Neo-Confucian School Research Articles

The Integration of Medicine and Confucianism in the Late Yuan Period: Focusing on Neo-Confucian Physician Zhu Zhenheng.

Zhu Zhenheng, the last generation and sole representative from Southern China among the four masters of Jin-Yuan medicine, synthesized the evolution of Chinese medicine from the Song to the Yuan dynasties, profoundly impacting East Asian medical history. Zhu, identified as a Neo-Confucian scholar, appears in the Scholarly Records of the Song-Yuan Dynasties and in 'the Biographies of Confucians' rather than 'the Biographies of Experts' in the Official History of the Yuan Dynasty. His close association with the Jinhua school of Daoxue is noteworthy. Zhu's career, as well as his medical theory and practice, exemplify the influence of Zhu Xi's Neo-Confucianism, which was a significant intellectual resource among the literati during the late Yuan period, on medicine. Zhu Zhenheng's model of a Confucian physician later became a paradigm in East Asia, as Neo-Confucianism gained mainstream acceptance among the literati. This paper offers a detailed exploration of the specific contexts of Zhu's social and intellectual networks as well as an examination of the characteristics of his medical theories and practices. It explores how Zhu's career and identity as a Neo-Confucian physician were shaped through the local and empire-wide networks of the Jinhua school of Neo-Confucianism within the broader context of the Mongol empire, a global power in the late Yuan period. The paper also examines in depth how Zhu's medical practices were influenced by Neo-Confucianism, and it investigates the real nature and significance of the integration of medicine and Neo-Confucianism, two distinctly different realms of knowledge. Zhu Zhenheng's medical theories were formed through concerns about jufang medicine and the active presentation of alternatives. A notable aspect of his integration of medicine and Confucianism was the adoption of Neo-Confucian terminologies, concepts, and philosophical and ethical theses, while ensuring that the unique and independent domain of medicine was not subordinated to abstract philosophical theories. This is especially evident through his active and effective use of medical cases. Unlike previous studies, this paper demonstrates that Zhu Zhenheng's integration of medicine and Neo-Confucianism was mostly a metalevel process, involving methodology and knowledge reproduction patterns, and was driven by a belief in the possibility of harmonizing with Daoxue's ultimate principle without undermining the autonomy of medical knowledge.

간쟁(諫諍)의 교육적 함의: 교육학적 관점에서 본 간쟁

This article aim to define an educational implication inherent in an expostulation on King by investigation about the theoretical and historical basis of it. As we know, Confucian school prepare the theoretical ground about scholarly official’s expostulation on King and it derive from sense of ethics that is represented the admiration on the culture of Chu(周) Dynasty. According to this, expostulation mean the embodiment of benevolence(仁) and the performance, standing on the basis of ethical emotion and practising the equivalent exchange on ethical value in relationship. Since then this is mentioned ‘Xunzi(荀子)’, Xunhwang(荀況)’s book, and ‘The Scripture on Filial Duty(孝經)’, a writing in Han(漢) Dynasty and this is required as a ethical duty on officials and sons consistently in all Dynasty adopting Confucianism. However the institutionalization of this idea is generally achieved a way guaranteeing the independence of advisory officials’(言官)s duty and advisory route(言路) after 10 Century.
 The historical record about institutionalization on scholarly officials’ expostulation is appeared since Korye(高麗) Dynasty. Certainly there are advisory officials under the office of senior ministers(門下省) and invigorating a royal education system(經筵) for King since King Yejong(睿宗) in Korye Dynasty. Especially a royal education system in Korye Dynasty is composed by scholarly officials belong to many departments such as royal literary organization(寶文閣) under King’s control until the last period of Dynasty. This means containing expostulation as an educational work.
 An expostulational system is established the ideal way to realize the scholarly King(君師) as an ideal type of king for confucian scholars after Chosŏn(朝鮮) Dynasty. This system aim to bring up King’s virtue(薰陶) and guarantee to advise his opinions freely in the face of King. On this account, royal literary organizations(集賢殿, 藝文館, 그리고 弘文館) in Chosŏn Dynasty are also developed as a consultative one. Therefore it generate the opportunity of the appearance of public politics(公論政治) and factions(朋黨). It is because of a Neo-confucian school who provide the theory to appear the isomorphism between education and expostulation.

