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Chinese Communist Treatment of the Thinkers of the Hundred Schools Period
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 February 2009
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Although there is no detailed definitive Chinese Communist interpretation of the thinkers of the 100 Schools Period, this does not mean that one cannot isolate certain constants from which deviation is not permitted. The sayings of Marx-Engels and Mao Tse-tung which are directly relevant to the early thinkers, if not strictly about them, have obviously been the primary guidelines for the scholar in Communist China. Especially in the material produced since 1957, when relatively intensive study of the period began, one becomes aware of more specific trends in interpretation. With the basic tenets of Marx and Engels as tools for interpretation, it is axiomatic that understanding the class struggle of a given time is the key to understanding the thought of that time. The “contention” among the 100 Schools is taken to be a reflection of the intensity of class struggle in the Warring States Period. It is also axiomatic that the history of the struggle between progressive and reactionary forces is reflected in the enduring philosophical struggle between materialism and idealism. But the philosophical concepts associated with materialism and idealism are not native to China; nor are their Marxist definitions universally accepted in the history of Western philosophy. Therefore, in interpreting the thought of the 100 Schools Period, scholars most frequently cite Marx-Engels definitions as support for their own interpretations or to criticise those of others. Engels states that all those who take spirit as prior to the existence of the natural world and thus in the last analysis admit a creator (Old Testament variety or the more sophisticated Absolute Spirit of Hegel) belong in the idealist camp.
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References
1 In the selection of works to be read for a study of this kind, one is necessarily guided in port by subjective factors. One gets the feeling from repeated exposure to articles and books on the 100 Schools Period that certain authors are the most widely discussed among their peers. Their names continually crop up in the works of other scholars, and their articles are regularly included in compilations of selected pieces on a specific topic. I have tried to concentrate on men of this calibre. But in addition to my “impressions” I had tile advantage of very helpful advice from Professor Wing-tsit Chan, of Dartmouth College. Strictly speaking, the term “100 Scholars” refers to the numerous philosophical doctrines which flourished during the Warring States Period (475–221 B.C.), i.e., after the time of Confucius and Mo Tzu.
2 As stated in Engels, , Fei-erh-pa-ha yu Te-kuo Ku-tien Che-hsueh ti Chung-chieh (Feuerbach and the Outcome of German Classical Philosophy) (Shanghai: Jen-min Ch'u-pan She, 1955), pp. 19–20Google Scholar. Since the time of Engels there has been a confusion in Marxist thought between the definition of “materialism” as a belief in “the primacy of Nature over Spirit” (i.e., the denial of a creator God and treatment of mind as a function of matter) and as a belief in objective reality independent of consciousness and sensation (“realism” in Western terminology). In each case “idealism” is defined as the reverse and includes the most diverse of creeds from Hegel's absolute idealism to agnosticism and scepticism. See Wetter, Gustav A., Dialectical Materialism (New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1958), pp. 28–296Google Scholar.
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24 Sung K'eng and Yin Wen are early Taoists mentioned in the Chuang-tzu, T'ten Hsia P'ien.
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38 Analects, xvii.19.3.
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43 Ibid. p. 116.
44 Ibid. p. 136.
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46 For example, see the discussion of the meeting of historians of Central South Region in Kuang-ming Jih-pao, 05 19, 1961Google Scholar, translated in SCMP, No. 2514.
47 Hou, , Chung-kuo Ssu-hsiang T'ung-shih, I, p. 397Google Scholar.
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52 Yang, , “Lun K'ung-tzu ssu-hsiang,” p. 399Google Scholar.
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60 Jen, , “Lun Lao-tzu che-hsueh,” p.31Google Scholar. Even those who regard Lao-tzu as an idealist see incipient “materialistic factors” in his denial of anthropomorphic spirits and view of the Heavenly Way; see Kuan, and Lin, , “Lao-tzu che-hsueh,” p. 176Google Scholar.
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63 Kuan, and Lin, , “Chuang-tzu che-hsueh p'i-p'an,” p. 21Google Scholar.
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68 Jen, , “Han Fei ti she-hui,” pp. 147–149Google Scholar.
69 Jung-kuo, Yang, in Kuang-ming Jih-pao, 11 10, 1963Google Scholar, translated in Joint Publications Research Service (JPRS) (U.S. Department of Commerce, Office of Technical Services), No. 22, 391Google Scholar.
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71 Kuan, and Lin, , “Tsai lun K'ung-tzu,” p. 324Google Scholar.
72 See Feng, Kuan and Yu-shih, Lin, “Lun Sung Yin hsueh-p'ai” (“On the Sung-Yin School”), Che-hsueh Yen-chiu, No. 5, 1959, pp. 28–45Google Scholar. The material for the study of these early Taoists comes mainly from the text Kuan Tzu, possibly first century B.C., based on earlier materials. Fung Yu-lan and Hou Wai-lu dispute this attribution of materialism to the Sung/Yin School.
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74 JPRS, No. 22, 391. Also see Li, , “Hsun-tzu ti Ssu-hsiang,” p. 78Google Scholar.
75 Jen, , “Han Fei ti she-hui,” p. 146Google Scholar.
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80 Ibid pp. 244–245. Also see Wai-lu, Hou, A Short History of Chinese Philosophy (Peking: Foreign Languages Press, 1959), p. 6Google Scholar.
