About This Course

This course attempts to explore the magic beauty of Chinese traditional culture, especially from a philosophical perspective. It focuses not only on fabulous art forms such as the Seven-stringed Lute, the calligraphy, Chinese paintings and Chinese tea ceremony, but on the correlation between the literary life of ancient literati and their thought patterns. Humaneness, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and trustworthiness are the major moral and ethical standards in Confucian teaching. Being and Non-being are the mystical part of Taoist value. It is believed that the more you understand Chinese philosophy, the more likely you will develop skills for the appreciation of Chinese arts and its culture as a whole.

In addition, this course provides you with an opportunity to rediscover yourself: to become a better version of oneself. On the one hand, this is a journey of self-examination: to understand yourself, to seek for your original heart and to awaken it to be sensitive to the surroundings. On the other, it will help you to understand how the principles of Chinese ancient philosophy reveal a fresh perspective on what it means to live a good and meaningful life.

Course Staff

HONG Li

Professor ，PhD in Communication, a visiting scholar in Oxford University and Emerson College in Boston. Major courses: English Speech & Debating; Academic Writing Media Planning; Media & Communication in Western Countries; An Introduction to Chinese Ancient Philosophy Research Interests: Cross-cultural Communication

HOU Fuli

Professor of Linguistics, PhD. A visiting scholar to Lancaster University, UK Member of International Pragmatics Association Major courses: Academic writing, Pragmatics, Rhetoric Studies Research Interests: Pragmatics, Rhetoric, Critical Discourse Studies

LU Xiang

Associate professor, PhD, Communication University of China Member of TESOL; Member of Asia TEFL A visiting scholar to George Mason University Research field: Linguistics; Translation; Comparative Studies between Chinese and English Culture

REN Yue

Faculty member, Journalism-Broadcast Anchoring and Presenting in English, PhD in Indian University, USA & Beijing Normal University Research field: Semiotics in media-based cross-cultural communication; Qualitative & quantitative research methodology