The paper aims to explore Pound's early discovery of Confucianism and his conversion to Confucianism. Pound's interest in Confucianism coincided with the time when Christianity, already "contaminated" by "histori...The paper aims to explore Pound's early discovery of Confucianism and his conversion to Confucianism. Pound's interest in Confucianism coincided with the time when Christianity, already "contaminated" by "historical diseases" in Pound's view, could not offer a valid vision by which to guide the spiritual life, resulting in losing self in a modem society. Pound discovers three main deficiencies of Christianity: lack of respect for individuality, the decline of ethics, and open attack upon nature, which could not provide solutions to Western problems. Pound turned to Confucianism to search the existence of modem man in the face of society, and nature, which results in Pound's Confucian medicine to cure Western moral obtuseness.展开更多
In most Chinese traditional court-case narrative, women often serve as negative social actors, and may even be the alleged cause of the degeneration of men's morality as the result of their seductiveness. In the late...In most Chinese traditional court-case narrative, women often serve as negative social actors, and may even be the alleged cause of the degeneration of men's morality as the result of their seductiveness. In the late Qing Dynasty novel Digong'an, centred on the upright official Digong, there is strong evidence of misogyny by the author. Two female characters stand out from the story: one kills her husband with the help of her lover, who is partially justified by the latter being under the woman's negative influence; and the other is Empress Wu, to whom the moral downfall of the Tang Dynasty is attributed. Both women are subject to insult and threat throughout the novel. The author's attitude substantially relies on the sexist rhetoric prevalent in the Confucian idea of an ordered society, which usually took a negative outlook towards women partaking in public life. But for the latter we should also take in account that at the end of the Qing Dynasty a woman was, in reality, ruling the empire "from behind the curtain". Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to deconstruct the author's misogyny, in order to shed a light on his criticism and connect it with a somewhat more political discourse.展开更多
The Pisan Cantos (1948), Ezra Pound's great epic, which reflects major social, cultural, and historical themes, is based on Western and Chinese cultures, especially Chinese Confucian thoughts. This paper attempts t...The Pisan Cantos (1948), Ezra Pound's great epic, which reflects major social, cultural, and historical themes, is based on Western and Chinese cultures, especially Chinese Confucian thoughts. This paper attempts to provide an analysis of Confucian classics and Chinese characters/ideograms as cited in The Pisan Cantos, and to present the unique way in which Pound expresses his emotions and enriches his poetic art. Since, Chinese culture that emphases such concepts as "benevolence" and "sincerity" offers a more philosophical and poetical foundation to the cantos, it is understandable that The Pisan Cantos embodies Pound's ambition to reestablish the war-ruined Western world by Chinese Confucian thoughts, which he regards as an important foundation stone for establishing an idealistic regime展开更多
The present study examines the four core concepts that underpin the various theories of cultivation of East Asian Confucian philosophy: self (ji,已), cultivation (xiu, 修), transformation (hua, 化), and nurture...The present study examines the four core concepts that underpin the various theories of cultivation of East Asian Confucian philosophy: self (ji,已), cultivation (xiu, 修), transformation (hua, 化), and nurture (yang,餋). The discussion is divided into six sections. The first section, the introduction, explains the significance of the issue in question. The second section examines the substantial notion of "self" as expounded in the Confucian intellectual tradition and the corresponding concept of selthood or personhood. Confucianism stresses that (1) personal selthood is based on the freedom of subjectivity (subjective volition), and (2) society's values and norms originate in this freedom of subjectivity. The third section discusses the functional concept of cultivation, focusing on the fact that in Confucian theories the terms "cultivation" and "body" are always combined to form the concept of "self-cultivation." Moreover, Confucian thinkers tend to discuss the effort of self-cultivation in the context of a body-mind continuum. Indeed, they often use orientational metaphors in order to describe the efforts entailed by cultivation. The fourth section analyzes the linguistic setting and context of the functional concept of transformation within Confucian philosophy of the concrete self. The term "transformation" indicates clearly that Confucian philosophy is a transformative philosophy. The fifth section analyzes the functional concept of nurture, stressing that Confucius' two greatest followers, Mencius and Xunzi, represent two opposed approaches to nurturing. Meneius stresses that one should undertake the effort of "nurturing qi," that is, produce culture through natural cultivation, while Xunzi advocates artificially instilling culture in order to discipline, tame, and order nature. Mencius and Xunzi both turn to the container metaphor in their discussions of self-cultivation. The article concludes that the various cultivation activities advocated by these two disparate Confucians are based on two assumptions: (1) the self coincides with the physical body, and (2) the physical self is steeped in and interactive with the cultural values of society. In sum, the functional concept of self-cultivation is an important pillar of Confucian theories of self-cultivation.展开更多
