Yu Yue's Study Of Mencius

Yu Yue was a scholar in the late Qing Dynasty in famous of his extensive knowledge and meticulous style of study.His scholarship is dominated by the study of Confucian classics,and he is also involved in the studies of other philosophers' theories in Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period,history,exegesis,literature,traditional Chinese medicine,traditional opera and calligraphy.Yu Yue's works on the Thirteen Confucian Classics mainly includes:Reviews on Confucian Classics,Reviews on Confucian Classics in Tearoom,the First Floor Series of Books,Literary Criticism and Essays in Yu Lou.Among these works,comments on Mencius are total more than 50,000 words.Therefore,it can be seen that the research of Mencius is an important part of Yu Yue's research.The most significant feature of Yu Yue's academic achievements on Mencius is that the main research method is textual research.Meanwhile,the method of argumentative philosophy is taken into account.In terms of textual research,Yu Yue inherited the plain and rigorous academic legacy from the Qianjia School.Wang Niansun and Wang Yinzhi in gaoyou county is highly regarded by Yu Yue,based on whose works Yu Yue made his new opinion.In terms of the method of argumentative philosophy,aiming at learning from classics works and practising in daily life,"returning to one's nature" and"nourishing noble spirit" from Mencius' theory is mainly approved and adored by Yu Yue.Connecting with turbulent and desolate social reality in the late Qing Dynasty,Yu Yue also developed a theory of saving and preserving the nation both internally and externally.This paper tries to make an in-depth and comprehensive study of Yu Yue's theory on Mencius' theory,exploring Yu Yue's textual research and methods on Mencius,as well as his understanding and interpretation of Mencius.Furthermore,the author analyzes Yu Yue's academic vision and tendency,and summarizes Yu Yue's academic achievements in Mencius,so as to provide reliable data for enriching and improving the history of Mencius and the academic history of the Qing dynasty.The full text is divided into four parts.The first part is the overview of Yu Yue's life and her works on mencius.It briefly introduces Yu Yue's family background,school experience,official career,personal works and the representative work on Mencius.The second part studies the textual research of Yu Yue's Mencius.In respect of Yu Yue's textual research on Mencius,the author analyzes it from six aspects:words and phrases and their pronunciation and meaning,characters,names,system,geography and historical facts,from which we can see the inheritance and development of Yu Yue's thoughts on the study of academic thought of Wang Niansun and Wang Yinzhi who are father and son.The third part studies the theory of Mencius with Yu Yue's research on theory of Mencius in method of argumentation.Refer to Yu Yue's research on theory of Mencius in method of argumentation,his contribution to the academic thought of the late Qing Dynasty can be seen from four aspects:the concept of Tao of Heaven,the theory of human nature,the theory of nourishing noble spirit and the theory of benevolent government.The fourth part summarizes the achievements and shortcomings of Yu Yue's theory of Mencius,and makes comprehensive and objective evaluation from the aspects of textual research and jurisprudence.This paper tries to make an in-depth and comprehensive study of Yu Yue's theory on Mencius' theory from the aspects of textual research and argumentation,affirming its achievements and pointing out its shortcomings.To sum up,the study of Yu Yue's research on Mencius' theory is not only helpful for us to fully understand his ideological achievements,but also helpful for us to deeply understand the development trend of the Mencius' theory in the late Qing Dynasty.