Chinese Intellectual History Research Articles

Diferencias e integración del pensamiento político entre el confucianismo y el legalismo de la antigua china

Abstract: Confucianism and Legalism are not only the two most influential ideological schools in pre-Qin China but also the main schools of thought in ancient Chinese intellectual history. This is due to their respective social nature and contrasting political values. In Pre-Qin Confucianism, rooted in the belief in the innate goodness of human nature, there is a strong emphasis on the significance of historical traditions. It promotes values such as benevolence, righteousness, propriety and wisdom, and seeks to redefine “Rite” by incorporating new values. It places great importance on the rule of virtue and aspires to achieve a state of Universal Harmony. Pre-Qin Legalism, driven by the inherent human inclination towards self-interest and personal gain, formulates a governance philosophy grounded in utilitarianism. It prioritizes the present and advocates for profound transformations through the implementation of strict “law” to attain national prosperity and military strength. As a result, ancient China formed different traditions of the rule of virtue and law, laying the foundation for the complementary nature of Confucianism and Legalism. This article analyzes the factors of differentiation and the process of integration in Confucian and legalist political philosophy, aiming to provide insights into the construction of contemporary political philosophical systems.

Chinese Lunar Stations and Indian Nakṣatras in the Sui and Tang Periods

The twenty-eight “lunar stations” (ershiba xiu 二十八宿) are unique in Chinese intellectual history in that they served as functional equivalents for Indian nakṣatras, which are also a type of lunar station (or mansion), but in practice these were quite different from the comparable Chinese system. The native Chinese lore of lunar stations as it was understood in the Sui period was outlined in the Wuxing dayi 五行大義 by Xiao Ji 蕭吉 (c. 530–610), which is a manual of Chinese metaphysics free of any Buddhist influences. We might compare the content in this text to writings by contemporary Buddhists, such as Jizang 吉藏 (549–623) and Zhiyi 智顗 (539–598), to illustrate the extent to which native, rather than foreign, astral lore took precedence in the writings of Buddhists in the Sui and Tang periods. This study will demonstrate that Buddhists in China struggled with understanding the nakṣatras and even when faced with the opportunity to adopt an orthodox Indian model, they shifted toward a kind of hybridized system.

Restless Mind: Hu Shi and Sinified Liberalism in Modern Chinese Intellectual History

Impossible de considérer la promotion, l’essor et le développement des idées libérales en Chine au xx e  siècle sans prendre en compte la figure de Hu Shi (1891-1962) et l’influence que son œuvre exerça. Pendant toute sa vie intellectuelle, Hu Shi se tint au premier rang des intellectuels chinois désireux de moderniser leur pays. Parti se former aux États-Unis très tôt, il concentra ses recherches sur les (r)évolutions littéraires et entreprit d’analyser l’histoire de la philosophie chinoise avec les méthodes scientifiques occidentales. Il entendait non seulement changer les façons de parler et d’écrire dans le monde académique, mais encore les styles de pensée et de vie au sein de la population chinoise. Il devint l’un des plus prestigieux intellectuels de la Chine moderne, en s’engageant activement dans la vie politique. Il poursuivitl’idéal d’une « bonne gouvernance », même en régime de parti unique. L’invasion par le Japon interrompit ses efforts et la guerre civile le mit en difficulté, quoiqu’il ait aidé dans une certaine mesure à restaurer l’autorité d’une administration centrale indispensable à un pays en voie de développement au territoire immense et à la population énorme : les efforts à déployer pour le moderniser vite et fort sont à cette mesure. Hu Shi dut quitter la Chine continentale. Dans les dernières années de sa vie, il fut un symbole de la relation entre les États-Unis et le régime du Kuomintang à Taïwan, mais nombre de ceux qu’il avait formés et qui étaient restés en Chine continentale critiquaient sa position, au sein de la communauté académique. Or Hu Shi prit lui-même ses distances avec le Kuomintang (KMT dans cet article), en levant toujours haut la bannière du libéralisme et d’une « Chine libre ». Classification JEL  : B13, B31, N25, P26

