On The Political Thought Of Huang Zong-xi

The political thought of Huang Zong-xi is extraordinarily significant in the history of traditional Chinese political thought, and it reached the peak of the Confucian political thought in traditional society, and it built the bridge from traditional people-centered doctrine to modern democracy. Thus the political thought of Huang Zong-xi is very important both theoretically and practically. The political thought of Huang Zong-xi is deeply rooted in the soil of reality, and at the same time, it is the outcome of the core value of traditional cultural resources. It is also the outcome of the loosening of Chinese despotism between the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and the early development of Chinese capitalism, and that of the interaction between Chinese and Western intellectual trends. On the basis of humanism, Huang Zong-xi criticized the feudal monarchy and developed the people-centered thought to the utmost Regarding the people's interests as the ultimate goal of his political thought. Huang Zong-xi explained his view about the relations between the ruler and subjects and between the ruler and the people, and declared that the people are the root of the nation, and the ruler the servant. This is a great overturn of the traditional view of the absolute obedience of the subject to the ruler, and symbolized the transition from traditional "people-centered" doctrine to the modern democratic ideas. Huang Zong-xi believed that, to have a good government, it is not enough just to emphasize the cultivation of the ruler's person, but it is necessary to put institutional limits on the royal power, and to establish just law to ensure the people's interests. This is a significant break through in Confucian political thought Huang Zong-xi's political thought exerted great influence not only on the reformers by the end of the Qing Dynasty, but also on the bourgeois revolutionaries at the beginning of the 20th century. It will also inspire us today when we deal with the construction of Chinese Communist Party as ruling party, the development of democracy, and the issues of Chinese peasants.