Abstracts

FreeDiscussionsontheNewTianxiaDoctrine(ConversationsbyWriting)

ZhaoTingyang,RenJiantao,XuZhangrun,GuanKai

Editor’sNote: There have been various new opinions arising in recent discussion on the feeling of Tianxia in Chinese civilization. What is the significance to initiate such discussion? At present, the trend of nationalism overflows worldwide, and the world are frequently treated and analyzed in a nationalistic perspective. The entire human civilization is hovering at a dangrous crossroads, and the moment just concides with the eve of “a new start of Chinese civilization.” From A.D. 1840 to this day, Chinese civilization can finally review rationally its own cultural heritage, plan the future, and restart its cultural essence which is sufficient to contribute to human being. In the sense of theory of civilization, what can Chinese civilization do to this world with its mind and disposition? Could Chinese civilization do something to resolve conflicts among civilizations, and relieve the world system today by making creative interpretation of the “family-state-Tianxia” concept? What kind of role does universal technology system transcending modernity act as in the new Tianxia doctrine? In short, whether the feeling of Tianxia possesses significance and value which is universal and beyond times to global governance? On that account, the journal invited four scholars making written discussions on the new Tianxia doctrine, and hope to make new advance in the studies of the Tianxia civilization.

TheJishiOutburstFloodof1920BCEandtheGreatFloodLegendinAncientChina:PreliminaryReflections

SarahAllan

On August 5, 2015,Sciencepublished an article by Wu Qinglong and a team of distinguished archaeologists that reported on the discovery of evidence for a massive outburst flood in the upper reaches of the Yellow River in 1920 BCE. The archaeologists identify this flood with the one brought under control by Yu, who was traditionally regarded as the founder of the Xia Dynasty. The most critical problem in linking the archaeological evidence of a catastrophic flood in the upper reaches of the Yellow River with that of the story of Yu is that the water controlled by Yu in the ancient texts is never described in the ancient texts as a flood of the Yellow River. And how could such a flood, on the contrary, have assisted a ruler at Erlitou in establishing a higher level of social complexity and political organization? If massive flooding in the upper reaches of the Yellow River caused the movement of people from the Qijia culture region to the middle reaches, then the migrants to the central plains with knowledge of metallurgy could have spurred the development of an indigenous bronze-casting technology at Erlitou. In this manner, the flooding in the upper reaches of the Yellow River and the development of the state-level society at Erlitou were indirectly connected.

AStudyof“Precinct” (Fang):

ChangesofUrbanSystemandWritingofChorographyintheTang-SongPeriod

BaoWeimin

Historical documents, dominated by chorographies, mostly applied “precint-corridor” (fang-xiang) as the core concept when narrating the urban area structure in the Song Dynasty, yet such records confused contents of different natures and levels, as well as different concepts. Through analyzing the differences in contents such as precinct area and horizontal inscribed tablet on precinct recorded in historical texts, it can be seen that: first, from the level of urban management system, although there emerged various alternative names such as precinct, border, and corner in cities of different areas, it is unnecessary to conclude another kind of “system” at the sight of an alternative name. Judging from connotation of the system, it can be concluded that there gradully emerged an alley-centered office lower than the hierarchies of township and precinct. Second, on the relation between horizontal inscribed tablet on precinct and streets, it is one-sided for former scholars either emphasizing that precinct was only “something for increasing the beauty of streets and roads,” or asserting that “precinct actually was the elegant name of streets and alleys.” The reason lies in that scholars were misled by distorted scene delivered by historical texts. Out of the standpoint of “name rectifying moralization,” chorography compilers in the Song-Yuan period detailed horizontal inscribed tablets with “good names” on streets and alleys, while despised vulgar names of streets and alleys, so few records on those were left. Therefore, we should break the traditional idea of construting the urban layout of the Northern and Southern Song centering on precinct, and return to the historical reality of strip block consisted of alleys. Meanwhile, the discussion in this paper can also be regarded as a typical case on the complicated relation between historical texts and historical facts.

TheStructureof64HexagramsinIChing,TheirSequentialOrderfromtheBinaryArithmeticandTheirProbabilityDistributionsfromtheYarrowDivination

SunDi

The author credits Shao Yong’s “Doubling Method” and the Binary Arithmetic initiated by Leibniz as instrumental in advancing the order sequence of hexagram system. Shao Yong-Leibniz Sequence however is calculated yaos in a hexagram top-down, which violates the normal binary arithmetic. The regular way should instead calculate them bottom-up, which entails the digital sequence. Comparing these two sequences sheds light to the structure of hexagrams, and lays a foundation for organizing all the 64 hexagrams. Another contribution of Shao’s doubling method is the revelation of variations of hexagram indicating that there are 64 variations of each hexagram. As the root of hexagram, each of trigrams has 8 variations. The Yarrow Divination has an immemorially ancient root and was loyally followed in the long history ofIChingstudies over 3000 years. The Yarrow Divination in essence is a random number generator. 6, 7, 8, 9, the four random numbers resulted from its procedure have the probability distribution of (1∶5∶7∶3)/16. This distribution is different from simplified methods in common applications ofIChingdivination. The probability distribution table is then accomplished, which will render substantial impacts in observing and interpreting hexagrams, and gauging changes among them.

