by Ying-shih Yü
family, or corporation— only through some general category.” It was in Re nais-
sance Italy that man fi rst “became a spiritual individual, and recognized himself
as such.”23 Almost the same can be said of the spiritual transition from Han
collectivism to Wei- Jin individualism, for the breakdown of Confucian ritualism
at the end of the Han was also closely linked to the self-
discovery of the
individual.
In the fi rst place, it is signifi cant to note that the classical Daoist idea about
the importance of individual life was rediscovered in the second century. The
great Confucian scholar Ma Rong
(79–166), in a critical and decisive
moment of his life, said to a friend with a sigh: “The individual life of man is
indeed more cherishable than the entire world. It is not in accord with the
teaching of Laozi
and Zhuangzi to risk my priceless life on account of a
negligible moral point.”24 It was no accident that he became one of the earliest
commentators of the Laozi and the Huainanzi, thus anticipating Wang Bi
(226–249) by a century.
The search for the au then tic self gradually led to the emergence of a type of
personality that, to borrow Burckhardt’s phrase, neither knew “of false modesty
or of hy poc risy,” nor was afraid of singularity, of being unlike others. For in-
stance, Dai Liang
(late second century) was once asked by a friend: “Who
in the con temporary world, in your own view, would be your peer?” Dai replied:
“I compare myself to Confucius from Eastern Lu and the Great Yu from West-
ern Qiang. I stand alone in the world, and none is qualifi ed to be my peer.”25 Mi
Heng
praised Kong Rong as “Confucius not dead” and Kong Rong re-
turned the compliment by calling Mi Heng “Yan Hui
back to life.” Nei-
ther felt the need to feign modesty.26 By the end of the Han dynasty, singular-
ity ( yi ) had become a positive value. A personality would be favorably judged
precisely
because it was singular, diff er ent, extraordinary.27 On the other
hand, the idea of identity, or sameness ( tong
), was held in contempt in a
140 indi v idua l is m a nd t h e ne o - daois t m ov e m e n t
famous essay titled “Bian he tong lun”
(Harmony and Identity). Liu
Liang
(d. ca. 180) even formulated a radical thesis saying, “all faults
arise from identity.”28
During this period, the development of the art of characterology also attests
to the growth of individualism. “Characterology” refers to the technique of ana-
lyzing, evaluating, and judging the character and ability of an individual— a
practice that had originated in the Han local recommendation system. The
judgment thus passed on a person by his own community served as a basis for
deciding whether he would qualify for recommendation to offi
ce. One basic as-
sumption of this type of characterology was that personal character and ability
diff er from individual to individual. By the late second century, the art of char-
acterology had acquired, so to speak, a separate life of its own, though it contin-
ued to serve the purpose of the recommendation system during the Wei- Jin
Period. At the end of the Han, there appeared a number of characterologists
whose profound insight and sound judgment made them legends in their own
time. Among them were Guo Tai
(better known as Lingzong
, 128–169)
and Xu Shao
(ca. 153–198), who distinguished themselves by characteriza-
tions that were always terse and to the point. It is particularly impor tant to
point out that while making characterizations, their approach was not only
physiognomical but psychological as well, with the purpose of capturing the
spirit ( shen ) of the individual.
This point is fully borne out in Liu Shao’s
(early third century) Renwu
zhi
(Treatise on Personalities), the only characterological work that has
survived from this period. Liu’s treatise begins with an analy sis of man’s feel-
ings ( qing
) and his nature ( xing
), which are, in his view, the basis of per-
sonality. With regard to physiognomical observations, the emphasis is placed
on going beyond the physical appearance of a person to reach his spirit. To do
this, the entire observational pro cess must end in the study of the eyes, which
alone convey the spirit of a person. In Liu Shao’s own words: “ Every person has
a body; every body possesses a spirit. Our study of a person will be exhaustive
only when we are able to understand his spirit.”29 Needless to say, character-
ology must have contributed im mensely to the growth of self- awareness of the
individual during and after the last de cades of Han China.
Closely related to the art of characterology was the development of portrai-
ture, another unmistakable sign of the rise of individualism. The discovery of
the individual in the West since the later Middle Ages is evidenced by the emer-
gence of a new type of portraiture that depicted “a concrete image and a human
personality in all its individuality.”30 A similar change also took place in Wei- Jin
China. Figure painting, to be sure, was no invention of this period; it existed
long before the Han dynasty. However, judging from the Han products brought
to light by modern archaeology, these are, by and large, portraits of worthies
that were intended to be morally inspiring. As the poet Cao Zhi
(192–232)
put it: “When one sees pictures of the Three Kings and Five Emperors, one
indi v idua l is m a nd t h e ne o - daois t m ov e m e n t 141
cannot help assuming an attitude of re spect and veneration. . . . By this we real-
ize that painting serves as a moral guide.”31 This didactic tradition in portrai-
ture, it must be emphasized, did not totally dis appear with the end of the Han.
