Nishan Confucian Studies Summer Institute for Teachers

July 6-August 3, 2013Nishan, Shandong, China

有朋自遠方來，不亦樂乎？Isn’t it a joy to have friends come from afar?

— Confucius

儒學與中華文化

OrganizersCenter for East-West Relations, School of International Relations and Diplomacy,

Beijing Foreign Studies University

Nishan Birthplace of the Sage Academy

School of International Relations and Diplomacy, Beijing Foreign Studies University

Confucius Institute Affairs Office, Beijing Foreign Studies University

Overseas Student Affairs Office, Beijing Foreign Studies University

Advanced Institute of Confucian Studies, Shandong University

School of English and International Studies, Beijing Foreign Studies University

School of Chinese Classics, Wuhan University

Middlesex Community College

Asian Studies Development Program, East-West Center and University of Hawai’i

Contents Introduction………………02

Organizers…………………03

Faculty………………………11

Course Descriptions.............18

Activities………………….…22

Accommodations…………29

How to Apply?………………30

Contact Information………31

Nishan Birthplace of the Sage Academy at sunset.

Con

tent

s

IntroductionBACKGROUND: Only a few years ago the Confucian Studies Summer Institute at the Nishan Academy was merely a dream conceived by a few ambitious individuals. Mu Zhongjian, President of the Nishan Academy, Wang Dianqing, Vice President of the Academy, Chen Hongfu of the Sishui County government, and Professors Roger Ames and Chen Tianshan met to discuss the possibility of establishing a summer institute. They saw the need for deep and thoughtful cultural dialogue between Chinese and Western cultures, a dialogue often clouded by prejudice and cultural assumptions. The annual Summer Institute is the fruit of their dream.

The first annual Summer Institute, held in July 2011, was a great success.The second, in June 2012, built upon that success with a new group of scholars and teachers from around the world. Again in 2013, for one month from July 6th to August 3rd, participants will read Chinese classics with world renowned scholars at the birth-place of Confucius—Nishan, China. We welcome teachers and students interested in Chinese culture to join us for this unique educational and research experience. This year we will spend the first week of the Institute at Beijing Foreign Studies University to take advantage of several of Beijing’s unique features, especially the presense of guest lecturers, and opportunities to visit historical sites like the Forbidden City and the Great Wall.

PURPOSE: China’s rising influence in both global politics and economics sets the stage for students and teach-ers to begin to understand the significance of China’s rich philosophical heritage. To understand what is driving China’s evolution, it is important that students study early Chinese texts and their interpretive contexts and attempt to understand Chinese culture on its own terms. Historically, Chinese philosophy has been read and interpreted too often through a decidedly Western cultural lens, and as a consequence it has been forced to an-swer to Western cultural assumptions. While Chinese culture has evolved enormously over the centuries, there are nevertheless enduring cosmological commitments that have given continuity and coherence to a changing and fluid tradition. The challenge for us, then, will be to adopt an interpretive approach to these early Chinese canonical texts that will allow us to discover the uncommon assumptions that give them their philosophical contexts, and through a careful reading come to appreciate the structural differences that make them distinct.

The final goal of the Summer Institute is to equip the participants with a deep understanding of China’s canoni-cal texts and a framework for intepretation which they can apply in their classes on Chinese culture for western students. In order to accomplish this, we will undertake a careful, critical reading of the primary texts that is sensitive to alternative world views and different modalities of thinking, as well as to fundamental linguistic dif-ferences.

PARTICIPANTS: The program is designed for teachers of Chinese culture, literature, history and philosophy, but graduate students and teachers from all vocational and academic backgrounds are encouraged to apply. Undergraduate students may enroll in a seperate but parallel program. Chinese language ability is not neces-sary, but a basic familiarity with Chinese culture and classical texts is presupposed. All participants should have English language skills sufficient to follow and understand academic lectures. The program will accept twenty international participants and twenty from within China.

2

Introduction

2

, OrganizersCenter for East-West Relations

Nishan Birthplace of the Sage AcademySchool of International Relations and Diplomacy, Beijing Foreign Studies University

Confucius Institute Affairs Office, Beijing Foreign Studies UniversityOverseas Student Affairs Office, Beijing Foreign Studies University

Advanced Institute of Confucian Studies, Shandong UniversitySchool of English and International Studies, Beijing Foreign Studies University

School of Chinese Classics, Wuhan University Middlesex Community College

Asian Studies Development Program, East-West Center and University of Hawai’i

3

Org

anize

rs

3

Nishan Birthplace of the Sage AcademyThe Academy is a nongovernmental organization committed to the study and promotion of traditional Chinese cul-ture, especially Confucianism. It is a place for open dialog that seeks to develop and promote traditional Chinese Confucian culture and encourage harmony among the world’s diverse civilizations. The Academy’s motto, “return-ing to our roots, inspiring innovation,” implies that while committed to the study and promotion of traditional culture, the Academy also looks to the future and seeks to share ideas with and learn from other cultures.

