Professor Chung-Ying Cheng delivered a lecture titled "Business Civilization and C Theory Management" to the staff and students of Macau University of Science and Technology in March. This lecture was organized by the School of Business of MUST.
Professor Chung-Ying Cheng was born in Nanjing in 1935. He is a famous scholar in philosophy, especially on Chinese philosophy. He is the founder of the C Management Theory and is recognized as one of the representatives of the "third generation of new Confucianism". He has been a professor of philosophy at the University of Hawaii since 1983.
Professor Cheng introduced the meaning of commerce, and explained the relationship between science and technology, commerce and civilization. He believed that it is the interaction of the three that contributes to the realization of people's lifestyles and the enrichment of life. Professor Cheng pointed out that people often forget the fundamental and focus more on the results than the causes, which is an impediment to innovation. The reason why he used "Commercial Civilization and C Theory Management" as the lecture topic was to let the students get to know such an organic society and understand life as a whole.
Professor Cheng respected the "Book of Changes" as the base of Chinese management philosophy, and emphasized the formation of a greater living system during the process of development and problem-solving. Professor Cheng explained that the “C” in his C theory represented China, referring to the Chinese way of life, thinking and management. China is a country full of creation. Thus, C also represents the philosophical meaning of creation. Professor Cheng's C theory emphasizes that people see Chinese civilization from mutual understanding and experiencing of the reality；and its vitality is embodied in the system of technology, economic and social systems.
Professor Cheng emphasized the significance of a fundamental understanding of Chinese and Western civilizations when facing the problems and challenges like how small businesses form a large-scale social capital business model, and how to fight against the new mercantilism. He believed that in order to avoid the harm of Western capitalism and Industrial Revolution, we must understand the universe of life and the universe of value. Meanwhile, we have to seek capital association and applications in human and natural environment, and transform the traditional capitalism into the capitalism based on cosmic creation theory and to form the capitalized commercial civilization. Professor Cheng concluded the Chinese management philosophy, "Discovering truth in the natural universe, Extracting wisdom in human life, Embodying morality in social activities".
After the lecture, the students raised questions enthusiastically. Professor Cheng answered each of them respectively. Professor Cheng and guests from other universities affirmed the teaching achievement of the School of Business and the performance of the students.
