It is both an honor and a challenge to draft the Preface for this volume of the English language writings of Prof. Tang Yi-jie. The honor derives from the prestige of the author; the challenge lies in adequately expressing the importance of his work at this juncture in the history of Chines thought and life.

Prof. Tang Yi-jie was born on Jan. 15, 1927, in Tranjing to a scholarly family of great distinction. His life has been deeply marked by the great changes in his country, from the time of the entry of the Japanese armies, through the great revolution, to the struggles of the continuing revolution, and more recently those of the last decade.

His personal drama during these years is graphically described in the book by his wife, Yue Daiyun, To the Storm, written with Carolyn Wakemen (Berkeley: Univ. of California Press, l985). Here I shall focus rather on the steps in the scholarly work of Professor Tang, recognizing that they have been oriented by the needs of his people.

In 1951 Tang Yi-jie graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy of Peking University, where he is now a professor of philosophy. In 1956 he took up the study of comparative metaphysics in the Wei-Jin periods, laying firm ground-work in such basic themes as substance and function. The deep learning of his Father, the foremost scholar in the field of Buddhist studies, provided unique professional access to the Buddhist scriptures. With a few other students, together they explored the "mysterious learning."

Later, in 1978, Prof. Tang renewed these studies in a direction which was to be the continuing theme of his subsequent work. In its search for modernization China needed to assimilate ideas from abroad, and this needed to be done in a way that promoted rather than destroyed the people. In the Chinese experience one major example of this was the 1000 year long process of assimilating Buddhism. He set about studying this in detail with a view to discovering the conditions for effective cultural assimilation in general, and for Confucian culture in particular. During the mid eighties this was complemented by studies in Daoism (Taoism).

With these three components of Chinese culture: Confucianism, Buddhism and Daoism (Taoism) in hand, Prof. Tang has turned more recently to the way in which Western thought can make a proper contribution. This directed his attention to the work of Matteo Ricci and other scholars of that period. They pointed out the great achievement of Chinese culture regarding the inner moral life of the person, both within him or herself and in relation to others in the family, province or nation. But they note that the modern sense of the person depends upon an additional horizon, namely, an outer transcendent in whose image all is created. This gives firm grounds for human freedom, for this basis of personal identity is beyond anything man can grant or remove. Further is constitutes a dynamic combination of appreciation of creation and lack of full satisfaction with whatever has been achieved thus far: this in turn generates the drive to explore new avenues in cooperation with others.

Matteo Ricci saw this vision as a necessary complement to Chinese culture, and delineated a mutually complementary relation between Confucianism and the Christian cultures of the West. This responds to urgent present needs.

The chapters of the present work reflect in a structured manner this pattern of the research of Prof. Tang. In the introductory section he treats the categorial structures of Chinese philosophy and the method for its study. Next he studies the root Confucian and Daoist dimensions of Chinese culture.

The introduction of Buddhism into China is then given special attention in order to bring out the ways in which it proved complementary and hence able to be assimilated. The final paper is the most recent; it treats the work of Matteo Ricci and his suggestions for the role which Christian insights could play.

These chapters are, of course, but a reflection of the extended Chinese writings of Prof. Tang. These include Guo Xiang and the Mysterious Learning of the Wei-Jin Period, 1983; Daoism (Taoism) in the Wei-Jin Period, 1988; Confucianism, Daoism (Taoism) and Buddhism in Traditional Chinese Culture, 1988; and over a hundred articles.

Beyond all this Prof. Tang has founded the International Academy of Chinese Culture to playing the essential role of looking at once back into the roots of Chinese identity and forward to the ways in which this can live more fully in new times. For his central contribution to bridging the past and the future, Prof. Tang was awarded an honorary degree by MacMasters University in 1990.

It is particularly fitting then that his work should be published as part of the Council for Research in Values and Philosophy series: Cultural Heritage and Contemporary Life in East Asia. Other volumes concern "Man and Nature," and "The foundation of Moral Education in the Chinese Tradition." Other volumes are in preparation and parallel series in Eastern Europe, Africa, etc. For in a real sense all face an analogous problem characteristic of the human condition in our days, namely, how to move with dignity into the future. This volume reflects Prof. Tang's life of rich research and his deep concern to respond to that question.

George F. McLean

Secretary, Council for

Research in Values and Philosophy

Washington, D.C. 20064