Chapter 16 Section 2 Confucianism and Modern Europe

China and Europe have long had exchanges through the ancient Silk Road.But it was the missionaries who came to China during the Ming and Qing Dynasties who really spread Confucianism to Western Europe and had an impact. In the second half of the 17th century, Italian missionaries first came to China, the most famous of whom was the Jesuit Matteo Ricci (1552-1610 AD).Lishi came to China in 1582 and stayed in China for 28 years. He met people from all walks of life, made friends with a group of bureaucrats and officials such as Xu Guangqi and Li Zhizao, and had a deep understanding of China's national conditions and traditional thinking.He worked hard to study Confucian classics, fully aware of its deep and wide influence, and believed that only by affirming Confucianism and combining it with Catholic teachings can he preach in China.On the one hand, he published "The True Meaning of God" and other books in Chinese, and spread to the Chinese the Catholic doctrine demonstrated by Confucianism; Dou Diary, introducing China and Confucianism to Europe.His works aroused strong repercussions in Italy and Europe, and Ricci thus gained the nickname of "erudite scholars".Since then, the number of missionaries to China has continued unabated, and most of them, like Ritchie, advocated the integration of Catholicism and Confucianism.They taught both the Bible and the Confucian classics. For example, Ai Julius preached in Fujian for many years, and was called "Confucius from the West" by the locals.They also vigorously introduced Confucianism to the West. After the publication of "Confucius the Philosopher of China" by missionary Yin Duoze and others in Paris in 1687, European scholars generally believed that Confucius was the greatest scholar of moral and political philosophy, and praised Confucianism at the highest level. peak.

The Confucian classics were translated by missionaries and Chinese in Europe, and they were continuously published in Western European countries, including not only the Five Classics and the Four Books, but also the Tongjian Compendium, and some literary and artistic works such as "Hundred Songs of the Yuan People", "The Orphan of the Zhao Family", etc., together with the books about China and Confucianism written by missionaries themselves, have created a strong momentum in the world of reading and thinking, making princes, nobles and ordinary people pay attention to China. It even formed a China craze. France in the 18th century was on the eve of the bourgeois revolution, and advanced thinkers were criticizing Christianity and the church from all aspects, inspiring people's minds. When Confucianism, a non-Christian ideological system, appeared in front of them, their surprise and excitement One can imagine.Confucianism gave them great encouragement and enlightenment, and received their heartfelt praise.

The Enlightenment thinker Voltaire (AD 1694-1778) was most fascinated by Confucius and his theories.He highly admires Confucian thought of the rule of virtue, and believes that for two thousand years in China, from the emperor to the common people, the cultivation of morality is the foundation, and the Confucian theory of self-cultivation, family harmony, state governance, and world peace can be achieved, so the country can be peaceful and the people are peaceful.Due to the great power of Confucian thought, those who conquered China were all conquered by traditional Chinese thought and culture in the end.Fu opposed autocratic monarchy and advocated enlightened monarchy. In his mind, China was a model of enlightened autocracy.The Chinese government regards improving the welfare of the people as its top priority, and the people regard government officials as their parents.He believed that China's political organization was the best. He said: "It's a pity that we can't be like the Chinese."He said: "Morality comes from God, so it is the same everywhere; theology comes from people, so it is different and ridiculous everywhere." He is a deist, who believes that people who really believe in God only talk about morality, not morals. Superstition, Confucius is like this, the church in Europe is just the opposite, only talking about theology and superstition, not morality.In order to promote Confucian ethics, he adapted the Yuan opera "Zhao's Orphan" into "Chinese Orphan" and put it on the French stage to let the French see that morality must overcome violence after all.Fu often praised Confucius' thought in his writings, and hung a portrait of Confucius in his chapel to worship day and night.

Holbach (AD 1723-1789), a representative of the French Encyclopedia School, also highly admired Confucius' thought on the rule of virtue.In his book "The System of Society", he emphasized: "China can be regarded as the only country in the world that combines the fundamental law of politics with morality. This ancient empire has shown people that the prosperity of a country depends on morality. In this In the vast land, morality has become the only religion for all rational people." He believes that European governments must learn from China, and European Christian morality should also be replaced by Confucian morality.Diderot (AD 1713-1784), another encyclopaedia scholar, believed that Confucius’s teachings were simple and lovely, and he only used reason or truth to govern the country and the world, which was admirable.

Quesnay (AD 1694-1774), the founder of the French Physiocratic School, believed that what really created wealth was the labor of farmers, agriculture, not trade.He admired the Confucian school's idea of ​​emphasizing agriculture over business, and believed that the Confucian idea of ​​promoting talents and the practice of selecting officials through imperial examinations were much superior to the practice of French hereditary aristocrats controlling officialdom.Under his advocacy, King Louis XV of France also imitated the appearance of the Chinese emperor and held a plowing ceremony.Because Quesnay respected Confucius and promoted Confucianism, he himself was called "European Confucius".His disciple Dame Labo once said: "The purpose of Confucius' teaching is to restore human nature and not be blinded by ignorance and lust. Therefore, he taught people to respect heaven, fear heaven, love others, overcome material desires, and not measure behavior by lust. Rationality should be taken as the standard; for those who are irrational, tell them not to move, not think, or speak. Religious morality is so beautiful that it cannot be added more. But there is one more important thing for us to do, which is to make this morality This is the cause of my teacher..." Another representative of the Physiocratic School, Durgo, not only read Confucian books, but also had close contacts with Chinese in Europe. He received many useful inspirations and advanced his own research work.