AFewQuestionsbehind“AbuseandThreatsAreNotFighting”:ConflictswithintheLeagueofLeft-WingWriters,theDebateabout“theThirdCategory”,

andLuXunasa“FellowTraveller”

ZhangZhaoyi

The background of the composition of “Abuse and Threats Are Not Fighting” is related to the Chinese Communist Party’s attempts to rectify the closed-doorism of the League of Left-Wing Writers rejecting “fellow travellers”. It is also related to the debate of “the third category” and the League’s internal conflicts especially the conflicts between Feng Xuefeng and Zhou Yang. In “the third category” debate, Lu Xun’s criticism of Su Wen is clearly different from that of the theorists of the League. This paper shows that Lu Xun adopted a different stand in the debate. A comparison of Lu Xun’s stand with that of “the third category” further shows that Su Wen is clearly not a “fellow traveller” and Lu Xun is a true one.

“RulebyRites”andtheGenerationof“WritingforAdministratingState”intheSpringandAutumnPeriod:TakingThreeStylesofPoliticalComment,Expostulation,andQuestion&ReplyastheCore

HanGaonian

In the Spring and Autumn period, vassal states mostly valued rule by rites, and the ancient etiquette still existed. The aristocracy took “making merits”, “establishing virtue”, and “making speech” as “three kinds of eternity,” thus caused the tendency of advocating articles in politics, moralization, deeds, and self-cultivation. The system of rule by rites forced three kinds of “writings for administrating state”, i.e. political comment, expostulation, as well as question and reply. Judging from a large amount of “events” which generated the texts recorded in classics such asCommentaryofZuoandDiscoursesoftheStates, the writers or promulgators of those texts are all persons of noble character and literary talent. Stylistically, the texts usually adopt the way of “quoting the classics and making a speech,” which broadly cited the ancient system of the three dynasties,TheBookofHistory,TheBookofSongs, or quotes of sages to enhance one’s authority and persuasion, and then gave analysis and suggestion combining with the present situation, thus formed an elegant and erudite style. This kind of texts refers to both political practice focusing on writing and promulgation of speeches, and corresponding literary style. Such texts derived from specific political events, and were impromptu and immediate in way of writing. This process reflected the general law of pre-Qin literary style changing from the way of act to the way of text in its generation and classification.

AnInterpretationoftheMeaningofBecomingImmortalof“BlackApeAscendingaHeight”inStonePortraitsoftheHanDynasty

CaoJianguo

In the stone portrait materials of the Han Dynasty, “Black Ape Ascending a Height” is a very common shape. According to three kinds of positions that the ape ascended, i.e. the tops of a pavilion, an entrance building, or a shed, the “Black Ape Ascending a Height” pictures in Han stone portraits can be divided into three types. In the Han stone portraits, pavilion and entrance building have a symbolic meaning, especially the latter often refers to becoming immortals or going up to Heaven. So the black ape which ascended a height in stone portraits bore the significance of guiding the owner of the tomb becoming an immortal, and that is why ape often appeared together with crane, pheonix, feathered man, or even Queen Mother of the West, and King Duke of the East. The kind of “Black Ape Ascending a Height” picture and the significance of becoming immortal in that times might related to the Taoist regimen prevailing in the Warring States, Qin, and Han period.

ANewUnderstandingofHuShi: “ChinaandtheWorld”intheIdeaofHisGeneration

ZhengChun

When re-reading Hu Shi’s works, the author was inspired by the brand-new understanding of China and the world by scholars in his generation, and their unremitting endeavor for communicating the two. When studying abroad, Hu Shi and other scholars felt strong sense of the decisive significance of humanities for improving the quality and realm of a nation, and for importing new thought as well as bringing Chinese civilization a new lease on life, and worked hard to complete the paper on studying abroad that “why we learn, what to learn, and how to learn.” After returning to his homeland, Hu strongly advocated literary reform and made pioneering attempt and practice on literary creation with effective application of modern thought and theory learned from abroad, hoping to construct a modern system of literary form. He claimed boldly “sufficient cosmopolitanization”, and hoped earnestly that Chinses people of new generation were able to create a kind of new culture fitting to the new world and new times on the basis of integration of China and the West. As a sower of the new culture of the 20th century, he deserves deep gratitude of later generations. His thought and practice can still play a leading role for us to cope with many realistic problems, as well as constructing modern country, modern society, and modern culture.

