Research Of Da Xue Yan Yi Under The Vision Of Emperor’s Theory

The topic of this paper is “Research of Da xue yan yi under the vision of emperor ’s theory”, mainly dicussed the issues as follow: firstly, the origin and development of the “emperor ’s theory” in history of China. Secondly, the construction of “emperor ’s theory” in Da xue yan yi written by Zhen Dexiu. Thirdly, the character and influence of “Yan yi style” initiated by Zhen Dexiu.fourth,Strategy of quote classic book frequently of Da xue yan yi.fifth,The comparison of study between Da xue yan yi and The Prince.lastly,Significance of modern Management Science of Da xue yan yi.Most former research on Da Xue Yan yi by Zhen Dexiu were about its neo-confucinism and political ideas or its edition, style and historical comments, etc. Traditional views believed that Da Xue Yan yi is a book which promoting Confucian classic Da Xue. In opinion of the author, the purpose of Zhen Dexiu is to construct the “emperor’s theory” with Da Xue through creating the book Da Xue Yan Yi. This paper takes Da Xue Yan Yi as the representative work of Zhen Dexiu about “emperor’s theory”, and this work under the background of the form and development of the “emperor’s theory”.The concept of “emperor ’s theory ” had already formed for a long time, but researchers often take it as a general term, which refers to the books that help the emperors to rule the country by taking examples of the history. There are special chapter in this paper to discuss “another developing way of Confucinism after Song dynasty”, suggested the co-exsitence of neo-confuciunism and “emperor ’s theory”. Generally speaking, there are connection and difference between neo-confuciunism and “emperor ’s theory”. The materials explored by the author supported the idea that “emperor’s theory” is “another developing way of Confuciunism after Song dynasty”, and also the materials contains the discussion about the difference between “emperor’s theory” and “scholar’s theory”. The author picked out about sixteen thousand words from the raw material as an appendix attached in the paper.In this paper suggested that the problem “how the emperor could be qualify as an emperor” has been taken as a knowledge in traditional Chinese c ulture, this knowledge was also named “the Tao of emperors”, “management of the empeors”, “strategy of the empeors” and “emperor’s theory”, etc. All the title here were taken as a similar meaning by former scholars.However, the opinion is lack of classific ation. New opinion from the author is that, before Song dynasty, scholars named it “the Tao of emperors”, “management of the empeors”, “strategy of the empeors” were from the level of “administrative strategy” and “political strategy”, namely from the level of administrative experience. During this time, confucianists, taoists, legists, military strategists and political strategists were all discussing about “administrative strategy” of the emperors. The author identified that there were no conception of “emperor ’s theory”at that time.From Song dynasty, scholars gradually paid attention on “emperor’s theory”.Since then, concepts about emperor ’s learning began to sprout. The concept of “emperor’s theory” is a symbol that the problem had risen to theoratic level from empirical level. Participants of the discussion were almost authentic confuciusits, they excluded the contents about “political strategy” and “conspiracy” from the Taoists, Legists, military strategists and political strategists, they believed the emperors should take the saint kings in history as moral and intelligence examples, hence to lead their fellow people. First person who promoting “emperor ’s theory” is Fan Zuyu, Song dynasty. However, Zhen Dexiu was the first one who theorized “emperor’s theory”, and Da Xue Yan Yi was his representative work.Although Da Xue Yan Yi was esteemed by later generations as “emperor’s theory”, it is not an empirical compile of former “emperor’s strategies”, but a book which tried to change and rebuild the world view of the emperors. “six basic theories” in Da Xue Yan Yi is based on “eight basic theories” in Da Xue. The six theories are: investigation of things, recognition of knowledge, sincerity, rectification of heart, moral cultivation and family regulation. Zhen Dexiu combines “investigation of things” and “recognition of knowledge” to solve the problem of how the emperors should do on “learning”, hence establish the system of “emperor’s theory”. In similar way he combines “sincerity” and “rectification of heart” to explain “belief” of the emperors, in which way he could be able to establish the belief system of “emperor’s theory”.In“moral cultivation”,Zhen only listed“cautious speaking and action”and“importance of dignified manner”.On the special problem about“family regulation”which is peculiar in the emperor’s family,he listed four items as follow: “special attention on concubines”, “rigorous domestic regulation”, “enact fundamental principles for the country” and “correct guidance to the relatives ”.Zhen Dexiu’s emperor and political theories were highly respected after Southern Song dynasty, it’s not improper to say that Zhen ’s theories represented the Chinese and easterner ’s ideas about emperor ’s theory. Machiavelli’s The Prince represented the westerner’s ideas on monarchy theory, the author considers that the comparison between Zhen and Machiavelli is meaningful on both cultures. The author ’s consideration is based on the ideas as follows: in the history of Chinese politics, there has been a long conflict between benevolence and tyranny, “emperor ’s theory” in Da Xue Yan Yi represented the benevolence idea from Confucianism to a certain degree, which is pursued by the Confucianists in the history for a long time. On the other hand, The Prince by Machiavelli taught the emperors to “crafty like the fox and brave like the lion”. Any method which is benefit for ruling of the emperors is considered as proper. The idea is taken as “Machiavellism” by later generation. If we ignore the difference of time and nationality, comparing Zhen and Machiavelli from a broader perspective, we could find that the comparison is a new discussion about benevolent and tyrannical politics.Da Xue Yan Yi is considered as the most representative book about “emperor ’s theory” by later generations, it’s a book which not only necessary for the emperors to governing a nation, but also an essential book for all other officers of the government to deal with daily political affairs. Therefore, both emperors and government officers need to learn the book. More accurately, Da Xue Yan Yi is in fact a book we would possibly classified into “management” works, and it’s also a book which is sufficient to represent the essence of ancient Chinese political management. In the author ’s opinion, the first five basic theories in Da Xue, namely “investigation of things”, “recognition of knowledge”, “sincerity”, “rectification of heart” and “moral cultivation” is mainly concentrated on “moral cultivation”, other basic theories, namely “family regulation”, “state administration” and “governing a country” are concentrated on how to build a peaceful society. To sum up, Da Xue Yan Yi is a book about the historical experience and managerial practice of moral cultivation and building up of peaceful society.