Benoît Vermander


Benoît Vermander, also known as Wei Mingde and Bendu, is a French Jesuit, sinologist, political scientist, and painter. He is currently professor of religious sciences at Fudan University, Shanghai, as well as academic director of the Xu-Ricci Dialogue Center within the University. He has been director of the Taipei Ricci Institute from 1996 to 2009 and the editor-in-chief of its electronic magazine erenlai. He is also consultor to the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue. He holds a M.Phil in political science from Yale University, a doctorate in the same discipline from Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris, a Master of Sacred Theology from Fu Jen Catholic University and a Doctorate in Sacred Theology from the Jesuit Faculties of Philosophy and Theology of Paris.
His research and publications focus on China's model of development and its role in the globalization process, on Chinese religions and spiritual traditions, and on contemporary expressions of civil religions.

China’s model of development and role in globalization

He has highlighted and analyzed the systemic relationship between globalization and the rise of China. More recently, he has researched the external and internal factors explaining the rise of Corporate Social Responsibility in China.
His research on the effect of globalization on the Chinese local fabric has also given rise to a case-study on Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan. This case-study was linked to an ongoing local developmental project led together with Professor Stevan Harrell, University of Washington, and a group of Yi scholars.

Chinese religions and spiritualities

Several of his publications deal with the transformations of the Chinese religious landscape and the way Christianity contributes to them while being affected by the trends that redefine China’s self-understanding of its cultural tradition. In the latter book and several articles he analyzes how China’s religious revival goes along the redefinition of the traditional Chinese religious psyche and societal forms. He also writes on the spiritual dimension of Chinese ancient philosophy and the way its re-interpretation may enrich today’s spiritual quest in interreligious perspective. In Shanghai Sacred, published in collaboration with Liz Hingley and Liang Zhang, he combines the study of Chinese religions in urban settings with the one of the current expressions of Chinese 'civil religions.'
This research on the genealogy and expression of civil religions is continued, in different context, in Versailles, la République et la Nation, centered on evolving expressions of social sacrality in comparative perspective. In the same line, he has written several contribution on the current trend of “religious sinicization” as well as on China-Vatican relationships.
Under his Chinese name Wei Mingde, he has published several books in China and Taiwan, some of which are translated from French or English.

Art

Under the art name Bendu, he also creates works of Chinese painting and calligraphy. He studied under the Sichuanese painter Li Jinyuan. In concert with Li Jinyuan, he held expositions at the Réfectoire des Jacobins, the European Parliament, the National Gallery and Gallery of Sichuan. He has held solo exhibitions at Fu Jen University, University of San Francisco, The French Institute in Taipei, Chengdu's Academy of Painting and Calligraphy, Beida Centre, Kwanghua Centre, the Tibeto-Mongolian Foundation, Sunbow Gallery , Xuhui Art Museum, Open Space Gallery in Shanghai  and Ancienne Banque de France in Lens, North of France amongst various other places. He has published several collections of poems and paintings, in both Taiwan and China.
His art is characterized by the use of audacious calligraphic strokes, the influence of the landscapes and patterns of Tibeto-Burman ethnic groups in south western China and the blending of traditions and techniques.
Some of his works can be seen at this .

Artworks