Confucianism Early Modern Transformation Of One Side

Modern transformation of Confucianism, in brief refers to a cultural transformation, in which, based on the Chinese society and culture, the traditional Confucian thoughts and the Western culture are correlated to construct modern Confucianism with a Sino-western formation. The modern neo-Confucianism, one of realistic formation of the transformation, means that, since May 4th Movement, consciously stimulated by keen nationality's cultural crisis, some intellectuals who regarded inheriting the Chinese culture as their own responsibility, try hard to restore the tradition and dominance of Confucianism, reconstruct the ethics spirit symbol of neo-Confucianism in the Song and Ming Dynasties, and on basis of which, attract, merge and have a thorough knowledge of Western learning to construct the new ideology which can not only inherit the past and usher in the future, but also take Chinese learning as fundamentals and Western learning as application, so as to seek the realistic way out for Chinese culture and social development. It is mainly an ideological trend of philosophy and cultural, simultaneously including that of society and politics.As for the backbone of modern transformation of Confucianism, the modern Confucians and their forerunners are the two generations who have been doing the same career, as people say. Therefore, it is worthy to compare the relations and differences between their ideologies.As far as Mencius'ideology as the core idea throughout the development period of Confucianism is concerned, the author begins with Mencius'ideology from the Reform Movement in 1898 to May 4th Movement, to research into the early modern transformation of Confucianism, which may help to further explore modern neo-Confucianism.Accordingly, this thesis chooses Mencius doctrines of Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao, Zhang taiyan and Hu Shi as individual research targets.During the Reform Movement in 1898, Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao and Tan Sitong, and the like, the representatives who supported the Reform Movement, saw Confucianism in a new light and reformed it through carrying forward Confucian's reform thought and interpreting Mencius's thought, which marked the first step of Confucian modernization. In May 4th Movement, Liang Qichao, centering on格义and commenting on gain and loss of Chinese and Western academies, and from Confucian philosophy, political philosophy and education theory, elaborated Mencius'ideology modernly, as was firstly ready for constructing the neo-Confucianism system. Zhang Taiyan, standing for carrying forward the quintessence of Chinese culture, compared the relationship between the ideologies of Confucian, Mencius, and Xun Zi and Confucianism source, and specially commented Mencius'ideology, which reveals the track of Confucianism transformation in modern times. Hu Shi, arguing for liberalism and scientism, expounded Mencius's thoughts from the respects of'discerning','investigation'and'comment'. Although there are three contradictions in his explanation, it also implies his contribution to the modern transformation of Confucianism.From the Mencius'ideologies of the people above mentioned in the whole history of modern transformation of Confucianism, it can be concluded that the early modern Confucianism from the Reform Movement in 1898 to May 4th Movement, is'pre-modern neo-Confucianism', and the early modern Confucianism is to the modern neo-Confucianism what an embryo is to its fruit. The practical meaning of that conclusion is that further research on the early modern Confucianism is helpful to extend the research field of the modern neo-Confucianism, and seek the practical way out of Confucianist plight that Confucianism has been treated coldly since the modern times.