Author Description

Revisiting the foundation of Chinese spiritual life, the prestigioushistorian Cho-yun Hsu seeks a way to connect Chinese culturewith the world.This book is an insightful and lively discussion of the spiritual life of the Chinese people. Through investigation of cultural ideals and life practices, Professor Cho-yun Hsu constructs an original portrait of Chinese cultural values. Apart from the exalted subtleties of the scholarly elite, he pays much attention to everyday people's daily practices and collective memory, seeking to clarify Chinese ideas concerning the universe, human life, and nature, from traditional times down to the present day.Professor Hsu contends the problems Western civilization is facing nowadays, including various crises of alienation and separation from nature, are ones that it lacks resources to solve. He believes Chinese humanistic culture might offer another way forward and be of benefit to the future of the world.-------------A work of passionate humanism, this book is a heartfelt call to the world to take seriously the best aspects of traditional Chinese culture in order to avoid a looming catastrophe.—Ian Johnson, Pulitzer Prize-winning authorProfessor Hsu is deservedly a legend in Chinese Studies, and this book only adds to a long and distinguished publication record by an innovative scholar who has contributed to an enormous range of disciplines. Like all of Hsu's works, this can be read with pleasure and profit, as it is studded with insights drawn from antiquity to contemporary history. Highly recommended.—Michael Nylan, Sather Professor of History, University of California at BerkeleyProfessor Hsu undertakes a sweeping review of the beliefs, values, and visions that constitute Chinese civilizations from the ancient times to the present. Historically engaged and critically provocative, it is a must-read for anyone interested in Chinese Studies.—David Der-wei Wang, Edward C. Henderson Professor of Chinese Literature, Harvard Univers