The Nishan Birthplace of the Sage Academy was unveiled on October 8, 2008 and immediately began holding academic conferences and teaching programs. The official founding ceremony was held the following year on June 23, 2009. The Academy covers an area of more than 16 acres in Sishui County, Shandong Province, the birthplace of Confucius. These hallowed grounds lie at the heart of ancient Chinese culture, near the homes of Confucius and Mencius and a short distance to the famous Mt. Tai, all within the borders of the ancient state of Lu. The Academy is currently in the third stage of construction which, when completed, will house a library, a conference center, con-ference rooms, classrooms, an exhibition center and a hotel.

大家

“Big Family”: Chinese and American students pose with faculty and local of-ficials in front of the Nis-han Birthplace of the Sage Academy. Summer 2011.

4

Organizers

“Confucian culture is the foundation of Chinese traditional culture and supports and sustains the spiritual world of the Chinese people. It has withstood the vicissitudes of history, showing its lasting value and undying strength. At this crucial juncture in world history, both a time of civilizational clash and dialogue, Confucianism again makes its appearance on the world stage, setting itself forth as an Eastern beacon of human harmony.”

— Nishan Birthplace of the Sage Academy 4

Center for East-West Relations, Beijing Foreign Studies University

The Center for East-West Relations (CEWR) was founded within the School of International Relations and Diplo-macy at BFSU in 2008. CEWR was founded as a hub for academic and cultural activities that encourage nuanced and thoughtful dialogue between cultures East and West.

CEWR MISSION STATEMENT The peoples of the East and the West will confront unique opportunities and challenges during the course of the 21st century. These will encompass social, political, economic, environmental, scientific and cultural relations. Techno-logical advances have brought formerly remote and isolated regions of the world into close communication, making mutual understanding and accommodation vital to the intercourse of daily life, while the information revolution has brought a growing awareness of the profound diversity and complexity of the world’s cultures. Without knowledge, understanding and sensitivity, contrasting and conflicting world-views give rise to ethnocentrism and fundamental-ism. These can allow suspicion and distrust to politicize cultural, ethnic, religious, and racial differences. Managed with wisdom, however, these same differences can be the inspiration for a more varied, resourceful and harmonious global community.

The Center sponsors a number of events and programs to encourage cross-cultural understanding. Besides orga-nizing the Confucian Studies Summer Institute, the Center also sponsors interdisciplinary conferences on philoso-phy, international relations, business, and politics, including the annual WE Forum. Past conference titles at the WE Forum have included: “Summit on Global Economic and Cultural Issues: The Global Financial Crisis and its Cultural Implications” (2009), “Confucian Scholarship in the 20th Century and the Renaissance of Eastern Civilizations” (2010), and “Confucianism and the Sinization of Marxism” (2011).

5

Org

anize

rs

5

School of Chinese Classics, Wuhan UniversityOn June 25, 2010, Wuhan University founded China’s first complete degree granting School of Chinese Classics in China. The School of Chinese Classics is a degree granting institution offering bachelor, master, and doctoral degrees. Breaking traditional disciplinary boundaries, the School brings together philosophy, history, literature, and art together in a single program focusing on China’s rich intellectual heritage. Besides intensive training in ancient Chinese language, philology and exegetics, students are also required to learn two foreign languages. In this way, students completing the program at Wuhan University will be equipped with the intellectual and linguistic skills to engage in research and participate in international intellectual life.

The School of Classics traces its history back to the 2001 “Hongyi Lecture Hall” class. This was an experiment in interdisciplinary education designed to give students the skills necessary to work with ancient texts and, in the great tradition of the ancients, to provide a foundation for ethical cultivation. The School of Classics is the fruit of this experiment and will continue to provide a space for students to learn and grow into the humanistic ideal of classical education—the junzi.

8

Organizers

!

!

!

!

! !

!

!

!

! !

!

!

!

“The Way can be seen at Nishan.” Dec-orative door inscription at the Confu-cian Temple, Shandong Province.

Students participating in the 2011 Confucian Studies Summer Institute experience the beautiful solemnity of the Confucian guanli, or capping ritual.

道

禮

6

Advanced Institute of Confucian Studies, Shandong University

The Advanced Institute for Confucian Studies was founded April 21, 2010 at Shandong University. The Institute was jointly founded by Shandong University and the People’s Government of Shandong Province as a center for high-quality education and academic research and as a site for international exchange and cooperation. It is a world-class research center bringing together scholars from around the world to conduct research on and promote Confucianism. Several different organizations and events are organized under the auspices of the In-stitute, including the academic journal Rulin (Series on Confucian Studies), the Nishan Library, Nishan Seminar, and the biennial Nishan Forum.

