The New Asia Lectures on Confucianism 2025 was successfully held in October 2025, with Professor Paul R. Goldin, Professor and Chair, Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Pennsylvania, as the keynote speaker of three public lectures. The New Asia Lectures on Confucianism was launched in 2013 under the sponsorship of the Moonchu Foundation. Each year, a distinguished scholar in Confucianism studies is invited to the College to deliver public lectures, with the aim of arousing interest among academics and the general public in a more in-depth exploration of Confucianism through discussions on various issues.

The First Lecture entitled “The Early Textual Basis of the Confucian Doctrine of the ‘Uncrowned King’ (suwang 素王)” was held at Cho Yiu Conference Hall, G/F, University Administration Building, CUHK at 4:30pm on 9 October 2025 and was moderated by Professor Cheng Chung-yi from the CUHK Department of Philosophy. The lecture was also a College Bi-Weekly Assembly with the participation of more than a thousand College students and staff. The lecture explored the idea that Confucius possessed the virtue to be a Heaven-ordained king but never ruled, reflecting later Confucian anxiety over his political failure. Professor Goldin examined early texts such as the Spring and Autumn Annals that portray Confucius as a sage but not a king, unlike the sage-kings before him, and traced how this notion developed in Confucian thought.

The Second Lecture entitled “Fair and Foul in Chinese Philosophy” was held at Sir Run Run Shaw Hall, CUHK at 11:30am on 10 October 2025, with Professor David Chai from the CUHK Department of Philosophy as the moderator. Professor Goldin re-examined the Chinese character “evil” (e 惡) from a philological perspective, arguing that it does not correspond to the Augustinian notion of evil in Western philosophy. Instead, he proposed that “evil” is etymologically linked to “ugly, inferior, second-rate” (ya 亞), offering a new lens through which to understand the philosophical dimensions of “evil” in Chinese thought.

The Third Lecture entitled “How I Teach Confucianism to Americans” was held at Function Room, 4/F, Administration Building, Hong Kong Cultural Centre at 3:00pm on 11 October 2025, with Professor Yao Zhihua from the CUHK Department of Philosophy as the moderator. The lecture shared Professor Goldin’s experience of teaching Confucian classics such as the Analects, Mencius and Classic of Filial Piety to American students. He highlighted the contrast between Confucian political ideals and contemporary American attitudes toward government. Key themes included the concept of “governance” (zheng 政) as “rectification” (zheng 正), the ruler as a moral exemplar, as well as the ethical responsibilities of social roles, culminating in a discussion of the central virtue of “filial piety” (xiao 孝).

Through the above three lectures, the audiences have deepened their understanding of Confucianism and raised a lot of discussions and responses during the lectures. In addition, the “Display of Publications by Professor Paul R. Goldin, New Asia Lectures on Confucianism” has been successfully held from 22 September to 26 October 2025 on G/F, New Asia College Ch’ien Mu Library. The College would like to thank various parties for their support of the lectures.