Condemned by Mencius (ca.372-289 BCE) as selfishness (weiwo, 为我), Yang Zhu's yangsheng philosophy in China is traditionally depicted as a philosophy of egoism and hedonism. In contrast, Yang Zhu (fl.ca.370-350...Condemned by Mencius (ca.372-289 BCE) as selfishness (weiwo, 为我), Yang Zhu's yangsheng philosophy in China is traditionally depicted as a philosophy of egoism and hedonism. In contrast, Yang Zhu (fl.ca.370-350 BCE) is described as an "early liberal or individualist" hero in the Western Discussion of Chinese Philosophy. Yang Zhu may not be a liberal or individualist hero as portrayed by the West, but surely he should not be depicted as a promoter of egoism as Mencius did. Both John Emerson and A.C. Graham are probably right when they claimed that Yang Zhu was a revolutionary thinker of his own time; and "Yang Zhu's intervention for the Chinese thinking world had provoked a metaphysical crisis which had threatened the basic assumptions of Confucianism and Mohism and set them into a new course" (A.C. Graham 1978). From my reading, Yang Zhu's influence on Chinese philosophy had been and will be even greater, although his philosophy as a whole was not practiced by Chinese society in the past due to the dominance of Confucianism. Yet as the first person who clearly emphasized nourishing of life for individuals and the first theory that rooted morality into xing (性, human nature), Yang Zhu's yangsheng philosophy had indeed through history made a huge contribution to Chinese nurturing life tradition, and had great potential in providing inspiration to modern moral thinking. Many discussions initiated or developed by Yang Zhu and his followers have influenced both Confucianism and Daoism profoundly. His idea of nourishing life was not only inherited and developed by Zhuangzi and later Daoist religion from life preservation perspective, but also by Mencius and Xunzi from moral cultivation perspective. As a doctrine that has shown more and more relevance to modern society, people can find many inspirations from Yang Zhu's answer to the following questions: What is the aim of human life? What is the right attitude toward life and death? What is human nature? What is the relationship between life nourishment and individual freedom? Why nourishing one's own life should be as important as nourishing that of others? What is the difference between humans and animals? Why living a natural life is so important for human beings? Based on materials collected from various Chinese sources directly related to Yang Zhu's school, especially the chapter entitled as "Yang Zhu" from the book of Liezi, this paper will explore essential features of Yang Zhu's yangsheng philosophy and its relevance to modern society. As "guiji" (贵已, cherishing oneself) is the core of Yang Zhu's yangsheng philosophy, discussion of this paper will focus on what Yang Zhu's "guiji" means, why Yang Zhu's "guiji" is not "weiwo" (为我, for oneself), and how Yang Zhu's "guiji" yangsheng is relevant to modern society.展开更多
Ch'en Tu-hsiu (1879-1942), co-founder of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), was one of the major intellectual figures who strongly advocated anti-Confucianism during the May Fourth Movement in 1919 on the basis t...Ch'en Tu-hsiu (1879-1942), co-founder of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), was one of the major intellectual figures who strongly advocated anti-Confucianism during the May Fourth Movement in 1919 on the basis that in order for China to survive in the modem world, it was necessary for China to reject the totally outdated tradition of Confucianism and adopt wholeheartedly Western methods and ideas, such as individualism and even Christianity. While the hard-line conservatives viewed that the way to reform China was in upholding Confucianism as unifying factor, Ch'en viewed Confucianism as a formless philosophy that kept China back from the process of modernization.展开更多
The great Chinese poet Du Fu's poetry in the Dang Dynasty has important significance in the development of the world culture. Confucianism is the main theme of his poetry, which penetrates connotation of benevolence,...The great Chinese poet Du Fu's poetry in the Dang Dynasty has important significance in the development of the world culture. Confucianism is the main theme of his poetry, which penetrates connotation of benevolence, love of all life and self-cultivation. The famous poet Sun Dayu strived to highlight ideological content and the essence of Confucianism in Du Fu's poetry through translation. On the basis of deep understanding of the source text and careful choice of words, Sun Dayu mainly used literal translation, free translation and explanation in order to make the target readers know the spirit of Confucianism. His translation activities showed solicitude for national destiny and historical responsibility.展开更多
