166. Dr. Wang Talks about the Cultural Exchanges betweem the U.S. and China

NWI.com, the Largest and most trusted media company in Northwest Indiana promotes Dr. Wang's speech to its readers. In the introductory article, titled " VU (Valparaiso University) forum will examine the cultural exchanges between the U.S., China, it introduces main content of Dr. Wang's talk. The article says, Dr. Wang, Manager of Queens Library at Hollis, and an adjunct professor at St. John's University in New York, has written on the cultural ties between China and the U.S., including: "How China Helped Shape American Culture: The Founding Fathers and Chinese Civilization," "Asian Dry Rice and Slaves' Living Environment: Thomas Jefferson's Efforts to Transplant the Rice to the United States" and "Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Chinese Civilization." More is available through this link. The Hanban also published on its official site some summary of Dr. Wang's speech.

165. Honoring the 2,560th anniversary of the birth of Confucius

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
September 29, 2009
Mr. AL GREEN of Texas (for himself, Mr. CAO, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas, Mr. CROWLEY, Mr. HONDA, Ms. CHU, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Ms. WATSON, Mr. ELLISON, Ms. BERKLEY, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Ms. FUDGE, Ms. KILROY, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Mr. BECERRA, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. NADLER of New York, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Mr. CARSON of Indiana, Ms. CLARKE, Mr. ACKERMAN, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Mr. SCOTT of Georgia, Mr. CLAY, Ms. WATERS, Mr. MEEKS of New York, Mr. MILLER of North Carolina, Mr. SABLAN, Mr. SHERMAN, and Mr. FILNER) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs


RESOLUTION

Honoring the 2,560th anniversary of the birth of Confucius and recognizing his invaluable contributions to philosophy and social and political thought. Whereas September 28, 551 B.C., is recognized as the date on which Confucius was born in the town of Qufu, in what is now the Shandong Province of China;
Whereas Confucius, who is one of the greatest thinkers, teachers, and social philosophers in history, developed a philosophy that has deeply influenced, and continues to influence, the social and political thought of countries around the world, including China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Vietnam;
Whereas Confucius counseled introspection, self-cultivation, sincerity, and the observance of respect within social relationships as a means of achieving justice and attaining morality in personal and public life, reflecting a moral fiber of the highest degree;
Whereas the teaching of Confucius that `what one does not wish for oneself, one ought not to do to anyone else; what one recognizes as desirable for oneself, one ought to be willing to grant to others' is a model for ethical behavior and for the promotion of harmony among us;
Whereas Confucius taught that an ideal government is founded upon loyalty, respect for elders, and recognition of the importance of family; and
Whereas Confucius taught that politicians must be models of truthfulness and morality, which serves as a reminder to all of our duty to serve with the utmost honor and respect: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives honors the 2,560th anniversary of the birth of Confucius and recognizes his invaluable contributions to philosophy and social and political thought.
END
More information is available through this link. You also can find information regarding Benjamin Franklin and Confucian moral philosophy in the previous posts, such as Item 142.

164. Dr. Dave Wang's Comment on the Founding Fathers

Mr. Lee A. Daniels issued his paper The Intolerable Barack Obama

In the following you can find Dr. Wang's comment: Mr. Wesley Pruden should know also that our founding fathers of this great nation made great efforts to draw nourishment from traditional Chinese culture to build a new society in North America. Should we label them “Panda Huggers”? I don’t believe that the founding fathers were godlike persons without any flaws. I do believe that the founding fathers were the figures with great wisdom. To understand them comprehensively need more than one quote. It is not even “politically correct” if one just put out one sentence from the founding fathers’ numerous sentences, regardless of the environment that they made the sentence , in order to prove one’s subjective judgement.

163. A Big Dose of the Chinese Ethos May Well Be Returning To America

I just read the following article carried in November 23, 2009 issue TIME
Magazine, "Five Things We Can Learn from China," by Bill Powell. Mr.
Powell is a senior writer for TIME in Shanghai. Prior to current his
post, he was Chief International correspondent for Fortune based in
Beijing and then New York. He also served as Newsweek bureau chief in
Moscow, Berlin and Tokyo. In this article Mr. Powell points out five things that the United States, one of the youngest nations, should learn from China, one of the oldest nations, including ambitious goal, focus on eduction, take care the elders, save more and look over the horizon.

Dr. Dave Wang's research reveals that to learn from China is not strange to the Americans. It started as early as the colonial era in North America. During the early period of the founding of the United States, some eminent colonists, including the founding fathers found that China, the far away ancient empire, was a place where they could borrow useful ideas and technologies which could help with their efforts to build a new nation there. As a result, we saw one of the largest cultural borrowing movements in American history during the formative age of the United States. Chinese plants, such as rice, soybeans, peaches, oranges, mulberries, all kinds of flowers were transplanted into the colonies, Chinese technologies, such as architectural design, silk production, central heating and canal construction, were introduced; Chinese philosophies, especially Confucianism, were also brought over.

Interestingly enough, you will find that the main contents that Mr.Powell called for his fellow Americans to learn from China were what the founding fathers, such as Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, worked hard to borrow from traditional Chinese culture. We should admire the wisdom of the founding fathers. History can provide a lot of good lessons for us today. The examination of their efforts to draw nourishment from traditional Chinese culture will continue to provide valuable lessons for our efforts to overcome the difficulties caused by current economic recess worldwide.

