Public Talk: Managing stress amidst the Pandemic: a Daoist Perspective

 11/3/2021

The first of the NCI Chinese Philosophy Talk Series on Daoism took place on Teams on 11 March. The talk was chaired by Jason Feehily, Director of Knowledge Exchange Asia on behalf of the University and NCI and delivered by Manuel Parreno, a China expert who studied Political Science and Chinese language in the US and subsequently obtained a three-year Masters degree in Chinese Philosophy in China after developing a passion for Daoism.

In his talk entitled “Managing stress amidst a pandemic: a Daoist perspective”, Manuel introduced Laozi's Dao as it relates to people and the current global pandemic, concepts such as “naturalness and nonaction” and “the doctrine of the mean”, along with Laozi’s understanding of how we can harness greater inner peace when facing difficulties and challenges.

The online event was well received by over 40 University staff, students and member of the general public. Several attendees expressed a fascination with Daoism and their wish to find out more.

The next talk by Manuel is scheduled for Thursday 22 April.

~ENDS~

当地时间2021年3月11日，英国诺丁汉大学孔子学院主办的中国哲学线上系列讲座第一期成功举办。本次主题为疫情中如何运用道家思想减压，吸引了四十余名诺丁汉大学教职工，学生和当地民众参加。

诺丁汉大学亚洲商务中心主任杰森（Jason Feehily）代表大学和诺大孔院致欢迎词后，拥抱中国有限公司创始人马诺（Manuel Parreno）带领大家开始了“道家之旅“。他介绍了中国古代道家哲学创始人老子及代表作《道德经》中“无为而治”，“中庸之道”等主要思想。马诺表示老子的哲学思想在中国人日常生活中的体现，极大地影响了其思维及处理困境的方式。 马诺深入浅出地给大家讲述如何运用“自然法则”更好地理论联系实践，如何运用老子的思想应对疫情给人们带来的心理压力和挑战。最后，马诺耐心解答与会者亟需解决的问题。

此次讲座是诺丁汉大学孔子学院首次举办的线上中国哲学思想分享会，不但推广了汉语之美，同时也使学生了解了传统思想及文化在当代中国社会的影响，体现出中国文化之精。孔院表示日后将继续开展该系列活动。

~终~