As an important political, social and cultural issue, the relationship between the universities and the development of human civilization always attracts scholars’ attention. Chinese scholars, who are concerned with and about humanist civilization, will certainly not ignore their universities and their future trend for China’s large population. There are three major reasons for studying such a prominent scholar as Qian Mu in this specific case. First, as a major thinker and a serious actionist, Qian had taught at various Chinese schools and universities for more than 70 years. He was a most important witness to the history of modern Chinese universities. Secondly, Qian always consciously thought about what social functions and values universities should possess and the role they should play in modern civilization. To do this, he had made a thorough investigation into institutional characteristics shared by modern Chinese universities. Thirdly, Qian left behind a rich legacy of writings on culture and education. His perspective here can surely help scholars to discover aspects that are worth of scholarly attention. While this research discovers Qian to be reformer of the traditional Chinese cultural value, he was also a humanist with a deep cultural awareness. His ideal of education is humaneness, which is also the essence of his educational philosophy. This study outlines Qian’s criticism of modern Chinese universities, besides an exploration of his proposed education reform programs through an investigation into his opinions about the reconstruction of the lost cultural identity in modern China and his discussion of the regional and global function of liberal arts education at universities. The author of this research believes that such an investigation into Qian’s educational philosophy will provide insight into and for a reconstructing of contemporary Chinese human consciousness.