Search Results (55)

This study compares complaints in Korean and Chinese, focusing on how they are expressed explicitly or implicitly. Complaints are potentially face-threatening, yet they frequently appear in conversations among native Korean and Chinese speakers who are characterized as upholding Neo-Confucian values and emphasizing social harmony. Although some contrastive studies have examined complaints across languages, none have specifically investigated the explicit and implicit strategies employed in Korean and Chinese complaint discourse. Given the growing intercultural contact between Korean and Chinese speakers, this gap calls for closer attention. To address this, the present study explores how native Korean and Chinese speakers articulate complaints in the Korean and Chinese versions of the travel reality show Sisters Over Flowers. Sixteen episodes were analyzed using interactional sociolinguistic methods, incorporating both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The analysis uncovered both explicit and implicit strategies (e.g., expressions of annoyance or disapproval, overt grievances, questions, advice, teasing, and hints). Notably, the Korean participants produced significantly fewer complaints than their Chinese counterparts. These findings offer theoretical and practical insights. Theoretically, the results challenge overly broad notions of East–West pragmatic distinctions by demonstrating meaningful variation within East Asian cultures. Practically, a better understanding of explicit and implicit complaint strategies in Korean and Chinese can enhance intercultural communication, promote culturally sensitive responses, and bridge misunderstandings in increasingly globalized settings. Full article

The work Xingli zhenquan tigang (Sing lii jen ciyan bithei hešen) was written in Chinese and Manchu by the French Jesuit Alexandre de la Charme (1695–1767) and published in Beijing in 1753. The first two sections of this paper provide an introduction to de la Charme’s work biography and to further textual and historical contexts, explore the peculiarities of the subsequent early German reception of the work almost 90 years later, and introduce the content from an overview perspective. The third section explores the most essential contents of Book 1 (of 3) of the Manchu version. The investigation is based on Hans Conon von der Gabelentz’s (1807–1874) German translation from 1840. Camouflaged as a Confucian educational dialogue, and by blurring his true identity in his publication, de la Charme criticizes Neo-Confucian positions from an implicitly Cartesian and hidden Christian perspective, tacitly blending Cartesian views with traditional Chinese concepts. In addition, he alludes to Manchu shamanic views in the same regard. De la Charme’s assimilating rhetoric “triangulation” of three different cultural and linguistic horizons of thought and spirituality proves that later Jesuit scholarship reached out into the inherent ethnic and spiritual diversity of the Qing intellectual and political elites. Hidden allusions to Descartes’s dualistic concepts of res cogitans and res extensa implicitly anticipate the beginnings of China’s intellectual modernization period one and a half centuries later. This work also provides an example of how the exchange of intellectual and religious elements persisted despite the Rites Controversy and demonstrates how the fading Jesuit mission influenced early German sinology. I believe that this previously underexplored work is significant in both systematic and historical respects. It is particularly relevant in the context of current comparative research fields, as well as transcultural and interreligious intellectual dialogue in East Asia and around the world. Full article

By reconstructing the concept of the “Mandate of Heaven”, the Zisi School grounded the universality of Confucian ethics in the ontological stipulations of Heaven’s Way, bridging the intellectual gap between Confucius’s practical ethics and Mencius’s theory of mind-nature. Central to their framework is the proposition that “Heaven’s mold imparts form to mankind; and imparts inherent pattern to objects”, which constructs a generative chain from the Mandate of Heaven to the nature of objects and human nature. The School posited that the Heavenly Way endows all objects with inherent patterns, while human nature, derived from the Mandate of Heaven, harbors latent moral potential activated through edification. By dialectically reconciling the “differentiation between Heaven and humans” with the “unity of Heaven and humanity”, the Zisi School emphasized both the transcendent authority of the Mandate of Heaven and human moral agency, forming an “immanent yet transcendent” ethical paradigm. However, theoretical limitations persist, including ambiguities in the certainty of innate goodness due to the separation of Heaven and human nature, mind-body dualism that risks formalizing moral practice, and latent fatalism in their concept of mandate. Despite these unresolved tensions, the Zisi School’s metaphysics laid the groundwork for Mencius’s theory of innate goodness, Xunzi’s legalist emphasis on ritual, and Song-Ming Neo-Confucian discourses on “Heaven’s inherent pattern”. As a pivotal transitional phase in Pre-Qin Confucianism, the Zisi School highlights the interplay between metaphysical grounding and pragmatic adaptability, underscoring the enduring dynamism of Confucian ethics. Full article

