The Political Thought Of Lv Liu-liang

This thesis is to study the political thought of Lv Liu-liang and its relatedpropositions. By analyzing Lv’s works, the structure of his political thought isshown, as well as the general atmosphere of the academic world. Works ofHuang Zongxi and Gu Yanwu are also introduced for compare reason.Arguments are made mainly according to Lv’s Discourses on the FourBooks(Ssu-shu Chiang-i), Collection of writings(Wen-ji), and Collection ofpoetries(Shi-ji).Lv’s philosophical basics were first epitomized, in order for furtherdiscussions. Focusing on the relationship between ruler and minister, Lvcriticized the traditional thought of “ruler guides subject”. Instead, Lvsuggested friendship as the norm of ruler-minister relation. About practicalpolitical reform, Lv suggested to restore feudalism(Feng-jian) and well-fieldsystem(Jing-tian) as the Zhou Dynasty did. Reason of that is to decentralizethe government, minimize ruler’s power on local regions. And the valvesystem for evalvation of politics is the “Discrimination of Justice and Benefit”.And above all, Lv’s famous proposition of “Hua-Yi distinction(Sino-barbariandichotomy)” is also illvstrated as the highest but different principle indimension compared to ruler-minister relation and discrimination of justiceand benefit.