eyebrow. When he focused on speaking, his head tilted to the left. Coupled with his high left eyebrow and high left shoulder, his whole person had a stubborn and bullish energy, as if he was tilting his head and rushing toward a goal with all his strength. But he is not an Ox, he is a Dragon and was born in February. It is said that dragons born in February have a high head.

　　What he is proud of is Chinese culture.

　　There was a blond boy on my left. He was immersed in taking notes during Du Weiming’s lecture. When someone asked a question, he raised his head and put the pen horizontally in his mouth with his hand. He held the pen in his hand for such a long time, as if he wanted to stuff all of Du Weiming’s lecture into it.

　　I see Harvard students in such a hall, as pious as Buddhists. Du Weiming, on the other hand, tilted his head slightly, covered his chest with his right hand and raised it high, expressing sincerity from the bottom of his heart! Preach on the stage and gain enlightenment in the audience. At Harvard, I saw a temple of academics, culture, and Chinese culture.

　　Hundreds of people with yellow hair and blue eyes followed Du Weiming with their eyes, but their bodies did not move. Hundreds of people are hundreds of statues. I really want to take two photos of Du Weiming’s speech. But except for Du Weiming’s magnetic voice, there was no noise here. If you press the shutter and click, it will shock everyone. That is simply such an unethical and barbaric act. However, I should take a photo of the preacher of Confucian culture!

　　To make a clicking sound on such an occasion would be to make a fool of yourself in public. I was so determined that I took out my camera and clicked quickly. It seems like 007 sneaked into the secret room and secretly photographed documents. And I was discovered immediately – all the students around me turned to look at me in shock. I also learned that these “statues” can rotate.

　　When Du Weiming holds a large class in such a hall, he always leaves some interactive time for students to ask questions. As soon as he said on the stage that everyone could ask questions, the group of hundreds of people in the audience all came to life as if under the guidance of an immortal.

　　Many students raised their hands. There was a blond girl in front of me. When she raised her hand, her coat fell down, and her thin figure was wearing a black vest. She raised her bare white arms high, as if she wanted to reach into the mysterious clouds of Eastern culture.

　　Du Weiming’s teaching assistant brought a microphone, walked up to the students who raised their hands, and asked them to speak into the microphone. It feels like the assistant coach here is holding the baton. As Chinese culture goes global, there need to be many batons.

　　At the end of the class, the audience burst into applause, like Chinese firecrackers, ringing across the Western world. It suddenly occurred to me that this class was completed jointly on stage and off stage. Because of Du Weiming, hundreds of Harvard students were attracted. It is also because in New England, in Cambridge, at Harvard, among such Harvard students, such a Tu Weiming can appear.

　　Du Weiming’s speeches never have scripts. Once he gave a lecture in church on the dialogue between Confucianism and Christianity. A pastor in the audience asked the people around him: Has Mr. Du’s spiritual problem been solved? In other words, has Du Weiming joined the church? Others say no. The pastor said that if Mr. Du preaches to us, the effect will be great.

　　In the English world, preacher means preaching on behalf of God and a sense of mission. Many Western scholars praised Du Weiming for being like a preacher, but Du Weiming was unwilling to accept it. Because when talking about this word in the Chinese world, it seems that it is not necessarily connected with learning.

　　In the compulsory courses held by Du Weiming in the lecture hall, some female students often occupied seats in the front row to observe the appearance and clothing of this Confucian authority on the podium beyond Confucian ethics. They will tell what kind of two suits Du Weiming has, what kind of three ties he wears, and which tie he wears on what occasion. They regretfully felt that the teacher was too inconsiderate to them. There is a small hole in the teacher’s pants. Of course, only these non-Confucian female students can see this hole. Du Weiming himself didn’t know. However, Professor Le Daiyun of Peking University also talked about the hole in Tu Weiming’s pants without feeling distressed in Beijing.

　　Then, I think, this hole is the famous hole.

