A Study On The Stone Inscriptions Of Confucian Temples In Shandong Province During The Yuan Dynasty

The Shandong region in the Yuan Dynasty consisted of three Lus administered by the central government and Shandong East-West Dao.In this area,a total of 259 inscriptions of Confucian temples are counted,191 of which are extant,involving 83 Confucian temples,covering the vast majority of Confucian temples in Shandong during the Yuan Dynasty.A total of132 writers are known,including important histories such as Yuan Haowen(元好问),Zhao Mengfu(赵孟頫),Hu Ziyu(胡祗遹),Liu Minzhong(刘敏中),Yu Ji(虞集),and Zhang Yanghao(张养浩).The content of the inscription includes the repair of the Confucian temple,the property of the Confucian temple,the official documents and archives,and Poetry,Preface,etc.On the whole,the inscriptions of Confucian temples in Shandong area in the Yuan Dynasty have the characteristics of large number,variety,long time span and wide coverage.There are three significant author groups in the creation of Confucian temple inscriptions:Dongping literati group,the main figures include Yuan Haofan,Li Qian(李谦),Yan Fu(阎复),Zhang Kongsun(张孔孙),etc.Their creative activities are mainly concentrated in the west of Shandong and southwest of Shandong,which is consistent with the active areas of Dongping School in the Jin and Yuan dynasties.Jinan official group,the main figures include Liu Minzhong,Zhang Yanghao(张养浩),Zhang Qiyan(张起岩),and Li Jiong(李泂),are all native to Jinan.The inscriptions created by them are primarily found in the East-West Dao areas of Shandong,the most concentrated areas are Jinan Lu and Banyangfu Lu.Local education officials group,including Ruxuetiju(儒学提举),Jiaoshou(教授),Jiaoyu(教谕),Xuezheng(学正)and so on.The members of this group,while large in size,are constrained by their political identity and limited influence,resulting in their creative activities being primarily confined to their own jurisdiction.Cultural literacy is a fundamental consideration in the selection of writers for Confucian Temple,with political influence also serving as an important reference element.The distinct regional and identity characteristics of the group of inscription writers can be attributed to these factors.Although the identity and hometown of the authors of the inscriptions of Confucian temples in Shandong Province during the Yuan Dynasty are quite different,as the elites of Confucian culture,their creative thoughts are consistent,and "praising the holy and supporting the Dao" is the most prominent ideological theme of the inscriptions.When they created the inscriptions in the Confucian Temple,they amplified the measures of the monarchs of the Yuan Dynasty to promote Confucianism,and shaped emperors of the Yuan Dynasty into the wise monarchs who could carry out the Confucian culture,and then establish the legitimacy of the Yuan dynasty.The praise of the Yuan monarchs was not only a result of flattery from officials who feared imperial power,but also an attempt to utilize the practice of using inscriptions in Confucian temples to praise contemporary Kings to elevate the status of Confucianism through imperial support and seek greater opportunities for survival and development.In addition,the inscriptions of Confucian temples in Shandong Province during the Yuan Dynasty are also full of reflections on the political,academic and religious issues at that time.The authors hope to use Confucianism to solve the above problems and achieve the ideal social state in Confucianism.The inscriptions of stone steles in the Confucian Temple in Shandong during the Yuan Dynasty were an important perspective to discuss the influential political events,local cultural ecology,and grassroots social governance at that time.The inscription of the steles about the edict of Confucius’posthumous award(加封孔子诏碑)is an important category in the inscription documents of Confucian temples in Shandong in the Yuan Dynasty.Through a comprehensive investigation of such inscriptions,this dissertation sorts out the promulgation process of the edict of Confucius as the"the integration and the most holy Wen Xuan King"(大成至圣文宣王).However,due to the fact that the policy of worshipping Confucianism in the Yuan Dynasty could not be consistently implemented,Confucianism could not achieve exclusive respect,resulting in the limited effectiveness of the edict.In addition,the repair time of the Confucian Temple is uncertain,and the local economy is imbalance,resulting in a large difference in the time of erecting and sealing the edict monument in various areas of Shandong.But what is undeniable is that the establishment of the edict monument and the crowning of Confucius as the"the integration and the most holy Wen Xuan King"complemented each other,effectively enhancing the political status of Confucianism in the Yuan Dynasty.The rulers of the Yuan Dynasty did not pay enough attention to Confucianism,which also caused the phenomenon of "emphasizing the temple and ignoring learning" in the Shandong Confucian Temple,which was manifested as "the temple first and then the learning" and "the temple revered and the study was humble" in the process of building a Confucian Temple,and its deep logic was "emphasizing ceremony and ignoring education".In order to cope with the policy requirements of Confucianism and education,local officials tended to choose sacrificial rituals that focused on form.Confucian education,which is difficult to achieve results in the short term,is deliberately neglected.There were also some positive factors in the development of the Confucian Temple and Confucianism in the Yuan Dynasty,such as the emergence of the Confucian Temple builded on towns.This kind of Confucian temple appeared in some important towns in Shandong in the Yuan Dynasty,primary education and sacrifice are the two major functions of such Confucian Temples,it’s more like a larger-scale,more perfect form of the state school(社学),some of them also like a tuition-free school.On the whole,the Confucian Temple