Zisi Academic Library -- Deconstruction and Inheritance -- Research on Confucius, Confucianism, and Their Modern Value

Author: Miao Runtian
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-03-01
Features: Confucius was a great educator in ancient China and is widely recognized as one of the world's top ten thinkers. He founded Confucian culture, which forms the backbone of traditional Chinese culture. Confucian culture has evolved with the times and has continued to develop for over two thousand years. It has played an irreplaceable and significant role in the formation, prosperity, unification, and stability of the Chinese nation. Moreover, it has spread far beyond China, constituting the core of East Asian civilization and becoming an important part of the world's multiculturalism, exerting profound and far-reaching influence on the development of human civilization. The principles advocated by Confucianism, such as "education for all," "loving others as oneself," "valuing harmony," "harmony in diversity," "if you wish to stand, help others stand; if you wish to reach, help others reach," "do not impose on others what you do not wish for yourself," "the world belongs to all," and "a world of universal harmony," have transcended the limitations of time and ethnicity and have become a precious spiritual and cultural resource for humanity's future.
In an era of global economic integration and cultural diversity, excavating and promoting outstanding traditional Chinese culture, strengthening dialogue and exchange, as well as integration and fusion between different civilizations, are essential components of inheriting Chinese civilization and building a new national culture that faces modernization, the world, and the future. This is also a sacred historical mission for contemporary scholars.
Qufu Normal University, located in the birthplace of Confucius and the cradle of Confucian culture, has always taken the study of Confucianism and the promotion of the essence of traditional Chinese culture as its responsibility. In nearly fifty years of its establishment, the study of Confucius and Confucianism has never ceased, and the university has developed its own characteristics and advantages in scientific research, academic teams, and talent cultivation, achieving remarkable results. The university is a supporting unit of Shandong Province's Confucian Studies Research Base and the Confucius Culture College, which is one of the earliest specialized institutions in domestic universities for the study of Confucianism. It has successively undertaken and completed multiple national and provincial key projects and published a series of high-quality and high-standard academic works.
The college publishes Confucian Studies Dynamics and regularly issues the Confucius·Confucian Studies Anthology. It has hosted numerous international and domestic academic conferences on Confucianism and Confucian studies. The university has attached great importance to strengthening academic exchanges and cooperation with foreign institutions, establishing partnerships with universities and research institutions in dozens of countries and regions, including the United States, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, and others.
In May 2000, supported by the Shandong Province Confucian Studies Research Base and the Confucius Culture College, the university jointly established the Sino-foreign Cooperative Confucius University with the China Confucius Foundation and overseas investors. This marked a new phase in the study of Confucius and Confucianism.
The study of Confucius and Confucianism at Qufu Normal University has not only received support from scholars both domestically and internationally but also has been greatly assisted by international friends. Mr. Shinko Higashi, the president of the World Art and Culture Revitalization Association and a Japanese friend, established the "Shinko Higashi Confucian Studies Fund" through donations. This fund has made positive contributions to promoting the study of Confucianism and Confucian culture centered around the Sino-foreign Cooperative Confucius University (Qufu Normal University), fostering cultural exchanges between China and other countries, enhancing international friendship, and upholding world peace.
The Confucian Studies Anthology presented to readers is a series of works published with the support of the "Shinko Higashi Confucian Studies Fund." The anthology consists of ten volumes, each with over 200,000 words, compiled by full-time and part-time professors at Qufu Normal University who have long been engaged in the study of Confucius and Confucianism from their published articles. It reflects, from one perspective, that the study of Confucianism and Confucianism is also evolving with the times and continuously deepening.