송당 박영의 學行과 후인들의 평가에 대한 비판적 고찰

This paper investigates the philosophical characteristics of Songdang Park Yeong, who was an early Dohak scholar in the Joseon Dynasty and played a huge role in making the school of Neo-Confucianism in the regions along the Nakdong River. Park Yeong and his Neo-Confucianism has not been paid much attention to until recently. Significant studies on the school in Neo-Confucianism in the regions along the Nakdong River have been published lately, but research on Park Yeong remains as rare as before. He has not been well known to the philosophical public, though he had made a considerable contribution to the development of Neo-Confucianism in Joseon Dynasty in the early-to-mid 16th century. To find out the reasons for this low recognition of his contributions, we tried to show his integrated studies which were conducted in his lifetime with talents for both pen and sword and the ability to solve real-life problems. By investigating Baekrokdonggyuhae and Daehakdo among his present writings, we found that Park Yeong's Neo-Confucianism had the characteristics of being practice-orientated as well as having a special emphasis on self-acceptance and mind. Though Park Yeong's Neo-Confucianism was stigmatized as unorthodox by Yi Hwang and Yi Yi, two influential junior scholars, their criticism seemed to be unfair and improper, for it was derived from a prejudice against their military backgrounds and not with each other. Due to their stigmatic criticism, Park Yeong's well-informed Confucian-oriented learning and practice has been underestimate Songdang Park Yeong had become a Dohak scholar with a military background. He, who was free from social identity restrictions, had learned medicine and six arts and had taken care of people at risk in advance. He carried out his function faithfully to pass the teachings of the sages on to the next generation in the period of the extinction of Sahrim. Park Yeong's learning and practice had included Munmugyeomjeon, Silhak activity, excellent educational performance, achieving his purpose at the risk of his life, which is worth investigating considering the aspects of the various developments of Neo-Confucianism in Joseon Dynasty in a permissive way.

Deleuzian (Re)interpretation of Zhu Xi

I propose an interpretation of Zhu Xi 朱熹 (1130–1200) seen through the ontology of Gilles Deleuze. Zhu Xi is one of the most prominent Chinese philosophers, the figurehead of the so-called Neo-Confucian school, and Deleuze is arguably one of the most important Western philosophers of the twentieth century. Both philosophers presented an ontology of differentiation, whose main aspects or stages I try to analyse in the paper: Deleuze’s notions of the virtual, dark precursor, field of individuation, intensities and the actual; and parallel to these, Zhu Xi’s notions of the veins (li 理), supreme ultimate (taiji 太極), energy (qi 氣), and things (wu 物). It is argued that a Deleuzian (re)interpretation of Zhu Xi is possible and that it may open new tools of analysis for studying Chinese philosophy as well as create a conceptual space that can bring together concepts and practices from different traditions.

Yi Gan’s Inclination Toward The Learning Of The Mind-Heart In The 18th Century: A Comparison With Wang Yangming’s Mind-Heart Philosophy

The study of Joseon 朝鮮 Neo-Confucianism has recently given some attention to an inclination toward the Learning of the Mind-Heart (xinxue 心學), and Yi Gan 李柬 (1677–1727) is at the center of this research. He was an outstanding disciple of Gwon Sang-ha 權尙夏 (1641–1721) and a successor to the philosophical spirit of the Yulgok 栗谷 School; he is renowned for initiating the Horak 湖洛 Debate through his controversies with Han Won-jin 韓元震 (1682–1751). In “A Thesis on the Not-Yet-Aroused State,” Yi asserted that the mind-heart is purely good, basing his argument on the doctrine that “li 理 and qi 氣 are actualized as the same entity, and the mind-heart and nature are united as one.” Han Won-jin criticized this assertion as belonging to the Lu-Wang 陸王 School of Neo-Confucianism, and in fact, Yi Gan’s arguments were, in some aspects, consistent with Wang Yangming’s 王陽明 philosophy of the mind-heart. Indisputably, however, Yi Gan was an ardent follower of Zhu Xi’s 朱熹 philosophy. In this case, Yi Gan’s inclination toward the Learning of the Mind-Heart may perhaps be viewed in the tradition of the Learning of the Way (daoxue 道學), which emphasized self-cultivation and practice, a distinct feature of Joseon Neo-Confucianism.

