Key Concepts in Chinese Thought and Culture

Broad Love Extending to All

On the semantic level, fan’ai (泛爱), like the term bo’ai (博爱), means a broad love that extends to all. However, in the history of Chinese thought, it has been used with a different connotation: while bo’ai generally suggests “love of all human beings,” fan’ai infers “love of all humans as well as all things.” It means the same as what Men…

Non-action

Wuwei (non-action) refers to a state of action. Daoism contrasts “action” to “non-action.” “Action” generally means that the rulers impose their will on others or the world without showing any respect for or following the intrinsic nature of things. “Non-action” is the opposite of “action,” and has three main points: 1) through self-contro…

Understand Things and Succeed in One’s Endeavors

This term means to find out the truth of things, and act accordingly to succeed in what one does. Kaiwu (开物) means to reveal the truth of things and understand their intrinsic relations and rules. Chengwu (成务) means to use proper methods to do things successfully according to their intrinsic relations and rules. This was a perception and guide t…

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: The purposes of the Project are to select the concepts in Chinese culture and thought that reflect the characteristics of the country's traditional culture and the Chinese people's way of thinking, and that embody the core values of China.
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