The International Society for Chinese Philosophy held its 19th international conference with the theme “Chinese Philosophy in Contemporary Society” at the Chinese University of Hong Kong from 7/21 to 7/24, 2015. The conference was co-sponsored by the Chinese University of Hong Kong. More than 150 scholars from more than 10 countries (Australia, Austria, Brussel, Canada, China including Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, Germany, Japan, the Philippines, Poland, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and United States) attended the conference. The conference had more than 50 sessions including 6 plenary sessions and about 120-130 formal presentations. Professor Robert Neville delivered the plenary speech “Confucianism and the Feminist Revolution: Ritual Definition and the Social Construction of Gender roles” on the first day of conference. In a joint plenary session on the first day of the conference, Professor Michael Nylan delivered the plenary speech “On the Philosophy of Friendship”, and Professor Hans Sluga delivered the plenary speech “Friendship: East and West”. Professor Guo Qiyong delivered the plenary speech “Spirit and Distinguishing Features of Chinese Philosophy and its Critique of Modernity and Beyond” (中国哲学的精神与特点及其对现代性的批判与超越), and Professor Cheng Chung-ying delivered the plenary speech “Completing Classical Confucian Theory of Human Nature and its Goodness: On Zisi, Mencius and Xunzi in an Interactionist Framework”, on the second day of the conference. Professor Vincent Shen delivered the plenary speech “Self and Many Others: Confucian ‘Learning for Self’ and ‘Learning for Others’” on the third day of the conference. Professor Lisa Raphals delivered the plenary speech “Daoism, Naturalism and Chinese Culture” on the fourth day of the conference.
Sandra Wawrytko on behalf of the Fu Foundation presented the Fu Foundation Essay Contest awards to three awardees in a brief ceremony. The three awardees presented their winning essays in a special session of the conference.
The Board held its business meeting on 7/24. Professor Neville delivered the opening remarks. The executive director of ISCP, Professor Jiyuan Yu, could not attend the conference due to health reason, and the deputy director of ISCP, Professor Robert Neville, chaired the business meeting.
A brief ceremony of appreciation followed and an honorary plaque was presented to Professor Kwong-loi Shun by Professor Neville to thank him for organizing the 19th ISCP international conference, his outstanding leadership and excellent services as the President of ISCP (2014-2015).
Professor Neville made an announcement of the nominees of the next president and the next vice president of ISCP. The current vice president of ISCP, Professor Chenyang Li at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, has been nominated as the candidate of the next president by the nomination committee appointed by the Board. After a careful deliberation, the nomination committee has nominated Professor Richard King at Bern University of Switzerland as the nominee of the next vice president. The board will hold an online election of the next president and vice president in 2015 and all members of ISCP will vote electronically on the nominated candidates. After the election, the new president and vice president will assume their duties on 1/1 2016. The current president of ISCP, Professor Kwong-Loi Shun at the University of California-Berkeley will step down in the end of 2015.
The meeting also held a short memorial ceremony in memory of renowned Chinese philosophers who passed away in 2014 and 2015. The attendants of the business meeting held one minute silence for Professor Fang Litian （方立天）at Renmin University, Professor Pang Pu （庞朴）at the Academy of Social Science, Professor Tang Yijie (汤一介) at Beijing University, Professor Wu Kunru （鄔昆如）at the National Taiwan University and Professor Yu Wujin （俞吾金）at Fudan University.
Professor Ann Pang-White gave the treasurer’s report (see the report below) and Xiaomei Yang gave the secretary’s report (see the report below).
Professor Lu Jianyou at Xian Transportation University made a request to host the 22nd ISCP International conference in Xian (西安), China.
The Board of ISCP thanks the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the organizer of the conference, all people who helped organizing the conference for their support and hard work. The Board also thanks all the participants of the conference for their participation.
Treasurer’s Report (2015)_
International Society for Chinese Philosophy Tax Year 2015
(As of June 30, 2015)
Bank of America Accounts Ending Balance: $10,138.28
Business Economy Checking: $6,115.41
Business Investment Account: $4,022.87
Paypal Ending Balance: $1,133.29
= ISCP Total Ending Balance: $11,271.57
This is in line with our previous annual years’ ending balance.
Expenses incurred so far in 2015:
- Renewal of FISP (Federation Internationale des Societes de Philosophie) 3-year membership (2015, 2016, 2017): $559.16
- Tax Preparation Fee: $565
- Sponsoring ISCP HK International Conference Farewell Dinner: $1,000
- Plaque of Appreciation for ISCP President Kwong-Loi Shu (host of the HK Conference): $$ (N/A yet)
Detailed financial records, tax-returns, and annual reports from previous years are available upon request.
Respectively submitted by Ann A. Pang-White, treasurer of ISCP
Secretary’s Report (2015)
Since the 18th ISCP International Conference in Buffalo in 2013, this Secretary of ISCP has assisted the ISCP board to accomplish the following operations.
(1) Professor Ann Pang-White and this secretary together maintain and update the ISCP membership directory. This secretary sends a call for membership renewal annually. Since the 18th conference in 2013, we have welcomed many new members. The number of our members continues to go up since 2013. So far we have more than 100 members who either renewed their membership in 2013, 2014 or 2015, or renewed their membership before 2013 but whose membership remains up to date.
(2) This secretary has assisted the board in making some personnel changes. Our liaison to APA Eastern Meeting, Professor, Jinmei Yuan, our liaison to APA central, Professor Huaiyu Wang, and our liaison to American Academy of Religion, Professor Eric Nelson, all resigned. We thank each of these three dedicated members for their excellent service. The Executive Board has appointed Professor Geir Sigurðsson, University of Iceland, as the new ISCP liaison to the APA Eastern Meeting. Professor Robin Wang continues to be our liaison to the APA Pacific Meeting. The Board also calls for nomination and self-nomination for liaisons to the APA Central and American Academy of Religion.
(3) Professor Kwong-loi Shun on behalf of ISCP organized the 19h ISCP International Conference on Chinese Philosophy, entitled “Chinese Philosophy in the contemporary society”. This secretary assisted the organizer of the 19th ISCP International Conference in organizing the conference.
(4) This secretary assisted the board in organizing the 2015 Charles Fu Foundation’s Best Essay Contest in Asian Philosophy. The ISCP board formed two blind review committees, one for submissions in Chinese language and the other for English language. The committee for submissions in Chinese could not select a winner from total 3 submissions after a careful review and all three awardees were selected from 11 submissions in English.
(5) Our website URL address remains as http://www.iscp-online.org/. It is in operation. This secretary renewed the domain of our site in 2014 for two years and the domain needs to be renewed next year. Before ISCP find a web master to manage the site, this secretary currently manages the website and will continue to be the site’s maintainer.
Finally, this secretary takes this opportunity to express her sincere thanks to her colleagues Jiyuan Yu and Ann Pang-White for their selfless assistance, understanding, and friendship. It has been a great pleasure working with both of them as ISCP officers.
Submitted by Xiaomei Yang, Secretary of ISCP
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