The Nishan Forum was organized for the first time in 2010 and attracted scholars from around the world. The forum was initiated by former vice president of the standing committee of the National People’s Congress and Dean of the Institute, Professor Xu Jialu, as a way for representatives from different cultures and civilizations to conduct face-to-face dialogue with the hope that through dialogue differences can be appreciated and conflicts can be resolved.

School of English and International Studies, Beijing Foreign Studies University

The BFSU School of English and International Studies (SEIS) is the first Chinese seat of higher learning au-thorized to run a PhD program and the state-level Priority Program for English Language and Literature. For its achievements in teaching and research, it is rightfully recognized as the “flagship” of BFSU and a national leader in studies of English language and literature. Among its alumni, many are distinguished diplomats, schol-ars and journalists. The SEIS aims to equip its undergraduate students with a good command of the English language and literature, a broad range of knowledge, leadership qualities characterized by an international vision and the abilities to learn, to think critically, to create and to cooperate.

The SEIS has established relations of strategic partnerships with a dozen internationally renowned universities in English-speaking countries, through which it has developed short-term programs for study overseas at the BA, MA and PhD levels and the summer program “Chinese Culture Studies” for international students. Mean-while, it accepts foreign students and runs preparatory courses for Chinese students to study abroad for BA and MA degrees.

9

Org

anize

rs

7

Middlesex Community College

Founded in 1970, Middlesex Community College (MCC) has grown to become one of the largest community colleges in Massachusetts, with two distinct campuses, one in suburban Bedford and the other in the center of the city of Lowell. MCC has a total annual enrollment of more than 12,000 credit students and 9,000 noncredit students.

Mission Statement: At Middlesex Community College, everyone teaches, everyone learns. Collaborative in nature and innovative in practice, we educate, engage, and empower a diverse community of learners. Through transformative opportunities, we challenge and support every student to succeed and lead. Recognizing equity and inclusion as the foundation for excellence and creativity, Middlesex Community College meets the evolving educational, civic and workforce needs of our local and global communities.

10

Organizers

“We have made a wonderful beginning of bringing these two great countries together. Among the participants what was most ex-traordinary was the particularity, each per-son so very different, each person making a contribution in their own particular way.”

—Professor Roger T. Ames

8

Participants bargain for souveniers during a field trip

Asian Studies Development ProgramThe Asian Studies Development Program (ASDP) is a national collaborative project jointly sponsored by the East-West Center and the University of Hawai`i. Its mission is to enhance knowledge and pedagogy related to Asia at American colleges and universities, primarily through faculty development programs meeting the needs of teachers and institutions committed to infusing Asian content into the undergraduate curriculum.

The University of Hawai`i is a Research I institution with over 23,000 students and 2,200 faculty on its main campus. More than 300 faculty members are Asia specialists and the University regularly offers more than 600 courses a year dealing with Asia. The Center for Chinese Studies (CCS) at the University of Hawai`i is the largest China-fo-cused National Resource Center in the United States, with 45 fulltime faculty members. The University of Hawai`i collection of Chinese materials is among the best in the country, including a substantial body of audiovisual material.

The East-West Center is a public, non-profit research and educational institution established in 1960 with a U.S. Congressional mandate to promote better relations and understanding among the na-tions of Asia, the Pacific and the United States through cooperative study, training and research. To date, nearly 30,000 students and research professionals, primarily from Asia and the Pacific, have partici-pated in Center programs. The Center considers professional development programs for K-12 teach-ers, college and university faculty, and journalists an integral part of its missions of community building.

9

Org

anize

rs

9

Students and teachers smile through the rain outside of the Nishan Academy’s new auditorium

Confucius Institute Affairs Office, Beijing Foreign Studies University

The Confucius Institute Affairs Office of Beijing Foreign Studies University runs programs that offer instruction Chinese language and cultutre. With partner institutions at many foreign universities, this office plays an active role in the education of students around the world. 10

Organizers

10

Overseas Student Affairs Office, Beijing Foreign Studies University

The Overseas Student Affairs Office at Beijing Foreign Studies University coordinates various programs for the hundreds of overseas students who visit BFSU each year. Assisting students from dozens of countries enrolled in a broad array of long and short term study programs, this office is well-prepared to assist foreign visitors. This office manages education, housing, sightseeing, visas, and any other issues that may arrise for foreign students visiting BFSU.

Making new friends at the Confucius Temple in Qufu

11

Facu

lty

Professor Roger T. Ames interacting with American and Chinese students at the 2011 Summer Institute.

Faculty Roger T. Ames Henry Rosemont, Jr. Chenshan Tian Sor-hoon Tan

Zhang XianglongHans-Georg Moeller

“The participants are just wonderful. It has been a very worthwhile experience for me, in part be-cause of bringing together the American and Chinese participants and making them form pairs. They have become good friends and I love to see how they have blossomed together.”