Nevertheless, a new, individualistic type of fi gure painting clearly made its de-
but during the Wei- Jin transition. Under the infl uence of characterology, the
artist set out to capture the spiritual individuality of the human person. How to
“convey the spirit” ( chuanshen
) became the central prob lem of portraiture,
and the artistic repre sen ta tion of the eyes was once again at the heart of this
endeavor. The famous story about Gu Kaizhi
, the great fourth- century
master of portraiture, will serve to illustrate this point: “Gu Kaizhi would paint
a portrait and sometimes not dot the pupils of the eyes for several years. When
someone asked his reason, Gu replied: ‘The beauty or ugliness of the four limbs
basically bears no relation to the most subtle part of a painting. What conveys
the spirit and portrays the likeness lies precisely in these dots.’ ”32 Thus, in rep-
resenting a human personality in all its individuality, the Wei- Jin artist chose to
focus on the spiritual uniqueness rather than on the physical likeness of his
subject.33 In the West, individual self- discovery was often accompanied by a pro-
liferation of personal verse,
especially lyric poetry, through which the emotions
of the individual sought expression. Historical examples of this correlation may
be found in early Greece and the later Middle Ages, as well as in Re nais sance
Italy.34 Interestingly enough, the time of the Han- Wei transition also witnessed
the emergence of poetic individuality in China. This was the age in which Chi-
nese poets were mainly concerned with expressing their personal feelings in the
face of life’s joys and sorrows. For example, the “Gushi shijiu shou”
(Nineteen Old Poems), generally considered products of the Latter Han Period,
show in a highly personal way their authors’ inner experiences with the fl eet-
ingness of life, the sadness of parting, the emptiness of fame, etc.35 Starting in
the jian- an period (196–219) with the appearance of Cao Cao
and his two
sons Cao Pi
and Cao Zhi on the historical scene, a new chapter in Chinese
lit er a ture was clearly inaugurated. Han rhyme- prose ( fu
), which was pre-
dominantly po liti cal in character, lost much of its original vitality and impor-
tance. Pentameter verse of a personal and lyrical variety, in the tradition of the
“Nineteen Old Poems,” now became the main vehicle of literary art,36 owing to
a large extent to the infl uence of the new poetry of the three Caos. Even Cao
Cao in his poetic moments was not totally free from a smack of pessimism and
individualism.37 However, perhaps it is in Ruan Ji’s eighty- two “Yonghuai shi”
(Poems of My Heart) that we meet Chinese lyric in its full maturity.
Striving to express thoughts and sentiments from the innermost reaches of his
heart, he was not only personal but also, at times, autobiographical.38 This was
also true of many other poets of his time. Xi Kang’s
“Youfen”
(Dark
Indignations) and “Shuzhi”
(Stating My Aspirations), as well as several of
his poems to friends, are all classic examples. Both self- discovery and self-
revelation fi gured centrally in Wei- Jin individualism.
142 indi v idua l is m a nd t h e ne o - daois t m ov e m e n t
Before moving on to the realm of philosophical thought, I wish to examine
briefl y some of the new expressions in interpersonal relations. A digression in
this direction is valuable because, as modern studies have amply shown, the
Wei- Jin Period is characterized in par tic u lar by the in ter est ing fact that ideas
and social realities were closely interlocked.39
Side by side with the breakdown of the Confucian social order during the
last years of the Han, a new type of personal relationship began to take shape.
According to Ge Hong’s observation, personal relationships toward the end of
the Han were characterized by “closeness” ( qinmi
) or “intimacy” ( qinzhi
).
