Born in Nanjing on November 8, 1935, Professor Chung-ying Cheng’s early life was shaped by the upheavals of the Chinese civil war, which led his family to relocate to Taiwan in 1949. In the following year, he enrolled at Taipei Jianguo Senior High School. He then furthered his education at National Taiwan University (NTU) in 1952, majoring in foreign languages and literature.
In 1956, Professor Cheng was admitted to the Institute of Philosophy at NTU, where he studied under the guidance of Professor Fang Dongmei (1899-1977). His classmates included future scholars Shuxian Liu and Fu Weixun. During this time, he developed a deep interest in the works of Plato, Nietzsche, Bergson, the Hua-yan school of Buddhism (Du-shun), and the Book of Changes.
Professor Cheng’s academic excellence earned him a scholarship to the University of Washington in 1957, where he earned an M.A. degree in philosophy. He received further postgraduate scholarships from prestigious institutions such as Harvard University, Yale University, Cornell University, and the University of Illinois. Opting for Harvard, he completed his doctoral thesis, “The Inductive Logic of Peirce and Lewis,” in 1963 under the mentorship of Professor W. V. O. Quine. While at Harvard, he also attended John Rawls’ course on the Theory of Justice.
In the fall of 1963, Professor Cheng joined the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa as an Assistant Professor of Philosophy. He has been a full professor since July 1, 1974. Describing him solely as a specialist in Chinese Philosophy would be an understatement since his mastery extends across all Chinese schools of thought, both ancient and modern, including Buddhism. He has also made significant contributions to American philosophy, metaphysics, comparative philosophy, and philosophy of hermeneutics (he pioneered onto-hermeneutics).
Professor Cheng served as the founding editor of the Journal of Chinese Philosophy. In 2023, the journal commemorated its 50th anniversary with four special issues featuring world-renowned Eastern and Western philosophers. In addition to his role as the Founding President of the “International Society for Chinese Philosophy,” Professor Cheng continued to serve the Society as an Honorary President until his death. Furthermore, he established the “International Society for Yijing,” the “International Association for Onto-Hermeneutics,” and the “International Association for Confucianism.”
Regarding honors, Professor Cheng was bestowed with an honorary doctorate from the Institute of Far Eastern Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1995. He also holds Honorary Professorships from two universities in China and one in Poland. Listing all his fellowships and grants would be exhaustive, but notable ones include awards from the National Science Foundation, the Pacific Cultural Foundation, the Stanford Institute in the Philosophy of Science, and the Fulbright Foundation.
With 42 books and numerous peer-reviewed book chapters and articles published in both English and Chinese, Professor Cheng was bestowed with the prestigious title of “Light of China 中国之光” in 2016. This recognition is arguably the highest honor attainable in the field of Chinese Studies.
Before his retirement on June 30, 2024, the Department of Philosophy invited Professor Cheng to deliver one last lecture in a field of his choice on Friday, April 19, 2024. The topic he gave himself was “Knowing the Future: Based on Yijing’s Theory of Situational Meaning” (Dr.-Chung-ying-Cheng-Sp24.pdf (hawaii.edu). Dean Peter Arnade and Professor Tamara Albertini (Chair) marked the event by addressing his extraordinary scholarly trajectory and world-wide renown. Also, Professor Cheng was presented with a bronze plaque that will be placed on his office door in recognition of his scholarly achievements. The lecture was followed by a reception in honor of his remarkable 61 years of service to the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, during which faculty and students talked stories. Our graduate students expressed their gratitude for his mentorship by creating a virtual wall of pictures (Dr. Cheng’s Kudoboard | Kudoboard).
Faculty, students, and staff are saddened by Professor Cheng’s passing. It occurred just two days after his official retirement, preventing him from enjoying the emeritus status the UH Department of Philosophy unanimously requested on his behalf.
Professor Chung-ying Cheng is survived by his wife and soulmate, Linyu Gu, as well as four children and grandchildren.
Tamara Albertini Chair and Professor of Philosophy
The last time that I spoke with Chunying was at the East-West Philosopher’s Conference. It was during lunch on May 30th, and I remember that his son took a photo of Chungying and me together. Chungying and I agreed that we would talk after the conference, but unfortunately, we never got the opportunity. I tried calling him in early June but did not get through. I think he may have fallen ill during that period.
