Confucian Studies Summer Institute July2-31, 2016 Nishan, Shandong, China Sponsors: Internatonal Confucian Associaton Confucian Insttute Headquarters/Hanban World Consortum for Research in Confucian Cultures Qufu Chinese Confucius Research Insttute Beijing Foreign Studies University Asian Studies Development Program, East-West Center, University of Hawaii Organizers: Consortum for Chinese Studies and Intercultural Communicaton, BFSU Ofce of Confucius Insttutes, BFSU Center for East-West Relatons, School of Internatonal Relatons and Diplomacy, BFSU Intellectual Property Publishing House Nishan Birthplace of the Sage Academy Confucius Academy of Guiyang 有朋自遠方來，不亦樂乎？ Isn’t it a joy to have friends come from afar? — Confucius Contents: Introduction……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..1 A Chronology of the Confucian Studies Summer Insttute……….…3 Organizers……………..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..…4 Faculty……….……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..……..9 Course Schedule……….……..……..……..……..……..……..……….….……..12 Actvites……….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….17 Accommodation………….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….….20 How to Apply?......…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….….....21 Contact Informaton……….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….………22 Introduction & Purpose he 2016 Nishan Confucian Studies Summer Insttute Internatonal Program for Teachers of Chinese Culture is Tan invitaton to spend a month reading the Confucian classics world-renowned experts Roger T. Ames, Chen- shan Tian and other distnguished comparatve philosophy and Confucian scholars at a newly established Con- fucian academy at the site of Confucius’s birthplace. The first three annual Summer Insttutes, held in July 2011, June 2012 and July 2013 (in Beijing), as well as the two short-term workshops July 18-28, 2014 and December 6-12, 2015, were a great success.This has become an annual gathering of the brightest students and teachers from around the world. For one month in the summer of 2016, we will come back again to the birthplace of Confucius, Nishan, and students will again read Chinese classics . Let’s welcome students and teachers interested in Chinese culture to join us for this unique educatonal and research experience. In the first decade of the approach of classical Greek phi- is to know this soul. Each of us is a 21st century, as a rising China has losophy and the more fluid and person, and from conception, has begun to be a strong presence in dynamic assumptions that have the integrity of being a person. the world’s economic and political infuenced a traditon in which the fields, what influence will this an- Book of Changes has always been In what way does a person tque civilizaton exert on an emerg- revered as first among the classics. become consummately human? ing world culture? Anticipating The 20th century philosopher Tang This was the perennial Confucian the weight and measure of China’s Junyi takes the notion of “the in- question asked explicitly in all of growing influence has become a separability of one and many” (yid- the Four Books: in the Great Learn- serious academic concern. To meet uobufen guan) as one of the distn- ing, in the Analects of Confucius, this urgent situation effectively, guishing propositions of Chinese in the Mencius, and again in the scholars must not only be aware natural cosmology—a way of think- Zhongyong. And the answer from of current affairs, but also be sen- ing about phenomena that stands the tme of Confucius was a moral, sitized through being exposed ca- in stark contrast with the “one be- aesthetic, and ultimately one in nonical texts and their interpretve hind the many” model of a classical terms of human-centered religious- contexts to take Chinese culture on Greek idealism that is grounded in ness. its own terms. The purpose of this the noton of an unchanging eidos One becomes human by program is to read such texts care- as defining of natural kinds. cultivating those thick, intrinsic fully and make them our own. relations that constitute one’s ini- What is a human “being”? tial conditions and that locate the But Chinese philosophy has This was a perennial Greek ques- trajectory of one’s life force within too frequently been read and tion asked in Plato’s Phaedo and family, community, and cosmos. interpreted through a decidedly Aristotle’s De Anima. And perhaps “Cultivate your person”— xiushen Western cultural lens, and has the most persistent answer from 修身—the signature exhortaton been theorized according to West- the time of Pythagoras was an of the Confucian canons—is the ern cultural assumptions. While ontological one: The “being” of ground of the Confucian project Chinese culture has transformed a human being is a permanent, of