Confluences between Neo-Confucian and Chan Practical Methods of Self-Cultivation; The Anthology Reflections on Things at Hand and the Platform Sutra in Comparative Perspective

ABSTRACTThis essay is a case study concerning the problem of rethinking the relationship between Neo-Confucian (Cheng-Zhu school) and Chan schools of thought. The study builds a comparative perspective on two representative texts assembled during the Song dynasty that concern methods of self-cultivation. My theoretical framework is hermeneutical and involves a twofold articulation of correlatives: “inward-outward” and “procedural morality-substantive morality.” By presenting a comparative interpretation of ideas developed in these texts, this analysis highlights the following two components: first, the existence of explicit confluences between major ideas of the influential Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucian school, which most virulently criticizes the Buddhist tradition, and Chan’s practical methods of self-cultivation; second, it calls attention to the presence of Chan influences in the Neo-Confucian text. Through comparative analysis, this essay intends not only to bring to light Chan influences insightfully integrated by Neo-Confucians within their own discourse on self-cultivation, but also to understand the multidimensional relation between Song-dynasty Neo-Confucian and Chan practices.

Neo-Confucian Sensory Readings of Scriptures

Chu Hsi (1130-1200) of China and Yi Hwang (1501–1570) of Korea, leading scholars of the Neo-Confucian school of the two countries, emphasized readings of Confucian scriptures. They believed that Confucian scriptures have transformative power when read repeatedly and deliberately. Chu introduced the concept—further developed by Yi—of encouraging a scholar to activate at least three senses when reading a text, over and above the experience of merely reading the characters of the text. They advised Neo-Confucian scholars to try to make contact with the sages and fully internalize their teaching through their senses of sight, hearing, and taste by reading scriptures, though they did not directly appeal to the physical senses. First, the text should be recited aloud so the reciters will hear their own voices, sometimes along with those of their colleagues when several scholars read together. They imagined, furthermore, that the voices they were hearing while reading were those of the ancient sages themselves. Secondly, while hearing the voices of the sages, the reciting scholars should visualize their images, seeking personal communion with them. Finally, the meditative reading of scholars was frequently likened to savoring a text’s flavor. The act of reading books was described as eating, biting, chewing, and tasting. When the readers recited the text aloud, pronouncing each syllable using tongues, lips and mouths, they were engaged in a gustatory experience: “chewing” and “tasting” scriptures.

U-am Song Si-yeol's document on portraiture and his perspective on ancestor portraits as ceremonial rites based on Zhu Xi's school of Neo-Confucianism

조선 초기 초상화는 불교적 성격이 강한 고려 이래의 상장례 전통 속에서 이루어졌다. 그러나 조선의 건국이념인 주자성리학의 조상숭배 의례를 규정한 주자가례는 상장례와 제례에서 영정을 사용하는 것은 불교적 관습이라고 비판하며 이를 금지했다. 그 대신 유교적 전통인 신주 제도를 발전시켜 이를 정례로 삼았다. 그리하여 조선 초중기에는 전통적 영정 문화와 새로운 신주 제도의 모순을 해소하고 양자의 관계를 재정립하는 문제가 국가 사회적으로 중요한 과제였다. 그러나 영정을 금지한 주자가례의 제의적 강박 때문에 초중기의 대표적 성리학자들은 영정을 긍정적으로 보기 어려워 이 문제를 거의 논의하지 않았다.BR 그런데 17세기 후반의 우암 송시열은 주자성리학에 대한 이해가 심화되고 주자가례가 보편화되며 영정에 대한 제의적 강박이 줄어들었기 때문인지, 초상화가 성리학적 이념을 구현하고 생활화하는데 오히려 유용한 시각 매체가 될 수 있음을 인식하고 초중기의 대표적 성리학자로서는 처음으로 이 문제를 본격적으로 논의하기 시작했다. 그리하여 그는 주자대전과 주자가례에서 영정에 관해 논한 내용을 종합적으로 검토하고, 이를 다시 조선의 전통이나 현실과 융합시켜 새로운 성리학적 영정 제의관을 수립했다.BR 송시열은 이러한 과정에서 특히 영정과 신주의 모순 관계, 영정에서 신주로의 전환과정과 맥락, 영정과 신주의 병존 및 상보 가능성이나 그 의미처럼 조선 초중기 이래의 성리학은 물론 국가 사회적으로 그 해결책이 절실히 요구되던 문제들을 종합적으로 논의하는 많은 초상화 기문을 남겼다. 그 결과 그는 신주 중심의 주자성리학적 정례를 제의의 중심으로 삼되, 영정이 성리학적 제의론을 충족시키는 범위 안에서 오히려 보조적, 보완적 시각매체로 활용되며 조선 중후기의 성리학적 조상숭배 관념과 제도를 더욱 풍부하게 만들어갈 수 있는 토대를 마련해 주었다.