　　The most prosperous people in the eyes of the world often cannot live the lives of ordinary people. Once, Mr. Du Weiming hosted an international academic conference, but the funds did not arrive. Du Weiming and his assistant had to take out their credit cards to pay for the meeting first. The assistant used his own card to withdraw $30,000. Then she used the card Du Weiming gave her to withdraw money. No, she couldn’t withdraw it. There was no money on the card.

　　Mr. Du, there is no money on your card. Du Weiming said, right?

　　I think there must be many “holes” in Du Weiming’s life. He hasn’t been home for Christmas in five years. Because the Christmas holiday is the best time for him to give speeches. Only last Christmas he was at Harvard—sick. Otherwise, he would have to give speeches all the way to Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Beijing on Christmas Day.

　　He has also been invited to speak at many scientific conferences. For example, at the ecological conference, Du Weiming responded to thoughts about the entire world from a Confucian perspective. The ancient Chinese thought of “harmony between man and nature” has become a useful resource that modern people cannot ignore.

　　At Harvard and in the English-speaking world, Tu Weiming pioneered the use of Chinese as the language of discussion – the Harvard Confucianism Seminar. I think this is not just for China, but for mankind – the contribution that Chinese culture may make to mankind in the 21st century world.

　　Thinking of the topic of “Industrial East Asia” he raised a few years ago, I feel that Du Weiming’s Confucian research is always related to social changes and world progress. The vitality inspired by the collision of Chinese culture and modernity enabled him to introduce Confucianism from the study into the real world. Du Weiming always paid attention to the correlation between traditional resources and modernization, which made his Confucian research always have the ability to pioneer and innovate, and his persistence and promotion of the spiritual blood of Chinese culture gave him a bit more of the spirit of a traditional scholar-official .

　　Traditional Chinese intellectuals cultivate themselves, manage their families, govern the country, and bring peace to the world. Later, this spirit of scholar-bureaucrats was lost, and students returned to their studies. Later, in the early 1980s, Du Weiming came to the mainland to engage in Confucian activities. At that time, the mainland had just opened up, and some universities were not willing to agree to his teaching on Confucianism. With Du Weiming’s intelligence, he probably wouldn’t have noticed it. Some people here are saying that he is tired of eating foreign bread?

　　Du Weiming said: There are some things that you don’t do but others do. There are things that no one will do if you don’t do them. Even if you do it, it may not be effective, and you may not be praised by others. But it’s different whether you do it or not.

　　Today, the dialogue between Confucianism and various Western academic trends is becoming more and more active. I think if some good person records the route of Du Weiming’s plane one by one, like an electrocardiogram, then we can generally see the trajectory of the spread and development of Confucianism in today’s world.

　　The success of his career has attracted the attention of the world, but he has probably never even thought about the cost of his career. For a flyer like him, he usually takes care of his own air tickets, but Wen Zhang rarely has time to “take care of himself” and is heavily in debt. In the past, when someone pressed for “debt”, he could still say that he would send it out tomorrow. So I rushed to finish the manuscript that night. Nowadays, the other party always asks him to email him. Oops!

　　In fact, the time sacrificed cannot be recovered.

　　His doctoral student occasionally complained to him that she was so busy that she had little time for her husband. He said: I am not complaining like this, how exhausted am I? If you want to be a student at Harvard, you can only be a monk or nun!

　　What a persistent passion this “monk and nun” determination is! But he is an emotionally reserved person, so what people often see from the surface is just his rationality.

　　Du Weiming’s knowledge is a dynamic knowledge, a knowledge that combines knowledge and action. Although it took less time for Haoshou Study to build the system, it enabled his Confucianism to face the contemporary world, establish communication with various trends of thought, accept the challenges of the new model of modernity, and activate many black-eyed, blue-eyed, yellow-haired and white-haired people. . There are also occasional silver strands in his black hair. But he’s the youngest in any meeting – I mean, his mentality.

　　He spoke quickly, immersed in his academic opinions, and spoke without stopping. He likes to listen and others talk, and he always takes notes diligently like a most motivated junior student. When taking notes, my left hand is still in my trouser pocket. He always has the elegance of a scholar.

