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Organizer of Shanghai Federation of Social Sciences
There are academic ideas EXPLORATION AND FREE VIEWS
Introduction:
In the long tradition of China, there is no shortage of faith and reverence for the heavens, the heavenly path, and countless divine beings such as gods and ghosts in the state ritual system and daily life. However, since the beginning of the Republic of China, these sacred beings have basically disappeared from the public life of the middle and upper classes, the supreme representatives of political power no longer claim to be ordained by heaven, most of the public statements of intellectuals have no longer tried their best to prove that heaven is a sacred existence worthy of reverence and faith, and faith in the god of personality and the various forms of faith based on the law of the five elements of yin and yang have become suspicious in public discourse. How did this fundamental change happen? Why is this change happening? Starting from the level of intellectual history, this book examines the challenges of late Qing Christian natural theology and the modern scientific knowledge contained therein to the traditional cosmology, and examines how indigenous intellectuals have responded to the challenge by using the theory of celestial evolution based on biological evolution, thereby explaining the disenchantment of the traditional cosmology and the weakening legitimacy of the faith tradition.
About the Author:
Zhang Hongbin, born in 1980, Han ethnicity, Chongqing Matjiang people. Graduated from East China Normal University with a doctorate degree in history. He was a visiting scholar at the University of British Columbia, an editor of Academic Monthly, a postdoctoral fellow at the School of Philosophy of Fudan University, and an associate professor in the Department of History, School of Humanities, Shanghai Normal University. His research interests are the history of modern and contemporary Chinese thought and culture, and in recent years, he has mainly focused on the disenchantment and re-enchantment of the worldview in the history of modern thought.
directory:
Introduction 1
Chapter 1 Ideological Background: Chinese Religion and the Organic Cosmology14
Section 1: Is There Religion in China? 14
Section 2 Chinese Religion 19
Section III: Two Subsystems of Chinese Religion: Polytheism and Pantheism25
Section 4 The Cosmological Basis of Chinese Religion: Organic Cosmology 44
Summary of this chapter 50
Chapter 2 Disenchantment of Heaven: The Case of Comets and Rains53
Section 1 Comet 55
I. Traditional Chinese Interpretation of Comets 55
Ii. The New Comet Solution of the Late Qing Christians 60
Iii. The Impact of the New Comet Solution on the Late Qing Dynasty 70
Section 2 Asking for Rain 82
I. Traditional Chinese Belief in Seeking Rain: Take the 1879 Rain Seeking by the Government and the Opposition as an Example82
II. Christians' Sayings about Asking for Rain 107
Two responses to Chinese 113
Summary of this chapter 118
Chapter Three: Disenchantment of the Earth: Earthquakes and Feng Shui as Examples120
Section 1 Earthquake 120
I. Earthquake Interpretation in Traditional China: Take the 1679 Jingshi Earthquake as an example 120
II. Christian Explanations of Earthquakes and Their Dilemmas 126
III. The Old and New Interpretation of Earthquakes: Take the Wudu Earthquake of 1879 as an example 131
Section 2 Feng Shui 145
I. Traditional Chinese Feng Shui Beliefs: Take the site selection of the tomb of the Tongzhi Emperor in 1875 as an example 145
II. Christian Criticism of Feng Shui Beliefs 153
III. The Transformation of the Feng Shui Critique of Chinese Intellectuals 160
Summary of this chapter 170
Chapter IV: The Disenchantment of Man: The Case of Disease and the Soul172
Section 1 Disease 172
I. Traditional Chinese understanding of the epidemic 172
II. New Solutions to the Disease provided by Christians in the Late Qing Dynasty 177
III. The Impact of the New Solution to the Epidemic on Chinese Intellectuals183
Section 2 Soul 193
I. The Traditional Chinese Concept of the Soul 193
II. Christian Criticism of the Concept of the Chinese Soul 201
Iii. The concept of the soul in scientific explanations 212
Summary of this chapter 221
Chapter V: The Different Meanings of the Mechanical Cosmology for Christianity and Chinese Religion223
Section I The Significance of the Mechanical Cosmology for Christianity226
I. Natural Theology in the West 226
II. Natural Theology in China 233
Section 2 The Significance of the Mechanical Cosmology for Chinese Religion239
I. Christian Criticism of China's Organic Cosmology239
Ii. Responses of Chinese Intellectuals 245
Summary of this chapter 256
Chapter VI The Different Meanings of Heavenly Speech to Chinese Religion and Christianity257
Section 1 The Significance of The Theory of Heavenly Speech in Chinese Religion258
I. The similarity between the traditional organic cosmology and the theory of celestial evolution259
II. The Metamorphosis of the Heavenly Dao 268
Section II: The Meaning of The Theory of Heavenly Speech in Christianity275
Darwinism and Natural Theology 276
II. Christian Criticism of the Theory of Heavenly Speech: Take Li Li and Li Chunsheng as examples277
Summary of this chapter 288
Epilogue 290
Reference 293
Epilogue 319
Postscript
As my first academic work, this book records a little progress in my more than ten years of study. And this progress is first of all attributed to Teacher Xu Jilin. Since entering East China Normal University in 2006, I have grown up under the inspiration, encouragement and tolerance of Xu Shi. He pays great attention to discovering and caring for students' interests, constantly using practical care, theoretical frameworks, and knowledge resources to infuse students' enthusiasm for learning, and encouraging students to transform personal experience and care into academic problems to do systematic research. Under his guidance, academic research has become a way to understand oneself, understand society, shape oneself, and contribute to society. It is a very fortunate life opportunity to follow such a teacher to read and learn, to ponder the most impractical but most beneficial questions.