Nerve/Nurses of the Cosmic Doctor: Wang Yang-ming on Self-Awareness as World-Awareness

ABSTRACTIn Philip J. Ivanhoe’s introduction to his Readings from the Lu-Wang School of Neo-Confucianism, he argues convincingly that the Ming-era Neo-Confucian philosopher Wang Yang-ming (1472–1529) was much more influenced by Buddhism (especially Zen’s Platform Sutra) than has generally been recognized. In light of this influence, and the centrality of questions of selfhood in Buddhism, in this article I will explore the theme of selfhood in Wang’s Neo-Confucianism. Put as a mantra, for Wang “self-awareness is world-awareness.” My central image for this mantra is the entire cosmos anthropomorphized as a doctor engaged in constant self-diagnosis, in which effort s/he is assisted by an entire staff of the nerves/nurses—individual humans enlightened as Wangian sages. In short, I will argue that the world for Wang could be meaningfully understood as a mindful, self-healing body within which humans are the sensitive nerves, using our mindful awareness to direct attention to the affected areas when injury or disease occurs. We are, and must thus recognize that we are, the bold but sensitive nervous system of the cosmos, sharing (like neurons) our loving excitement, carrying out (like a medical nurse) the doctor’s orders for the self-care of our cosmic body/medical corps.

Does the Neo-Confucianism of the Chosŏn Dynasty belong to the Cheng-Zhu School?: Rethinking the Intellectual History of Chosŏn through the Philosophical Tradition of Yi I (1538–1584)

In this paper I discuss whether Neo-Confucianism in the Chosŏn dynasty can be interpreted as a branch of the Cheng-Zhu school of Neo-Confucianism. Against the popular interpretation that Korean Neo-Confucianism is essentially a product of the Cheng-Zhu school, I argue that it can be understood better in terms of the more diverse perspectives and developments of Confucianism proper. Yi I’s philosophy, for example, can be understood more consistently from the perspectives of Zhang Zai, Hu Hong, Luo Qinshun, or even Xunzi.

Zhu Xi’s neo-Confucian school: An organizational studies reading

Although Asian business and management sees itself as derivative of Western concepts and methods, Eastern traditions do offer sources of organizational scholarship. We argue that the neo-Confucian synthesis executed by Zhu Xi (Chu Hsi) in the twelfth century provides a starting point when seeking sources for a broader perspective encompassing organizational efficacy among both human artefacts and natural systems. Responding to calls for Asian business research to draw more deeply on its own cultural traditions, and in the spirit of modern organization science, we rescue Zhu Xi’s insights and offer free renditions of some of his most important formulations, which we believe to be fertile ground for meaningful indigenous research in the region.

Yi T’oegye’s Reverent Seriousness (Kyŏng) and Philosophical Therapy

Yi Hwang 李滉 (1501–1570), also known as Yi T’oegye 李退溪, was a prominent Korean scholar of Confucian philosophy during the Chosŏn 朝鮮 dynasty. He reinterpreted the Zhu Xi 朱熹 (1130–1200) school of neo-Confucianism, taking reverent seriousness (kyŏng 敬) as the core principle of his philosophy. He studied various symptoms observed in the human mind and suggested the notion of reverent seriousness as a primary therapeutic method. His theory of kyŏng proposed the stages of philosophical therapy, which are uniquely found in Eastern philosophy and are clearly distinct from Western theories of philosophical therapy. As the methodology for such a therapy, he examined the study of “not-yet-aroused and already-aroused” (weifa yifa 未發已發) while seeking unification with the Way of Heaven. The study of quiet-sitting (jingzuo 靜坐) and reading (dushu 讀書), which he applied to his therapy, is included in the general category of holistic therapy based on “abiding by kyŏng” (kŏkyŏng 居敬), translating into wide-ranging therapeutic effects.

