On February 16th, a conference for the Advanced Institute for Confucian Studies of Shandong University and the unveiling ceremony of the Shandong Partnership for Humanities and Social Science Research were held.

The former Vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, and also the Dean of the Advanced Institute for Confucian Studies of SDU, Mr. Xu Jialu, President of Shandong University Xu Xianming, former Deputy Director of the Shandong Provincial People's Congress Standing Committee Wang Weitian, Standing Deputy Secretary of Party Committee of Shandong University Yin Wei, Standing Deputy Director of the Publicity Department of Shandong Provincial Party Committee Jiang Tiejun, and Deputy Bureau Director of Cultural Heritage Bureau of Shandong Province Gao Shuqun, all attended the ceremony. Fan Liming, Vice president of SDU and also the Standing Vice Dean of the Advanced Institute for Confucian Studies of SDU, hosted the ceremony. Xu Jialu and Jiang Tiejun unveiled the plaque for the Shandong Partnership for Humanities and Social Science Research together.

Mr. Xu Jialu said the integration and formation of the Advanced Institute for Confucian Studies of SDU reflects SDU’s awareness of world trends and desire to keep up with the times. Xu Jialu then put forward three expectations for the new Advanced Institute for Confucian Studies.

First, be fully aware of the situation that the Advanced Institute for Confucian Studies is confronted with. Confucianism is an open system today and in the past, the institute needs to open to the whole province, the whole country and the whole world. Confucianism is ethics, philosophy and at the same time, the study of enlightenment. He said the institute must fully perform the function of moralization of Confucianism, insist to give consideration to both high-end study and popularity, and combine basic study and application study.

Second, the Advanced Institute for Confucian Studies needs to abide by the policy of “harmony without uniformity”, it requires a unified norm and it need to protect and encourage the individuality of each person. Only with “harmony without uniformity”, maintaining individuality, specialty, interest and accumulation, can the whole enterprise go forward. In a word, that is to put the marrow of Chinese culture into practice in the management and development of the institute.

Third, pay attention to the present. Taking the Ni Shan Forum as an example, it needs to set high standards when accepting drafts for publication and presentation. The articles must be thorough and academically sound but also relevant to contemporary society. The articles need to be equally aware of theory, practice, and have a historical perspective.

Xu Xianming said that at the beginning of the year, SDU decided to integrate the original Advanced Institute for Confucian Studies, the Center for Confucian studies, the Institute of Literature, History & Philosophy, and editorial department of the journal “Literature, History & Philosophy” to establish new Advanced Institute for Confucian Studies. This decision was based on sufficient research, all-round consideration, overall analysis and serious study.

Xu also expressed that the integration and establishment of the new Advanced Institute for Confucian Studies is an irresistible trend in line with the changing world culture. It is also inevitable in the face of the rejuvenation of Chinese civilization, and the function of the university to innovate and preserve culture heritage.

The integration and establishment of the new Advanced Institute for Confucian Studies is also to satisfy the need of SDU to be a world-class university. SDU needs to make full use of its historical and geographic advantages, such as being located in the home province of Confucius and Mencius, being rooted in the Qilu culture, and having a history of excellence in the studies of history and literature.

Xu Xianming said that through the integration of the former, smaller units, the new Institute for Advanced Confucian Studies can combine their strengths and resources to be even more productive. Under the guidance of eminent scholars such as Xu Jialu and Pang Pu and with the support of the well known journal “Literature, History, and Philosophy”, the institute will be more effective and successful than ever.

We believe that with literature, history and philosophy as its strengths, the new Advanced Institute for Confucian Studies will be more solid and stable and play a powerful role in preserving the ancient culture, developing new culture based on the ancient one and in deepening communication between China and the West.

From now on, SDU will provide the policy of giving priority to the Institute, including programme, financial resources, talents and service. With that in mind, we hope that the new institute will maintain high standards and high-level criteria. Under the premise of respecting the law of academic development, through solid efforts, we hope to establish the institute as a national center of inheritance and innovation of Chinese culture and the world center of promoting Confucianism. With this as a starting point, SDU will become a model university of inheritance, study, and innovation of Chinese traditional culture.

We hope that after the establishment of the Shandong Partnership for Humanities and Social Science Research, it could cooperate with the new Institute, refer to national, provincial and local huge issue as a link, integrate the advantageous resources of the whole province, the whole country and even the whole world to conduct the research of humanities and social science; at the same time, take advantage of Shandong Province’s special status in Chinese culture, integrate humanities and social science resources of the whole province, the whole country and the whole world to promote the prosperity of Qilu culture.

