Zhu Xi

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Chinese Society ◽  
Confucian Tradition ◽  
Examination System ◽  
Zhu Xi ◽  
The Qing Dynasty ◽  
Doctrine Of The Mean ◽  
Four Books ◽  
Imperial Examination System ◽  
Imperial Examination ◽  
The Mean

This volume contains nine chapters of translation focusing on the philosophy of Zhu Xi (1130–1200), one of the most influential Chinese thinkers of the later Confucian tradition. Zhu Xi’s philosophy offers the most systematic and comprehensive expression of the Confucian tradition; he sought to demonstrate the connections between the classics, relate them to a range of contemporary philosophical issues, and defend Confucianism against competing traditions such as Daoism and Buddhism. He elevated the Four Books—i.e., the Analects, Mengzi, Great Learning, and Doctrine of the Mean—to a new and preeminent position within the Confucian canon, and his edition and interpretation was adopted as the basis for the Imperial Examination System, the pathway to officialdom in traditional Chinese society. Zhu Xi’s interpretation remained the orthodox tradition until the collapse of the Qing dynasty (1644–1911) and exerted a profound and enduring influence on how Confucianism was understood in Korea, Japan, and Vietnam.

Daxue

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tu Wei-Ming
Keyword(s):  
Civil Service ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Confucian Tradition ◽  
Zhu Xi ◽  
Great Learning ◽  
Doctrine Of The Mean ◽  
The Status ◽  
Four Books ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Civil Service Examinations

Originally a chapter in the Liji (Book of Rites), one of the Five Classics in the Confucian tradition, the Daxue (Great Learning) has for centuries attained the status of a canon, arguably the most influential foundational text in East Asian Confucian humanism. When the great neo-Confucian thinker Zhu Xi grouped the Daxue with the Zhongyong (Doctrine of the Mean), another chapter in the Liji, the Confucian Analects and the Mengzi as the Four Books, its prominence in the Confucian scriptural tradition was assured. Since the Four Books with Master Zhu’s commentaries became the required readings for the civil service examinations in 1313, and since Master Zhu insisted that the Daxue must be studied first among the Four, it has been widely acknowledged as the quintessential Confucian text.

Zhu Xi’s Commentarial Work

Zhu Xi ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 187-204
Author(s):  
Daniel K. Gardner
Keyword(s):  
Zhu Xi ◽  
Great Learning ◽  
Doctrine Of The Mean ◽  
Four Books ◽  
The Mean

This chapter presents a translation of chapters 1–11 of Abiding in the Mean and the Constant (sometimes translated as the Doctrine of the Mean), one of the Four Books, along with Zhu Xi’s commentary. For Zhu Xi all thirteen classics were precious, but he developed a graded curriculum. At the top he placed the Four Books: the Great Learning (Daxue大學‎), Analects (Lunyu論語‎), Mengzi (孟子‎), and Abiding in the Mean and the Constant (Zhongyong中庸‎). Their appeal, he wrote, was their “ease, immediacy, and brevity.” Pattern-principle could be more readily investigated and accessed in these four works than in any other text, or in any other thing. Only when they had fully mastered these four texts would Zhu encourage students to turn to the previously authoritative Five Classics (the Classic of Changes, Odes, Book of Documents, Book of Rites, and Spring and Autumn Annals).

Zhu Xi (1130–1200)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirill Ole Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Eleventh Century ◽  
Zhu Xi ◽  
Great Learning ◽  
Doctrine Of The Mean ◽  
Four Books ◽  
Zhang Zai ◽  
The Mean ◽  
The Analects

The Chinese neo-Confucian philosopher Zhu Xi was a consummate scholar and classicist as well as a superb critical and synthetic thinker. He fused the ideas of the seminal eleventh-century thinkers Shao Yong, Zhou Tunyi, Zhang Zai, Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi into a grand philosophical synthesis. In addition, by effectively editing and annotating the essential classical Confucian texts – the Analects of Confucius – the Mengzi of Mencius, the Daxue (Great Learning) and the Zhongyong (Doctrine of the Mean) – as the Four Books, Zhu worked out a lasting renewal of the Confucian project.

scholarly journals Filial Piety in Confucianism and Islam: A Comparative Literary Analysis of Qur'an, Hadith, and Four Chinese Classics

ICR Journal ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 133-153
Author(s):  
Osman Abdullah (Chuah Hock Leng) ◽  
Abdul Salam Muhamad Shukri ◽  
Normala Othman
Keyword(s):  
Filial Piety ◽  
Family System ◽  
Literary Analysis ◽  
Great Learning ◽  
Doctrine Of The Mean ◽  
The Family ◽  
Four Books ◽  
The Mean

