Tang Junyi

His ancestors were born in Wuhua, Guangdong, and were Hakka. The seventh ancestor first moved from Guangdong to Sichuan and started as a sugar worker to buy farmland. It was not until his grandfather's generation that he began to study and became a so-called farming and reading family. His father was a scholar in the former Qing Dynasty. He later went to Nanjing Zhinei College to study Buddhism from Mr. Ouyang Jingwu, and wrote the book "The Righteousness of Mencius". His mother also had considerable education and left behind her simple and sincere "Sifutang Poems".

Under the cultivation of such a family full of traditional etiquette and ethics, Tang Junyi cultivated a deep respect for the ancients and a "kind mood" since he was a child. The honest and simple folk customs in the south of Xiachuan (Minjiang River Basin) and the color of the Jinsha River, which "flows from the river to the east, and the mountains to the south are lush and green", have further cultivated his generous and down-to-earth character (see his "Notes on nostalgia"). Tang Junyi basically spent his boyhood in Chengdu and Chongqing. At the age of seventeen, he was admitted to Peking University and soon transferred to the Department of Philosophy of Nanjing Central University. He studied under Mr. Fang Dongmei and Tang Yongtong Zhu. He also heard Mr. Xiong Shili talk about the "New Consciousness Theory" and became a doorman.

In 1932, after graduating from Central University, Tang Junyi first returned to Chengdu to teach middle school, and soon returned to his alma mater as a teaching assistant. After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Renchuan transferred to West China University as a lecturer, and soon went to Chongqing as a lecturer at Central University. He was promoted to professor in 1944 and served as the head of the philosophy department until 1949. During this period, he also served as a short-term concurrent professor at West China University, Jinling University, and the provost of Wuxi Jiangnan University.

In the spring of 1949, he was hired by Guangzhou Overseas Chinese University to go south, but due to the turbulent situation, he soon left Sui for Hong Kong. After Tang Junyi arrived in Hong Kong, he co-founded New Asia College with Qian Mu and Zhang Pijie, and was hired as a professor of New Asia College. In addition to serving as the main courses of the college, he also served as the provost.

In 1950, he initiated and personally presided over the New Asia Academic and Cultural Lectures, inviting famous scholars to give lectures. It lasted for five years and a total of 139 times, making New Asia famous and highly valued by overseas scholars.

After 1957, Tang Junyi was invited to attend academic conferences or give special academic lectures in the United States, Japan, South Korea and European countries many times.

On New Year's Day in 1958, he was responsible for drafting and co-signed with Zhang Junmai, Mou Zongsan, Xu Fuguan and others to publish the "China Cultural Declaration" known as the overseas contemporary Neo-Confucian ideological program.

In 1963, the Chinese University of Hong Kong was established, and New Asia College became a member. Tang Junyi was hired as a chair professor of the Department of Philosophy and concurrently served as chairman of the Department Committee. He was elected as the first dean of the School of Arts of Chinese University. Later, due to the great differences in the educational policies and educational ideals of Chinese University and New Asia College, the New Asia Institute separated from CUHK and became independent, and Tang Junyi was hired as director.

In 1974, he retired from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and served as the director of the New Asia Institute.

In 1975, at the request of National Taiwan University, he served as a visiting professor in the Department of Philosophy at National Taiwan University for one year.

In 1976, due to fatigue after major lung cancer surgery, he died of illness at Kowloon Baptist Hospital in February 1978. The next month, he was buried in Chaoyang Cemetery in Guanyin Mountain, Taipei City, Taiwan Province.

On May 20, 2009, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Department of Philosophy of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and the centenary of the founding head of the department and the first chair professor of the department, Mr. Tang Junyi, the Chinese University of Hong Kong held a bronze statue of Mr. Tang Junyi to honor his immortal contributions to philosophy and culture.