The Research On Li Zhi's Original Confucianism Of Historian Figure-analyzing

Li Zhi was a controversial historian in the Ming Dynasty. On his historical figures-analyzing thoughts, there have been many papers and works which inquired into different aspects of them. But as a whole, scholars emphasized more on the side of heretics, in another word, it was to say anti-traditional and enlightening. Though this is really an important angle, it seems to be one-sided as for the study of such a historian like Li Zhi, whose life had been affected by Confucianism, had heterogeneous and transition ideas. As Li Zhi himself said that he was actually a Confucian scholar although he had his head shaved. For all he stood out from the surrounding of Neo-Confucianism in the late Ming Dynasty and clearly combated those who posed as Confucian scholars while really cared for wealth and reputation, he did not oppose Confucianism, especially had deep feelings to the Original Confucians. Therefore, we think that our study on Li Zhi's historical figure-analyzing thoughts should be multidimensional. We cannot simply summarize it to be anti-traditional and enlightening. To put it into the development of an intellectual history of China, his historical figure-analyzing thoughts also included the most original elements of Confucianism besides those new contents complied with his own times, and the essence of his theories, which criticized and enlightened the reality, were the most active part of the Original Confucianism. In this paper, the writer attends to explore into Li Zhi's feelings to the Original Confucianism of his historical figure-analyzing thoughts. There have three parts: Firstly, substantiate Li Zhi's Civilian departmentalism ideas has the same humanistic connotation with those of the Original Confucians through his appraisement of the sovereigns and the ministers in different dynasties; Secondly, show the similarity of ideal life significance between Li Zhi and the Original Confucians in the course of valuing significances of historical figures' life; Lastly, reveal the spontaneous and true ideas of Li Zhi's human nature theory that also existed in the Original Confucians' by the way of analyzing historical figures' ethics and selfish-desires. The aim in this paper is to illustrate that Li Zhi's historian figure-analyzing thoughts, which criticized the following Confucians and enlightened the reality, was based on the profound original Confucianism.