Confucians, the Shih class, and the Ming imperium: Uses of canonical and dynastic authority in Kuan Chih-tao's (1536--1608) 'Proposals for Following the Men of Former Times to Safeguard Customs' (Ts'ung-hsien wei-su i)

This dissertation examines sixteenth-century Neo-Confucianism's social and political significance as discussed by Kuan Chih-tao (1536–1608) in his major work, the Proposals for Following the Men of Former Times to Safeguard Customs (Ts'ung-hsien wei-su i). Kuan confirms the conclusions of recent scholarship regarding Neo-Confucians' localist tendencies and implicit questioning of state authority. He thus refutes the notion that Ming Neo-Confucianism was predominantly co-opted as imperial ideology. Invoking ritual norms (li) from both canonical and dynastic sources, Kuan criticizes the compounding impact of Neo-Confucian doctrine, together with broader societal trends, on political authority and social status distinctions in his time. In particular, he focuses on changes in the Ming social and political elite, the shih. Neo-Confucianism since the Southern Sung dynasty had enhanced the authority of the private shih promoting Confucian values apart from the state. In the sixteenth century, followers of Wang Yang-ming (1472–1529) have taken this trend further, broadening the accessibility of Neo-Confucian moral authority. Wang's doctrines, according to Kuan, have empowered persons of diverse backgrounds who, in an already fluid, commercialized society, vie with the official class for elite status and leadership authority.; To combat these developments, in his Proposals, Kuan invokes early Ming edicts elevating retired officials' position in local society. Kuan also assigns the imperial court authority over education, Confucian doctrine, and ritual. He presents an interpretation of the Confucian ritual canon that integrates it with dynastic law, and argues that the Ways of Teacher and Ruler were reunited in the person of the Ming founder. Yet even as he thus magnifies imperial authority, Kuan qualifies the supremacy of state investitures in local society, arguing, largely from canonical sources, that seniority must be revered alongside rank. Thus, while Kuan seeks to unify the social order more thoroughly under imperial auspices, he finds room within his state-centered framework for balancing official credentials against other values and bases of social status. My study addresses the relationship between canonical and dynastic authority in Kuan's Proposals, and examines how invoking these different sources of authority may promote various priorities—of state, community, and class.