Huang Zongxi: A scholar from eastern Zhejiang who dialogues with the world

Huang Zongxi, a native of Yuyao, Zhejiang, was an outstanding writer, historian, geographer and astronomical calendriser in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties in mainland China. Huang Zongxi's thought is a natural product of the nourishment of Chinese culture and the stirring of Eastern and Western civilizations, and its reform, openness and dialogue transcend the limitations of geography and language, and have attracted wide dissemination and attention around the world.

Looking at the real world: the practical inheritance of practical learning

Zhejiang has a fine tradition of paying attention to the people's livelihood, cutting to the people, and advocating useful learning, Hu Ying advocated "Ming Ti to achieve application", Wang Yangming invented "practical learning close to the people", Liu Zongzhou "the practice of heavy work", and Huang Zongxi developed "practical learning of practice" in the discussion of philosophical propositions such as "to conscience is to act conscience". In the trend of practical learning during the Ming and Qing dynasties, Huang Zongxi was the standard-bearer figure who called for "applying the scriptures". He followed the tenet of "responding to the affairs of the world", included financial endowment, border defense, composition, and political affairs in the practical study of the world, and advocated that education should embody and integrate the practical knowledge of transforming the world and observing the society. In his view, all "practical learning" related to the national economy and people's livelihood can be called "absolute learning". Liang Qichao awarded the privilege of carrying forward the doctrine of "applying it to the world" to a group of thinkers represented by Gu Yanwu, Huang Zongxi, and Wang Fuzhi, who he believed that after Yangming, this group had once again found the backbone of Confucianism to observe reality.

"Siku Quanshu" commented on Huang Zongxi: "According to the reality, we should study the facts, and not talk about empty and useless things. He pointed out that among the members of the Fushe Society, only Fang Yizhi, Huang Zongxi, Gu Yanwu and others who really knew astronomy and arithmetic, and had made achievements in calendar making, cannon making, leading the army, and garrisoning the border.

Around the 16th century, Western studies with science and religion as the core entered the land of China, and scholars from eastern Zhejiang, represented by Huang Zongxi, participated in the trend of dialogue with Western studies.

Exploring the Natural World: Bridging Scientific Thought from East to West

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Xia Yi distinction at the intersection of the East and the West spread in the ideological and intellectual circles. In inheriting the teachings of Wang Yangming and Liu Zongzhou, Huang Zongxi conducted in-depth investigation and research on natural phenomena and social issues. On the one hand, he criticized the West's seizure of Chinese knowledge, such as the Pythagorean Studies, and expressed the feeling that "the pearl is lost in the abyss, and the image is gained". On the other hand, Huang Zongxi systematically studied the heavenly arithmetic and the Western calendar, and carried out academic exchanges with Western missionaries represented by John Tang with an open mind. Huang Zongxi absorbed in the course of his criticism, affirming that the empirical basis of Western science and technology "has opened up a new road for calendrical arithmetic"; he has successively written a total of 16 kinds of calendrical arithmetic works, such as "Western Calendar Hypothesis", "Hijri Calendar Hypothesis", and "Debate on the Great Unification Calendar". He integrated the rational theory of Chinese philosophy, and showed subjectivity and national cultural self-confidence in cultural integration.

In 1867, the sinologist and mathematician Wei Liali introduced Huang Zongxi's Jiazi Examination of the Ancient Chinese Chronicles in the Chronicles of Chinese Literature: "The book advocates the use of the chronological method of the Hanshu and opposes the chronological method of the Historical Records, which is different from the chronological method of its predecessors. "The Jiazi Examination of the Past Dynasties" is included in Huang Zongxi's "Theory of Easy Learning Elephant Numbers". Elephant mathematics was originally a summary of the laws of ancient Chinese philosophers to understand the natural world, but since the Song Dynasty, physicists have gradually detached themselves from the actual observation of celestial phenomena, and Huang Zongxi criticized this trend as "unattainable and practical". In the "Original Image", he explained the "Qiangua" with astrological signs, and believed that the seven houses of Canglong were not subjective assumptions, but astronomical knowledge with realistic basis. In 1909, the Swiss sinologist and astronomer tesa named the Seven Houses of Canglong after the concept of "dragon constellation". In 1997, the American sinologist Xia Hanyi pointed out in "Before Confucius: A Study of the Birth of Chinese Classics" that the unique symbolic meaning of the dragon in Chinese mythology is based on the observation of natural phenomena. In 2013, American sinologist and astroarchaeologist Ban Dawei also used the "dragon constellation" to explain the theory of "Qiangua" in "Astrology and Astronomy in Early China", agreeing that this is an investigation of the changes in the movement of celestial bodies.

