Hou Pen-Lei (Johnathan) (胡本禮) was born in China, raised in Taiwan, and later built a career as a professional civil engineer in California. Raised in a Confucian household and shaped by the traditions of Buddhism and Daoism, he spent his formative years seeking a deeper understanding of good and evil, while also being occasionally introduced to Christianity through missionary encounters. He lives in California with his wife, Huang Taojan (黃陶然), their children, Whitnan (輝嵐) and Bertina (輝璇), and grandchildren.
We are shaped by forces most of us never stop to examine: the philosophical traditions, religious histories, and cultural inheritances passed down through generations long before we were born. Yet these invisible influences determine how we raise our children, conduct our business, govern our societies, and understand ourselves.
In East/West Cultural Dissimilitude and Its Impact on Human Behaviors (東西文化之差異及其對人類行為的影響), Hou Pen-Lei draws on more than fifty years of life lived between East and West to explore how Confucianism and Christianity, collectivism and individualism, virtue and law each shaped a distinct way of being human. Written with learning, humility, and the rare perspective of someone who has genuinely inhabited both worlds, this book seeks understanding across the distance that culture creates between us.
