On February 17, the Nishan Forum organizing committee convened its 7th working conference in Beijing. Xu Jialu, Vice-Chairman of the Ninth and Tenth National People’s Congress Standing Committee and President of Nishan Forum Organizing Committee, presided over the conference. Other leaders including Xing Bensi, Ru Xin, Chen Jian, Ye Xiaowen, Xing Yunming, Liu Changle, Xu Lin, Xu Xianming, Chen Qiutu, Vice-Presidents of the Nishan Forum Organizing Committee and Sun Shougang, member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Shandong Provincial Committee and Director of the Publicity Department of the CPC Shandong Provincial Committee, were present at the conference.

Xu Jialu pointed out, after the success of Paris-Nishan Forum and New York-Nishan Forum last year, the forum was developing into an academic platform of significant clout in the fields of politics, economy and culture both at home and abroad. The forum is gradually becoming more international, and features a growing depth of themes and a rising popularity.

Xu Xianming gave the preparatory work report representing Shandong University, which was the executive organizer of the Third Nishan Forum. He pointed out that, located near the hometowns of Confucius and Mencius, SDU developed advantages and distinctive features in its disciplines in its long history of development. He also said that SDU considers the Third Nishan Forum, to be hosted by SDU, a valuable opportunity to build SDU into a high-level platform of traditional culture, as well as a world center of Confucianism. This would give SDU a prominent position in the fields of Confucianism and dialogues among civilizations. SDU highly valued the forum and ensured that it ran smoothly.

Xu Xianghong, Director of Cultural Heritage Bureau of Shandong Province and Secretary-General of Nishan Forum Organizing Committee, gave the five-year work report of Nishan Forum. Vice President of SDU Chen Yan, representatives of standing member organizations of Nishan Forum Organizing Committee, representatives of China News Agency and Phoenix Satellite Television as well as heads of related departments in SDU attended the conference.

The Third Nishan Forum will be held at SDU from May 21 to 23, 2014. The forum is to serve as a significant platform to enhance the China’s cultural soft power and improve the cooperation and communication of counties around the world. The forum adheres to the principles of combining internationalization and regionalization. Theme of this Nishan Forum is preliminarily set as “Common Human Ethics That Transcend Beliefs”, with subtopics including “The Appeal for Common Human Ethics in the Modern Crisis”, “The Necessity and Possibility of Constructing Common Human Ethics in Multicultural Background”, “The Nature and Connotation of Common Human Ethics”, “Confucianism and Common Human Ethics”.

Source:www.view.sdu.edu.cn