First, the influence of western learning spreading to the east.
Since the seventh year of Wanli (1579), with many western missionaries and businessmen coming to China to preach and do business, there has been a trend of "western learning spreading to the east", which has greatly influenced traditional Confucian intellectuals and bureaucrats and greatly inspired the study style of practical learning.
"Western learning spreading to the east" can be roughly divided into two stages. In feudal China, which has always regarded itself as a "big country", the development of science and technology in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties was very slow, far behind Europe at the same time. Jesuit missionaries came to China at this time. They not only brought a lot of science and technology, but also spread a lot of Christian teachings to China. During this period, China not only accepted some foreign advanced scientific knowledge, but also exerted some subtle influence on the ancient philosophy of China based on the theory of vitality for a long time. This is the first stage of "Western learning spreading to the East".
In the second stage, during the Westernization Movement, western science and technology were introduced to China again. But this time, China people mainly paid attention to the advanced western weapons, and some progressive thinkers, such as Gong Zizhen, appeared, but China's overall philosophy remained unchanged. Because the Qing government adopted the policy of "taking middle school as the main body and western learning as the application", it failed to fundamentally solve the social problems in China and eventually led to failure.
After the Opium War, the imperialist powers opened the door to China by force, and the Qing Empire declined and was on the verge of collapse. Under the impact of the times when domestic troubles and foreign invasion alternate and the social and national crisis intensifies, Confucian intellectuals with a deep sense of anxiety set off a new wave of practical learning to review social ills and call for social change. At that time, Gong Zizhen loudly called for "political reform" and "ancient reform" and put forward the requirement of reforming "the law of one ancestor"; Wei Yuan put forward the slogan of "learning from foreigners to control foreigners". What followed was "Westernization Confucianism" in Tongzhi and Guangxu periods, which clearly put forward the ideological proposition that "middle school is the body and western learning is the use" or "old learning is the body and new learning is the use". Its so-called "middle school" or "old school" mainly refers to the traditional academic culture of China with Confucianism as the main body, namely "ethics", "four books and five classics", historical events in China, political books and maps; His so-called "western learning" or "new learning" refers to western science and technology, political system and history, namely "western politics, western art and western history" and so on. They think that "middle school" is the internal learning to control the body and mind, and western learning is the external learning to cope with the world, so it is necessary to use both inside and outside to remedy the current disadvantages.
The slogan "Chinese style and western style" put forward by Westernization Confucianism reflects the subjective efforts made by China traditional Confucianism under the strong impact of western learning to make up for the defects of traditional theory and save the social crisis, which indicates that Confucianism, which has been going through more than two thousand years, has begun to try to break through the old thinking mode and find a new way of reform. However, their so-called "western learning" is not really "learning" from the West, but mainly "skills" from the West. They still haven't jumped out of the traditional Confucianism in their basic way of thinking, so they haven't realized the fundamental transformation from classical Confucianism to modern Confucianism. However, the proposal of this slogan and the debate of "Chinese style and western use" for more than a hundred years are thought-provoking for people to explore the road of Confucian transformation and even China's modernization.
The spread of western learning to the east had a great influence on the fields of science and thought in modern China, which directly led to the outbreak of the Revolution of 1911. This is an ideological emancipation movement aimed at China's cultural tradition, and only a hundred schools of thought can contend with it in the history of China.
Second, overthrow the "Kongjiadian"
The slogan "Down with Kongjiadian" was first put forward by Hu Shi. Wu Yu Luwen was published in May, 192 1. In the preface he wrote for this paragraph, he praised Wu Yu as a sweeper who swept away Confucius and the dust of Confucius in China's ideological circle, and as an "old hero of Sichuan one-handed boxing shop". After the "punching shop", it evolved into "knocking down the Kong shop", which spread widely.
No matter how scholars evaluate Confucius in China feudal society, their research methods are focused on the interpretation and correction of Confucius' words and deeds. Although this has left us a rich historical heritage, it does not and cannot reveal the essence of Confucius and his thought and theory, so it is impossible and impossible to make a scientific evaluation of Confucius.
