Li Fu Lu Child Learning Spectrum "

In the last years of Ming Dynasty, Lu & Wang's Learning was beginning to ebb from its momentous tide. After Qing had seized power, "idle talks solve no problems" became the mainstream critical consensus of Wang's Learning. Notwithstanding, Lu & Wang's Learning was by no means extinct, but developing itself by its internal logic. Sun Qifeng and Huang Zongxi, two giant Confucians in the period of Emperor Kangxi, wrote The Biography of Neo-Conjucianism Masters and Volumes of Ming Confucians, respectively, indicating that orthodox position of Wang's Learning had been set on a firmly stand. However, due to Huang Zongxi's failure to complete Volumes of Song & Yuan Confucians, the mission of seeking orthodox status for Lu's Learning was historically left to the Post-Lu & Wang School.Among the Qing scholars who developed Lu & Wang's Learning was Li Fu, one of the key figures who had devoted his whole life to this school of learning and compiled books as Academic Record of Master Lu, Chronological Life of Master Lu, and Comprehensive Consideration of Master Zhu's Later Years, with the passionate aim for establishing orthodox status for Lu's Learning. According to Li Fu himself, Academic Record of Master Lu, a twenty-Volume long book, was "the very achievement out of his utmost efforts and inspiration, containing all of his knowledge, his cultivation, and his experience as an official". As a historic collection of Neo-Confucianism, this book was compiled in the form of an academic record for Lu Jiuyuan. And the completion of this hook cost Li Fu five years of exhaustive reference to literature and of careful verification and identification. With the background of the discrepancy between Zhu Xi and Lu Jiuyuan, this book aims to elaborate the principles of Lu's Learning, clarify its theoretical system, and finally establish Lu Xiangshan as the orthodox scholar of his school.With the intentional resemblance in stylistic layout with Master Zhu's Recent Contemplation and Record of the Source of Yiluo, Li Fu combined Word and Practice into one whole in his Academic Record of Master Lu. In the very beginning of this book, the tendency of Lu Jiuyuan's learning is elaborated, then followed the succession (dating from Song to Ming Dynasty, for hundreds of years) of Lu's learning having been passed on among Lu's clan, pupils, disciples, and private followers, etc. It indicates that Lu Jiuyuan not only carried on the learning of Confucius & Mencius as the must-be heir but also passed on to endless generations. This book also implies that Lu Jiuyuan was not merely doctrine heir, but a great contributor to the continuation of the doctrine. His contribution deserves eternity.The compilation of Academic Record of Master Lu was of great significance. Firstly, the book was a conclusive work of Lu Jiuyuan's Learning, exceeding those of Sun Qifeng and Huang Zongxi in attaching due prominence to the academic system and characteristic of Lu's Learning. It is safe to say that Li Fu finished what Sun Qifeng and Huang Zongxi had not. Secondly, with the exhaustive reference and with inheritance of practical learning style of early Qing, the compilation laid the very basis for the resurgence of Qianjia Sinology. Thirdly, based on the script of Volumes of Xiangshan Learning by Huang Zongxi, Academic Record of Master Lu was enriched and enlarged into an independent work. It plays a significant role in carrying on the tradition and inspiring the future development during the evolution of historic works in the learning record style.With view to the point made above, this dissertation applies the method of combining learning history and social history to obtain a comprehensive and clarifying understanding of what should be true about Li Fu's thought on learning, and thereby, to liquidate the evolution of Lu & Wang Learning after Qing's regime began.