Archives of Peking University News - PKU English - 北京大学

北京大学英语新闻网/Peking University News
Face to face with Tu Wei-ming
By Ma Keke, Wu Chen
PKU NEWS 2003—10—23
http://ennews.pku.edu.cn/news.php?s=72159734
Peking University, Beijing, Oct. 23rd : Tu Wei-ming, the president of
Harvard-Yenching Institute on Thursday attend the reception ceremony banquet of
the Conference of East Asian‘s View on World Culture in TianHong Plaza Hotel,
Beijing and deliver a speech to welcome all the participant.
After the banquet, PKU News Journalist Ma Keke talked with Tu Wei-ming, on some
topics about Neo-Confusion.
Ma: As college students, what can we do to achieve to be ideal public intellectuals in
you mind?
Du : College students can be seen as potential public intellectuals. Public
intellectuals refer to those who concern politics, involve themselves into society and
stress culture at the same time. College students should first build a solid academic
foundation and then extend their interests into other fields outside the original major.
The Confucianism tells us that the process of one‘s perfecting himself is a process of
extending ,to break all kinds of limitations. These limitations include selfishness,
clannishness, nationalism and even human-centeredness . Meanwhile ,college
students should also possess a strong notion of ―root‖, to develop their internal
merits. To combine both directions of development, college students will become
real public intellectuals.
Ma : Huntingdun hold the idea of the confrontations between civilizations , while Mr
Du emphasizes the dialogue between civilizations. So what kind of role does the
Confucianism can play in this dialogue?
Du : The Confucian culture advocates the participation into the society, which does
not mean the complete agreement with the existing social structure .To improve is
also a point of Confucianism. Many religions can not give an enough approval of the
existing world. However, Confucianism can provide a space for different religions
and customs to participate into modern society and try to improve it at the same time.
Therefore, Confucianism can keep a cooperative contact with other religions. For
instance, a man can become a ―Confucian‖ Christian ,or a ―Confucian‖ Buddhist. This
indicates the tolerance of Confucianism, which can play a vital role in the dialogue
1376