Confucianism and Confucianism were also popular in German intellectual circles in the 18th century.The great German philosopher and mathematician Leibniz (AD 1646-1716) appreciated the ancient Chinese culture very much.He had read Confucian classics and was closely related to missionaries who had been to China.He believes that China's politics and ethics are exemplary, the emperors are wise, and the common people are well-educated. If these can be introduced to Europe, and China's introduction of European theoretical natural sciences will definitely enhance human happiness.One of Reyes' mathematical achievements was the creation of binary mathematics, which represents all numbers with 0 and 1.Later, when he saw the arrangement of the sixty-four hexagrams in Shao Yong's "Xiantian Tu", he was pleasantly surprised to think that the Fuxi family in ancient China had understood the principle of binary numbers thousands of years ago.Because of the order of the sixty-four hexagrams known as Fuxi's innate diagram, each hexagram starts from Kun and increases by one yang line——to Qian hexagram, the order is well-ordered.If Yin Yao is 0——and Yang Yao—is 1, then each hexagram is a binary number, such as Kun is 000000, Qian is 111111, which are represented by natural numbers as 0 and 63, and the middle hexagrams are respectively 000001, 000010..., 111110, represented by natural numbers, namely 1, 2...62.Lai Shi said: "This "Yi Tu" can be regarded as the oldest monument of existing science, but this kind of science, as far as I can see, although it is an antiquity for more than 4,000 years, no one has understood its meaning for thousands of years. Meaning. This is inconceivable - it is completely consistent with my new arithmetic... If I hadn't invented binary arithmetic, the system of the sixty-four hexagrams would be Fuxi's "Yitu", and it would have taken a lot of time You understand!" Lai's student Wolfe (AD 1679-1754) was also a propagandist of Confucian culture, and his influence in this respect was even greater, because he did not prefer Latin like his teacher, but used German is taught at universities. In 1721, he gave a lecture on "Practice Philosophy of China" at Hall University, arguing that Confucianism is a practical philosophy about politics and ethics, a traditional concept founded and upheld by Yao, Shun, and Confucius.Confucianism is based on nature and rationality, and can complement the divine revelation and belief of Christianity.While acknowledging both truths and necessity, his inclination towards nature and reason is very clear.The German government believed that he promoted atheism and ordered him to leave Germany within 48 hours, otherwise he would be sentenced to death.However, this approach did not prevent the spread of Wolfe's ideas. He was sympathized and supported by people, and his philosophy occupied many university forums for a time.

Confucianism played a role in fueling the flames in Western Europe where the Enlightenment prevailed, especially in France and Germany. This is a peculiar cultural phenomenon.Why would an ideology of feudal patriarchal hierarchy help the bourgeois Enlightenment?This is because Enlightenment thinkers greatly idealized Confucianism due to their longing for non-Christian culture. They interpreted Confucianism from their own point of view. It became a school that advocated rationality, fraternity, and morality, and advocated the rule of law and enlightened monarchy. They borrowed the name of Confucianism to develop their ideas.Therefore, the more enthusiastic people are who demand enlightenment, the more enthusiastically they praise Confucianism.This is the case with some thinkers in France and Germany. The Russian revolutionary democrats in the 19th century had a similar situation, using the Confucian "holy king" to explain their democratic ideas.At this time, after the revolution and compromise in Britain, the social order had been arranged, and there was no such strong requirement for enlightenment as France, so the British could view Confucianism and Chinese culture more objectively.Although the earliest Confucian temple in Europe was built in the UK as a reflection of the "Chinese fever" in Europe, it is only from the perspective of architecture. Preparing a Chinese-style building is by no means respecting Confucianism. is nonchalant.

After the 19th century, the attitudes of Western European countries towards Confucianism have undergone great changes. The "China craze" and "Confucius craze" subsided, and instead of reverence and praise, contempt and belittling were used.At this time, after long-term research, the academic circles in Western Europe had a better understanding of the details of Chinese culture, and they saw the exaggeration and inaccuracy of previous scholars.Especially in this era, the capitalist systems of various countries have been established, and what they need is colonial expansion to seize commodity markets and raw material production areas.China, the old and decaying eastern empire, is precisely the target of their plunder. It is very natural to despise and even hate the Chinese government, people and traditional culture.At this time they also want to study China, but the purpose is not to promote China's national quintessence, but to find out its shortcomings, weaknesses, backwardness and decay, so as to defeat and subdue it.From the perspective of scholars, there are many people who aim to enhance understanding and friendship for academic research; but from the perspective of governments, consortia, and foundations, they allocate funds to establish research institutions, purchase books, etc., which are always inseparable from aggression and expansion. need.Unlike Enlightenment scholars who deliberately exalted Confucianism and Chinese culture, they deliberately belittled them.