DOCSLIB.ORG

From Taoism to Einstein Ki

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

FROM TAOISM TO EINSTEIN KI (ãC)and RI (óù) in Chinese and Japanese Thought. A Survey Olof G. Lidin (/Special page/ To Arild, Bjørk, Elvira and Zelda) CONTENTS Acknowledgements and Thanks 1 Prologue 2-7 Contents I. Survey of the Neo-Confucian Orthodoxy INTRODUCTION 8-11 1. The Neo-Confucian Doctrine 11-13 2. Investigation of and Knowledge of ri 14-25 3. The Origin and Development of the ri Thought 25-33 4. The Original ki thought 33-45 5. How do ri and ki relate to each other? 45-50 5.1 Yi T’oe-gye and the Four versus the Seven 50-52 6. Confucius and Mencius 52-55 7. The Development of Neo- Confucian Thought in China 55-57 7. 1 The Five Great Masters 57-58 7. 2 Shao Yung 58-59 7. 3 Chang Tsai 59-63 7. 4 Chou Tun-i 63-67 7. 5 Ch’eng Hao and Ch’eng I 67-69 8. Chu Hsi 69-74 9. Wang Yang-ming 74-77 10. Heaven and the Way 77-82 11. Goodness or Benevolence (jen) 82-85 12. Human Nature and kokoro 85-90 13. Taoism and Buddhism 90-92 14. Learning and Quiet Sitting 92-96 15. Neo-Confucian Thought in Statecraft 96-99 16. Neo-Confucian Historical (ki) Realism 99-101 17. Later Chinese and Japanese ri-ki Thought 101-105 II. Survey of Confucian Intellectuals in Tokugawa Japan INTRODUCTION 105-111 1. Fujiwara Seika 111-114 2. Matsunaga Sekigo 114-115 3. Hayashi Razan 115-122 3.1 Fabian Fukan 122-124 4. Nakae Tôju 124-127 5. Kumazawa Banzan 127-132 6. Yamazaki Ansai 132-136 6.1 Satô Naokata 136-138 6.2 Asami Keisai, Miyake Shôsai and Wakabayashi Kyôkai 138-139 6.3 Tamaki Isai and Takeuchi Shikibu 139-140 7. The Historians 140-144 8. Kaibara Ekken 144-147 9. The Ancient School Thinkers 153-154 9.1 Yamaga sokô 153-157 9.2 Itô Jinsai 157-163 9.3 Itô Tôgai 163-164 9.4 Ogyû Sorai 164-170 9.5 Dazai Shundai 170-172 10. Arai Hakuseki 172-175 11. Muro Kyûsô 175-176 12. Practical Studies 176-177 13. Setchû-ha and Eighteenth-century Confucianism 177-179 14. The Kaitokudô Scholars 179-181 14:1 Tominaga Nakamoto 181-182 14:2 Goi Ranju 182-184 14:3 Nakai Chikuzan and Nakai Riken 184-186 14:4 Ogata Kôan and the Tekijuku School 186-187 15. Kokugaku (Nativism) and Confucian Thought 187-189 16. The Mito Thought 189-190 17. Rational Thought 190-192 17.1 Andô Shôeki 192-193 17:2 Yamagata Daini 193-194 17:3 Miura Baien 195-201 18. The Rangaku Scholars 201-204 19. Confucian Scholars in the late Tokugawa era 204-207 19:1 Matsudaira Sadanobu 207-208 19:2 Satô Issai 209-210 19:3 Bitô Jishû 210-210 19:4 Ôhashi Junzô 211-214 20. Yamagata Bantô 214-220 21. Political and Economic Thought in late Tokugawa 220-221 21:1 Kaiho Seiryô 221-222 21:2 Honda Toshiaki 222 21:3 Kusama Naokata 223-224 21:4 Satô Nobuhiro 224 21:5 Hirose Tansô 224-225 21.6 Hoashi Banri 225 22. “Open Country Compromisers”, Late Tokugawa Reformists 226-227 23. The Meiji Era and the Twentieh Century 227-230 24. Okada Takehiko 231 III CONCLUSIONS I, II, III, IV and V 231-246 Acknowledgements and thanks When one works one a subject for decades rather than years one has received assistance from many quarters except books and libraries. I have received inspiration from dozens of scholars and colleagues on at least three continents. I will therefore not try to mention many names but rather institutions and locations which have of extended support during my work. After I Ieft Stockholm University and B. Karlgren it was first University of Califonia, Berkeley, where D. Shively opened the doors for me; next it was University of Copenhagen, where S. Egerod invited me to begin a Japanese programme. After retirement from there it has been University of Tübingen and Humboldt Universität zu Berlin and K. Kracht that has offered offices and libraries. This progress has crystallized in the present work. In Japan I have further been received by University of Tokyo, Tokai University in Tokyo and Nichibunken in Kyoto among others. My special gratitude goes to the PS Company and T. Hirayama in Tokyo who have always offered office facilities during my stays in Japan. Special thanks goes also to my assistants, N. Futami in Tokyo and K. Yonezawa in Berlin and others, and very last heartfelt thanks to my wife who have followed my progress with unstinting patience. Prologue Ki came first and it is the thread that runs through the millennia of Chinese philosophy. Ri was added later in Sung times and, together, ki and ri became the mainstay and core of Chinese beliefs in Sung (960-1279), Ming (1279-1644) and Ch’ing (1644-1911) times. The ki thought can profitably be compared with European philosophy. In China it begins with an original “primal