Culture and academic tradition in Chinaby Gerard A. Postiglione and Qiang ZhaHistorically, China’s academies (taixue, guizijian, shuyuan) propagated, discussed, and debated Confucian classical texts (Dong, 2004; Guo, 2006; Hayhoe & Zha, 2006). Historical episodes about Confucius, whether real or imagined, mold how people study, teach, and learn. Hence, Chinese academic tradition is coined as a Confucian legacy (Yang, 2020). Nevertheless, some controversies and contradictions are observed along this line of thinking (Bol, 2010). The Confucian orthodoxy advocates human moral qualities in line with the Confucian virtues including ren (benevolence or humaneness), yi (righteousness or justice), li (propriety or rites) and zhi (knowledge). Put explicitly, the Confucian doctrine is a moral education per se, stressing self-cultivation and self-perfection, which, however, stands against Chinese intellectuals’ often succumbing to power and authorities (Zha, 2022). Throughout Chinese history, Confucianism is interpreted differently in each age, but always used as a way to oppose those with wealth and power. It was never an… Read more
Culture and academic tradition in China Historically, China’s academies (taixue, guizijian, shuyuan) propagated, discussed, and debated Confucian classical texts (Dong, 2004; Guo, 2006; Hayhoe & Zha, 2006). Historical episodes about Confucius, whether real or imagined, mold how people study, teach, and learn. Hence, Chinese academic tradition is coined as a Confucian legacy (Yang, 2020). Nevertheless, some controversies and contradictions are observed along this line of thinking (Bol, 2010). The Confucian orthodoxy advocates human moral qualities in line with the Confucian virtues including ren (benevolence or humaneness), yi (righteousness or justice), li (propriety or rites) and zhi (knowledge). Put explicitly, the Confucian doctrine is a moral education per se, stressing self-cultivation and self-perfection, which, however, stands against Chinese intellectuals’ often succumbing to power and authorities (Zha, 2022). Throughout Chinese history, Confucianism is interpreted differently in each age, but always used as a way to oppose those with wealth and power. It was never an… Read more
