Confucian School of Finance (Volume 1 and 2) (English Version)

Author: Chen Huanzhang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-05-01
Features: Chen Huanzhang (1881-1933) was a native of Gaozhou, Guangdong, and styled Chongyuan. In his early years, he studied at Wanmu Cao Tang under Kang Youwei. In 1907 (the 33rd year of the Guangxu reign), he went to the United States to study at Columbia University's Department of Economics. He graduated in 1911 and received a doctorate. His doctoral dissertation, The Economic Principles of Confucius and His School (translated into Chinese as Kongmen Lichixue), was published in the same year as a two-volume hardcover edition in the "Historical, Economic, and Public Law Studies" series edited by Columbia University's faculty of political science. Kongmen Lichixue is divided into five parts, following Western economic principles, and discusses the general economic theories of Confucius and the Confucian school, as well as their thoughts on consumption, production, and public property. The book is preceded by a preface written by the renowned sinologist Schlegel, who, apart from providing a brief introduction to Chen Huanzhang as a disciple of Kang Youwei, highly praises Chen's meticulous research on the economic thought of Confucius and his school using a Western economic framework. This book is one of the early Chinese economic thought masterpieces published in the West in the early 20th century and also one of the earliest works on economics by Chinese scholars published in the West (Hu Jixuan: Outline of Modern Chinese Thought History, p. 476, Beijing: Chinese Social Sciences Press, December 1984 edition). It may also be one of the first doctoral dissertations by Chinese students studying in the West on Chinese themes and published in Western countries, making it of special documentary and academic value.