The conference, organized by Prof. Peng Guoxiang, Director of the Center for Cultural China, IAHS, invited leading scholars in Chinese intellectual history and philosophy from China and aboard to discuss the dynamic world of thought during the Ming-Qing transition in the 17th century. The conference focused on key figures of the period, including Huang Zongxi, Wang Fuzhi, and Gu Yanwu. The workshop would serve as a preliminary session for a larger conference on the same topic in 2012.