He is Chair Professor of Humanities and Founding Director of the Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies at Peking University.

[6] He obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree (1961) in Chinese studies from Tunghai University and learned from such Confucian scholars as Mou Zongsan, Tang Junyi, and Xu Fuguan.

[6] He earned his Master of Arts degree (1963) in regional studies (East Asia) and Doctor of Philosophy degree (1968) in history and East Asian languages from Harvard University, where he studied with professors including Benjamin I. Schwartz, Talcott Parsons, and Robert Neelly Bellah.

[14] In 1994, he was featured in A World of Ideas with Bill Moyer: A Confucian Life in America (Films for the Humanities and Sciences).

In 2001, he was appointed by Kofi Annan as a member of the United Nations' "Group of Eminent Persons" to facilitate the Dialogue Among Civilizations.