81 Kuan, and Lin, , “Lun Lao-tzu che-hsueh,” pp. 206–208Google Scholar. Lu Chen-yu takes a similar position.
82 e.g., see Fung, , “Lao-tzu ti che-hsueh,” p. 11Google Scholar, and Chen-yu, Lu, Chung-kuo Cheng-chih Ssu-hsiang Shih (History of Chinese Political Thought) (Peking: Jen-min Ch'u-pan She, 1961), pp. 57–59Google Scholar; Yang, , “Kuan-yu ‘Wu-ch'ien Yen’,” p. 297Google Scholar.
83 Jen, , “Chuang-tzu ti wei-wu-chu-i,” p. 171Google Scholar.
84 Yu-lan, Fung, “Lun Chuang-tzu (“On Chuang-tzu”), Chuang-tzu Che-hsueh, p. 126Google Scholar. The article originally appeared in People's Daily, February 26, 1961.
85 Jen, , “Chuang-tzu ti wei-wu-chu-i,” p. 171Google Scholar; Kuan, , “Chuang-tzu che-hsueh p'i-p'an,” p. 21Google Scholar.
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87 Hsin Ch'ing-nien (New Youth), Vol. V, 4 (10 15, 1918)Google Scholar, quoted in Tsetsung, Chow, The May Fourth Movement (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1960), p. 289Google Scholar.
88 Ah Q is the central character in “The True Story of Ah Q,” by Hsun, Lu (Chou Shu-jen, 1881–1936)Google Scholar. He claims “spiritual victories” when beaten and beats those weaker than himself when he can. He was a symbol of a national defect, manifested most clearly in China's behaviour towards the other nations which threatened her.
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90 Fung, , “Lun Chuang-tzu,” p. 126Google Scholar.
91 Ibid..
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93 Kuang-ming Jih-pao, November 10, 1964.
94 Numerous articles appeared on the matter in the Press. See, for example, People's Daily, July 17 and 19 and August 14 and 31, 1964. Also China News Analysis (Hong Kong), No. 535.
95 The doctrines of Edward Bernstein (1850–1932), advocating peaceful parliamentary means for attaining the workers' goals and socialism, were attacked by Lenin. Lenin stressed class struggle and proletarian dictatorship.
96 A Hung Ch'i (Red Flag) editorial has this to say about compromise: “Moreover, the modern revisionists give voice to pure inventions such as that the revolutionary Marxist-Leninists, whom they call ‘dogmatists,’ ‘reject’ certain necessary compromises. We would like to tell these modern revisionists that no serious-minded Marxist-Leninist rejects compromises indiscriminately. In the course of our protracted revolutionary struggle, we Chinese Communists had reached compromises on many occasions with our enemies, internal and external. For example, we came to a compromise with the reactionary Chiang Kai-shek clique. We came to a compromise, too, with the U.S. imperialists, in the struggle to aid Korea and resist U.S. aggression. For Marxist-Leninists, the question is what kind of a compromise to arrive at, the nature of the compromise, and home to bring about a compromise. … It is precisely in accordance with Lenin's teaching that we Chinese Communists distinguish between different kinds of compromise, favouring compromises which are in the interests of the people's cause and of world peace, and opposing compromises that are in the nature of treachery. It is perfectly clear that only those guilty now of adventurism, now of capitulation, are the ones whose ideology is Trotskyism, or Trotskyism in a new guise”: Red Flag, No. 1, 1963Google ScholarPubMed, reprinted as Leninism and Modern Revisionism (Peking: Foreign Languages Press, 1963), pp. 9–10.
97 (Peking: Chung-hua Shu-chu, 1961.)
98 e.g., Chieh-kang, Ku, “Shang-shu ‘Ta Kao’ Chin shin” (“Modern Explanation of the Ta Kao Chapter of The Book of History”), Li-shih Yen-chiu, No. 4, 1962 pp. 26–51Google Scholar.
99 In the chapter “Shih ‘jen’ ‘min’.” (“Explaining ‘jen’ and ‘min’,”), in Chi-pin, Chao, Lun-yu Hsin T'an (A New Study of the Analects) (Peking: Jen-min Ch'u-pan She, 1962)Google Scholar.
100 Meng-chia, Ch'en, Yin-hsu Pu-tz'u Tsung-shu (An Account of the Oracle Bone Graphs from the Yin Wastes) (Peking: K'o-hsueh Ch'u-pan She, 1956), pp. 610–616Google Scholar and 640. Although his historical interpretations sometimes reflect a Marxist viewpoint, Ch'en himself has never been identified closely with the Party and in 1957 was declared “right-wing.”
101 There is a nice summary of the arguments in Ta, Ch'i, “Chia-ku-wen-chung ti ‘chung’ shih-pu-shih nu-li” (“Does the Oracle Bone Graph ‘chung’ Denote a Slave?”), Hsueh-shu Yueh-k'an (Academic Monthly), No. 1 (1957), p. 18Google Scholar.
102 Jung-kuo, Yaag, “Chuang-tzu Ssu-hsiang t'an-wei” (“A Close Examination of Chuang-tzu's Thought”), Chuang-tzu Che-hsueh, pp. 289Google Scholar and 291. The article first appeared in Che-hsueh Yen-chiu, No. 5, 1961Google Scholar. See also Jen, , “Chuang-tzu ti wei-wu-chu-i,” p. 174Google Scholar, and Kuan, , “Chuang-tzu che-hsueh p'i-p'an,” p. 6Google Scholar.
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