The Echo Of The Theory Of Yan Yuan And Li Gong In Modern China

The YAN-LI School is a very important academic school in Beginning of Qing Dynasty.Yan Yuan and Li Gong initiated the theory of utilitarian principle,which was of trend of �Returning to the Ancients�,and was center on learning and practice �six arts� to govern and conduct the world.Moreover,YAN-LI School liquated and criticized the others' thoughts absolutely.So its ideological system was unique in the history of Chinese thought.Due to various reasons,the YAN-LI school eventually waned after only three generations.Until the last decades of the Qing Dynasty,the YAN-LI Theory re-entered the country and its main ideas could be propagated again.The YAN-LI theory flourished in the early period of the Republic of China because President Xu Shi-chang totally agrees with the main idea of the YAN-LI theory.By pushing a serial political and academic induction,President XU shapes YAN and LI into a national academic icon.At the same time,Xu Shi-chang also revived the academic repercussions of the YAN-LI Theory in modern times through the establishment of the SICUN Academic Society and the SICUN Middle School.This paper aims to research the SICUN Academic Society and the SICUN Middle School.The paper adopts a combination of literature analysis,statistics,and case-studies to profile the basic outline of the development of the SICUN Society,analyze its organizational and management characteristics,and explore the unique philosophy and features of the SICUN Society,in order to show the evolution of Yan and Lee's academic status and connotation in the early Republic of China.Various trends of thought and theory flourished during the early period of the Republic of China.Then-president Xu Shi-chang significantly promoted the bloom of YAN-LI Theory in order to revive Northern Theory,resisting the New Culture Movement and strengthening thought control.With the strong support from President XU,the SICUN Society was founded in the attentions of every scholar and officer.The SICUN Society aims to expound and bloom the YAN-LI Theory and wish to enhance the YAN-LI Theory's influence on society.The SICUN Society has set strict criteria for fellows and strictly manages its members according to Yan Yuan's behavior.Since its establishment,the Society has been mainly engaged in activities such as founding the "SICUN Monthly",collecting YAN's and LI's literature,and organizing regular lectures.Besides,the SICUN Society has extended the practice of YAN and LI's academic ideas to the educational level by creating the SICUN Middle School.The SICUN Middle School shares the same purpose with SICUN Society,which aims to propagate the YAN-LI Theory.SICUN Middle School focuses on the students' learning of Chinese traditional culture and the cultivation of practical abilities.Also,it has the characteristics of focusing on practicality,emphasizing tradition,and combining Chinese and Western.Students are governed strictly at the SICUN Middle School and are prohibited from interfering in current affairs.The teachers employed by SICUN Middle School are highly educated.The excellent educational resource makes SICUN Middle School send plenty of outstanding talents to the country.However,the founding of the SICUN Society and the SICUN Middle School cannot fulfill Xu Shi-chang's vision.Whether it is continuing the YAN-LI School or resisting the zeitgeist of the new cultural movement,it cannot be achieved by one society or one middle school.At the same time,the creation of SICUN Society has a certain positive significance.The SICUN Society has re-collected and reorganized the writings of Yan Yuan and Li Gong,leaving behind valuable documentation for future generations.In dealing with Sino-Western cultural relations,the claims of SICUN Society are also worth learning from.The Society stresses that there should be no blind worship of Western culture and no wholesale copying of it and that we should insist on building our national culture based on our own culture,drawing on the strengths of others and using them for our use,so that we can better build our national culture.