Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T19:20:23.143Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The T'i—Yung Dichotomy and the Search for Talent in Late-Ch'ing China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Luke S. K. Kwong
Luke S. K. Kwong
Affiliation:
University of Lethbridge
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

It is a commonplace in modern Chinese history that the twin-concept of t'i–yung espoused a doctrine of cultural conservatism in late-Ch'ing China. Briefly, the dichotomy is seen as a call to preserve the ‘substance’ (t'i) of the Chinese cultural tradition by adopting the ‘function’ (yung) of Western technology, or simply, to strengthen Confucian China by implementing Western-inspired reforms; hence, the famous slogan, ‘Chinese learning for fundamental principles and Western learning for practical application’ (Chung-hsueh wei-t'i Hsi-hsueh weiyung). Both the slogan and the position it reflects have long come under criticism. An early, influential critic was Yen Fu, the well-known interpreter of Social Darwinism in late-Ch'ing China. In 1902, in a published open letter to the editor of Wai-chiao pao (Foreign affairs magazine), Yen expanded on an earlier view of a contemporary schlar, Ch'iu T'ing-liang, that the notion of t'i-yung, when properly applied, refers to the two complementary aspects of a single entity and not to attributes from two different juxtaposed objects. To drive home his point, Yen cites an analogy. An ox as t'i has its yung, which is to carry heavy loads, whereas a horse as t'i has its yung, which is to go long distances. Now the attempt to combine a t'i with an extraneous yung is like ascribing a horse's function to an ox's body, or vice versa, and the result could only be a bizarre mismatch, an affront to nature's purposes.

Type
Articles
Information
Modern Asian Studies , Volume 27 , Issue 2 , May 1993 , pp. 253 - 279
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

This paper was first presented at the Canadian Asian Studies Association Conference, Victoria, B.C., Canada, 29–31 May 1990. I wish to thank the University of Lethbridge for a travel grant to enable me to attend the Conference, Professor Jack Gerson for commenting on an earlier draft of this paper, and Professors Paul Cohen, Albert Feuerwerker, Jack Gerson and Ron Keith for their support and encouragement through the years.

1 For a general discussion of the late-Ch'ing uses of the t'i–yung dichotomy, see Hsü-lu, Ch'en, Chin-tai-shih ssu-pien lu (Essays on modern Chinese history) (Canton, 1984), pp. 42–69;Google ScholarErh-min, Wang, Wan-Ch'ing cheng-chih ssu-hsiang shih lun (Essays on late-Ch'ing political thought) (Taipei, 1969), pp. 51–71;Google ScholarTu-ki, Min, National Polity and Local Power (Cambridge, Mass., Council on East Asian Studies, Harvard University, 1989), pp. 51–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

2 Fu, Yen, Yen Fu chi (Collected works of Yen Fu) (Peking, 1986), pp. 558–9.Google Scholar

3 Levenson, Joseph, Confucian China and its Modern Fate (Berkeley, U. of California Press, 1968), pp. 59–78, esp. p. 65.Google Scholar

4 See Chün-i, Wang and Te-lin, Fang, ‘Tui pa-shih nien-tai “wen-hua je” ti p'ingchia yü ssu-k'ao’ (An assessment of the ‘culture studies fever’ in the 1980s), in Ch'üant'ung wen-hua yü hsien-tai-hua (Traditional culture and modernization), ed. Liwen, Chang et al. (Peking, 1987), pp. 384–402;Google Scholar also, Wei-cheng, Chu, ‘Chung-kuo wen-hua yen-chiu ti hsin chin-chan’ (New developments in the study of Chinese culture), in Tuan-lieh yü chi-ch'eng (Rupture and succession), ed. Fu-tan hsueh-pao she-hui k'ohsueh pan pien-chi-pu, (Shanghai, 1987), pp. 1–24.Google Scholar

