In the late Qing dynasty (1644-1911), many missionaries came to China with Western ideas following the invasion by Western powers such as British imperialists. Therefore, many Chinese students and intellectuals inevitably came into contact with Western techniques, religious ideas, and history. However, there always have been many differences between the original European ideas and the Chinese understanding of them. Under the hegemonic power of western civilization, Chinese scholar Kang Youwei appropriated social Darwinism into a theory about evolution based on Confucian thought. Kang Youwei’s appropriation on evolutionism is connected to a specific discourse associated with French philosopher Michel de Certeau’s idea of “secondary production”
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China in the nineteenth century was in a dilemma, as comparison between the Chinese Wenming (civilization) and the Western civilization (such as military technology, medicine, philosophy) revealed numerous disparities. Chinese emperors always referred its nation as Central Kingdom, and they always saw their Wenming as the one and only civilization. They believed that Chinese Wenming was in the highest form of civilization represented by Confucianism in which Confucius emphasized morality over technological advances. However, Chinese saw Westerners as barbarians. Western civilization on the other hand experienced industrial revolution. It paid more attention to the technological efficiency, industrial output, and the profit. Although it was impossible and meaningless to decide which one was better, China was technologically backward and invaded by Europeans during the late Qing dynasty. Confucianism alone could not prevent China from European weaponry. Therefore, adapting to the Western ideology was a necessary move because it was the only way to assure the continuity of classical Chinese …show more content…
Kang Youwei’s explanation of evolutionism tried to achieve both in order to preserve the Confucius teachings. His ultimate goal was Great Peace in human society (not profit maximization from a capitalist view), and laws and government were more important than biological reasoning. First, Kang Youwei framed Chinese Wenming under Confucian values. While the Western culture believed that civilizations could only advance through science and technology, Kang Youwei argued that progress required “the moral life of conscious beings”. In his work ta-t’ung, Kang Youwei argued that the world would evolve from a place that required “social norms, or li, permitted partial expression of human solidarity, allowing for ethical distinctions between near and far, or high and low,” to an age when “social customs would have cast off all such ‘selfishness’, and would perfectly reflect a spirit of undifferentiated universal love (jen).” Kang Youwei agreed with the idea that there was a “fixed sequence” in human progress. With the presence of jen, he believed that “autocracy gradually leads to constitutionalism, and constitutionalism gradually leads to republicanism.” Therefore, in order for society to evolve, according to Kang Youwei, people would have to diminish and eventually
China in the nineteenth century was in a dilemma, as comparison between the Chinese Wenming (civilization) and the Western civilization (such as military technology, medicine, philosophy) revealed numerous disparities. Chinese emperors always referred its nation as Central Kingdom, and they always saw their Wenming as the one and only civilization. They believed that Chinese Wenming was in the highest form of civilization represented by Confucianism in which Confucius emphasized morality over technological advances. However, Chinese saw Westerners as barbarians. Western civilization on the other hand experienced industrial revolution. It paid more attention to the technological efficiency, industrial output, and the profit. Although it was impossible and meaningless to decide which one was better, China was technologically backward and invaded by Europeans during the late Qing dynasty. Confucianism alone could not prevent China from European weaponry. Therefore, adapting to the Western ideology was a necessary move because it was the only way to assure the continuity of classical Chinese …show more content…
Kang Youwei’s explanation of evolutionism tried to achieve both in order to preserve the Confucius teachings. His ultimate goal was Great Peace in human society (not profit maximization from a capitalist view), and laws and government were more important than biological reasoning. First, Kang Youwei framed Chinese Wenming under Confucian values. While the Western culture believed that civilizations could only advance through science and technology, Kang Youwei argued that progress required “the moral life of conscious beings”. In his work ta-t’ung, Kang Youwei argued that the world would evolve from a place that required “social norms, or li, permitted partial expression of human solidarity, allowing for ethical distinctions between near and far, or high and low,” to an age when “social customs would have cast off all such ‘selfishness’, and would perfectly reflect a spirit of undifferentiated universal love (jen).” Kang Youwei agreed with the idea that there was a “fixed sequence” in human progress. With the presence of jen, he believed that “autocracy gradually leads to constitutionalism, and constitutionalism gradually leads to republicanism.” Therefore, in order for society to evolve, according to Kang Youwei, people would have to diminish and eventually