--Professor Henry Rosemont, Jr.

11

12

FacultyRoger T. Ames

Professor, University of Hawai’i

Roger T. Ames is Professor of Philosophy and Editor of Philosophy East & West. His recent publications include translations of Chinese classics: Sun-tzu: The Art of Warfare (1993), Sun Pin: The Art of Warfare (1996) and Tracing Dao to its Source (1997) (both with D.C. Lau), the Confucian Analects (1998) and the Classic of Fam-ily Reverence: A Philosophical Translation of the Xiaojing (forthcoming) (both with H. Rosemont), Focusing the Familiar: A Translation and Philosophical Interpretation of the Zhongyong, and A Philosophical Translation of the Daodejing: Making This Life Significant (with D.L. Hall) (2001). He has also authored many interpretative studies of Chinese philosophy and culture: Thinking Through Confucius (1987), Anticipating China: Thinking Through the Narratives of Chinese and Western Culture (1995), and Thinking From the Han: Self, Truth, and Transcendence in Chinese and Western Cul-ture (1997) (all with D.L. Hall). Recently he has undertaken several projects that entail the intersection of contemporary issues and cultural understanding. His Democracy of the Dead: Dewey, Confucius, and the Hope for Democracy in China (with D.L. Hall) (1999) is a product of this effort. Almost all of his publications are now available in Chi-nese translation, including his philosophical translations of Chinese canonical texts. He has most recently been engaged in compiling the new Blackwell Sourcebook of Chinese Philosophy, and in writing articles promoting a conversation between Ameri-can pragmatism and Confucianism.

August 2, 2011 www.bjnews.com.cn

Roger Ames Teaches Chinese Culture in English

Nishan, Shandong—Foreign scholars use

English to teach the Analects, Mencius,

Xunzi and other texts at the Nishan

Birthplace of the Sage Academy. Among

the students are ten American profes-

sors of Chinese culture. This is the first

annual Confucian Studies Summer

Institute made progress toward true

understanding between Chinese and

American culture. On July 30, the In-

stitute graduation ceremony was held

at the site of ancient China’s highest

academic body, Guozijian in Beijing.

The Institute invited University of

Hawai’i professor Roger Ames, Brown

University Professor Henry Rosemont,

Jr. and Beijing Foreign Studies Univer-

sity Professor Chenshan Tian to use

English to explain the core and essence

of Chinese culture. Besides courses on

Chinese classics, students also learned

about local opera, taijiquan, traditional

Chinese medicine and Chinese painting

and calligraphy. (New Capital Post)

(translated from Chinese)

12

13

Facu

ltyHenry Rosemont, Jr. Professor Emeritus, St. Mary’s College of Maryland

Henry Rosemont, Jr. is Visiting Professor of Religious Studies at Brown University, Senior Consulting Professor at Fudan University in Shanghai, and George B. & Willma Reeves Distinguished Professor of the Liberal Arts Emeritus at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. Professor Rosemont conducted post-doctoral research in linguistics at MIT under the direction of Noam Chomsky. In addition to his translations of Chinese canonical texts with Roger Ames (see above), he has translated the four significant works on Chinese thought of G.W. Leibniz (with D.J. Cook), entitled Leibniz: Writings on China. He is also the author of A Chinese Mirror, Rationality & Religious Experi-ence, and, with Huston Smith, Is There A Universal Grammar of Religion?, and editor or co-editor of six other volumes, including Explorations in Early Chinese Cosmology and Chinese Texts & Philosophical Contexts. The recipient of distinguished teaching awards from Oakland University, St. Mary’s College of Maryland and Johns Hopkins – SAIS, a Festschrift devoted to his work, edited by Marthe Chandler and Ronnie Littlejohn, was published in 2008, entitled, Polishing the Chinese Mirror: Essays in Honor of Henry Rosemont, Jr.

Professor Rosemont’s wife JoAnn chats with an elderly woman during the group visit to a local village.

