Chapter 15 Chapter 4 World Influence of Confucianism

Here we mainly introduce the spread and influence of Confucianism in Korea, Japan, Vietnam and other countries. North Korea is bordered by my country's northeast, across the Yellow Sea from Shandong and Jiangsu to the west, and has communicated with my country via land and sea for a long time.Confucian thought had been introduced to Korea at the latest in the Han Dynasty, and was widely spread during the Three Kingdoms period (1st century BC to 7th century AD) in Korea. Among them, Goguryeo was the first to promote Confucianism education. In 372 AD, Taixue was established to teach the "Five Classics" , "Three Histories" ("Historical Records", "Hanshu", "Hanshu"); Baekje also actively absorbed Confucian culture, and hired a doctor from the Southern Dynasty Liang to give lectures on "Mao Shi" and "Zhou Li".Silla made the biggest stride. It established state institutions based on the Tang system and sent overseas students to study Confucianism in the Tang Dynasty. It is no accident that it was able to unify the Three Kingdoms.

The rulers of the Silla period (675-935 AD) and the Goryeo period (935-1392 AD) believed in Buddhism, but their political and ethical thinking were Confucian.They advocate benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and trustworthiness, and pay special attention to filial piety.Those who practice filial piety will be rewarded, and those who are not filial will be punished. Cultivate filial piety to respect parents from an early age, and transform filial piety into loyalty when they grow up, and become good citizens who are loyal to the emperor and respect the king.So there was a dutiful son, Wei Diao, who cut his thigh meat to make wontons for his father to treat his illness, and a loyal minister, Hong Guan, who died for the king in the turmoil.In order to promote Confucianism, these two dynasties achieved obvious results by setting up Taixue, opening courses to recruit scholars, printing or importing Confucian books, and building Confucian temples to respect Confucius, etc.

After the Lee Dynasty (1392-1910 AD) replaced the Wang Dynasty Korea, they abandoned Buddhism and fully promoted Confucianism, especially Zhu Zixue, which was respected as the only orthodox thought.Li Dynasty’s method of promoting Confucianism is basically the same as that of the previous dynasty, but because the guiding ideology has become Confucianism, it spares no effort in any aspect.The Li Dynasty emphasized the imperial examination, and both civil and military officials were recruited through examinations. Needless to say, Chinese and Confucianism were tested in the civil examinations, Jinshi examinations, and liberal arts examinations. Even the examinations for military officials must also include Confucianism.In terms of school education, in addition to the Sungkyunkwan in the capital (with four schools below), township schools were set up in all prefectures and counties. At the same time, there were countless private schools, all of which used Confucian classics as the teaching content.The rulers attached great importance to the etiquette education of cultivating loyalty, filial piety and righteousness. In addition to printing and publishing Confucian classics, they also ordered scholars to edit a large number of popular books and even picture albums, explain the classics, and commend loyal officials and filial sons. They were published in Chinese and Korean. ", "Three Cardinal Guidelines in Practice", "Three Cardinal Guidelines in Practice", etc., through them, the concept of loyalty and filial piety is instilled in thousands of households, so that women and children know it.After a long period of enlightenment, the original style of advocating martial arts was changed, and Lee's North Korea became a country that "advocates faith and righteousness, loves Confucianism, courteousness becomes custom, and gentleness is the style" ("Chosun Chronicles·Customs").The Li Dynasty was called the "Confucian Dynasty", and Confucianism reached its peak during this period.