Chungying was always very kind and generous to me. I remember how welcome he made me feel when I first arrived at the Philosophy Department in Fall, 2012. In fact, Chungying was the first faculty member I met with on campus, during my interview for the assistant professor position in March of 2012. He picked me up from Lincoln Hall of the East-West Center, where I was staying, and took me to breakfast. He immediately made me feel at ease, as we engaged in a wonderful (nearly three-hour-long!) conversation that morning, a conversation that ranged from issues in the Philosophy of Language to Social Ontology to Ethics to Confucian Philosophy. I came away deeply impressed by Chungying’s vast knowledge and humanity that day.
Like the first time I met Chungying, many of our philosophical conversations took place over meals. We had many meals together, getting together usually once a semester. On campus, we would usually go to Bale. If we went off campus, we would go to Dew Drop In or Maple Garden, and in the last couple of years, he preferred Hana No Sato and Yum Yee Kee. I value those conversations, which taught me much, not just about Philosophy but also the history of the discipline and the history of my own department.
I have been more astounded by his intellectual energy and insight in the past twelve years when I have been Chungying’s colleague. From Chungying, I learned much about Chinese philosophy, and also how to do philosophy. The distinctive manner in which he was able to bridge and synthesize disparate traditions of thought (analytic, continental, Chinese, and Western) was remarkable and serves as an important model for those working in cross-cultural philosophy.
From 1990s, I personally knew Professor Chung-ying Cheng and made substantial communication and interaction with him mainly in academics and also in other sides. I have benefited greatly from him. In my judgement, the most prominent characteristic of Cheng’s academics is spanning the boundary between Western and Chinese philosophies, and the boundary between the analytical and the continental philosophies. In all these fields just mentioned, Cheng has been a great expert, and made his own systematic contributions. We, especially I myself, will remember him forever, and study his philosophy, teaching and personality forever!
CHEN Bo
Chair professor of humanities and social science at Wuhan University
Titulaires Member, Institut International de Philosophie (Paris),
https://institutinternationaldephilosophie.org/index.php/nos-membres/
Titulaires Member, Académie Internationale de Philosophie des Sciences (Bruxelles),
https://www.aips.be/en/les-membres-actuels/liste-alphabetique
My Philpeople page: https://philpeople.org/profiles/bo-chen-2
驚聞成中英先生逝世，不勝嗟哉哀哉痛哉傷哉！余與先生相交近三十年，論道談學，心推意慕，以為其哲學成就世莫有能及者。今哲人往，天地崩矣，無人相討論，無人荷指責矣。雲山寂寂，江水冷冷，天地垂淚，悲斯人矣。遂檢出舊文一篇，銘刻舊憶並永思焉。以為先生駕鶴西去，其學其文足可不朽，雖俗學㳽眼泛爛，亦能定世人心志矣。嗚呼哀哉！尚饗[合十][合十][合十]
贵州大学新民鞠躬敬悼
贵州省儒学研究会沉痛悼唁美籍华人美国夏威夷大学终身教授成中英先生唁电
夏威夷大学终身教授成中英先生治丧委员会：
惊悉成中英先生驾鹤西去，魂归道山，我研究会全体同仁不胜悲哀，沉痛万分！
成中英先生长期致力于哲学、中西哲学和中国管理哲学之研究并取得丰硕成果；不顾年事已高而常年奔走于中国与海外，为中国哲学与中国文化之海外传播发展作出杰出贡献，海内外学林同道皆有口碑；且创建之“本体诠释学”和“C管理理论”更是享誉海内外。成中英先生与我会有诸多殊胜因缘，曾多次受我会名誉会长和会长邀请参与学会举办之学术交流活动，如“文化书院庆典”、“茅山论道”等，皆产生重大之学术与社会影响。
先生今虽离世而去，但其音容宛在，尤其学术思想将传之后世而永垂不朽！今值先生不幸逝世之际，特向其家属表示深切慰问，并愿以成先生开创之中华学术思想传播之道路，与海内外各界同仁携手共勉，协同推进中华优秀传统文化新时代之新开展。
贵州省儒学研究会
会 长（签章）：黄诚
2024年7月7日
世界哲学家成中英表叔因病逝世，侄儿袁观山等家人心情悲痛万分。逝者已逝，但其精神永远留存于我们心中，成为照亮我们前行道路的明灯。
曹峰唁电
惊悉成中英先生仙逝，极为震恸！成先生学贯古今中西，作为当代中国哲学一代宗师，开门立派，卓然一家，著作累累，影响深远。而且这些年成先生奔走东西，传扬中国文化，促成学界交流，积极扶掖后进，致力人才培养，为中国传统文化的当代转型以及中国哲学在西方地位的提升，为两岸之间中西之间学术桥梁的搭建做出了巨大贡献，这些是大家有目共睹的，我们都受益良多。成中英先生的逝世是国际哲学界的巨大损失，我们极为悲痛，在此谨向家属致以深刻的哀悼。成先生安息！
中国人民大学哲学院教授 曹峰
2024年7月4日
I have known Professor Chung-ying Cheng for over 25 years. In my impression, he was almost always working, reading, thinking, and writing, and I rarely saw him rest. It is very unfortunate that he did not get to enjoy a longer retirement, but as far as I know, he always lived by the saying, “Is it not a pleasure to learn and practice what is learned in a timely manner?”
