On November 12, 1966, the birthday of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, President Chiang Kai-shek provided the inspiration for the Chinese Cultural Renaissance Movement. Dr. Sun's birthday was designated Chinese Cultural Renaissance Day. The Chungshan Building on Yangmingshan (Grass Mountain) just north of Taipei was dedicated as a Chinese cultural hall and since has served as a principal rallying point for advance of the movement. President Chiang referred to Taiwan province as "the unique treasure house conserving all the best in China's literature and artifacts".
In late August of 1968, the Republic of China undertook one of the biggest steps yet in the Renaissance Movement. Convening in the Ta Cheng Hall of the China Academy on Yangmingshan was the first International Sinological Conference. In attendance were 212 scholars from 20 countries. Fifty-five foreigners and 42 Chinese came from overseas for the five days of sessions from August 26 through 30. The conferees decided to establish a permanent organization with a secretariat at the China Academy. Meetings will be held in Taipei each August or September. Chapters will be formed throughout the world to conduct and encourage Chinese studies.
Although interest in sinology has increased rapidly during the last two decades, the success of the first international conference exceeded expectations of even the preparatory committee. The number of participants was 50 per cent higher than had been estimated. A total of 176 research papers and reports was presented on subjects ranging through Chinese history, philosophy, religion, fine arts, literature, music and drama.
Welcoming the scholars was Dr. Chang Chi-yun, president of the sponsoring China Academy and board chairman of the College of Chinese Culture and Institute for Advanced Chinese Studies. The former minister of education called attention to the Chinese concept of jen, which combines the ideas of goodness, benevolence, love and humanity in a single term. It is jen, Dr. Chang said, that forms the core of the Confucian tradition and the Chinese spirit. Out of jen come the tolerance and the love that have brought the Chinese together for a way of life and work that eschews racial discrimination and religious and class differences. The way of jen is that of harmony originating in respect and affection for one's fellow men. When Confucius was asked to define jen, he said it meant to "love men". He identified its five constituent virtues as courtesy, magnanimity, good faith, diligence and kindness. Responding to Dr. Chang were sinologists from Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Germany and France - all expressing themselves fluently in Chinese, which was the exclusive language of the conference. Honored guests included Dr. Sun Fo, the son of Dr. Sun Yat-sen and president of the Examination Yuan, and Dr. Chang Chun, the secretary general of the Presidential Office.
The academic atmosphere of Yangmingshan provided an ideal setting for a conference dedicated to the furtherance of knowledge. Exhibits of interest were displayed in Ta Cheng Hall, including recent books and publications, procedures involved in preparing the Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Chinese Language, contemporary painting and calligraphy, musical instruments, ceramics, Buddhist art and culture, and materials from Japan and Korea.
The principal theme of the conference was "Interflow of Eastern and Western Culture During the Sung, Yuan and Ming Dynasties". Many of the papers concerned this subject and these periods. The range was eclectic rather than narrow, however, and other presentations went into wide-ranging aspects of Chinese history, philosophy, literature, music and fine arts. Ideas were exchanged both formally and informally. Smaller group meetings were held during the afternoons. Evenings brought round-table Chinese dinner parties and opportunities to get acquainted.
Stress was on the humanities at the first conference. For next year social sciences will receive the emphasis. Then will come the natural and applied sciences in 1970 and a return to humanities the year following. The papers presented will be published by the China Academy and in time come to be a valuable addition to sinology and an important resource tool for the teacher and student of Chinese culture. Much of the research was new and cast light on unexplored or little known areas of China's long and complicated history.
These are examples of the new materials that were presented for the information of the conference and for free discussion by the more than 200 authorities on China and the Chinese:
-The Meaning of Taoism and Its Reflection in the West
-Philosophical Nature of Chu Hsi's Doctrine of Orthodox Transmission of the Confucian Tradition
-Influence of Taoism and Buddhism in Chinese Society of the Sung Dynasty
-Study of the Tung Huang Shih Chin Manuscripts
-Mongolian Law in the 18th Century
-Thoughts of Kung Yang Chia
-Moism in Europe and America
-History of the Sino-Italian Relationship
-Cultural Interflow Between Iran and China
-Mohammedanism in the Ming Dynasty
-Western Musical Instruments Imported Into China During the Yuan Dynasty
-Chinese and Hindu Literature
Chinese influence on the political thought of Japan was analyzed. Paintings of the Northern and Southern Sung periods were discussed and compared. The variety and depth of the scholarship gave clear indication that sinology has reached the point of intensive specialization. This led to discussion of the need for an improved availability of resource materials and reference sources. Suggestions were made for increased Far Eastern scholarly cooperation, including the exchange of rare books and historical records. Cultural histories of the region are interrelated, it was pointed out. The influence of Chinese culture has to be recognized to understand the cultural development of such countries as Japan, Korea and Vietnam. Research methods also were intensively discussed.
