December 19th and 20th, the 6th session of Unirule Master Thoughts Class (2015) was held in Beijing. This session was joined by Professor HE Guanghu from Renmin University, and Mr. LIU Junning, Researcher of Institute of Chinese Culture.
December 19th, Professor HE Guanghu spoke on “Christianity and Modern Civilisation.” Professor HE introduced the three main aspects of the evolution of the modern civilisations, namely, technology, institution, and mentality. He also shed light upon the four movements that laid the foundation of modernity, namely, the Renaissance, Protestant Reformation, the scientific revolution, and the Enlightenment. He ended with the mechanism and process of the modernisation of civilisation. Later on, Professor HE analysed the relation between Christianity and modern civilisation from a comparative perspective with examples of the classics, western civilisation, and modern civilisation. And he proposed that the core of Christianity had become the basic and fundamental spirit of modern civilisation.
On the evening of December 19th, a commencement ceremony was held. Professor SHENG Hong, Director of Unirule; Professor ZHANG Shuguang, Chairman of Unirule Academic Committee; Professor ZHAO Nong from CASS; Professor HE Weifang from Tsinghua University; and Professor SUN Liping from Tsinghua University were present at the ceremony.
On the evening of December 18th, Professor LEI Yi from CASS joined the students of the Class for tea.
December 20th, Mr. LIU Junning spoke on “Conservative Constitutionalism.” He pointed out that there were two super powers in modern history, one was the US, and the other, the UK. What the two nations had in common was a tradition of conservatism. There was a Conservative Party in the UK, and there was a Republic Party in the US, besides, there was a Democratic Party in the old US South. What led the two nations to supremacy was not only economic, military, or technological advantages, but also the tradition of liberalism and conservatism.
He thought among many a thought in contemporary China, Conservatism was of the most significance. It was most relevant to the reality, and it was time for China to take the lessons from other nations of the world in terms of modernisation. He stressed that the main driving force of China’s prosperity and freedom is the change of mindset and values. |