Wei-yuan And His Compiled Essays On Practical Utility In Qing Dynasty

The early part of the nineteenth century was the turning point in history when the Qing Dynasty began to decline and to be disordered. Serious social crisis occurred, causing the sphere of learning changing from the textual research to practical utility. A group of enlightened scholars converted their attention from the textual research to social issues, the national economy, and people's livelihood as well, advocating the idea of practical utility. Thus the appearance of the practical utility school marked the formation of the practical utility trend of thought. Wei Yuan, one of the most prominent representatives, who had a profound understanding of Confucian classics, advocated the research and practice of the idea of practical utility. His monograph, Compiled Essays on Practical Utility in Qing Dynasty, contains the essence of the idea of practical utility, and spreads the idea, facilitating our study on Qing Dynasty. This book marks the revival of the idea of practical utility, which the maturity of his idea. Wei Yuan, the initiator of the idea of practical utility, propelled the idea progression in modern china.