Tang's philosophy emphasized the concept of harmony between individuals and the universe, distinguishing his viewpoint from dualistic perspectives.

His exploration of the intersection of ethics and metaphysics culminated in the formulation of the Nine Horizons, a framework encompassing various aspects of human understanding.

Despite his death in 1978, his ideas continue to exert influence, shaping discussions concerning ethics, metaphysics, and the intricate relationship between individual existence and the broader universe.

[2] Only five years later, in 1949, Tang left Mainland China to live in Hong Kong, as part of an exodus of Chinese intellectuals to the British colony.

Tang went into exile in Hong Kong in 1949, after the declaration of the People's Republic of China, living there for the rest of his life.

Tang was particularly fixated on the fact that New Asia College was established exactly 2500 years after the birth of Confucius, often claiming that the timing was not merely coincidental, but significant as it marked a new era in Chinese history.

In his study of Contemporary New Ru Learning, Fang Keli identified Tang as part of the second generation of New Confucians, along with Mou Zongsan and Xu Fuguan.

[7] In 1958 Tang, Mou, Xu, and Zhang Zhunmai co-authored A Manifesto on Chinese Culture Respectfully Announced to the People of the World.

[1][7] The manifesto was an effort to revive Confucianism likely directed at Chinese people who favored adopting Western values.

[2] Tang saw the individual's connection to traditional values as the way of maintaining an authentic life that would otherwise be by threatened by the emptiness of modernity.

[9] For example, Tang's concept of the heart-mind, a single entity responsible for cognition, emotion, and will, is an originally Neo-Confucian idea.

[2] Tang concludes that the metaphysical world has moral qualities because virtues help people to align themselves harmoniously with the universe.

[9] Tang attempted to systematize the moral idealism in his final book Life, Existence, and the Horizons of the Heart-Mind in 1977.