More than 110 Harvard-Yeching scholars from at least 30 educational and research institutes of China, the United States and South Korea attended an international symposium titled "East Civilization in the process of Globalization" at Peking University from November 13 to 14.
The symposium was intended to "boost the research of Asian scholars on opportunities and challenges of globalization faced by East civilization," said Peking University professor Guan Shiji, chair of the conference.
"Globalization is exerting increasing influence on civilizations and the advancement of mankind," said Zhang Xinsheng, Vice-Minister of Education. Scholars in education, he said, must contribute to the process with their research on Eastern civilizations, especially Chinese civilization.
Peking University executive president Lin Jianhua believes that East Asia's fast economic growth, the "Asian Miracle," is linked to the traditional civilizations of Asian countries. It is important for Chinese scholars to employ Oriental wisdom, like Confucianism, to solve problems of cultural conflict and homogeneity brought by globalization.
According to Guan, the unique feature of the symposium was its interdisciplinary perspective. Fifteen forums and plenary speeches by three distinguished intellectuals Professors Tu Weiming, Tang Yijie and Xu Pingfang covered a wide range of hot topics in the social sciences and humanities.
Among the topics were Convergence, Conflict and Integration of Western and Eastern Civilizations, Economic Development, Public Policies and the Cultural Heritage of East Asia, Eastern Culture, Communication and Mass Media, and International Cultural Relations.
The 100-some conference attendees all were Harvard-Yeching Alumni. According to Zhang Xinsheng, up to now, Harvard-Yeching Institute has sponsored more than 200 Chinese mainland scholars to advance their studies at Harvard University. Many of them are engaged in teaching, research and management in the humanities and social sciences.
(China Daily November 18, 2005)
