Chapter 14 Section 6 The Collision of Chinese and Western Cultures and Modern Neo-Confucianism

After the Opium War, China transformed from a feudal society to a semi-feudal and semi-colonial society.The Western powers defeated the Qing government time and time again, forcing it to sign various unequal treaties that cut land, compensated, lost power and humiliated the country.In the face of imperialist aggression, not only did the Qing emperor and his ancestors fail to work, but the way of Confucius and Mencius and Cheng Zhu's Neo Confucianism also failed.In order to save the nation from peril and build an independent, prosperous and powerful new country, the advanced Chinese learned the truth of saving the country and the people from the West with indomitable perseverance.They propagate Western thought and criticize traditional Chinese concepts represented by Confucianism in order to educate and arouse the people and transform the old China.

Hong Xiuquan (AD 1814-1864), the revolutionary leader of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, learned Christian thought from the West, propagating that God is the ruler of the world and everyone is a child of God. The oppression of the people by the Qing government was totally against the will of God.He believed that Confucius spoke entirely for the demons—the emperors and generals, "to investigate the reasons for the demons' mischief, and always investigate the mistakes of Confucius' teaching books" ("Taiping Tianri").And they made up myths, saying that God was very angry with Confucius, and punished and punished Confucius in the court of heaven.The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom used administrative means to deal with Confucianism, such as burning Confucian books, deleting Confucian books, and demolishing Confucian temples.However, administrative measures cannot solve the ideological problem. The traditional patriarchal clan hierarchy concept has not been eliminated in the minds of the leaders of the kingdom of heaven, but has grown and overflowed. This is the limitation of the small farmers' consciousness, and it is also the reason for the failure of the uprising.

Kang Youwei (AD 1858-1927), a representative of the bourgeois reform movement, studied Western bourgeois democracy and evolutionary thinking, advocated the implementation of a constitutional monarchy in politics, and encouraged the state and private enterprises to start businesses economically.He criticized traditional Confucian ideas, promoted reform ideas, and took a special approach, all under the banner of respecting Confucius.He wrote "Xinxue Pseudo-Classic Test" and "Confucius Restructuring", and used the method of Gongyang to testify that Confucius' subtle words and great righteousness were all for the reform of the political system, but Confucius reformed the system on the basis of the ancients, that is, he pretended to entrust the sage kings such as Yao, Shun and Yutang. Words and deeds put forward reform proposals.Kang Youwei asked the ancients to reform the system for himself, but said that Confucius reformed the system on the basis of the ancients. He himself had the idea of ​​democracy and evolution, but he said that Confucius had this kind of thought, and let such a Confucius stand up against traditional Confucianism.This approach, just as he supported Emperor Guangxu against the die-hards of the Manchu and Han landlord classes during the Reform Movement of 1898 (AD 1898), was well-intentioned but doomed to failure.

Unlike Kang Youwei, Yan Fu (1854-1921), a famous thinker during the Reform Movement of 1898, directly promoted the academic and political views of the Western bourgeoisie.He studied in the UK in his early years and has a good understanding of both Chinese and Western situations.During the Sino-Japanese War (1894 A.D.), due to the national disaster, he published a series of famous articles such as "Yuanqiang" and "Bihan", and later compiled "Tianyanlun" to face the corruption of the Qing government. Incompetent and critical, on the one hand, through the comparison of Chinese and Western ideas, cultures, and systems, introduce new Western concepts and criticize old Chinese concepts.He pointed out that the fundamental reason for the strength of the West lies in its ideology and system, while sound, light, electricity, ships and guns are just phenomena.The West practices democracy in politics and pays attention to science in academics. These things are unknown to the Chinese sages, and they are even deeply feared.He believes that the basic principles of Darwin’s theory of evolution—natural selection and survival of the fittest—are also applicable in the social field. If the Chinese cannot learn from the West and abandon old concepts and systems in order to strive for self-improvement, they will be eliminated as inferior nations , suffered the catastrophe of national subjugation and genocide.At this time, Yan Fu was anti-traditional, but after experiencing the failure of the Reform Movement of 1898, the Boxer Rebellion, and especially after the First World War, he felt that Western learning not only could not solve China's problems, but also caused the confrontation between rich and poor and plundering in the West. It triggered a world war, so his thinking returned to the old tradition, thinking that only the way of Confucius and Mencius can bring the gospel to the world.

