The Cross-Straits Seminar on Sinology was held on September 29th in Taipei City with joint efforts from the Philosophy Department of Taiwan University and Pingtan Cross-Straits Center of Guoxue. The event brought forth more than 20 famous Sinologists offering their professional advice and suggestions on the development of Pingtan Cross-Straits Center of Guoxue. The Center also signed a cooperative agreement with universities in Taiwan to work on creating a “common spiritual homeland” for people across the Taiwan Straits.

Guests signing in for the seminar (photo/ptnet.cn）

In the seminar, guests discussed the inheritance and development of Sinology across the Straits, and the future direction for Pingtan Cross-Straits Center of Guoxue. Taiwan scholars present fully endorsed the concept of the construction of Cross-Straits Center of Guoxue, and provided their own unique insights and substantial suggestions.

A scene of the seminar (photo/ptnet.cn）

The speech by Lin Congyi

Lin Congyi, Vice President of Taiwan’s Cheng Kung University came from Pingtan, he was amazed of the changes in his hometown and pleasantly surprised that it could become a platform developing traditional Chinese studies. He believes that in the development process of Sinology studies, the role of philosophy is to provide a wider framework for freedom of expression and interchange of ideas on the topic of Sinology. With this cognitive learning environment, he anticipates more cross-cultural, cross-regional, and interdisciplinary activities in the future.

The speech by Lin Congyi (photo/ptnet.cn）

The speech by Li Xianzhong

Li Xianzhong, a professor of philosophy at Taiwan University, said that the preservation of traditional Chinese studies lies in popularization. In order to become popular, the traditional Chinese studies need to have appealing highlights in today’s communications, it needs to be able to be passed down with language comprehendible in the modern context so that it reaches the public, it needs to communicate the universal truth agreed by the mass, and it needs to become the manifestation of traditional learning in modern application. In other words, the development of traditional Chinese studies should go beyond national boundaries.

The speech by a Sinologist (photo/ptnet.cn）

The speech by Lin Weijie

Lin Weijie, Deputy Director of the Institute of Chinese Literature and Philosophy in Taiwan’s Academia Sinica, believes that in addition to the current academic research and exchange along with the promotion of Sinology, the Cross-Straits center of Guoxue can also combine sinology studies with tourism, which will greatly attract Sinologists and enthusiasts from Taiwan.

The speech by a Sinologist (photo/ptnet.cn）

As for the development of the Cross-Straits Center of Guoxue, Taiwan scholars mostly discussed several aspects such as conference services, research platforms, tourism, and cultural and creative industry, and put forward detailed and specific advice and suggestions.

After the seminar, Pingtan Cross-Straits Center of Guoxue signed strategic cooperation agreements with the Philosophy Departments of Taiwan University and Tunghai University with the purpose to gather sinologists from both sides of the Taiwan Straits to work together on building a "common spiritual homeland" for people across the Taiwan Straits in the new era.