162. Dr. Wang Made his Speech at Valparaiso University

On November 6, 2009, Dr. Wang delivered his speech at Valparaiso University. In his speech Dr. Wang answered the question,what made it possible for the founding fathers’ borrowing from the Chinese culture? He gave out three reasons; first of all, the founding fathers were free. They didn't have ideology or politically correct in their mind. They did not worry about that someone would label them Socialists, or even Communists. There was no Red Scare. The Senator from Wisconsin, Joseph McCarthy (1908-1957), wasn't born yet. The second one was that they could find what they wanted from Chinese culture. The third reason was that Chinese culture was available in North America. Americans could learn all manner of subjects from agriculture, science, philosophy, art and technology from books on China produced in Europe.

161. Dr. Wang Gave Speech at the China Institute

Founded in 1926 by a group of American and Chinese educators, including John Dewey and Hu Shih, China Institute in America is the oldest educational and cultural organization in the United States focused on advancing a deeper understanding of China through programs in education, culture, business and art in the belief that cross-cultural understanding strengthens our global community. The Institute offers innovative, high quality programs, activities, courses and seminars that are open to – and designed for – people of all ages and backgrounds.
On October 24, 2009, The Renwen Society at China Institute invited Dr. Wang, Manager of Queens Library at Hollis and Adjunct Professor of St. Johns University, delivered his speech on the topic, China in the shaping of American culture. In this lecture, Dr. Wang discussed the founding fathers' efforts to draw nourishment from Chinese culture. His lecture revealed the historical facts that during the formative era of American culture, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, borrowed with wisdom of learning from foreign cultures positive elements from Chinese civilization.

One of the most popular Chinese newspapers in the United States, China Press reported his speech.

You also can listen to Dr. Wang's speech on line thanks to the kindness of the USWTV. COM a well known news media company based in New York. In the following you can read the above introduction to his speech in Chinese.

中華文明自從產生之日起，就以它特有的感染力傳播四方，對世界文化的發展做出了巨大的貢獻。中國文化對亞洲文明，尤其是東亞文明的形成的作用是無可替代的。然而，我們對中華文明對東亞文化之外的影響知之不多，認識不足。有鑑於此，華美人文學會特邀王小良博士於10月24日（星期六）下午两点至四点做《中華文明與美國文化的形成》的講演，介紹中華文明是如何對美國文化的形成和發展產生影響的。

美國文化不是歐洲文化的簡單延伸。美國文化在其形成的歷史過程中從中華文明中汲取了積極因素。對美國的發展具有遠見卓識的開國元勳們在美國文化形成時期努力將中華文明的積極元素引入到美洲。他們不斷地用中華文明中的積極因素來回答和解決他們在北美建立一個新國家的過程中所遇到的問題。從而，使中華文明對美國文化的形成產生了不可忽略的作用。

王小良博士現為紐約皇后圖書館和赫利斯分館館長，聖約翰大學兼職教授，國際亞洲文明與美州研究會會長。近年來，王小良博士致力於對亞洲文明對美國影響的研究。成果頗豐，現已在中國，美國，意大利，澳大利亞，印度，以及香港的媒體和雜誌發表二十餘篇論文，其中包括《亞洲旱稻與奴隸的生活環境：托馬斯，杰弗遜將亞洲旱稻移植到美國的努力》；《本傑明弗蘭克林，喬治華盛頓，托馬斯杰弗遜與中華文明》；《我們［美國）同中國貿易》；《托馬斯傑裴遜與中國建築：中華文明與美國建國前的北美洲》；《所有後代都會銘記我的遺產》，《湯姆斯傑裴遜和傳說中的中國王子》；《本傑明富蘭克林在北美推動中國絲綢文化》；《美國開國元勳與中國陶瓷》；《本傑明富蘭克林與中國長城》；《本傑明富蘭克林與中華文明》；《探討本傑明富蘭克林的道德生活》；以及《本傑明富蘭克林與中國文化》。

王小良博士的中華文明與美國的早期發展研究已經引起國際社會的廣泛關注。並且已經走入美國歷史課堂。美國國家歷史教育協會夏威夷分會會長米德先生在近期撰文，要求夏威夷州的所有學校要在其歷史課中講授小良博士的論文。《紐約時報》在其周末專欄介紹了他的研究。近期，美國主要華文報紙《僑報》也報導了他的開拓性研究。

王小良博士的論文《本傑明富蘭克林與中國，考察本傑明富蘭克林在美國形成時期對中華文明積極因素的汲取》被以美國總統前總統布什為名譽主席，由美國政要和學界知名人士組成的紀念富蘭克林誕辰300週年委員會選中，刊登在該委員會的官方網頁上。同時，印度國家東方研究院的院刊，《歷史評論》刊載了此文。

近年來，王小良博士應邀相繼在歐洲和美國發表講演。在2006年應意大利國家美國研究中心邀請，王小良博士在羅馬講演，富蘭克林與孔子的道德哲學。2007年應世界美國研究大會邀請演講，在里斯本講美國開國元勳與中華文明，2008年應世界著名的克利弗蘭圖書館邀請在克里夫蘭講演中華文明與美國的早期發展。 2009年4月應英國富蘭克林博物館邀請，在倫敦講演本傑明富蘭克林與中國長城。2009年6月，應世界史研究會的邀請在波士頓講演托馬斯傑裴遜與中國建築和喬治華盛頓與美國中國貿易。