ki” (genki) which is the source of all things and affairs. The search is for the whole. In Greece and later Europe the thinking goes in the opposite direction: It searches for the exact truth in the independent units of cosmos, the atoms. The truth is found in the part. Thus, both eastern and western traditions embrace an early ism, “genki-ism” in the East and “atom-ism” in the West. The approach to these isms has differed. The overall philosophical categories are different. The ism in the East can be called “organism” and the ism in the West “materialism”. Since categories are the axioms of philosophy, this explains the underlying difference in East-West philosophy through millennia. They may also explain the different modernizing processes, West and East. It has been the development of a philosophy of organism in the East versus the progression toward materialism in the West, the stress being on the complete whole versus on the single part. The eastern philosophers emphasized the cosmic All, while the western thinkers looked deeper and deeper into the Part, ending up in the infinitesimal particles of today’s research. While the Chinese demonstrated scant tendency toward atomistic ideas, the Europeans, gradually, lost interest in the wider perspective of Heaven and Earth. The I Ching, Jpn. Ekikyô, “The Book of Changes”, often simply called the “Changes”, is the first Chinese classic from about 1000 B.C. This is where the ki philosophy was originally presented, and the work that philosophers have turned to in all ages. The ki thought of change in the I Ching runs parallel with the Taoist philosophy in the Tao Te Ching, Jpn. Dôtokukyô, “The Book of the Way and the Virtue”, the early Taoist work. The I Ching is unsystematic and fragmentary while the Tao Te Ching presents a rather sublime ki philosophy. It is therefore natural that Buddhism, too, played an important role in the establishment of the Neo-Confucian thinking in spite of its being a foreign importation. Ki is the original stuff and comprises all reality. It has its roots in nature religion and in ancestor and spirit worship. There is a ki tone resounding throughout the long Confucian continuity from its I Ching and Tao Te Ching beginnings. Nationalism required, proudly, consciously or unconsciously, that the beginning was in ancient China. The proponents of Neo-Confucianism had, however, not only a native but also, most notably, a Buddhist background and they had all of them, Chu Hsi (1130-1200), the foremost among them all, been in Buddhist and Taoist studies and practices before becoming the creators and synthetizers of the Neo-Confucian gospel. Buddhism remained its own tradition as one of the “three teachings” (san-chiao, Jpn. sankyô) alongside Confucianism and Taoism. Taoist vocabulary was used when Buddhist scriptures were translated into Chinese. It became in most respects a Chinese religion. The Chinese cosmology was finally formulated during the Han era (206 B.C.--A.D. 220). Its axis mundi was a continuing evolution, under the name of the ten thousand changes, and the ki, the “energy-matter”, was the source of the cosmic macrocosm and the natural microcosm, forming a complex of order and harmony. This ki was both material, living and spiritual, the animated mass of life, which in endless transformations gave form to things in the process of going and coming. It was a naturally self-generating hylozoism with no mention of a creator. If there is another concept, running through Chinese philosophy, it is the Way, the tao (Jpn. dô). It is not only the key term of Taoism but also of all Confucianism and later Legalist and other Chinese philosophy. It is only in present-day thought, imported from Europe, that the tao is mostly forgotten. There has, in other words, been a “Way” piloting all ki cosmic formations from the beginning, mentioned in all scriptures through the centuries. These formations took shape in the virtues, first of all rites and ritual (li óÁ, Jpn. rei), which came to be regarded as a kind of “natural law”, reflecting the tao of Heaven. The ri in Sung cosmology expressed the tao in each thing and therefore the two terms were often expressed together as tao-liÅ@(Jpn. dôri), “the Way-Principle”. Above them both was always Heaven (t’ien, Jpn. ten), the origin of tao and ri. One could therefore speak about a ten-dô-ri metaphysics, competing with the Buddhist Heavens in being conducive to wisdom and sagehood.
Recommended publications
  • Perception of the Mediterranean World in China and Japan and Vice Versa in the History of Geography and Cartography