Bridging the Divide: Literature, Dao and the Case for Subjective Access in the Thought of Su Shi

In the 11th century in China, there was an unusual moment in which a number of philosophers, later associated with the Daoxue—or Neo-Confucian—school, confronted what they perceived as a long-standing sense of disjunction between inner, subjective reality and the structured patterns of the cosmos. One way they sought to overcome this disjunction was by positing new theories of the cosmos that focused on the underlying, shared reality behind the myriad differentiations of phenomena. A potential tension was born that affected how thinkers understood the relationship between wen 文 (writing, literature, culture) and Dao 道 (the cosmic process, the ultimate reality, the normative path). Some thinkers, like Zhou Dunyi 周敦頤 (1017–1073), believed that wen was simply a vehicle for carrying the Dao, and was thus, implicitly, dispensable. This idea was met with resistance from one of the leading intellectual figures of the time—the philosopher, poet and statesman Su Shi 蘇軾 (1037–1101). While some of Su’s contemporaries, in their attempts to demonstrate that the world was real, and that truth was knowable, downplayed the role of individual experience and perception, Su stressed the necessity of subjective, individual experience as giving access, and concrete expression, to Dao. Su’s philosophical project came in the form of defending the enterprise of wen—writing as a creative, individual endeavor—and asserting that the quest for unity with the Dao could only be realized through direct, personal engagement in wen and other forms of meaningful practice. Through his philosophy of wen, Su sought to show that the search for truth, meaning and order did not—and could not—be achieved by transcending subjective experience. Instead, it had to be carried out at the point of encounter between self and the world, in the realm of practice.

Freedom, Agency and the Primacy of Li in Zhu Xi’s Neo-Confucianism (Seongnihak)

Zhu Xi (1130-1200 CE), the progenitor of the Song-dynasty Neo-Confucian school of “nature and principle,” postulates a mind that is uncoerced and undetermined by antecedent psychological and physical conditions, and ‘uncaused’ by external factors, meaning having a will that is not related in a uniform way to the agent’s character, motives and circumstances, in the pre-intentional and universal realm (weifa 未發) before actual feelings are aroused. In this sense his view on the freedom of the mind that is undetermined by antecedent causal factors resembles that of the advocates of the compatibility of free will and determinism, and perhaps even that of those arguing for libertarian free will. The theory of psycho-physical endowment or qizhi in Neo-Confucian literature is often misunderstood as a crude form of determinism, and is forwarded as sufficient evidence for denying the possibility of free agency in Neo-Confucian philosophy. However, if we follow Zhu Xi’s own arguments closely, we discover that the crux of his argument lies in the belief that human beings are able to act in accordance with the inherent moral principles that are present within (xing) however severe the impediments due to qizhi.

The Wiseman and the Sage: Metaphysics as Wisdom in Aristotle and the Neo-Confucian School of Principle

Among scholars of classical philosophy in the West, it is not uncommon to hesitate about the existence of metaphysics in non-Western philosophical traditions. At times, the dilemma seems due to culture-specific ideas or standards about what metaphysics is or how it should be done. Other times the problem seems to lie in a general lack of awareness about the methods and approaches of divergent philosophical traditions. This article explores an often ignored Aristotelian notion of metaphysics: That it is wisdom. If we acknowledge wisdom to be a common value or ideal found in different cultures, then characterizing metaphysics as wisdom promises to be more inclusive than prevalent ideas about it, being broad enough to allow for the appreciation of metaphysical insights and achievements in non-Western schools. I first examine Aristotle’s account of what wisdom consists of. I shall then test the inclusivity of this conception of metaphysics by showing how its characteristic features are manifest in the Neo-Confucian ideal of sagely learning.

Neo-Confucian Self-Cultivation by Barry C. Keenan (review)