Localizing Learning: The Literati Enterprise in Wuzhou, 1100–1600 by Peter K. Bol

<i>Localizing Learning: The Literati Enterprise in Wuzhou, 1100–1600</i> by Peter K. Bol

New Research Direction and Overview of the Crescent School in the Twenty-first Century

The Crescent School was a significant liberal intellectual organization in modern China during the 1920s and 1930s, greatly impacting the development of new Chinese literature and modern thought. This paper reviews the research conducted on the Crescent School in the twenty-first century, identifying an evident shortcoming of one-sided, superficial, and repetitive research due to disciplinary boundaries and a lack of theoretical framework. To address these limitations, this paper argues for the adoption of a new integrated perspective that combines literature, intellectual history, and histology, aimed at establishing the Crescent School’s complete subjectivity. Furthermore, this paper explores the potential value of such an approach, which not only enriches the morphological samples of organizational studies but also expands the research view of organizations. In summary, this paper calls for a fresh look at the Crescent School and its impact on modern Chinese intellectual history, advocating for a more holistic approach to studying this organization and its contributions.

Xu Fuguan’s Methodology for Interpreting Chinese Intellectual History

The article examines the research methodology of Chinese intellectual history developed by the Modern Confucian Xu Fuguan 徐復觀 (1904–1982). His novel methodological approach differed significantly from the methodology advocated by Fu Sinian 傅斯年 (1896–1950), the founder of the Institute of History and Philology of Academia Sinica in 1928, who advocated a rigorous adoption of Western scientific methodology in historical research, based exclusively on a philological perspective. Fu Sinian’s methodological approach, however, prevailed among Chinese historians in mainland China in the first half of the 20th century and in Taiwan after 1949. Xu Fuguan was highly critical of such an approach, considering it inadequate and inappropriate because it did not allow for conceptual interpretations on the one hand, and disregarded the contextualization and historical development of concepts and meanings on the other. Xu’s methodology is based on the application of the hermeneutic circle, which Xu calls dynamic and structural holism from a comparative perspective. In his methodology, a method of seeking embodied experience (zhui tiyan de fangfa 追體驗的方法) and intersubjectivenes (zhuti jianxing 主題間性) play a crucial role as they enable actualization of and communication with ancient thinkers in present times. However, Xu’s methodological approaches are also strikingly similar to Gadamer’s method of the fusion of horizons and Schleiermacher’s hermeneutic circle, which begs the question whether his critique of Fu’s adoption of Western methods was not based upon hypocritical grounds.

China’s Paths to Modern Technology: From Institutional Innovations to Confucian Scholarly Learning of Arts, 1860-1885

Driven by Western imperialism, the late Qing reformers embarked on a new path towards institutionalizing technology-related matters for attaining China’s technological independence. Hitherto, overwhelming attention has been given to the training and translation programs in the Fuzhou Navy Yard and the Jiangnan Arsenal, but the influence of both institutional models in Chinese intellectual history has been overlooked. This article recasts our understanding of the origin of both models (jiqiju for industrial manufacturing and yiju for education) in the context of borrowing and imitating Western methods, and demonstrates how the two models stimulated the Confucian scholarly learning of arts. It argues that these pre-1885 efforts and debates on rewarding talent changed the trajectory of the Chinese intellectual pursuit of technology and paved the way to reforming the entire educational system after 1895.

What Daoist ritual has to contribute to ritual studies

ABSTRACT This article has three objectives: (1) to situate the history of Daoist ritual study within ritual studies; (2) to reflect on the role of ritual in Chinese culture; and (3) to survey the history and present focus of Daoist ritual studies. In the first part I will look at the impact of Protestant ideas of religion that militated against the development of ritual studies until the 1960s and 70s. In the second I will use Vandermeersch’s idea of Western ‘teleologic’ vs. Chinese ‘morphologic’ to clarify the implications of the central role of ritual in both Confucian and Daoist history. Finally, I will discuss briefly how the shift from the study of pre-Tang ritual that dominated the first phase of Daoist ritual studies to the current emphasis on field work and more recent historical eras contributes to our understanding of Chinese intellectual history.

