Professor Li Jinglin

On the evening of March 28, the 9th Cross-Straits Guoxue Lecture themed “filial piety（孝）and benevolence（仁）” was given as scheduled by Li Jinglin, professor at the School of Philosophy and Sociology of Beijing Normal University, in Pingtan Comprehensive Pilot Zone, Chinese mainland’s closest neighbor of Taiwan.

The lecture had reached 1.63 million viewers online as of 9 pm on March 28.

The lecture hall

Li expounded the relation between filial piety and benevolence combined with his own experience. He quoted the Classic of Filial Piety and the Analects of Confucius as saying that the two concepts of filial piety and benevolence are intrinsically related. On the one hand, filial piety and fraternal duty are the foundation of benevolence; on the other hand,filial piety and fraternal duty must be extendeded to benevolence by means of loyalty and forgiveness so as to achieve its moral value. The combination of these two is of great significance even to China’s contemporary value system.

So how do we define such a subjective virtue? Li Jinglin said filial piety is mainly the manifestion of love, reverence and support. Zengzi, a prominent disciple of Confucius once said filial piety can be divided into 3 different hierarchies, i.e.,reverence and love being the utmost priority of every child followed by honor and last but not least support. A filial son must provide support to his parents, but ultimately the very essence which qualified him being a filial son is his love and respect for his parents.

Q & A session

In the subsequent Q&A session, both online and offline audience were eager for Professor Li's answers to some daily dilemmas

A netizen put forth an interesting question: "Is filial piety unconditional? And is there such thing as blind filial piety?", to which Li responded that filial piety is unconditional, however at times rules and bottom lines still apply, and are not to be crossed over.

Luo Xiaoqin, a young local college student who was among the attendees, posed an intriguing question on marriage and filial piety. With marriage falling out of favor for some young people due to rising family commitments, financial burdens and modern lifestyle, Luo was curious if marriage is part of an obligation in filial piety? Li simply replied that there is no right or wrong to this question. It simply depends on each individual with given circumstances and priorities in life. But he still stands by the idea of settling down at the right age if situation permits.

After the lecture, Luo Xiaoqin expressed her interest in Chinese studies and looks forwards to more lectures.

In addition, Li Jinglin left a message on the development of the Pingtan-based Cross-Straits Guoxue Center: “Cultures across the Taiwan Straits are of the same origin. The Cross-Straits Guoxue Lecture built as a cultural bridge can contribute to the cultural exchanges between the two sides of the Taiwan Straits. I hope that I can continue to do something for it.”