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'Western Learning for Substance, Chinese Learning for Application') in Zhang Liwen 张立文 Et Al

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'Western Learning for Substance, Chinese Learning for Application') in Zhang Liwen 张立文 Et Al 1 "’Western Learning for Substance, Chinese Learning for Application’ – Li Zehou’s Thought on Tradition and Modernity"1 Karl-Heinz Pohl (Trier University, Germany) Li Zehou’s article “Random Thoughts on ‘Western Learning as Substance, Chinese Learning for Application’” (Manshuo 'Xiti zhongyong' 漫说“西体中用“), written 1986, is the last essay in his influential collection On the History of Contemporary Chinese Thought (Zhongguo xiandai sixiangshi lun 中国现代思想史论). Its title turns around the familiar slogan of the Self-Strengthening Movement which was popular in late 19th century China at the end of the Qing Dynasty: “Chinese Learning as Substance, Western Learning for application” (Zhongxue wei ti, xixue wei yong 中学为体，西学为用). As is well known, it is a quotation from Zhang Zhidong's 张之洞 (1837-1909) essay "Exhortation to Study" (Quanxue pian 劝学篇) which appeared in 1898. At this period in history, Zhang spoke for many Chinese scholars who believed that China should maintain its own Confucian style of learning as the basis (“substance" – 体 ti) of society, while at the same time using Western learning for "practical application" (用 yong) in developing China's infrastructure, military and economy. The present paper addresses the following questions: In turning this relationship around, what is, for Li Zehou, substance and what is practical application? What does he consider to be a fruitful relationship between tradition and modernity in China. How does Li’s thought fit in the context of his aesthetics as well as the various debates on Chinese culture from the late 19th century until today? Viewing Li Zehou’s thought in historical context, I will refer to four structurally different phases of dealing with tradition in China during the last 150 years which I will return to at the end of my paper: 1. Maintaining the Confucian tradition as basis: This was the position of the "Self-Strengthening Movement" (Yangwu yundong 洋务 运动: 1870s-1890s) – the period of attempted reforms, in particular by introducing Western technological know-know to China during the last decades of the 19th century, following a number of military defeats and concessions to foreign powers. Today, it is considered that the twofold goals of the movement – maintaining the Confucian basis of society while only allowing Western technology into China – failed with the defeat of China in the war against Japan (1894-95). 1 This article is based on a German version: Karl-Heinz Pohl, "Zu Beiträgen Li Zehous in der Debatte um Tradition und Identität in den 80er Jahren in der Volksrepublik China" (On Li Zehou's contributions to the 1980s debate on tradition and identity in the People's Republc of China) in: Ralf Moritz (ed.), Sinologische Traditionen im Spiegel neuer Forschung, Leipzig 1993, pp 41-56. It has been substantially expanded and updated, also with reference to secondary literature. 2 2. Opening up of the tradition: Following the defeat against Japan, during the "Hundred Days’ Reform" of 1898 (Wuxu bianfa 戊戌变法), reformers around Kang Youwei 康有为 (1858-1927) attempted institutional and educational reforms according to Western models but with explicit reference to the Confucian tradition, in fact by claiming that reforms were the original agenda of Confucius. The movement was ended after one hundred days by a coup d'état led by conservatives around the Empress Dowager Cixi 慈禧.2 3. Breaking with the tradition: During the "May-Fourth-Movement" of 1919 (Wusi yundong 五四运动) – an anti- colonialist, patriotic but also anti-tradionalist and iconoclast movement lasting in fact roughly from 1915 to 1921 – Confucianism was seen as the main culprit for the problems of late imperial China. As it became a movement for a "new culture" (including a colloquial language and literature), the Western model advanced to a leading position in China, and "complete Westernization" (quanpan xihua 全盘西化) was demanded by its most radical proponents. During the further course of the movement, Marxism entered the stage, notably with the founding of the Chinese Communist Party in 1921. Li Zehou sees the "May-Fourth Movement" as a project comparable to the European Enlightenment but, according to his analysis, it could not succeed because the need of saving the nation against foreign imperialism decisively limited the goal of Enlightenment.3 4. Political instrumentalization of tradition: A political instrumentalization of the tradition can be noticed in various fields of the Chinese recent history until today, such as in an early phase (1930s – 1940s) as the proposal of using "national forms" (minzu xingshi 民族形式: traditional forms of art and literature) for the purpose of propagating socialist ideas in the Communist held regions of China. From the 1980s on, there was a drive to use tradition to consolidate the power of the party, such as in the 1986 resolution of the Central Committee for the "Building up of a Socialist Spiritual Civilization" (shehuizhuyi jingshen wenming jianshe 社会主义精神文明建设) or, more recently, in appealing to Confucius and the Confucian tradition for the sake of strengthening national pride. In attempting to grasp Li Zehou’s contributions to the 150 year long debate I will deal below with the following two subparts: 1. Aesthetics in modern China – encounters with Western thought; 2. Tradition and modernity – Li Zehou's evaluation of China’s tradition in the framework of its recent past. In a concluding section, Li Zehou‘s position will be viewed in historical context. 