Transmutation And Adherence

Tongcheng school is the largest ancient literary school in the Qing Dynasty.Its formation,development and decline are generally accompanied by the rise and fall of the Qing Dynasty.With the invasion of Western powers and the spread of Western learning to the East,the academic philosophy,practical thought and social practice of Tongcheng scholars also changed.In the late Ming and early Qing dynasties,after the introduction of Western learning into China,the academic ideas and contents of Tongcheng School scholars quietly changed.They not only paid attention to "righteousness" and " rhetoric",but also began to pay attention to foreign sentiments and the world development trend.Fang Yizhi,the sage of Tongcheng,put forward the theory of "we must understand the trend of the four sides".He took the lead in accepting the knowledge of Western Natural Science and advocating the empirical spirit of Western science.On the occasion of Jia Dao,Mei Zengliang advocated that "the matter of an article is greater than the time",and writing books and theories reflect the requirements of the times.After the Opium War,Tongcheng scholars represented by Yao Ying expanded the study of frontier history and geography in the Qing Dynasty.After the failure of the Sino-Japanese War,Wu Rulun and Yan Fu actively promoted the theory of evolution of "natural selection and survival of the fittest ".Especially after the failure of the Second Opium War,Tongcheng School scholars took the lead in carrying the banner of saving the national crisis and timely changed their ideas and practice orientation.They actively prepared for the Westernization Movement,"learning from the west,manufacturing equipment",and established modern military and civilian enterprises;they reform the education system,establish new schools and cultivate new talents;they critique the traditional thought of "business is the last",and vigorously advocate the development of commerce to revitalize commerce;they have a certain understanding of the western political and religious system,and they appreciate and even yearn for democratic politics to varying degrees.In this process,they both advocated "change with times ",so that Tongcheng school can carry the extensive content of Western learning.At the same time,they also actively pay attention to social reality and people’s livelihood,emphasize conforming to the trend of the times,put forward measures that can solve practical disadvantages and ease social contradictions,strive to solve social problems,and strive for national salvation and national self-improvement,so as to achieve the effect of national governance and public security.Of course,the response of scholars of Tongcheng School to Western learning does not completely follow the "impact-response" model.They have their own academic background,moral standards and ways of writing.In the cultural turmoil of new learning and the spread of Western learning to the East,Tongcheng school has always adhered to its academic background.On the one hand,they strictly abide by feudal ethics and traditional social customs.On the other hand,they stick to the classical Chinese expression form of "words have things and words are orderly".In the period of 1898 Reform,the translation standard of "faithfulness,expressiveness and elegance" put forward by Yan Fu did not break through the "literary tradition" adhered to by Tongcheng school.Until the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China,the social thoughts were complicated.Yao Yongpu,Yao Yonggai and Ma Qichang,the palace troops of Tongcheng school,still did not give up Tongcheng grammar and elegant ancient language expression.The response of Tongcheng School scholars to western learning can be summarized as two seemingly contradictory attitudes-"transmutation" and "adherence".But "transmutation" and "adherence" have internal logic.As a trendsetter of the times,Tongcheng School scholars’ s "transmutation" for seeking the strategy of saving the country,and "adherence" for Cheng-Zhu orthodoxy and maintaining the rule of Qing Dynasty.