　　When he looked at others speaking, he would often put his hands together, showing elegance and piety. He was obviously the speaker, obviously he was the host, but he was the only one who remembered the most and was the most diligent. Perhaps, while taking notes, he clicked directly into the EEG? The most successful people are often the “stupid” people.

　　Chinese-American children are often afraid of learning Chinese. Because I don’t need it on a daily basis, I don’t know what the use is of reading it, and I don’t want to speak Chinese anymore after class. A Chinese school teacher asked in class: Who among you volunteers to learn Chinese? Only two girls raised their hands and said: “I love my culture!” The teacher was surprised. Because these two girls are not purely of Chinese descent. My father is Chinese and my mother is American. But the father of these two girls is named: Du Weiming.

　　The little girl, who is less than ten years old, considers herself Chinese and can recite Zhuangzi and Xiaoyaoyou. Of course, at the same time, they are American children with a foreign mind. If there are Chinese guests at home, and Du Weiming speaks Chinese and the guests laugh, his daughter will protest: Dad, if you talk about academics, you must speak in Chinese, and if you tell jokes, you must speak in English. Otherwise, I don’t know why you are laughing, and I will look like a fool. ? You are ignoring my existence!

　　”Harvard has become a place where ‘Chinese studies’ are often discussed in Mandarin in the English-speaking world”

　　I woke up in the morning, opened the curtains, and it was snowing! It snowed for no reason! I mean, I never expected that it would snow so heavily on February 25th. The snowflakes seemed to be falling not one by one, but one by one.

　　Meng Xi (the author’s lover) gave a speech at Harvard-Yenching at four o’clock in the afternoon: “Wang Guowei, Chen Yinke and China’s Modern

　　Modern Academics”. However, in the thick snow, cars could not drive and people could not walk. There were only a few people in the small conference hall, just like an old woman’s teeth, which were sparsely empty, with only a few left.

　　That’s how I imagined a meeting in the snow. In fact, the conference room was full of people, and the last person had no seat, so he had to sit high on the coffee table between the sofas, as if a tiger tooth was protruding.

　　Sometimes a tiger tooth is like the finishing touch, bringing a little liveliness and liveliness. This tiger tooth gave the venue a three-dimensional and dynamic feel.

　　Mengxi talks about the new peak period of Chinese academics in the 20th century since the late Qing Dynasty, talks about Wang Guowei’s role in establishing modern academics, talks about Chen Yinke’s family background and emotions, talks about his deep “old feelings for family and country”, and talks about He expressed the depth of Chen Yinke’s academic thoughts about the “rise and fall of the Ming and Qing dynasties” to the Republic of China. This is the path to learning and the style established by the independent spirit and Confucianism masters. The expansion of domestic academics in recent years is not unrelated to inheriting the tradition of Wang Guowei and Chen Yinke.

　　Du Weiming interjected: You can come to Cambridge.

　　Outside the window, the snow is piled up abundantly and cleanly. The snow delineates the purity and independence of academics, and demonstrates the overwhelming concern of academics for human society. The century-old complex of academic independence and the sincere respect for academic predecessors, like the crystal white snow, purify and sublimate the mood and situation of today’s people.

　　I know Mengxi will make it right. But the questions asked by the host Mr. Du Weiming and the scholars still surprised me. How come they are all well-educated people? At seven o’clock in the evening, we went to Du Weiming’s house and sat around to discuss Confucian issues. A room full of learned people and one uneducated person – me.

　　Bags were placed on the ground, tea cups were placed on the ground, and of course, feet were placed on the ground. Yes, it’s the feet, not the shoes covering the feet. You don’t need to take off your shoes when entering Du Weiming’s house, but today every pair of shoes was covered with snow. Snow was stuffed into the grooves of the soles, piled on the uppers, and fell into the uppers. This is the biggest snowfall in Boston this year. It seems that God is deliberately trying to test the sincerity and determination of students to study. I counted my feet, 15 pairs.

