On September 24th, 2014, the International Conference in Commemorating the 2565th Anniversary of Confucius & the 5th Congress of the International Confucian Association (ICA) opened in Beijing, China. China’s Chairman Xi Jinping came to the meeting and made an important speech on Confucianism. The academic sessions followed in the afternoon. Professor Tu Weiming delivered a speech titled “Spiritual Humanism, Confucianism in the 21st Century”.

Professor Tu Weiming reflected on the vicissitudes of Confucianism in the 20th century and pointed that the three generations of Neo-Confucian Scholars initiated new academic discourses for Confucianism. Looking into the future, Confucianism should broaden and deepen its development space. First, we should highlight the characteristics of Confucian Philosophy, which should break the limitation of disciplinary philosophy and walk into the public domain, into the construction of the cultural subjectivity. Contemporary Confucianism should borrow the great wisdom in the Axial Age, give sympathetic concern to modern civilization, and enhance the capacity of self-examination for its own tradition. Second, Confucianism should be open and all-embracing, and should communicate with various current trends of thoughts. Confucianism transcended the boundary of ages and nations, it contains wisdoms that are global and universal. The 21st century Confucianism should actively participate in the important discussions as body, soul, community, ecology, democracy, legality, etc., more importantly, in the concrete living world itself. The triple tradition of philosophy, education, and politics should not be separated, but be united and interacting. Third, both the world we are living in and the life are sacred, the ultimate Goodness of Confucian moral philosophy is ontological. Confucianism cares for both empirical and transcendental world, and aims to realize the value and significance of the overall human existence.