樂

13

Chenshan TianDirector, Center for East-West

Relations

Chenshan Tian earned his Ph.D. in Political Science at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. He has lived and taught in Honolulu and North Dakota. He started teaching in China in 2005 and is currently Director for the Center for East-West Relations, School of International Relations and Diplomacy at Beijing Foreign Studies University. He was elected Director of the International Confucian Association in October 2009. As a contemporary Chinese-American academic, Dr. Tian specializes in comparative Western and Chinese political philosophy. He has been grappling with differences in Eastern and Western world views, ways of thinking and forms of scientific under-standing. His book, Chinese Dialectics: From Yijing to Marxism, focuses on explaining the fundamental difference between Chinese and Western Marxism. The work makes the simple and profound observation that much of Western thought, including scien-tific thought, has essentially been derived from and been limited by faith in a notion of “God.” The model has developed to involve an ontology of Being and Nonbeing, a teleological order from beginning to end, and dualisms such as a final distinction between nature and human culture, time and space, mind and body, ontology and epistemology, and so on. Tian suggests an intellectual world, derived from the Yijing, which seems much closer to the evident riddles of organic life, human behavior and the nature of material and energy inherent in quantum mechanics and in the relativ-ity theories of modern physics. Dr. Tian teaches courses in “Political Thought and Theory,” “Chinese Government and Politics,” “Comparative Foreign Policy,” “American Politics,” “Modern Chinese Philosophy,” “Media and Politics,” “Comparative Chinese and Western Philosophy,” and “Modern Chinese History.”

14

Faculty

“It’s not sufficient to use Western languages to explain China. This easily leads to distortion and causes Westerners to misunderstand China. Cur-rently, this kind of misunderstanding is quite per-vasive.”

--Professor Chenshan Tian

14

15

Facu

ltySor-hoon TanNational University of Singapore

Sor-hoon Tan is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Philosophy at the National University of Singapore. She holds degrees from Oxford University, National University of Singapore, and University of Hawai`i at Manoa. She is the President of the International Society for Comparative Studies in Chinese and Western Philosophies, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Society of Asian and Comparative Phi-losophy. She is on the Editorial Boards of DAO: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy and the Comparative and Continental Philosophy Circle. She has been teaching at NUS since 2000. She is author of Confucian Democracy: A Deweyan Reconstruction (2004); editor of Challenging Citizenship: Group Membership and Cultural Identity in a Global Age (2005); co-editor of Filial Piety in Chinese Thought and History (2004); The Moral Circle and the Self: Chinese and Western Perspectives (2003); and Democ-racy as Culture: Deweyan Pragmatism in a Globalizing World (2008). Her most recent articles include “Why Study the Chinese Classics and how to go about it?” Journal of Curriculum Studies, vol. 43, issue 5 (2011); “The Dao of Politics: Rites and Laws as Pragmatic Tools of Government,” Philosophy East and West, vol. 61, no. 2 (Jul 2011).

“Our beautiful world is facing some serious chal-lenges....If people can learn from Confucius’ magnanimity that “the people of the world are all brothers”, there will be less conflict and blood-shed. If we can remember Confucius’ maxim “think about what is right when one sees advan-tage, and take it the right way”, then the market economy can develop healthily.”

--Professor Mu Zhongjian, President of Nishan Academy, statement at 2011 Summer Institute closing ceremony

15

12

FacultyHans-Georg Moeller

Professor, University College Cork

Hans-Georg Moeller is Senior Lecturer in the Philosophy Department at University College Cork in Cork, Ireland. His research focuses on Chinese and comparative philosophy and on the social theory of Niklas Luhmann. Among his book publications are: The Radical Luhmann (New York: Columbia University Press, 2011), Luhmann Explained (Chicago: Open Court. 2006), Daoism Explained (Chicago: Open Court, 2004), The Philosophy of the Daodejing (New York: Columbia University Press, 2006), and a treatise in defence of amorality: The Moral Fool. A Case for Amorality. (New York: Columbia University Press, 2009).

NISHAN SPECIAL LECTURES

1) On Cultivation and Character in Confucianism

2) Ethical Approaches in Chinese Philosophy

3) On Weakness/Strength and Sickness/Health in Ancient Daoist Philosophy

4) Negative Ethics in Daoism

16Professor Henry Rosemont, Jr. dialoguing with students at the 2011 Summer Institute.

15

Facu

ltyZhang Xianglong Professor, Peking University

Zhang Xianglong earned his PH.D in philosophy from the State University of New York at Buffalo, and currently is a specially-hired professor for Philosophy and Social Development Institute of Shandong University. His research focuses on contemporary European continental philosophy, Confucianism, and East-West comparative philoso-phy. He is the former director of the International Society for Comparative Studies of Chinese and Western Philosophy (ISCWP), and also a committee member of the Chinese Society of Contemporary Foreign Philosophy. His books include: Heidegger’s Thought and Chinese Tian Dao (海德格尔思想与中国天道); A Biography of Hei-degger (海德格尔传); From Phenomenology to Confucius (从现象学到孔夫子); Notes on Western Philosophy (西方哲学笔记); Notes on Contemporary Western Philosophy (当代西方哲学笔记); Sprache und Wirklichkeit: Eine interkulturelle Perspektive (co-authored) Asylum for Thinking: Chinese Ancient Philosophy in Glo-balization (思想避难：全球化中的中国古代哲理); Nine Lectures on Confucius’ Phenomenology (孔子的现象学阐释九讲); Nine Lectures on Pre-Qin Dynasty Confucian Philosophy (先秦儒家哲学九讲).

