Introduction of Western Learning and
Cultural Consciousness

The international symposium on “Introduction of Western Learning and Cultural Consciousness”, organized by the Archives for the Introduction of Western Knowledge, Department of Philosophy, Sun Yat-sen University, hosted by Changan Township, Dongguan City, in cooperation with the Macau Ricci Institute and Poznan University, Poland, was held successfully in Changan, Dongguan City from April 27th to 29th, 2008.

To promote the study in the eastward approach of Western thought, the Archives for the Introduction of Western Knowledge, Sun Yat-sen University, had invited more than 20 foreign and domestic experts and scholars from countries and regions such as Poland, Canada, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau in addition to mainland China to attend the symposium, who delivered altogether 17 papers in either English or Chinese languages . The rich and variegated presentations focused on the role played by the Polish and French missionaries in the Chinese-Western cultural exchanges and the participants also had a wide and warm discussion on the issue of cultural awareness arisen from the research of the modern and contemporary Chinese thoughts.

The symposium organizer had invited for the occasion Piotr Sławiński, consul-general at the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland to Guangzhou, Vice President of Sun Yat-sen University, Janusz Wiśniewski, Vice President of Poznan University, Poland, and the Party Secretary of Changan Township, Dongguan City to attend and deliver addresses at the opening ceremony. Highlights of the symposium include the account of the Jesuit priests from Poland in China made by Fr. Artur K. Wardega, director of the Macau Ricci Institute, and the analysis of the missionary work and commercial activities engaged by the missionaries in the late Ming Dynasty by Tereza Sena, the Macau Ricci Institute research fellow. Several Polish scholars presented their studies respectively on the contributions to China made by the Polish missionaries during the Ming and Qing dynasties, such as the review of contribution made by Jan Mikołaj Smogulecki, a missionary from Poland, to the Chinese-Western cultural exchange, delivered by professors Sylwia Witkowska and Leszek Gęsiak; the analysis of the attitude of Michał Boym towards the Chinese rites made by Professor Aleksander W. Mikołajczak based on Boym's works; and the discussion of the significance of Michał Boym's translation entitled Flora Sinensis (zhong guo zhi wu zhi), a Latin version of the Chinese Compendium of Materia Medica (ben cao gang mu), in propagating the Chinese knowledge in the West.

In terms of the concrete propagation of Western knowledge, Prof. Vincent Tsing-song Shen from Canada, by analyzing the reason why the soul theory put forward by Aristotle was introduced to China and by examining how the early translation of “On the Soul” was done in China, concluded that Aristotle's idea of the matter has influenced the understanding by the missionaries of the “emptiness” prevalent in the Buddhism and “nothingness” in the Taoism. Prof. Wu Yixiong of Sun Yat-sen University, in his paper presented at the symposium, analyzed the transition from the traditional somatology to the more sophisticated physiology and discussed in detail the role played by the understanding of somatology in accelerating the evolution of modern Chinese thought. Thierry Meynard, Associate Professor of Sun Yat-sen University, analyzed, from the perspective of politics, the ancient Greek idea of friendship brought to China by the Western missionaries, using Recorded Sayings of the Path of Fullest Attainment (da dao ji yan, also translated as Illustration of the Dao of the Five Relations or Illustrations of the Dao) by Fr. Alfonso Vagnone and “On Friendship” (qiu you pian) by Fr. Martino Martini as cases for discussion.

As far as the methodology is concerned, professors Jin Guantao and Liu Qingfeng of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, by using the approach of databank, revealed that the study of modern Chinese thought was focused on the formation of concepts and delineated different stages of the process. Prof. Liu Xiaogan of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and Prof. Lin An-wu of the National Taiwan Normal University, on the other hand, were dedicated to reflect on the issues in relation to the methodology of Chinese philosophy by using the traditional Chinese thought to interpret the Western concepts. Prof. Huang Jiande of Sun Yat-sen University, by sorting out the “theory of cultural awareness” put forward by Prof. Fei Xiaotong, a renowned Chinese sociologist and anthropologist, proposed that the spirit of “cultural awareness” should be applied to the study of the eastward transmission of Western learning.

In addition, Prof. Feng Tianyu of Wuhan University, by making a careful study of key words, commented on the translation of the terms of Western learning by the new missionaries in China and discussed the debate on the inter-translatability of Chinese and Western terms.

By assisting in contacting the scholars in Poland, the Macau Ricci Institute had taken an active part in the symposium and helped to construct a useful platform for academic exchange with limited resources. Through the symposium, both foreign and domestic scholars had an in-depth interactive discussion, strengthened the exchange of views in their related fields of study, with the expectation to increase their academic influence through their research work.


This text is based on an article entitled “A Summary Report on the International Symposium on ‘the Eastward Approach of Western Learning and the Cultural Awareness'”, available on the website of the Office of International Cooperation & Exchange, Sun Yat-sen University.