The Council of Taiwanese Chambers of Commerce in Europe—Junior Chapter (ETCC-JC) et al. held the third online European Youth Forum on 30 August, with the theme "Daoism". Taipei Representative Office in the UK Education Division Director Dr Nicole Yen-Yi Lee, Community Affairs Assistant Director Tiyu Yeh, World Taiwanese Chambers of Commerce Honorary President Dong-Ping Jeng, The Council of Taiwanese Chambers of Commerce in Europe President Cecelia Liu, Honorary President Wilfred Sing, Honorary President Yu-Ying Hedlund, and around 50 youths attended the forum.
ETCC-JC President Dr Benny Hsu chaired the forum. The guest speakers are Dr Wim De Reu PhD (KU Leuven), Associate Professor at the National University of Taiwan, Dr Ting-mien Lee PhD (KU Leuven), Assistant Professor at the University of Macau, and Dr Mercedes Valmisa PhD (Princeton), Assistant Professor at Gettysburg College in the United States. All three speakers had research experiences in Taiwan and Europe/America, which provided a unique experience to the audience distinctive from traditional Daoism workshops.
Dr Lee introduced the audience to the topic by asking, "What is 'Daoism'?" She talked about three popular answers: 1. a specific system of thoughts or a set of core ideas, 2. the thoughts advocated by certain thinkers, and 3. the thoughts represented by some texts. She said the second or third answer might be more intuitive for Chinese scholars, but for those who have studied Chinese thoughts in English, the first answer might be more intuitive.
Dr De Reu followed up by talking about "Cosmology, Politics, and Value in the Laozi". He focused on chapter 39 of the Laozi. He said that although the first half of the chapter talks about cosmology (the heaven, the earth, the spirits, the valleys and all things), the main focus of the chapter is on politics (princes and kings).
Dr Valmisa presented on the topic "The Zhuangzi and its Contemporary Significance", focusing on Zhuangzi's advocacy for the plurality and heterogenity of values. The common question for all philosophers in the classical period revolved around finding a "Dao", a path for humans to live in harmony with each other, the nature, and the cosmos. However, Zhuangzi believed all social paths are natural paths. These paths are all legitimate options, and no single path is the universally right option.

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