Research On Chen Shouqi And Chen Qiaocong's Studies Of Confucian Classics

Chen Shouqi and Chen Qiaocong were well-known scholars in Fujian Province in the mid and late Qing Dynasty.Chen Qiaocong and his father made great achievements in Studies of Ritual,Sharngshu(????),The Bok of Songs,and published a lot of books and essays.Through summarizing Confucian studies of Chen and his son,and identifying their academic interest,this thesis proposes a new academic perspective for the research on their Confucian works.Meanwhile,through comprehensive and systemic literature review,this thesis is to explore their academic status and impact in Confucian classics study in Qing Dynasty,thus to provide new materials and evidences for the academic history of the Qing Dynasty,especially for the Confucian studies in late Qing Dynasty.The thesis is divided into five chapters.The first chapter mainly observes the life of Chen's family and their writings.By exploring the origin of Chen Shouqi's family,biography and academic exchange,this thesis analyzes the reason of his academic transformation.The thesis also studies the biography of Chen Qiaocong,the publishing date and different versions of their works.The second chapter mainly summarizes their ideas of Confucian classics and academic approach.Explores the flourish of compiling scattered ancient writings,the reappearance of Confucian classics and the change of the social and historical environment during Jiaqing(1796-1820),Daoguang(1821-1850),Xianfeng(1851-1861)and Tongzhi(1862-1874)periods in Qing Dynasty,which from inside and outside promote the academic transformation in the mid and late Qing Dynasty,and also profoundly affect the academic interests and approaches of Chen Qiaocong and his father.Moreover,Chen's thoughts of confucianism and methods of the Confucian classics study bring their distinctive style of The Han School and The Song School of Classical studies.The third chapter discusses the issues related to Chen's ritual studies.Chen's ritual study is discussed in terms of the naming system,exegesis,The Book of Rites and compilers.With solid evidences,Chen's ritual study poses a great challenge to the ideas documented in Ritual written by Zheng Xuan of East Han Dynasty,which is praised by the world,but leaves a suspicion of being partial to Zheng's side to some extent.The fourth chapter mainly discusses Chen's achievements in Shangshu and their research purport;reviews the preface and the number of pages in Jinwen Shangshu(??????);summarizes the academic approach of Shangshu;and examines Pi Xirui's literary criticism of Chen's research.The fifth chapter focuses on Chens' achievements on the studies of The Book of Songs.The first section of this chapter outlines the historical background of Chen's study of The Book of Songs;the second section discusses the main contents of poetic study by the Chens,namely the analysis of Poetry,research purport of Zheng Xuan's Research on The Book of Songs and the implication of Qi Poetry.The third section analyzes and reviews the characteristics and the success and failure of Chen's studies of The Book of Songs.By using the method of historical perspective,comparative analysis and explorative summarizing,this thesis gives an overall research on Chen Shouqi and Chen Qiaocong's studies of Confucian Classics,revealing their achievements and features.The main innovation points of the thesis are:focuses on exploring the nature and core contents of Chens' studies of Confucian Classics;pays attention to Chens'studies on exegesis,naming system,composition and compilers of The Book of Rites,which were seldom mentioned by others;systematically discusses how Chens used the methods such as examining the source,distinguishing the academic school to study Shangshu;objectively analyses Pi Xirui's evaluation on Chens' studies of Shangshu;comprehensively investigates on Chens' research contents,success and failure on the studies of The Book of Songs,and summarizes Chens' methods of analysis the three schools of The Book of Songs.All these above will benefit us on studying Chens'Classical learning system,scientific evaluating their academic achievements,and reasonably defining their status on the history of the Confucian studies.