The Dawn of Science as Cultural Authority in China: Tianyanlun (On Heavenly Evolution) in the Post-1895 Debate over the Engagement with Western Civilization

There is an intriguing puzzle to be found in the historiography of science in modern China: Yan Fu's 嚴復 (1854--1921) Tianyanlun 天演論 (On Heavenly Evolution), which was published in 1898 as the Chinese translation of Thomas Huxley's Evolution and Ethics (1893), is widely celebrated as the most influential book in modern Chinese intellectual history. And yet, this science-based book has received little,—if any,—credit in the history of science. Taking this puzzle as a clue, this article argues that On Heavenly Evolution constituted a historic breakthrough in a three-centuries-long struggle to win cultural authority for Western science in China, with the ultimate goal of persuading the Chinese to embrace Western civilization as a whole. The context within which On Heavenly Evolution played this pivotal role was the historical debate over the preservation or abandonment of China's quintessential teachings (jiao 教), which took place in the aftermath of China's catastrophic defeat in the first Sino-Japanese war of 1895. It is well-known that Yan Fu and Zhang Zhidong 張之洞 (1837--1909), the powerful architect of the New Policy Reform (1898--1912), held polarized positions in this debate over whether or not to abandon the most cherished institutions and ethical norms of Chinese civilization. What most scholars do not realize, however, is that these two towering figures based their positions on two opposing conceptions of Western science/technology: Following the strategy set up by Matteo Ricci (1552--1610) in the seventeenth century, Yan Fu fashioned Western science as Neo-Confucian gezhi 格致 (Investigation of Things to Acquire Knowledge) to win cultural authority for it, and thereby created a unique local conception of Western science as “Western gezhi” (xixue gezhi 西學格致). Vehemently rejecting Yan Fu's conception of “Western gezhi” and the resulting status of Western science as cultural authority, Zhang Zhidong created the notion of “Western mechanical arts” (xiyi 西藝) instead and promoted it as an official category in his reform agenda. By making visible their debate over the proper conception of Western science/technology, this article draws readers’ attention to the historic breakthrough moment when Western science became a major source of cultural authority in China. Along the way, it further argues that what was at stake in the debate over China's quintessential teachings—from Yan Fu's perspective,—was nothing less than the universality of “Western civilization” and therefore a wholesale adoption of it in China,—the very first time this radical idea was proposed in Chinese history. When On Heavenly Evolution—as a concrete manifestation of Yan's conception of “Western gezhi”—rose in importance to become the most influential book of modern Chinese thought, Western science finally succeeded in becoming the trusted foundation not only for the universalism of Western civilization, but at the same time also for the Neo-Confucian Way, while also paving the road for “Mr. Science” to exercise a previously unimaginable influence in twentieth-century China. Situating this Chinese debate in the context of the rise of the globally circulating conception of “Western science” in the late nineteenth Century, this article demonstrates the importance of investigating how non-Europeans embraced, challenged, and reconfigured the primacy of science relative to technology, which was taken for granted in that conception.

Positive Psychology and Philosophy-as-Usual: An Unhappy Match?