Reviewed by: Neo-Confucian Self-Cultivation by Barry C. Keenan Tze-ki Hon (bio) Barry C. Keenan. Neo-Confucian Self-Cultivation. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2011. xxxii, 132 pp. Paperback $17.00, isbn 978-0-8248-3548-4. Commonly known as “Neo-Confucianism,” the Confucian thought of late imperial China was complicated and full of twists and turns. It began in the eleventh century when the Five Northern Song Masters (Zhou Dunyi, Zhang Zai, Shao Yong, Cheng Hao, and Cheng Yi) reinterpreted the Confucian classics to address both the sociopolitical problems of the times and the challenge of Buddhism and Daoism. When Zhu Xi (1130–1200) expanded this cultural enterprise into an intellectual movement, he created a canon of texts (e.g., the Four Books) and a genealogy of thinkers who allegedly followed the correct path of Confucianism. From the thirteenth to nineteenth centuries, Zhu Xi’s textual canonization and Genealogy of the Way formed the two pillars of the orthodox Neo-Confucianism that became state ideology. Intellectually, the state ideology was based on a combination of Cheng Yi’s and Zhu Xi’s writings, hence it is also known as the Cheng-Zhu school of Neo-Confucianism to distinguish it from its rival, the Lu-Wang school. Politically and socially, the state ideology was enforced through the civil service examination system that regulated the social mobility of the educated elite and the lineage of power in local communities. For six hundred years, from 1313 to 1905, the Chinese educated elite were required to study the classical commentaries of Cheng Yi and Zhu Xi in order to pass the examinations. In the studies of Neo-Confucianism, its complicated history has been dealt with in two separate ways. One focuses on its philosophical and religious aspects. Prime examples of this approach are Tu Wei-ming’s explication of “Confucian Religiousness” based on the Doctrine of the Mean,1 and Daniel Gardner’s study of the Neo-Confucian textual canonization through Zhu Xi’s commentary on the Great Learning.2 In both cases, Neo-Confucianism is presented as a system of thought that is timeless and applicable to all societies rather than an intellectual movement that changed its focus and emphasis over centuries. The second approach emphasizes the historical complexity of Neo-Confucianism. A prime example of this approach is Peter Bol’s study of eleventh-century Neo-Confucians, showing how selectively they were presented in Neo-Confucian anthologies.3 Recently, Benjamin Elman’s monumental study of the history of civil service examinations underscores the reciprocal relationship between Neo-Confucianism and the imperial state during the Ming-Qing period.4 Readers are reminded that the rise of the Cheng-Zhu school in late imperial China was more a result of state sponsorship than its intellectual prowess. In Neo-Confucian Self Cultivation, Barry C. Keenan makes a major contribution to the study of Neo-Confucianism by combining the philosophical and historical approaches. Despite the book being published in a series that focuses on [End Page 103] “dimensions of Asian spirituality,” Keenan is not only interested in Neo-Confucian religiousness and moral metaphysics, but also in how they were practiced in everyday life in late imperial China. In Keenan’s words, his book consists of three interconnected layers: a “historical discourse” that traces the complex history of Neo-Confucianism from the eleventh to the nineteenth centuries, a practice of sinology in the form of close and careful reading of one of the Neo-Confucian texts, the Great Learning, and a “philosophical discourse” to examine the Neo-Confucian epistemology and metaphysics that shaped Chinese thought in the late imperial period (p. xvii). A result of this triple-layered approach is a nuanced picture of the Cheng-Zhu school of Neo-Confucianism that supported the state ideology on the one hand and encouraged independent thinking and local autonomy on the other. Seemingly contradictory, Keenan shows that the Cheng-Zhu school of Neo-Confucianism was able simultaneously to work for the authoritarian state and generate its critics from within. To explain this paradox, Keenan focuses on the Neo-Confucian eight steps of personal cultivation—investigate things and affairs, extend one’s learning, make one’s...

Ki Ho School of Neo-Confucianism on Yi Xue Qi Meng in Later Chosun Period

Ki Ho School of Neo-Confucianism on Yi Xue Qi Meng in Later Chosun Period

Readings from the Lu-Wang School of Neo-Confucianism (review)

Readings from the Lu-Wang School of Neo-Confucianism (review)

Readings from the Lu‐Wang School of Neo‐Confucianism – By Philip J. Ivanhoe

Religious Studies ReviewVolume 37, Issue 1 p. 78-78 Readings from the Lu-Wang School of Neo-Confucianism – By Philip J. Ivanhoe Russell Kirkland, Russell Kirkland University of GeorgiaSearch for more papers by this author Russell Kirkland, Russell Kirkland University of GeorgiaSearch for more papers by this author First published: 16 March 2011 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-0922.2010.01499_2.xRead the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume37, Issue1March 2011Pages 78-78 RelatedInformation

Wang Yangming’s neo-Confucian school of mind and the growth of ancient Chinese popular novel

Wang Yangming’s theory of mind serves as the pre-condition for the rise of the Chinese popular novel. Wang’s theory helps to change the traditional ideal of despising the popular novels and encourages the scholars to get involved in the creation and criticism of this fictional art. Wang’s theory also provides the theoretical basis for the novelists to record the town talks of the common people. In addition, with the influence of Wang’s theory, the emphasis of the novel shifts from the story-telling to the character-portrayal.