On the road of academic growth, Professor Yang Guoqiang and Professor Liu Qing have benefited me a lot, and I have participated in several of their courses, teacher Yang's fine review and thoroughness, and Teacher Liu's clarity and sharpness, often make me deeply shaken. In the process of writing, defending and revising papers, I also received guidance and encouragement from many previous scholars, namely Professor Timothy Cheek of the University of British Columbia, Professor Timothy Brook, Professor Josephine Chiu-Duke, Professor Li Tiangang of Fudan University, Professor Jiang Xiaoyuan of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Professor Zhu Jing of Xiamen University, Professor Wu Guosheng of Tsinghua University. Professor Liu Chang of East China Normal University, Zhou Wu, Researcher of Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, and Professor Wang Jianghua of Tianjin University would like to express their thanks. Special thanks to Teacher Li Tiangang, who not only gave me a lot of encouragement in the process of thesis defense, but also allowed me to engage in postdoctoral research with him, provided me with many opportunities for academic study, and took time out of my busy schedule to write the preface to this book.
In 2011, the research was funded by the Academic Newcomer Award for Doctoral Students of East China Normal University (XRZZ2011014), in 2012 by the National Scholarship Fund, the book manuscript passed the doctoral dissertation defense in 2014, the Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation in Shanghai in 2016, and the Late-stage Funding Project of the National Social Science Foundation (17FZS065) in 2017. Some chapters of the book manuscript have been extracted to participate in academic conferences, and have been published in "Zhou Yi Research", "Tianjin Social Sciences", "Shi Lin", "Folklore Studies", "Exploration and Controversy", "Research on Natural Dialectics", "Fudan Journal", "Academic Monthly", "World Religion Studies", and have been reprinted by Chinese Minmin University to copy newspaper materials, "Academic Digest of Liberal Arts in Colleges and Universities", thank you Jiang Ying, Zhang Kebin, Wang Zhen, Ye Bin, Wang Jiahua, Ye Zhudi, Ruan Kai, Chen Wenbin, Jiang Youfu, Zhou Qi, Li Jianxin, Yuan Zhaohui, Chai Ying, Liu Jiang, Zou Guowei and other editors and teachers and anonymous review experts are complete. Not only that, in the whole process of selecting topics, writing, participating in the meeting, submitting articles, evaluating awards, and setting up projects, dozens of scholars such as Song Hong, Qu Jun, Tang Xiaobing, Cheng Qing, Deng Jun, and Yu Haibing gave me encouragement or criticism, most of whom were anonymous. Wu Changqing, Gu Lidan, Yu Nianzi and other editors and teachers of Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House have provided great help in the application for the later funding project of the National Social Science Foundation and the editing and publishing of books.
In short, behind this book is the kindness and wisdom of many teachers and colleagues. Our mind is trapped in our own flesh, our flesh is trapped in a specific time and space, we are naturally self-centered; although we cannot accept all the views of others, and we are doomed to become others, but with the perspective of others, our minds can slightly exceed the confines of the flesh, can temporarily get out of the trap of time and space, and more clearly "see" the vast world in which we live. In my opinion, the more important function of the peer review system is that scholars are mutually perfect, and it is secondary to keep the bottom line for the accumulation of knowledge. Because of this, I am often grateful for the advice and criticism of my peers.
Finally, I would like to thank my family Zhang Daoguo, Dai Huaying, Zhu Zhu, and Zhang Xinyue for their tolerance and assistance, so that I can maintain such a luxurious hobby as history.
November 2021 in Shippo, Shanghai
Reprinted from the public account "Island of History"
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