He Jun talked about Jiangnan Confucianism

The Paper's reporter Huang Xiaofeng

He Jun is like Zhang Jinghua

Professor He Jun of the School of Philosophy of Fudan University is mainly engaged in the study of Chinese philosophy and intellectual history, and has published works such as "The Fission of Western Studies and Late Ming Thought", "The Construction of Confucianism in the Southern Song Dynasty", and "Things and Hearts: The Spiritual Dimension of Zhejiang Studies", and in recent years, he has turned to the study of Confucianism in Jiangnan. Jiangnan Confucianism is not a concept that has existed in history, what is the factual and theoretical basis for proposing this concept? In an interview with the Shanghai Review of Books, He Jun believes that the inherent characteristics of Jiangnan Confucianism are future-oriented, not only satisfied with the humor of thinking about the past, but more importantly, grasping its spirit and pulse from the historical traces.

You came up with the concept of Jiangnan Confucianism relatively early, which involves the problem of the definition of Jiangnan Confucianism. We generally talk about the economy and culture of Jiangnan, China to the Wei and Jin Dynasties, jiangnan began to large-scale immigration and development, Jiangnan economic and cultural development is a long-term process. Will there be a kind of hindsight, that is, the economic culture of Jiangnan has developed, and then it is necessary to raise the question of Confucianism in Jiangnan?

He Jun: First of all, I want to correct that the concept of Jiangnan Confucianism cannot be counted as something I proposed. When the Shanghai Confucian College of Fudan University was established, a work plan was determined, one of which was to carry out research in the field of Confucianism in Jiangnan, which was the focus of the Shanghai Confucian College. However, the comrades of Shanghai Confucian College, that is, the comrades of Fudan University, have their own heavy teaching and scientific research tasks, so after this concept was proposed, it was not substantively launched. After I left Zhejiang to work in Fudan in 2018, the leaders of the college hoped that I could do this field. I did have a little doubt at the time, just like you said about hindsight, and now that we are engaged in Confucianism, everyone is mentioning all kinds of Confucian slogans, such as political Confucianism, institutional Confucianism, mental Confucianism, and life Confucianism. Now suddenly mentioning a Jiangnan Confucianism, is it a superfluous question? I have long studied Theory of Song Ming and also paid attention to regional Confucianism. In history, there was originally a Zhejiang Eastern School, and even later there were simply called Zhejiang School. After the reform and opening up, Zhejiang academic circles raised the problem of Zhejiang studies very high. Each province also takes the current administrative region as a foothold and excavates its own history and culture. For example, Anhui naturally has Anhui Xue, or Hui Xue; Jiangsu does not explicitly call it Su Xue, but it has the Changzhou School and Yangzhou School; Jiangxi has Jiangyou and Ganxue in the Ming Dynasty; Hunan has Huxiang School; Shaanxi has Luoxue; all of which are historical names. Now mention a Jiangnan Confucianism, how to solve this problem?

Later, I also combed through this aspect. I think it's both a job and an argument in an academic sense. My first task was to write a relatively long article, published in the Fudan Journal, discussing the proposal, intention, and segmentation of Jiangnan Confucianism. I want to do a basic job for the future study of Confucianism in Jiangnan. At the same time, since 2018, three consecutive academic seminars on the theme of Jiangnan Confucianism have been held, of which the one in 2019 is international, and friends in the academic community have also given great support. In addition, I opened a series of lectures on Jiangnan Confucianism at Fudan University, about twenty lectures. In these academic activities, the concept of Jiangnan Confucianism has gradually become clear in my mind, and colleagues in the academic community may have more or less understood. Of course, I guess the voice of doubt and the sense of identity coexist.

The development of Gangnam usually began with Yongjia Nandu. From the current archaeological findings, We can see that Chinese civilization is a state of pluralistic occurrence. For example, the Liangzhu culture in Zhejiang and the Sanxingdui in Sichuan are very typical and difficult to explain with a single Yellow River civilization. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, there was Wu Yue in Jiangnan, and it is difficult to say that Jiangnan did not participate in the cultural process of the Central Plains. The development of Jiangnan, on the whole, can be said to have a long history and its own unique characteristics, but this was developed under the condition of fully absorbing the northern civilization, and gradually became the center of gravity of China's economy and culture. I think it is roughly stated that Jiangnan is a source in the big family of Chinese civilization, but it also has its own rich characteristics. The Yellow River civilization did constitute the mainstream of later Chinese culture, and in the storms of history, there was a process of spreading southward. China's economic center is basically a process of transfer from west to east, from north to south, so by the time of the Ming Dynasty, the importance of Jiangnan was already very prominent.