Through comparison, this paper finds out that William Shakespeare (1564-1616), the most popular and wide respected writer in all English literatures and a great dramatist and humanist in the English Renaissance peri...Through comparison, this paper finds out that William Shakespeare (1564-1616), the most popular and wide respected writer in all English literatures and a great dramatist and humanist in the English Renaissance perio ly d, coincides in speaking highly of love, loyalty, intelligence, harmony, integrity, righteousness, friendship, and so on with Chinese Confucian values--the most precious treasure of Chinese traditional culture reflected in the Three Cardinal Guides and the Five Constant Virtues used by Chinese people in maintaining the stability and harmony of the whole nation and society--through vivid interpretation of human ethical relations in many of his works. At present, the world comparative literature studies have entered the third stage in the circumstance of globalization and internationalization, this finding is with paramount significance in construction of the mechanism of mutual recognition, mutual justification, mutual supplementation and mutual appreciation of heterogeneous cultures. This study, taking The Winter's Tale (1623) as a case, is about universality, unity, and shared values of the Confucianism and Shakespeare's plays in the perspective of the coexistence of multiple cultures. This paper is with four parts: (1) mechanism of mutual understanding, mutual justification, mutual supplementation, and mutual appreciation introduced in the first part; (2) the Confucian values addressed in details in the second part; (3) the third part is a case study; and (4) the last part shows how the Chinese and Western literatures and cultures can be understood, assisted, communicated, and appreciated with each other by the way of comparing the great works of Shakespeare and the Confucian values featured with universalism to a certain extent展开更多
The success or failure of education is the key problem concerning the future of a country and nation. The educational development of our country has some inevitable and unavoidable problem. However, the Pre - Qin Conf...The success or failure of education is the key problem concerning the future of a country and nation. The educational development of our country has some inevitable and unavoidable problem. However, the Pre - Qin Confucian education thought contains some Meaningful things to the issues above.展开更多
While Confucianism is quite concerned about the people's welfare, its dominant political position is not "people-oriented" (min benwei 民本位) but rather "ruler-oriented" (wang benwei 王本位), which is descri...While Confucianism is quite concerned about the people's welfare, its dominant political position is not "people-oriented" (min benwei 民本位) but rather "ruler-oriented" (wang benwei 王本位), which is described by the New-Confucian thinker, Xiong Shili as "taking the great righteousness of being respectful to the ruler as the foremost." In virtue of this very righteousness, Confucianism not only subordinates "people-orientation" to "ruler-orientation," but also denies the value of the former for the sake of the latter in case of conflict.展开更多
This article contextualises the debate in Chinese legal scholarship on qingli and fali in their historical backgrounds by tracing the roots, themes, and variations in the dialogue. The earliest record of the debate be...This article contextualises the debate in Chinese legal scholarship on qingli and fali in their historical backgrounds by tracing the roots, themes, and variations in the dialogue. The earliest record of the debate between Legalism and Confucianism serves as the ground for us to examine the necessity of morality in the practice of law, while the introduction of Confucian ideals into law since the Han dynasty opened up the process of coalescing morality with law in imperial China. Through the case study of xiao (filial piety ), the article argues that the Confucianisation of law took a long time to complete.展开更多
This essay examines the Daoist metaphysical masters' hermeneutic misreading of the Confucian classics during the Wei and Jin Dynasties. Applying the concept of misreading as the theoretical guideline, we will first a...This essay examines the Daoist metaphysical masters' hermeneutic misreading of the Confucian classics during the Wei and Jin Dynasties. Applying the concept of misreading as the theoretical guideline, we will first analyze the three important supporting columns of Confucian literary theory: the importance of virtue/morality, the authority of literary sages and the ontology of the classics, and then we will examine the metaphysical masters' subversion of the Confucian classics by misreading with their Daoist literary theory and concepts. In their hermeneutic misreading of the Confucian classics, the metaphysical masters in fact fused the original concepts of the Confucian classics with their contemporary Daoist hermeneutics, and the result of such a fusion is that the original meanings as the signified parted from the signifiers--the texts of the classics themselves--and were turned into repositories of contemporary Daoist meanings. In such a hermeneutic misreading, the Daoist theorists forced the Confucian theory and its ontology to gloomily withdraw from the cultural center, and gradually took the spotlight on the historical stage of the Wei and Jin Dynasties. In their open attitudes and flexible system, the metaphysical theorists constructed an age of enlightenment for the development of literary theory. With their hermeneutic misreading, the metaphys- ical literary theorists indeed broke through the world of Confucianism, won the right of expression, and voluntarily moved toward the self-fulfillment of their own system in the Wei and Jin Dynasties.展开更多
