Category Archives: Contemporary Confucianism
Tongdong Bai’s Book Symposium on Against Political Equality—The Confucian Case
City University of Hong Kong is presenting an online book symposium on Tong Dongbai’s Against Political Equality: The Case of Confucianism:
Date: October 23, 2020 (Friday)
Time: 9:00am-12:00pm (HKT)
Venue: Online (The panel will be held in Zoom)
Participants:
Tongdong Bai, Fudan University
Sungmoon Kim, City University of Hong Kong
Alan Patten, Princeton University
Russell A. Fox, Friends University
Hui-chieh Loy, National University of Singapore
Registration is required to attend this event. To register, please email Mr. David Chung: kinchung@cityu.edu.hk.
The following is an abstract of Tong Dongbai’s book:
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Jiwei Ci’s Book Symposium on Democracy in China—The Coming Crisis
City University of Hong Kong is presenting an online book symposium on Jiwei Ci’s Democracy in China: The Coming Crisis:
Date: October 24, 2020 (Saturday)
Time: 9:00am-12:00pm (HKT)
Venue: Online (The panel will be held in Zoom)
Participants:
Jiwei Ci, University of Hong Kong
Sungmoon Kim, City University of Hong Kong
Joseph Chan, University of Hong Kong
Tomer Perry, Minerva Schools at KGI
Registration is required to attend this event. To register, please email Mr. David Chung: kinchung@cityu.edu.hk.
The following is an abstract of Jiwei Ci’s book:
Bai On-Line Lecture on Confucian Meritocracy
This talk is co-sponsored by Rutgers Global-China Office. It is open to the public, but registration is required; please see below for information.
Confucianism and Resistance in Hong Kong
Earlier this month Joseph Chan, a well-known authority on Confucianism at the University of Hong Kong, published a short essay (in Chinese) that draws on the Analects (especially 8:13) to think about people’s responsibilities when a state “lacks the Way.” A very brief summary: when Confucius says that in a state lacking the Way one should “yin 隱” (which is translated “conceal” in that Ctext link), he does not mean that one should hide away and fail to engage with the society. It might be worth contrasting this with questions raised in 2014 during the Umbrella Movement about the lack of Confucian discourse at that time.
Upcoming Zoom Lecture: Confucianism as religion in light of Indonesia
Bin Song will be giving a zoom talk about Confucianism as religion in light of Indonesia on June 20 at 8:00am EDT; for more information, please see this poster (which includes a QR code that can be scanned to register.
Bin Song on Ru Meditation
Bin Song has begun a podcast series of Ru meditation, starting from several audios about Ru Breathing. They are currently in his website: https://binsonglive.wordpress.com/ru-breathing/. He plans to do more in the future including topics such as postures of Ru meditation, Ru meditation in Motion, and how to manage one’s emotions, etc. Check it out!
New Book: State-Society Relations and Confucian Revivalism in Contemporary China
Qin PANG has published State-Society Relations and Confucian Revivalism in Contemporary China (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019); see here for details. The abstract:
This book is a study of the causes of the Confucian revival and the party-state’s response in China today. It concentrates on the interactions between state and society, and the implications for the Chinese state’s control over society, or in other words, its survival over a rapidly modernizing society. The book explores the answers to questions such as: Why has Confucianism suddenly gathered great momentum in contemporary Chinese society? What is the role of the Chinese state in its rise? Is the state really the orchestrator of the Confucian revival as has been widely assumed? This book will be of interest to think-tank and policy researchers, sinologists, and those with an interest in Chinese society.
New Book: Bai, Against Political Equality—The Confucian Case
Bai Tongdong writes with information about his new book — congratulations!
My new book, Against Political Equality—The Confucian Case was just published by Princeton University Press. In this book, I offer a viable political alternative to liberal democracy that is inspired by Confucian ideas. In domestic governance, I argue that Confucianism can embrace the liberal aspects of democracy along with the democratic ideas of equal opportunities and governmental accountability to the people. But Confucianism would give more political decision-making power to those with the moral, practical, and intellectual capacities of caring for the people. While most democratic thinkers still focus on strengthening equality to cure the ills of democracy, the proposed hybrid regime—made up of Confucian-inspired meritocratic elements with democratic elements and a quasiliberal system of laws and rights—recognizes that egalitarian elements are sometimes in conflict with good governance and the protection of liberties, and defends liberal aspects by restricting democratic ones. I apply these views to the international realm by supporting a hierarchical order, the “Confucian New Tian Xia Order,” based on how humane each state is toward its own and other peoples, and the principle of international interventions under this order whereby humane responsibilities override sovereignty.
PUP’s official link: https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691195995/against-political-equality
(Enter discount code BAI1 on the PUP website to get 30% off, through June 30, 2020. *Shipping charges and local import fees apply*)
Amazon’s page:
https://www.amazon.com/Against-Political-Equality-Confucian-Princeton-China/dp/0691195994/
New Journal / Roundtable on Kim, Confucian Public Reason
Thanks to Kyung Rok Kwon for sharing the following information and the linked PDF of the the journal’s roundtable!
The Hong Kong Journal of Law and Public Affairs (HKJLPA) is the first student-edited
law and political science journal in all of Asia, established by the Government and Laws
Committee, Politics and Public Administration Association, with full support
from the Bachelor of Social Sciences (Government and Laws) and Bachelor of Laws
Programme (BSocSc (Govt&Laws) & LLB / Government and Laws / GLaws) at The University
of Hong Kong in 2018.
The theme of the inaugural volume is “Confucian Democracy and Constitutionalism”. In this volume, not only four articles on the theme but also book symposium for Prof. Kim’s Public Reason Confucianism will be published. The full text of the issue is available for download here.