An Exploration On The Development Of Confucian Classical Studies In Hunan During Qing Dynasty

At the time of Han Dynasty and Tang Dynasty, the development of Confucian Classics studies in Hunan was extremely poor. Later it made some progress in Song and Ming Dynasties, and Qing Dynasty saw its peak with a rapid increase in the number of works, famous experts and even masters. This paper has generalized certain characteristics on the overall development of the Confucian Classics studies in Hunan during the time of Qing Dynasty after a careful investigation of the Works on Confucian Classics including in Guangxu Hunan Tong Zhi and Xu Xiu Si ku Quan Shu Zong Mu TiYao.From the perspective of the distribution of studies on Confucian Classic, in Qing Dynasty the development lacked uniformity because many scholars mainly contributed themselves to the studies of Zhou Yi and Si Shu but only a few scholars focued on Chunqiu, Shangshu, Sanli and Shijing. The researches on Chinese Etymology in Hunan seriously lagged behind other studies of Confucian Classics. Although the situation changed a little in the middle and late Qing Dynasty, works in this field took up a small proportion. Researches on Etymology, Phonology and Xun Gu did not develop well enough to form a school.Based on the geographical distribution, the studies on Confucian Classics in Hunan in Qing Dynasty showed an extremely unbalanced development among different parts of the region, demonstrating the following features:the studies in the prefectures and Counties along the Xiangjiang River and Zi Jiang River were much more advanced than those along Yuanjiang River and Lishui River water; even in the same prefectures, the studies of Confucian Classics in different counties witnessed an unbalanced development. Changsha Prefecture always held a safe lead due to its largest number of experts and works on Confucian Classics. Besides, Xiangtan, Xiangxiang, Changsha, Shanhua, Ningxiang were the most developed regions within Changsha Prefecture. Next to Changsha Prefecture, Hengzhou, Yuezhou and Baoqing had counties such as Changning, Hengyang, Baling, Pingjiang, Shaoyang and Xinhua that gained relatively better development. But some distinguished masters from less developed regions like Angxiang, Xupu, Qianyang and Wuling also had an overall studies of the Confucian Classics and contributed many works on them.The studies on Confucian Classics in Qing Dynasty showed some geographical differences, and studies in Hunan also showed some distinctive regional characteristics. Its unique feature is that there existed weak school sectarianism among scholars. The scholars of Hunan aimed at a wide investigation of them and a good combination of different schools of knowledge, which demonstrated three characteristics:first, scholars who studied Hanxue would studies Songxue and distill the essence from each school so as to make a good understanding of them; second, the scholars were good at Jinwen and Guwen; third, scholars knew well both Confucian Classics and Western classical philosophies, and they made comparative studies between them so as to realize their common thoughts.