　　The living room has two floor-to-ceiling lattice glass doors and one lattice glass window. Looking out from the door and window, thick snow is pressing on the pine trees, on the ground, and on the roof. In the white world, the lights become more and more golden and warm. Maybe the people under the lamp are singing Christmas songs? From any angle, the outside looks like beautiful and auspicious Christmas cards.

　　But it’s not Christmas, it’s a cultural festival, a festival of Chinese culture created by Harvard-Yenching scholars. Du Weiming lit the fireplace. Looking at the beautiful flames of the fireplace, the students walked into the magnificent academic world even more selflessly.

　　I don’t understand how some scholars can be so coherent in their thoughts. It seems that they are not talking, but using a printer to type out transcripts on the computer. I don’t understand how two female scholars can be so knowledgeable and caring as scholar-bureaucrats. There are 15 people in this room, including people from mainland China, Taiwan, Paris, the UK, and Harvard. People from different places, different countries, and different majors have different backgrounds and different resources. A Taiwanese female professor has short hair on the right side that always hangs down from her forehead, covering half of her face. I think she is often buried in books, her hair engulfing her face, just like her classmates engulfed her.

　　Being in a room full of well-educated people, I felt for the first time that Chinese was more difficult to understand than English. Because English is just a short embellishment mixed in Chinese. Thehistorymoment, yes, this is also a historical moment. It’s just that I don’t know what happened in history, because when discussing academics, each of them is as unfathomable as history. I know every word of what they say, but I don’t understand them when put together into a sentence.

　　I somehow remembered an advertisement slogan, which seemed to say that women should be beautiful from the inside out. Now I am focused on it from the inside out. My appearance at this moment must also be very historical, and I wish I could speak ancient Chinese as soon as I open my mouth.

　　My heart was especially agitated, and I wanted to catch every word they said like a fly. Sorry, this metaphor is inappropriate. In fact I respect everyone in this room. And I deeply feel the shallowness of literature and the vastness of academics. But, today I suddenly don’t understand Chinese.

　　What are they discussing? I can’t put together what I captured: the vitality of academics and academic life – the nature of history here and now – the rebirth of the Chinese nation – the interaction between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait and the three places, the dawn of a virtuous circle in academia – the East-West The possibility of overlapping value orientations between China and the West is increasing – Confucianism’s ten-year opportunity – Providing the opportunity itself is a great challenge – If we miss it for ten years, we will become a consumer country of Western civilization – Confucian ideas develop externally space – soft power – Confucian ethics and universal values around the world – the strength of China’s economy and the possible voice of Chinese culture in the world – Confucianism focuses on putting it into practice – the independence and independence of intellectual groups Dignity – Today’s Confucianism must include science – The subtle mixture of Chinese and Western learning – The dissolution of Confucianism by market-oriented society – The configuration of culture and lifestyle – Confucian religious feelings – The role of public intellectuals ——It is our dereliction of duty if we do not create space. ——Is there still the luxury of only doing Chinese knowledge in the 21st century? ——The U.S. Congress invites Du Weiming to lecture on “The Analects of Confucius” ——The world gives you the opportunity to speak, what do you say?

　　I am reminded of the Latin words on Harvard’s seal: truth. It was from seven o’clock in the evening to midnight, and the students were still fighting for words: “Let me interrupt.” “Sorry!” “Speak first!” Du Weiming’s secretary recorded one discussion after another, and later he Just sit on the cabinet with the tape recorder.

　　Tu Weiming’s dog saw so many people and no one paid attention to it. It walked back and forth in front of the students, trying to attract people’s attention. If there is a room full of academic pride and an ordinary person, then this dog can detect it – the person whose attention is attracted by the dog must be an ordinary person. It’sme, it’s me.