This paper examines Ira E. Kasoff’s systemic interpretation of Chang Tsai’s Neo-Confucianism in his The Thought of Chang Tsai (1020–1077), focusing on Kasoff’s reconstruction of Ch’i (qi, 气) as the ontological foundation of Chang’s philosophy. Through a trichotomous translational strategy—distinguishing between “Ch’i”, “ch’i”, and “qi”—Kasoff systematically integrates Chang’s cosmology, human nature, and ethics into a coherent framework. He argues that Ch’i (e.g., Great Void, taixu, 太虚) serves as the primordial substance underlying all existence, while ch’i and qi explain the generation of phenomenal forms and moral agency. Kasoff highlights how Chang’s Ch’i-centric ontology refutes Buddhist illusionism and Daoist non-being, positing yin–yang interactions as the self-generative mechanism of the cosmos. Central to Kasoff’s analysis is Chang’s dual-nature theory of heavenly nature (天地之性, as the inherent goodness of Ch’i) and physical nature (气质之性, as the individualized limitations of ch’i); Kasoff demonstrates how Chang’s emphasis on learning (xue, 学) aims to transform nature and restore heavenly nature, culminating in sagehood as the realization of cosmic harmony. Additionally, by contrasting Chang’s Ch’i-based system with Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, Kasoff underscores its originality—a dynamic, materialist ontology that bridges metaphysics and ethics. Full article

During the Meiji period, the relationship between Confucianism and the indigenous Japanese religion of Shinto became more complex within the context of national culture and policy. The integration of Confucianism and Shinto became an important part of Japan’s modernization and ideological construction. However, this profound fusion did not emerge suddenly; as early as the Edo period, Confucianism and Shinto had already established a certain degree of interaction and influence. Therefore, this article attempts to outline an early example of the combination of Shinto and Confucianism (more specifically, Neo-Confucianism, which had a profound impact on modern and contemporary Japan) through the lens of the integrated thought of Shinto and Confucianism of the early Edo-period scholar, Kaibara Ekiken. Full article

Private gardens during the Song Dynasty are an important component of classical Chinese garden design. However, existing research predominantly focuses on architectural forms and construction techniques, with insufficient systematic exploration of the overall spatial layout, the typological evolution of garden architecture, and the underlying driving forces behind these changes. Based on the 400 private garden records from the Complete Collection of Song, Song-era notes, poems, and paintings, this study employs methods from cliometrics and iconology to quantitatively analyse historical materials to systematically trace the evolution of spatial layouts, architectural types, architectural construction, and interior furnishings in Song private gardens while delving into the causes of these changes. The findings reveal a significant increase in the application of “elevated and terraced layouts” in Southern Song private gardens. The rise of unique architectural types, such as boat-shaped buildings, academies, and high buildings with a collection of books, is closely tied to the scholar-official culture, advancements in printing technology, the influence of Neo-Confucianism, and government support for private education. Southern Song architectural techniques saw significant advancements in response to climatic changes, featuring diversified roof forms, upturned eaves, detachable doors and windows, and elevated platforms. The invention of modular furniture, such as the Yanji table, exemplifies the ingenuity of Song designers in adapting to shrinking living spaces. This paper is the first to systematically reveal the evolution of private garden architecture in the Song Dynasty, particularly the emergence of unique architectural types. It offers a new perspective for understanding the influences of society, culture, and environment on landscape architecture in the Song Dynasty, providing valuable historical insights for the study of Ming–Qing garden architecture and contemporary landscape design practices. Full article

