The Realm of Confucianism in Modern Times - A Study of Zhang Taiyan's Confucian Thought

Author: Zhang Zhaojun
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2002-08-01
Features: Most of the numerous academic works published today focus on ancient Confucianism and modern New Confucianism, while neglecting to give sufficient attention to Confucianism during the modern period, which holds practical significance in the modernization of traditional culture. Zhang Zhaojun's book, The Modern Realm of Confucianism—A Study of Zhang Taiyan's Confucian Thought, makes a valuable attempt in this regard. Zhang Taiyan was a renowned master of Chinese classics in the modern era, with extensive and profound knowledge, earning the title of the "last champion of classical studies." This book selects his Confucian thought as the subject to study modern Confucianism, which is highly representative. The East Asian Historical Studies Series is supported by the "East Asian Historical Studies Publishing Fund" and has been published by the Chinese Social Sciences Press and the Social Sciences Academic Press. Over the past decade, it has published over 60 monographs, covering the history of China and other Eastern countries, as well as the history of Sino-Western relations. Some books in the series focus on in-depth social history studies, such as An Analysis of Marital Conflicts in the Mid-Qing Dynasty; others have pioneered new research fields, such as A Chapter of the East in the History of the Jewish People: Shanghai Jews in the Past Half Century, bringing a fresh breeze to East Asian historiography. This book is part of the East Asian Historical Studies Series. It neither adopts a simplistic negation of traditional Confucian thought nor clings to the value concepts and guiding principles of traditional Confucianism. Instead, it seeks to criticize, reform, and reconstruct a national culture centered on Confucianism through the reinterpretation of these issues, aiming to achieve the modernization of thought and culture. To some extent, this helps alleviate the tension between tradition and modernity. Its strength lies in its balanced perspective and comprehensive analysis. The author places Zhang Taiyan's Confucian thought within the context of the modernization of traditional culture, examining it at the intersection of the history of Chinese Confucianism, the history of modern Confucianism, and Zhang Taiyan's thought. This approach, combining specific cases with broader context, contributes to an objective and pragmatic evaluation. The author regards Zhang Taiyan's Confucian thought as a representative of the renewal of traditional culture in the modernization process, believing that it largely reflects the transition from traditional culture to new culture and, to some extent, alleviates the tension between tradition and modernity.
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The influence of Western learning on Confucianism during the modern period is inevitable. Many Confucian works of the time incorporated Western content. Zhang Taiyan was no exception. Zhang Taiyan's Confucian thought was formed on the basis of the integration of Chinese and Western cultures. Tracing its origins in Western learning, it is roughly as follows.
Modern Western Natural Sciences
Zhang Taiyan's exposure to Western learning began with modern Western natural sciences. In his writings Notes from the Gao Lan Study and Notes on Explaining Classics, written around the First Sino-Japanese War, he started to extensively use Western knowledge to interpret Chinese classics. The Western works he cited were primarily translations published by the Imprimerie de l'école Fran?aise in China, the Jiangnan Arsenal, and the Guangxue Association, such as Euclid's Elements, the British astronomer Hoerschel's Tian Wen (On the Heavens), the British geologist Lea's A Brief Explanation of Geology, and the Research on the Origins of Things compiled by the British missionary William Alexander Parsons Martin. These natural sciences broadened Zhang Taiyan's horizons and influenced his Confucian thought to varying degrees.
First, the theory of a spherical Earth. While the idea of a spherical Earth existed in ancient China, it became deeply ingrained as a concept only under the influence of Western learning. Zhang Taiyan used the theory of a spherical Earth to interpret Confucianism. For example, when explaining the directions of the Bagua (Eight Trigrams), he noted: "If we consider the entire globe, China is located in the eastern part of the eastern hemisphere. The directions of the Bagua are determined based on what is observed in China." He then criticized the "" (pre-heaven Bagua) theory, which placed Qian (Heaven) in the south and Kun (Earth) in the north, as inconsistent with astronomy and geography. Using the theory of a spherical Earth, Zhang Taiyan rejected the Chinese-centric worldview, thereby serving to dismantle the traditional Confucian concept of the distinction between the "civilized" and the "barbarian." He stated: "The ancients said that the center of the world cannot be determined by day or night, and thus the center of the world cannot be determined either. What cannot be determined is that the center of the universe lies below the equator, while China is (located in the northeast). Should the equator be considered the center, or should China be? This is undecided." Later, in The Book of Mozi, he made this point even more clearly: China is not at the center of the earth and is not the only civilized nation. "Places like Europe and America are all part of China. They differ from us in color but are all people with virtue, wisdom, and knowledge."
Second, the theory of the evolution of celestial bodies. The formation of Zhang Taiyan's early materialist cosmology was greatly influenced by Western theories of the evolution of celestial bodies. He absorbed the content on celestial evolution from works such as Tian Wen (On the Heavens), Astronomical Essentials, Research on the Origins of Things, and A Brief Explanation of Geology, and wrote essays like On Heaven and On Observing the Sky. In these works, Zhang Taiyan argued from a materialist cosmological perspective, asserting that only "observing the sky" existed, with no mysterious heaven determining human fate. This was a powerful critique of the heaven-based worldview that served feudal autocratic rule. In the early 20th century, when promoting democratic revolution, he more clearly rejected the "Mandate of Heaven" argument used by the monarchist faction: "The issue of democratic revolution is not about whether there is a Mandate of Heaven, but about the ease or difficulty of human effort."
Additionally, modern Western theories such as the theory of biological evolution, cell theory, and the theory of the constitution of matter also influenced Zhang Taiyan's Confucian thought to varying degrees.
Modern Philosophy and Social Sciences
Zhang Taiyan was a thinker of the modern era who consciously established a philosophical system. He conducted serious research and reflection on both Eastern and Western philosophies. His systematic absorption of Western philosophy primarily involved...