The present article critiques standard attempts to make philosophy appear relevant to the scientific study of well-being, drawing examples in particular from works that argue for fundamental differences between different forms of wellbeing (by Besser-Jones, Kristjánsson, and Kraut, for example), and claims concerning the supposedly inherent normativity of wellbeing research (e.g., Prinzing, Alexandrova, and Nussbaum). Specifically, it is argued that philosophers in at least some relevant cases fail to apply what is often claimed to be among their core competences: conceptual rigor—not only in dealing with the psychological construct of flow, but also in relation to apparently philosophical concepts such as normativity, objectivity, or eudaimonia. Furthermore, the uncritical use of so-called thought experiments in philosophy is shown to be inappropriate for the scientific study of wellbeing. As an alternative to such philosophy-as-usual, proper attention to other philosophical traditions is argued to be promising. In particular, the philosophy of ZhuangZi (a contemporary of Aristotle and one of the most important figures in Chinese intellectual history) appears to concord well with today’s psychological knowledge, and to contain valuable ideas for the future development of positive psychology.

Zhang Dongsun

Abstract This article contributes to the study of the cultural politics of Thirdspace in modern China, which exerted a far-reaching influence on Chinese intellectual history, literature, and culture. Although the term the third space was coined by Homi K. Bhabha, the leading figure in postcolonial theoretical studies, as a new form of discourse to go beyond dualistic categories such as the colonizer/colonized opposition, it has much broader cultural meanings in the modern Chinese context. One of the prominent Chinese intellectuals, Zhang Dongsun, intentionally created a critical interface of Thirdspace through which to ensure a spirit of tolerance, independence of individuals, and freedom of criticism. The article investigates Zhang Dongsun's philosophical system, his political thought and commentary, and his cultural criticism in the Republic of China, discussing the motivations that compelled him to undertake the third route, as he attempted to transcend binary oppositions, which ultimately led to his downfall in the New China. The case of Zhang Dongsun, who exemplifies a group of liberal Chinese intellectuals, not only indicates the predicament of the discourse of Thirdspace in modern China but also adds new insights to our understanding of the divergent spiritual journeys that Chinese intellectuals have taken in response to the national crisis.

Between practical and liberal statecraft: Guo Songtao and his political and economic ideas

ABSTRACT “Liberalism” has served often as an analytical concept in Chinese intellectual history. In this paper, I use this term to refer to the thinking of a group of “open-minded” and unorthodox thinkers who espoused progressive and/or radical opinions about institutional reforms for nineteenth century China. To a certain extent, these reformers’ political thinking had features similar to some that are found in J. S. Mill’s liberalism – namely, political participation, popular initiative, free enterprise, religious toleration, individualism, and commitment to long-term moral ideals.

Writings, Emotions, and Oblations: The Religious-Ritual Origin of the Classical Confucian Conception of Cheng (Sincerity)

Cheng 誠 (sincerity) is one of the primary concepts in the Confucian tradition as well as Chinese intellectual history. Its rich implications involve dimensions of religion, ritual, folk belief, ethics, psychology, cosmology, metaphysics, aesthetics, and literature. In the Confucian classics, cheng is described as the “Dao of heaven”; humans through cultivation can reach the mysterious state of “the utmost sincerity functioning as spirits” and thus can “assist the transforming and generating power of heaven and earth.” Because of cheng’s rich, sacred, and mysterious implications, it has been regarded as the most difficult and perplexing of Chinese concepts. Scholars have long studied cheng mainly from the perspective of philosophy to analyze its ideological conceptions in the Confucian classics, resulting in fruitful and inspiring interpretations. However, because they have not traced the origin of cheng to its rich religious, ritual, and literary sources, their interpretations have been unable to answer the question: why is cheng covered with such a mysterious veil? In recent decades, some scholars have started exploring cheng’s relationship with ancient religious beliefs and rituals, but so far a comprehensive examination of the religious-ritual origin of this significant concept remains lacking. To discover cheng’s mysterious origins, we must apply a synthetic approach of etymological, religious, philosophical, and literary studies. Drawing upon both transmitted and excavated texts, this essay first analyzes the graphic-phonetic structure and semantic implications of the character cheng 成 (completion), which was the character cheng’s 誠 early form. It then examines the rich meanings implied in both characters related to sacrificial-divinatory rituals, including invoking the spirits with sincere writings, emotions, and oblations, in order to seduce them to descend and enjoy the offerings, as well as perfectively completing the human-spirit communication. Finally, the essay discusses how those religious beliefs and ritual ceremonies evolved into Confucian ethical values and aesthetic concepts, thus lifting the mysterious veil from cheng.