The forerunner of the democratic revolution, Sun Yat-sen (AD 1866-1925), synthesized the thoughts of various schools of thought in the West, put forward the view of people's livelihood history, explained the gradual evolution of history with the nature of human beings seeking survival, and demonstrated the transition from the era of monarchy to the era of civil rights. The transition from oppression to national equality is an irresistible world trend, and the rationality of the people's livelihood principle of developing the economy while avoiding inequality between the rich and the poor, so he put forward his Three People's Principles of nationality, civil rights, and people's livelihood.Sun Yat-sen highly praised the slogans of the era of the French bourgeois revolution - freedom, equality, fraternity, and believed that the Three People's Principles embodied exactly this spirit.He resolutely criticized the cliché of the royalists for respecting Confucian scriptures, but believed that the inherent Chinese morality of "loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, love, faith, peace" still had vitality and should be restored and carried forward.

The "May 4th" Movement in 1919 was an anti-imperialist and anti-feudal ideological and cultural movement. Intellectuals with communist ideas and many bourgeois intellectuals participated in this struggle, and fiercely criticized the traditional culture with Confucianism as its core.Chen Duxiu believed that Confucianism "everything runs counter to real life", and called on young people to resolutely abolish Confucianism that is "incompatible with the new society, new country, and new beliefs."Li Dazhao believes that Confucianism, which is dominated by rulers, is the soul of autocratic politics in all dynasties, and it must be knocked down.Lu Xun pointed out that behind the teachings of Confucian benevolence, righteousness and morality, the word "cannibalism" is hidden.Wu Yu, known as "the old hero who defeated the Confucian family shop with one hand", believes that the concept of loyalty and filial piety is completely set up to maintain the autocratic patriarchal system, which is extremely harmful. Without new ideas and new schools, how can we create a new nation? You can do everything, and this is the only thing that matters, please!" All this had a profound impact on the intellectual circles and even the general public. collapsed.However, the "May 4th" movement also had its flaws. The analysis of traditional culture was not enough, and there were too many negations. Many people tended to be completely Westernized.

What the Chinese Communists have learned from the West is Marxism-Leninism and scientific socialism.They continued to carry forward the revolutionary spirit of the "May 4th" Movement, which was completely anti-imperialist and anti-feudal, and put forward a scientific slogan of criticizing and inheriting Confucianism. The patriarchal clan ideology and system are the four great ropes that bind the Chinese people, especially the peasants." He highly praised the revolutionary actions of the peasants to overthrow them.He advocated that "all enslaving, feudal and fascist culture and education should take appropriate and resolute steps to eliminate", but he adopted an analytical attitude towards the excellent ancient Chinese culture, "neither rejecting it completely nor blindly Instead of using it, accept it critically, so as to promote China's new culture."He said: "From Confucius to Sun Yat-sen, we should give a summary and inherit this precious legacy." Some principles and methods of ethics have been transformed and absorbed, and a valuable attempt has been made in inheriting the precious heritage of traditional ideology and culture and promoting the development of new culture.

We have seen that since the end of the Qing Dynasty, China has encountered unprecedented major changes in politics, diplomacy, military affairs, and culture. This is a test of the nation and a test of traditional culture.How does Confucianism respond to this series of challenges?The first to stand out is the political conservatism of the old Confucianism. The representatives of this school believe that the Tao of Confucius and Mencius, the principles and teachings, and the laws of the ancestors cannot be changed. Do as instructed at all times.Western political theories, moral concepts such as freedom, equality, fraternity, and democratic systems are all heresies and cults that have no king, no father, holy law, and absolutely cannot be practiced in China.If there is any merit in Western learning, it is machines and guns, which can be used to serve China's old regime, old system, old ethics, and old ideas.This is the so-called "Chinese learning for the body, Western learning for application".The most extreme conservatives, like Cixi, don't even want machines from foreigners.The less extreme conservatives, that is, the Westernization School, such as Zeng Guofan and Zhang Zhidong, advocated the integration of Chinese culture and western application, imported foreign technology and equipment, built guns and ships, and armed the army.What was the result?Facts have proved that regardless of whether there is "use" of Western learning, the "body" they try to defend is bound to collapse.China's old political power, old system, etc. have indeed been wiped out and become a relic of history forever.

