Neo-Confucianism

Tuesday: Neo-Confucianism and Jinhua

Thursday: Transforming the State from Below? Transforming Society from Above?

The Confucian Perspective

• On Politics

• On Society

• On Culture

• On the Economy

Early Imperial Confucianism

• Figures: Confucius and his followers (Mencius, Xunzi, etc.)

• Texts: the Five Classics

• Justifications for Empire and Imperial Rule– heaven-and-earth – antiquity

• Political Values: Ritual and Music versus Institutions and Punishments

• Outside-in and top-down

The “Neo-Confucians”

• The Northern Song questions and Neo-Confucian answers

• The Southern Song

– Zhu Xi 朱熹 and Lü Zuqian 呂祖謙• Reflections on Things at Hand (Jin si lu 近思錄 )• The Four Books 四書

– Great Learning 大學– Doctrine of the Mean 中庸– Analects of Confucius 論語– Mencius 孟子

What Made Neo-Confucianism Different?

• Philosophy– The concept of li 理 (principle, coherence)

and qi 氣 (energy-matter, material force)– Ritual is li 理 – The Way is li 理 – Human nature is li 理

Wang Yangming 1472-1529

• mind is principle” 心即理• turning to qing 情 emotional

response/feeling

Neo-Confucianism:

• As a position

• As an identity

• As a social movement

Neo-Confucianism as a totalizing ideology

– The political – zhengshi 政事– The sociomoral – dexing 德行– The cultural – wenxue 文學

The Audience for Neo-Confucianism

• Local Society– Literati communities in local society– The literati problem

• Neo-Confucianism as philosophy for local literati elites?

The “True Unity of the Way” 道統 in Jinhua

• Lü Zuqian 呂 祖 謙 1131-1187

• He Ji 何 基 1188-1268

• Wang Bo 王 柏 1197-1274

• Jin Lüxiang 金 履 祥 1232-1303

• Xu Qian 許 謙 1270-1337

• Zhang Mou 章 懋 1437-1522

Transforming the State from Below? Transforming Society from Above?

• The grounds for values in Neo-Confucianism

• The existence of principle/coherence (li 理 ) in the self (=human nature)

• Learning as the means to cultivate awareness of principle/coherence in oneself

• The superiority and authority of those who do

• Action as the means to realize what one has learned

Neo-Confucianism and Literati “volunteerism” in Jinhua (aka “righteous” 義 activities)

• Private academies

• Relief granaries

• Equitable labor service

• Community compacts

• Neo-Confucian shrines

• Local tax reform

• Local defense militias

The Ming Dynasty1368-1644

the Hongwu Reign Period 1368-1398

Ming Taizu

(Zhu Yuanzhang)

The synthesis

Early Ming Social Policy

• Village/Community tithing system (li jia 里甲 ) system

• One village/community (li) = 110 households

• Composed of 10 groups of ten (jia), led by the 10 wealthiest households in the community

The Elders ( 老人 ) system,

• Several elders in each rural community

• juridical powers

• Right to report on conduct of county officials and staff to higher authority

• Right to bypass county officials and appeal to higher authority

The community school ( 社學 ) system

• Each village to have a community school for the moral education of males

The Tax Captain ( 量長 ) system

• The wealthiest households in an area with tax of ten thousand bushels of grain are responsible for transporting the grain to its destination.

Moral Education

• Pavilions for Exhibiting the Bad and the Good

• The Community Altars

• The Grand Injunctions

• The Placard of Instructions to the People

• Community Wine Drinking Ceremony

Legislated leadership versus volunteerism

• The cycle:– State imposed systems– Local voluntary leadership

The Emergent Sociopolitical Order of Later Imperial China

• Local literati elite communities

• Education and examinations

• Neo-Confucianism

• Statecraft

• Lineage formation

• Creating local history