We firmly believe that taking the Advanced Institute for Confucian Studies and Shandong Partnership for Humanities and Social Science Research as a platform, with study of Confucianism as leading and a starting point, the study of humanities and social science in SDU will usher in a splendid new era and make new contributions to the construction of Shandong province’s culture undertakings and the inheritance and innovation of Chinese culture.

In his speech, Jiang Tiejun expressed his warm congratulations on the establishment of the Advanced Institute for Confucian Studies of Shandong University and the Shandong Partnership for Humanities and Social Science Research. He said the establishment of the Advanced Institute for Confucian Studies of Shandong University would promote the overall improvement of the level of Confucian study of Shandong University, and thus stimulate the development of humanities and social sciences of Shandong province.

The establishment of Shandong Partnership for Humanities and Social Science Research would effectively lead the rise of the study of humanities and social sciences in Shandong province, and would surely play an important part in passing on culture, educating people and serving the society, and would make an important contribution to the construction of humanities and social sciences system with Chinese characteristics and Chinese style.

The prosperity of cultural undertakings of Shandong province needs the strong support from all aspects. Shandong University is the highest seat of learning in Shandong province. The establishment of the Advanced Institute for Confucian Studies of Shandong University and the Shandong Partnership for Humanities and Social Science Research would certainly inject new vitality into the development of humanities and social sciences of Shandong province, and restoring the resplendence of Qilu culture, and realizing the transformation from a province rich in cultural resources to a strong cultural province.

At the ceremony, Yin Wei read relevant documents on the integration and establishment of the Advanced Institute for Confucian Studies of Shandong University and the establishment of the Party committee of the Institute.

Wang Xuedian, Executive Vice Dean of the Advanced Institute for Confucian Studies of Shandong University, gave a comprehensive introduction and details of the nature and positioning, basic idea of research and short-term work plan of the Advanced Institute for Confucian Studies of Shandong University.

During his stay at Shandong University, Xu Jialu also attended a meeting of teachers and students from the Advanced Institute for Confucian Studies, held talks with some experts and scholars, visit tenured professor of SDU Pang Pu, and visited the library of the institute and the editorial department of the journal of “Literature, History & Philosophy.”

The Advanced Institution for Confucian Studies of Shandong University was established on April 21, 2010. The institution is a product of joint effort by the Shandong Provincial Government and Shandong University. At a time of economic globalization and cultural diversity, it aims at exploring the values of traditional Chinese culture in modern times and promoting the cultural essence shared by all the Chinese people. The purpose of the institution is to facilitate high-quality education, enhance scientific research, and promote cultural integration by capitalizing on Shandong University's privilege in its closeness to the birthplace of Confucius and its strength in Confucianism studies, thus contributing to the research, popularization and spread of Confucianism.

In the first month of 2012, in order to make Shandong University a world Confucianism center, to make Confucianism the first top-ranking discipline in the world, thus promoting its related disciplines, SDU decided to integrate the former Advanced Institution for Confucian Studies, Center for Confucian Studies, Institution of Literature History and Philosophy and Editorial Department of Journal of Literature, History and Philosophy, to establish a new Advanced Institution for Confucian Studies.

The new institution adopts an “open operation attitude, equal treatment of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, and aims to lead the research into classic academics” as its strategy. It gives equal status to Song and Han Dynasties, literature and critical thinking, study of Confucian classics and history of philosophy, literature handed down from ancient times and unearthed literature, textual research and significance, the past and the present, basic research and development as well as the study of Chinese culture and western culture, etc. It has proposed a balanced strategy for scientific development, in order to carry out the study of Confucianism in such fields as academic programs, academic activities and academic publications. The arrangement and research in “Commentary and Subcommentary to the Thirteen Classics’’ will be started before long as the first project of the new institution.

Shandong Partnership for Humanities and Social Science Research is a platform for the study of humanities, science and society within the Shandong Province. It has the functions of both non-government institution and substantive organization. It chooses great subjects as the bond and integrates academic resources in Shandong Province, inside the country and even abroad, to do research into the different parts of Qilu Culture, such as Confucian Culture, Jixia Culture, Daiyue Culture, and Blue Sea Culture, etc.

Written by: Lu Yichen, Yu Jialium, Liu Yuehan, Zhao Huan

Photo by: Yang Yunlei

Edited by: Ben Hammer, Jing Zizhao

Source:www.en.sdu.edu.cn,www.view.sdu.edu.cn