The Role Of Western Science And Technology In Shaping Emperor Kangxi's Sage-king Image By The Syncretism Of Confucian Orthodoxy And Ruling Orthodoxy

Among all the Chinese emperors,Emperor Kangxi is a very special one.He was not only considered as the pioneer of the Kang-Qian Flourishing Age,the longest governing king,the outstanding statesman and militarist,but also a king scientist.Among all the emperors in the past dynasties in China,no one could be so interested in science and technology like Emperor Kangxi.In the western learning spreads to the east course during the late Ming and early Qing Dynasty,Emperor Kangxi,who mastered and utilized the western science and technology,was a unique figure who made an important impact on the development of science and technology in that time.However,why did Emperor Kangxi advocate western science and technology with so great enthusiasm?This is a problem that has not been answered yet,although it has been a lot of research results.In some researchers' view,the purpose of Emperor Kangxi's study of Western science and technology is to show off to his ministers.Some researchers believe that is the purpose of Emperor Kangxi in order to be able to arbitration of eastern and western scientific debate.They also hold a view that Emperor Kangxi was a contradictory figure.On the one hand,he was keen on learning and utilizing the western science and technology;on the other hand,he regarded Neo-Confucianism as the standard all his life.Obviously,these studies did not consist of the view incorporating western science and technology into Kangxi's belief system and knowledge system.Specifically,these studies did not realize,for Emperor Kangxi,both science and Confucianism,or western science and technology and Confucian orthodoxy,are not contradictory;On the contrary,the western science and technology could play an important role in maintenance the Confucian orthodoxy and his imperial power.Some scholars had realized that Emperor Kangxi advocated western science and technology,which played a very important role in the political operation through all his life,concerning with the relationship between knowledge and power.Undoubtedly,this was an important conclusion which indicated that his aim was not in science and technology itself,but in the consolidation of imperial rule.Here are some important questions concerning the issue that need exploring:why Emperor Kangxi strengthened his power by mastering the knowledge of science and technology?In other words,did he realize that western technology would be detrimental to political legitimacy?How did he strengthen his political power by western science and technology?There existed a role of two aspects by analyzing the learning course of western science and technology in several decades.Firstly,the western science and technology was used in the field of astronomy,geography,military,agriculture and other important areas in order to safeguard the national economy and people's livelihood;Secondly,Emperor Kangxi,to being an intellectual master,lectured Confucianism talents by western science and technology.The former was to maintain the imperial authority orthodoxy,embodying the political ruler role while the latter was to maintain the Confucian orthodoxy,embodying the master role because he desired to be a sage-king who wanted to recover the syncretism of Confucian orthodoxy and Ruling Orthodoxy which made him different from all the other emperors in the past time.Up to now,the researchers in the academic circles had always ignored the important role of western science and technology.In fact,the role of western science and technology in this process is even larger than other points in maintaining his sage-king image.As for the Confucianism codes,Emperor Kangxi was not the unique one in spite of learning so much,but in the science and technology aspect,he could go far beyond the Confucians which was wise enough to show him a saint.By mastering western science and technology,Emperor Kangxi successfully possessed the right to speak in science and technology as well as knowledge aspect,which greatly strengthened his Confucian orthodoxy.Kangxi advocated "Theory of Western Learning Being of Chinese Origin" in his later years.This theory incorporates Western science and technology into Confucianism.This is Kangxi use of Western science and technology to create his own sage-king image of the last part.This paper combines the western science and technology with the inherent demand of the imperial power.This article re-examines the interaction between Emperor Kangxi and Western science and technology,reinterprets the relationship between Emperor Kangxi and Western science and technology.In this way,when we study the Emperor Kangxi from the perspective of Chinese political history and Confucianism history,we will pay attention to the role of Western science and technology.On the other hand,when we study Kangxi's scientific and technological activities from the perspective of history of Science and Technology in China,Will pay attention to the relationship between science and technology and Confucian tradition.Based on the above considerations,this article launches the concrete research