Who put forward the modern transformation theory and cultural China?

The American sinologist Du Weiming is the one who put forward the "modern transformation theory" and "cultural China".

As a new generation of modern Neo-Confucian scholars, Du Weiming saw himself "as an inheritor of the spirit of the May Fourth Movement," and placed Confucianism in the context of world thinking, with a direct concern for how to bring traditional culture into line with China's modernization.

Since the 1980s, by drawing on interdisciplinary research methods such as philosophical anthropology, cultural anthropology, comparative culture, comparative religion, and the sociology of knowledge, he has elaborated on the modern significance of Confucianism and the prospects for the third phase of Confucianism's development in a relatively large number of ways, and sketched out the basic framework of contemporary Neo-Confucianism theory, which has had a considerable impact on both East Asia and the Western world.

Du Weiming said of himself, "I embarked on the academic path of interpreting the Confucian tradition during my middle school years in Taiwan because I was inspired by Mr. Zhou Wenjie, and it was the teachings of Mou Zongsan and Xu Fuguan at Tunghai University that prompted me to realize the essential reason for exploring the humanistic spirit of Confucianism," and then went on to study at Harvard. Afterwards, he went to Harvard to "focus on exploring the core values of the Confucian tradition within the scope of comparative history of ideas". Since then, he has held the ambition to make this his career, and after more than thirty years of stormy journey, he has unswervingly explored, annotated, and disseminated Confucian culture.

One of Du Weiming's most basic beliefs about Confucianism is that its teachings on being a human being can be applied to all human beings. Its value lies in how it enables people to delve into holistic introspection at all levels of body, mind, spirit, and soul, and in promoting the endless development of the personality, from personal cultivation all the way to becoming a saint and a sage.

Du Weiming argues that its significance, which is by no means confined to the realm of moral practice, has rather deep religious connotations. The sage personality, as the highest ideal embodying its transcendence, can nevertheless inspire people to engage in long-term and continuous struggles, and become an inner source of motivation for people in the real world to embody the value of their lives.

The pursuit of this ideal personality and ideal realm does not exclude religion, and has profound religious connotations and ultimate beliefs, and can be concretely realized in the real world of daily life, external king's work and self-cultivation. This is the "philosophical humanism" of Confucianism. Confucian humanism is not contrary to the spirit of religion.