5 For a relevant discussion, see Ayers, William, Chang Chih-tung and Educational Reform in China (Cambridge, Mass., Harvard U. Press, 1971), p. 167, text and fn. 89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

6 See entry on t'i-yung by Chan, Wing-tsit in Chung-kuo che-hsueh tz'u-tien ta-ch'üan (A complete dictionary of Chinese philosophy) (Taipei, 1983), pp. 853–6;Google Scholar also, K'e-li, Fang, ‘Lun Chung-kuo che-hsueh chung ti t'i-yung fan-ch'ou’ (The t'i-yung categories in Chinese philosophy), in Chung-kuo she-hui k'o-hsueh (Social sciences in China), 1984. 5:185–202.Google Scholar

7 Chan, Wing-tsit, Chu Hsi, New Studies (Honolulu, University of Hawaii Press, 1989), p. 222.Google Scholar

8 Ssu-shu Wu-ching (The Four Books and Five Classics) (Shanghai, 1936), vol. I, pp. 1–8.Google Scholar

9 For an explanation of this expression, see Yü-sheng, Lin, ‘The Suicide of Li Chi,’ in The Limits of Change, ed. Furth, Charlotte (Cambridge, Mass., Harvard U. Press, 1976), pp. 160–1.Google Scholar

10 Fang K'e-li, ‘P'ing “Chung-t'i Hsi-yung” ho “Hsi-t'i Chung-yung” ’ (A critique of the concepts of “Chinese principles and Western application” and “Western principles and Chinese application”), Che-hsueh yen-chiu (Studies in philosophy). 1987.9:29–30.Google Scholar

11 Chang-chien, Huang, Ching-hsueh li-hsueh wen-ts'un (Essays on classical learning and Neo-Confucianism) (Taipei, 1976), pp. 92–3.Google Scholar

12 Comments on Ching-i, Hsia. Kung-chung-tang Kuang-hsu ch'ao tsou-che (Secret palace memorials of the Kuang-hsu period) (Taipei, 1974), 8:153.Google Scholar

13 Ibid., 8:172.

14 Comments on Lung Hsi-ch'ing, ibid., 8:209.

15 See, for example, ibid., 8:55, 173, 175, 193, 196, 197, 209, 211.

16 The Last Stand of Chinese Conservatism (Stanford, Stanford U. Press, with additional notes, 1962), pp. 68–9, 77–9.Google Scholar

17 Ta-Ch'ing Te-tsung Ching huang-ti shih-lu (The veritable records of the reign of the Kuang-hsu emperor) (Tokyo, 1937, 1970 Taiwan reprint), 2:4, TC13/12/19.Google Scholar

18 See, for example, memorials in Tao Hsien T'ung Kuang ssu-ch'ao tsou-i (Memorials from the four reigns of Tao-kuang, Hsien-feng, T'ung-chih and Kuang-hsu) (Taipei, 1970)Google Scholar, by T'i-fang, Huang, KH7, pp. 4083–9;Google Scholar by Te-jun, Chou, KH7, pp. 4267–71;Google Scholar by Pao-t'ing, , KH7, pp. 4293–7.Google Scholar

19 Ch'ing Kuang-hsu ch'ao Chung-Jih chiao-she shih-liao (Historical documents pertaining to Sino-Japanese relations in the Kuang-hsu period of Ch'ing) (Taipei, 1963), KH21/7/5, p. 907.Google Scholar

20 Chih-tung, Chang, Chang Wen-hsiang kung ch'üan-chi (The complete works of Chang Chih-tung) (1963 Taiwan reprint), KH16/11/12, 116:16–17b.Google Scholar For Chang's earlier reference to training men of talent with t'i-yung qualities, see his memorial in 1889 in ibid., KH15/8/22, 26:21.