    Perception of the Mediterranean World in China and Japan and Vice Versa in the History of Geography and Cartography

    Perception of the Mediterranean World in China and Japan and vice versa in the History of Geography and Cartography Keiichi TAKEUCHI The purport of this paper, with its somewhat odd title, is firstly, to indicate the fact that it was the people of the Mediterranean world who first brought geographical and cartographical information pertaining to China and Japan to the Western world, and secondly that it was the people of the Mediterranean world who first brought geographical and cartographical information on Europe to China and Japan. We treat China and Japan together because, from the viewpoint of cultural history, Japan belongs to the sphere of Chinese culture or the world where Chinese ideograms have been commonly used; in fact, historically, Japan is indebted to China not only for its ideography, but also for a great deal of its cultural heritage. Regarding material culture, already in the ancient period, or even going as far back as prehistoric times, goods from China arrived in the Mediterranean world and goods from the Mediterranean world reached China and as far as Japan. Evidence of these early trading exchanges are to be found in present-day Japan in the shape of objects stored in the Shosoin, the seventh-century imperial treasure house in Nara. But the trading activities of the period in question were carried out by intermediary merchants; generally speaking, the producers of the goods traded were indifferent as to where the goods were ultimately sold, and the consumers of the goods were equally indifferent as to where the goods originated from. Therefore, the arrival of goods at any one place did not mean that intercourse involving an exchange of geographical information ensued.
  • Animals and Morality Tales in Hayashi Razan's Kaidan Zensho

    Animals and Morality Tales in Hayashi Razan's Kaidan Zensho

    University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Masters Theses Dissertations and Theses March 2015 The Unnatural World: Animals and Morality Tales in Hayashi Razan's Kaidan Zensho Eric Fischbach University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/masters_theses_2 Part of the Chinese Studies Commons, Japanese Studies Commons, and the Translation Studies Commons Recommended Citation Fischbach, Eric, "The Unnatural World: Animals and Morality Tales in Hayashi Razan's Kaidan Zensho" (2015). Masters Theses. 146. https://doi.org/10.7275/6499369 https://scholarworks.umass.edu/masters_theses_2/146 This Open Access Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Dissertations and Theses at ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE UNNATURAL WORLD: ANIMALS AND MORALITY TALES IN HAYASHI RAZAN’S KAIDAN ZENSHO A Thesis Presented by ERIC D. FISCHBACH Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS February 2015 Asian Languages and Literatures - Japanese © Copyright by Eric D. Fischbach 2015 All Rights Reserved THE UNNATURAL WORLD: ANIMALS AND MORALITY TALES IN HAYASHI RAZAN’S KAIDAN ZENSHO A Thesis Presented by ERIC D. FISCHBACH Approved as to style and content by: __________________________________________ Amanda C. Seaman, Chair __________________________________________ Stephen Miller, Member ________________________________________ Stephen Miller, Program Head Asian Languages and Literatures ________________________________________ William Moebius, Department Head Languages, Literatures, and Cultures ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank all my professors that helped me grow during my tenure as a graduate student here at UMass.
  • Study and Uses of the I Ching in Tokugawa Japan

