Neo-Confucianism in History

Harvard East Asian Monographs #307

by Peter K. Bol

Where does Neo-Confucianism―a movement that from the twelfth to the seventeenth centuries profoundly influenced the way people understood the world and responded to it―fit into our story of China’s history?

This interpretive, at times polemical, inquiry into the Neo-Confucian engagement with the literati as the social and political elite, local society, and the imperial state during the Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties is also a reflection on the role of the middle period in China’s history. The book argues that as Neo-Confucians put their philosophy of learning into practice in local society, they justified a new social ideal in which society at the local level was led by the literati with state recognition and support. The later imperial order, in which the state accepted local elite leadership as necessary to its own existence, survived even after Neo-Confucianism lost its hold on the center of intellectual culture in the seventeenth century but continued as the foundation of local education. It is the contention of this book that Neo-Confucianism made that order possible.

Genres: China, Philosophy, History, Nonfiction

450 pages, Paperback

First published November 15, 2008

About the author

Peter Kees Bol is a Harvard College Professor and the Charles H. Carswell Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations. His research is centered on the history of China’s cultural elites at the national and local levels from the 7th to the 17th century. He is the author of "This Culture of Ours": Intellectual Transitions in T'ang and Sung China, Neo-Confucianism in History, coauthor of Sung Dynasty Uses of the I-ching, co-editor of Ways with Words, and various journal articles in Chinese, Japanese, and English. He led Harvard’s university-wide effort to establish support for geospatial analysis in teaching and research; in 2005 he was named the first director of the Center for Geographic Analysis. He also directs the China Historical Geographic Information Systems project, a collaboration between Harvard and Fudan University in Shanghai to create a GIS for 2000 years of Chinese history.

Reviews

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent historical introduction to an often mystified subject. Strong recommend for anyone interested in Song-Late Ming history.

Writing and argumentation extremely clear and well organized. Explanations are concise and relevant, without requiring the specialist knowledge too-often assumed by most history of philosophy books.

Read for class.

[Erik Champenois · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a dry read, but it did help me better understand Neo-Confucianism and its place in Chinese history. Whereas I had mistakenly equated the examination system and Neo-Confucianism with each other, and thought that Neo-Confucianism was more or less established/supported by the state during the Song dynasty, it turns out that Neo-Confucianism arose as a marginal intellectual culture opposed to the Wang Anshi New Policies, which it blamed for the loss of the north, and in support of a more bottom-up individual-, morality-, and society-based approach. It mostly wasn't until the Yuan and Ming dynasties that Neo-Confucianism became more state-supported.

Bol shows how Neo-Confucianism claimed for itself the rediscovery of the learning of the sages and the principles of Confucius, in the process implying that the Han and the Tang had actually not practiced the Way properly. The interpretation of Confucius and the ancients offered by the Neo-Confucianists brought back the right Way. Politically, this teaching served to humanize the Emperor: instead of having power to mediate between heaven and earth, the ruler was a more human figure who should cultivate himself through learning to support the common good. Neo-Confucianism also promoted the spread of voluntary elite charitable projects to establish infrastructure and provide financial aid, including low-interest loans to farmers. Neo-Confucians promoted voluntary efforts at the local level instead of government action and were particularly successful in this model in the south.

[Liquidlasagna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recommend this to all students of Classical Chinese Intellectual History

Dr. Bol has captured the essence of Neo-Confucianism in Chinese History. His Historical narrative makes understanding a very complex subject much easier than any previous historians of Chinese Intellectual History. I recommend this to all students of Classical Chinese Intellectual History and look forward to reading his other books.

Twebb

[Hugh · Rating 5 out of 5]

best work of intellectual history/history of Philosophy I've read in ages.

[Benjamin Bullock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great introduction to Daoxue thought.