The College of International Studies (CIS) at TKU hosted a Tamkang Forum at 10 a.m. May 25 at Taipei Campus. The theme was on a new May Fourth Movement so eminent scholars of this topic were invited to participate in the discussion on the role of this movement in Taiwan and China’s future. One of the founding members of the ‘Democratic Action Alliance’, which was formed on the 85th anniversary of the May Fourth Movement this year, the National Taiwan University Psychology professor, Huang Kuang-kuo, also attended the forum and noted down the results of the discussion for his Alliance as references.

Professor Wei Wou, the Dean of CIS, chaired the forum. Scholars such as Lu Ya-li, a professor at the Graduate Institute of Political Sciences of the Chinese Culture University, Wu Yu, a professor from the Chinese Department of the National Normal University, Yu Chuan-tao, a former president of the National Central University, Lin Yao-fu, a professor from the English Department of TKU, Yeh Hai-yen, the Chair of the Philosophy Department of Soochow University and Liu Ben-jieh, a professor from the US University of Chicago attended this fruitful discussion. They unanimously concluded that modern Chinese should expand the two main tenets of the May Fourth Movement in 1919, which were ‘Democracy and Science’ to include the ‘moral principle’ (or ethics) of Confucianism. With this enhancement, the new May Fourth Movement in Taiwan will build a society where modernism is not in conflict with the four pillars espoused in Confucianism—social propriety, humanity, righteousness, integrity and sense of honor. On the contrary, a true modern and prosperous society must integrate them into the lives of its people.

Finally, the attendees of the forum proposed a new direction for both Taiwan and China: True democracy, market economy and virtuous traditional Chinese culture to rebuild a better China.