AgoraAn open square of thought

Work · East Asian Philosophy

The Spiritual Value of Chinese Culture

1953 · by Tang Junyi

Written in Hong Kong exile: Chinese culture rests on a humanist spirit in which heaven and humanity, the moral and the natural, are not separated; science and democracy can grow from it.

Open in the star map

Introduction

Tang Junyi wrote this book in Hong Kong after leaving the mainland in 1949, and it appeared in 1953. It presents Chinese culture as a whole – its philosophy, religion, ethics, art and social life – as the expression of a humanist spirit in which heaven and humanity, the moral and the natural, are not separated. Against those who blamed tradition for China’s crises, Tang argued that this spirit was the foundation from which science and democracy could grow. The book was one of the first major works of the New Confucians in exile and prepared the ground for the Manifesto of 1958.

Connections

Taken up in

More works by Tang Junyi

As of November 2026 · Improve this page · How Agora is made

Open in the star map