    Study and Uses of the I Ching in Tokugawa Japan

    Study Ching Tokugawa Uses of and I Japan the in Wai-ming Ng University Singapore National of • Ching $A (Book Changes) The of 1 particular significance has been book of a history. interest and in Asian East Divination philosophy basis its and derived from it on integral of Being civilization. Chinese within parts orbit the Chinese of the cultural were sphere, Japan traditional Ching development indebted for the the 1 of of its to aspects was culture. Japan The arrived in later sixth than the and little studied text in century no was (539-1186). Japan ancient readership expanded major It literate such Zen to groups as high-ranking monks, Buddhist courtiers, and period warriors medieval in the (1186- 1603). Ching scholarship 1 during reached Tokugawa its period the (1603-1868) apex Ching when the became 1 popular of the influential and Chinese This 2 most texts. one preliminary is provide work aims which brief Ching of overview 1 to essay a a scholarship highlighting Tokugawa Japan, in popularity themes: several of the the text, major writings, schools, the scholars, of/Ching and characteristics the and scholarship. 3 Popularity Ching The of the I popularity Ching Tokugawa of the The Japan in acknowledged I has been by a t• •" :i• •b Miyazaki Japanese number scholars. of Michio Tokugawa scholar of a thought, has remarked: "There by [Tokugawa] reached Confucians consensus was a pre-Tokugawa historical of the For overview Wai-ming in Japan, Ng, Ching "The 1 in text a see Japan," Quarterly Ancient (Summer Culture 1996), 26.2 Wai-ming 73-76; Asian and Ng pp.

  • Japanese Confucianism Kiri Paramore Index More Information

    Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-05865-1 — Japanese Confucianism Kiri Paramore Index More Information Index Action Française, 189 religious and political vision, 30 agricultural innovation and reform, 51 rise of, 44 alternate attendance system social reading, 89 (sankinko¯tai),70 Tendai Buddhism, 38 American Civil War, 124 Way of Heaven texts and, 50 Amino Yoshihiko, 23 Zen Buddhism, 17, 31, 32–35, 38 anti-Christian tradition in bunbu ryo¯do¯, 72, 82 Japan, 148 Bushi practice, 136 anti-elitism, 176 anti-Semitism, 9 capitalism, 119, 130–136, 188 anti-Siniticism, 9. see also Sinophobia carnal desire, 80 anti-Western sentiment, 119 Catholicism, 47. see also Christianity Arai Hakuseki, 47, 101 “Central Kingdom” (chu¯goku), 64, 175 Asai no So¯zui, 96 Cheng Hao, 45, 52, 111 Association for the Propagation of Japanese Cheng Yi, 45, 52, 60, 111 Confucianism Nihon jukyo¯senyo¯ Cheng Ziming, 96, 99 kai, 157 Chiang Kai-shek, 160, 165, 188, 189 authoritarianism, 166, 191 Chikamatsu Monzaemon, 75–77 China, occupied, 161–162 Ban Gu, 5 Chinese Civil War, 174 Bansho wage goyo¯ (barbarian document Chinese Communist Party (CCP), 10, translation service), 108 159, 186 Barbarian Documents Research Center Chinese Confucianism, 185–191. see also (bansho shirabesho). see Shogunal East Asian Confucianism Institute of Western Learning Chinese dynastic codes, 26 barbarian identity, 22–23 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), 159, Bencao (Herb Canon), 109 161–162, 186 Bingo Mihara Rebellion, 91 Choson Korea, 66, 163 Bito¯Jishu¯, 78, 87, 88, 92 Christianity Bodart-Bailey,
  • Nothingness and Desire an East-West Philosophical Antiphony

