Family feelings provide us the broadest possible basis for developing appropriate ethical impulses, said Sinologist Roger T. Ames, Humanities Chair Professor at Peking University and Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

"It is thus an urgent philosophical task to inquire more deeply into the role of family feeling in the formulation of a minimalist ethic for a new geopolitical order," he said.

Ames was addressing the Conference on World Sinology and China Studies in Qingdao, East China's Shandong province, on Saturday. More than 300 experts and scholars from around 130 higher education institutions around the country attended the two-day events, where topics on world Sinology development were discussed.

Zhang Xiping, editor-in-chief of academic journal International Sinology, stressed the importance of learning more about the history of cultural exchanges — particularly the overseas communication of Chinese culture — in deepening Sinological studies.

He said that Sinology and China studies have an important academic mission at the historical moment to reconstruct and restructure Chinese culture and are in need of a brand-new academic vision and patterns to help Chinese culture to be better spread and understood around the world.

Both Ames and Zhang were among the seven keynote speakers who introduced the current situation, challenges and trends of Sinological studies in the new era and discussed future development directions and key areas of the discipline.

Moreover, around 200 guest speakers joined 15 sub-forums on topics including cultural exchanges, comparative literature, translation of ancient classics and their influence, research achievements of veteran Sinologists, development of the discipline, and more.

The event was co-organized by the Chinese Association for International Understanding, the Belt and Road Academy of Beijing Language and Culture University, the College of Foreign Languages at Nankai University in Tianjin, and Institute for International Communication of Chinese Culture at Beijing Foreign Studies University.