Famous Works That Influenced Modern Chinese History—The Doctrine of the Mean

Author: Tan Sitong, commented by Wu Hailan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-10-01
Features: The Doctrine of the Mean is a work that's political and academic ideals. Its intellectual sources include both traditional Chinese Confucianism, the school of the hundred schools of thought, and Buddhist thought, as well as Western religious studies, natural sciences, and social sciences. The main content of this book critiques the autocratic system that promotes the Three Cardinal Guides and Five Constant Virtues in feudal society, advocating for bourgeois equality and democracy. It advocates for the reform and transformation of the country to develop capitalist economy. The author's critique of old ideas and traditions under feudal autocratic rule serves as preparation for promoting reform and the development of capitalist economy. Meanwhile, the advocacy of Western capitalist politics and economy further deepens the critique of monarchy and the Confucian moral codes. Its fierce condemnation of China's feudal politics, economy, and thought had a destructive and clarifying effect on the rigid and conservative social atmosphere of the late Qing Dynasty. It was regarded by the era as a whirlwind and a thunderstorm in late Qing intellectual circles, causing great shock in the intellectual world.