becoming consummate as a dramatically over the centuries, ready-made, and self-sufficient person ( ren 仁 ): it is to cultvate there are persisting cosmological soul. And “know thyself”—the sig- one’s conduct assiduously as it is commitments that have given nature exhortation of Socrates— expressed through those interde- continuity and coherence to an evolving traditon. The challenge is to adopt a hermeneutcal approach that allows us to excavate these un- common assumptons that give the philosophical texts their context, and to appreciate the structural dif- ferences in a careful reading of the canons. An informed contrast must be struck between the more stat- ic and substantial metaphysical ~1~ Organizers pendent family, community, and that is illustrated rather concisely in into dialog with Chinese scholars, cosmic roles and relatons that one the organic, ecological sensibilites business people, and friends. All lives. In this Confucian tradition, of the Great Learning 大學, the participants should have English we need each other. If there is only first of the Four Books that sets the language skills sufficient to follow one person, there are no persons. Confucian project. and understand academic lectures. Becoming consummate in our con- The program will accept twenty in- duct ( 人/仁) is something that As well, students will learn ternatonal partcipants and twenty we do , and that we either do to- about China’s recent history and from within China. The goal of the gether, or not at all. In this Confu- contemporary society. Understand- Summer Institute is to equip the cian understanding of a relatonally ing the present in light of the past, participants with a comparative, consttuted person, we are unique- students will gain new perspectves hermeneutical approach to Chi- ly one and pluralistically many at on the modern world. Considering nese canonical texts that they can the same time—each a uniquely the global trends, understanding take home with them, and that focused person defined by a field the dynamism of Chinese society they can apply to their teaching of of relatons ( 一多不分 ). And thus is a great way for students to stay Confucianism and Chinese culture for Confucians we are less human on the cutting edge of important to students with a western cultural beings than human becomings. scholarship and other opportuni- background. In order to accom- tes. plish this goal, we will undertake a In appealing to an under- careful and detailed reading of the standing of Chinese natural cos- The 2016 Nishan Confucian primary texts that will be sensitve mology as the relevant interpretve Studies Summer Institute Inter- to alternatve world views and mo- context for this Confucian project, national Program for Teachers of dalities of thinking, as well as to we will strive to provide a lan- Chinese Culture is, like those in the fundamental linguistc diferences. guage that will distinguish this previous years, designed for both worldview from the reductive, Chinese and internatonal students This month-long training single-ordered, “One-behind-the- and teachers of Chinese culture, program will be led by professors many” ontological model that literature, history and philosophy, Roger T. Ames (University of Ha- grounds classical Greek metaphys- but is also open to those who are waii) and Tian Chenshan (Beijing ical thinking wherein one comes to equipped with other vocational or Foreign Studies University), with “understand” the many by knowing academic backgrounds. Chinese a special series of lectures by Gu retrospectively the foundational language ability is not necessary, Zhengkun (Peking University), and causal ideal that lies behind but a basic familiarity with Chinese Robin R. Wang (Loyola Marymount them—in the case of human be- culture and classical texts is pre- University), Hans-Georg Moeller ings, understanding the notion of supposed. The ability to commu- (University of Macau), Li Chenyang a discrete self or soul, and insist- nicate in Chinese is a highly valued (Nanyang Technological University, ing that this individuality is what skill in today’s world. The Summer Singapore),Yao Xinzhong (Renmin makes us distinctively human. Institute will provide optional University), Wen Haiming (Renmin Instead, we find that in Chinese classes in Mandarin Chinese at the University), Zhang Qi (Peking Uni- cosmology there is a symbiotc and beginning to intermediate level so versity), Jimmy Behuniak (Colby holistic focus-field model of order that students can begin to enter College), and Ian Sullivan (Seattle University). Our time together will revolve around readings of classical texts and contemporary commentaries, seminars, discus- sion groups, cultural events and activities, and a number of field trips. ~2~ A Chronology of the Confucian Studies Summer Insttute A Chronology of the Confucian Studies Internatonal