by Ying-shih Yü
newly printed copy of A Plan for the Prince to a Japa nese friend in 1895.122 It seems
safe to assume that Huang’s power ful antidespotism must have prepared all of
them intellectually as well as psychologically to look to the West for an alterna-
tive system of government.
Next, since its emergence in the sixteenth century, the idea of protection of
the rich became fi rmly established and ever- increasingly deepened in Chinese
social consciousness. During the nineteenth century, for example, the idea was
r e or i e n tat ion of c on f uc i a n so c i a l t hou gh t 313
enthusiastically advocated by famous scholars such as Bao Shichen
(1775–1855), Wei Yuan
(1794–1856), Feng Guifen
(1809–1874), and
Wang Tao
(1828–1897).123 It is in ter est ing to note that it was through this
Chinese idea that late Qing intellectuals came to appreciate Western capitalism.
Following the new trend in the Ming- Qing Period, Tan Sitong praised “luxury”
as a public virtue and condemned “frugality” as a public vice. He much admired
the freer circulation of wealth in Western economies due to better monetary
systems, which, he believed, made “luxury” aff ordable to more people.124 As a
Confucian, he was, of course, just as concerned about distributive justice. How-
ever, he explained, as things stood in his day, China was badly in need of rich
merchants who alone were in a position to compete with foreign countries in
commercial operations.125 Obviously, he expected Chinese merchants to play
the role of Western cap i tal ists. By contrast, Liang Qichao described Western
cap i tal ists in comparison to Chinese merchants, saying that the former were
more honored in the West ( Taixi
) as “the prime vital force of a country”
( guo zhi yuanqi
). He then went on to assure his readers that Western
cap i tal ists not only created jobs for the poor by establishing factories but also
enriched the nation by developing the natu ral resources of the land. Moreover,
these rich people often made donations in the millions to schools and hospi-
tals, thereby giving rise to a new philanthropic wave in the West. All of this, he
concluded, must be understood as resulting directly from the practice of “pro-
tection of the rich” ( baofu).126
Last but not least, from the late Qing to the eve of the May Fourth Move-
ment, the notion of the “autonomy of the individual self” ( geren zizhu
)
dominated the Chinese mind; leading intellectuals such as Zhang Binglin
(1869–1936), Tan Sitong, and Chen Duxiu
(1879–1942) all took it
as one of the ultimate goals to be realized through a total emancipation of
thought.127 In the fi nal analy sis, however, it actually evolved from the concept of
“self- interest” ( si) redefi ned vis- à- vis that of “common good” ( gong), discussed
above. The resultant priority of “self- interest” over the “common good” inevita-
bly carries the focus of emphasis in the polarity to the individual self. In this
connection, Liang Qichao’s formulation of “rights” between the individual on
the one hand and the nation as a whole on the other may serve as an illustrative
example: “The combination of fractions of rights will make up the right of a
totality. All the individual senses of right will add up to a collective sense of
rights of the whole nation. Thus, cultivation of the sense of national right must
start with the individual.”128 This formulation immediately reminds me of Gu
Yanwu’s statement quoted above: “With all self- interest combined, the common
good is thus formed,” which Liang must have known by heart all along. It also
accords perfectly well with Yu Xie’s saying: “common good can be established
only if self- interest is realized in the fi rst place.” Clearly, Liang reached his
understanding of the Western prob lem of “individual right versus national
right” by way of his antecedent familiarity with the Chinese prob lem of “self-
interest versus common good.”
314 r e or i e n tat ion of c on f uc i a n so c i a l t hou gh t
Viewed in this way, the new turn in Confucian social and po liti cal thinking
in the age of Wang Yangming deserves to be most seriously considered as a
major cultural and intellectual breakthrough in late imperial China.
not e s
The fi rst draft of this chapter was a keynote speech to the International Wang Yangming
Conference, sponsored by the Third Global Future Generations Kyoto Forum, delivered on
August 11, 1997, in Kyoto, Japan. I wrote a much- expanded second draft in September–
November 2005 at the John W. Kluge Center, Library of Congress. A complete revision was
fi nished on November 28, 2014.
1. Yü Ying- shih, “Xiandai ruxue de huigu yu zhanwang”
, Zhong-
guo wenhua 11 (July 1995): 1–25; reprinted in Yü Ying- shih, Xiandai ruxue lun
(Shanghai: Shanghai renmin, 1998), 1–57. Japa nese translation in Chûgoku: Shakai to
Bunka 10 (June 1995): 135–179.