Due to the spread and influence of Confucianism and Zhu Zixue, a group of Neo Confucianists with a high level appeared in North Korea.In the late Goryeo Dynasty, important representatives of the Korean Zhuzi School, such as Li Yi, Zheng Mongju, and Zheng Daochuan, severely criticized Buddhism, pointing out that its immortal soul and fixed number of reincarnations were all wrong, and criticized the harm it brought to society in terms of politics and morality. , Contributed to ending the domination of Buddhism in the ideological field and establishing the orthodox position of Zhu Zixue.The Neo Confucianists during the Li Dynasty pushed the study of Zhu Zixue a step further.Inheriting the tradition of Zhang Zai, Xu Jingde talked about the immortality of qi and the monism of qi.Li Huang (Tuixi), a representative of the orthodox school and known as the "Zhuzi of Haidong", insisted on the monism of Li, and believed that "Li is the commander of Qi, and Qi is the soldier of Li".On the issue of human nature, he advocates a strict distinction between temperament and temperament, and believes that the four ends (benevolence, righteousness, propriety and wisdom) are issued by heaven, and the seven emotions (happiness, anger, sorrow, joy, love, evil, and desire) are issued by qi. The seven emotions obey the four ends.His student Li Er (Li Gu) disagreed with Nai Shi and Xu Jingde, advocating the duality of Li Qi and the two cannot be separated.In terms of temperament, although the four ends are haircuts, when they are released, there will be qi (emotion) following them. Although the seven emotions are sent out as qi, they will be controlled by reason. The four ends and the seven emotions cannot be separated.It has sparked many years of debate on "four-seven regulating qi".Through this debate, Zhu Zixue's research has deepened, but it has gradually become cumbersome and dogmatic.Later, various schools of thought striving for the revitalization, prosperity, democracy and science of Korea abandoned Zhu Zixue. Progressive scholars absorbed the ideas of various schools and established Korea's real learning, northern learning, eastern learning, enlightenment thought, and enlightenment thought system. After 1910, the Japanese imperialists destroyed the Li Dynasty and occupied North Korea. They once abolished respecting Confucius and reading scriptures, and then turned to use Confucianism to enslave the Korean people.Orthodox Confucian scholars used Confucian propaganda to mobilize the masses to resist Japan and restore the country.After the Second World War, the north and the south of Korea implemented the socialist and capitalist systems respectively. Confucianism was no longer the ruling ideology, but only used as a traditional culture for people to study and use.

Vietnam is also a close neighbor of China. It has accepted Chinese culture since ancient times, and Confucianism is an important part of it.Qin Shihuang began to set up prefectures and counties, and Jiaozhi County was in northern Vietnam today; later, from the Han Dynasty to the Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties, Vietnam had been a Chinese prefecture for more than a thousand years; Confucianism gradually took root in Vietnam under the advocacy of Chinese administrative officials and became the traditional thought of Vietnam Culture played an important role in promoting the early end of slavery and the establishment of a feudal society in Vietnam.Xiguang and Ren Yan, the prefects of Jiaozhi and Jiuzhen (both counties in Vietnam) in the Eastern Han Dynasty, taught the local people farming and Chinese wedding customs.During the Three Kingdoms period, Shi Xie was the prefect of Jiaozhou with outstanding achievements and was supported by the Yue people.He accepted the scholars who fled to Jiaozhou from the Central Plains, and led them to spread the knowledge of poetry, books, rituals and music to the Yue people, which had a far-reaching influence.On the other hand, there were also many Vietnamese scholars who went to the Central Plains to study and serve as officials; in the Tang Dynasty, more and more Vietnamese scholars passed the imperial examinations and became officials in the Central Plains.

In 939 AD, Wu Quan, a native of Yue, established the Wu Dynasty and declared the independence of Vietnam. However, the Vietnamese regime still advocated Confucianism.In 1010 AD, Li Gongyun established the Li Dynasty. Since he realized that the governance of the country and the people must rely on Confucianism, he began to suppress Buddhism and Taoism and worship Confucianism exclusively. The Chen Dynasty established in 1225 continued to implement the policy of advocating Confucianism. The specific method was to establish Confucian schools from the central government to the local government.The emperor went to Taixue to listen to lectures many times, and the prince must receive systematic Confucian education.The Chen Dynasty perfected the imperial examination system for selecting scholars. The examination subjects and methods were roughly the same as those in China, and honors, official positions, and various preferential treatment were given to those admitted.This approach attracted many scholars to concentrate on Confucianism, cultivated a powerful class of Confucian scholars, and greatly increased the strength of Confucianism.Confucian scholars Zhu Wen'an, Li Wenxiu, and Zhang Hanchao launched fierce criticisms of Buddhism. In the middle and late Chen Dynasty, Confucianism replaced Buddhism and occupied a dominant position in the field of ideology.