Beyond the Warring States

The intellectual impact of the First World War in China is often understood as having led to a disenchantment with the West and a discrediting of the authority of “science”, while at the same time ushering in a renewed sense of cultural as well as national “awakening”. Important developments such as the May Fourth Movement, the rise of Chinese Marxism, and the emergence of modern Confucianism have become integral parts of the narrative surrounding the effects of the “European War” in China, and bear witness to the contested relation between tradition and modernity in twentieth-century Chinese thought. Through a case study of a number of wartime and post-war texts written by the “cultural conservative” thinker and publicist Du Yaquan (1873–1933), this paper tries to draw attention to the complexity and occasional ambiguity of responses to the “Great War” in modern Chinese intellectual history. More specifically, the following pages offer an analysis of Du’s critique of “materialism” in the context of his quest for social freedom and cultural continuity, his enduring commitment to scientific notions of social evolution and political governance, and his approach to the relations among war, the nation-state, the individual, and the international interstate order developed against the background of the First World War.

The classical Confucian conception of Heaven's Mandate

AbstractThe belief in heaven's mandate (tianming 天命) in earlier documents referred to divine‐ethical sanctions of political rulers. It later developed multiple implications such as an individual's destiny or fate and became one of the most fundamental concepts in Chinese intellectual and cultural history. In modern times, this concept has received long‐lasting attention in the field of Chinese philosophy, and almost all major scholars have more or less been involved in discussions and debates, especially on the topic of the classical Confucian conception of heaven's mandate. Their discussions on this topic have largely focused on two major controversies: (i) whether early Confucians view heaven's mandate as prescriptive ethical command or descriptive amoral fate, and (ii) whether their attitude toward heaven's mandate is voluntarist or fatalistic. While this scholarship has been fruitful and insightful, it has continued for almost a century with certain variants. Therefore, it is time to address this topic with new approaches and hermeneutic horizons. In this essay, I propose a new approach and horizon to viewing the classical Confucian conception of heaven's mandate as their reflections on individual existence and self‐realization under the constraints of mandate or destiny. I examine the texts associated with Confucius and Mencius such as the Analects and the Mencius, as well as some recently unearthed texts, to suggest that early Confucians accommodate individual initiative and self‐determination of life choices through their conceptualization of heaven's mandate. To them, the vocabulary of heaven's mandate empowers individuals, especially through situating their places in society and the cosmos. By knowing and standing firmly on one's mandate or destiny, the individual not only realizes the value of their existence but also goes beyond the ultimate destiny of death. This fresh reading of heaven's mandate is grounded in the context of the development of Confucian ideas in the early period and presents an optimistic vision of Confucian humanism.

Neither Traitor nor Nationalist – Zheng Xiaoxu’s Intellectual Trajectory

ABSTRACT Known for his loyalism towards the Qing dynasty after its collapse, Zheng Xiaoxu remains a controversial figure in modern Chinese intellectual history. A former protégé of Zhang Zhidong, he openly declared the Republic of China as his enemy state and served Manchukuo – Japan’s puppet state in northeastern China – as prime minister. Rather than resorting to the typical conception of Zheng as a ‘traitor of the Han’ (hanjian), this article examines Zheng’s political and intellectual journey from the late Qing period until his death in Xinjing (Changchun) – the capital of Manchukuo – through an in-depth reading of his diary. It shows that Zheng’s political standpoint remained consistent throughout his life. Insisting upon the open-door policy and the Kingly Way (wangdao), he believed that cooperation with Japan to establish Manchukuo was the only way to save Asia, including the Han Chinese. He further argued that whilst he was aware of his racial origin, nationalist and nation-state ideology that built upon ethnicity were simply not his creed.

