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40 J. Liu and X. Tong

regardless of its size or appearance. Like outmoded computers being replaced
by new models, tradition is handed down and inherited over generations. It is
also changing with the times, but the “flow” of imparting and inheriting never
ceases.
Tradition, being transmitted and inherited in this flow, has a beginning and an
end; human history progresses along the path of interconnected points, from the
previous end to the next start. Likewise, inheritance and creation form a process of
unified motion. The process of continuing a civilization is achieved through
creativity and innovation; transmission and inheritance are actualized in
continual innovation of tradition.
The history of Chinese classics scholarship is a case in point. It exhibits a
historical flow of continuity as well as innovative variation, which is a historical
necessity. The historian Sima Qian (司马迁 ca. 145 B.C.E.–ca. 86 B.C.E.) spoke of
“social maladies incurring changes” (承弊通变), showing that as history pro-
gresses, nothing can remain how it once was. Even the “regular procedure of
Heaven” (天经)and the “right phenomena of Earth” (地义), which seem to be
eternally invariable, appear stable only in relative terms to the “actions of men,”
who themselves are changing continuously. Chinese classics scholarship is the
product of historical reason, and so tradition is by no means the enemy of
reason.

4 The Significance of Modern Classics
Scholarship Studies

4.1 Classics Scholarship as the Gene of Chinese Culture

Classics scholarship carries the gene of Chinese culture. Ren (benevolence) and li
(rites) constitute the kernel of classics scholarship. The Analects contains many
dialogs of Confucius being asked about benevolence, some of which are excerpted
below.

4.1.1 Fan Chi’s Inquiry About “Benevolence”

Fan Chi (樊迟 ?–522 B.C.E.) asked about benevolence. The Master said, “The
benevolent man reaps the benefit only after overcoming difficulties. That can be