Cultural Political Poetics Of Kang Youwei

Since the collapse of Eastern Han Dynasty,the influence of Gongyang commentary on "Spring and Autumn Annals" have underwent a sharp decline and kept decaying despite the great efforts from rulers to stop it.During Wei and Jin Dynasties,people can only read Gongyang doctrine without understanding its underlying meaning.Later,confucians of Northern and Southern Dynasties prefer the commentary of Zuo on "Spring and Autumn Annals",instead of the commentaries of Gongyang and Guliang.Afterwards,Gongyang commentary has almost become a lost doctrine during the following dynasties.However,in the middle era of Qing Dynasty,with the prosperity of sinology,the researches of Gongyang commentary gradually arose after its silence in the past one thousand years.This is because the bourgeoisie,because of its economic and political strength,has begun to oppose the government's national policy of suppressing commerce and cultivating agriculture,and has demanded that its private property be preserved through political participation,which will inevitably require a brand-new economic policy and even politics as a guarantee.On the other hand,"New Text Confucianism" satisfied the above need and quickly flourished due to the absence of restrictions from strict Chinese Exegesis and thus the freedom in interpretation.In the late Qing Dynasty,the researchers studying Gongyang commentary adopted the academic path of "retro" and "modern",while the primary purpose of "retro" is not "to restore the old system",but the recognition and assurance of cultural identity.Similarly,the purpose of "modern" is not to"indiscriminately Westernize",but to use the advanced ideas of the West to activate the intrinsic value of traditional culture.In the early years,Kang Youwei also advocated the combination of school of Han and Song Dynasties and integration of"Old Text" and "New Text",but the reality prompted him to abandon the "Old Text"and decided to advocate the "New Text Confucianism".In addition to the fact that this change is related to his master's commitment,it is also inseparable from the strong salvation of Kang himself.In 1891,Kang Youwei founded the Wanmu Caotang and wrote the "Changxing School",which advocated both moral education,intellectual education and sports,and advocated the study of Western natural sciences and social sciences in order to adopt the theory of governing the country to do political revolution and let the people settle down.In the same year,Kang Youwei wrote the"The Forged Classics" and "Confucius as a Reformer",and clearly put forward the proposition of political reform.Since 1893,Kang Youwei has successively written a series of works on the school of Gongyang commentary,such as "Mengzi Gongyang Xue Kao","Lunyu Gongyang Xue Kao","Chunqiu Dongshi Xue","Chunqiu Kaoyi","Liyun Zhu","Zhongyong Zhu",and "Lunyu Zhu",becoming a master in the school of Gongyang commentary in late Qing Dynasty.Kang Youwei's "Three-Era Theory" not only inherits the predecessors'theory,but also has 'its own interpretation.He believes that the monarchy is so-called "Juluan Era",the constitutional monarchy is "Shengping Era",and the democratic republic is "Taiping Era" Human society is in a development process from low to high,from poor to prosperous,becoming more and more progressive.Kang Youwei believes that each era has its specific way of ruling,and thus only the political reform complies with the humanity.The so-called"The law should not change due to the unchanged nature" is not only against humanity,but also against nature.After the failure of "Reform Movement of 1898",Kang Youwei classified the constitutional monarchy and the democratic republic in the "Datong shu" into the "Shengping Era".He believed that the Datong society,which is without the emperor and the king,the command of the king,or the difference between lowliness and nobleness,is called "Taiping Era".If it is believed that before the failure of "Reform Movement of 1898",Kang Youwei's "Three-Era Theory" is still limited to the traditional ruling of emperors,inherited from traditional"Three-Era" of Gongyang commentary,Kang Youwei tried to use the "Three-Era Theory" to interpret the world history after the failure of "Reform Movement of 1898",focusing on the future transformation of the entire human society.In China's modem history,Kang Youwei is indeed a controversial figure.There are many "antinomies" in his proposition:on one hand,he insisted that the Confucianism must not be abandoned,which deserves lifelong maintenance and continuous practice until death;on the other hand,he advocated the western doctrines of parliament,civil rights,freedom,equality.His various propositions and efforts may be too advanced and unrealistic,resulting in a high degree of criticism and solicitation.From Kang Youwei's viewpoint,the concept of democracy,freedom,equality,and fraternity in the West was already there in ancient China,which failed to continue due to the inflexibility and shallowness of the school of Master Xun and Liu Xin's forgery of classics.Therefore,in his entire academic career,Kang Youwei tried to