The Cross-Straits Center of Guoxue hosted its 14th lecture, given by Professor Liang Tao, deputy dean of the School of Chinese Classics of Renmin University of China and director of the Cross-Straits Center of Guoxue , on Sep 16 in Pingtan, Chinese mainland's closest neighbor of Taiwan.

In addition to more than 200 on-site audiences, the lecture drew over 1.7 million viewers through official micro-blog of the Centre and other online platforms like Sina and Tencent. Guoxue is loosely defined as the study of ancient Chinese civilization - specifically, such realms as history, philosophy, literature and art, as well as Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism.

In the Analects of Confucius, “君子Junzi ”(loosely translated as “man of virtue”) observes what is right, “小人Xiaoren” (loosely translated as “petty man”) only pursues his personal interest. Prof. Liang said that Confucius interpreted Junzi and Xiaoren by their respective characteristics and set different standards for the two. In term of morality, Xiaoren generally refers to people with mean moral character, opposite to noble-minded Junzi. Whereas, in term of social status in a feudal society, xiaoren commonly refers to the masses (common folks) while junzi the aristocrats and rulers.

"The Innate Goodness of Human Nature" is the core belief of Confucianism, which significantly contributes to the formation of Chinese traditional culture. Prof. Liang believes that there is a deeper meaning to Mencius's theory where "the goodness in human nature" should act as a stimulus to perfect man’s inner self. However, we should not impose too much moral restrictions on the general public. On the contrary, their needs and interests should be encouraged and met to achieve social growth as well as happiness of life.

Confucianism abounds with political wisdom. How to develop and construct Confucianism in modern times? In Liang Tao’s view, the public should be encouraged to be benevolent  and self-elevated  while the government be people-oriented and respectful to the public basic rights and interests. Quoting classics as saying “苟日新，日日新，又日新” (If you can make things better for one day, you should make them better every day and never stop doing so.) and “民本之学”(people-oriented thoughts), Prof. Liang concluded that the individual philosophy of “self-improvement” and the principle of good governance is by no means contradictory to each other; in fact, they should go hand in hand in modern society.

Prof. Liang Tao was awarded as a “Changjiang Scholar” in April 2016, the highest honor issued to academician in higher education sector by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China.