2 Li Zehou dealt with the Self-Strengthening Movement as well as with the various protagonists of the Hundred Day's Reform extensively in his book On the History of Modern Chinese Thought (Zhongguo jindai sixiangshi lun 中国近代思想史论), Peking 1979. 3 See his article "Double Variation on Enlightenment and National Salvation" (Qimeng yu jiuwang shuangchong bianzou 启蒙与救亡的双重变奏) in his book, On the History of Contemporary Chinese Thought (Zhongguo xiandai sixiangshi lun 中国现代思想史论). For a different view on the complexity and the repercussions of the movement see Lin Yü-sheng, The Crisis of Chinese Consciousness. Radical Antitraditionalism in the May Fourth Era, Madison, Wis. 1979. 3 1. Aesthetics in modern China – encounters with Western thought Arts and aesthetics form particularly significant parts of a culture. Apart from language, the cultural framework of myths, images, allusions as well as references to literature, art, religion and philosophy, in short, the symbolic and aesthetic orientation (shared literary or artistic sensibilities) form the basis of all cultural identity everywhere on the globe. Regarding China in the modern period, aesthetics assumed a special place in her grappling with Western thought: First, aesthetics constitutes a realm relatively free of politics. For this reason, it attracted Chinese scholars at the end of the 19th century to explore freely and without political restraint occidental thought. Second, philosophy of art as part of aesthetics is a field that offered Chinese intellectuals the possibility of linking up with their own traditional ideas. This was important because – unlike the mainstream of Chinese traditional social and political thought, particularly Confucianism – the Chinese aesthetic tradition had not been discredited by the reception of Western ideas and the radical anti-traditionalism of the May Fourth Movement around 1919. Quite the contrary, when the Chinese, at the beginning of the 20th century, began to define themselves in relationship to the West they understood their own culture as an essentially aesthetic one. Aesthetics is thus important for the understanding of all discussion on Chinese identity (“Chineseness”) until today. The encounter with Western thought brought the Chinese, on the one hand, a wealth of fascinatingly new ideas. It allowed them, on the other, to look for familiar concepts which could be aligned with their own tradition. The president of the Peking University during the May Fourth period, Cai Yuanpei (蔡元培 1868-1940), was one of the first to formulate the cultural-aesthetic self-understanding of the Chinese. Through his studies in Germany he was familiar with occidental philosophy, particularly with Kant and Schiller. He regarded Westerners to be largely shaped by religion, whereas for China he held aesthetics (a combination of ritual, art and ethics) to be the functional “spiritual” equivalent to religion in the West. For this reason he demanded for modern China “aesthetic education in the place of religion” (yi meiyu dai zongjiao 以美育代宗教).4 As it was popular among culturally conservative intellectuals at this time to posit a Chinese “spiritual” against a Western “materialistic” culture5, the affirmation of “spiritual” aspects in Chinese aesthetics added to this understanding of Chinese culture. The famous scholar Wang Guowei (王国维 1877-1927) represents the early encounter of Chinese with European ideas in the field of aesthetics. He coined basic aesthetic concepts for the 20th century such as jingjie 境界 (“aesthetic state of mind or consciousness”) or yijing 意 境 (“aesthetic idea”)6 to denote a perfect aesthetic fusion of artistic idea (or feeling) with a 4 Liu Gangji, “Verbreitung und Einfluss der deutschen Ästhetik in China” (The spreading and influence of German aesthetics in China), K.-H. Pohl (ed.), Trierer Beiträge. Aus Forschung und Lehre an der Universität Trier, July 1996 (Special Issue #10), pp. 8-13. 5 Particularly influential was Liang Shuming 梁漱溟 (1893-1988) and his book Eastern and Western Cultures and Their Philosophies (Dong xi wenhua ji qi zhexue 东西文化及其哲学), published in 1922. 6 Adele Rickett, Wang Kuo-wei’s Jen-chien Tz'u-hua hua – A Study in Chinese Literary Criticism, Hong Kong 1977, p. 23ff. 4 concrete scene. Wang first used the term jingjie only with regards to poetry and without any theoretical explanation; but this term soon gained a general aesthetic meaning, signifying both an aesthetic idea as well as a most sublime state of mind. Wang Guowei derived his concepts from Chinese tradition (using Buddhist vocabulary), but they are also imbued with meaning that he found in Kant and Schopenhauer (Kant’s “aesthetic idea”); hence, they represent early intercultural exchanges of thought between China and the West.
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