combine western democratic thoughts with Confucianism,and this practice of"graft flowers on a tree" undoubtedly cast a layer of Confucianism on western political theory.Although Kang Youwei's practice has caused many mistakes that are far-fetched,but today,his doctrine is not only beneficial to preserve the existing advantages of Chinese tradition,but also to avoid the disadvantages of insufficient vitality of traditional Chinese doctrine.Kang Youwei believes that "Spring and Autumn Annuals" is the authentic tradition of Confucius's "lofty principles in subtle words",emphasizing the reform under "Three Cardinal Guides" and "Orthodox,Orthodoxy and Legitimacy".To this end,he name Confucius as the founder of"Spring and Autumn Annals",and Dong Zhongshu the authority of "Gongyang Commentary" iri order to establish the theoretical foundation for political reforms.As Kang Youwei lives in the era of "unseen changes in one thousand years",his advocation of the history book,"Spring and Autumn Annals",is not to return to the ruling system in Spring and Autumn Period,but to use the Gongyang Commentary as a reference for his activities,to shape humanity and even culture in the historical context.This kind of shaping is very similar to the new historicalism's commitment to one's own culture,so it is a cultural and political poetics with political criticism.In the era of Kang Youwei's life,Neo-Confucianism is still the mainstream mainstream thought.In his early years,he also studied under the master of Neo-Confucianism,Zhu Ciqi,and read the "Zhuzi Yulei" and "Zhuzi Quanshu",with a quite deep understanding in Neo-Confucianism.However,Facing "unseen changes in one thousand years",Kang Youwei believes that Neo-Confucianism has been unable to shoulder the responsibility of rejuvenation,which even isolate the monarch and the ministers,and the officials and the people,leading to difficulties in the country's internal affairs and diplomacy and the final decay of China.After the retreat in Xiqiao Mountain,Kang Youwei began to use "operate the world" as a ambition,focusing on the national trend and the current situation.After reading a large number of books introducing Western political systems and cultural thoughts,he initially formed the concept of political reform and hoped to construct a theoretical system to remedy the barriers of Neo-Confucianism by means of integration of western and Chinese doctrine.But any problem must be "from a fundamental point of view,to find a fundamental solution." Therefore,he tried to find a basis for refuting the traditional Chinese school from the philosophical ontology.Kang Youwei believes that the so-called "Tao" of Confucianism and Taoism,the"Great Brahma King" of Buddhism,and the "Jehovah of Christianity" are not as good as the "Yuan"."Yuan" is not only a material category but also a spiritual category.It is the highest body of the world,unifying spirit and material.However,in order to clearly answer the question of the order of "rationality" and "Qi",Kang Youwei also pointed out that "rationality" is only the ideology of human beings,and "Qi" is the mother of naturalized material.Since then,Kang Youwei has promoted the"benevolence",to the philosophical body,unlike the predecessors' covering"benevolence" with "Heaven","Ration","Qi" and "Yuan".Kang Youwei not only"takes yuan as the body",but also "Qi as the body" and "benevolence as the body",which obviously caused many contradictions.In fact,the main category of Kang's philosophy ontology is neither a simple "Qi" nor a simple "Yuan" and "Benevolence".These three are not only connected in content,but also constitute an "equality system".Some scholars have pointed out that Kang Youwei's "Yuan" is the only "body",while"Qi" and "Benevolence" are the two "individuals" of meta-decomposition,so the philosophical framework of Kang Youwei can be summarized as "integrated binary".Under this theoretical framework,we can find that Kang Youwei's philosophical thinking is not contradictory and chaotic.He starts from the premise of a"Yuan" ontology,"through the disintegration of the Yuan and the display of the Yuan through Benevolence,ultimately integrate horizontally the nature,the society and the people into a harmonious organic whole,thus establishing a benevolent-based ideology.In Kang Youwei's view,"Yuan" and "Qi" are ultimately expressed as"benevolence".Human religion,politics,education,economy and even speech are all based on "Benevolence"."Benevolence" is not only a new type of moral standard,but also the cosmic ontology that integrates matter and spirit.Kang Youwei's"Benevolence" is metaphysically expressed in the form of "Heaven","Tao","Yuan","Qi" and "Natural law",and it is also physically expressed as "righteousness","ritual","intelligence","trust","gravitation","freedom","equality","justice" and"fraternity"."Benevolence" is not only an ontological category,but also a category of moral theory.He gave "Benevolence" a modern spirit,and built a "benevolence" system that keeps pace with the times and is all-encompassing.All these kinds of things,from the reality to the tradition,to integrate the past and