Christianity and Late Ming Confucianism

Author: Sun Shangyang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1994-12-01
Features: The large-scale introduction of foreign culture into China mainly occurred twice: once was the introduction of Indian Buddhist culture starting from the 1st century AD. Over the subsequent thousand years, Indian Buddhist culture gradually merged into Chinese culture, becoming an integral part of it. The second was the introduction of Western culture in the late 16th century. Although Western culture has been in China for four hundred years, this introduction, despite various twists and turns, has had an undeniable profound impact on Chinese culture. In the past century, the debate between "ancient and modern, Chinese and Western" has become the theme of cultural discussions in Chinese history. Therefore, for the Chinese people, there exist three interconnected issues: how to approach the original traditional culture, how to absorb foreign Western culture, and how to create new Chinese culture. Regarding these issues, there may be three different attitudes: one is to adopt a negative attitude toward traditional culture, which can be called the radicalist faction; another is to adopt a positive attitude toward traditional culture, which can be called the conservative faction; and the third is to adopt a indifferent attitude toward traditional culture, which can be called the liberalist faction. In the past, there was a view that only one of these factions was beneficial to the development of Chinese culture, while the other two were harmful. In my opinion, this perspective may be debatable, meaning it is not entirely correct. In my view, during the period of cultural transformation, these three forces undoubtedly coexist within the same framework, and the tension and struggle between them are precisely the important driving forces for cultural (social-historical) development. To examine the four hundred years of Western cultural input and the various different responses from the Chinese people, I once considered writing a book titled "Discussions on the History of Western Learning's Introduction to China," intending to study some key issues in the process of Western learning's introduction. In 1987, I wrote an article titled "On Matteo Ricci's Attempt to Integrate Eastern and Western Cultures" (published in Taiwan's China Forum). During the research process, I found it quite challenging to delve deeper, as it required mastering a large amount of documentary material and carefully reviewing existing research findings, which was not something one person could accomplish alone. However, to better address the issues of Chinese cultural development, a serious and systematic study of the four hundred years of Western learning's introduction to China would be indispensable. Coincidentally, at this time, I admitted a batch of doctoral students, so I had three of them study some issues in the introduction of Western learning comparatively thoroughly and systematically. Sun Shangyang chose the introduction of Western learning four hundred years ago as the scope of his research and wrote this book. The other two students—one chose the topic "From Zhang Zhidong to Hu Shih" (from "Chinese body, Western application" to "wholesale Westernization," i.e., the introduction of Western learning from the late 19th century to the early 20th century); the other's doctoral dissertation was "A Study of the Philosophical Thought of Jin Yueling" (i.e., the introduction of Western learning in the mid-20th century, particularly on epistemological issues in Western philosophy). I plan to admit more doctoral students in the future, hoping they will study the key issues of Western learning's introduction one by one, with the aim of eventually forming a comprehensive and systematic perspective and producing corresponding results. I have found that the young people I have admitted have a keen ability to think about problems and are extremely hardworking, with a great interest in academic research. If they can persevere and study seriously, they will certainly achieve pleasing results, and Sun Shangyang's doctoral dissertation is a good example.