Spirit of Chinese Classical Canon: Five Histories (II)

Author: Feng Tianyu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-05-01
Features: This book conducts a concise textual examination of the Chinese classical texts such as the Book of Songs, Book of Changes, Book of Documents, Spring and Autumn Annals, the Three Rites, as well as the Analects, Mozi, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, and Xunzi from the perspectives of cultural studies and cultural history. It further employs hermeneutic methods to observe how the fundamental spirit of these Chinese classics has been repeatedly interpreted and redefined throughout the course of history. The book also investigates the dialectical process by which the spirit of these classics follows the "law of cultural recurrence" to achieve modern transformation, and examines the role this evolving classic spirit plays in China's modernization movement. The work analyzes the formation mechanisms and ideological characteristics of the Chinese classics (such as poetry, books, rites, changes, spring and autumn, arguments, ancient, old, and Zhuangzi, etc.), explores the modern transformation of the spirit of these classics, such as the shift from the consciousness of hardship to modern social revolution theory, the transition from the concept of "changeability" to modern transformation theory, the evolution from primitive democracy and democratic thought to modern democracy, and the transformation of the distinction between "China and the barbarians" into modern nationalism. It also examines the modern value of the spirit of these classics.