The heyday of Confucianism in Vietnam was Hou Le (1428-1789 A.D.) and the early Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1884 A.D.).After Li Taizu Li Li came to power, he immediately formulated laws and regulations, established rites and music, promoted imperial examinations, set up schools, and fully promoted Confucianism in the fields of politics, culture, and folk customs.The later emperors of the Li Dynasty followed this trend, and the wind of advocating Confucianism became more and more popular.The ways and means of advocating Confucianism are nothing more than the above-mentioned items, but they are done very thoroughly every time.The emperor not only enacted laws and regulations advocating Confucianism, but also implemented them himself, such as attending lectures at Taixue, personally plowing the land, encouraging farming and mulberry, etc.Guozijian and schools have a strict assessment system, rewarding hard work and punishing laziness, rewarding the good and eliminating the bad, and guiding Confucian students to study hard.The content and method of the imperial examination are generally the same as those in China. The special feature is the moral guarantee. The "Baojie Township Examination Regulations" was promulgated in 1462 AD. Confucian ethics and morals are not allowed to take the exam.In order to implement the Confucian guidelines to the people, the imperial court formulated the "Forty-seven Articles of Education" and promulgated it nationwide. Parents teach their children by self-cultivation, teachers and students treat each other with morality, parents establish education with propriety, children respect their fathers and brothers, and women do not disobey their fathers and children..." Government officials and Confucian scholars are obliged to publicize the "Forty-seven Articles of Enlightenment" to the masses, well done People who have a higher education level can also get certain official positions, which has played a huge role in promoting the popularization of Confucian ethics.

After the 16th century, the Hou Li Dynasty declined and split into two regimes, Nan Nguyen and Bei Zheng, which fought for years. In 1802, Nguyen Phuc Anh unified Vietnam and established the Nguyen Dynasty.In order to oppose the peasant uprising of "offending above" and the separatist forces of the Zheng family, the Ruan family emphasized the Confucian three cardinal guides and five constant principles and the concept of great unity very early on, and continued to promote Confucianism after unification.The first is to strengthen Confucianism education from the prince to the common people, and strictly enforce the rules and regulations of Jishantang (the place where the prince is educated), Guozijian and local schools.The work of ethical education among the people is also very tight. The imperial court's "Catalogue of Political Leaders" proposes "to promote the virtuous and upright to show virtue. To show filial piety and righteousness to clarify human relations." Ethics extended to the backcountry.The Nguyen Dynasty’s respect for Confucianism also reached its peak in Vietnam’s history. Not only did the Confucian Temple be overhauled, it was honored as "the most holy teacher", and the emperor visited the Confucian Temple to pay homage to the "God" of Confucius.During the Le and Ruan dynasties, a large number of Confucian masters were cultivated, such as Ruan Bingqian, Pan Fuxian, and Wu Shilian in the Le Dynasty, and Zheng Huaide and Pan Qingjian in the Nguyen Dynasty. They wrote a large number of works to explain and develop Confucianism.Among the folks, there are also some popular readings on Confucian ethics written in the Vietnamese language.

Confucianism reached its peak in the Le Nguyen Dynasty. In 1884, France occupied Vietnam, implemented colonial rule, abolished Chinese, Nom and imperial examination systems, and promoted French and Latinized Vietnamese.In this way, the traditions of Confucianism and Han culture were severed.However, due to the influence of the 2,000-year tradition, many people turned to Confucianism. After the French occupation, they were still studying and researching it. Japan and China are neighbors separated by a narrow strip of water. Like Korea and Vietnam, Japan imported Confucianism very early and was deeply influenced by it.There are generally two theories about the introduction of Confucianism to Japan. One is that during the time of Emperor Qin Shihuang, Xu Fu brought hundreds of boys and girls to Japan under the pretext of going to Japan to collect the elixir of life.Another theory is that in 285 AD, the envoy of Baekje recommended Dr. Wang Ren to Japan to present "Thousand Characters".This matter is recorded in both Chinese and Japanese history books.At that time, Japan was in the stage of transition from primitive society to slavery society. There was a family system, but there was no corresponding patriarchal clan hierarchy thought and ethical and moral concepts. It needed writing but had no writing.From the carrier (Chinese characters) to the content, this book is very suitable for the needs of Japan.So Confucianism took root together with Chinese characters in the land of Japan.However, during the two to three hundred years after Wang Ren arrived in Japan, Confucianism teaching was only carried out among princes and princes and ministers, and its influence was not yet widespread.

