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154 M. Li

be rendered absolutes, obscuring or negating the questions posed by changing
historical perspectives and the differences that exist between China and the West.
This paper focuses on the contradictions and possible theoretical blindness as well
as the practical disadvantages of the latter style of analysis.
Although Confucian revival or Confucian rehabilitation post-2000 has seen a
trend toward emphasizing “differences between China and the West,” (a trend
which, for more than 20 years, seems to be reflected in the public’s two-decade
long zeal to study ancient Chinese civilization), it cannot hide its alienation, nor its
divorce from reality and academic research, nor conceal the resulting confronta-
tion and contradictions between the future and the past.
In fact, regardless of the rise or fall of Confucianism in the academic
historical narrative, its power to shape people’slives hasalwaysremained: from
the positive emphasis on kinship to the negative emphasis on nepotism; because
we are the products of this tradition, reflection is more important than revival. In
other words, in the ebb and flow of social change, traditions are not “lost”;
Confucian concepts have survived in various forms. Confucianism’sdrastic
“extinction–revival” is still the trend that flows through the Confucianism
narrative and through academic history, while the move toward Confucian
revival is still chiefly found in the academic world. This is a reflection of the
accumulated dissatisfaction felt within Chinese academic circles due to the loss
of its voice in global academia over many years, caused by the wish to pursue the
Chinese narrative and by another reawakening of the ancient Confucian
“extinction–revival” doctrine, which has been inspired by China’seconomic
stimulus and rapid economic development.
The current Confucian revival is based on a thesis that emphasizes the
differences between China and the West, it cannot avoid the reality that academic
research is, in itself, undergoing a transformation as it modernizes with the times, a
process that is still far from complete. Through the process of transforming
Confucianism from a classical to a modern form, the traditional union between the
“study” of Confucius and the “human” element has instead become disconnected
and divorced; it is in a state of fracture and separation.
Confucianism today, especially at the theoretical level, exists as part of
modern academic research. Historical exposition and theoretical construction
in theses and monographs are its main form of existence, mostly realized by
professional researchers whose method of realization is argumentative. As we
all know, the root of classical Confucianism lies in self-cultivation. According to
)
The Great Learning (《大学》, “From the Son of Heaven down to the common
people, self-cultivation must be considered by all” (自天子以至于庶人, 壹是皆以
修身为本) (Zhu, 2011, p. 5).