| Zhu Ciqi, a famous scholar and poet, styled Zixiang and literarily namedZhigui,was born in Jiujiang, Nanhai, Guangdong Province, for which is also called Mr.Jiujiang. He was gifted when young. He was considered a genius when paying a visitto the local district magistrate Ruan Yuan, who came from Yizheng. He succeeded inthe imperial examination at the provincial level at the age of 33 and in the imperialexamination at the highest level at the age of 41. Soon he was appointed countymagistrate in Shanxi Province. In the second year under the reign of EmperorXianfeng, that is, in 1852, he was appointed county magistrate of Xiangling, Shanxi,where he administrated so well that the local people constructed a memorial temple inhis honour. He resigned and returned home when he was 50 years old, and took upteaching at Lishan Caotang(a famous school) for over 20 years, with students fromafar. Of his well-known disciples, there was Kang Youwei, who was distinguished forhis reform efforts in the late Qing Dynasty, and Jian Chaoliang, a famous scholar andeducator as well. Zhu was both knowledgeable and prolific. Among his works werehis Memoir on the Well-known Official in the Qijng Dynasty, and Stories on Hermitsin the Qing Dynasty, which were burnt together with his other works before death.Later his disciple Jian Chaoliang compiled his remaining poems and essays into 10volumes, named The Works of Mr. Zhu Jiujiang, adding the chronicle of Zhu's life atthe beginning of the volume. Due to the lack of his works passed on, there are fewdiscussions on him. According to his disciples' works and his analects, I will discusshis learning thoughts here under the background of his times to expose scholasticconcepts.The thesis is divided into four sections.Section One: Zhu Ciqi's life and his scholastic sources.Zhu Ciqi was born in Guangdong in the late Qing Dynasty, where there was a long history of Lixue, Confucian school of idealist philosophy of the Song and Ming dynasties. The deep Lixue atmosphere together with favourable family atmosphere and the particular times background made profound impacts on his pursuits on studies and laid the initial foundation on the formation of his character and his values. To realize his ambition to care for the people and save the nation, he strived for the imperial examination for decades because of the traditional Chinese belief that a goodscholar will make an official; later he became an official and was renowned for his administrative performances in Shanxi. Knowing the darkness of officialdom, he resigned and spent his later life in teaching. During his stay at his hometown, he still concerned about the current affairs and wrote without ceasing. His burning all his masterpieces before death is actually a great loss to the academic circles. The reasons for Zhu's resignation and book burning incident will be discussed in the thesis.Section Two: Analysis on Zhu Ciqi's thoughts on morality cultivation and studies and their essenceHis thoughts on morality cultivation and studies fall into 4 actions of morality cultivation and 5 areas of studies. The former is defined as being filial to parents andjbeing kind to brothers, advocating morality, improving one's temperament through studies, and paying attention to one's appeararice. The four actions are logically related. His thoughts on morality cultivation developed the moral theory by the Confucian school of idealist philosophy in the Song and Ming Dynasties, especially its emphasis on practice was reflected in Zhu Ciqi's thought, which possessed special meaning under the historical background that the late Qing Dynasty was on its way downhill. The 4-action theory had an important effect on Kang Youwei, who promoted "four aspects" on moral cultivation-staying calm whatever happens, restraining oneself in face of difficulties, improving one's temperament through studies, and paying attention to one's appearance. The latter refers to studies of Confucian classics, historiography, studies on anecdotes, studies on virtues and rhetoric. The five aspects were t... |
