Page 158 - 2022(1) International Confusion Studies

Post-Millennium Research Into Confucianism 151

After distinguishing between the progressive and the backward aspects of
Confucius and Confucianism through class analysis, the essence of all the three
articles is to expound the positive values as much as possible.
Extracting some of those popular sayings from the time of Confucius, we can
see that they share some basic tenets of Confucian thought from the 1980s, such as
rituals and benevolence (仁), loyalty (忠) and forbearance (恕), the Mandate of
Heaven, and Confucius’ educational thought; themes that were already outlined in
the essays published in the 1950s. Articles in the early 1960s, such as Tong Shuye’s
(童书业 1908–1968) “Research on the Thought of Confucius” (孔子思想研究)
published in History Edition of the Journal of Shandong University (《山东大学学
)
报(历史版)》, in December 1960, and “Confucius on Benevolence” (孔子论仁)
published by Journal of Literature, History & Philosophy in May 1961, discussed
Confucianism research in the 1950s. In the first 17 years of the People’s Republic of
China, scholars managed to explore the positive value of Confucianism in their
class analysis. In addition, they formulated a methodological overview of the
“abstract inheritance method” (Feng, 1957). What is particularly noteworthy is the
importance attached to “benevolence” in Confucianism during this period. If we
look at the Confucianism papers during this period, we can see that after Pang Pu’s
(庞朴 1928–2015) “Re-evaluation of Confucian Thought” (孔子思想的再评价)in
1978, it is not coincidental that the structure of Confucianism’s “external rites
and internal benevolence” (外礼内仁) was gradually elaborated by mainland ac-
ademics and that, rather than falling out of the sky from nowhere, it had in fact
been based on those 17 years of scholarly research. It can be said that the study of
Confucianism in China, since the country’s reform and opening up, was actually
initiated in the 17 years after the founding of the People’s Republic of China, a
period in which it underwent continued research and advancement.
Be it the philosophical or historical path, Confucianism research in Chinese
mainland between 1950 and 1966 basically began with class analysis. Confucian
thought was then distinguished between progressive (materialist) and backward
(idealist). During this period, this type of research paradigm brought the analysis
of Confucianism closer to politics, or it was focused on political Confucianism,
rather than heart-mind Confucianism. Often it went so far as criticizing and
rejecting the latter theory as the dregs of idealism. The differences between
these research interests and those of “Hong Kong and Taiwan Neo-Confucianism”
(港台新儒家) at that time, are in contrast with the fact that since the new century,
“mainland Neo-Confucianism” has generally focused on political Confucianism,
while “Hong Kong and Taiwan Neo-Confucianism” has placed more emphasis on
heart-mind Confucianism. It cannot be said that there is no connection between
them whatsoever, especially in terms of academic heritage.