| Yu Zhengxie,with his courtesy name Lichu,was a reputed thinker and an expert in textology during the reigns of Emperor Jiaqing(ruled from 1796 to 1820)and Emperor Daoguang of Qing(ruled from 1820 to 1850).He was born in a poor family but he managed to bear the poverty with equanimity and developed great interests in reading.To earn a living,Yu journeyed through half of China and took copying books as a job.He had few friends due to his aloofness,however,those he had were all virtuous and knowledgeable.Yu strived for perfection and was a learned man himself,with Guisi Cungao and Guisi Leigao being works of his life.Yu lived during a declining time under the reign of Emperors Jiaqing and Emperor Daoguang subsequent to the flourishing ages of Emperors Kangxi and Qianlong.The society was undergoing a series of problems,such as extensive corruption and all the buckpassing among the officials,and a political crisis was afoot.The decreasing fiscal income and taxes as well as the massive military spending on the one hand gave rise to a economic crisis,but on the other hand sowed the seeds of capitalism in China.Textology of Emperors Qianlong and Jiaqing was on the fall and the school of Present Character Classics revived,thus the turn of the academic atmosphere.At the same time,with constant armed uprisings and riots and the deteriorating class relations,the country was plagued by crises.First of all,Yu's study of historical geography is a feature of his statecraft ideology.Out of a sense of obligation and consciousness of the unexpected,he studied the historical geography of the frontiers which include coastal areas and territorial seas in southeastern China,such as the Taiwan region and Chinese Macao,as well as the northwestern frontiers and the ethnic relations.Besides,he also studied the extraterritorial areas which include Russia,the Netherlands and Myanmar.Yu's study on economy is another part of his statecraft ideology.He insisted on giving equal stress to levying tax from both merchants and farmers;supported the Di Ding He Yi policy;attached great importance to water conservancy projects,fiscal policies on the management of the Yellow river and researches on cash crops,such as cotton,tobacco and opium.In addition,Yu had a very unique understanding of food culture and did live up to the idea of govern and benefit the people.In the meantime,Yu's statecraft ideology is also displayed through his efforts in defending human rights,especially in breaking down stereotypes,supporting woman's rights and sympathizing with lower-class people.He worked against oppression and was always concerned with people's livelihood.In addition,the tool of this thought is reflected in the view of the opium problem,in this stage,this article has noticed the existence of the opium problem and clear the dangers of opium,smoking was proposed based on the interests of the state concept at the same time,its advocate resolutely ban left a thick in modern history of smoking.This ethos connoted thought is formed on the basis of inheriting predecessors',is the product of The Times development,and its textology thinking complement each other,there is no denying that this ethos connoted thought also has many insufficiencies,mainly manifested in the understanding of the abuses of feudal autocracy and the people's livelihood problem is a lack of open eyes,the subjectivity of the classic thoughts remains to be further improved.Yu fully combined textology methods with statecraft ideology.He quoted abundantly from historical documents and materials but never put bind faith in the so called authority.Furthermore,Yu made full use of phonology and critical interpretation of ancient texts for assistance.His statecraft ideology may not be mainstream,however,it is pioneering and profound in China's academic history.Such being the case,Yu becomes one of the forerunners and trendsetters during the reigns of Emperors Jiaqing and Daoguang when China turned from textology to statecraft ideology. |
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