文摘The paper aims to explore Pound's early discovery of Confucianism and his conversion to Confucianism. Pound's interest in Confucianism coincided with the time when Christianity, already "contaminated" by "historical diseases" in Pound's view, could not offer a valid vision by which to guide the spiritual life, resulting in losing self in a modem society. Pound discovers three main deficiencies of Christianity: lack of respect for individuality, the decline of ethics, and open attack upon nature, which could not provide solutions to Western problems. Pound turned to Confucianism to search the existence of modem man in the face of society, and nature, which results in Pound's Confucian medicine to cure Western moral obtuseness.
文摘In most Chinese traditional court-case narrative, women often serve as negative social actors, and may even be the alleged cause of the degeneration of men's morality as the result of their seductiveness. In the late Qing Dynasty novel Digong'an, centred on the upright official Digong, there is strong evidence of misogyny by the author. Two female characters stand out from the story: one kills her husband with the help of her lover, who is partially justified by the latter being under the woman's negative influence; and the other is Empress Wu, to whom the moral downfall of the Tang Dynasty is attributed. Both women are subject to insult and threat throughout the novel. The author's attitude substantially relies on the sexist rhetoric prevalent in the Confucian idea of an ordered society, which usually took a negative outlook towards women partaking in public life. But for the latter we should also take in account that at the end of the Qing Dynasty a woman was, in reality, ruling the empire "from behind the curtain". Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to deconstruct the author's misogyny, in order to shed a light on his criticism and connect it with a somewhat more political discourse.
文摘The Pisan Cantos (1948), Ezra Pound's great epic, which reflects major social, cultural, and historical themes, is based on Western and Chinese cultures, especially Chinese Confucian thoughts. This paper attempts to provide an analysis of Confucian classics and Chinese characters/ideograms as cited in The Pisan Cantos, and to present the unique way in which Pound expresses his emotions and enriches his poetic art. Since, Chinese culture that emphases such concepts as "benevolence" and "sincerity" offers a more philosophical and poetical foundation to the cantos, it is understandable that The Pisan Cantos embodies Pound's ambition to reestablish the war-ruined Western world by Chinese Confucian thoughts, which he regards as an important foundation stone for establishing an idealistic regime
文摘The present study examines the four core concepts that underpin the various theories of cultivation of East Asian Confucian philosophy: self (ji,已), cultivation (xiu, 修), transformation (hua, 化), and nurture (yang,餋). The discussion is divided into six sections. The first section, the introduction, explains the significance of the issue in question. The second section examines the substantial notion of "self" as expounded in the Confucian intellectual tradition and the corresponding concept of selthood or personhood. Confucianism stresses that (1) personal selthood is based on the freedom of subjectivity (subjective volition), and (2) society's values and norms originate in this freedom of subjectivity. The third section discusses the functional concept of cultivation, focusing on the fact that in Confucian theories the terms "cultivation" and "body" are always combined to form the concept of "self-cultivation." Moreover, Confucian thinkers tend to discuss the effort of self-cultivation in the context of a body-mind continuum. Indeed, they often use orientational metaphors in order to describe the efforts entailed by cultivation. The fourth section analyzes the linguistic setting and context of the functional concept of transformation within Confucian philosophy of the concrete self. The term "transformation" indicates clearly that Confucian philosophy is a transformative philosophy. The fifth section analyzes the functional concept of nurture, stressing that Confucius' two greatest followers, Mencius and Xunzi, represent two opposed approaches to nurturing. Meneius stresses that one should undertake the effort of "nurturing qi," that is, produce culture through natural cultivation, while Xunzi advocates artificially instilling culture in order to discipline, tame, and order nature. Mencius and Xunzi both turn to the container metaphor in their discussions of self-cultivation. The article concludes that the various cultivation activities advocated by these two disparate Confucians are based on two assumptions: (1) the self coincides with the physical body, and (2) the physical self is steeped in and interactive with the cultural values of society. In sum, the functional concept of self-cultivation is an important pillar of Confucian theories of self-cultivation.
