Chen Lai, PhD. (Peking University), is a Professor of Philosophy and the director of the Center for Confucian Study and the History of Chinese Philosophy at Peking University. He is one of China's most prominent scholars of the history of Chinese philosophy, is an honorary professor at eleven universities and is a member of the editorial boards of sixteen academic journals. Edmund Ryden, PhD. (SOAS, London University), translated Key Concepts in Chinese Philosophy (Yale 2002) and the Laozi: Daodejing (Oxford World’s Classics 2008). He has also written on the philosophical background to human rights in a Chinese context.

"The editors have wisely chosen to lead off the series with a collection of essays by Chen Lai, who is mainland China’s most prominent scholar in the history of Confucian philosophy. The translation by Edmund Ryden is excellent, and the translator has added helpful footnotes to explain some of the references for the general reader...I strongly recommend this book for anybody who is interested in the history of twentieth-century Confucianism and what it can offer to China and the world."Daniel Bell, Tsinghua University“This book is the first comprehensive English-language translation of key academic works by Chen Lai (陈来) – a leading mainland philosopher and Dean of Tsinghua University’s Guoxue Research Institute (清华国学研究院).[...] Together the chapters provide deep insight into the ways that one of China’s key contemporary intellectuals has grappled with the question of how to best utilise China’s traditional culture for the nation’s modernising aspirations.[...]Edmund Ryden’s translator’s notes are an important addition to this wonderfully translated volume.[...] Ryden’s annotations provide a useful guide.They simultaneously clarify possible “less-known” facts and events, thus ensuring that the book is accessible to the general reader and experts alike.”Selena Dramlic, University of Hong Kong, China Perspectives [Online], December 2011.

• Series Editors’ ForewordTranslator’s PrefaceIntroduction: The Humanist View1. Retrospect and Prospect for Contemporary Chinese Thought2. Resolving the Tension between Tradition and Modernity: Reflections on the May Fourth Cultural Tide3. The May Fourth Tide and Modernity4. Radicalism in the Cultural Movement of the 20th Century5. Modern Chinese Culture and the Difficulties of Confucian Learning6. Liang Shuming’s Early View of Oriental and Western Culture7. The Establishment and Development of Feng Youlan’s View of Culture8. A Reflection on the New School of Principle and Thoughts on Modernity9. Confucian Thought and the World of Modern East Asia10. Confucian Ethics and China’s Modernisation11. East Asian Tradition according to Modernisation Theory12. A Sense of Predicament and Inter-dependency13. Liang Shuming and Max Weber on Chinese Culture14. Values, Authority, Tradition and Chinese Philosophy15. The Difficulty of Undertaking National Studies Research in the Nineties: The problem of the national studies fever and research into traditional culture16. The Value and Status of Traditional Chinese CulturePostscript: Talking of Tradition at the Turn of the CenturyPostface to the revised edition