After the collapse of the feudal dynasty, the research and evaluation of Confucius by bourgeois scholars changed. The bourgeois revolutionaries pointed out: "Kong Qiu laid the foundation for the autocratic government to poison our compatriots for more than two thousand years." During the May 4th Movement, the bourgeois revolutionaries criticized Confucius more sharply. From the standpoint of the bourgeoisie, Wu Yu severely criticized Confucius with bourgeois political views and historical views. He believed that Confucius was a great man of his time, and the situation had developed into a period of freedom, equality and fraternity. If we stick to Confucius' theory, it will hinder the development of culture. He pointed out in the article "Eating People Ethics" that Confucius' ethics is eating people. Hu Shi further put forward the slogan "Down with Confucius' shop", which completely denied Confucius and his thoughts and theories. This was absolutely necessary under the historical conditions at that time, and played a positive role in eliminating the deification and sanctification of Confucius by feudal rulers. 1948, in the article "On Commemorating Confucius' Birthday", Zhang Shenfu once again put forward the idea of "knocking down Confucius' shops and saving Confucius", arguing that taking Confucius as the founder, ousting a hundred schools of thought, and building a car behind closed doors made academic progress impossible and harmed China for two thousand years. Of course, it is necessary to knock it down, and it can only knock down the exclusive position of Confucianism. In On Confucianism written in 1930s, Hu Shi also proposed that Confucius in history should be separated from his idols, and Confucius should be re-evaluated through comparison between China and the West. He said that Confucius is an innovator of primitive Confucianism, and it is really a great cause of "reviving Confucianism" to upgrade "obedient and tolerant Yin Confucianism" to enterprising new Confucianism. In short, it is undoubtedly a great progress in the study of Confucianism from the initial respect for Confucius to the recognition of Confucius, and then to the objective and fair understanding of Confucianism.
Third neo-Confucianism
Neo-Confucianism is also called "Neo-Confucianism". In the philosophical terms of China and Lin, it means that western philosophy "meets and merges with the philosophy of Confucius and Zhu He in China" and "produces a new philosophy that gives full play to the national spirit". Western culture advocates that Confucianism should "advance along the road of art, religion and philosophy", reinterpret and give full play to the true meaning of the three cardinals, and construct new codes of conduct and norms to revive Chinese national culture.
"A certain culture is the ideological reflection of a certain society's politics and economy", and the emergence of new Confucianism was ultimately determined by the nature of China society at that time. Since the May 4th Movement, although the history of China has developed to the stage of new-democratic revolution, the nature of semi-colonial and semi-feudal society has not changed, and its economic base is still a synthesis of foreign capitalism, feudalism, bureaucracy, national capitalism and other economic components. Neo-Confucianism is the ideology produced under such social conditions, which mainly represents the political and ideological tendency of the national bourgeoisie. Mr. Liang Shuming can be regarded as the originator of neo-Confucianism. He first established the ideological system of Neo-Confucianism. As early as 192 1, he published the book "Eastern and Western Cultures and Their Philosophy", looking at Chinese and Western cultures from the perspective of "desire" and "intuition". When talking about Liang Shuming's contribution to Neo-Confucianism, Mou Zongsan once said: "In the heyday of anti-Confucianism in the New Culture Movement ... he was able to animate Confucius alone, so that we could face Confucius' real life and wisdom directly, and Confucius' life and wisdom could be revived and presented to the world. At the same time, we can also say that he opened the door to the revival of Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties and let us receive the life and wisdom of Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties. "It is generally believed that Neo-Confucianism came into being in the early 1920s, further developed after the failure of the Great Revolution, and entered a mature class during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression period.
Because the study of traditional culture and Confucianism by Neo-Confucianists can get rid of the stereotype of the old classics and the interference of political forces, combine Chinese and Western cultures, integrate ancient and modern times, originate from tradition and base on modern characteristics, and publish a number of outstanding works, thus making a number of masters. The book "Eastern and Western Cultures and Their Philosophy" written by Mr. Liang Shuming is the foundation stone for the comparative study of modern culture in China. Mr. Xiong Shili became a respected philosopher with his most exquisite thoughts and lofty morality, and many scholars followed him to become disciples. The History of China Philosophy written by Mr. Feng Youlan not only has great influence in China, but also has been used by European and American scholars to understand China's classical philosophy for a long time. Mr. Qian Mu is a master of Chinese studies, and his Outline of National History is a masterpiece taking history as a mirror. These Confucian masters and their writings played a positive role in promoting the later Confucian studies and the academic prosperity of China.