21 Ibid., KH17/1/?, 97:16.

22 Ibid., 1:1b.

23 Tao Hsien T'ung Kuang, KH2, p. 3085.Google Scholar

24 Ibid., KH2, p. 3121.

25 Ta-Ch'ing Te-tsung Ching huang-ti, KH10/7/14, 189:29.Google Scholar

26 See his memorial in Chang Chih-tung, Chang Wen-hsiang kung, KH20/10/7, 35:27.Google Scholar

27 See his essay on ‘pien-fa’ (reform) in Wu-hsu pien-fa (The 1898 reforms), eds Po-tsan, Chien et al. (Shanghai, 1953), I, 137.Google Scholar

28 By-laws of the Ch'ang-te ming-ta hsueh-hui, ibid., IV, 468.

29 By-laws of Su-hsueh hui, ibid., IV, 446.

30 Chiang Piao, ‘Hsiang-hsueh pao hsu’ (Preface to Studies in Hunan), ibid., IV, 531.

31 Ta-Ch'ing Te-tsung Ching huang-ti, KH21/inter.5/13, 369:12.Google Scholar

32 The discussion of the Imperial College, which later evolved into the Peking University, in Schwarcz, Vera, The Chinese Enlightenment (Berkeley, U. of California Press, 1986), pp. 39–41, is misleading.Google Scholar The new curriculum which comprised both traditional and Western subjects was not the work of radicals during the Hundred Days Reform in 1898. Sun Chia-nai's appointment as head of the College did not come after the failure of the ‘hundred days,’ nor did it signify the attempt of the empress-dowager Tz'u-hsi to control this institution.

33 See his memorial, KH22/7/?, Wu-hsu pien-fa, II, 426.Google Scholar

34 See, for example, memorials in Wu-hsu pien-fa tang-an shih-liao (Archival materials on the 1898 reforms), comp. Kuo-chia tang-an-chü Ming Ch'ing tang-an-kuan (Peking, 1958)Google Scholar, by Chih-ching, Hsu, KH24/5/18, p. 224;Google Scholar By Ling-ch'en, Ch'i, KH24/7/26, p. 76;Google Scholar by Shih-fen, Kao, KH24/7/?, p. 192;Google Scholar by Ch'ang-ch'ing, , KH24/8/4, p. 311;Google Scholar by Ch'eng-ch'in, , KH24/8/4, p. 312.Google Scholar

35 Kwong, Luke S. K., A Mosaic of the Hundred Days (Cambridge, Mass., Council on East Asian Studies, Harvard University, 1984), p. 172.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

36 See his memorial, KH24/5/27, Wu-hsu pien-fa tang-an, p. 231.Google Scholar

37 Memorial by Kao Keng-en, KH24/9/18, ibid., p. 484.

38 See their joint memorial in Chang Chih-tung, Chang Wen-hsiang kung, KH27/5/27, 52:23b.Google Scholar

39 For a relevant discussion, see Schwartz, Benjamin, ‘Some Polarities in Confucian Thought,’ in Nivison, D. S. and Wright, A. F. (eds), Confucianism in Action (Stanford, Stanford U. Press, 1959), pp. 50–62.Google Scholar

40 Chin-liang, , Chin-shih jen-wu chih (Notations on personalities in recent times) (Taipei, 1955), p. 126.Google Scholar

41 See their memorial, CC19/10/19, Ch'ing-tai wai-chiao shih-liao (Ch'ing documents on foreign relations), comp. Ku-kung, po-wu-yuan (1968 Taiwan reprint), p. 402.Google Scholar

42 See memorial by Cheng-hu, Shao, TK11/3/8, Shih-liao hsün-k'an (Historical sources: A tri-monthly), comp. Ku-kung, po-wu-yuan wen-hsien-kuan (1963 Taiwan reprint), p. 194.Google Scholar

43 For the full text of Lindsay's pamphlet, see ibid., pp. 252–3.

44 For a list of han-chien targeted by Tse-hsu, Lin, see Ya-p'ien chan-cheng (The first Opium War), comp. Ssu-ho, Ch'i et al. (Shanghai, 1954), II, 231–4.Google Scholar

