Jinan (CNS) -- Japanese Professor Kunio Miura lectured on the famous essay the "Peach Blossom Spring" written by Tao Yuanming in 421 AD, to the faculty and students at Shandong University, September 4.
As a well-known professor at Daito Bunka University in Japan, Miura is dedicated to the study of East Asian cultures. He came to China along with seven of his colleagues for an exchange of views on his Chinese traditional culture research.
During his first visit to the hometown of Confucius this time, he said in humility that he can't but feel nervous lecturing about Chinese culture in the hot bed of the essential Chinese spirituality.
Su Yuanqing, a student at the School of History and Culture in Shandong University, said even though the content the Japanese professor talked about was not fresh for him at all, the thread of thoughts that a foreign scholar uses to analyze traditional Chinese culture did broaden his mind view.
Aged 70, Professor Miura was first exposed to the study of Chinese culture when he was enrolled in college at 18 years old, and has been especially interested in the field ever since.
He stuck to the study of Asian cultures after graduating from college at the age of 22. The next 52 years has seen his strong attachment to the charisma of Chinese civilization, which is, in his own words, crucial to the intellectual heritage of the entire East Asian civilization.
The professor also mentioned his interests in the similarities between Chinese Taoism and Japanese Shintoism.
Speaking of communication between Chinese and Japanese traditional cultures, Miura told CNS that specific institutions on Chinese civilization like the Sinological Society of Japan have been set up in Japan, with a registration of about 2,000 members, involving literature, history, and philosophy studies.
Yet, substantial achievements of these organization failed to live up to his expectations. Many a cultural cream element, which should have been well preserved, have been neglected.
In the opinion of Professor Miura, constant cultural exchanges are extremely significant, especially between the younger generations. "This is the reason why our group, reaching our advanced ages, is still enthusiastically immersed in our beloved career."
