Living Culture: Embodying Tradition in Everyday Life | Xuemo in Dialogue with International Scholars (Episode 21)

Living Culture: Embodying Tradition in Everyday Life | Xuemo in Dialogue with International Scholars (Episode 21)

The twenty-first session of the online forum series “Xuemo in Dialogue with International Scholars,” organized by the World Literature Union and the Xuemo Foundation, was held at 8 p.m. Beijing time on August 9, 2026. Under the theme “Living Culture,” Chinese writer Xuemo entered into dialogue with Weng Wenlei, Executive Deputy Director of the Proposals Committee of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and First-Class Inspector of the Shanghai Women’s Federation. More than a dozen experts and scholars from China, Canada, Poland, Nepal, and other countries joined over 200 readers online to explore the deeper relationship between cultural inheritance and its embodiment in individual lives.

The Convergence of Lives and the Discovery of a Cultural Character

At the beginning of the forum, Xuemo explained how the conversation had come about. A three-time nominee for the Mao Dun Literature Prize and the only writer invited to the 2026 Oxford Literary Festival, Xuemo has in recent years extended his research beyond literature into political philosophy. Through long-term observation and field research, he noticed a group of public servants working on the front lines of social governance in China. Although they had received no specialized training in traditional forms of self-cultivation, they nevertheless displayed remarkable integrity and inner steadiness in everyday life. Weng Wenlei, he said, was a representative example.

“Many people may practice self-cultivation for a lifetime without reaching such a state,” Xuemo said. This discovery led him to ask what kind of strength and experience could enable a person to remain sensitive and gentle amid demanding public work, and even to live with clarity, ease, and composure. The question also pointed toward a system through which a “cultural character” might be cultivated, transmitted, and reproduced. On this basis, Xuemo introduced the concept of “Xin-Xing Civilization,” arguing that beyond material and institutional civilization, the cultivation of the inner life is the foundation of both social stability and personal well-being. The dialogue therefore sought, through Weng’s upbringing and life experience, to identify the cultural inheritance that people “use every day without being aware of it.”

The Nourishment of Family and a Character Grounded in Public Responsibility

Responding to Xuemo’s questions, Weng organized her reflections around three words: encounter, sharing, and connection. She recounted how she had come to know Xuemo’s works and how profoundly her family upbringing had shaped her character.

Weng said candidly that her background in psychology had not spared her from an inner conflict between trying to face the pressures and realities of life and work calmly and presenting the outward image of a capable “strong woman.” The difficulty of bringing knowledge and action into alignment left her physically and emotionally exhausted, and at certain stages of her life she suffered from persistent illness. In the second half of 2022, she happened upon Xuemo’s The Undying Diamond Heart, Eternal Love, and Curses of the Kingdom of Xixia. Their accounts of transcending suffering and remaining steadfast in one’s convictions affected her deeply. What she initially found difficult to read soon became something she read voraciously. Xuemo’s writing not only helped settle her inner life, but also enabled her to move from a state of tension toward greater ease.

Looking back on her upbringing, Weng spoke affectionately about her parents. Raised in a large and loving family, she inherited the kindness, warmth, and sense of responsibility of her engineer father, whom she described as a typical Shanghai man, as well as the concentration, rigor, and intelligence of her mother, a high-school mathematics teacher. Her parents never placed academic pressure on her. Instead, they encouraged her to pursue her interests freely and fully respected her wishes even when she had to choose between academic strengths and athletic interests. “Whatever I liked, I went and did,” she recalled. This relaxed and trusting family atmosphere nurtured her independence, tolerance, creativity, and seemingly instinctive sense of mission.

After listening to Weng, Xuemo said that she embodied a rare “character of public responsibility.” Such a character transcends utilitarian calculation, social roles, and gender, and manifests as an instinctive sense that everyone bears responsibility for the fate of society. Drawing on his observations of grassroots governance in China, Xuemo argued that China’s ability to maintain stability and development amid a complex global environment rests in part on the many outstanding public servants like Weng who quietly shoulder public responsibilities in their respective positions without placing personal gain first. Such a character, he said, is not simply innate, but a distinctive fruit cultivated jointly by contemporary Chinese cultural life and family upbringing.

Embodying Culture: From Helping Others Flourish to Living as Oneself

Weng then discussed how culture can be embodied in everyday life. For her, living culture is expressed not only through large forms of social responsibility, but also in the smallest human interactions.

She described her guiding principle in relationships as “helping others flourish.” Whether supporting younger colleagues at work or helping a domestic worker resolve difficulties with a child’s schooling, she has tried to treat those around her with the same generosity she herself has received. She believes that if everyone could become a benefactor in someone else’s life, society would become a better place. This practice of helping others find fulfillment is a contemporary expression of the Confucian idea that “the humane person loves others.”

Weng and Xuemo also spoke candidly about declining birth rates and the growing number of women living alone. Citing research by Nobel Prize-winning economist Claudia Goldin, Weng said that men’s understanding of their role within the family and the extent of their participation in family life are important factors affecting birth rates. She called on men to shoulder family responsibilities and cultivate fidelity, benevolence, and dependability, devoting genuine care and feeling to family life. Xuemo strongly agreed. He suggested that some men today lack inner strength and a willingness to take responsibility, which is one reason some women would rather remain single than settle for an unsuitable relationship. With humor, he urged men to recover their inner strength and shape themselves into “works of art” worthy of a woman’s trust.

Trial, Error, and Growth in Education

Toward the end of the conversation, the two speakers exchanged views on the growth and education of young people. Weng recalled that her daughter had once described her as having a “people-pleasing personality,” arguing that she took on too much responsibility for others and suppressed herself when she could not meet every demand, eventually harming her health. Weng said she did not agree with that interpretation. Xuemo offered another perspective through the experience of his own son.

Xuemo argued that rebellion and exploration are indispensable parts of youth. “Every experience ultimately becomes a form of wealth,” he said. Parents should not be excessively harsh when educating their children. They need only uphold two basic limits: do not harm others, and leave those you encounter feeling at ease. Young people need to pass through setbacks and, through the accumulation of experience, undergo transformation and eventually awaken to themselves. He cited his son Chen Yixin, who gave up a career choice in order to remain with his mother, praising the younger generation’s willingness to sacrifice for filial care and responsibility. This kind of cultural inheritance, embodied in practice, he said, is more precious than anything learned only from books.

Xuemo emphasized that culture is not something to display, but something that should transform life. A genuine cultural character is formed little by little through everyday practice. Weng’s diligence and sense of responsibility in public service, and the tenderness ordinary people bring to family life, are both concrete expressions of culture made manifest in life.

Culture Enters Everyday Life

The conversation lasted more than two hours, ranging from family upbringing to social governance and from women’s independence to the growth of young people, while bringing theoretical discussion together with personal experience. In her concluding remarks, moderator Lei Yiting said that the dialogue showed that culture is never a lofty doctrine removed from life. It is the upbringing that flows in one’s blood and the sense of responsibility embodied in one’s actions. As Xuemo observed, the ultimate purpose of literature and culture is not to be enshrined in an ivory tower for study, but to enable countless readers to draw strength from them and transform their own lives. When each person can shoulder public responsibility while embodying the spirit of culture, culture truly enters everyday life.