    Nothingness and Desire an East-West Philosophical Antiphony

    jordan lectures 2011 Nothingness and Desire An East-West Philosophical Antiphony James W. Heisig Updated 1 October 2013 (with apologies from the proofreader & author) University of Hawai‘i Press honolulu Prologue The pursuit of certitude and wealth lies at the foundations of the growth of human societies. Societies that care little to know for certain what is true and what is not, or those that have little concern for increasing their hold- ings—material, monetary, intellectual, geographical, or political—are easily swallowed up by those that do. The accumulation of certitude and of wealth has given us civilization and its discontents. Those at one end of the spec- trum who doubt fundamental truths or who forsake the prevailing criteria of wealth in the name of other values are kept in check by the mere fact of being outnumbered and outpowered. The further away individuals are from that extreme and the greater the routine and normalcy of the accumulation, the higher they are ranked in the chain of civility. The number of those who try to find a compromise somewhere in between is in constant flux. In one sense, access to literacy, education, democracy, and private property are crucial to increasing the population of the self-reflective who aim at transforming those pursuits away from the intolerance and greed that always seem to accompany them into something more worthy of a human existence. In another sense, the institutionalization of the means to that end menaces the role of self-reflection. As organizations established to control normalcy grow in influence and expropriate the law to insure their own continuation, the pursuit of certitude and wealth is driven further and further away from the reach of individual conscience.
  • E Virgin Mary and Catholic Identities in Chinese History

    E Virgin Mary and Catholic Identities in Chinese History

    e Virgin Mary and Catholic Identities in Chinese History Jeremy Clarke, SJ Hong Kong University Press e University of Hong Kong Pokfulam Road Hong Kong www.hkupress.org © Hong Kong University Press 2013 ISBN 978-988-8139-99-6 (Hardback) All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed and bound by Goodrich Int’l Printing Co., Ltd. in Hong Kong, China Contents List of illustrations ix Acknowledgements xi Introduction: Chinese Catholic identities in the modern period 1 Part 1 Images of Mary in China before 1842 1. Chinese Christian art during the pre-modern period 15 Katerina Ilioni of Yangzhou 21 Madonna and Guanyin 24 Marian images during the late Ming dynasty 31 e Madonna in Master Cheng’s Ink Garden 37 Marian sodalities 40 João da Rocha and the rosary 42 Part 2 e Chinese Catholic Church since 1842 2. Aer the treaties 51 French Marian devotions 57 e eects of the Chinese Rites Controversy 60 A sense of cultural superiority 69 e inuence of Marian events in Europe 74 3. Our Lady of Donglu 83 Visual inuences on the Donglu portrait 89 Photographs of Cixi 95 Liu Bizhen’s painting 100 4. e rise and fall of the French protectorate 111 Benedict XV and Maximum Illud 118 viii Contents Shanghai Plenary Council, 1924 125 Synodal Commission 132 Part 3 Images of Mary in the early twentieth century 5.
  • Keichū, Motoori Norinaga, and Kokugaku in Early Modern Japan

    Keichū, Motoori Norinaga, and Kokugaku in Early Modern Japan

    UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles The Jeweled Broom and the Dust of the World: Keichū, Motoori Norinaga, and Kokugaku in Early Modern Japan A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in History by Emi Joanne Foulk 2016 © Copyright by Emi Joanne Foulk 2016 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION The Jeweled Broom and the Dust of the World: Keichū, Motoori Norinaga, and Kokugaku in Early Modern Japan by Emi Joanne Foulk Doctor of Philosophy in History University of California, Los Angeles, 2016 Professor Herman Ooms, Chair This dissertation seeks to reconsider the eighteenth-century kokugaku scholar Motoori Norinaga’s (1730-1801) conceptions of language, and in doing so also reformulate the manner in which we understand early modern kokugaku and its role in Japanese history. Previous studies have interpreted kokugaku as a linguistically constituted communitarian movement that paved the way for the makings of Japanese national identity. My analysis demonstrates, however, that Norinaga¾by far the most well-known kokugaku thinker¾was more interested in pulling a fundamental ontology out from language than tying a politics of identity into it: grammatical codes, prosodic rhythms, and sounds and their attendant sensations were taken not as tools for interpersonal communication but as themselves visible and/or audible threads in the fabric of the cosmos. Norinaga’s work was thus undergirded by a positive understanding ii of language as ontologically grounded within the cosmos, a framework he borrowed implicitly from the seventeenth-century Shingon monk Keichū (1640-1701) and esoteric Buddhist (mikkyō) theories of language. Through philological investigation into ancient texts, both Norinaga and Keichū believed, the profane dust that clouded (sacred, cosmic) truth could be swept away, as if by a jeweled broom.
  • The Life and Works of Philip J. Jaffe: a Foreigner's Foray