NISHAN SPECIAL LECTURES

1) Comparisons between Chinese and Western Cultures and Phi-losophies

2) Confucius and Confucian Arts

3) Daoism: Understanding Lao Zi Starting from Sun Zi’s Art of War

4) Chan: A Sinicized Buddhism

17

CEWR and Nishan Birthplace of the Sage Academy host the WE Forum at Nishan in 2010.

智

16

Curriculum

Students enjoy a guest lecture in the eve-ning.

Curriculum

Course ScheduleCourse Descriptions

“Our teachers patiently and generously showed us how to use Confucian texts as mirrors and windows, and many of us realized that wheth-er we’re looking inwardly or outwardly there is nothing but this wondrous relating, there are no individual selves, no other, no we, and yet there is this sharing, this community, this familiarizing, this making family, and this web of apprecia-tion.”

--Ann Pirruccello, University of San Diego Professor, 2011 Sum-

18

Cur

ricul

umClassesBelow are listed the classes given by Professors Ames, Tian, and Tan in 2012. The 2013 class schedule will have much in common, but we also anticipate substantial changes and new material in the curriculum.

Professor Ames:1. Introduction: Making Responsible Cultural Comparisons2. The Euthypro and Metaphysical Realsim3. The Phaedo and Spiritual Exercises4. The Daxue: Setting the Confucian Project5. Selected Readings from the Analects: Building a Vocabulary6. Selected Readings from the Analects: Building a Vocabulary7. The Zhongyong: Focusing the Familiar8. The Zhongyong: A Human-centered Religiousness9. The Daodejing: A Daoist Critique of Confucianism 10. The Zhuangzi: Free and Easy Wandering11. The Great Commentary of the Book of Changes: A Natural Cosmology12. What does Chinese philosophy have on offer for a new Cultural Order?

Professor Tian:1. Intro: Contemporary Chinese Intellectual Consciousness2. Structural Differences in Chinese and Western Thought 3. The Universality and Non-universality of Western and Chinese Cultural Values4. Uncover the Veil on Chinese and Western Concepts: Linguistic Structures 5. The Chinese Spirit through the lens of China- West Comparisons 6. Shared Values in Chinese Culture7. Outside Mt. Lu: Effective Methods of Transmitting Chinese Culture8. Why Translation isn’t the main mode of cultural transmission?9. People’s Democratic Politics in Comparative Perspective

11. Chinese Structure of Sinified Marxism12. Chinese Government Politics in Comparative Perspective13. Establishing a Media Theory of Social Har mony and “One and Many” 14. “Public Diplomacy” Strategy15. Chinese Culture and Technological Thought16. Designing a Comparative-based course on Chinese culture

Professor Tan:1. Introduction: Early Confucian Ethical Governance2. Problems in Political Philosophy3. “Dezheng” 德政 as “Excellent Governence”4. Yi 義 and the problems of justice5. Justice and role of money in politics6. Are early Confucians against equality?7. Confucian Rites and Governance8. Confucian Human Rights?9. Confucian objections to “xingfa” and the problem of the rule of law10. Confucian minben 民本 thinking and the Chinese pursuit of democracy11. Is Confucian democracy possible and desirable?12. Quest for the New “Outer King”

19

18

Curriculum

Professor Roger T. AmesCourse: Comparative Philosophy During the first week of the course, we will do a close reading of two of the early dialogues of Plato: the Euthyphro and the Phaedo. In Plato we will discover much that resonates with the commonsense, the cultural assumptions, and the worldview we associate with Western culture. We will explore the vocabulary of Plato’s metaphysical realism and its influence on the Western philosophical narrative. In particular, we will concern our-selves with the beginnings of Western moral theory based upon a foundational individualism. The remaining weeks of the course will be given over to Plato’s Chinese cousins, reading representa-tive texts of the Confucian and Daoist traditions. The objective will be to struggle with imagination to take the Chinese philosophical tradition on its own terms. To this end, we will use several sources—the Book of Changes, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and Tang Junyi on Chinese natural cosmology—to establish a lens through which to read these canonical texts. We will read from three of the Four Books, the Daxue 大學, the Lunyu 論語, the Zhongyong 中庸, and two of the Daoist canons, the Daodejing 道德經 and the Zhuangzi 莊子 not just as “Chinese philosophy,” but as integral to world philosophy. In our own times, as China rises on the economic, political, and cultural horizon, the importance of Chinese culture and Chinese identity for a secure world in the 21st Century is increasingly ap-parent. The Book of Changes defines the human experience in terms of change and persistence: 變通. One change that has occurred is that the 21st century has ushered in a new age of global interdependence. The increasingly complex problems that face human beings as a species are no longer issues of national interest alone. Problems such global warming, the imminent threat of pandemics, increasing air and water pollution, reli-gious extremism, diminishing energy reserves, environmental degradation, retreating fresh water resources, and so on, do not respect national boundaries. We either solve these challenges together, or we all sink together. With China rising over the past three decades, a dramatic sea change has occurred in the economic and political world order that affects us all in an age of global interdependence. The global impact of China’s economic and political growth is relatively easy to track. But what about its culture? Under these rapidly evolving conditions, will the family-centered Confucian values and the ecologically –informed Daoist values precipitate a new cultural world order? Confucianism and Daoism both celebrate the values of deference and interdependence. Relationally constituted persons are to be understood as embedded in and nurtured by unique, transactional patterns of rela-tions, a conception of person that contrasts starkly with the more familiar and hugely productive model of discrete individuals defined by common traits that we have come to associate with liberal democracy. Will an ethic that locates moral conduct within a thick and richly textured pattern of family, community, and natural relations change our cultural world?

