Background

    Leisure, as a social-cultural phenomenon, permeates the life, behavior, and consumption patterns of people in the modern world. It even permeates the formulation of national public, economic and cultural policies. It plays an important role in the promotion of humanism, and in the building of a harmonious world. The role of leisure in reducing social tensions has become increasingly evident, resulting in leisure scholars increasingly focusing their attention on leisure research.
    The world today is characterized by two important features: a greatly strengthened trend toward global integration and a much quickened pace of social transformation. This has opened up new vistas for scholars to observe society and life. It is true that scholars do not necessarily take a direct part in formulating various social policies, but they can play an active role, each with his/her own way of thinking, in the construction of sociological theories and in the practices of life, thus exerting an influence on social development with their deep thinking and far-sighted wisdom. Sociology, with a charm characterized by openness, cross-disciplinary inquiry, and tolerance of different views, has always attracted people's participation in public debate, through which the basis for the future development of the discipline is formed.
    It is in such a disciplinary background that this Conference, which aims to involve academic elite and social actors from various countries in the world, will be convened, with impetus from the sponsoring international organizations. It is hoped that with this Conference sociology will no longer be an abstruse language for the few, but a member of the big family of human culture, and that it will, as it has always been doing, make efforts to create a good environment for human life with its reason and wisdom.
    For our time, scholars are no doubt the thinkers, the carriers of morality and justice, as well as history-makers who use the power of humanism to drive the development of human civilization and progress.A dialogue between philosophy, sociology, culture studies, anthropology, history, education, economics and other disciplines is necessary for a better and harmonious world. Leisure is in a position to provide a platform for such a dialogue.
    Keeping this in mind, during the “First International Forum of Sociology” on 7th September 2008 in Barcelona Spain, the Leisure Research Committee of the International Sociological Association (ISA RC 13) decided to co-sponsor its Mid-term Conference in Beijing, China with the Leisure Research Centre of Chinese Academy of Art, China Professional Organization on the Leisure Philosophy, Peking University in Beijing, China.
    Founded in 1947, the International Sociological Association is a member organization of UNESCO. It is headquartered in Madrid, Spain with 55 Research Committees, 2 Working Groups and 4 Thematic Groups. Its Leisure Research Committee was established in 1970 and aims to boost the research on issues in leisure studies.
    October in Beijing is a golden season. Beijing, the historical and cultural capital with 850 years of history as also a modern metropolis, is expecting friends from all over the world!