45 Lin Tse-hsu to Lin Yü-chou, TK20/12/28-TK21/1/5, in Tse-hsu, Lin, Lin Tsehsu shu-chien (The letters of Lin Tse-hsu), ed. Yang, Kuo-chen (Fuchou, 1981), pp. 161–5.Google Scholar

46 See memorial by T'o-hun-pu, , TK21/5/2, in Ch'ou-pan-i-wu shih-mo (A complete account of the management of barbarian affairs) (1972 Taiwan reprint), 29:13b–15.Google Scholar

47 See Tse-hsu's, Li comments on Captain Elliot's ‘petition,’ Ya-p'ien chan-cheng, II, 252.Google Scholar

48 See for example, memorials in I-ho-tuan tang-an shih-liao (Archival materials on the Boxer Movement), comp. Ku-kung po-wu-yuan Ming Ch'ing tang-an-pu (Peking, 1979)Google Scholar, by Ch'ing-li, P'eng et al. ., KH26/6/5, p. 216;Google Scholar by Tao-k'un, Hsu, KH26/6/11, p. 256.Google Scholar

49 For a relevant discussion, see Wakeman, Frederic, Strangers at the Gate (Berkeley, U. of California Press, 1966), pp. 49–51.Google Scholar

50 Kuei-fen, Feng, Chiao-pin-lu k'ang-i (Protest from the Chiao-pin Studio) (1897, Taiwan reprint, n.d.), pp. 147, 211–13.Google Scholar

51 See his memorial, KH3, in Tao Hsien T'ung Kuang, p. 3348.Google Scholar

52 Chiang To, ‘Shih lun yang-wu yün-tung chung yang-wu wan-ku liang-p’ai luncheng ti hsing-chih’ (The nature of the disputes between the ‘foreign matters’ and reactionary cliques in the ‘foreign matters’ movement)Google Scholar, ed. Fang-chi, Juan et al. (Peking, 1985), pp. 405–6.Google Scholar

53 Wu-hsu pien-fa, I, 136.Google Scholar

54 Ch'ih, Ch'en, Yung-shu (Practical words), 1898 (1970 Taiwan reprint), p. 410; also, pp. 237–8.Google Scholar

55 Chen, T'ang, Wei-yen (Warnings), 1890, 4:37.Google Scholar

56 Wu-hsu pien-fa, IV, 454.Google Scholar

57 For two contemporary views on this, see chui-sou, Nan-hsi, ‘Chiu-shih ts'e’ (A treatise to remedy the times), Wan-kuo kung-pao (Review of the times), no. 75, 1895/4 (1968 Taiwan reprint), p. 15126;Google Scholar Shang-hai Ts'ai-tzu, ‘I shih pao-kuo shuo’ (Protect the country by training the educated), ibid., no. 85, 1896/2, p. 15800.

58 See Cohen, Paul, Discovering Histoy in China (New York, Columbia University Press, 1984), pp. 9–55.Google Scholar

59 See his Between Tradition and Modernity (Cambridge, Mass., Harvard U. Press, 1978), pp. 239–76;Google Scholar‘The New Coastal Reformers,’ in Reform in Nineteenth-centuy China, eds Cohen, Paul and Schrecker, John (Cambridge, Mass., East Asian Research Center, Harvard University, 1976), pp. 255–64;Google Scholar‘Littoral and Hinterland in Nineteenth Century China: The Christian Reformers,’ in The Missionay Enterprise in China and America, ed. John, K. Fairbank (Cambridge, Mass., Harvard U. Press, 1974), pp. 197–225.Google Scholar

60 A term used for Cohen's littoral-hinterland dichotomy in Mann, Susan, Local Merchants and the Chinese Bureaucracy (Stanford, Stanford U. Press, 1987), p. 27.Google Scholar The author does not seem to do justice to Cohen's formulations in both her characterization and critique of them.