2. For the Confucian idea of dejun xingdao
, see Yü Ying- shih
, Zhu Xi de
lishi shijie
, vol. 2 (Taipei: Yunchen, 2003), chap. 8, pp. 54–92.
3. The best general accounts of Ming despotism may be found in Frederick W. Mote, “The
Growth of Chinese Despotism,” Oriens Extremus 8, no. 1 (August 1961): 1–41, and F. W.
Mote, Imperial China, 900–1800 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1999),
579–582.
4. On the tension and confl ict between Ming Taizu, the founding emperor, and the edu-
cated elites ( shi
) under his reign, see Qian Mu’s
1964 monograph, Du Mingchu
kaiguo zhuchen shiwenji
, reprinted in Qian Binsi xiansheng quanji
(Taipei: Lianjing, 1998), 20:101–261. For a diff er ent view, see John W.
Dardess, Confucianism and Autocracy: Professional Elites in the Founding of the Ming
Dynasty (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983), esp. pp. 9–10.
5. The above sketch of Song po liti cal culture is based on my Zhu Xi de lishi shijie, vol. 1,
chaps. 2–6, pp. 271–387.
6. See Wu Han
, “Mingjiao yu Da Ming diguo”
, collected in his Dushi
zhaji
(Beijing: Sanlian, 1956), 235–270.
7. See Wu Han, “Hu Weiyong dang-an kao”
, Yanjing xuebao 15 (June 1934):
163–205.
8. See Kung- chuan Hsiao, “Legalism and Autocracy in Traditional China,” Tsing Hua
Journal of Chinese Studies, n.s., 4, no. 2 (February 1964), esp. p. 16, and Yü Ying- shih,
Song- Ming lixue yu zhengzhi wenhua
(Taipei: Yunchen, 2004),
chap. 6, section 1, pp. 253–276.
9. Rong Zhaozu
, “Ming Taizu de Mengzi jiewen”
, reprinted
in Rong Zhaozu ji
(Jinan: Qilu shushe, 1989), 170–183.
10.
Mingshi (punctuated edition) (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1974), juan 139: 13.3988–3989.
11. Ibid., 3991–3992.
12.
Ibid., juan 94: 8.2318.
r e or i e n tat ion of c on f uc i a n so c i a l t hou gh
t 315
13. In 1509, for instance, a certain Wang Yunfeng
was forced to accept a court
appointment against his will by the penal code of “refusal of shi to serve the emperor”
(
). See Gu Yingtai
, Mingshi jishi benmo
(Shang-
hai: Shangwu, 1937), juan 43: 6.59.
14.
Mingshi, juan 139: 13.3989 and 3991.
15. Ibid., juan 141: 13.4019–4021. Cf. F. W. Mote, “Fang Hsiao-ju,” in Dictionary of Ming Bi-
ography, 1368–1644, ed. L. Carrington Goodrich and Chaoying Fang (hereafter DMB)
(New York: Columbia University Press, 1976), 1:431–432.
16.
Huang Zongxi
, Mingru xue- an
(hereafter MRXA) (Shanghai: Zhong-
hua, 1936); SBBY, vol. 1, juan 1: 1a–2a (Wu Yubi
).
17. MRXA, juan 2: 1a (Hu Juren
); juan 5: 1a (Chen Xianzhang
); Mingshi, juan
282: 24.7241 (Xie Fu
).
18. See my discussion in Song- Ming lixue yu zhengzhi wenhua, 274–276.
19. Wu Yubi, “Rilu”
, in Kangzhai ji
, SKQS (Taipei: Shangwu, 1973), juan 11:
1a–42a. Cf. Wing- tsit Chan, “The Ch’eng- Chu School of Early Ming,” in Self and Society
in Ming Thought, ed. Wm. Theodore de Bary and the Conference on Ming Thought
(New York: Columbia University Press, 1970), 29–51.
20. See Huang P’ei and Julia Ching, “Ch’en Hsien- chang,” in DMB, 1:155; Julia Ching, “Hu
Chü- jen,” ibid., 626.
21.
MRXA, juan 7: 3a.
22. See “Chenyan bianwushu”
, in Wang Yangming quanji
(Shang-
hai: Shanghai guji, 1992), juan 9: 285–290.
