Contemporary Chinese studies of Wang Fuzhi in Mainland China

Abstract

WANG Fuzhi = F s ~ (Chuanshan J ~ , 1619--1692), who lived from the late Ming u)~ Dynasty to the early Qing ~ Dynasty, has been honored as one of the greatest philosophers in ancient China. Since the Cultural Revolution, some serious studies of his philosophy have been done in mainland China. In his hometown, Hunan ~flF8 province, three large conferences have been held, three special research institutes have been established, and a special journal has been launched, all devoted to Chuanshan studies. On November 9-16, 1982, the 290th anniversary of Chuanshan's death, the first conference was held on the topic of Chuanshan as an enlightenment thinker. Papers presented at the conference were collected in Collected Essay on WANG Chuanshan's Academic Thoughts ( q c ~ t h @ ~ , , ~ , ~ } (Hunan Academy 1984). On the 300th anniversary of Chuanshan's death, the second international conference was held on November 3-6, 1992. Papers presented at this conference-center ing on Chuanshan's bibliography, texts, epistemology, dialectics, ethics, aesthetics, philosophy of history, politics, economics, education, and religion, among others-were collected in On Chuanshan Study ( ~ @ ~ ) CX. Luo). On November 8-11, 2002, the third international conference was held, on the 310th anniversary of Chuanshan's death, with the theme of Chuanshan Study & Modern Civilizations. Scholars elaborated on Chuanshan's doctrines on human nature, ideal personality, moral cultivation, ontology, the heaven-human relationship, poetics, politics, and the economics, Chuanshan's study of Yi-Jing (~,{~) (the Book of Change), as well as the current state of Chuanshan study (see Ju; Xinguo Wang 2003). The three special research institutes of Chuanshan study are Chuanshan Institute (Chuanshan Xueshe