This paper presents a comparative study of the spatial characteristics of academies in China and Korea, focusing on BaiLuDong Academy in China and Tosan Academy in Korea. It examines the cultural philosophies and practical differences in the spatial expression of Confucianism between the two countries. BaiLuDong Academy embodies the Confucian ideals of simplicity and solemnity through its modest architectural style and rigorous spatial organization. The integration of mountain–water siting with enclosed courtyard arrangements reflects the Confucian scholar’s pursuit of self-cultivation and social order. In contrast, Tosan Academy, while grounded in Zhu Xi’s Neo-Confucian teachings, incorporates local architectural traditions to form a more open and flexible spatial configuration. Its emphasis on harmony with the natural environment represents a localized reinterpretation of Confucian values. As a spatial embodiment of ideology, the academy serves as a medium through which Confucian values are materialized in architectural form. The spatial characteristics of Chinese and Korean academies reveal the adaptability and evolution of Confucian thought across different cultural contexts. Full article

Although the Zhuangzi is mentioned in late Warring States and Han Dynasty texts, it was in the post-Han Wei-Jin period that it first exerted a significant influence on intellectual life, becoming a central target for both praise and criticism, much of which focused on its transcendent attitude toward Confucian social values and secular interests. This paper examines these discussions, focusing on criticisms from the pragmatically minded realist Confucian literati of the period, who largely regarded the text as detaching and distracting scholars from the pressing needs of the state and responses from the more sympathetic and idealist “Neo-Daoist” figures of the Dark Learning (xuanxue) movement. For the latter, the spiritual self-transcendence that could be found in the Zhuangzi text was not only a source of personal satisfaction and joy but also served an important function in Confucian ethics, leading readers to transcend narrow obsession with individual self-interest, political power and social status. While these debates express the state of Chinese society after the collapse of the Han Dynasty, they have also been seen as reflecting wider issues that have become prominent in modern Western philosophical and religious thought, notably the concept of nihilism, an association that is here critically assessed in detail. Full article

Although Wang Fuzhi is considered an important summarizer of Song–Ming Neo-Confucianism, his criticism of the traditional relationship between Heaven and human (tian ren guan xi 天人关系), especially the ensuing religious implications, has not been thoroughly examined. This essay aims to illustrate his reconstruction of Confucianism’s Heaven–human relationship and its ideal this-worldly religious way of life. He believed that Confucianism’s theory of human nature was based on the vision of man and that it was wrong to establish a static theory of human nature with the perspective of Heaven. The Heaven–human relationship is similar to that between father and son, which is different in form and separate in essence (xing yi zhi li 形异质离) and can only be balanced in a dynamic relationship. In addition, he pointed out that the traditional static relationship would lead to hypocrisy and asserted that this tendency might destroy this-worldly life of Confucianism. He attempted to integrate the different degrees of understanding of the Heaven–human relationship into a holistic and historical way of life through the Confucian classics. This-worldly life is continually aware of its own ephemerality through the feeling of the Heaven–human relationship as well as the transmission of experience. The historical life of a particular this-worldly religion is thus established. Full article

This paper elucidates the cognitive and cultural underpinnings that facilitate the coexistence of multiple—occasionally contradictory—interpretive frameworks of magico-religious beliefs and practices within a single sociocultural context. Religious beliefs and practices frequently transcend the boundaries established by a tradition’s official doctrines and normative frameworks. From the perspective of religious authorities and theological elites, such transgressions may constitute sites of tension and doctrinal concern. However, individuals, as the primary agents of lived religion, rarely conceptualize these situations as crises of faith or legitimacy. Instead, they develop improvisational strategies to negotiate these apparent contradictions within their sociocultural milieus. At the cultural level, religious beliefs and practices are not rigidly constrained by dominant official doctrines and normative prescriptions; rather, they accommodate a diverse range of interpretive possibilities. Focusing on a specific rainmaking ritual known as “Tiger Head Sinking” from the Joseon Dynasty—a period marked by the hegemony of Neo-Confucian doctrinal and normative structures—this study investigates how the dynamic interplay between cognitive constraints and cultural schemas facilitates the coexistence of seemingly incompatible interpretations and folk theories of the ritual. Full article