I quoted Chen Zilong's material in the paper, which shows this point, he wants to prove the significance of Jiangnan to the country, but on the other hand, it can also be said, why did Chen Zilong write this article? It shows that Jiangnan is not recognized. In fact, Jiangnan undertook a huge contribution to the entire Ming Empire. But in the sense of national politics, it has not been properly respected and recognized. So he wanted to write an article to explain the problem to the imperial court. A bit like the Beijing and Hai schools in our academic circles, when you think about it, it feels as if the academics are not orthodox enough. So hindsight is not complete, because it is indeed a historical phenomenon. At least from the emphasis on the characteristics of northern and southern scholarship in the "History of the South", it shows that Jiangnan scholarship is pursuing a certain uniqueness of its own. Therefore, it is not exactly the hindsight of today's people, but it is indeed such a basic historical fact.

In addition, from the perspective of academic history, you just mentioned that Jiangnan studies used to be in the field of economics. After the Anshi Rebellion, China's economic center moved south. This was even more so in the Southern Song Dynasty, Ming and Qing dynasties. Therefore, the economic-centered study of Jiangnan has actually become the focus of academic research since the middle of the last century. At the same time as economic research, it is also gradually extending to society and culture. In this way, of course, an important question will be raised, and it has to be admitted that behind the economy, society, and culture, the more powerful and continuous things should be academic and ideological.

It is difficult to say that a region has an increasingly developed economy, an increasingly diversified social form, and an increasingly rich cultural outlook, but there is no scholarship and thought behind it. It is just that this aspect of the work has been neglected for a long time, and the neglect does not mean that the study of regional academic thought has not been done, but this is concentrated in a subregion, and the academic thought that echoes the study of Jiangnan is of course Confucianism. The study of Confucianism, with Jiangnan as the entire stage, did not become an independent academic field. It is not that there is no specific research, there are more people who do Wang Yangming. Of course, Wang Yangming was from Jiangnan in the Ming Dynasty, but when everyone understood him, it did not have much of a Jiangnan meaning. Gong Zizhen and Zhang Taiyan have also been studied, but how many people have Jiangnan nature when studying them? Except for the "History of the South" and the "History of the North" that talk about the characteristics of southern and northern studies, later people did not have such a consciousness. Chen Zilong also talked about "wu feng teaching gushu", and I will not talk about this topic now. Taking Jiangnan as an object, the previous research is as an economic unit, focusing on the economy, focusing on society, and focusing on culture, but the Confucianism behind it does not. And Confucianism I think is the root of all this, and this is the most important area that no one does at the moment.

Therefore, I think that from the academic theory and from the review of academic history, with the deepening of Jiangnan studies, from the study of Jiangnan region to the study of Jiangnan region to or to the question of thinking and exploring Jiangnan Confucianism, this is the natural unfolding of academic internal logic, and it is not entirely hindsight.

Chen Zilong you just mentioned said that "there are Wu feng teachings gushu", to talk about Jiangnan Confucianism, it must be different from Guan Xue, Luo Xue, etc. Is it possible to discover the particularity of Jiangnan Confucianism from the particularity of this kind of literature and education?

He Jun: Chen Zilong said that "there is Wu Fengjiao Gushu", we may understand "Fengjiao" as a culture in the general sense, but in fact, the Chinese tradition has the so-called three religions and nine streams. In the words of Mr. Chen Yinke, the nine streams are an imaginary number, and the three teachings are a real number. The third is confucianism. Confucianism is actually the Gangchang Famous Sect, and the Famous Religion is the Wind Sect that Chen Zilong said, so he talked about the Wu Feng Sect Gushu, which is actually Confucianism Gushu. "Gushu" is the uniqueness of Jiangnan Confucianism, and this problem is very complicated, which is exactly what the entire study of Jiangnan Confucianism is going to carry out. If the outline is clear, we can use the case of history.

For example, an important work of Song Ming's science was initiated, and from the perspective of the Confucian movement, it was academy education. The most important pioneers of academy education, and also the founders of the entire Song Ming Science Academy, are Fan Zhongyan and Hu Yan. Fan Zhongyun was nothing more than providing a stage for Hu Yu. Hu Yu was in Suzhou, and later went to Huzhou to run the Anding Academy, forming the Suhu Teachings in the process. I can say that this shows the peculiarity of Jiangnan Confucianism.