23. Chen Rongjie
, Wang Yangming chuanxilu xiangzhu jiping
(Taipei: Xuesheng shuju, 1983), 397.
24. Included in Wang Yangming quanji, juan 22: 841–842.
25. Meng Sen
, Mingdai shi
(Taipei: Zhonghua congshu, 1957), 185–187; Chaoy-
ing Fang, “Chu Yu- t’ang,” in DMB, 1:377–378.
26. Included in Wang Yangming quanji, juan 9: 291–292.
27. See “Wujing yishuo”
, ibid., juan 26: 976–977.
28. “Longchangsheng wenda”
, ibid., juan 24: 912.
29. See Nianpu
, ibid., juan 33: 1228.
30. See Wang Yangming’s biography in Mingshi, juan 195: 17.5159.
31. “Jian ying Fo shu”
, Wang Yangming quanji, juan 9: 293–296.
32. See Wang Gen’s Nianpu in Wang Xinzhai xiansheng yiji
, ed. Yuan
Chengye
(Shanghai: Shenzhou Guoguang, 1912), juan 3: 3a– b. Cf. Wang Yang-
ming’s Nianpu in Wang Xinzhai quanji
, ed. Okada Takehiko
and
Araki Kengo
(Taipei: Guangwen, 1987), juan 34: 1277–1278.
33. “Fu Tong Kegang”
, Wang Yangming quanji, juan 21: 825–827.
34. Nianpu in Wang Xinzhai xiansheng yiji, juan 3: 4b.
35. Wm. Theodore de Bary, “Individualism and Humanitarianism in Late Ming Thought,”
in Self and Society in Ming Thought, 165.
36. This is his warning to a student/friend who wanted to test his ability in politics. See “Da
Zong Shang-en”
, in Wang Xinzhai quanji
, ed. Okada Takehiko
316 r e or i e n tat ion of c on f uc i a n so c i a l t hou gh t
and Araki Kengo
(Taipei: Zhongwen and Guangwen, n.d.), juan 5:
129–130.
37. See Qian Mu, Yangmingxue shuyao
, Qian Binsi xiansheng quanji, 10:82–92.
The original text of the essay “Baben saiyuan”
is included in Chuanxilu
,
part 2, Wang Yangming quanji, juan 2: 53–57. For a complete En glish translation, see In-
structions for Practical Living and Other Neo- Confucian Writings by Wang Yang- ming, trans.
with notes by Wing- tsit Chan (New York: Columbia University Press, 1963), 117–124.
38. Twice he emphasized the importance of the active participation of “farmer, artisans,
and merchants” in his revised Confucian proj ect. See Instructions for Practical Living,
119 and 120.
39. Ibid., 121.
40. Ibid., 230.
41.
Ibid., 168.
42. Ibid., 124.
43. This memorial is included in Wang Yangming quanji, juan 39: 1494–1495. For the his-
torical background of Geng Dingxiang’s
proposal, see Shen Defu
, Wanli
Yehuobian
(Beijing: Zhonghua, 1959), 2:362–364. For the controversy over
his being honored in the Confucian temple, see Hung- lam Chu, “The Debate Over Rec-
ognition of Wang Yang- ming,” HJAS 48, no. 1 (June 1988): 47–70.
44. Chen Rongjie, Wang Yangming chuanxilu xiangzhu jiping, 199.
45. Jiao Xun
, “Liangzhilun”
, in Diaogulou ji
(Suzhou: Wenxue shan-
fang, n.d.), juan 8: 20a.
46. Wang Yangming quanji, juan 32: 1172.
47. Wang Yangming, Instructions for Practical Living, 240.
48. “Yu Taihe Yang Mao”
, in Wang Yangming quanji, juan 24: 919–920.
49. See Shimada Kenji
, Chūgoku ni okeru kindai shii no zasetsu
(Tokyo: Chikuma Shohō
, 1970), 101–110.
50. MRXA, juan 32: 9a.
51. Reprinted in Zhang Haipeng
, Wang Tingyuan
, and Tang Lixing
,
eds., Ming-
Qing Huishang ziliao xuanbian
(Hefei: Huangshan,
1985), 251.
52. Wen Zhengming
, Futian ji
, SKQS, juan 25: 4b–5a.
