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classicism and the Imperial Civil Examination System represent the final conclu-
sion about this outcome of cultural history: the ideological emancipation and the
advent of modernity in China.
In Elman’s narrative, the changes encountered by Ming–Qing scholarship and
politics not only heralded the replacement of political power and specific in-
stitutions, but also unveiled China undergoing a cultural change from the past to a
modern age. The change had its omen of beginnings in the rise of “plain learning”
at the turn of the Ming and Qing dynasties, and its completion was secured by the
abolition of the Imperial Civil Examination System. During the process, the im-
perial ideology was dying out and Chinese intellectuals were enabled to accept
new ideas and modern science.
The concluding chapter of Elman’s Selected Works is titled “Rethinking
Confucianism,” in which the author demonstrates that the transformation of
Confucianism is closely tied to the change of China from an ancient society to a
modern one. As he points out, it is inadvisable to simply regard “Confucianism” as
a hindrance to the modernization of East Asian countries. A rethinking of Confu-
cianism in the historical context of East Asia will help us to reexamine its plural-
istic nature and its complex interactions with power and society. Such cultural and
political complexity in the relationship of Confucianism with East Asian countries
has continually intervened in the modernization of East Asia and played a vital role
in the process (Elman, 2010, pp. 228–252).

References

Chen, B. S. (2014). 经学的瓦解 [The collapse of confucian classics]. East China Normal University
Press.
Elman, B. A. (1983). The unraveling of Neo-confucianism: From philosophy to philology in late
imperial China. Tsing Hua Journal of Chinese Studies, 15(1–2), 67–89.
Elman, B. A. (1984). 从理学到朴学：中华帝国晚期思想与社会变化面面观 [From philosophy to
philology: Intellectual and social aspects of change in late imperial China] (G. Zhao, Trans.).
Jiangsu People’s Publishing House.
Elman, B. A. (1985a). From philosophy to philology: Intellectual and social aspects of change in late
imperial China. Harvard University Asia Center.
Elman, B. A. (1985b). Criticism as philosophy: Conceptual change in Qing dynasty evidential
research. Tsing Hua Journal of Chinese Studies, 17(1–2), 165–198.
Elman, B. A. (1990). Classicism, politics, and kinship: The Ch’ang-chou school of new text
confucianism in late imperial China. University of California Press.
Elman, B. A. (2010). 经学·科举·文化史：艾尔曼自选集.[Classicism, the Imperial Civil Examination
System, and cultural history: Selected works of Benjamin A. Elman] (The Institute of Literature
and History of Fudan University, Trans.). Zhonghua Book Company.
Elman, B. A. (2015). Science in China, 1600–1900. World Scientific Publishing.