    The Life and Works of Philip J. Jaffe: a Foreigner's Foray

    THE LIFE AND WORKS OF PHILIP J. JAFFE: A FOREIGNER’S FORAY INTO CHINESE COMMUNISM Patrick Nichols “…the capitalist world is divided into two rival sectors, the one in favor of peace and the status quo, and the other the Fascist aggressors and provokers of a new world war.” These words spoken by Mao Tse Tung to Philip J. Jaffe in a confidential interview. Although China has long held international relations within its Asian sphere of influence, the introduction of a significant Western persuasion following their defeats in the Opium Wars was the first instance in which China had been subservient to the desires of foreigners. With the institution of a highly westernized and open trading policy per the wishes of the British, China had lost the luster of its dynastic splendor and had deteriorated into little more than a colony of Western powers. Nevertheless, as China entered the 20th century, an age of new political ideologies and institutions began to flourish. When the Kuomintang finally succeeded in wrestling control of the nation from the hands of the northern warlords following the Northern Expedition1, it signaled a modern approach to democratizing China. However, as the course of Chinese political history will show, the KMT was a morally weak ruling body that appeased the imperial intentions of the Japanese at the cost of Chinese citizens and failed to truly assert its political legitimacy during it‟s almost ten year reign. Under these conditions, a radical and highly determined sect began to form within the KMT along with foreign assistance. The party held firmly on the idea of general welfare, but focused mostly on the rights of the working class and student nationalists.
  • Volume 18 (2011), Article 1

    Volume 18 (2011), Article 1

    Volume 18 (2011), Article 1 http://chinajapan.org/articles/18/1 Ng, Wai-ming “Redefining Legitimacy in Tokugawa Historiography” Sino-Japanese Studies 18 (2011), article 1. Abstract: Due to the different historical developments and political traditions of China and Japan, Chinese concepts of legitimacy could not be applied to Japan without major modifications. Tokugawa historians demonstrated a high level of flexibility and creativity in their discussion of political legitimacy. Some Chinese concepts were reinterpreted to fit into the Tokugawa system. For instance, the mandate of heaven was used primarily to discuss the right to govern and denied a Chinese-style “revolution” and dynastic change. Using major Tokugawa historical writings as the main references and highlighting the legitimacy of the Southern or Northern Courts as well as the legitimacy of the Edo bakufu, this study examines the making of Japanized concepts of legitimacy in Tokugawa historiography. It sheds light on understanding how Tokugawa historians creatively modified and appropriated Chinese historical ideas and terms to accommodate Japanese tradition and the Tokugawa political system. Sino-Japanese Studies http://chinajapan.org/articles/18/1 Redefining Legitimacy in Tokugawa Historiography Wai-ming Ng Chinese University of Hong Kong Introduction Both the Chinese and the Japanese have a tradition of compiling and using history. Chinese historical writings, in particular, Sima Guang’s 司馬光 (1019-1086) Zizhi tongjian 資治通鑑 (Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government, 1084) and Zhu Xi’s 朱熹 (1130-1200) Tongjian gangmu 通鑑綱目 (Summary of the Comprehensive Mirror, 1172), were also influential in shaping historical critique and terminology in Japanese historiography. Legitimizing the current regime was a hidden political agenda in many historical writings in China and Japan in which the discussion of political “legitimacy” (正統 zhengtong in Chinese, seitō in Japanese) was passionately engaged.
  • Benjamin Franklin and China

