Format

The conference commences on Thursday morning with an opening plenary session, immediately followed by two keynote speeches. It ends on Sunday afternoon with a closing plenary session. There are thirteen sessions (three on Thursday, four each on Friday and Saturday, and two on Sunday), each consisting of three break-out panels, including workshops. There will be a reception on Friday night, and movie showing and/or book signings screening on Thursday and Saturday evenings.

Keynote Speakers:

Lai Chi Tim 黎志添, “Spirit-writing: The Daoist Dimension.”
Chairman of the Department of Cultural and Religious Studies, and Director of the Centre for Studies of Daoist Culture, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Author of: Guangdong Local Daoism: Daoist Temple, Master, and Ritual (Chinese University Press, 2007).

John Berthrong, “How Daoist is ZhuXi?”
Associate Professor of Comparative Philosophy in the Boston University School of Theology. Author of Expanding Process: Exploring Philosophical and Theological Transformations in China and the West. SUNY series in Chinese philosophy and culture (SUNY Press, 2008).

Break-out Panels: Three 20-minute individual paper presentations on the panel theme, followed by discussant’s 10-minute comments, presenters’ responses, and open discussion (1¾ hours).

Workshops: Emphasis on practice and experience (1¾ hours).

Forums: An opportunity to read a particular text with a group of learned scholars. Presenters post their text on the web a month ahead of time for participants to study; hour session for discussion

Languages: Conference sessions will be in English and/or Chinese. Please refer to the conference program for each session. Presentation abstracts can be submitted in either language.