Institutions And Scholarship

Liu Guangzu was an important advisor in the mid Southern Song Dynasty. He entered political stratum because of his grandfather and passed the imperial examination in the fifth year of Qiandao(1169). He was an official of Southern Song Dynasty through three dynasties: the Xiao, Guang and Ning for more than fifty years. While as an official, he was famous for his daring to say advice, keeping the integrity and maintaining the Tao. Later he was dismissed and degraded to Fangzhou due to the Tao dispute in “Party Banned of Qiangyuan”. Liu was regarded as the head of the party and caught into slump in official. He wasn’t reinstated until Han Tuozhou was put to death. His official career experienced ups and downs. During his official time, he tried to do something useful, so he put forwards some insightful strategies on managing state affairs and set an example for people by putting them into practice. His political thoughts reflected some reasonable and progressive components that are worthy of pondering.The period Liu Guangzu lived was the major transformation of academic development of the Southern Song Dynasty. The infiltration of “Forefathers’ Concepts” and the intersection and fusion of all kinds of academic thoughts impacted the old academic systems. Under this background, Liu Guangzu applied the notion of “Historical for Now” flexibly on that situation of his dynasty. He spread the Confucianism actively by the discussion and communication with other scholars in and outside of Shu and strived to maintain the social order and Confucian ethics. He had special understanding for the heaven concepts and self-cultivation in scholarship. He also integrated his political and scholarship by mutually exchanging them, which reflected the enormous interaction with distinct characteristics of the times.As the veteran of three dynasties, Liu Guangzu hadn’t significant official, but the long-term associating with well-known persons made an important influence for his political and historical thoughts. His academic thoughts of “integration" and “diversity” should be cherished by us.