On the Japanese archipelago in the 7th century AD, the conflict between imperial power and the old nobles representing the clan system became increasingly acute.In order to strengthen imperial power, Prince Shotoku formulated a 17-article constitution in 604 AD. Except for the second article, which requires respect for the Three Jewels of Buddhism, all other articles are Confucian creeds, mainly loyalty, faith, benevolence, and propriety. "There are no two monarchs in a country, and there are no two masters for the people. The king governs the people." (Article 12) "No loyalty to the monarch, no benevolence to the people, is the root of chaos." Yiben,...the monarch and his ministers believe in each other, and nothing can be done!" (Article 9) "The monarch and ministers are polite, and the order is not disordered; the people are polite, and the country is self-governing." (Article 4) In 646, Emperor Kotoku lived in China for a long time. With the help of the great Japanese Confucian Nanyuan Qingan, who had a deep understanding of the society, politics, culture, and thought of the Sui and Tang Dynasties, he carried out the "Dahua Reform" and abolished the old aristocratic private sector system. Following the example of the Tang Dynasty, a centralized autocracy was established. The political system made Japan a unified feudal country guided by Confucianism.After Prince Shotoku came to power, especially after the Taika reform, Japan continued to send envoys to China—envoys to the Sui Dynasty and Tang Dynasty, as well as a large number of overseas students and monks to study Confucian classics and search for Confucian books.And set up university dormitories in the capital, and set up Chinese studies in localities to promote Han culture, mainly Confucianism education.

