Earlier in August, an event called the “2025 香港哲學紫剂國際論壇 / 2025 Hong Kong Bauhinia International Philosophy Forum” was held in Hong Kong. Prof. Tu Wei-ming delivered a keynote address (on-line). Since then, there has been considerable controversy about the event — which did not prominently feature any Hong Kong-born philosophers — and about Tu’s remarks, which were broadly apolitical. In particular, this critical essay by Cheung Chan Fai 張燦輝, former chair of the CUHK Philosophy Department, and Lee Shui-Chuen 李瑞全 of National Central University’s Philosophy Department (and an important contemporary Confucian voice) has received a great deal of attention.
Warp, Weft, and Way
Chinese and Comparative Philosophy 中國哲學與比較哲學
We need to Romanize the names 張燦輝 and 李瑞全 as Cheung Chan Fai and Lee Shui-Chuen, respectively. That’s how they Romanize their own names, and it’s disrespectful to force Mandarin pronunciation on them. Ironic, too, in view of the substance of their critique.
Fair enough, thanks!
Steve,
Since you’ve changed the Romanization in the post, feel free to delete my comment!
Paul
As a reminder, policy here at Warp, Weft, and Way is that commentators are required to identify themselves with their full names — please see https://warpweftandway.com/about/. Thank you!
Dear all — substantive comments are welcome, but anonymous expressions of feelings are not. There are places for that, to be sure, but this blog is not one of them. I hope you understand! (I have removed some comments.)
Could you explain some of the controversy? There isn’t a link to the talk and the post doesn’t clarify the issues, and the things it highlights are a bit confusing. The speech was (allegedly) apolitical but it lead to controversy. No HK natives were featured prominently. What’s going on?
Yes, Steve, if there was supposed to be an active link to Tu’s speech, it’s not working now.