In pre-Song Chinese thought, the afterlife, or the subterranean realm was a sacred space distinctly separate from the world of the living, an extension of the political–religious–cultural order of the Chinese empire. Even after the introduction of Buddhism to China, although the Buddhist concept of hell applied karmic retribution to the present life in an attempt to provide ethical norms for real life, the sacredness of the afterlife remained intact. Song Dynasty Chinese thought underwent a profound “modernization” transformation. Su Shi, with the concept of qing 情 [disposition] at its core, disenchanted the sacred afterlife, shaping a new, self-conscious individuality in the interplay between the living and the dead, the finite and the infinite, the mortal and the immortal. This new individuality, with its spiritual spontaneity and freedom, integrated the afterlife with the present world, internalizing infinity and immortality into a utopian spiritual homeland. This free individuality, entirely different from Song-Ming Neo-Confucianism, marking a hidden potential in the development of Chinese intellectual history that has yet to be fully revealed. Full article

This paper examines how Chinese people affiliated with different religions and ideologies of the Song period (960–1279 CE) used artistic, literary and visual representations to merge mountains and the natural world with the human body. This fusion of natural and human worlds in representation appears in a variety of contexts, including paintings of famous Song landscape artists, writings of literati thinkers, architectural developments of Neo-Confucian scholars, body charts recorded in the Daoist Canon, and artwork connected to Chinese Buddhism. The paper asserts that Song Chinese people used art and other material objects not only for the purpose of representing the world in which they lived but also as a means of expressing, developing and empowering their religions and ideologies. So powerful were these material representations, in fact, that in certain cases, they may have acted as a primary conduit through which the religion or ideology was experienced. As the paper shows, the interaction between the non-material activity of visualization (how people create images in their minds) and representation (how people create material objects to reify the images in their minds) is often pivotal, as opposed to accessory, to some of the later ideological developments of the Chinese people. Full article

Yang Shi initiated the Neo-Confucian methodology of self-cultivation centered on quiet-sitting, and focusing on Yang Shi may shift the study of Confucian quiet-sitting to a more chronologically appropriate “beginning-forward” approach. Incorporating techniques such as breathing and calming the mind, Yang’s approach to self-cultivation follows a model of returning to the state of centrality through quiet-sitting, and then preserving and expanding that state in moments of everyday life. This model is based on a moral psychology and metaphysics that views the comprehensive pattern-principle of the universe, Tianli, as fully manifest in the vital state of the human heartmind achievable through the practice of quiet-sitting. This view inherits major features of Cheng Hao’s philosophy while distinguishing itself from Cheng Yi’s. Yang Shi’s reflections on the differences between Confucian and Buddhist contemplative practices also indicate, despite his view being closer to the Huayan Buddhist metaphysical perspective of perfect fusion between pattern-principle and things compared to Cheng Yi, an insistence on characterizing his quiet-sitting philosophy as distinctively Confucian. Full article

Han Yu 韓愈 was a prominent literatus in the Tang dynasty and an influential figure in the history of Chaozhou culture. From the Song dynasty, the Neo-Confucian teachings became popular, and Han Yu was revered as a significant pioneer; hence, his position was raised to a new height. In Chaozhou, local officials and the literati continuously emphasized Han Yu’s significance to Chaozhou culture and education and built many temples and academies devoted to him. As a deity, Han Yu was viewed as a representative of Confucianism and was typical of orthodoxy sacrifices. The present article clarifies the origination and transmission of the Han Yu belief in the Chaozhou region and explores the process of deification and the spread of Chinese popular religion. Although local officials and the literati spared no efforts in promoting the Han Yu belief, the belief never became popular among Chaozhou people. Local officials and the literati focused on different aspects of the Han Yu belief. They stressed the orthodoxy of the belief and were never concerned with miracles. What they were concerned with and endeavored for somewhat hampered the spread of the belief among the masses. Full article

This paper offers the first English-language philosophical treatment of Master Liu (Liuzi 劉子)—a treatise that gives a unique insight into the intellectual life of sixth-century China. Most probably written by Liu Zhou (d. 565) and known at the Tang court, the work was later neglected due to its eclectic label. This article argues that Liuzi integrated Confucian moral philosophy with selected Daoist ideas and responded to post-Buddhist transformations of key categories of Chinese thought in a manner that anticipates many solutions characteristic of neo-Confucian lixue. This includes an innovative understanding of such categories as spirit (shen) and heart-mind (xin), feelings (qing) and desires (yu), and, finally, reliability (xin) and balancing (quan). Full article