I knew Professor Chung-ying Cheng for the first time in the 1980s when I was a PhD candidate in Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing. He was very active in communication between Chinese philosopher and Western philosophers in various fields of philosophy. He made a great of contributions to contemporary Chinese philosophy by establishing his onto-comsological hermeneutics and the theory of existence based on Yijing philosophy from the ancient Chinese tradition. He is the one among the well-known worldwide distinguished philosophers today. We will remember him for ever and continue his enterprise of dialogues among different philosophical traditions.
唁 电
沉痛悼念成中英先生
惊悉成中英先生驾鹤西去，不胜哀悼之至，谨向先生亲属致以深切的哀悼与慰问！
成中英先生专于易学、儒家哲学、比较哲学、逻辑学等教学与研究，付诸毕生精力，硕果累累。尤擅管理哲学相关研究，是我们景仰的中国管理哲学大师。回顾往昔，先生言笑晏晏，历历在目，今公往矣，咨诸何人！
哲人其萎，风范长存！
成先生千古！
赵毅武
国际儒学联合会儒学与企业管理委员会
2024年7月7日
Even though I didn’t have an opportunity to take courses with Dr. Cheng at Manoa, that does not mean I haven’t benefited from his mentorship. Many of our intellectual conversations took place at conferences from APA, ISCP to EWPC, and I was always amazed by Dr. Cheng’s encyclopedic knowledge of both the West and the East philosophical traditions. Just like many of the Manoa alumni, I myself is a product of Dr. Cheng’s tireless instructions beyond the classroom teachings at the Sakamaki Hall. Dr. Cheng’s scholarships will for certain continue to guide the field of Comparative Philosophy as the best of its kind.
I took Prof Cheng’s introductory course on Chinese philosophy during my first semester at UH in Fall 1973. I had taken a course in the field at college but Prof Cheng made so many cross-cultural philosophical reflections that I could feel comparative philosophy percolating beneath his direct look into Eastern philosophy. Later, I realized that as a Westerner I needed these comparative connections and insights to ease my way into Eastern thought, which turns out to be greater than its appearances under comparative lenses. Through the ’70s I took a number of Prof Cheng’s seminars, West as well as East, which were explorations of the subjects, rather than recitations of accepted views. I especially appreciated his seminars on the Yijing, Song-Ming Lixue, Zhu Xi, Li and Qi, which were seminal for my own subsequent work. Since my thesis ideas tended to be modest, he told me he liked to postulate bold theses, for even if they couldn’t be fully demonstrated they would generate fruitful results, positive and negative–and advance knowledge. He was inspiring in that regard.
We express our deepest condolences
for the untimely death of Professor Chung-ying Cheng. We express our condolences to his family, relatives and friends. May his memory not fade away in the hearts of all who remember him.
Gulmiza Seitalieva, PhD, Associate Professor, Head of Philosophy Department of the International University of Kyrgyzstan
I benefited greatly from taking Prof. Cheng’s class on the Yijing as a graduate student at the University of Hawaii. When much of academic consensus dismissed the Yijing as merely “mythic,” prof. Cheng took the text seriously in its traditional status as the first among the classics. Prof. Cheng’s hermeneutic approach to the Yijing has been greatly inspiring to me and has impacted my own research.
I would also like to thank Prof. Cheng for having invited me to attend international conferences when I was a graduate student.
I am grateful to have known Prof. Cheng and thank him for all his guidance, both directly and indirectly.
