“Huilin Prize” honors contributions to promoting Chinese culture

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The 4th Huilin Culture Prize has just been awarded to two scholars who have made outstanding contributions in communicating Chinese culture to the rest of the world.

The winners are Daniel A. Bell, a Canadian scholar in comparative political philosophy, and Chen Lai, a Chinese comparative philosophy historian.

The award is run by Huang Huilin’s "Third Pole Culture" Foundation, a non-profit and non-governmental institution.

"Chinese culture is far from being well recognized in the world, in terms of its richness and how it’s preserved," says Huang, Dean of Academy for International Communication of Chinese culture at Beijing Normal University. "So we are doing our part. We award one foreign scholar and one Chinese scholar each year based on their contribution in its promotion."

Prize winner Daniel A. Bell makes a speech. /Photo provided by Huilin Prize

Mr. Bell started learning the Chinese language and culture in 1990. For nearly 3 decades, he has been devoted to the study of Chinese Confucianism and promoting Chinese culture.

Prize winner Chen Lai makes a speech. /Photo provided by Huilin Prize

Professor Chen Lai has been conducting academic research on Chinese philosophy history. His main research areas cover Confucian philosophy, New Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties and modern Confucianism. His research is considered the highest level in this academic field at present.

Each of them is awarded 300,000 yuan. The prize is seen as encouragement for those whose love of Chinese culture has led them to promote it worldwide.