After the "May 4th" Movement, some intellectuals who believed in Confucianism, with a deep sense of urgency and determination to revive national culture, reconsidered the question of where China and Confucianism are going under the impact of the tide of Western culture.They believe that the standard culture of China and the theory of mind and nature of Chinese Confucianism are the place for Chinese people to settle down, and they are the characteristics that distinguish Chinese culture from the West and are superior to the West.However, due to some of its shortcomings, modern science and democracy have not been developed, leading to China's backwardness in politics, science and technology.But this is not to say that Confucianism cannot be associated with scientific democracy. In fact, after certain transformations, science and democracy can be developed from Confucianism.They believe that Confucianism has gone through the pre-Qin and Han Dynasties, Song and Ming Dynasties, and now it is in its third phase of development. The task is not only to develop science and democracy for China, but also to use traditional values ​​to help Westerners and give instructions to the world. a new road.This is the basic position and overall appearance of contemporary New Confucianism.

This school began to take shape in the 1920s, when important representatives included Liang Shuming and Xiong Shili.Liang Shuming (AD 1893-1988) studied Chinese, Indian, and Western thoughts before and after the "May 4th Movement". Based on traditional culture, he made some reflections, and was deeply dissatisfied with the tendency of being enthusiastic about Western learning and neglecting Chinese learning.He believes that Western culture is better than science and technology and pays attention to utilitarianism, which is the first step in the development of human culture after the Renaissance; Experience will be the third step in the development of human culture.He advocated that "to accept Western culture in its entirety and change it fundamentally is to change its attitude." What he has to bear is only technology, and what he needs to fundamentally change is its "attitude" that is, values, and replace it with Chinese culture. Attitude".With regard to Chinese culture, he advocated "critically bringing out China's original attitude", that is, critically adhering to traditional values ​​- "King Dao Ren Yi".He also believes that Indian culture is not suitable for the current China and cannot be used.However, Liang himself devoted his whole life to Buddhism, and also integrated Confucianism and Buddhism. He used the purity and sincerity of Buddhism to complete the career of Confucians, and realized the religious cultivation of Buddhism with Confucian career. This is probably the ideal personality that Liang admired.In order to practice his ideas, he carried out the "village construction" movement in Zouping, Shandong, in an attempt to build agricultural "socialism" through moral education and the implementation of an economic policy that does not worry about scarcity but inequality.However, he failed.