Scholars had opportunity to see the treasures housed at the National Palace Museum. They also visited the National Historical Museum, the National Central Library and the Armed Forces Historical Museum. They saw Chinese opera, folk dances and movies. There was no mistake of "all work and no play" - but the play was strictly of Chinese cultural origin.
On the third day, Dr. Chang Chi-yun conferred honorary degrees of law and literature on seven eminent scholars:
-Dr. Sun Fo, president of the Examination Yuan
-Dr. Chang Chih-pen, authority on the Chinese Constitution
-Dr. Chen Li-fu, educator
-Dr. Liang Chin-tung, historian
-Dr. Koo Yee-chun, philosopher and professor of the College of Chinese Culture
-Dr. Lee Sun Keun, dean of the Graduate School of Kyung Hee University of Seoul
-Dr. Eufrenio M. Alip, president of the National Historical Society of the Philippines.
All seven have made significant contributions to Chinese cultural scholarship or exchange.
Historian Liang addressed the convocation on Confucianism as seen through the eyes of Sung Lien and through Ming dynasty scholarship and contrasted these views with his conception of Confucianism's place in the world of today. He said that since Confucianism embraces both individual and social life in moral, scientific and artistic aspects, it has a large contribution to make in the modern world. Sinology has the responsibility for transmitting this great heritage, he said, and went on to point out the substantial values to be found in Confucian emphasis on inner harmony and interpersonal relationships. As a philosophy, Dr. Liang said, Confucianism can be a stabilizing influence in the fast-changing order of an environment dominated by science.
Dr. Lee of Korea pointed out that while the educators of the West have the advantage of all that is new in science, they are unable to cope with the unrest of students. The world has been made smaller by transportation and communication, he continued, yet the West remains relatively uninformed of the values that the East has to contribute. Dean Lee said that such groups as the International Sinological Conference must carry the messages of the Orient to Western civilization. Out of this can come a new historical perspective that is sorely needed throughout the world. Spiritual leadership is essential, he stipulated, to help solve the problems of mankind everywhere.
Dr. Orient Lee presided at the final session that decided to make the organization permanent and to hold annual conferences. Conferees also resolved to publish an annual index of work under way in sinology. Discussion centered on the promotion of China studies around the world and on whether to change the Chinese term for sinology from Han hsueh to Hua hsueh.
Dr. Chang Chi-yun said the participants had made possible a highly successful and memorable meeting. The papers presented were of uniformly high standard, he added, and the interchange of ideas and information should serve sinology well in the years to come. Shigeo Kishibe of Japan represented the participants in thanking Dr. Chang, the preparatory committee and the secretariat for an outstanding conference. The host at dinner for the last evening was Vice President and Prime Minister C. K. Yen.
Although the world has long understood the importance of China and the Chinese cultural contribution, sinology as a serious field of study for large numbers of Western scholars is a comparatively recent development. Universities throughout the world are establishing departments of Far Eastern and Chinese studies. Not only is the Chinese language taught at the college level but also in a number of American high schools.
Along with Taipei, Hongkong is a principal observation post for study of events on the mainland. But it is Taipei, not Hongkong, that has become the world center of sinology. Hundreds of China studies graduates are coming to perfect their Chinese language and to study documentary materials available at the various museums and libraries and the Academia Sinica. Sinologists have come, too, for many smaller meetings and to exchange information at seminars and specialized institutes.
The International Sinological Conference has in effect brought all these tendencies and efforts into a single movement that serves the ends of cultural renaissance as well as those of addition to and refinement of the knowledge of the past. President Chiang has said that the idea of renaissance means a going forward in the spirit of Chinese culture. The free Chinese of Taiwan have the responsibility of countering the cultural destruction of the Chinese Communists on the mainland. That responsibility was well expressed and bore bountiful fruit in the sessions at the China Academy.
Both the scholarship that was expressed and the free and harmonious exchange of ideas were in total contrast to the monopoly of the thought of Mao and the rejection of 5,000 years of Chinese history only a hundred miles from Ta Cheng Hall. Chinese culture is not only dynamically alive but moving forward. It is storing up new materials for the fast approaching day when all of the Chinese people again will have opportunity to lead and enjoy their own way of life.