Transforming the World of Confucianism: A Practical Philosophy of Heaven and Earth

Huang Zongxi reflected on the empty talk of the mind and despised the merits of the Song and Ming dynasties, and advocated the spirit of "the study of Confucianism, the latitude and the earth". Huang Zongxi's study of the number of symbols is to re-incorporate the "close to civil" academic knowledge into the track of Confucian true learning, which is the cultivation of Confucianism's personal character, and represents his idea of applying astronomical knowledge to guide production practice. The wisdom of Confucian practical philosophy was highly regarded by Western philosophers, and Joseph Needham proposed in his History of Science and Technology in China that astronomy and the calendar had always been "orthodox" Confucianism. Joseph Needham examines the development of this trait in the evolution of Confucianism from the perspective of the history of science. Huang Zongxi's "The Case of Ming Confucianism" and "The Case of Song and Yuan Studies" sorted out the context of Confucianism and commented on the rheological development of psychology, which attracted Needham's great attention. Joseph Needham fully accepted Huang Zongxi's theories about the difference between Chen Baisha and Wang Yangming. In Joseph Needham's view, morality for social relations only emphasizes the concern for the survival of the self-subject, and ignores the relationship between the individual and the objective world. He lamented that no matter how lofty his ideas are, they are not beneficial to the development of natural science.

The excellence of traditional Chinese culture lies in its dynamic development and lasting self-renewal, and the inertia of reform and the characteristics of practical philosophy are the genes and logos of this culture. In 1726, the German philosopher Wolf re-examined his famous work "Universal Practical Philosophy" with Chinese wisdom, and understood more deeply that practical philosophy is "the principle of wisdom that guides behavior from the depths of the human heart". The book is regarded by many scholars as a masterpiece of Confucian practical philosophy. Di Bairui believes that "Ming Yi to be interviewed" contains Huang Zongxi's greater contribution to the practical and inclusive development of Confucianism. Huang Zongxi summed up the new learning of the Song and Ming dynasties that he developed in terms of "science", and in the view of the American sinologist Deberry, "science embraces the whole of these ideas; This also laid the definition of "Neo-Confucianism" by Western scholars, including science and mind, including metaphysics and the study of the world. Huang Zongxi's definition of Confucianism is closer to the understanding of Neo-Confucianism that is popular in the West than any other narrow definition of Daoism.

Dialogue and Mutual Learning among Civilizations: The International Dissemination of Huang Zongxi's Thought

In 1953, Di Bairui translated and published "Mingyi to be interviewed". Since then, the attention of the English-speaking world to Huang Zongxi has continued to grow, and the American sinologist Wei Weisen and others have studied Huang Zongxi with doctoral projects, including neo-Confucian philosophy, political research, practical research, economic ethics research, and scholarly research, which has promoted the diversification of Huang Zongxi's thought research around the world. East Asia has always been an important center for the study of Huang Zongxi's thought, and in the 21st century, Japanese scholars have focused on sorting out the origin and development of Huang Zongxi's thought. The Confucian scholar Ogi of the Tokugawa period in Japan traced the origin of Zhu Shunshui's thought from Huang Zongxi's "Ming Yi Interview Record". The Japanese Confucian scholar Keiyu Hioda discusses the connection between Li Zhen and Huang Zongxi. Korean scholars have observed the modern transformation of Huang Zongxi's thought from a multi-dimensional perspective, including Huang Zongxi's ruling thought and the theory of power constraints, as well as the gentleman as the subject of public action in Confucianism.

It has been a long-standing consensus in the academic community to examine Huang Zongxi's thought from the perspective of the convergence of Eastern and Western civilizations. After a comparative analysis of Huang Zongxi and Rousseau's "Theory of the Social Contract", Liang Qichao called "Mingyi Interview Record" "a noble product of human culture", and since then, Huang Zongxi's reputation as "China's Rousseau" has been well known to the world. The Japanese scholar Takeshi Kojima further defined Huang Zongxi as the "Rousseau of the East", and at the same time, he believed that Rousseau's works were later than Huang Zongxi, and it was more appropriate to call him "the Huang Zongxi of Western Europe".

Huang Zongxi's lifelong advocacy of the spirit of "self-centered" and "for my use" has great inspiration for scholars to inherit the excellent traditional culture and adhere to the position of Chinese culture: first, adhere to the essence of practical learning, carry forward the innovative thinking of "using the West in middle schools" from the past to the present, and second, adhere to the Chinese position and carry forward the open thinking of "using Western learning in China" between China and foreign countries.