Xiong Shili (1884-1968 A.D.) was originally a soldier of the 1911 Revolution. Because he was dissatisfied with the corruption in the political circle after the revolution, he abandoned politics and went to school, hoping to transform China through cultural efforts.He integrated the two thoughts of Confucianism and Buddhism, and put forward the "New Consciousness-Only Theory"-the first systematic and profound philosophical system of New Confucianism.Xiong Shili's philosophy is characterized by emphasizing the unity of body and function.The body is both empty and quiet, but also possesses all principles, and appears as boundless functions, so the body (essence) and function (phenomenon) cannot be completely separated. They are one and two, and two are one. body.The ideological content of the body is benevolence, which has both transcendent and realistic significance.If a person wants to be in harmony with benevolence and body in his own life, he must recognize the noumenon from phenomena and realize the transcendence of morality, and on the other hand, work hard under the guidance of benevolence to create meritorious deeds that benefit the world and benefit the people.Xiong Shili is very concerned about the issues of science and democracy, and he drew these two conclusions from his philosophy.He said that his philosophy talks about cosmology, which gives science a foothold; at the same time, he admits that it is absolutely necessary to study science and explore laws on the premise of recognizing the ontology.He also put forward the idea of ​​democratic politics through the interpretation of Confucian classics. "Book of Changes" has a saying that "a group of dragons have no leader". Xiong Shili explained: "Without a leader, all things are independent, and they are equal and help each other, just like one body. This is the extreme of humanity and the grand track of governance." He believes that Confucius wrote " "Book of Changes", advocating "headless" means abolishing the monarchy, implementing democracy, and advocating the revolution of the common people.In fact, this is still Kang Youwei's method of "restructuring the ancient system", and he just expressed his own requirements through the mouth of Confucius. Liang and Xiong, early representatives of modern Neo-Confucianism, had a certain understanding of Western thought.Liang admired Bergson's philosophy of life and compared it with Confucius' thought.Xiong's dialectics, Russell's theory of facts, and Bergson's philosophy have all been used for reference, and he is better than Liang in using Western thought.But generally speaking, their mastery of Western learning cannot be regarded as in-depth.Feng Youlan and He Lin, representatives of Neo-Confucianism who were active in intellectual circles in the 1930s and 1940s, were quite different.They have in-depth research on Western philosophy, Feng is proficient in new realism, and He is an expert in Hegelian philosophy.Feng Shi followed Cheng Zhu's Confucianism, but he didn't talk about it as it was, but "continue to talk about it".That is to say, he transformed Neo-Confucianism with the principles and methods of New Realism and Logical Positivism, making it a modern Neo-Confucianism.This is manifested in: first, emphasizing logical analysis, further abstracting Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, and constructing a transcendent universal world; second, emphasizing rational thinking, and regarding the process of sanctification as a process of rational cognition rather than intuitive comprehension.He followed Lu Wang's theory of mind, combined it with Hegel's philosophy, and developed it into "New Lu Wang". The above schools are all representatives of the first generation of New Confucianism.Among the representatives of the second generation are Taiwanese scholars Tang Junyi, Mou Zongsan, Xu Fuguan and so on.Tang Junyi believes that Chinese and Western cultures have their own characteristics. The basic spirit of Chinese culture is morality and art, while the basic spirit of Western culture is religion and science.Both sides have their strengths and weaknesses, and should learn from each other and complement each other.The West can learn from the spirit of inward pursuit and self-satisfaction in Chinese culture, the method of grasping the world through observation and understanding rather than concepts, and the idea that the world is one family, etc.China can learn from the spirit of science, democracy and religion in Western culture.Of course, it is not a simple rote application, but should be accepted, transformed and transcended from the perspective of Chinese thought, which is similar to the above-mentioned content, such as the pursuit of knowledge, people-oriented thought, and heaven-respecting thought. Mou Zongsan is the one who has made the greatest achievements among the modern Neo-Confucians and who best represents the spirit and level of this school.Mou Zongsan’s basic position is consistent with Liang Shuming’s and Xiong Shili’s. However, he has a solid foundation in Western studies, especially the philosophies of German Kant and Hegel, making his comparison of Chinese and Western cultures and his analysis of Confucianism more detailed. profound, so its achievement is above all others.Mou Zongsan conducted a multi-angle comparative study of Chinese and Western cultures, pointing out that Western culture starts from objective things such as nature or God, with the purpose of knowing them, grasping them, and forming a cultural system of knowledge or religion, while Chinese culture starts from Life, that is, human subjectivity or human nature, starts with the purpose of settling down, thus forming a benevolent ritual-music cultural system.So Western culture focuses on knowledge, while Chinese culture focuses on morality.Mou Zongsan also believes that Chinese sages regard human beings as "existing individual life", and from this perspective, they are specifically concerned about his life, value and happiness.Western culture regards human beings as a political existence and respects them through formal concepts such as freedom, equality, human rights, and rights.Therefore, Chinese politics is governed by men, and there is a way of governing but no way of governing. Therefore, there is often a situation where "people save politics, and people die and politics rests."Because the West attaches great importance to formal and institutionalized things, it has formed a tradition of rule of law, and thus developed a modern democratic political system. Mou Zongsan believes that Chinese traditional culture has its special value.First, it has an inherent spirit of transcendence.The so-called transcendence refers to the value source and value goal above reality. In