The Suhu teaching method had a great influence on the later education of the college, and we will first talk about the form, that is, the curriculum. Its curriculum is divided into two parts, the first is the scriptures, that is, what is the content of the textual thought of the Confucian classics, which is equivalent to theoretical study, which is a main course. Another main course is governing the world, which talks about how to do things. At that time, Jiangnan was about to develop the watershed around Taihu Lake. At present, the shores of Taihu Lake used to be swamps, and if we want to dredge those swamps well and develop good land, there will be water conservancy problems. Then there is the problem of cultivating and building farmland, and the most important thing for an official is to adjudicate cases, how to carry out military training, and things like this are to rule the world. It is to teach two classes, one is the scriptures and the other is to rule the world. From the characteristics of these two courses, we can see the uniqueness of Jiangnan Confucianism. In the words that Hu Yan's students later said to Song Shenzong, it was useful to have a body. It is necessary to have a guiding ideology and theoretical basis, but also to be able to have the ability and work that can be afforded.

This is the characteristic of Jiangnan culture. You can't just sit and talk about it, you have to be able to rule the world. But not only to do things, there is no theoretical basis, but also to learn theory. Of course, you can say that Jiangbei is not completely absent, but when we want to highlight the particularity of a certain region, we must enlarge something. From the curriculum, we can see the uniqueness of Jiangnan Confucianism.

The second is the teaching method, the so-called foreign postgraduate education introduced by our university education today, such as Siminger, classroom discussion, and teacher-student interaction. The method of taking students as the main body of the classroom is very clear in Hu Yan's Suhu teaching method, and it is all practical. For example, its most basic method is that the teacher proposes a passage, a certain classic, the ideology contained in the classic, and then the student can question it; or the student raises it, and the teacher questions you; or questions each other and discusses it. This is the most basic method of his classroom education.

This is the spirit of Jiangnan Confucianism in its teaching methods. Behind it is not a resort to authority, not a teacher to decide, but each of us is open to the basic text. Later, Yang Ming questioned Zhu Zi, saying that it was not Zhu Zi who was right, we had to look at the text, and each of us could face the text. Just as the understanding of the Bible in Christianity is not determined by the church, each of us can read the Bible, and each of us can have our own understanding.

Behind this is the consciousness of subjectivity, the consciousness of criticism, and the exaltation of the spirit of reason. Such characteristics are not only found in the Suhu Teachings. Confucius talked about the difference between the strength of the south and the strength of the north. Later, some students asked Cheng Yi, what did Confucius mean by the strength of the south? Cheng Yi said that even southerners are more reasonable, not relying on authority and power. This can be said to be an academic style that pays attention to people's livelihood and pursues the role of the world, but does not fall into pragmatism, has theoretical basis, is based on knowledge, and is full of rational spirit, which constitutes the temperament of Jiangnan Confucianism.

You said in the article: "If Confucianism is discussed in Jiangnan, then the sub-regional school of academic thought in history is clear, while Confucianism as Jiangnan is inevitably vague." That is to say, schools such as Zhejiang studies and Anhui studies are relatively clear. But what is the inherent consistency of unifying them in the concept of Jiangnan Confucianism?

He Jun: This is actually a difficult question to answer, but it is also something we need to seriously consider next. For example, when we talk about the Changzhou School, the Changzhou School is also vague. Gong Zizhen, an important figure of the Changzhou School, is our Zhejiang people. The Changzhou school had already turned to Gong Zizhen by the time of it, completely breaking through the framework of scripture, so ambiguity and clarity were relative. When we study Jiangnan Confucianism, we must pay attention to this problem, but it does not have to be a burden.

Second, it should be noted that when we use Jiangnan Confucianism to envelop the idea of such a vast area, in fact, Jiangnan itself is a concept of flow, and the formation of Jiangnan itself is a process of flow. Therefore, the understanding of Jiangnan Confucianism should also have a concept of flow. The connotation of Jiangnan Confucianism is also changing, the boundaries are blurred, and it is constantly breaking through. I think this is the manifestation of the richness of Jiangnan Confucianism, and this richness leads to the vitality and internal tension of Jiangnan Confucianism. This tension led to academic competition within it. I mentioned earlier that Jiangnan Confucianism has a skeptical and critical spirit, where does such thinking come from? If they are all monolithic, the boundaries are very clear, and the connotation is very solid, how can there be inner vitality? So I think this vagueness, diversity, internal complexity is the richness of thought and the driving force of creativity.

