這一篇研究手札所關心的議題，是近百年來，尤其近三、四十年來，華人知識份子如何面對、處理普世人權標準。化約來講，中國政府對普世人權價值持敵對的態度，而少數在中國生活、工作的知識份子則十分支持聯合國倡導的人權與民主價值。同時，在港台及海外的華人知識份子卻傾向於折衷、調和中國傳統價值與聯合國的人權標準。展望將來，作者認為應該放棄僅以儒家思想與西方的文明對話的想法，而是善用中國傳統多采多姿的思想，包括佛教、道家、墨家的思想，與世界其他的文明對話。只有這樣，才可能取得深層的共識、非強制性的普世人權標準。

This research note is primarily concerned with how Chinese or ethnic Chinese intellectuals approached and dealt with universal human rights. Broadly speaking, Chinese governments through the past century, or more precisely, the past three or four decades under the Communist rule, were hostile while some intellectuals were committed to universal human rights and democratic government. At the same time, quite a few ethnic Chinese intellectuals living in Taiwan, Hong Kong, United States and Europe tend to aim at a reconciliation of traditional Chinese values and universal human rights standards. For the future, this writer proposes that to be successful in achieving an unforced human rights consensus, Chinese intellectuals must give up relying only on Confucianism in a cultural dialogue with the West and return to the rich and many faceted traditional values, including Buddhism, Daoism, and Modism in a conversation with other cultures and civilizations.