61 Garret, Shirley, Social Reformers in Urban China (Cambridge, Mass., Harvard U. Press, 1970), pp. 46–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

62 See Kuo-hui, Chang, Yang-wu yün-tung yü Chung-kuo chin-tai ch'i-yeh (The ‘foreign matters’ movement and modern Chinese enterprises) (Peking, 1979).Google Scholar

63 Chi-hsu, Chang, Chang Wen-hsiang kung chih-O chi (Chang Chih-tung's administration in Hupeh), Preface 1947 (1966 Taiwan reprint), p. 79.Google Scholar

64 Ibid., p. 134.

65 WHPF, IV, 115;Google ScholarCh'ih, Ch'en, Yung-shu, p. 431.Google Scholar

66 See memorial by Y/ /12/13, Wu-hsu pien-fa tang-an, pp. 502–3.Google Scholar

67 See his ‘Chih Shih yü tao-lu shuo’ (Good government begins with a good road system), in Shih-wu pao (The Chinese progress), KH22/11/21 (1967 Taiwan reprint), p. 969.Google Scholar

68 See, for example, memorials by T'ing-fang, Wu, KH24/6/5, and by Wan T'ingfu, KH24/8/4, in Wu-hsu pien-fa tang-an, pp. 37, 142.Google Scholar

69 Wright, A., ‘The Cosmology of the Chinese City,’ in The City in Late Imperial China, ed. Skinner, G. William (Stanford, Stanford U. Press, 1977), pp. 33–73, esp. p. 34.Google Scholar

70 Hsi-kuang, Yao, Tung-fang ping-shih chi-luch (An account of the Sino-Japanese War), 1897 (Taiwan reprint, n.d.), pp. 192–3.Google Scholar

71 Shang-hai hsien-chih i(Gazetteer of the Shanghai district), preface by Hsu Tsungying, 1871 (1975 Taiwan reprint), p. 6.Google Scholar

72 Min-kuo Shang-hai hsien-chih (Gazetteer of the Shanghai district, the Republican period edition), 1935 (1975 Taiwan reprint), pp. 932–3.Google Scholar

73 T'ao, Wang, Wang T'ao jih-chi (The diary of Wang T'ao), ed. Hsing, Fang et al. (Peking, 1987), HF8/11/25, p. 57.Google Scholar

74 Hsi-ch'i, Wang, ‘Pei-hsing jih-chi’ (Diary kept on my visit to the north), in Ch'ing-tai jih-chi hui-ch'ao (Ch'ing diaries with references to Shanghai), comp. Shanghai, jen-min ch'u-pan-she (Shanghai, 1982), pp. 332–3.Google Scholar

75 See, for example, Kuei-fang, Wu, ‘Chin-tai Shang-hai ti “shih-li yang-ch'ang” p'ien’ (On the ‘ten-li stretch of foreign settlement’ in modern Shanghai), She-hui k'shsueh (Social sciences), 1980. 2:115–23;Google Scholar also, Shih-ch'üan, Huang, Sung-nan meng-ying lu (On Shanghai) (Shanghai, preface 1883). There are numerous late-Ch'ing sources recording Chinese impressions of Shanghai.Google Scholar Some of these are being reprinted in the series, Shang-hai-t'an yü Shang-hai jen 'ung-shu (The Bund and the people of Shanghai) (Shanghai, 1988–).Google Scholar

76 See, for example, Li Po-yuan, Kuan-ch'ang hsien-hsing chi (Panorama of officialdom) (1974 Taiwan reprint), and Wen-ming hsiao-shih (A mini-history of civilized behavior) (1974 Taiwan reprint); Wu Wo-yao, Erh-shih-nien mu-tu chih kuai hsien-chuang (Bizarre events witnessed in the last twenty years) (1974 Taiwan reprint).Google Scholar