53. For the prob lem of overpopulation of shengyuan
, see Mingshi, juan 69, 6:1686–
1687, and Xu Shupi
, Shixiao lu
, Hanfenlou miji
edition
(Shanghai: Shangwu, 1924), juan 2: 15.
54. Han Bangqi
, Yuanluo ji
, SKQS, juan 19: 4b–5b.
55. This general statement is in Ling Mengchu’s
novel Pai-an jingqi
, second
edition, juan 37, quoted and discussed in Fujii Hiroshi
, “Shinan shōnin no
kenkyū”
(4), Tōyō gakuhō
36, no. 4 (March 1954): 117.
56. Wang Daokun
, “Jingyuan ji”
, in Taihan ji
(1591 edition in the Gest
Library, Prince ton University), juan 77: 9a.
57. Quoted and discussed in Terada Takanobu
, Sansei shōnin no kenkyū
(Kyoto: Tōyōshi kenkyūkai, 1972), 385–386.
r e or i e n tat ion of c on f uc i a n so c i a l t hou gh t 317
58. Wang Yangming quanji, juan 25: 940–941.
59. Tang Shunzhi
, Jingchuan xiansheng wenji
, SBCK suoben, juan 6:
119. It is in ter est ing to note that about fi fty years later, Li Le
(1532–1618) confi rmed
Tang’s observation made in this letter as “a true fact” ( shishi
). See Li Le, Jianwen
zaji
(Shanghai: Guji, 1986), 1:285.
60. Sang Yue
, Sixuan ji
(Ming edition in the Gest Library, Prince ton U
niver-
sity), juan 7: 1a– b.
61.
Kang Hai, Duishan ji
(1583 edition in the Library of Congress), juan 40: 3b–5a.
62. Ibid., juan 37: 9a–11b.
63. Chen Rongjie, Wang Yangming chuanxilu xiangzhu jiping, 398.
64. Wang Yangming quanji, juan 7: 256.
65. Li Mengyang
, Kongtong ji
, SKQS, juan 46: 4b. On Wang Xian
and
his family background, see Ono Kazuko
, Minki tōsha kō
(Kyoto:
Dohosha, 1996), 79–82.
66. Zhang Siwei
, Tiaolutang ji
(1592 edition in the Library of Congress),
juan 23: 53b.
67. Reprinted in Zhang Haipeng and Wang Tingyuan, eds., Ming- Qing Huishang ziliao
xuanbian, 440. For further discussions, see Zhang Haipeng and Tang Lixing
,
“Lun Huishang ‘gu er hao Ru’ de tese”
’
’
, Zhongguoshi yanjiu 4
(1984): 68.
68. Shen Yao
, Luofanlou wenji
, Wuxing congshu (Beijing: Wenwu, 1987),
juan 24: 12a– b.
69. Li Weizhen
, Dabishanfang ji
(Wanli
edition in the Gest Library,
Prince ton University), juan 87: 14b.
70. See Lü Miaofen
, Yangmingxue shiren shequn
(Taipei: Institute of
Modern History, Academia Sinica, 2003), 100–107; John Meskill, Academies in Ming
China: A Historical Essay (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1982), 62–65.
71. Tang Shunzhi, Jingchuan xiansheng wenji, juan 16: 336–337.
72. See Cynthia J. Brokaw, The Ledgers of Merit and Demerit: Social Change and Moral Order
in Late Imperial China (Prince ton: Prince ton University Press, 1991), 212–215.
73. See Li Chunfang
, “Chongrusi beiji”
, in Li Wending Gong Yi- antang ji
(Jinan: Qilu shushe, [1589] 1997), juan 9: 13a– b.
74. See a recorded statement in Wang Yi-an xiansheng yiji
(Shanghai: Shen-
zhou guoguang, 1912), juan 1: 15b; a slightly diff er ent version may be found in MRXA,
juan 32: 24a.
75. See Wang Gen’s Nianpu in Wang Xinzhai xiansheng yiji, juan 3: 3b–4a, 5a – b.
76. The above account is based on the recently discovered biographical data relating to Han
Zhen in Han Zhen ji, included in Yan Jun ji
, ed. Huang Xuanmin
(Bei-
jing: CASS Press, 1996), 189–190 and 201–203.
77. MRXA, juan 32: 12b and Geng Dingxiang
, “Taoren zhuan”
, in Han Zhen
ji, 188. En glish translation is based on Julia Ching, ed., The Rec ords of Ming Scholars