Third, although it is vague, rich, and full of tension, it also has a commonality, and this commonality is consistent, related to the spirit of Confucius. Everyone talks about Confucianism, and the spirit of Confucius is benevolence, and the benevolent person loves others. Let's get to the specific point, I think the fundamental spirit of Confucius Confucianism is embodied in the opposite of what Confucius did not talk about. We all know what Confucius said, but Confucius still has things that he doesn't talk about. There is a sentence in the Analects: "The Son does not speak strangely and chaotically." "Not to talk about strangeness is to preach the common way; not to stress strength is to talk about peace and reject war; not to talk about chaos is to talk about harmony, the harmony between man and nature, the harmony between society and the government, the people and the government, the harmony of scholars, farmers, and industrialists; God is opposed to man, that is, to pay attention to the people's livelihood, which is the core of Confucius Renxue." These things are exactly what Jiangnan Confucianism pursues.

Ouyang Xiu and Wang Anshi of the Northern Song Dynasty proposed to rule the world with Jun, and finally developed into the Ming Dynasty. Although the scholars, farmers, industrialists, and merchants are different from each other, they all have the common responsibility of the world, all the way to Gu Yanwu's "the rise and fall of the world, and the pifu has the responsibility." The pursuit of peace may have been capitulationism in the past, but if there is no money to return to the Song Dynasty, how much damage will it be to the entire jiangnan people? This is the pursuit of peace, and I think that behind these consistent things, there is actually a human-centered rational spirit, which I think belongs to the consistent things in Jiangnan Confucianism, and it is getting stronger and stronger. I can also say that it is precisely because of these things that jiangnan's economy can still be ahead of the curve for more than forty years of reform and opening up.

Therefore, the academic genre mentioned in the Jiangnan Asian region is clear, and the Confucianism in Jiangnan as a whole is relatively vague, and I think it is still necessary to talk about it from multiple perspectives. First, do not solidify clarity and ambiguity, but should be understood as a relative concept. Second, the ambiguity itself also characterizes a richness. Third, although vague, there is also a consistent mainstream.

You believe that Confucianism in Jiangnan has shown two sources from the beginning, one is the ancient and primitive Zhou Zhao relics from the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, and the other is the Renxue that directly inherited the spread of Confucius in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. How did these two sources flow to Jiangnan, which surrounds the Taihu Lake basin, merge?

He Jun: When I combed Jiangnan Confucianism, I traced it back from the Ming and Qing dynasties. Although Jiangnan Confucianism was finally established in the Ming and Qing dynasties, its origins can be traced back to earlier. I noticed that the geographical description of Jiangnan by historical geographers is a concept with relatively vague boundaries. So I noticed the problem of Zhou Zhao'ernan, which no one had talked about before. Of course, in the study of the Book of Poetry, there are about the Chu State or the Jiang Han Dynasty, but I think there are both historical traces in it and the so-called Zhou Zhao relics at the ideological level. If we admit that the Book of Poetry was compiled by Confucius, why did he take Zhou Zhao as a benchmark for the right wind? I think that if Ernan is in a philological sense, it represents the breeding of yang qi and is the place where grass and trees grow, so Zhou Zhao is not only a real scene with a specific history and culture, but also represents something in some imagery.

Zhou Zhao Er Nan, today is generally believed that in the land of Jianghan, the land of Jianghan crossed into the Dongting Lake area, along the Yangtze River to the east, Changsha - Nanchang - Shangrao, Shangrao used to be Zhejiang, this route is first to the south, and then from the west to the east, to the Taihu Lake Basin, this is a line. Yongjia Nandu crossed another line, from Huainan Huaibei across the Yangtze River to Wuhu, along Wuhu into Xuanzhou. During the Anshi Rebellion, a large number of Central Plains people took this line into Xuanzhou, Huzhou, Zhejiang, and Yangzhou, Jiangsu. This area originally had its own cultural tradition, Confucius had a student named Ziyou, "Ziyou Nangui", from the current academic research, Ziyou's thought belongs to Confucius's disciples who emphasize rationality, such a kind of thinking came to the south. In this way, the final causes of the east and west veins will be attached to the watershed around the Taihu Lake.

