History of Chinese Thought (Introduction, Volume 1, Volume 2. Introduction)

Author: Ge Zhaoguang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-02-03
Features: Introduction: The Writing of Intellectual History
The Introduction, originally placed separately in the first and second volumes as "The Writing of Intellectual History" and "Continuation of the Writing of Intellectual History," aimed to explain the research perspective, selection of materials, and writing approach. For the reprinted edition, they are combined into one volume and titled "Introduction: The Writing of Intellectual History." The title "The Writing of Intellectual History" does not imply that only one writing strategy is discussed here. Behind different writing styles of intellectual history are always different concepts, ideas, and methods. Changes in writing styles often signify changes in the concepts, approaches, and methods of intellectual history research. This discussion addresses major theoretical and methodological issues in the study of Chinese intellectual and philosophical history, such as how intellectual history should approach the thought world of elites and classics versus the knowledge and belief world of the general populace, how knowledge history and intellectual history should mutually illuminate each other, what the ultimate basis or fundamental assumptions of ancient Chinese thought are, how intellectual history should reform past traditional writing styles and the didactic chapter structures of textbooks to trace the true threads and spirit of intellectual history, whether intellectual history should describe the so-called "thoughtless" era and see the unseen, how traditional knowledge and thought, as historical memory, become new intellectual resources through reinterpretation and thus create continuity in intellectual history, and how archaeological discoveries and cultural artifacts should be viewed and utilized in intellectual history research. Finally, the Introduction also discusses how to understand and limit the significance and boundaries of postmodern historical theory as it gradually enters China.
Volume I: Knowledge, Thought, and Belief World in China Before the 7th Century
This volume adopts a personal perspective and understanding to historically research and describe the knowledge, thought, and belief world of ancient China up to the 7th century. This book not only concerns the development of elite and classic thought in ancient China but also analyzes the knowledge sources and ultimate foundations that shaped and established these ideas. It not only describes the profound thought of ancient China before the 7th century but also portrays the general knowledge, thought, and belief history that served as the soil for these ideas. This volume shifts away from the human-centered chapter structure of traditional textbook-style intellectual history, citing rich ancient literature while also referencing modern Chinese and foreign research achievements. It aims to clarify and narrate the knowledge, thought, and belief world of the Chinese people from ancient times to the 7th century and its continuous history, hoping to understand and explain how the intellectual tradition of modern China was gradually constructed from ancient times to the present.
Volume II: Knowledge, Thought, and Belief World in China from the 7th to the 19th Century
This volume primarily discusses the process of the ultimate establishment and gradual disintegration of China's intellectual world from the 7th to the 19th century. In fact, the so-called ancient Chinese knowledge, thought, and belief tradition often mentioned and felt by modern Chinese should not be attributed to the ancient Chinese thought established during the Qin and Han dynasties but rather to a new tradition gradually constructed over a long period in the Tang and Song dynasties. After the social upheaval in the 8th century, the once unified and mediocre knowledge, thought, and belief world adjusted its approach, rediscovered historical resources, and, centered around the reconstruction of state authority and intellectual order, people drew new knowledge from old studies, proposing various questions. Ultimately, they sought renewal within tradition, forming a new knowledge, thought, and belief world in the Song Dynasty, represented by "Neo-Confucianism" and "Heart-Mind Learning." After a brief historical separation between the "orthodoxy of learning" and the "orthodoxy of governance"—that is, cultural power and political discourse power—around the 13th century, China established a new national political ideology. Due to the institutionalization and secularization of this concept, ancient Chinese ethics achieved a certain unity during that era. However, after the Yuan and Ming dynasties, as 16th-century China gradually moved from the "center of the world" tributary system to an era of "all nations," this knowledge, thought, and belief world began to show deep cracks. Although the Ming and Qing dynasties temporarily papered over these cracks, superficially restoring unity in public and political discourse, the division between the public and private spheres had already split the tradition. Under the pressure and allure of powerful ships and advanced weaponry, this tradition finally began to disintegrate. Especially after China's defeat by Japan in 1895, driven by a sense of indignation and humiliation, China began to pursue strength in the Western style, embarking on an irreversible path of Westernization. This triggered the intellectual turmoil of modern China.