A Study of Early Chinese Concepts of Qing 情 and a Dialogue with Western Emotion Studies

Abstract The term qing 情 (emotion) has lain at the core of Chinese thinking about literature from antiquity through modern times. It is of profound paradigmatic significance because each major reconceptualization of qing by literary writers and scholars almost invariably signifies and undergirds a new direction of literary production and reception. Mapping out qing's long and complex lexical-conceptual history over the millennia is crucial to the study of Chinese literary thought, premodern and modern alike. In undertaking such a historicized macro study, this article consistently grounds it in the microanalysis of influential and representative statements on qing made since antiquity. Through careful contextualization, it seeks to determine which particular meaning(s) of qing is most likely intended in each instance and if and how an author has reconceptualized the term to present a new understanding of literature. It also strives to assess the theoretical significance of all major qing reconceptualizations in the broader context of Chinese intellectual and literary history. Wherever appropriate, it draws insights from Western emotion studies to illuminate hitherto unrecognized theoretical significance of some major qing reconceptualizations.

The “Learning of Life”

While the twentieth-century Confucian thinker Mou Zongsan (1909–1995) has left behind one of the most thought-provoking and intensively studied bodies of philosophical writings in modern Chinese intellectual history, his own life and its relation to his philosophy (or “learning”), a theme at the centre of his Autobiography at Fifty from the mid-1950s, has so far remained largely unexamined. After some introductory remarks on the context and outlook of the Autobiography, my paper turns to the close relation between Mou’s conception of life and his approach to the “cultural life” of China as a nation. In doing so, I examine the notion of a distinctly Chinese (more precisely, Confucian) “learning of life” in his writing and explore the motif of “life in itself” running through the ­Autobiography. I argue that this motif is crucial for gaining a better understanding of Mou’s relation to his teacher Xiong Shili (1885–1968), his own father, the social conditions of his childhood in rural Shandong, as well as his overall approach to subjectivity as a space for articulating socio-political concerns.

‘International Law in Ancient China’: Eurocentrism and the Rethinking of Case Studies in Chinese Intellectual History

ABSTRACT The opening of the twentieth-first century has been a time of uncertainty. Despite many visions of the future, a Eurocentric bias is still at heart of the discourse about world order. For instance, the ‘Thucydides Trap’ as a metaphor is often borrowed by political theories to make sense of the changing relationship between China and the United States. Yet as many are turning to ancient history in the ‘West’ to find wisdom for the future, they tend to overlook the story from the other side of the globe. In this paper, I investigate a genealogy of thought that there existed an international order in ancient China. The concept sounds like an oxymoron to many people today. Yet various scholars have adopted this view as an alternative to the Eurocentric world of international relations over the course of the long twentieth century, from the Western missionary W. A. P. Martin in late Qing, the Chinese historian He Bingsong in the Republican period, to the hawkish PRC foreign policy analyst Yan Xuetong. Recalling this legacy will help us to appreciate the crucial role of political idealism in the reshuffling of international relations in a world that is increasingly leaning towards power politics.

The Corrected Interpretations of the Five Classics (Wujing zhengyi) and the Tang Legacy of Obscure Learning (Xuanxue)

AbstractThe Corrected Interpretations of the Five Classics (Wujing zhengyi) is a surprisingly neglected source for the study of medieval Chinese intellectual history. Often considered more of a political performance than an intellectual one, the series has been charged with heterogeneity in its attempt to put an end to the intellectual disputes of the period of division and to craft an orthodoxy for the nascent Tang dynasty. This paper will show, however, that the Zhengyi subcommentaries do articulate a coherent intellectual position with regard to a set of crucial questions about the cosmos, the ancient sages, and the culture that they inaugurated. Repurposing xuanxue arguments about the inherent obscurity of the dao and the cosmos, the Zhengyi argues that most of us cannot understand the source of normative values, and that therefore our only recourse is to limit our intellectual presumptions and follow the models provided by the ancient Sage Kings.