WhoConductedtheCompilationofCompleteWorksofLiangShuming?

ChenYueguang

The publication ofCompleteWorksofLiangShumingstarted in 1989, and completed in 1993. It is an important event in the academic history of Chinese culture and Confucian studies, and its significance will receive more and more attention. The Academy of Chinese Culture, a non-governmental academic institution organized this work; and the distinguished scholar in the fields of history and cultural history, Professor Pang Pu who is then chairman of academic committee of the Academy presided and coordinated the work. In the compilation and publication ofCompleteWorksofLiangShumingin eight volumes and with five millions of Chinese characters, Prof. Pang played the most important role.

LiangShuming’sConceptof“Rationality”andHisPoliticalSocietyTheory

GanChunsong

It is necessary to comprehend Liang Shuming’s ideology approaching from his core recognition of “rationality” in philosophy. This paper goes through Liang Shuming’s ideological involvement and reveals the sequential logical chain from “intuition” to “rationality” and to “human mind.” This paper also points out the argument that Liang Shuming’s recognition in rural construction as well as the relationship between Confucianism and socialism are all based on his own understanding of “rationality.”

TheChangesinIdeaofLaborintheFieldofEnlightenmentEthics

FuChangzhen

From “sacred labor” to “labor is glory”, the changes in idea of labor in China once acted as spiritual indicator and value coordinate of an era. The raising of “sacred labor” slogan made “labor” come into Chinese people’s vision of public life for the first time. Through ideological enlightenment and extensive mobilization by intellectual elites, the public began to re-examine the social function of their own in the perspective of “labor,” and establish self-identity and social value with “labor” as the core. In the historical context of Chinese modernity and enlightenment ethics, how the idea of labor stood out of the competition with other ideas to be a “prevailing and popular” social concept, and realized the profound change from ideological enlightenment to revolutionary practice? Since China’s reform and opening-up in 1978, the idea of labor has been presenting increasingly complicated situation with the growing status of capital. The lack of a governing and fundamental social value not only makes extraordinary difficulty in integrating dominate social values, but also intensifies the risk of social fragmentization.

ZhuXi’sThoughtof“ShapingBenevolence”andHisInterpretationofLove

XiangShiling

In shaping the substance of benevolence, Zhu Xi has emphasized the public value and the thought of loving person. The relationship between benevolence and public is in essence the relationship between benevolence and person. Although the thought that “a benevolent person and all things in the world are one” does not come to be a reason of love, it does come to be a necessity in universal love, especially in preparing the way of carrying out the universal love. The debate between Zhu Xi and Zhang Shi over the thought of benevolence mainly goes to their discussions on the relationship between love and benevolence, which further opens their discussions on the relationships between human nature and dispositions, and that between substance and function. From the perspective of connecting benevolence to love, Zhu Xi emphasizes that one’s dispositions are to embody nature, and one’s love is connected with substance. What one should do is to embody benevolence, rather than seeking benevolence. Zhu disagrees with Han Yu in defining benevolence as universal love; Zhu argues that substance cannot be replaced by function. The thought of love without reasons or relationships in Buddhism does not make sense; it sacrifices one’s self for the completion of things, which betrays the principle of universal love. In the argument of starting from loving your parents to being benevolent to your people, and then further loving things, Confucians have presented the most realistic way of actualizing the universal love.

ATextualResearchoftheFinalImperialExaminationintheLiaoDynasty

WangXin

The final imperial examination became a regular system of the Liao Dynasty since A.D. 1036. Emperor Shengzong of Liao started reform of tributary examination in imitation of the imperial examination system of the Northern Song Dynasty. After the final imperial examination in 1036, the ceremony of the emperor bestowing the Metropolitan Graduates with Honors, i.e. the successful candidates also became institutionalized. From then on, the Metropolitan Graduates should all attend the final imperial examination normally in the imperial examination held in the reigns of emperors Xingzong, Daozong, and Tianzuo. The so-called “Metropolitan Graduates of the Final Imperial Examination” should refer to those who won the selection of the Ministry of Rites, yet failed in the final imperial examination. After the final examination was added in the imperial examination, the Metropolitan Graduates with Honors were usually appointed to government offices directly, and there should be no strict system of “awaiting appointment” in the Tang Dynasty.