Page 43 - 2022(1) International Confusion Studies

36 J. Liu and X. Tong

2 Lessons From the Rise and Fall of Classics
Scholarship

A historical review of classics scholarship will show us that jing (what is taught in
the classics scholarship) represents the norms of human life and is invariable from
antiquity to the present. However, the history of classics scholarship is eventful
from past to present, having been subjected to two major cataclysms, once in
ancient and the other in pre-modern times.

2.1 Events of Changes in Classics Scholarship in Ancient Times

In ancient China classic scholarship underwent changes, as mentioned in The
Synopsis of the Catalog of the Complete Library of the Four Branches of Literature (in
the Imperial Library) (《四库全书总目提要 · 经部总叙》):

The classics scholarship, having been edited carefully by the sages, serve to be quintessential
models for posterity. Their tenets, after deliberation and redaction, shine like the sun at its
zenith, and their glory outshines all compliments. Commentaries and annotations were only
produced later for their exegesis and explanation. For the two thousand years since the Han-
dynasty capital was established in Chang’an, Classics were pursued by Confucian scholars,
but classics scholarship has undergone six major changes. (Ji, 2000, p. 49)

While this is an apt comment on the prevalent maladies of classics scholarship
through numerous periods of history, this is not of concern in the present
discussion.

2.2 Disastrous Events Befalling Classics Scholarship in Pre-
modern China

When Europe entered the era of the Enlightenment after the Renaissance, China
also began to experience changes in cultural and intellectual trends. Towards the
end of the Qing Dynasty (1644–1912) the efforts by scholars like Kang Youwei (康有
为 1858–1927), Liang Qichao (梁启超 1873–1929), and Chen Huanzhang (陈焕章
1888–1933) to install Confucianism as the state religion backfired, leading to
radical campaigns that negatively affected classics scholarship.