2026 Nishan World Civilization Forum concluded in Qufu, Shandong

China News Service, Qufu, Shandong, September 29 (Liang Ben, Li Mingrui) The 2026 Nishan World Civilization Forum concluded on September 29 in Qufu, Shandong. Over the past two days, experts, scholars and guest representatives at home and abroad have focused on the forum theme of "Civilization, Order, and Justice" at the foot of Mount Ni, the birthplace of Confucius. They discussed ancient and modern times, dialogues between China and the West, and made a "Voice of Nishan" and contributed wisdom to building a community with a shared future for mankind.

In his academic summary, Yang Chaoming, a distinguished professor at the Institute of Advanced Confucian Studies at Shandong University, said that this forum focused on the theme of "Civilization, Order, and Justice" and actively responded to hot topics such as civilization integration, global governance, and artificial intelligence. It held 2 keynote speeches, 8 group dialogues, 3 parallel forums, and 2 high-end interviews, and collected more than 600 high-level academic papers, fully demonstrating the innovative perspectives, cutting-edge results, and pragmatic suggestions of experts and scholars. “After thorough discussion, the participating scholars agreed that ‘civilization, order, and axioms’ constitute a progressive, dialectically unified, and inseparable proposition of the times. The three empower each other and are cyclically connected to jointly respond to the realistic torture of where human society will go under the changes of a century.”

"In general, the participating scholars agreed that in the face of multiple overlapping real challenges such as peace deficit, development deficit, security deficit, and governance deficit, we must break the situation through civilized dialogue, build a solid foundation with good order, and forge a soul with axioms and consensus to promote the organic connection of civilization, order, and axioms, and contribute profound civilizational wisdom to the implementation of global development initiatives, global security initiatives, global civilization initiatives, and global governance initiatives, and to building a community with a shared future for mankind," Yang Chaoming said.

The keynote speech session of the closing ceremony was hosted by Chen Weiping, professor of the Department of Philosophy of East China Normal University and deputy director of the Academic Committee of the Nishan World Civilization Forum. Many Chinese and foreign scholars gave speeches in this session.

Mu Fengling, scientific director of the China and Asia-Pacific Research Center at St. Petersburg State University of Economics in Russia and vice president of the St. Petersburg branch of the Russia-China Friendship Association, summarized the significance of Confucianism to the contemporary world in three points: Confucianism provides an alternative perspective different from Western modernity, Confucianism sets the format and language for dialogue between civilizations, and Confucianism provides an ideal personality. "Confucianism is not a museum exhibit, but a living thought. It may not be able to give all the answers, but it can raise the right questions and point the way. This is its contemporary value and world significance."

Gan Chunsong, dean and professor of the School of Philosophy of Nankai University, said that the Confucian school founded by Confucius takes benevolence as its body and ritual and music as its function. It is everlasting and consistent. It has long been in the dominant position of Chinese culture and laid the core values and ethical foundation of Chinese culture.

"Confucianism is not a ready-made solution that can be directly applied. It will not directly eliminate various problems and crises in contemporary society, but it provides a fundamental perspective on people, and humanistic care cannot be absent." Li Jianqiu, a professor at the Department of Philosophy at Furen University, explained that the so-called returning to the roots and starting a new way means starting from individual self-cultivation, extending oneself to others, adhering to the wisdom of "harmony without difference", and protecting human dignity at the individual, family, social and even global levels.

The Nishan World Civilization Forum is named after Nishan, the birthplace of Confucius, a great thinker and educator in ancient China. The first forum was held in September 2010. Today, the Nishan World Civilization Forum has increasingly become an important carrier for promoting the inheritance and development of China’s excellent traditional culture, promoting the common values ​​of all mankind, and strengthening international people-to-people exchanges and cooperation. At the closing ceremony held that day, the "2026 Nishan World Civilization Forum Consensus" was released.