On September 26-28, 2023, the President of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Aristotle Studies, AUTH, (DIKAM), Demetra Sfendoni-Mentzou, participated in the Ninth Nishan Forum on World Civilizations and the 2023 Nishan Forum on Classical Civilizations, by the official invitation of the Foreign Affairs Office of Shandong Provincial People’s Government.
The Nishan Forum on World Civilizations (http://www.chinakongzi.org/zt/yyb/), which “is a platform for dialogues, exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations,” was held this year in Qufu, Shandong Province-China on September 26-28 under the theme, “The Common Values of Human Community with a share Future—Advancing Inter-Civilization Exchanges and Mutual Learning in Response to Global Challenges.” Under the framework of the 9th Nishan Forum on World Civilizations, the 2023 Nishan Forum on Classical Civilizations, took place, with the Interdisciplinary Centre for Aristotle Studies (DIKAM), AUTh, as one of the supporting Institutions.
In the context of the above two Conferences, the 1st official meeting took place for the organization of the “Aristotle-Buddha-Confucius-Daoism Symposium on Ancient Wisdom for Modern Challenges.” The Symposium will be held in the birthplace of Confucius, Qufu, on July 8-12, 2024, with the participation of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Aristotle Studies, A.U.Th. (DI.K.A.M.) in the organization of the Conference. In this meeting the following members participated: The Vice President and Secretary General of the China Confucius Foundation, Guo Chengyan, the President of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, Jeffrey Sacs, the President of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Aristotle Studies, AUTh, Demetra Sfendoni-Mentzou, the President of the Center for Ancient Greek and Chinese of Culture, Stelios Virvidakis, the President of the Nishan World Center for Confucius Studies, and the Directors of the Departments of the Shandong Provincial Government.
The above two Conferences constitute an ensemble of celebrations together with the 2023 Memorial Ceremony for Confucius. This is an extremely impressive and imposing annual ceremony that is happening for 1000 years in honor of the birthday of Confucius, whose teaching has had a continuous effect on China, and on the Asian world in general, for 2500 years, analogous to the effect of Aristotle on the Western world. There is, however, a huge difference in the way that the Chinese people and the State of China show their enormous respect for their tradition and in particular for Confucius, in contrast to the Greek State that seems not to be able to understand and acknowledge the magnitude of Aristotle’s enormous heritage.
Photos of the 9th Nishan Forum on World Civilizations on the photo photo gallery