文摘Condemned by Mencius (ca.372-289 BCE) as selfishness (weiwo, 为我), Yang Zhu's yangsheng philosophy in China is traditionally depicted as a philosophy of egoism and hedonism. In contrast, Yang Zhu (fl.ca.370-350 BCE) is described as an "early liberal or individualist" hero in the Western Discussion of Chinese Philosophy. Yang Zhu may not be a liberal or individualist hero as portrayed by the West, but surely he should not be depicted as a promoter of egoism as Mencius did. Both John Emerson and A.C. Graham are probably right when they claimed that Yang Zhu was a revolutionary thinker of his own time; and "Yang Zhu's intervention for the Chinese thinking world had provoked a metaphysical crisis which had threatened the basic assumptions of Confucianism and Mohism and set them into a new course" (A.C. Graham 1978). From my reading, Yang Zhu's influence on Chinese philosophy had been and will be even greater, although his philosophy as a whole was not practiced by Chinese society in the past due to the dominance of Confucianism. Yet as the first person who clearly emphasized nourishing of life for individuals and the first theory that rooted morality into xing (性, human nature), Yang Zhu's yangsheng philosophy had indeed through history made a huge contribution to Chinese nurturing life tradition, and had great potential in providing inspiration to modern moral thinking. Many discussions initiated or developed by Yang Zhu and his followers have influenced both Confucianism and Daoism profoundly. His idea of nourishing life was not only inherited and developed by Zhuangzi and later Daoist religion from life preservation perspective, but also by Mencius and Xunzi from moral cultivation perspective. As a doctrine that has shown more and more relevance to modern society, people can find many inspirations from Yang Zhu's answer to the following questions: What is the aim of human life? What is the right attitude toward life and death? What is human nature? What is the relationship between life nourishment and individual freedom? Why nourishing one's own life should be as important as nourishing that of others? What is the difference between humans and animals? Why living a natural life is so important for human beings? Based on materials collected from various Chinese sources directly related to Yang Zhu's school, especially the chapter entitled as "Yang Zhu" from the book of Liezi, this paper will explore essential features of Yang Zhu's yangsheng philosophy and its relevance to modern society. As "guiji" (贵已, cherishing oneself) is the core of Yang Zhu's yangsheng philosophy, discussion of this paper will focus on what Yang Zhu's "guiji" means, why Yang Zhu's "guiji" is not "weiwo" (为我, for oneself), and how Yang Zhu's "guiji" yangsheng is relevant to modern society.
文摘Ch'en Tu-hsiu (1879-1942), co-founder of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), was one of the major intellectual figures who strongly advocated anti-Confucianism during the May Fourth Movement in 1919 on the basis that in order for China to survive in the modem world, it was necessary for China to reject the totally outdated tradition of Confucianism and adopt wholeheartedly Western methods and ideas, such as individualism and even Christianity. While the hard-line conservatives viewed that the way to reform China was in upholding Confucianism as unifying factor, Ch'en viewed Confucianism as a formless philosophy that kept China back from the process of modernization.
