Li Cunshan, a research fellow and doctoral supervisor from the Institute of Philosophy of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a top think tank in China, gave a lecture on "Beliefs in the Universe" & the Chinese Ethos" on the evening of June 27 at the Cross-Straits Center of Guoxue in Pingtan, southeast China's Fujian province.

Around 200 Guoxue enthusiasts were present at the lecture while nearly 1.64 million netizens watched the live stream online.The lecture-related topics like “Cross-Straits Guoxue” on social media platforms garnered more than 6 million views, according to statistics.

What is the relationship between Chinese culture and beliefs in Heaven & Earth?

“As heaven maintains vigor through movements,a gentle man should constantly strive for self-perfection.As earth's condition is receptive devotion,a gentle man should hold the outer world with broad mind” Li started his lecture with the quotations from the classic The Book of Change. In his view, there is a close bond between Chinese culture and the beliefs in Heaven and Earth.

Li elaborated “jiao she zhi li”, sacrificial rites for Heaven and Earth which dates back to the Western Zhou Dynasty (1100 B. C. to 771 B. C. ), testifying the Heaven and the Earth are a couple and the parents of men and other living things.

Li believes that Chinese people have always been family-oriented since ancient times. The Chinese society highly values human morality and its community. The divine being in the Chinese faith is of the world and for the world. This is the core disparity of the Chinese culture and its Christian counterpart from the west.

Men , the lord of creation

"Why do human being have cognitive thinking?" Li interpreted, though men and other living creatures are children of Heaven and Earth, men being its core creation are created differently from others. Hence, men have moral conscience, notion of morality and must follow certain codes of conduct.

Li stressed that “自强不息(constant self-improvement)” and “厚德载物 (self-commitment)” among Chinese spirits ethos are inexhaustible impetuses for endless succession of the Chinese nation.

From the excellent Chinese tradition of advocating morality and virtue, to the traditional culture of filial piety, Li said “There is no insurmountable gap between filial piety in Confucianism and agape love from Christianism. In fact, it sounds logical to go from individaul filial piety, which puts your family elders first, to agape love, which means one loves another even without any blood ties.

“Since man is the lord of creation, all humans should be conscious of being moral and benevolent,”Li added.

“The beliefs in Heaven and Earth in the Chinese culture are closely correlated with the ethos of the Chinese nation and the virtue of universal benevolence,”Li concluded.

Heated interaction with the audience

In the subsequent Q & A session, many questions were raised from audience and netizens. “When someone questions our Chinese culture, what should we do?”asked an audience. Li responded, as Chinese people, we should have full confidence that the Chinese culture is well-established and profound. It has been passed down from generation to generation. Meanwhile, we should also learn from other outstanding cultures in a correct and comprehensive way to improve our cultural achievements.

Cai Yong from the neighboring province Jiangxi, who currently works in Pingtan, joined the Guoxue lecture for the second time. He said, “It is pretty rewarding to attend Li’s lecture. I have learned a lot about the profoundness of Chinese culture. In particular, the traditional culture helps fast-paced people nowadays with cleansing heart and soul.”