by Ying-shih Yü
it was upheld by some of the fi nest Chinese intellectuals throughout traditional
Chinese history as a critical standard in their striving for an ideal world order
vis- à- vis their harsh po liti cal real ity. These works should also serve to reveal
just how the Dao was reformulated, expanded, defended, and preserved by
these intellectuals generation after generation so that the lifeline of Chinese
culture could continue on even though the individual po liti cal regimes perished
in the fl ow of Chinese history. It is the Dao, then, as Professor Yü argues, that
ultimately sustained these intellectuals to keep their faith in their cultural tra-
dition and to take a stand during the dark moments of Chinese history.
The noble eff orts of these intellectuals undoubtedly command our re spect,
but on a closer reading of Professor Yü’s work, one may fi nd that they actually
impel us further to see how the Chinese intellectual striving for the realization
of the Dao never actually secured an environment in which their strug gles would
no longer be vulnerable to the abuses of arbitrary power. Thus, one will also fi nd
that this tragic side of the Chinese intellectual tradition comprises another under-
lying theme that is embodied in Professor Yü’s articles and is even more promi-
nent and prevalent in his comprehensive lifelong proj ect on that tradition. In this
light, one may be justifi ed in viewing this portrayal of the parallel yet crisscross-
ing relations between these two themes not only as a major vehicle to illustrate
the crucial continuity and changes that surfaced in China’s own tradition, but
also as refl ecting the critical tension between the daotong
, or the tradition of
the Dao, and the zhengtong
, or the tradition of po liti cal power, throughout
Chinese history. This tension is clearly notable in Professor Yü’s perceptive analy-
sis of Wang Yangming’s “re orientation” and his Confucian eff orts to enlighten
the ordinary Chinese people, specifi cally including the traditionally denigrated
merchant class, so that they could realize the Dao in their daily lives. Although
this “re orientation” was an innovative reinterpretation and expansion of the Dao,
the tragic side of the Confucian intellectual tradition remained unchanged.
It is from that perspective, we believe, that Professor Yü has, since 1951, and
distinctly since the 1989 Tian anmen demonstrations, per sis tently discussed
why it is necessary for China to resume its nineteenth- century path toward the
establishment of constitutional democracy so that the century- long intellectual
strug gle for a free, just, and civilized China will have a real chance to take root
edi tor i a l not e xv
in Chinese soil. Discussion of these issues, with China’s tortuous path to mo-
dernity as a presupposed historical background, is one of the main focuses of
the second volume.
On one reading, these two volumes can be viewed as a complex tapestry
into which all of the articles weave together the penetrative explorations and
insights that shape Professor Yü’s portrait of China as a coherent whole. On the
other hand, they can also be seen as two in de pen dent units, with one focusing
on the continuities and ruptures in China’s traditional intellectual and cultural
history, and one concentrating on the transformations of Chinese traditions in
modern times. As Professor Yü’s articles illustrate, however, tradition always
fi nds its way back into modernity in a dialectically entangled manner, whether
in Chinese intellectuals’ narrative search to delineate China’s place in the mod-
ern world, or in their new conceptualization of how to write Chinese history.
One perhaps may question how Han Chinese ideas of the afterlife and their
food or elite seating orders, or even the fi ctional world of China’s greatest Qing
dynasty novel, Honglou meng (Dream of the Red Chamber), are related to the
central themes of Professor Yü’s two volumes. When one reads these articles,
one is likely to marvel that China’s age- old practice of linking the seating or-
der with a person’s seniority, or his or her social, po liti cal, and economic status,
can, in fact, trace its roots at least to as early as the third century b.c.e., but it is
even more pertinent to note that this seemingly innocuous cultural practice of
seating orders actually played a decisive role in the subsequent development of
Chinese imperial history in its initial stage. In short, a certain cultural custom
may be just as impor tant as historical contingency in shaping the direction of
one’s destiny, be it for an individual, or for an empire.
At the same time, the way that Han Chinese transformed their indigenous
culinary arts by creatively incorporating foreign foods and cooking methods
into their own cuisine certainly demonstrates the adaptability, as well as the
tenacity, of Chinese tradition. The enduring nature of Chinese tradition is also
obvious in Professor Yü’s article on the afterlife. It shows that the Han Chinese
perception of the worlds between the living and the dead were quite similar to
the earlier Chinese conceptualization of the relationship between the transcen-
dental or the ideal world symbolized by the Dao and the earthly real ity in the
sense that the two worlds were never perceived as two mutually exclusive realms,
nor were they seen as two identical ones either. Furthermore, it also shows that
the Han Chinese concepts of life and death were an “extension” of their integra-
tive worldview of the human, Heaven, and Earth as comprising an inseparable
unity that was sustained by the ever- so- close yet ever- so- distant Dao.13
The same thing can be said about the article on the Dream of the Red Cham-
ber in volume 2. The diff erence is that Professor Yü’s discussion of the two
interconnected worlds in this Qing novel, the ideal world and the world of real-
ity, and the irreversible collapse of the ideal world did not evoke too much of a
lament for this lost paradise. It did, however, lead us to place this article after
xvi edi tor i a l not e
the one that gives an intricate synopsis of Qing Confucianism as a whole. The
collapse of a fi ctional world thus serves as a symbolic parallel to the fi nal disin-
tegration of the traditional Chinese imperial order and foreshadows the coming
“radicalization of China in the twentieth century.”
