Imagine Another Universalism

Among all the views driving the development of Chinese modernity, Datong philosophy from Youwei Kang is an important, yet controversial branch. In this article, we attempt to interpret the Datong philosophy of Kang from an universalism perspective, given the strong universality intention of the Datong philosophy. Differ from traditional Chinese ancient universalism and western universalism, this highly "intensive" universalism is derived from Kang’s personal utopia vision and on purpose design of the "Great Unity". In the Datong philosophy, Kang re-established a modern ethnic, which is applicable to the whole world, and a brand new political civilization. The realization of a general acknowledgement all over the world he devoted to was a rejection to the modern western solutions dating back to the19th century from all aspects. The world principles that he wanted to construct was a projection of his calling for the emergence of a new political civilization. As a reformist of Confucian philosophy, Kang attempted to relieve the situation that China was bearing the troubles came from both internal revolt and foreign invasions, one that had not been ameliorated for nearly three-thousand years, as well as to create new ways of thinking distinct from western doctrine, so that not only could the new philosophy benefits the Chinese society, but also be it applied world wide. However, such Datong philosophy was greatly challenged for its theoretical fundamentals and practical application. Therefore, it is of great significance that we should re-consider Kang’s Datong philosophy and how this kind of universalism ideal will evolve in contemporary society.