Academic literature on the topic 'Tong xin gong si'

The article deals with the theoretical treatises written by Kang Youwei (1858 — 1927) in exile and devoted to the understanding of Western social and political reality from the standpoint of a bearer of traditional Chinese culture and Neo-Confucian philosophy. First of all, these are “Travelogue to Italy” (Yidali youji, 1904) and “Impartial Words on Republicanism” (Gonghe pingyi, 1918). Kang Yuwei’s thinking is characterized by attention to the Confucian binary opposition si — gong (private — general), which he transferred to both civilizational development and international politics. In other words, the Western path of development, which consist national imperialist states based on economic, social and foreign policy competition and individualism (“private”), was opposed to the monolithic ancient China, whose society and politics are based on the principles of “community” and unity. Kang Youwei perceived the political reality of Western countries from the standpoint of traditional Chinese historiography, which was intended to serve as a base of positive and negative precedents for use by the ruler in the name of the common good and the harmonization of society. In Kang Youwei’s system of historical views, modern Italy and Germany were very important for illustrating the principle of consolidation of political entities and the merging of small and weak states into large empires. Methodologically, this was formalized as the assignment of Germany, Italy and China to the same ontological category (tong lei).

The article presents and provides argumentation to the relevancy of definition of Neo-Confucian thinker Li Zhi (1527–1602) philosophical views as “oppositional authentism”, the core feature of which is the perception of genuineness as the highest value. This genuineness is defined through making the opposition of genuine and non-genuine. The research is mostly based on 73 essays from Li Zhi’s opus magnum “A Book to Burn” (Fen-shu) and proved with quotations from such works as «Interpretation of Child-like Heart» (Tong-xin shuo), «Inter­pretation of Diverse [Plays]» (Za-shuo), «Discourse on He Xinyin» (He Xinyin lun), «Preface to the “Analysis of the ‘[Treatise of Teacher] Lao’” by Ziyou» (Ziyou jie-Lao xu), «Discussions on Behalf of Statues of Three Mahasattvas» (San da-shi xiang-yi), «Interpretation of Voidness and Fullness» (Xu-shi shuo). It is noted that Li criticizes as inauthentic both concepts that diverge from reality, and elements of reality that do not correspond to the concepts he shares: which can be seen, in particular, on the example of essays «Discourse on Ghosts and Spirits» (Gui-shen lun) and «Interpretation of the Four Don’ts» (Si wu shuo). Also, the article criticizes some statements of prominent contemporary scholars of the field (R. Handler-Spitz, Li Wai-yee), which are connected with the percep­tion of Li Zhi’s views as consciously contradictional, precisely with Li’s attitude to Confucian canons, emotions and feelings and their manifestations in various spheres of life, filial piety and martyrdom. It is suggested that the tendency to as­certain Li Zhi as conceptually contradictory thinker which is frequently seen in contemporary researches can be explained by the insufficient volume of Li’s texts analyzed by scholars, following stereotypical assessments of the past, as well as the desire to exoticize thinker's views or to endow them with importance for the modern world.