How does the Lake Taihe Basin establish its consistency? I thought that first of all, it was based on a common economic foundation, common farming and water conservancy, and then formed a handicraft and commercial area based on agriculture around Taihu Lake. I use an inappropriate analogy, a bit like the Greek civilization around the Mediterranean. Doing business around Taihu Lake, there was communication here, and the Ming and Qing dynasties gradually established an economic, social and cultural regional community. It's a long process, and it's not a single one. The communication between Hunan and Zhejiang is very frequent, and the Southern Song Dynasty needless to say, the Huxiang school has a very close relationship with Zhejiang studies, and the study style of Huxiang and Zhejiang studies are also very similar. In the modern new cultural movement, Mao Zedong engaged in the "Xiangjiang Review" in Hunan, and Chen Wangdao engaged in the first division trend in Zhejiang, and they all had news communication. The Huxiang School also attaches great importance to the use of the world, and at the same time emphasizes the subjectivity of people, and also emphasizes the support of knowledge and concepts behind the action, which is the same as the Jiangnan region. Of course, there may be a slight difference in style. It is in such a big stage that it is necessary to connect its consistency.

The Buddhist and Taoist cultures in Jiangnan are very developed, Zhejiang is the southeastErn Buddhist country; since the late Ming Dynasty, Catholicism has also been popular in Jiangnan, and in addition to Confucianism as the mainstream ideology, there are actually many rich non-mainstream cultures. From the perspective of Jiangnan Confucianism, how did it deal with these subcultures?

He Jun: When I was a Doctorate, the research I did was the spread of Catholicism in the late Ming Dynasty and their ideological relationship. I will only give one example, Xu Guangqi was engaged in Yangming studies in the past, and later learned into Zhu Zi studies, all of which are Confucianism, which is certain. He later converted to Catholicism and became the three pillars of Catholicism, but he never considered himself not a Confucian. He believes that the spirit of Catholicism and the spirit of Confucianism are one, so why should we join Catholicism? He believed that Catholicism could help Confucianism. In his thoughts, there is a very strong sense of self-centeredness and the absorption of the essence. What are the criteria for extracting essence? There are two: the first, in principle, does not contradict the Confucian Pentateuch, which he believes does not conflict with the question of faith, and can be understood as obedience to nature. Moreover, the technology brought by the missionaries is of great help to the people's livelihood and economy. Second, Jiangnan Confucianism emphasizes the need to be reasonable and to doubt and discern. The most important work Xu Guangqi did with Matteo Ricci was to translate European geometry. Geometry is not the ancient Chinese mathematics, the ancient Chinese only arithmetic, no geometry. He said that geometry is based on logical rigorous argumentation, which can make up for the lack of rationality and logic in our learning. And such defects are not entirely intellectual, but also a problem of moral cognition and moral practice. So we can see that his integration and acceptance of Western studies is entirely based on these two criteria. I don't learn when new ones come in, or I give up on myself because of this. His spiritual core has commonalities and connections, enriching and developing this problem.

Let me give you another example of a modern figure, such as Ma Yifu, the first master of modern Neo-Confucianism. The very important feature of Ma Yifu's lectures on Confucianism is that he talks about Confucianism with Buddhism, and more importantly, he talks about the inner concepts, the process of argumentation, the explanation of reason, and the discernment of thought. It is the characteristics of reason, focusing on the argument of academic theory, which is a method of external learning. Zhang Luxiang, one of Liu Zong's three great disciples in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, was a native of Tongxiang, and he was considered to be a scholar of Yangming and turned from heart to Zhu Zi. After entering the Qing Dynasty, he spent a lot of energy to study water conservancy, sericulture, and agriculture. I think that Hu Shi's emphasis on science is in the same vein, and there are internal theories in it.

In the past decade or so, sinology with Confucianism as the core has a tendency to revive, at least in form. In your opinion, what kind of development and changes will there be in Response to Jiangnan Confucianism in contemporary society? What kind of thinking solutions can be provided?

He Jun: Indeed, as you said, in the past ten years or so, Confucianism has been the core, and Sinology has been revived, so the study of Confucianism has also flourished. There are various theories, in the past it was mental Confucianism, and then there was institutional Confucianism, political Confucianism, life Confucianism, and so on. I think there is nothing wrong with that, because such an elaboration at least has a process of unfolding the connotations of Confucianism. Of course, I don't think these developments are innovations, but they are in Confucian thought. When you express it in modern words, it is enough to make the original hidden connotation shine. But This is not the case with Jiangnan Confucianism, not just an exposition of the past, but also an aspect based on the present.