Although the rulers in the Nara period (710-794 AD) and the Heian period (794-1192 AD) favored Buddhism, they never relaxed the promotion of Confucianism. They understood that spiritual liberation depended on Buddhism, but governing the country and the people required Confucianism.In addition to continuing to send overseas students, importing and printing Confucian books, and strengthening the management of university dormitories, special attention was paid to instilling the concepts of the three cardinal principles and five constant principles and loyalty, filial piety, and propriety into the folk, with filial piety being the key point.Emperor Xiaoqian once issued an edict saying that filial piety is the foundation of various virtues and the way to govern the country and the people.Every household is required to have the "Book of Filial Piety", which is often recited and practiced.The emperors of all dynasties have given various rewards to their filial sons and grandchildren.Although Japan does not have an imperial examination system, the imperial court stipulates that government officials must be selected from among those who have practiced benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness, and appointed officials according to their qualities and degrees.This approach had a great impact on the rise of Confucianism, and its effect was no less than that of the imperial examination.In the Nara and Heian dynasties, the status of Confucius increased day by day. In 701 AD, Confucius began to be sacrificed. In 768, Confucius was respected as King Wenxuan. The doctor entered the palace to give lectures.Respecting the Tang Dynasty was very popular at that time. Envoys and students from Tang Dynasty were sent to admire the prosperous Tang culture.Those who returned to Japan were also different. They wore Tang-style crowns and clothes, recited Tang poems, and spoke Tang dialects. They were full of spirit and flavor.After Mu Tang reached the apex, he turned to the opposite side. People of insight proposed "Harmony and Soul Hancai", that is, to learn from Chinese culture to develop Japanese national culture, instead of imitating everything.After the mid-Heian period, the dispatch of envoys to the Tang Dynasty was stopped, and efforts were made to get rid of the Tang style, and a unique Japanese culture was gradually developed.But this does not mean the stagnation of Confucianism.On the contrary, Confucianism has gained new development after Japanization. After 1192, Japan entered the shogunate era, the emperor's power fell, and the shogunate ruled dictatorially.The hierarchical samurai landlord class composed of generals, daimyo, and samurai controlled all levels of government and land from the central to the local.Their theorists adapted to the needs of the time, took the Confucian concepts of loyalty, courage, faith, propriety, righteousness, integrity, and shame, and the Buddhist idea of ​​not thinking about life and death, and processed them into warrior morality or the spirit of Bushido.Since Confucianism is one of the spiritual sources of Bushido, it continues to be valued by all walks of life. In 1603, General Tokugawa leveled the heroes and established the Edo Shogunate to handle the national government affairs and govern the national territory.A centralized feudal country with a hierarchical status system was formally formed.The more than 200 years from this time to the Meiji Restoration is called the Edo period or the Tokugawa period.This was a period of highly developed feudal society in Japan, as well as a period of highly developed Confucianism.At that time, it was not primitive Confucianism or Han and Tang Confucianism that dominated Japan, but Zhu Xi's Confucianism. Neo Confucianism was introduced to Japan as early as the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. After General Tokugawa unified the country, he believed that martial arts had reached its peak, but civil governance was not enough, so he determined to respect Confucianism and Taoism.He abandoned Buddhism, advocated Confucianism, and reused Fujiwara Shiwo and his disciple Lin Luoshan and other Confucianism masters to give lectures and write books to spread and develop Zhu Xi's thoughts.Fujiwara Xingwo followed Zhu Xi's theory of nature and believed that all things in the world are based on reason.He criticized Buddhist thought and finally freed Japanese Confucianism from the influence of Zen. He had many disciples, the most famous being Lin Luoshan.Lin Luoshan respected Cheng Zhu sincerely and sincerely. He opposed both Buddhism and Jesusism. He wrote "On the Rejection of Buddha" and "On the Rejection of Jesus", which reflected the shogun's dislike of Buddhism and his suspicion and fear of Western forces.He also vigorously demonstrated the consistency of Japanese Shinto and Confucianism-Confucianism, so that they can be better combined.Through the efforts of Lin Luoshan, Zhu Zixue became the official school of the Tokugawa era.He himself served four generations of generals of the Tokugawa family as a great Confucian, and became an important think tank in the shogunate. In addition to Zhu Zixue, there are Guxue, Yangming, Mito, Eclectic, Textual Research and other schools that have influenced Japanese academic circles, all of which have shown different ideological tendencies from Zhu Zixue.For example, the ancient school respected the Three Emperors, the Five Emperors, the Duke of Zhou, and Confucius, and believed that Confucianism after the Tang Dynasty was a pseudo-learning, representing the idle nobles and small and medium-sized landlord classes, and opposed the orthodox official learning-Cheng Zhu Neo-Confucianism.The Yangming School inherited Wang Yangming's theory of conscience and morality, and believed that the entire world and its order, and even Confucian ethics, were the product of the human mind.At first it existed as a popular method of disseminating Confucianism, and later it formed a school opposed to Zhu Zixue.Some important scholars of the Yangming School gradually germinated the idea of ​​equality representing the interests of citizens and the idea of ​​emphasizing practice, making ideological preparations for the Meiji Restoration. In 1868, the Tokugawa Shogunate was overthrown, and the regime returned to the Emperor's government.Japan implemented the Meiji Restoration and gradually transitioned to a capitalist society.However, the remnants of feudalism in Japan were stubborn, so Confucianism, which was attacked in the early Meiji period, soon gained the attention of the authorities.The Emperor and the Ministry of Education issued documents again and again, calling for the strengthening of moral education in primary and secondary schools, the main content of which is loyalty, filial piety, benevolence and righteousness.Emperor Meiji’s Imperial Rescript on Education, which became the guiding principle of Japanese education, succinctly expounded the Confucian ethical norms, thinking that everyone can abide by them, and they can “support the infinite fortune of the emperor”.In the Meiji Dynasty and after the Meiji period, the activities of worshiping Confucius continued, and a lot of human and financial resources were invested in the research of Confucianism and the translation and publication of Confucian classics.It was not until after World War II that Confucianism as an ideology visibly declined. Throughout the history of the three countries in East Asia, we can see that the Chinese culture with Confucianism as the core brought them writing, highly developed agriculture, handicraft technology, and advanced philosophy, ethics, political thought and ruling experience directly related to Confucianism. All these have greatly promoted the transition of these three countries from barbarism to civilization, from slavery to feudalism, and helped them build a developed feudal society.However, since the emergence of capitalist economic relations, the role of Confucianism has fundamentally changed. The feudal relations it maintains have become obsolete, and it has become conservative itself.Japan advocated Confucian ethics after the Meiji Restoration, North Korea advocated respect for Confucianism after the fall of Korea, and Vietnam’s Ngo Dinh Diem regime advocated Confucianism. They are all using the conservative side of Confucianism to resist and curb the new trend of democracy and equality.