On July 1, Guizhou Confucius Academy welcomes the 600th public lecture on traditional cultures. Since its openiong in 2013, Confucius Academy continuously hold lecture at each weekend. Over the past 5 year and a half, there have been 600 public lectures held, 13 special lecture sub-brands promoted, 440 cultural scholars at home and abroad invited for lecturing, and nearly 240,000 audience present at the lectures.
Firstly, cluster of masters, including overseas well-known Confucianism experts like Tu Wei-ming, Chung-Ying Cheng, Roger T. Ames, and domestic well-known cultural scholars like LOU Yulie, XU Jialu, WANG Meng, CHEN Lai, GUO Qiyong etc., and the Chinese zither masters like GONG Yi and LI Xiangting, experts of recitation in official rhythming and China’s recitation like ZHANG Weidong and XUE Jianshun, interpret traditional Chinese cultures on the basis of different majors and dimensions, delivering the forefront cultural research results to audiences.
Secondly, collection diversity. On the basis of interpretation on the ancient philosophers, the Confucius Academy has developed the sub-brands of the public lectures, such as Yang Ming Culture, “One Belt and One Road” History, Chinese Zither Culture, keeping up with the social trends and satisfying the demands of audience for extending lecture dimensions and exploring lecture depth. Noticeably, Confucius Academy advanced the “Series of Lectures on Rambling in Chinese and Western Cultures” in 2016, which interpreted traditional Chinese cultures from the perspective of Chinese-Western cultural comparison and the perspective of globalization.
Finally, gathering of modes. The public lectures of Confucius Academy are not restricted to the traditional mode of “expert lectures and audience listens”. According to the lecturing demands and lecture nature, the modes of delivering lectures vary. For example, lecture on Chin culture may become a master’s music concert; the periodical four-season debate held each year may present “war of words” among experts on stage and repeated applauses among audiences offstage.
“That 600 Public Lectures can be held is closely related to the innovative system of the Confucius Academy. The lectures are not only oriented towards ordinary audiences, but also connect surrounding higher educational institutes, benefiting the students in Guizhou through the resources of higher educational institutes around China. Besides the public lectures, quite a number of activities of traditional culture enrich spiritual civilization of citizens as well.” says XIAO Qunzhong, Professor of the School of Philosophy, Renmin University of China.