At an international symposium on Confucianism in Jiangnan, Professor Chen Lai talked about the early days of the establishment of the Shanghai Confucian Institute in Jiangnan, he had three basic positions, the first was based in Jiangnan, the second was for East Asia, and the third was for the world. From the perspective of these three positions, it is obvious that we are not only sustenance for the historical feelings of the past, but hope to pursue today's creative inheritance and innovative development from the past historical research. What is the fundamental purpose of innovation and development? When we study Jiangnan Confucianism today, its fundamental purpose is cultural self-awareness and self-confidence.

I have been working in Zhejiang for a long time, and Zhejiang has a theory of two rich pursuits and two mountains. Golden mountains and silver mountains are not as good as green water and green mountains. Behind this proposition, in fact, it is to pursue the symbiosis between people and the environment. The history of Jiangnan proves that the expansion of human living space needs to coexist in harmony with the natural environment. As I just said about Taihu Lake, it was a swamp during the Tang and Song dynasties, and it still needs long-term governance after entering the Song Dynasty. By the Ming and Qing dynasties, it gradually improved. I am a person by the lake, and when I was young, the flooding of the lake was still a problem. How to make the development and environment of Jiangnan achieve a kind of symbiosis and co-growth is actually proved by the development of Jiangnan Confucianism, or the development of the whole Of Jiangnan.

The second question, the scriptures and the rule of the world that I mentioned earlier, are the two riches of material life and spiritual life. Now everyone is pursuing material life, and an important symbol of postmodernism is the popularity of consumerism, behind which is the complete indulgence of materialism. How to build something on the spiritual level, Jiangnan Confucianism provides a path. Traditional Confucianism talks about farming and poetry, but in the ordinary rural areas of Jiangnan, there are basically these two points, one is reading, and the other is to earn money. When you go to Wenzhou to see, Wenzhou seems to only want to make money, but Wenzhou people also want to study. This is a very typical double prosperity of material civilization and spiritual civilization. Why can Jiangnan's economy continue to develop, the gap between rich and poor in Zhejiang is not so large. I think it is very important to attach importance to education in addition to the simple development of the economy.

Third, I just said that there is consistency in the ambiguity of Jiangnan Confucianism. A very important spiritual support point is the pursuit of peace, then the pursuit of development, and the political pursuit of ruling the world with the monarch. In the Ming Dynasty, it was proposed that the people and the people were different from each other and the same way. Although he is a businessman, he earns money during the day and can still think about moral questions at night. In the Ming Dynasty, a large number of merchants in the Jiangnan area built bridges and roads, which was a charity. The so-called spirit of responsibility, and then further develop the rise and fall of the world, Pi Fu has the responsibility. Although I am engaged in general work, I also have common considerations for the common destiny of mankind. The intrinsic characteristics of Jiangnan Confucianism are future-oriented, and such ideas are exactly what we want to expound in the study of Jiangnan Confucianism. It is not only satisfied with the humor of thinking about the past, but more importantly, grasping its spirit and pulse from the traces of history. A very important reason why Zhu Xi's thought was able to inherit the richness of history since the Han and Tang Dynasties, gathered here in him, and led the eight hundred years of later China, is that his thought is not simply retro, but through a deep understanding of history, grasp its inner spirit, so that this spirit and the current life can be combined to develop a new form. Ma Yifu made it very clear that he believed that the fundamental spirit of Confucianism is the six arts, and the six arts are a complete whole, which is dealt with as a whole, so the spirit of Confucianism is not conservative, it is progressive, it is revolutionary, it is forward, it is the world, not narrow.

Such ideas are what we want to discover when we study Jiangnan Confucianism, but they are not just a footnote for modern people. We still have to dig out from the facts of history itself, but the river always has a run, always running towards the sea. Dredging the river and blocking the reasonable part is not enough, or it is necessary to have a source of living water. This is based on the grasp of the historical spirit, from which to discover the spirit that echoes the contemporary practical life to lead our lives and pursue the rejuvenation of national culture.

I think this is probably the self-expectation and expectation of Jiangnan Confucianism. Of course, this requires everyone to work together to do it.

Editor-in-Charge: Han Shaohua

Proofreader: Yijia Xu