Program of East Asian Classics and Cultures

Description of the Program

Chun-chieh Huang
Distinguished Professor of History, National Taiwan University

        The Program of East Asian Classics and Cultures is one of the three programs initiated by the NTU Institute for Advanced Studies of the Humanities and Social Sciences inaugurated in 2006. The team for this project has shared a long experience of research. In 1998, with the support of then NTU President Chen Wei-Chao and Dean of Studies Li Si-chen, Professor Huang Chun-chieh embarked on planning and directing the project on “The Hermeneutic Traditions in Chinese Culture” (1998-2000). About 20 faculty members from the NTU Colleges of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences conducted joint research and achieved excellent results. Afterwards, Professor Huang went on to take charge of “Project on the Hermeneutic Traditions in East Asian Neo-Confucianism” (2000-2004), a project supported by a team of scholars within and without the NTU faculty, which was one of the “Program of Pursuit of Academic Excellence” sponsored by Ministry of Education (MOE) and the sole project in the humanities conducted under this MOE program. Starting from 2002, based on the foundation laid by the preceding two projects, the team carries on the research under the program titled “Center for East Asian Civilizations” (2002-2005), which belongs to another MOE sponsored “Integrated Center-Programs for Research Universities”.

        Having undertaken these three projects, our team has accumulated considerable research results, and they are being published in sequence by the NTU Publishing Center. For the moment, more than 60 volumes have been published under three series: a) “Studies in East Asian Civilizations;” b) “Research Materials on East Asian Civilizations;” and c) “Research Sources in East Asian Civilizations.”

        As mentioned, the Program of East Asian Classics and Cultures is well grounded on the successive projects since 1998. Taking East Asia as our research field, classics as our focused text and cultures the context, we also take a broad perspective of the cultural interaction between China and the West, as well as the interplays among the several East Asian cultures. Based on this scope, we hope to examine the transformations and prospects of the classics and ideas inner to them. The objective of this program is to excavate the core values of and initiate a new epoch for East Asian cultures, so as to engage in dialogue with other great civilizations in the 21st century.

Project 1:
“Korean Interpretations of the Analects in the East Asian Perspectives (II)”

Chun-chieh Huang
Distinguished Professor of History, National Taiwan University

ABSTRACT

        The study on the Korean interpretations of the Analects is a whole new academic field, which finds no relevant monographs whether in Chinese, English, Japanese or Korean. This project aims at elucidating the specific content of the Korean interpretations of the Analects, and then placing it within the broader context of East Asian Confucianism for further assessing its contribution. Prevailing in the Korean works on the Analects are interpretations based on the thought of the Great Learning, which foregrounds the way of thinking demonstrated in Zhu Xi’s study on the Four Books. Meanwhile, those different sources from Chinese tradition were also adopted, though to a limited degree, by the Korean scholars.

The prime objective of this project is to clarify the crucial mode of thinking underlying the Korean studies on the Analects during a six-hundred-year period, with particular attention paid to the inheritance and innovation they undertake toward Zhu Xi’s thought. By doing this, the Korean studies on Zhu Xi can be comprehended more.

Project 2:
“The Cultural Exchange between the East and the West, centered on the introduction of the Roman Catholic Church”

Wei-Ying Ku
Professor, Department of History
National Taiwan University

ABSTRACT

         For the past two years, I have been involved in this project and tried to construct a comparative frame of reference for the research on the history of exchange between Christianity and Confucianism in East Asia. My major argument is that if we want to do serious research in this field, we have to view East Asia as a whole since so many people were interrelated, so many books were circulated around this area, and above all, religious organizations has long seen this area as a whole to form their policies toward it. If we merely focus on one country or a limited area, such as China or Japan, chances are that we might overlook a lot of important development of the exchange and the interrelationship concerning it. Consequently, a better understanding of the history of this exchange would be hard to achieve.