All these articles were originally selected by Professor Yü and sent to Ms. Leslie
Kriesel at Columbia University Press some years ago. They were intended for
an impor tant proj ect on distinguished scholars of Chinese studies or ga nized
by Professor David Der- wei Wang. Ms. Kriesel had them formatted as Word fi les,
proofread them, and sent them to Professor Yü for review, but he was unable to
attend to them due to his medical condition. In October 2014, when Professor
Wang asked us whether we could help complete the editorial work, we had no
doubt that this meaningful proj ect should be completed.
During the complicated pro cess of reformatting, many passages and sections
in the original articles, as well as all the Chinese characters, were lost. We have,
where pos si ble, retrieved the original En glish versions in books or from jour-
nals, located Chinese originals of essays translated into En glish and Chinese
translations of En glish versions, restored the missing passages and sections,
and changed all of the Wade- Giles romanizations of Chinese names and terms
to con temporary Pinyin romanization.14 In the pro cess, Chinese characters were
re entered and additional Chinese characters were supplied for clarity in several
essays.
Meanwhile, En glish translations of most Chinese book titles mentioned in
the text (but not in the endnotes) are also provided. At fi rst mention in the main
text, for example, we have Yijing
(Classic of Changes), but only Yijing in
the endnotes. Our other editorial tasks included standardizing the endnoting
format, entering new notes for several published speeches that were not end-
noted, adding notes to citations not referenced in some places, and shortening
all notes by means of abbreviations of frequently cited titles. Names well known
in the English- speaking world or used by Chinese scholars active in En glish are
given in their familiar way, such as Chiang Kai- shek, Fung Yu- lan, Hu Shih,
Lien- sheng Yang, Sun Yat- sen, and Ying- shih Yü. In Chinese references, how-
ever, such names are given as Feng Youlan, Hu Shi, Yang Liansheng, Yü Ying-
shih, etc. As an example: Ying- shih Yü, Trade and Expansion in Han China
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967), but Yü Ying- shih
, Lishi
yu sixiang
(Taipei: Lianjing, 1976).
With Professor Yü’s permission, we made a few minor changes in some of
the Chinese- to- English translations and changed a small number of other
wordings. Professor Yü’s two scholarly prize ac cep tance speeches mentioned
above are in an appendix per his insistence, but we suggest that one read them
as an introduction to his multifaceted and multilayered but integrated narra-
tive world. In these speeches, one fi nds that while his narratives explore the
unique characteristics of Chinese culture, they si mul ta neously illustrate how
edi tor i a l not e xvii
this uniqueness is inherently universal in its honoring of “common humanity
and human dignity” as the core values of Chinese culture.
To understand Professor Yü’s lifetime contribution to the Chinese intellec-
tual and cultural tradition, one of course has to become familiar with his entire
oeuvre, above all, his extensive publications in Chinese. However, editing these
articles has made us increasingly aware of why and how Professor Yü has been
“hailed as the greatest Chinese intellectual historian of his generation,” “a para-
digm for [Chinese] humanism,” and “the epitome of a traditional Chinese shi-
intellectual”15 who never gives up his eff orts to ameliorate social ills and improve
public well- being, whether through words or actions. That vari ous “Yü Ying-
shih fan clubs” ( Yü Ying- shih fensi tuan
) have emerged among the
general reading public in the Chinese- language world no doubt provides further
endorsement of the above tributes to him, and they may just further serve to
indicate the unusual nature of both his work and his actions.16 These “fans”
among the reading public most likely also hold what they learn from Professor
Yü’s works to represent what the Chinese cultural and intellectual tradition gen-
uinely stands for, and thus would likely agree that his contribution is not only
signifi cant for the fi eld of Chinese studies but is also relevant to anyone who
believes in the shared values of the best humane traditions, be they Chinese or
Western, in today’s world community.
In conclusion to this note, we would like to thank Professor David Der- wei
Wang for arranging this editorial work. At Columbia University Press, we also
thank Ms. Leslie Kriesel for all her preliminary work on these essays, editorial
assistant Jonathan Fiedler, and the fi nal copyeditors, Sue Sakai and John Dono-
hue of Westchester Publishing Ser vices. Further thanks are due to Professor
Chin- shing Huang, director of the Institute of History and Philology of the
Academia Sinica in Taiwan, and his able assistant Ms. Yaling Lee for providing
Professor Yü’s revised and expanded article on Wang Yangming. We also wish
to express our gratitude to Dr. Jiu- jung Lo of the Institute of Modern History
of the Academia Sinica and Ms. Liu Jing of the Asian Library at the University
of British Columbia, who helped us locate information on old journal articles.