In a gathering of friends, Ge Hong tells us: “ People no longer bother to ex-
change greetings when they see each other. A guest may come to the house and
hail the servants; a host may look at the guest while calling the dog. If someone
does not act in the same way, he would be considered as having failed to estab-
lish intimacy with others. As a result, he would be rejected by his own circle.” 40
Close personal relationships also developed in literary circles. Warm feelings
among friends were generally expressed through two vehicles: the verse and
the letter. The letter as a means of sharing one’s innermost thoughts and emo-
tions was practically unknown in ancient times. As far as can evidentially
be determined, the purely personal type of letter fi rst appeared in the jian- an
period. Particularly representative, according to Professor Qian Mu
(1895–
1990), are some of the letters of Cao Pi and Cao Zhi.41 Since the letter provided
the individual with an impor tant emotional outlet, both receiving a letter from
and writing one to a personal friend were a major source of joy. Thus, in his
“Da Fan Qin shu”
(Letter in Reply to Fan Qin), Cao Pi says, “it gives
me so much delight and laughter reading your letter that I can hardly control
myself.” 42 Cao Zhi’s letter to his best friend, Ding Yi
(whose courtesy
name is Jingli
), articulates a similar sentiment: “As I am writing this let-
ter to you in a great mood, I hold my brush with delight. Expressing words from
my heart amidst laughter is indeed the extreme of joy.” 43
Personal correspondence brought two friends close by making them com-
pletely open with each other. It contrasts sharply with the type of correspondence
we fi nd in the earlier periods, which is almost invariably formal, impersonal, and
business oriented. Exactly the same thing can be said of the exchange of poems
between friends. Moreover, it is signifi cant to note that according to the Wenx-
uan
(Anthology of Lit er a ture; juan 24–26), poetic exchange ( zengda
)
was a completely new device in Chinese culture, fi rst introduced in the jian- an
era. It was therefore another form in which individual self- awareness mani-
fested itself.
The same sort of intimacy also characterized familial relationships. The fol-
lowing story from the Shishuo xinyu
(New Account of Tales of the
World) is a vivid expression of the emergence of a new type of husband– wife
relationship:
indi v idua l is m a nd t h e ne o - daois t m ov e m e n t 143
Wang Rong’s
(234–305) wife always addressed Rong with the famil-
iar pronoun “you” ( qing
) . Rong said to her, “For a wife to address her
husband as ‘you’ is disrespectful according to the rules of etiquette. Here-
after don’t call me that again.” His wife replied: “But I’m intimate with you
and I love you, so I address you as ‘you.’ If I didn’t address you as ‘you,’
who else would address you as ‘you’?” After that he always tolerated it.44
For the En glish reader, it is perhaps necessary to point out that every “you” in
this translated passage is qing
in the original Chinese text. It may further be
noted that usage of the word qing as an intimate pronoun was common only
during the Wei- Jin Period of Chinese history.45
Another family bond, the father– son relationship, also took a decidedly new
turn at this time. Humu Fuzhi
(ca. 264–ca. 312), a second- generation
leader of Neo- Daoist conversationalists, was particularly noted for his excessive
love of “freedom” ( da ). In this re spect, however, he was surpassed by his son,
Qianzhi
, who even went so far as to call him by his fi rst name. While this
practice shocked many contemporaries, the father himself took the matter in
stride.46
The two examples cited above must not be taken as isolated and exceptional
cases. On the contrary, they clearly indicate that a profound change in interper-
sonal relations had taken place in some quarters of elite society during this
period. Toward the end of the third century, Shu Xi
, in a remarkable piece of
literary imagination, revealed
vividly his unique vision of paradise on Earth. It is
surprising to note that he described his Utopia as a place where “all the wives ad-
dress their husbands as ‘you’ ( qing
); all the sons call their fathers by fi rst
names.” 47 This is proof that intimacy as a guiding princi ple in family life was
becoming widespread. Although intimacy may not have been a condition of the
development of individualism in the West, in the case of Wei- Jin China, it clearly
helped to set the individual free from the vari ous collectivist bonds that had
evolved through the centuries of the Han dynasty.
T H E T R A N S I T I O N F R O M C O N F U C I A N I S M
T O N E O - D A O I S M
Having traced the emergence of individualistic expression in interpersonal re-
lations of the period, we must now proceed to examine the prob lem of individu-
alism in the realm of thought. In this section, I shall aim to show that apart
from the generally accepted po liti cal interpretation, the transition from Confu-
cianism to Neo- Daoism in the Wei- Jin Period may be more sensibly viewed as
an outgrowth of the discovery of the individual. Moreover, the evidence indi-
cates that the type of philosophic discourse that was to dominate the Neo- Daoist
144 indi v idua l is m a nd t h e ne o - daois t m ov e m e n t
movement from the middle of the third century on had already begun well be-
fore the end of the Han.
As is generally acknowledged, Chinese philosophical thought in the third
century underwent a radical transformation. Traditionally, this transformation
has been characterized as a transition from Confucian classical scholarship
( jingxue
) to Neo- Daoist metaphysics ( xuanxue
) . This is undoubtedly
an accurate description. The question we must ask, however, is whether this
philosophical shift was linked to the rise of individualism and, if so, in what
sense and to what extent? The commonly accepted view with regard to the tran-
sition has focused predominantly on po liti cal events. According to this view,
repeated persecutions of critical and dissident intellectuals by the eunuchs of
the imperial court following the two great danggu
purges, in 166 and 169
gradually transformed the former from po liti cal activists to intellectual escap-
ists. After the end of the Han, such persecution intensifi ed under the repres-