    Benjamin Franklin and China

    Benjamin Franklin and China ---A Survey of Benjamin Franklin’s Efforts at Drawing Positive Elements from Chinese Civilization during the Formative Age of the United States Dave Wang Ph.D Manager of Hollis Library Adjunct Professor of St. Johns University Benjamin Franklin “has a special place in the hearts and minds of Americans.”1 How special it is? His story has been regarded as “the story of the birth of America - an America this man discovered in himself, then helped create in the world at large.”2 He certainly was “the most eminent mind that has ever existed in America.”3 Americans show respect to him because he was “generous, open- minded, learned, tolerant” in the formative period of the United States – a special period in American history, a “period eminent for narrowness, superstition, and bleak beliefs.”4 He had a clear vision of the road America should take and he spent time in helping to make sure that it would be achieved.5 His ideas and visions helped to lay the foundation for the United States of America, as we know it today. 1 Gordon S. Wood, The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin, New York: Penguin Press, 2004, p.1 2 Alan Taylor, For the Benefit of Mr. Kite, in New Republic, March 19, 2001, vol. 224 issue 12, p.39. 3 Carl Van Doren, “Meet Doctor Franklin,” in Charles L. Sanford ed., Benjamin Franklin and the American Character, D. C. Heath and Company, 1961. Boston, p.27. 4 Phillips Russell, Benjamin Franklin: The First Civilized American, Blue Ribbon Books, New York, 1926, 126, p.1.
  • High School Spelling & Vocabulary List and Rules for 2015-2016

    High School Spelling & Vocabulary List and Rules for 2015-2016

    basilisk canard harrumph zabaglione Word Power High School Spelling & Vocabulary List and Rules for 2015-2016 UNIVERSITY INTERSCHOLASTIC LEAGUE Making a World of Difference The Details... CAPITALIZATION If a word can begin with either a lowercase letter or a capital, both versions are given. It is the responsibility of the contestant to know in Word Power was compiled using The American what circumstances to use lowercase or capital Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, letters. Both the unnecessary use of a capital or third (1992) and fourth (2000) editions. Each its omission are considered errors. word was checked for possible variant spelling, capitalization, and parts of speech. Word Power refects several decisions made for consistency and clarity. MARKINGS The English language includes words taken SPELLING & PRONUNCIATION directly from foreign languages without changes in spelling. Marks assumed to be accent marks If a word has more than one correct spelling, for syllables are really guides to the proper all spellings are listed, separated by a comma pronunciation of vowels; therefore, in order (frenetic, phrenetic). Students are required to to spell the words correctly, it is necessary to spell only one variant. Although every attempt use these marks accurately. For example, the has been made to list all alternate spellings, French word dégagé is pronounced DAY gah some others will undoubtedly be discovered. ZHAY. The acute accent (´) is usually pronounced The American Heritage Dictionary of the English as the a in late or date. The grave (`) and the Language, Third, Fourth or Fifth Edition is the circumfex e (^) are pronounced as the e in peck fnal authority, not Word Power or the test lists.
  • Tracing Confucianism in Contemporary China

    Tracing Confucianism in Contemporary China

    TRACING CONFUCIANISM IN CONTEMPORARY CHINA Ruichang Wang and Ruiping Fan Abstract: With the reform and opening policy implemented by the Chinese government since the late 1970s, mainland China has witnessed a sustained resurgence of Confucianism first in academic studies and then in social practices. This essay traces the development of this resurgence and demonstrates how the essential elements and authentic moral and intellectual resources of long-standing Confucian culture have been recovered in scholarly concerns, ordinary ideas, and everyday life activities. We first introduce how the Modern New Confucianism reappeared in mainland China in the three groups of the Chinese scholars in the Confucian studies in the 1980s and early 1990s. Then we describe how a group of innovative mainland Confucian thinkers has since the mid-1990s come of age launching new versions of Confucian thought differing from that of the overseas New Confucians and their forefathers, followed by our summary of public Confucian pursuits and activities in the mainland society in the recent decade. Finally, we provide a few concluding remarks about the difficulties encountered in the Confucian development and our general expectations for future. 1 Introduction Confucianism is not just a philosophical doctrine constructed by Confucius (551- 479BCE) and developed by his followers. It is more like a religion in the general sense. In fact, Confucius took himself as a cultural transmitter rather than a creator (cf. Analects 7.1, 7.20), inheriting the Sinic culture that had long existed before him.2 Dr. RUICHANG WANG, Professor, School of Culture & Communications, Capital university of Economics and Business. Emai: [email protected].