The Transmutation Of The Study Of The Chinese Classics:Liu Shipei And Academic Thought In The Late Qing Dynasty

Scholarship about the Chinese Classics is an important part of classical Chinese academic knowledge;its rich content has influenced the profound explorations and interpretations of scholars throughout history;and it has even influenced to a very great extent the structure of the Chinese state in various past dynasties.The Qing Dynasty was a summarizing era in the history of the study of the Chinese Classics,and practically all of the academic paradigms that existed in the history of the study of the Chinese Classics appeared in the academic arena of the Qing Dynasty explicitly or implicitly;the re-interpretation of those academic paradigms by Qing Confucian scholars also affected the scholastic views and academic concepts of various subsequent Qing Dynasty Confucian scholars.Zuo Zhuan and Gong Yang Zhuan are both Confucian Classics,and they are the two works of the Confucian Classics about which disagreements and controversy most easily occur;they have been the focus point of scholars since the Han Dynasty.After the Jiaqing and Daoguang periods,there was a transition era there occurred conflict and mingling between ancient and modern ways of life and between China and foreign cultures.All of the academic paradigms of the study of the Chinese Classics that emerged after the Jiaqing and Daoguang periods,such as Gong Yang-Studies,Neo-Confucianism,and Zuo Zhuan-Studies all emerged in order to cope with internal fracture and foreign threat.In terms of academic knowledge and techniques,it was during this time that Western academic knowledge and approaches began to penetrate the Far East,and Western academic writings translated by Yan Fu began to circulate and had an impact among Chinese scholars;because the Confucian Classics of traditional Chinese academic studies were unable to adapt to the changing of the political system,their authoritative status as canonical works began to waver.Historiography and the study of the multiple schools of thought that existed in the Warring States Period(zixue)originally belonged to a lesser academic status,but were increasingly the concern of the scholars of that period.Liu Shipei lived in this social context,and was not only subject to this trend that was at play during this era,but also one of the driving forces to push the tide of academic thought.Accordingly,the central focus of this thesis is how it was that Liu Shipei found a footing in the scholastic traditions of his own family to cope with the challenges of Western academic thought and the era in which he lived.In these circumstances,the content carried by those traditional books having to do with scholastic thoughts was constantly under the suspicion of scholars of the Late Qing Dynasty and therafter,to the point that scholars of Gong Yang studies asserted doubts about the field of Zuo Zhuan studies and made claims that the Zuo Zhuan was a falsified text,and even fabricated the "contemporary and ancient texts controversy of the Confucian Classics" that was said to have occurred in the Han Dynasty but which actually did not occur in the history of scholarship;this caused a deep effect continuing up to the present time,and even now there are still many scholars who regard it as truth.As part of this trend that regarded the ancients as being sacred was dismissed as ridiculous during the Late Qing Dynasty,leading to the existence of traditional Chinese scholasticism gradually being deprived of its foundation and basis.If those scholars of the Late Qing Dynasty had not accelerated internal reforms of academic paradigms and practices,this traditional scholasticism would eventually lose the necessity of its existence and in the end become a relic of the past.We believe that,the academic background of Liu Shipei is influenced by his family learning that had been handed down from Liu Wenqi.As he was being influenced by the academic atmosphere of the Yangzhou region that emphasized a broad reach and comprehensive knowledge,Liu Shipei inherited a philosophy of statecraft from the scholasticism of his family and from Zuo Zhuan-Studies,absorbed without exclusion the achievements of Gong Yang-Studies and Western academic that were in widespread circulation in society,and consolidated system of academic erudition.Although Liu Shipei left a lot of political commentary,as a scholar who lived in the Late Qing Dynasty that was a radical transformation period both in terms of society in general and the academic sphere,he attempts to seek a new way for traditional Chinese scholasticism,so that the traditional Chinese scholasticism could obtain a new vitality and be able to continue to have energy in the new era.Whether it was in the Confucian Classics,historiography,the study of the multiple schools of thought that existed in the Warring States Period(zixue),or literature,Liu Shipei left the fruitful results of his work in academic writings that are pervaded by his academic thoughts and thinking.These academic writings are valuable academic foundations that are provided to later generations to discuss and excavate his thinking.To speak about academic modes,the traditional scholarship of the Confucian Classics is far different from modern scientific research;the connotations of Classic Confucian texts can be constantly given a new meaning,which is to say that the "old bottle" of tradition can be filled with "new wine".In the Late Qing Dynasty,scholars of Gong Yang studies using Gong Yang Zhuan to be the vehicle of their "reformist"ideas.Zeng Guofan's using Neo-Confucianism to be the vehicle of his "ritual" ideas.Kang Youwei imbuing Gong Yang Zhuan with new connotations corresponding to Western scholasticism,are also following the same pattern.As a result,the traditional study of the Chinese Classics began to transmute into the study of documents,linguistics and historiography;this was the internal evolution of the study of the Confucian Classics,but also the changing of eras and a necessary historical shift following the wake of the exchange of academic concepts.