This article is an attempt to compare the teachings of Confucius and Islam, specifically The Four Books, which are authoritative works on Confucius, and the original sources of Islam, Qur’an and Sunnah. The Four Books are the most quoted sources of Confucius’ thought, namely The Great Learning (Da Xue), The Doctrine of the Mean (Zhong Yong), The Confucian Analects (Lun Yu) and The Works of Mencius (Mengzi). The focus shall be on the concept of family and filial piety as found in Confucianism and Qur’an and Sunnah. Both the teachings of Confucius and Islam emphasise the importance of virtues, ties and order in the family system, for example, the husband is the head of the family and responsible for the family’s existence and security. Islam and Confucianism are both patriarchal, and the husband and men are protectors of the family and deserve much respect. Young members of the family must respect and obey the elders and vice versa. To Confucius, these virtues are the heavenly way and must be

Christianizing Confucian Didacticism: Protestant Publications for Women, 1832-1911

NAN Nü ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-101
Author(s):  
Ryan Dunch
Keyword(s):  
Practical Knowledge ◽  
Chinese Society ◽  
Women Readers ◽  
Important Place ◽  
Late Qing ◽  
The Qing Dynasty ◽  
Early Readers ◽  
Four Books ◽  
Printed Materials

AbstractThe printed Protestant missionary engagement with Chinese views of the role and proper conduct of women in society was more complex and ambiguous than scholars have often assumed. Publications targeted at women readers occupied an important place among Protestant missionary periodicals, books, and other printed materials in Chinese during the late Qing. Most publications for women and girls were elementary doctrinal works, catechisms, and devotional texts designed to introduce early readers to Christian belief, and light reading (fictional tracts and biographies) for women's spiritual edification, but there were some more elaborate works as well. After an overview of mission publications for women, this article focuses on two complex texts, one a compendium of practical knowledge and moral guidance for the Chinese Protestant "new woman," Jiaxue jizhen (The Christian home in China) (1897; revised 1909), and the other, a Protestant reworking from 1902 of the Qing dynasty didactic compilation Nü sishu (Women's four books). Together, these two texts give us a more multifaceted picture of how missionaries engaged with Chinese society and the role of women therein.

Failure Stories: Interpretations of Rejected Papers in the Late Imperial Civil Service Examinations

T oung Pao ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 101 (1-3) ◽  
pp. 168-207
Author(s):  
Shiuon Chu
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Small Proportion ◽  
Personal Communication ◽  
Examination System ◽  
Late Imperial ◽  
Imperial Examination System ◽  
Imperial Examination ◽  
Civil Service Examinations ◽  
Imperial Examinations

This article investigates the practice of returning marked papers to rejected candidates in late imperial Chinese examinations. The practice—common from the sixteenth century to the abolition of imperial examinations in 1905—established a sense of personal communication between examiners and examinees and was an opportunity for rejected candidates to benefit from the examination system. The failed papers returned to their authors enabled them to make sense of their performance by interpreting, when not misconstruing, examiners’ comments. The examiners sometimes praised the papers and blamed the decision to fail on other examiners. As a result, most rejected candidates tended not to challenge the examiners through official channels or take collective action against the examination system. Thus, in the late imperial examination system, the ways in which rejecting decisions could be negotiated and construed were no less important than the awarding of degrees to an extremely small proportion of participants.
Cet article s’intéresse à la pratique, particulière à la période impériale tardive, consistant à rendre leurs copies aux candidats ayant échoué aux examens. Courante depuis le xvie siècle et jusqu’à l’abolition des examens mandarinaux en 1905, cette pratique créait l’impression d’une relation personnelle entre les examinateurs et les candidats et était un moyen pour ceux qui avaient échoué de tirer profit du système. Les copies rejetées retournées à leurs auteurs permettaient à ces derniers de donner un sens à leur performance en interprétant, voire en dévoyant, les commentaires des examinateurs. Il arrivait que les examinateurs fassent l’éloge des copies et attribuent à autrui la décision de les rejeter. De ce fait, la plupart des candidats malheureux évitaient de contester les examinateurs par la voie réglementaire ou de manifester collectivement contre le système. Ainsi, dans le système des examens à la fin de la période impériale, la manière dont les décisions négatives pouvaient être négociées ou interprétées n’était pas moins importante que l’attribution de rangs académiques à une toute petite proportion de ceux qui concouraient.


Zhongyong

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tu Wei-Ming
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Traditional View ◽  
Confucian Tradition ◽  
Great Learning ◽  
Critical Scholarship ◽  
Doctrine Of The Mean ◽  
The Mean

The Zhongyong (Doctrine of the Mean) has traditionally been ascribed to Zisi, the grandson of Confucius and the indirect teacher of Mencius. Although this ascription has been challenged by modern critical scholarship since the turn of the twentieth century, recent archaeological finds indicate that the traditional view is not without textual base. If the Zhongyong actually predated the Mengzi, it seems that a significant portion of the Liji (Book of Rites), of which the Daxue (Great Learning) and Zhongyong are chapters, contains documents of the fifth century bc. This fact alone merits a fundamental restructuring of classical Confucian chronology and reinterpretation of the Mencian line of the Confucian tradition.

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