Few figures in modern Chinese intellectual history have generated as much fascination and controversy as Gu Hongming (1857–1928). His extraordinary life, lived across cultures and civilizations, continues to raise profound questions about cultural identity, intellectual tradition, and the relationship between China and the West. As discussions of global order and intercultural dialogue take on renewed urgency, revisiting Gu Hongming’s life and thought offers a timely opportunity to reflect on the historical encounters between China and the wider world.

The Renwen Society of China Institute is pleased to present an online lecture by Dr. Chunmei Du, Professor and Chair of the Department of History at Lingnan University, Hong Kong, on September 12, 2026 (8:00–9:30 PM EDT). Based on her newly published Chinese book, Gu Hongming’s Eccentric Chinese Odyssey (Qishi Yilü: Gu Hongming Huanxiang Ji, 2026), the lecture offers a fresh perspective on one of the most intriguing figures in modern Chinese history.

Gu Hongming (1857–1928) remains one of the most controversial figures in modern Chinese intellectual history. Born in British Malaya and educated in Europe, he stunned many by remaking himself as a loyal supporter of the Qing dynasty and a devoted defender of Confucianism. He championed monarchy and Confucian morality, even defending practices such as footbinding and the queue, while proclaiming the superiority of the “spirit of the Chinese people” over modern Western civilization. Seen by many of his Chinese contemporaries as an ultraconservative, he nonetheless rose to prominence in the West as a prophetic voice from the East

Today, as shifting geopolitics revive debates about “the West versus the Non-West,” Gu Hongming’s reflections feel strikingly contemporary. His critique opens up space for intercultural dialogue from a perspective that is at once insider and outsider. His legacy also speaks to ongoing efforts to reimagine “authentic” Chinese culture as a powerful vehicle for projecting global soft power.

Published in 2026 by Social Sciences Academic Press, the Chinese edition of Gu Hongming’s Eccentric Chinese Odyssey traces Gu’s intellectual and psychological journey against the sweeping currents of global history. Following this “cultural amphibian” across geographical, cultural, and racial boundaries, the book explores his lifelong search for belonging. It brings to life a trickster-sage who moved restlessly between worlds, never fully at home in either. That in-between existence shadowed him with personal loss, yet it also gave him the distinctive voice that carried his ideas into global civilizational debates.

In this lecture, Professor Du will draw on her research and the writing of Gu Hongming’s Eccentric Chinese Odyssey to reexamine Gu Hongming’s intellectual world and his lifelong search for cultural belonging. Through the story of this remarkable “cultural amphibian,” she will explore how Gu crossed geographical, cultural, and racial boundaries while navigating between civilizations, and how his complex legacy continues to illuminate questions of intercultural understanding, dialogue, and identity in today’s world.