Tang Junyi's Aiqing zhi Fuying (1940) remains one of the great untranslated mysteries of 20th-century Chinese letters. Tang (1909-1978) is best known as a leading voice in the New Confucian movement and as a co-author of the 1958 Manifesto for a Re-appraisal of Sinology and Reconstruction of Chinese Culture; in this novella, however - itself an alleged 'translation' of a lost Polish original - a Zoroastrian guru travels to India at the end of his long life. On his way to his final resting place in the Himalayas, he stops to impart wisdom about love to a group of young fans gathered in aforest at the edge of the Ganges.

Translated excerpts from the book will be read and discussed (in English), with a view to exploring the 'Confucianness' or otherwise of Tang's vision.

Jonathan Keir is a Research Fellow at the Weltethos Institute Tübingen and Project Coordinator for the Karl Schlecht Foundation. His most recent book publication is From Global Ethic to World Ethos? Building on Hans Küng's Legacy of Basic Trust in Life (2018).