唁 电
惊悉成中英不幸辞世！深感悲痛！
成中英先生是一位具有国际视野的儒家学者。他的辞世是世界儒学界的重大损失！由于工作的原因，我和成先生曾经多有联系。他的高度文化自觉意识，契而不舍的弘道精神，为推动儒学在国际的研究、传播、应用作出的不懈努力和贡献，对国际儒联建设发展给予的支持、关注，永远值得我们学习、怀念！
谨对成中英先生不幸辞世致以深切的悼念！对家属致以深切的慰问！望节哀顺变！
牛喜平
2024年7月9日
唁 电
惊悉成中英不幸辞世！深感悲痛！
成中英先生的辞世是世界儒学界的重大损失！由于工作的原因，我和成先生曾经多有工作联系。他的高度文化自觉意识，契而不舍的弘道精神，为推动儒学在世界研究、应用作出的不懈努力和贡献，对国际儒联建设发展给予的支持、关注，永远值得我们学习、怀念！
谨对成中英先生不幸辞世致以深切的悼念！对家属致以深切的慰问！望节哀顺变！
牛喜平
2024年7月9日
Professor Chung ying Cheng
I was new to the East West Center and University of Hawaii Philosophy Department in 1963. I was doing my PhD in philosophy. I took a course from Professor Chung ying Cheng on American Philosophy. He was newly hired as a young man who had obtained his PhD from Harvard University under the guidance of a famous logician Quine. His vast knowledge about the dispute between Charles Peirce and William James intrigued me. He was so thorough about American Philosophy of Whitehead, Royce, James and Pierce that I loved taking this course with him. Though he had a thick Chinese accent when speaking American English, I was sold to learning from him the Chinese Philosophy of Loa Tzu and Chuang Tzu as well as Confucius. I was inspired by Prof. Cheng’s knowledge and wisdom about Chinese thinking as a graduate student, therefore, I took thorough notes on everything he was saying in the class. Since, as a person he was so laid back, I felt comfortable approaching him during his office hours. Because of thorough lectures, I decided there and then that when I become a professor in the future, I would write a book on explaining the message of Loa Tzu and Chuang Tzu to the world. That dream of mine became true when in 1992 Warner Brothers was creating a series of 20 episodes of Kung Fu: The Legend Continues with David Carradine speaking words of wisdom from the Tao Te Ching. Warner Brothers approached me and I translated some of the lines containing wisdom from the Tao Te Ching spoken by David Carradine. That was my service to Prof. Cheng. I used his notes from the class on Chinese Philosophy and made a good use of them in the teaching of my own courses on Indian and Chinese Phlosophy. When University of Hawaii presented me with the honor of their prestigious Distinguished alumni award, I dedicated to Prof. Cheng. Besides me, since he had taught thousands of students in his 61 years of distinguished teaching career, we are grateful to him. He will be remembered by all of us who had the opportunity to listen to his wisdom which revealed his scholarship as well as his understanding of the East West culture. He will live in the mind of his students and colleagues as a wise philosopher and a gentle human being.
Dear Professor Chung-ying Cheng,
Now you are in Heaven, or you are together with Confucius. No matter where you are, you are in our memories, together with us on the earth when we recall you, in our hearts and minds.
Thank you for your generosity, kindness, and insightful thoughts. MAHALO!
It was a great pleasure to talk with you during the 12th EWPC 2024. It is a great pity not to have the chance to talk with you more in person in the future.
Hawai’i is a beautiful and joyful place, a place of peace and life, a place that held East and West philosophers to shake hands for more than 80 years.
I promise you that I will include Wang Yangming in my future research proposal.
I promise you that I will always keep a close eye on the creative merging of Eastern and Western philosophies.
I promise you that I will devote my life to my dream when I know it at fifteen years old.
I promise you that I will respect you and regard you as my personal advisor.
Last, allow me to compose a poem for Thou in our cherished Chinese language:
前有古人，后有来者；
天地悠悠，上下求索；
明启而思，秉德而立；
致敬成师，传讯圣典。
敬悼一代弘儒成中英先生！
王希佳
Xijia Wang
北京大学哲学系、宗教学系博士后，助理研究员(2020-2024)
Post-Doctoral Fellow and Assistant Researcher (2020-2024)
Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies,
Peking University
R.I.P , Chung-Ying Cheng .
I had the good fortune to be colleagues with Chungying toward the end of his distinguished career at UH Manoa. As neighbours in Sakamaki Hall, we would discuss comparisons between ancient Greek and classical Chinese philosophy; a broad and deep scholar, I had much to learn from him in both. At a talk in honour of his retirement, Chungying spoke of his initial desire to study philosophy to become wise and courageous. A model of intellectual energy, I suspect his passion never ceased. He will be missed.