A Study Of Huang-zongxi's 'People-First Thought'

Huang-zongxi was a thinker during the early Qing-Dynasty and the later Ming-Dynasty. He was known as one of the "three great thinkers in the early Qing-Dinasty" with Wang-fuzhi,Gu-yanwu at the time.He had brought the traditional people-based thoughts to unprecedented height.Huang-zong xi put the political ideal forward that the doctrine of the state belonging to the people, and pointed out that the society should take people as houst qhile monarch as guest;in the meantime in order to limit the absolutist power of the monarch, he emphasized the important position and function of the school;when it comes to the rule of law,he opposed" law of king "and put the idea forward that only when the state has the impactful law then it could has the capable person who can gover the state.Huang-zongxi's "people-first thought" is better than traditional Confucian people-first thought,its main contribution lied in "limit monarch".But Huang-zongxi still was constrained by the frame of monarch form of government, he had no ability to break this tradition. Of course,Huang-zongxi's judgement on absolute monarchy was deep which in many ways expand the traditional Confucian people-first idea. To study the new people-based thoughts of Huang-zong xi under the modern contexts undoubtedly, will inspire us in building the socialist harmonious society in China.