the present,to penetrate the Chinese and foreign school,finally turn out the new form of Confucianism,providing a good paradigm for "the interpretation and reconstruction of tradition".The theory of human nature is the foundation of Kang Youwei's cultural political poetics.Kang Youwei believes that "human nature" is the natural attribute of human beings,and "human nature" is wholly "nature of desire".Therefore,"human nature" is only "nature of desire",and there is no so-called "nature of moral".In Kang's view,"human nature" is natural,smooth,and in line with the heavens."Human nature" as a natural attribute gives people the right they deserve.He shouted:"Life is full of desire,and that is the nature of the heavens",and firmly believed that the desire of the eyes,the desire of the easr,the desire of the nose,the desire of the mouth,the desire of the body are "the fun of the humans",is the gift from the heavens that everyone can get.Kang Youwei confirmed that "human nature,is neither good nor evil",and one can not judge "human nature" with "good" and "evil" with social attributes.In his view,goodness and evilness are not "human nature" but "human habits",which is formed after birth.Therefore,Kang Youwei's theory of human nature is neither a natural human nature theory nor a moral human nature theory,but a modern one,based on"neither good nor evil",that has gradually developed through borrowing ideas from Buddhism and Western theories,and integration of doctrine of Mater Xun and Mencius.Kang Youwei emphasizes the nature of life,the nature of no good and evil,the nature of purity,while emphasizing the change of character based on the purity of human nature.The purpose is to seek the perfection of human nature in the context of the desire of human beings and heaven.In the era of Kang Youwei,with social turmoil and ritual collapse,advocating the return of humanity is to firstly save the increasingly indulgent people,and secondly rebuild the national spirit based on moral to save the endangered country.It can be seen that there are still hidden political ideals behind its human nature theory.In the collision between Chinese and Western cultures,Kang Youwei has been trying to rebuild the nationality.In terms of literature,Kang Youwei advocates the introduction of new words such as new things and new ideas in the West,and attempts to open up a new world of poetics in the form of existence of both Chinese and Western elements.The creation style of this "old bottled new wine" has largely caused the inconsistency between content and form,aesthetics and value,but objectively,it has made traditional literature out of the narrow ethnic region and has an unprecedented global vision.On the surface,the poems of Kang Youwei and other political reformers are only a combination of "classics","history","Christianity" and"science",but the goal is to reconstruct Chinese poetics with western factors such as western modern ideology and culture,which is a new interpretation of the native poetics.Therefore,this "new interpretation" is undoubtedly related to the shaping of the national spirit and the imagination and reconstruction of the modern nation-state.In the study of Confucian classics,he combines Western democratic thoughts with Confucianism as much as possible,trying to introduce Western political thoughts into the texts of the classics.Although this "Confucianism" interpretation has caused many mistakes,from nowadays' perspective,it not only helps to release the subjective spirit of the researchers,but also encompasses a broader world of meaning beyond the text.Since the regime of DaoGuang Emperor,China has experienced various crises,among which the cultural crisis comes first for traditional Confucians.In Kang Youwei's view,the decline of Confucianism has largely led to the corruption of social customs and the death of human morality.Kang Youwei believed that the primary reason for the evils of customs is because of "no education".To this end,Kang Youwei decided to build a Confucianism paradigm with Christianity as its model.In Kang Youwei's view,the protection of the country,the race,and the education are all in one,and they are inseparable,in which only the protection of education can preserve China.However,Kang Youwei is not an extreme nationalist.The Confucianism he built has not only stopped at the level of nationalism,but considered salvation as his mission,reflecting "cosmopolitanism,non-nationalism".All his efforts are aimed at resisting imperialism and cultural hegemony,removing cultural inferiority,practicing cultural egalitarianism,and finally moving towards world harmony.This seems to be not only the manifestation of "cultural self-confidence" but also the consideration of the common destiny of mankind.In general,Kang Youwei is not interested in Confucianism in the sense of Confucianism,but Confucianism in the sense of culture and politics;not Confucianism in books,but Confucianism in reality;not Confucianism that indiscriminately adopt ancient experiences,but Confucianism that is constantly updated;not Confucianism in a closed-door country,but Confucianism in the globe.