On the basis of my former research, I now propose a three-year project. In the first year, I will identify the most popular religious books in early Tokugawa Japan, and the scholars who cherished or were opposed to the contents of those books. Especially True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven (Tianzhu Shiyi) by M. Ricci, The Seven Cardinal Sins and their Transcendence (Qi-ke) by Pantoja and Discussion on Learning by Scholars in Fujian (Sanshan Lunxue ji) by J. Alleni are to be examined. During the first year, I hope to be able to comprehend how and why these books were so popular at that time, and more importantly, how these books were related to Confucian classics. Also, I would look into the thinking of Arai Hakuseki, the famous scholar of the Zhuxi School. He, as is already known, was the one conversed with the famous prisoner Giovanni Battista Sidotti S. J. and published Xiyang Jiwen (Information about the Western Oceans). Studying Arai would reveal certain development and details about the Japo-Western cultural exchange.

For the second year, I will switch my attention to Korea. The history of Korean Catholic church was very fascinating and distinguished from other Asian countries for its self-seeking and autonomous spirit. Chong Tasan stood out among the first converts. Despite his later alleged “back to Confucianism”, some still believed he kept his catholic beliefs to the end clandestinely. Fortunately, with the 16 volumes of omnibus entitled “Yu-yu-tang Quanji” (The Complete Collection of Yu-yu-tang) he left behind him, to clarify his religious adhesion will not be too difficult. It is a collection recorded all of his thoughts and provides sufficient materials for researches on his thinking. I would like to locate Tasan’s use of “tian” (Heaven) in this collection and find out whether his use of the word corresponds to the Christian meaning of “God”. In other words, if his use of “tian” often referred to the personal God in Christianity, it would be an adequate proof to claim that Tasan, not only influenced by Christian thinking, but also kept the belief throughout his life. This study would show us some of the features of the Korean Catholic faith as well.

In the third year, I would focus on China, first to find out what, how and why the religious books were most widely read by the intellectuals of the time, and to see what and how the Confucian classics were cited by those religious works. The changes of the Confucian classics over time would be under careful inspection as well. For example, in the late Ming and early Qing, some classics such as the Book of Documents and the Classic of Poems were cited more often than any other books. As for scholars, the famous Chinese converts such as Xu Guangqi, Yang Tingyun or Zhang Xingyao were most likely to become the main objects of my research. These scholars will be discussed in comparative perspective and compare them with Japanese and Korean scholars, with special attention paid to the roles they played in their respective countries.

In three years’ time, by examining the key books and scholars in East Asia, the goal of better understanding the cultural exchange in East Asia in general and the history of Christianity of these countries in particular can be accomplished.

Project 3:
“Inquiry into Major Issues Concerning the Yili (Rites and Rituals)”

Kuo-liang Yeh
Distinguished Professor of Chinese Literature, National Taiwan University

ABSTRACT

        Etiquettes are inter-permeating in East Asian cultures. To comprehend the cultural relationship and differences in this area, it is necessary to study how the Chinese react and adapt to the manners from diverse cultures and how these cultures accept, combine, and transform Chinese etiquettes into their own. This project will focus on Korean writings on San Li, which serves as the basis of contrast, with related historical and literary writings as references.

Concerning the ancient canons, the research will deal with official ceremonies and private manners, concentrating on Korean scholars’ criticism and modification of Chinese etiquettes. By interpreting the causes of their criticism and modification under the context of Korean culture and society, we might be able to follow the traces of the combination and the transformation therein. The research is more than an introduction to Korean etiquette writings.

Project 4:
“The Siduan-Qiqing (Four Beginnings-Seven Emotions) Dispute in Late Imperial Korea (II)”

Ming-huei Lee
Graduate Institute of National Development
National Taiwan University

ABSTRACT

        The “Four Beginnings-Seven Emotions Dispute” is the most important debate in the history of Korean Confucianism. This debate initially broke out between Yi T'oegye (1501-1571) and Ki Kobong (1527-1572) on the one side, and Yi Yulgok (1536-1584) and Song Ugye (1535-1598) on the other. From this time onwards, the debate persisted in the country without reconciliation. The present research project will examine this dispute on four beginnings and seven emotions in late Imperial Korea. At the first stage of this program, I have discussed the viewpoints of Chong Shihan (1625-1707), Yi Hyeonil (1627-1704), and Chung Chedu (1649-1737). At this stage, I’ve selected five representative figures for my research: Han Wonchin (1682-1751), Yi Kan (1677-1727), Yi Ik (1681-1763), Chong Yagyong (1762-1836), and Yi Hangno (1792-1868).

