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Beijing Forum 2009: Panel Session on
Eastern Wisdom as a Resource in
Solving the Global Crisis
PKU NEWS 2009—11—10
http://ennews.pku.edu.cn/news.php?s=257839246
Diaoyutai State Guest House, Beijing. Nov. 10, 2009: Scholars from both eastern
and western countries were convened together and gave their understanding and
ideas on the topic of ―Eastern Wisdom as a Resource in Solving the Global Crisis‖.
The session was divided into two parts: ―Distinct Expressions of the Crisis and Their
Characteristics in Different Cultures‖ and ―The Teachings of Lao Zi, Confucius and
Sun Zi‖. All the speakers gave their lectures in Chinese.
The recent economic crisis has attracted scholars‘ attentions from a wide range of
disciplines. Prof. Cheng Chung-Ying from University of Hawaii pointed out that how a
culture realizes the coordinated development between self-saving and external
communication with other cultures becomes a core problem. He divided the current
crisis into three categories: ecological crisis, economic crisis, and ethical crisis,
which are also called three ―e‖ crises. Through analyzing their different functions in
human society, he figured out that the Chinese traditional Confucianism may be
useful in realizing the fundamental value correctly.
Prof. Tanaka Issei from the University of Tokyo gave a lecture named ―The
Significance of the Thought of Resurrection behind Primitive Sacrificial Ceremony in
the Face of Today‘s Crisis‖. Through a large number of pictures and videos on the
primitive sacrificial ceremonies in Hong Kong and Jiangxi Province, he explained to
us that this kind of form may be a way for the government to resume productivity
during the crisis period.
In the lecture ―Some Reflections on the Concept of ―Eastern Wisdom and Its
Utilization‖, Prof. Isabelle Rabut from Institut National des Langues et Civilisations
Orientales raised some questions related to the concept of ―Eastern/ Oriental
wisdom‖ from a cultural and common sense perspective. These questions contained
as follows: the precise definition of ―eastern wisdom‖, the cultures‘ certain values and
standards of behavior, and the new appraisal of ―eastern wisdom‖. In the end, she
pointed out that wisdom should not be turned into another field of competition in a
context of acute competition in economy, military power or even sport.
Prof. Yang Huilin from Renmin University of China gave his lecture ―A Case Study of
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