Cui Zhiyuan
Cui also published an paper on Zhang Pengchun’s role in drafting United Nations’ the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. Zhang Pengchun (1892-1957) studied with John Dewey and got his Ph.D. from Columbia University and was the first Provost of Tsinghua University in 1923. He was the only Vice Chairman of the Commission on Human Rights (with Eleanor Roosevelt as the Chairman) in drafting the Universal Declaration, especially in inserting the Chinese concept “Ren” (, two men). Zhang initially translated “Ren” as two men mindedness, because “two men mindedness” is considered as too awkward, thus “conscience” was used in the final text of the Preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Cui's article discusses the important implications of this discovery in the UN archive about Zhang's key role for the current Chinese political and cultural debates—transcending the dichotomy of “Western Centralism” and “Cultural Particularism”— and has been translated into French and published (, Multitudes 2013/3)
Religious offense
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights dates only from the mid-20th century (it was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 10 December 1948, and then incorporated into various legal systems some time after that). However UNHDR Articles 1 and 2 had, by the early 21st century, frequently been interpreted by agnostic jurists such that any form of (non-biological) sexual discrimination has become illegal in many secular countries, while in legal jurisdictions strongly influenced by religious considerations sex discrimination may still be legally required and sometimes rigorously enforced.