　　This discussion in front of the fire can last until tomorrow. Oh, it’s almost tomorrow already – already from seven o’clock in the evening to midnight, almost early tomorrow morning. I remembered what Du Weiming wrote in an article: “Harvard has become a place where people in the English-speaking world often talk about ‘Guoxue’ (Chinese culture) in Mandarin.” Du Weiming added more fire to the fireplace. The fire of thought is endless. In a brief moment at the end of the century – a night is naturally short for a century. The sound made in front of a fireplace in Du Weiming’s house was as deep as a century.

　　I couldn’t help but think of the Latin on Harvard’s emblem: truth.

　　The chairman of the East Asian Department at Harvard picked up a rice grain that someone else dropped on the table and ate it

　　On February 14, 1999, at the top of the TV screen, a line of very unclear words was typed: It’sover. It’s past. Clinton’s “Legendary” is written to the extreme in every aspect. The drama is performed, the TV is funny, and it is the culmination of American culture. But there may not be anyone who will analyze this story that has troubled the whole world for so long, because, It’sover. When people lift their spirits, whether they are Republicans or Democrats, whether they are Americans or non-Americans, it is just the present continuous tense, it is just a process. Once over, the past is past.

　　I feel that politics is short-lived but culture is long-lasting.

　　There are four days until the first day of the Lunar New Year, which falls on the 27th day of the lunar calendar. Du Weiming invites all visiting scholars and their families at Yenching Institute to make dumplings at his house to celebrate the New Year. How many people are there? More than 100 people, some say. Less than 100 people, some said. The guests were scattered on the first floor, second floor, and basement. No one could figure out how many people there were, and no one wanted to run up and down to count the number of people. Later I heard from Du Weiming that there were more than 80 people. He counted upstairs and downstairs.

　　Tu Weiming holds a wine bottle in his right hand and his left hand is still in his trouser pocket. It feels like he is still on the podium of the Harvard Auditorium, an eternal speaker. He was always surrounded by scholars, always discussing Confucian culture.

　　Finally he came to the basement, where there were more women and children. Women were making dumplings, and children were watching a video—the Hollywood cartoon “Mulan.” The cartoon’s three-day opening weekend in the United States grossed $23 million at the box office. The film injects the selling points of American film culture into China’s Mulan, and injects the vitality of Eastern culture into Disney. Du Weiming came and praised the cartoon. I think the balance of loyalty and filial piety in “Mulan” is a Hollywood-style promotion of Confucian culture.

　　Du Weiming’s Spring Festival Party is an international event of Chinese culture. There are Chinese people from various countries, foreigners who can speak more or less Chinese, and Americans who do not speak Chinese but love China. An American woman who could not speak Chinese told me so sincerely that she had adopted a Chinese girl. The girl was 4 months old when she was adopted and is now 12 years old. Girls were beautiful when they were young, and they are beautiful now. She pulled out the photo of the girl she obviously had with her all the time and showed it to me. She said her daughter just refused to learn Chinese. So she must take her to China and make her speak Chinese. She said covering her chest with both hands, so emotional! Du Weiming said that this is a process, and at a certain point she will want to learn Chinese.

　　There are hundreds of people adopting Chinese girls in Boston. Once I was in Boston’s Chinatown, and there was an American couple walking in front of me, and between them was a four- or five-year-old Chinese girl. She held her American mother with one hand and her American father with the other. The girl wears a short plaid skirt, long black socks, a bright yellow down jacket, and long shawl hair. I love this vivid and lovely background. Her American parents bent over and talked to her as they walked, and they loved her even more. I don’t have time to explore why it’s so common for Bostonians to adopt Chinese girls. I think that after “Mulan” immigrated to the United States, more Bostonians will adopt little Mulan.

　　The American parents of little Mulan in Boston organized themselves and called on Boston’s primary and secondary schools to offer Chinese classes. The American woman who confided in me wanted me to visit her home so much that she wrote down her phone number, address, and name for me. Just because – I am Chinese. She loves her Chinese daughter so much that seeing Chinese people is like meeting relatives.

　　I couldn’t find time to go there in those days. I think, next time, next time, there will be a next time. I thought that by the time I went there, her Chinese daughter would already be able to speak Chinese.