Last, but most impor tant, we want to thank Professor Yü for trusting us
with this worthy proj ect and for assisting us throughout. Our deep gratitude
goes equally to Mrs. Monica Yü, or Chen Shuping, for her encouragement and
support. Without Professor Yü’s warm and kind understanding, which helped
our work proceed smoothly, and his providing us with some hard- to- fi nd docu-
ments, we could not possibly have brought this proj ect to its completion within
the intended time limit. It goes without saying that any errors that may have
occurred in the pro cess are ours alone.
Josephine Chiu- Duke and Michael S. Duke
xviii edi tor i a l not e
not e s
1. On June 20, 2014, when the Tang Prize Award Committee announced that Professor
Yü was the winner, their statement acknowledged Professor Yü’s work in these areas.
See http:// www . tang - prize . org / ENG / Publish . aspx ? CNID = 300.
2. These are the remarks Librarian of Congress Dr. James H. Billington made on Professor
Yü’s research. See Library of Congress, http:// www . loc . gov / today / pr / 2006 / 06–214 . html.
3. Part of Professor Yü’s bibliography can be found on the Academia Sinica website at
http:// www2 . ihp . sinica . edu . tw / en / staff Profi lePrint . php ? TM = 3 & M = 1 & uid = 84. For a
more complete bibliography, see “Yü Ying- shih jiaoshou zhuzuo mulu”
, compiled by Che Hsing- chien
, in Wenhua yu lishi de zhuisuo: Yü Ying- shih
jiaoshou bazhi shouqing lunwen ji
:
, ed.
Hoyt Tillman (Taipei: Lianjing, 2009), 917–960.
4. These articles are included in the second volume of this book.
5. Dr. Billington’s remarks on awarding Professor Yü the Kluge Prize noted his support
for China’s democracy movement. See Library of Congress, http:// www . loc . gov / today
/ pr / 2006 / 06 - 214 . html. Professor Yü’s critical discussion of the 1989 suppression can
be found in his Lishi renwu yu wenhua weiji
(Taipei: Dongda tushu,
1997), esp. pp. 151–173. Professor Yü’s regular commentary is available at http:// www . rfa
. org / mandarin / .
6. See “Address of Yü Ying- shih on the Occasion of Receiving the John W. Kluge Prize at
the Library of Congress,” December 5, 2006, at http:// www . loc . gov / today / pr / 2006 / 06
- A07 . html. For more details, see Chen Zhi
, Wo zou guo de lu: Yü Ying- shih fangtan
lu
:
(Taipei: Lianjing, 2012), 3–15, esp. p. 11.
7. See how Professor Yü recently discussed this decision in his “Lishi yu sixiang sanshiba
nian”
, published by Pingguo ribao
on April 27, 2014.
See also http:// hk . apple . nextmedia . com / supplement / apple / art / 20140427 / 18701478.
8. See the articles “Between the Heavenly and the Human” and “Morality and Knowledge
in Zhu Xi’s Philosophical System” in volume 1.
9. “Address of Yü Ying- shih,” p. 2.
10. These studies include “Fanzhi lun yu Zhongguo zhengzhi chuantong— lun Ru, Dao, Fa
sanjia zhengzhi sixiang de fenye yu huiliu”
—
,
,
and “ ‘Jun zun chen bei’ xia de junquan yu xiangquan— ‘Fanzhi
lun yu Zhongguo zhengzhi chuantong’ yulun” ‘
’
— ‘
’
. They are included in Yü Ying- shih, Lishi yu sixiang
(Taipei: Lianjing, 1976), 1–75. For their infl uence, see his discussion of Lishi yu sixiang
in “Lishi yu sixiang sanshiba nian.” See also how Chen Zhengguo
and Lu Yang
discuss the impact of Professor Yü’s work on his readers in Taiwan and China, re-
spectively, in Chen’s “Taiwan shixue zhong de Yü Ying- shih shenying”
, Dangdai
, no. 232 (December 1, 2006): 34–51, esp. p. 39, and Lu’s article
in the same issue of Dangdai, “Cong ta- nei dao tawai— Tan Yü Ying- shih xiansheng de
renwenxue yanjiu yu Keluge jiang de yiyi”
— -
, 52–59, esp. pp. 54–57.
edi tor i a l not e xix
11. See Yü Ying- shih, Chen Yinque wannian shiwen shizheng
(Taipei:
Shibao wenhua, 1984), the expanded edition published in 1986 by the same publisher,
and the third expanded edition published in 2004 (Taipei: Dongda tushu). The second
new edition was also published by Dongda tushu in 2011.
12. The impact of Professor Yü’s study of Chen Yinque itself had a complex development.
The consternation of the Chinese offi
cial academic leadership occurred twice and lasted
quite a while each time. The fi rst refers to the reaction of the then offi
cial leadership
to Professor Yü’s 1958 study of Chen Yinque’s work on Zaisheng yuan
, an
eighteenth- century Tanci ballad ( Tanci is a popu lar form of singing accompanied by
instrumental music), and it involved the top security offi