Beijing Hosts Symposium on Maternal Love and Charitable Acti

BEIJING, Sept. 28 — More than 100 cultural scholars, charity representatives and supporters gathered at the China World Hotel in Beijing for a symposium on preserving the cultural values of maternal love and advancing charitable initiatives.

The event explored the contemporary relevance of maternal love and ways to translate its values into charitable action, strengthen family values and deepen a sense of responsibility to both family and country. Discussions focused on how positive family traditions can shape the wider social ethos and how acts of kindness can put shared ideals into practice, as part of efforts to foster ethical and cultural development in the new era.

Participants pose for a group photo.

The symposium sought to celebrate maternal love, carry forward Chinese cultural heritage, nurture positive family traditions, advance charitable work and foster patriotism. It explored the idea that “a family is a nation in miniature, and a nation is made up of countless families.” Maternal love shapes family values, which in turn help shape the character of a nation.

Participants examined the ideals of kindness, moral integrity and selfless devotion embodied in maternal love, seeking to extend love within the family into a broader commitment to society and country. The discussions connected traditional culture and family values with charitable causes that serve the nation, encouraging a shared commitment to social progress and the common good.

Mu Shaoyun, chair of the Beijing Maternal Love Alliance Charitable Foundation.

The Beijing Maternal Love Alliance Charitable Foundation was a principal initiator of the event. Its chair, Mu Shaoyun, has long worked on research into the cultural values of maternal love, public education on family values and charitable assistance.

Guided by the belief that virtue strengthens families and love inspires service to the country, the foundation regularly runs initiatives to promote the values of maternal love, nurture positive family traditions and support people in need. Its work champions compassion and responsibility, putting these ideals into practice to foster a caring society and strengthen commitment to family and country. These efforts have earned recognition across society.

Miao Miao discusses how traditional and modern civilizations can enrich one another.

Miao Miao, president of the Beijing Zhongke Yijian Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine, shared her perspectives on preserving China’s rich traditional culture and fostering virtues that serve both family and country. She has spent years promoting traditional culture, guided by a commitment to moral integrity, kindness and compassion.

Her work explores the contemporary relevance of traditional ethical values and brings Chinese cultural heritage to wider audiences. Through practical initiatives, she encourages people to pursue goodness, appreciate beauty and deepen their love of country, helping pass traditional virtues on to future generations.

Miao Miao speaks about life and health.

Han Yi addresses the symposium.

Han Yi delivered an address at the event. He is a council member of the Chinese Architectural Culture Research Association, chief expert at the Environmental Design and Planning Research Center of the Ministry of Construction’s Institute of Comprehensive Investigation, and an adviser to the Joint Laboratory for Healthy Spaces at Beijing Institute of Technology.

Han Xiongliang, an environmental volunteer and editor-in-chief of Earth Villagers Network.

Speaking to reporters, Han Xiongliang, editor-in-chief of event co-organizer Earth Villagers Network, said human society began with matrilineal clans and tribes. He described maternal love as a root of civilization, a source of family values and a foundation for patriotism. Commitment to family and country, he said, grows from positive family traditions and finds expression in virtuous conduct.

Han said that preserving the values of maternal love and engaging in charitable work are quiet but meaningful expressions of patriotism. He called for moral education and caring family relationships, urging people to make love of family and country, integrity and kindness part of daily life and charitable action, so that positive traditions in inpidual households can help shape the nation’s social ethos.

Dr. Cui Jing presents Miao Miao with a calligraphic work featuring the character dao, meaning “the Way.”

The symposium provided a forum linking maternal love, family values, charitable action and education on responsibility to family and country. It encouraged the creative adaptation and development of traditional virtues, broadened approaches to ethical and cultural development and patriotic education, and laid a foundation for stronger charitable engagement and a shared commitment to the nation and the common good.

An inscription for the symposium by Han Henglin, described as one of the top ten contemporary calligraphers.

Looking ahead, participants pledged to work together to preserve the cultural values of maternal love and advance their charitable mission. They will continue to promote positive family traditions, bring inpidual acts of care together for the wider public good, and turn their commitments into practical action. Their shared aim is to carry forward Chinese cultural heritage and contribute to a more caring and ethically grounded society.

Text by Wu Hao | Photographs by Li Yang