文摘The great Chinese poet Du Fu's poetry in the Dang Dynasty has important significance in the development of the world culture. Confucianism is the main theme of his poetry, which penetrates connotation of benevolence, love of all life and self-cultivation. The famous poet Sun Dayu strived to highlight ideological content and the essence of Confucianism in Du Fu's poetry through translation. On the basis of deep understanding of the source text and careful choice of words, Sun Dayu mainly used literal translation, free translation and explanation in order to make the target readers know the spirit of Confucianism. His translation activities showed solicitude for national destiny and historical responsibility.
文摘Through comparison, this paper finds out that William Shakespeare (1564-1616), the most popular and wide respected writer in all English literatures and a great dramatist and humanist in the English Renaissance perio ly d, coincides in speaking highly of love, loyalty, intelligence, harmony, integrity, righteousness, friendship, and so on with Chinese Confucian values--the most precious treasure of Chinese traditional culture reflected in the Three Cardinal Guides and the Five Constant Virtues used by Chinese people in maintaining the stability and harmony of the whole nation and society--through vivid interpretation of human ethical relations in many of his works. At present, the world comparative literature studies have entered the third stage in the circumstance of globalization and internationalization, this finding is with paramount significance in construction of the mechanism of mutual recognition, mutual justification, mutual supplementation and mutual appreciation of heterogeneous cultures. This study, taking The Winter's Tale (1623) as a case, is about universality, unity, and shared values of the Confucianism and Shakespeare's plays in the perspective of the coexistence of multiple cultures. This paper is with four parts: (1) mechanism of mutual understanding, mutual justification, mutual supplementation, and mutual appreciation introduced in the first part; (2) the Confucian values addressed in details in the second part; (3) the third part is a case study; and (4) the last part shows how the Chinese and Western literatures and cultures can be understood, assisted, communicated, and appreciated with each other by the way of comparing the great works of Shakespeare and the Confucian values featured with universalism to a certain extent
文摘The success or failure of education is the key problem concerning the future of a country and nation. The educational development of our country has some inevitable and unavoidable problem. However, the Pre - Qin Confucian education thought contains some Meaningful things to the issues above.
文摘While Confucianism is quite concerned about the people's welfare, its dominant political position is not "people-oriented" (min benwei 民本位) but rather "ruler-oriented" (wang benwei 王本位), which is described by the New-Confucian thinker, Xiong Shili as "taking the great righteousness of being respectful to the ruler as the foremost." In virtue of this very righteousness, Confucianism not only subordinates "people-orientation" to "ruler-orientation," but also denies the value of the former for the sake of the latter in case of conflict.
文摘This article contextualises the debate in Chinese legal scholarship on qingli and fali in their historical backgrounds by tracing the roots, themes, and variations in the dialogue. The earliest record of the debate between Legalism and Confucianism serves as the ground for us to examine the necessity of morality in the practice of law, while the introduction of Confucian ideals into law since the Han dynasty opened up the process of coalescing morality with law in imperial China. Through the case study of xiao (filial piety ), the article argues that the Confucianisation of law took a long time to complete.
文摘This essay examines the Daoist metaphysical masters' hermeneutic misreading of the Confucian classics during the Wei and Jin Dynasties. Applying the concept of misreading as the theoretical guideline, we will first analyze the three important supporting columns of Confucian literary theory: the importance of virtue/morality, the authority of literary sages and the ontology of the classics, and then we will examine the metaphysical masters' subversion of the Confucian classics by misreading with their Daoist literary theory and concepts. In their hermeneutic misreading of the Confucian classics, the metaphysical masters in fact fused the original concepts of the Confucian classics with their contemporary Daoist hermeneutics, and the result of such a fusion is that the original meanings as the signified parted from the signifiers--the texts of the classics themselves--and were turned into repositories of contemporary Daoist meanings. In such a hermeneutic misreading, the Daoist theorists forced the Confucian theory and its ontology to gloomily withdraw from the cultural center, and gradually took the spotlight on the historical stage of the Wei and Jin Dynasties. In their open attitudes and flexible system, the metaphysical theorists constructed an age of enlightenment for the development of literary theory. With their hermeneutic misreading, the metaphys- ical literary theorists indeed broke through the world of Confucianism, won the right of expression, and voluntarily moved toward the self-fulfillment of their own system in the Wei and Jin Dynasties.