in towns is a manifestation of the continuous improvement of the Confucian education system and the continuous improvement of the people’s acceptance of Confucianism in the Yuan Dynasty,and it is also an important practice of socializing Confucianism in ancient China and applying Confucianism to grassroots social governance.Judging from the information displayed in the inscriptions of stone steles in the Confucian Temple,bureaucratic leadership and non-governmental supplementation were the most common organizational modes during the building of the Confucian Temple in Shandong in the Yuan Dynasty.Among the Han Chinese who led the building of the Confucian Temple,the Confucian family in Qufu was the most representative,and the Yan Sheng Gong(衍圣公)Kong Zhi(孔治)and his relatives such as Kong Zhiyan(孔之严),Kong Sigu(孔思古),and Kong Sidi(孔思迪),were all actively engaged in the repair of the Confucian Temple and local Confucian education.besides the Han Chinese group,the Mongols,Khitans,Jurchens,and the Semu/“qari irgen”people of the Western Regions also widely participated in the building of the Confucian Temple in Shandong during the Yuan Dynasty.This phenomenon shows the multi-ethnic Confucian cultural identity of the Yuan Dynasty,and at the same time promotes ethnic integration and the development of Confucianism.During the war of the Red Turban Army at the end of the Yuan Dynasty,the situation in Shandong was turbulent,and local rebellions occurred from time to time.However,in such a harsh social environment,the renovation of the Confucian Temple was still carried out frequently,with the aim of reforming the customs and mores of the people through the education of the Confucian Temple,and then indirectly suppressing insurrections,or promoting the surrender of the rebels.Although the rebuilding of the Confucian Temple itself could not have a direct impact on the political upheaval of the late Yuan Dynasty,it carried the idealized expectations of local officials and literati elites to use Confucianism to educate the people and achieve an ideal social state.At the same time,the repair of the Confucian Temple in late Yuan Dynasty has a certain positive significance for maintaining the ecology of Confucianism in the late Yuan Dynasty and keeping the inheritance of civilization.The temple field,temple land,book collection,and ceremonial instruments of the Confucian Temple are an important part of the property of the Confucian Temple in the Yuan Dynasty,and can also reflect the real situation about the development of the local Confucian Temple and Confucianism in the Yuan Dynasty.Among them,the temple field is the economic pillar of the operation of the Confucian Temple.However,in the Yuan Dynasty,the temple field in Shandong were unevenly distributed and generally small in scale,coupled with the interfering of illegal occupation and abandonment of farming,resulting in limited income from the temple field,which was not conducive to the construction of the Confucian Temple and Confucian education.However,because of the Yuan Dynasty’s reverence for Confucianism and education,the Confucian Temple in Shandong showed an overall trend of expansion,which was consistent with the background of the continuous development of Confucian Temple and education at that time.The book collection of Confucian temples in Shandong during the Yuan Dynasty was a large quantity,with the bibliography mainly on classics and history,supplemented by poetry and literature,and the emphasis on southern academic and Confucianism works.This is match with the imperial examination system and official education in the Yuan Dynasty,and at the same time reflects the trend of academic communications during this period.That academic communications were also reflected in the sacrificial activities of the Confucian Temple.With the unification of the north and the south,the system of rites and music of the Southern Song Dynasty spread to the north,and the existing Confucian temple sacrifice system and priests in the north of the Yuan Dynasty were also reformed.On the material level,many Confucian temples in Shandong purchase ceremonial instruments for sacrifice in the south of the Yangtze River,both for the sake of production skills and for the purpose of fitting the pattern of the Southern Song Dynasty utensils.In the Yuan Dynasty,some Confucian temples in Shandong also worshiped the sages who had special influence to the local area,which was a supplement to the sacrifices of Confucian sages,and was also the precursor of the institutionalization of the sacrifices of local sages and famous officials in the Confucian temples in the Ming and Qing dynasties.At the end of the dissertation,based on the collected inscriptions of the Confucian Temple in Shandong in the Yuan Dynasty,this dissertation adds 33 articles as the supplement of Quan Yuan Wen(全元文),and proves that Cheng Ding(成鼎)and"Cheng Ding"(程鼎)in the Quan yuan Wen are actually the same person,similar to Zhang Han(张瀚)and"Zhang Han"(张翰),Yang Huan of Yanzhou(兖州杨桓)and"Yang Huan of Shanxian"(单县杨桓),Cao Yuansong(曹元嵩)and"Cao Song"(曹嵩),and the writings written by Cheng Ding(成鼎),Yang Huan and Cao Yuansong are recollected due to the unclear identification of the authors.For another example,the"Wang Shiyuan"(王世元)in Quan Yuan Wen,whose real name is Wang Shiyuan(王士元),had not only written one essay.When collecting the inscriptions of the temple written by Wang Shixi(王士熙),Zhang Qiyan(张起岩),and Zhang Jing(张敬),Quan yuan Wen mistakenly accepted three brief texts due to the poor selection of the version,and wrote Zhang Jing as"Zhang Shijing"(张世敬).To sum up,the inscriptions of the Confucian Temple in Shandong in the Yuan Dynasty are rich in connotation,which comprehensively reflect the overall appearance of Confucianism in the grassroots society of the Yuan Dynasty,and are important reference materials for us to understand the national integration,cultural thought,Confucian education,and social governance in this period,and have high research value.