77 Po-yuan, Li, Kuan-ch'ang hsien-hsing chi, pp. 52–3.Google Scholar

78 Po-yuan, Li, Wen-ming hsiao-shih, p. 78.Google Scholar

79 See Hsing-ts'un, Ch'ien, Hsien-tai Chung-kuo wen-hsueh lun (On modern Chinese literature) (Shanghai, preface 1933), pp. 16–17.Google Scholar

80 Shen-nü (The goddess), directed by Wu Yung-kang, 1934;Google ScholarHsin-chiu Shang-hai (Shanghai, then and now), directed by Ch'eng, Pu-kao, 1936.Google Scholar See also various film scripts in Wu-ssu i-lai tien-ying chii-pen hsuan-chi (A collection of film scripts from the post-May Fourth period), comp. Chung-kuo, tien-ying kung-tso-che hsuch-hui (Peking, 1962, 2 vols).Google Scholar

81 Le-p'ing, Chang, San-mao liu-lang chi hsuan-chi (Selections from San-mao's wanderings) (1959, 1978 Hong Kong reprint). See editor's preface.Google Scholar

82 Ch'ih, Ch'en, Yung-shu, p. 89.Google Scholar

83 Chih-tung, Chang, Ch'üan-hsuch p'ien (Exhortation to study), 1898 (1967 Taiwan reprint), p. 108.Google Scholar

84 Ibid., p. 88.

85 Ibid., p. 39.

86 Ibid., p. 36.

87 Ibid. The culprits responsible for dangerous ideas such as this included T'an Ssu-t'ung and Liang Ch'i-ch'ao, who later became involved, in varying degrees, in the Hundred Days Reform in 1898. See Kwong, , Mosaic, pp. 117–18.Google Scholar In this context, Ayers seems to have misconstrued the influence of Chang Chih-tung's Ch'üan-hsueh p'ien on the ‘younger generation of reformers’ (Ayers, , Chang Chi-tung and Educational Reform, p. 139).Google Scholar

88 For his discussion of these concepts, see the chapter, ‘Cheng-ch'üan’ (On proper understanding of power/authority), Ibid., pp. 49–56. Also, see Kwong cited in note 80.

89 See, for example, Hao, Chang, Liang Ch'i-ch'ao and Intellectual Transition in China (Cambridge, Mass., Harvard U. Press, 1971), p. 107;Google ScholarAyers, William, Chang Chih-tung, pp. 146, 148;Google ScholarBays, Daniel, China Enters the Twentieth Century (Ann Arbor, The U. of Michigan Press, 1978), p. 18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

90 Chih-tung, Chang, Ch'üan-hsuch p'ien, pp. 55–6.Google Scholar

91 Ibid., p. 53.

92 Ibid.

93 Ibid., pp. 93–100.

94 Ibid., pp. 61–76.

95 Ibid., p. 44.

96 Ibid., p. 96. Chang did not therefore use here the exact wording of the famous slogan, ‘Chinese learning for fundamental principles and Western learning for practical application.’ However, he did use it in a contemporary memorial regarding his plan to restructure the two academies, Liang-Hu shu-yuan and Ching-hsin shu-yuan, into modern-style schools. Chih-tung, Chang, Chang Wen-hsiang kung, KH24/inter.3/15, 47:22b.Google Scholar The expression, ‘Chung-kuo,’ in this source is clearly a misprint and should read instead ‘Chung-hsueh.’ This may amend the view that Chang never used the slogan in his writings at all (Ayers, , p. 151 n. 56).Google Scholar

97 Ibid., p. 59.

98 Ibid., p. 173.

99 See ‘Hsu’ (Preface), Ibid., p. 7.

100 Alitto, Guy, ‘The Conservative as Sage: Liang Shu-ming,’ in Limits of Change, ed. Furth, Charlotte (Cambridge, Mass., Harvard U. Press, 1976), p. 215.Google Scholar

101 The article in which Yen Fu stated his objection to the t'i-yung formula dealt primarily with the issue of educational reform. See Yen Fu, pp. 557–65.Google Scholar