Tu Weiming

Tu Weiming (born 1940) is a Chinese-born American philosopher.

He is Chair Professor of Humanities and Founding Director of the Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies at Peking University.

He is also Professor Emeritus and Senior Fellow of Asia Center at Harvard University.

Tu was born on February 6, 1940, in Kunming, Yunnan Province, Mainland China, and grew up in Taiwan.

He obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree (1961) in Chinese studies from Tunghai University and learned from such Confucian scholars as Mou Zongsan, Tang Junyi, and Xu Fuguan.

He earned his Master of Arts degree (1963) in regional studies (East Asia) and Doctor of Philosophy degree (1968) in history and East Asian languages from Harvard University, where he studied with professors including Benjamin I. Schwartz, Talcott Parsons, and Robert Neelly Bellah.

He also held faculty positions at Princeton University (1968–1971) and the University of California at Berkeley (1971–1981) and was Director of the Institute of Culture and Communication at the East–West Center in Hawaii (1990–1991).

Tu was a visiting professor at Beijing Normal University, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, National Taiwan University, Peking University, and the University of Paris.

He currently holds honorary professorships from the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, Jinan University, Renmin University, the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Soochow University, Zhejiang University, and Zhongshan University.

He is also a member of International Advisory Council in Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman.

Tu has been awarded honorary degrees by King's College London, Lehigh University, Lingnan University in Hong Kong, Grand Valley State University, Shandong University, Soka University in Japan, Tunghai University in Taiwan, and the University of Macau.

He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1988), a member of Academia Sinica (2018), an executive member of the Federation of International Philosophical Societies, and a tutelary member of the International Institute of Philosophy.

In 1988, Tu was one of many public intellectuals who were asked by Life magazine to give their impressions on "The Meaning of Life".

In 1994, he was featured in A World of Ideas with Bill Moyer: A Confucian Life in America (Films for the Humanities and Sciences).

Tu was Harvard–Yenching Professor of Chinese History and Philosophy and of Confucian Studies at Harvard University and Director of the Harvard–Yenching Institute (1996–2008).

In 2001, he was appointed by Kofi Annan as a member of the United Nations' "Group of Eminent Persons" to facilitate the Dialogue Among Civilizations.

Tu has been the recipient of numerous awards including the grand prize of International Toegye Society (2001), the second Thomas Berry Award for Ecology and Religion (2002), the Lifelong Achievement Award by the American Humanist Society (2007), the first Confucius Cultural Award by Qufu (2009), the first Brilliance of China Award by China Central Television Beijing (2013), and the Global Thinkers Forum Award for Excellence in Cultural Understanding (2013).

In 2004, he gave a presentation on inter-civilizational dialogue to the executive board of UNESCO.

He was also one of the eight Confucian intellectuals who were invited by the Singaporean government to develop the "Confucian Ethics" school curriculum.