This volume, Chinese Foundations for Moral Education and Character Development, is a basic step in a series dealing with "Chinese Cultural Heritage and Contemporary Life." In view of rapid social change which threatens loss of cultural root and systemic self-alienation for the future, this series is designed: 1) to explore the richness and depth of our cultural heritage, 2) to reconstruct it in the light of modern knowledge, 3) to relate it to practical life and, finally 4) to discover a new mode of life that is fully both modern and Chinese.

The enterprise is not easy; it demands energy as well as sacrifice. The difficulty consists not merely in communicating what is already known on these topics as if that were sufficient. New forces at work in the 20th century have reduced the person to a mere function, benevolence has been supplanted by system and philosophy by ideology: both God and man have died. In this situation attempt merely to repeat the past will not suffice; rather, the wisdom with which our cultural heritage has spoken through time gives promise that it has much to say, at this transition to the 21st century.

There is need then to reach back into our heritage to find there not only what it has done for the past, but even more what it can contribute to the future. Scholars in our day must work to give it new voice and to enable it to speak to the new issues which have emerged from the experience of this century. They must evoke from it the creative inspiration for building the Chinese civilization of the 21th century and for contributing richly to the even more closely interwoven history of mankind. This subject is too comprehensive to be handled in a specific volume, by a limited number of scholars. In order adequately to grasp the problem and elaborate responses there is need of multiple volumes dealing with the whole of Chinese history and Chinese society.

The general theme of Chinese Cultural Heritage and Contemporary Life must be studied from such aspects such as morals, religion, politics, education, science, etc. In this series each topic will be worked out by a group of experts, both from China and abroad. After an adequate period for research, a seminar on the topic will be convened in which the scholars share, mutually critique and refine their own ideas, as well as exploring together the ways in which to build the future, prepare the work for systematic and scientific presentation by the editors. This project is supported by the Council for Research in Values and Philosophy (Washington, D.C.), the Ministry of Culture and The Asian Journal of Philosophy.

The publication of the series on Chinese Cultural Heritage and Contemporary Life and the present volume would not be possible without the generous and tireless help of Prof. George F. McLean of The Catholic University of America and Secretary of The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy, the support of the Ministry of Culture, and the deep research and generous effort of the many scholars whose work is presented here. To all of these, the editors express their most sincere gratitude.

National Taiwan University Tran van Doan