the West it is God, but in China it is the law of heaven.God is external to human beings, and although the laws of heaven are high above, they are also internal to human nature.Therefore, Confucianism seeks the source of value by relying on people's own efforts and through the road of self-awareness.Therefore, it is moral and religious at the same time.Second, it has the spirit of moral idealism.Moral idealism means that human benevolence is both the ultimate good and the universal law, and benevolence is the driving force and basis for people to naturally pursue goodness, reject evil, and become holy and virtuous.For Westerners who have lost their values, Confucianism is nothing less than a good medicine for their symptoms.The last is its humanistic spirit, that is, to educate human beings with morality and rationality. Internally, it is transformed into temperament, and externally, it is transformed into the world.Therefore, traditional Confucianism should insist that what was true in the past, should be true now and in the future.He believes that although China is inferior to the West in external achievements, it is higher than it in spiritual realm.He said: "Therefore, if there is no science and democracy in China, it cannot be modernized. It is impossible to exceed, not impossible to be inferior." However, "what cannot be exceeded" is still impossible after all.So Mou Zongsan tried his best to "explore" science and democracy from the traditional Chinese theory of mind and nature.The study of mind and nature belongs to the inner sage, while external achievements such as politics belong to the outer king, so his goal is to protect the inner sage and open the outer king.Now, the inner sage is old, but the outer king is new. This requires conscience (moral rationality) to "self-impede", that is, self-denial, to transform into rationality, so that scientific democracy can develop from it.Mou Zongsan summed up his theory with the theory of "three traditions".The first is "the affirmation of orthodoxy", that is, to carry forward China's inner sage, the study of mind and nature, and insist on the value goal of self-cultivation and holiness; secondly, "the development of academic orthodoxy", that is, to establish an independent scientific knowledge system; thirdly, "The continuation of political rule" is to affirm the inevitability of democratic politics.Starting from orthodoxy to develop academic and political traditions, that is, to integrate Western science and democracy with the Confucian mind and nature as the big brain, this is the central issue that modern New Confucianism wants to solve.In Mou Zongsan's view, this task has been completed.Therefore, "the promotion of Confucianism in the third period is nothing more than creating itself? It is also to save the self-destruction of the West...its role and value will be universal and suggest a new direction for mankind." Through the comparative study of Chinese and Western cultures, Mou Zongsan openly and boldly admitted the shortcomings of Confucianism, failed to develop modern science and democracy, and tried to make scientific democracy take root in Chinese culture through his own theoretical work.Therefore, people say that New Confucianism is conservative, not referring to its political stance, but its cultural thought.Mou Zongsan not only accepted Western science and democracy, but also accepted the analytical methods of Western philosophy, conducted in-depth research on Chinese Confucianism, and obtained valuable academic achievements. However, because his stand on Confucianism was too strong, and he had too much faith in the Xinxing theory of Neo-Confucianism in the Song and Ming Dynasties, he exaggerated too much about Confucianism, including modern Neo-Confucian orthodoxy, thinking that it could not only save China, but also save "" The self-destruction of the West", pointing out a new way for the world and so on.He believes that Confucianism is omnipotent, and it can be used forever without harm. It has not developed scientific democracy, which is not a problem with itself, but a problem with "expression", and it has "surpassed" the principles of democracy and science. Level.This cannot explain why China has not developed them for more than 2,000 years since Confucius and 800 or 900 years since Zhu Xi, but we only developed them in the theories of our ancestors after seeing Western science and democracy.In fact, philosophers have always emphasized the consistency of self-cultivation and merit.They think that the meritorious deeds of utilitarians are not real meritorious deeds, because these people have no moral cultivation; they also criticize the cultivation of Buddha and Lao as incorrect cultivation, because these people are not engaged in governing the country and the world, but only in personal liberation.Therefore, only by adhering to the inner sage can one become the outer king.Here, both the inner sage and the outer king have specific connotations. For them, the theory of a new outer king from the old inner sage itself cannot be established.When it comes to the West, the loss of its value and the various social diseases caused by it are problems of another era and another level compared with Confucianism. It is by no means a Confucian theory of mind and moral idealism. It can be inspiring in some ways. "Self-encumbrance of conscience" is the only way to develop new king from the inner sage, and is an important part of Mou Zongsan's theory.But self-depression can only be a good wish in the end, which cannot be deduced in theory or operated in practice. Times have changed, and the style of social life has changed, and people's thoughts and theories, including morality and religion, should also change accordingly.It is unrealistic to think that Confucianism can be used to guide real life as long as it is equipped with a scientific and democratic "framework expression". Confucianism as a system is untenable in the new era. , but its essence is entirely possible and should be critically assimilated to form an integral part of the morality and philosophy of the new age.Representatives of the third generation of New Confucianism have shown a more open mind, and we can expect them to make newer contributions in terms of traditional critical inheritance. In the 150 years from the Opium War to today, the Chinese have been thinking about how to deal with the challenge from the West and how to achieve modernization through revolution and reform almost all the time.The philosophical and cultural explorations of the representatives of New Confucianism are inspiring, and their views are worth learning from on issues such as the comparison of Chinese and Western cultures and the integration of tradition and the present.