CWU Wraps Up 2017 Sinology Summer Camp

Some 18 students of China Women's University (CWU) participated in a 5-day summer camp from July 11-15.

The event was co-organized by China Population Welfare Foundation and CWU Communist Youth League Committee, in order to spread the spirit of Confucius and Mencius and carry forward traditional Chinese culture.

The event aimed to carry forward the fine traditional culture of the Chinese nation, enhance college students' literacy and philosophic insight, and help students to establish a correct outlook on life, the world and values.

Chen Lijun, deputy director of CWU Student Affairs Office, and Jiang Xiaojing, a teacher from the CWU Foreign Affairs Office, led the students to visit Qufu, East China's Shandong Province, where the great Chinese philosopher Confucius was born. Teachers and students visited the Mansion, Temple and Cemetery of Confucius.

The Mansion of Confucius was the historical residence of the direct descendants of Confucius. The Cemetery of Confucius is the longest preserved and largest clan cemetery in the world. Numerous gravestones were moved here during the Han Dynasty along with numerous autographical epigraphs of some famous calligraphers from previous dynasties. The Cemetery of Confucius was also called the Forest of Steles and can be regarded as a treasure-house of calligraphy art.

The Temple of Confucius is the largest and most renowned temple of Confucius in East Asia. It served as the principal place for offering sacrifices to the memory of Confucius. CWU students put on traditional Chinese Hanfu clothing and worshiped Confucius in front of the Dacheng hall, the architectural center of the Temple of Confucius. They also read the "Analects of Confucius" to express their admiration of the great saints.

Afterwards, the visitors came to Zoucheng, a county-level city in Shandong Province, and visited Mencius Temple, the Mencius Family Mansion, the Mencius Forest and Mencius' Mother's Forest.

The southernmost gate of the Mencius Temple is named "Lingxing Gate" after a star in the Great Bear constellation, with the name suggesting that Confucius is a star from heaven. The inscription of the Mencius Family Mansion tells the story of Mencius's mother, an exemplary female figure in Chinese history.

The saying "Mencius's mother, three moves" refers to the legend that Mencius's mother moved house three times before finding a proper location for raising Mencius. The tablet of "Ren (Benevolence), Lian (Honesty), Gong (Selflessness), Qin (Diligence)" also attracted students' attention at the Mencius Mansion. Mencius's spirit of Lian laid a solid foundation for China's cultural construction of clean and honest administration.

The students also visited Shandong University and learned the story of the university's eight professors in the History Department and first Chinese female professor Feng Yuanjun. The students felt as though they had gone back to the natural environment of the Song Dynasty at the Li Qingzhao Memorial. Li Qingzhao was a woman writer and poet in Chinese history.

The visitors climbed the Tai Mountain and visited Dai Temple, which is one of four existing ancient buildings in China with the features of an imperial palace (the other three are the Forbidden City in Beijing, the Confucius Temple in Qufu and the Eight Outer Temples in North China's Hebei).

CWU students also visited Dongyue Temple, where the emperors participated in worship ceremonies and worshiped the God of Tai Mountain. Students listened to a lecture themed "Learning Sinology, To Be Elegant" and realized the wisdom and quintessence of Chinese culture.

After watching a show of Chinese shadow puppetry at Tai Mountain, students studied how to make puppetry and gave several performances. They hoped traditional Chinese culture could be passed on in future.

CWU has attached great importance to traditional culture education and made positive efforts to promote the development of Chinese culture. The summer camp provided an opportunity for students to make direct contact with sinology and enlightened students about life wisdom, organizers said.

(Source: China Women's University/Translated and edited by Gender Study Network)