20

Below is an overview of the classes taught by Professors Ames, Tian, and Tan. Professors Rosemont, Zhang, and Moeller will each give a series of lectures during the first and second weeks of the Institute.

Course Descriptions

21

Cur

ricul

umCourse Descriptions

Professor Chenshan TianCourse: Understanding China on its own Terms I. Core ContentThe core issue to be examined in this course is how to introduce the profound depths of Chinese culture and make it more intelligible and easier for Western students to comprehend. The main content will focus on the basic structure of Chinese traditional culture, elucidating its true meaning and core values. The attendees will acquire a penetrating structural understanding of the complicated and profound phenomena of Chinese culture. Additionally, understanding that contemporary Chinese social and political issues are derived from this basis, we will examine the practical operation of modern Chinese society from the perspective of Chinese traditional culture. II. Approaches1. We will be working from an East-West cultural comparison perspective;2. We will trace the structural issues (view of nature, human values and social values) of the Chinese cultural sources to discover the inherent continuity since ancient times, and gain a deeper understanding of issues in contemporary China.

Professor Sor-hoon TanCourse: Early Confucian Ethical Governance Societies all over the world are in crisis; few governments seem able to cope with the increasingly complex problems of our age. Do the early Confucian texts have anything to teach us about governing? Con-fucianism is famous for advocating “dezheng 德政,” often translated as “rule of virtue”; but what does this really mean, in philosophical and practical terms? Could it still work today? We shall read the Analects, the Mencius, selected chapters of the Xunzi, and some extracts from the Chunqiu Zuozhuan and the Liji, to get an understanding of how the Confucians of the pre-Qin period thought about problems of governance, from both the perspectives of those governing and those being governed. We shall read some contemporary writings that attempt to use these texts to elucidate and address problems in contemporary political philosophy, and develop some approaches for interpreting early Confucian texts that remain relevant for contemporary societies. We shall explore new perspectives opened up by these ancient texts to help us begin rethinking some key topics in contemporary political philosophy.

Professor Zhang Xianglong

1) Comparisons between Chinese and Western Cultures and Philosophies

2) Confucius and Confucian Arts

3) Daoism: Understanding Lao Zi Start-ing from Sun Zi’s Art of War

4) Chan: A Sinicized Buddhism

Professor Hans-Georg Mueller

1) On Cultivation and Character in Con-fucianism

2) Ethical Approaches in Chinese Phi-losophy

3) On Weakness/Strength and Sickness/Health in Ancient Daoist Philosophy

4) Negative Ethics in Daoism

Professor Henry Rosemont, Jr.

1) On Roles & Families I: A Global Ethic?

2) On Roles & Families II: Toward More Democratic Governments

3) On Roles & Families III: Recapturing the Spiritual in the Secular.

Professor Hans-Georg Mueller

1) On Cultivation and Character in Con-fucianism

2) Ethical Approaches in Chinese Phi-losophy

3) On Weakness/Strength and Sickness/Health in Ancient Daoist Philosophy

4) Negative Ethics in Daoism

ActivitiesWeekend Trips

Visit Local SitesMeet Local PeopleExperience Culture

Activities

22

Weekend and Evening Activities

Weekend Activities: Visit Local SitesVisit Confucius’ birthplace, tomb, and temple Visit Ancient Water Springs

Visit site of Mencius’ residenceVisit homes of local families

Visit Confucius Research InstituteVisit the Great Wall

Evening Activities: Experience Culture

In the evenings students will participate in “Experience Culture” classes, including:

• Taijiquan• Traditional Capping Ceremony (guan li)• Calligraphy• Go (weiqi)• Chinese Movies• Poetry Recitation• Chinese Traditional Medicine• And More

Participants take a break from their calligra-phy lesson to pose for the camera.