The fourth batch of forest caves
From1971September 13, Lin Biao and others were killed in a sweat machine in Windur, Inner Mongolia, to 1976, when Mao Zedong died. In the meantime, there was a movement of "approving forests and holes".
At the beginning of the movement, it was confirmed that Lin Biao was a far-right element, and the critical Lin and Kong were linked. 1973, wrote a poem to Guo Moruo: "It is better for Lao Guo to retire Liu Zongyuan; Called * * * the production party, worshiping Confucius and Erxian ",and later wrote" On Feudalism-Showing ":"Advise Jun and others to scold Qin Shihuang and discuss the cause of burning the pit. Although the dragon still has Kong Qin, Kong Xue's name is high and real. Later generations can do Qin politics and law, and ten batches are not good articles. Be familiar with the feudalism of the Tang Dynasty, and don't be kind to King Wen from your son. " On August 7th 1973, The Thinker Who Stubbornly Maintains Slavery was published in People's Daily, and on August 3rd 13, Yang's The Struggle of Materialist Transcendentalism in Han Dynasty was published. These two articles provide some theoretical preparations for criticizing Lin and Confucius.
1974 65438+1October 18 "Lin Biao and the Way of Confucius and Mencius" was published, and a nationwide campaign of "granting forests and granting holes" was launched. The real intention of "criticizing Lin and Confucius" is not to criticize the defeated Lin Biao and Confucius, nor to turn over the verdict for Qin Shihuang, but to focus on solving the attitude problem towards the Cultural Revolution, to carry out "ideological and political line education", to further affirm the theory and practice of the Cultural Revolution, and to prevent "rightist turning over the verdict". Jiang Qing Group was eager to seize power in the chaos and stuffed it into the "batch of Duke Zhou" private goods. Mao Zedong not only encouraged Jiang Qing and his gang to carry out "criticizing forests and criticizing holes", but also did not allow them to seize the supreme power. To this end, this movement is full of twists and turns, confusing.
The grand occasion of the fifth Confucian study
With the arrival of the "knowledge age" marked by informationization, digitalization and networking, Confucianism, which was severely impacted and criticized in the first and middle period of the 20th century, once "lost its flower and fruit" and once declined, gained an unprecedented opportunity for reconstruction and revival at the end of the century. From 1980, the study of Confucius entered the expansion stage and gradually reached its climax. Compared with previous Confucian studies, there are some new features: First, academic institutions and groups that study Confucius emerge one after another. Before 1984, there was only Confucius Institute in Qufu Normal University. Up to now, Confucius Institutes in international confucian association, china confucius foundation, China, Shandong, Hunan, Shanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, Guangxi and Suzhou have been established. Research institutions such as the Institute of Confucianism of Shandong Academy of Social Sciences, Confucius Institute of Fudan University and China Confucianism Research Center of Sichuan Academy of Social Sciences have been established one after another. In particular, in 1996, the State Council approved the establishment of China Confucius Institute in Qufu, with a view to becoming a modern comprehensive information center, academic research center, information exchange center, talent training center and exhibition education center of Confucius and Confucianism. Secondly, various types of academic seminars on Confucius thought are held continuously, and the scale is getting bigger and bigger. After the "Cultural Revolution", the first national Confucius academic seminar initiated by Qufu Teachers College 1980 held various academic activities many times a year. China confucius foundation 1987 held the first international symposium on Confucianism in Qufu with the Singapore Institute of East Asian Studies, 1988 held the second international symposium on Confucianism in Bonn with the German Adenauer Foundation, 1989 held the 2540th anniversary of Confucius' birth and the international symposium in cooperation with UNESCO, and 1993 held the fifth international symposium on Confucianism in South Korea. Third, books, academic special issues and columns on Confucius' studies have come out one after another. Before 1984, there were less than 100 articles published every year. After 1987, there were more than 300 articles published every year. 1986 also founded a special issue on Confucius studies. In addition, the research field is constantly expanding. In addition to philosophy, history, education, politics, language and literature are still the mainstream of research, and economics, law, management, aesthetics, logic, talents, psychology, military science, religion, music and dance, food hygiene, tourism and other aspects are also being studied. Under the new situation and in a more open and modern research environment, the study of Confucianism will become more and more active and fruitful.