Project 5:
“Zhi-yin : Understanding and Morality in Confucian Aesthetics”

Chao-ying Chen
Department of Chinese Literature
National Taiwan University

Abstract

        This project aims at elucidating the aesthetic implication in the interpretations of the chapters on music in the Analects provided by the East Asian Confucian scholars. The affluent legacy of aesthetic thoughts from the interpretations of the Analects deserves careful reading and profound investigation. The construction of “Confucian aesthetics of music” in the light of the Western aesthetics of music is not only desirable but also possible.
 
The prime objective of this project is, on the one hand, to clarify the cultural identity and the philosophical stances underlying the interpretations of the Analects given by the East Asian scholars, and to explore the communion among these scholars on the other. In comparison with the Western aesthetics of music, Confucian aesthetics of music can be presented as the local knowledge with global significance.

Project 6:
“Imperial Power and Confucianism in East Asia: Principle of State Rites and Sacrifices in Confucian Classical Hermeneutics”

Huai-Chen Kan
History Department
National Taiwan University

ABSTRACT

        The major object of this proposal is to figure out the polity of East Asian kingships. Since East Asian Empires, characterized by rural kingships, obtained their legitimacy from the discourse of Rites of Zhou, they can as well be defined as polities of Zhou-li. First, I will start with the argument of how Chinese Confucian scholars built up the discourse of rural kingship by appropriating the ideas of Rites of Zhou and other Confucian classics, such as Mencius. The second topic will be the dilemma of Chinese Emperorship and the explanations why rural society could not possibly exist by itself alone without the support of commerce. It would be interesting to illustrate how Chinese scholars used Confucian hermeneutics to assume the rural society and rural kingship. By summarizing the above-mentioned analyses, we could achieve a whole new perspective of Chinese history. Finally, I will focus on how the Japanese kingship applied the polity of Zhou-li in the making of their ancient empires. The project is divided into three stages—the Japanese kingship for the first stage, the Chinese kingship for the second, and for the last, the comparison between the two, re-exploration of the complex of Chineseness versus local knowledge in Ancient East Asia. Each of the stages takes approximately one year to accomplish.

Project 7:
“A Study of the “Unity of the Three Teachings” Thought in Yaodi Pao Zhuang by Fang Yizhi”

Zhen-Feng Tsai
Department of Chinese Literature
National Taiwan University

ABSTRACT

        Korean Confucianist Chŏng Yagyong accomplished tremendous researches on Confucian classics, including the Four Books and Six Classics. It demonstrated his overall understanding of both the Chinese scholars and the Japanese Tokugaku Confucianists. The former includes Huang Zongxi, Gu Yanwu, Yan Ruoqu, Mao Qiling, Xu Qianxue, and the latter Ito Jinsai, Ogyu Sorai, Dazai Shundai, etc. Recent researches reflect his studies in Confucian classics has gone far beyond the philological level, and transformed into a foundation for his own political and economical thoughts. How these personal opinions of Chŏng Yagyong’s were reflected in his studies on Confucian classics is the focus of this research.

In this project, Chong Yagyong’s Confucian classical studies will be investigated thoroughly from both microscopic and macroscopic perspectives. The focuses will be narrowed down to three aspects—the relationship of his studies with Tokugaku Confucianism, the relationship of his studies with Western Learning, and the differences between his studies and those of Chinese Confucianists. With careful investigation, we are able to comprehend how his intellectual system was constructed and how he applied the understanding of different concepts to his own system. Furthermore, I will look into the characteristics and meanings of his intellectual system in the context of modern development in Confucianism in East Asia.