Act

iviti

es

友

23

Students tour Confucian sites in Qufu, Shandong (top); 2011 participants take a picture at Mencius’ ancient residence (middle left); 2011 participants enjoy traditional Chinese food in Qufu (mid-dle right); Legendary site of Confucius’ birth (bottom left); elegant ancient ar-chitecture at the ancestral home of Mencius (bottom middle); path to the peaks of Mt. Tai (bottom right).

Activities

Visit Local Sites

“In our month at Nishan the mountain itself set a steady example for us.”

24

Visit Local Sites A

ctiv

ities

Confucian Temple at Mt. Tai (top left); 2011 participant at temple for Mencius (top right); Students con-verse together during their visit to Mencius’ ancient residence (right); students ride the lift at Mt. Tai (below).

25

Meet Local People

Participants spend time with the Nis-han Academy’s neighbors (left); Par-ticipant works a grinding wheel used for grinding grain in a village (middle left); village farmland with lake in back-ground (middle right); 2011 student and locals pose for picture (bottom left); de-licious food in Qufu (bottom right).

“In this program, I learned the true meaning of ‘big family’.” --2011 Summer Institute Participant

Activities

26

Act

iviti

es

A Chinese student explains the prin-ciples of Go to an American professor attending the workshop (top left); a par-ticipant chops Chinese cabbage for a dumpling party at the Summer Institute (top right); practicing calligraphy (right); enjoying the capping ceremony (bottom left); students learn how to make Chi-nese dumplings (bottom right). 27

The “Way of Tea” and the tea ceremony are world-renowned Chinese art forms. Students at the Nishan Confucian Studies Summer In-stitute have the rare privilege to witness the ceremony as it was performed in the Tang Dy-nasty (618–907).

Ms. Xie Meixia (top right) grew up in Anxi County of Fujian province, a place famous for its tieguanyin tea. She has devoted her entire life to the promotion of tea drinking and tea culture and is now the first and only disciple of the ancient Chinese Tang Dynasty Tea Cer-emony.

Students were able to practice taijiquan (a.k.a. tai chi), with Master Cui Zhiguang (bottom right), a fifth-generation master of Wu style and a scholar of traditional Chinese health practices. Master Cui gave a lecture and workshops for our participants, who contin-ued to practice what they learned with regular morning training sessions.

Experience Culture A

ctivities

28

中国文化

Acc

omod

atio

nsAccommodationsDuring the first week, participants stay at Beijing Foreign Studies University. For the remaining three weeks we will live together at the Nishan Birthplace of the Sage Academy. The Academy provides accommodations and meals on par with any 4-star hotel in China. Besides tuition, texts, and tours, the US $3,000 fee covers all room and board expenses at the Academy. Each participant will have their own standard double room (two queen-sized beds). All rooms have internet access, television, and private restroom/shower.

29

26

How to A

pply?Application Deadline: April 1, 2013

All application materials are available at the Center for East-West Relations website: http://en.cewr-china.com/Click on “Research” —> “Training Programs” to find all relevant information about application and payment information.

A complete application will include:

1) A completed application form (download from the website or photocopy enclosed application form); 2) A statement of about 200-500 words indicating why you are interested in the program and how it would benefit you, as well as a bit about your background; 3) Two passport-style photos; 4) An application fee of $100 US dollars.

The application fee can be paid by wire transfer, or by credit card through Paypal. If you want to pay by wire transfer, please send us an email and we will give you the account information.

Completed applications can be scanned and emailed to us or mailed to the address given below.

Email: nishansummercewrbw@gmail.com bwcewr@126.comAddress: Center for East-West Relations Beijing Foreign Studies University Student Center Rm. 301 2 Xisanhuan Beilu, Haidian District Beijing, 100089 ChinaPhone: (86)-10-88815305

How to Apply?

Program Details:

Fees: US$3,000 for tuition, room,

board, texts and tours (does not

include airfare)

Application Deadline: April 1, 2013

Institute Dates: July 6-Aug 3, 2013

• •• •• •• •• •• •

30

27

Con

tact

s

31

Contact Information:

Center for East-West Relations

Website: http://en.cewr-china.com

Blog: http://weibo.com/2404033905

Email: nishansummercewrbw@gmail.com

bwcewr@126.com

Phone/Fax: (86)-10-88815305 (international calls/ faxes)

Nishan Birthplace of the Sage Academy

Website: www.nssysy.com

School of Chinese Classics, Wuhan University

Website: http://guoxue.whu.edu.cn

Advanced Institute of Confucian Studies, Shandong University

Website: www.confucianism.sdu.edu.cn

School of English and International Studies, BFSU

Website: http://seis.bfsu.edu.cn

Middlesex Community College

Website: www.middlesex.mass.edu

Asian Studies Development Program

Website: http://www.eastwestcenter.org/education/asian-

studies-development-program

Nishan 2013