Du Gangjian ( Chinese: 杜钢建; pinyin: Dù Gāngjiàn; born August 1956) is a Chinese legal scholar and a representative figure of New Confucianism in mainland China. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]
Du Gangjian was born in Hefei, Anhui in 1956. He received his B.A degree from Anhui Normal University in 1979 [8] and Master of Law degree from Renmin University of China Department of Law in 1982. [8]
After graduation, Du joined the faculty of Renmin University of China Department of Law. [8] He was a professor at National School of Administration from 1997 to 2004. [8] He became the Chief Professor (首席教授) of Shantou University Law School in 2004 and was appointed the Dean of Shantou University Law School in March 2007. [9] He left Shantou University and joined the faculty of Hunan University Law School in 2009, and was the dean of the school from 2010 to 2015. [8]
Du was selected as one of 2003 Top Ten Opinion Leaders by Caijing Shibao (财经时报), a Chinese newspaper, [10] and one of 100 jurists who influenced the process of promoting rule of law in China by China Today in 2017. [11]
Du is the founder of World Civilization Research Association. [12]
As an advocate of New Confucianism and Confucian constitutionalism, Du is known for his idea that Confucianism can be used as the ideological basis for constitutionalism [13] [14] [15] and human rights. [2] [16] [17]
Some of his research, e.g., claiming that American Indians may descend from Hunan, [18] [19] [20] that some ancestors of Korean and Japanese people came from Hunan, [21] and that Western civilization originated in China, [15] [19] [20] [22] have attracted public attention.