from the following aspects:In traditional,Confucian orthodoxy representing the cultural identity of Confucianism,together with Ruling Orthodoxy representing the political power had gone through many different stages.Before Confucius,Confucian orthodoxy and ruling orthodoxy made a unity,and,in some extent,things are the same in the relationship between the political ruler and master,the regime and religion,the saint and king.But after Confucius,all these had shown a separation state.Since then,the situation that Confucian orthodoxy had always been a priority to ruling orthodoxy in value did not change until the appearance of Emperor Kangxi.He tried to regain the former ideal unity state through a series of efforts in belief and culture aiming to fight with the Confucians for the power of discourse.As we all know,western science and technology played an important role in pursuing the syncretism of Confucian orthodoxy and ruling orthodoxy.And his learning courses,not the quick success,are divided into different stages.By Yang Guangxian calendar controversy,he began to realize the role of western science and technology in remedying the crisis of science and technology of China and maintaining the rule of his imperial power.He changed his view from the lower level of being a judge into a deeper level of being the sage king and master.Western science and technology,being able to play an important role in making his image,was deeply embedded into the Confucian culture.The Confucian tradition not only has the content of scientific and technological knowledge,but also has its metaphysical knowledge construction,metaphysical ontology construction,and the specific application system.Therefore,it was necessary for a man who wanted to become a saint and inherit the Confucian orthodoxy to learn science and technology knowledge widely.Western science and technology played an important role in the maintenance of imperial power:Emperor Kangxi reorganized the astronomical agency,and ordered all people to learn Western technology,thereby enhancing the accuracy of astronomical calendar;He also established the royal academy of sciences which undertakes the work of editing books and training personnel.This academy has expanded the spread of Western science and has ensured the control of royal power for science and technology;Then he presided over the development of Western artillery,making it work in repressing the civil unrest and defending the territory;At last,he organized a national geographic survey and map-drawing ensuring the absolute control of royal power over the country's territory.The role about western science and technology in shaping the Emperor Kangxi's Confucian orthodoxy image,is important,and unique:Through the painstaking study of Western science and technology,assiduously,Kangxi has gradually become the absolute authority in this field;He presided over the compilation of science and technology books,he also wrote a lot of their own technology articles.Because he is the authority of knowledge,so he can teach and reprimand science and technology talents.In this way,he successfully denied Confucian discourse power in the field of knowledge and make himself became a holy king "benevolence and wisdom".Throughout the history of Kangxi's study of Western learning and Western learning,we can see that in his later years,it is a necessity to advocate the "Theory of Western Learning Being of Chinese Origin ".By incorporating western science and technology into Confucianism,he could be perfectly justifiable in his several decades learning.Emperor Kangxi had been trying to combine "Imperial Authority Orthodoxy" and "Confucian orthodoxy" into one." Theory of Western Learning Being of Chinese Origin "is the last logical link about this.It is a very important thing to evaluate the scientific and technological activities of Emperor Kangxi.In Kangxi's science and technology activities,there are some seemingly contradictory problem.In fact,these contradictions are an inevitable result.Based on the research perspective of this paper,the author evaluates the Emperor Kangxi's science and technology activities from two aspects of "Confucian orthodoxy" and "The Development of Science and Technology in the Early Qing Dynasty":Firstly,he expanded the connotation of Confucianism using western science and technology,but made the Confucians lose the rights to speak reducing the binding of imperial power.Therefore,from a broader perspective of the philosophical history,syncretism of Confucianism orthodoxy and imperial authority orthodoxy is a kind of obstruction to the modern Chinese society transformation.Secondly,he strongly brought the climax of Chinese and western cultural exchange by advocating the western science and technology,making great important contributions for the scientific and technological development at the beginning of the Qing dynasty.But the image of Kangxi in science and technology had also led to the independence of scientific research and the loss of scientists' discourse power,which would eventually lead to the loss of its inherent impetus in scientific and technological development,thus hindering the benign development of science and technology.