　　In Boston and Harvard, there are many Chinese children who are unwilling to learn Chinese, and there are even foreign friends who are proficient in Chinese. There were many “foreigners” at Du Weiming’s party (of course, I don’t know whether they are “foreigners” or I am a foreigner here) who were better at using chopsticks than I was. This Chinese buffet for more than 80 people is almost a chopstick show.

　　Du Weiming often talks about good karma. I think, “Yuan” and “Yuan” have the same pronunciation, which is also a circle in Chinese culture. At this party, we had such a perfect relationship with China.

　　Du Weiming was the last one to take the plate and get the food. At that time, there was no one on the long dining table, except for one grain of rice.

　　I mean, his vision magnified a grain of rice that fell on the table.

　　He picked up the rice grain and put it on his plate. At that time, no one among the 80 or so people would see this detail, except me.

　　It’s natural for people who have nothing to eat to pick up rice grains. I was shocked when the head of Harvard’s East Asia Department picked up rice grains and ate them at a party he held.

　　There are so many dishes that I can’t finish, so why do I just pick up the rice grains and eat them first? At this time, he was more like a preacher of Confucian culture than giving a speech in a large classroom. I think of what Du Wei Caritas said about internalization. He internalized his learning into his personality.

　　Since 1928, known as a century, Tu Weiming has been the first Chinese chair of the East Asian Department at Harvard. Sometimes, one person can change a situation. The fire in the fireplace burned warmly and unobtrusively. Outside the window, the wind and snow decorated the red brick walls of New England, and clusters of golden lights looked like fireplaces rising from the snow…

　　Later, not long ago, Peking University established the Institute for Advanced Humanities, with the director named: Du Weiming.

　　Du Weiming, whose ancestral home is Nanhai, Guangdong, was born in Kunming, Yunnan Province in 1940. Graduated from Tunghai University in Taiwan in 1961. Later, he received the Harvard-Yenching Scholarship to study in the United States, and obtained his master’s and doctorate degrees from Harvard University. He has taught at Princeton University and the University of California, Berkeley. In 1981, he became professor of Chinese history and philosophy at Harvard University. He also served as chairman of the school’s Religious Studies Committee and chairman of the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations. In 1988, he was elected as a member of the American Academy of Humanities and Social Sciences, and served as president of the Harvard-Yenching Institute from 1996 to 2008. In 1990, he was seconded to the East-West Center of Hawaii as the Director of the Institute of Culture and Communication. In 1995, at the invitation of the Indian Philosophy Council, he delivered a “National Lecture” at five universities in South Asia. In recent years, Du Weiming has been employed as a visiting professor at Peking University, Wuhan University, Nanjing University, Fudan University, Sun Yat-sen University, Shandong University, South China Normal University, Qufu Normal University, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, etc., and serves as Vice President of the International Confucian Federation, Consultant to the Chinese Association of Social Science Professors in the United States, consultant to the Center for Contemporary China Studies at City University of Hong Kong, and serves as a consultant for the Harvard Journal of Asian Studies (USA), Eastern and Western Philosophy (USA), History of Chinese Philosophy (China), and Contemporary “(Taiwan, China), “21st Century” (Hong Kong, China) and other academic journals as consultants or editorial board members.

　　Du Weiming’s research centers on the modern transformation of Chinese Confucian tradition. He is known as the representative of contemporary New Confucianism. He has published dozens of Chinese and English books and hundreds of papers. Du Weiming regards himself “as a successor of the May Fourth spirit”, studies Confucian culture in the context of world ideological trends, is directly concerned with how to integrate traditional culture with China’s modernization issues, and has relatively elaborated on the connotations of Confucianism. The modern significance and prospects of the third phase of Confucian development outline the basic framework of contemporary New Confucian theory, which has exerted considerable influence in East Asia and the Western world. Due to his outstanding contributions, he won the 9th International T’oegye Research Award and the Ecological Religion Award from the United Nations in 2001 and 2002 respectively.