Shimo Yisun’s Social Intercourse With Scholars Of East Zhejiang In Late Yuan Dynasty And Its Relationship With Neo-confucianism

At the sunset of the Yuan Dynasty, Shimo Yisun, a Khitan who was in charge of Chuzhou, had constant interactions with scholars of East Zhejiang. Therefore, a social circle centered on Shimo Yisun had been formed, including Liu Ji, Wang Yi, Su Youlong, Su Boheng, and Wang YL Liu Ji, with other fellows, actively supported Shimo Yisun on the political arena, gave advices on the governance of Chuzhou, and became close friends in their leisure time. They had not only responded to each other in literature, but also exchange ideas about Neo-Confucianism. Recent studies focus more on their literary intercourse than the Neo-Confucianism aspect. The thesis examines the integration of their Neo-Confocianism thoughts through the research on the social intercourse and idea-exchanging activities between Shimo Yisun and the scholars of East Zhejiang in late Yuan Dynasty, exemplified by Liu Ji, Wang Yi, Su Youlong and Su Boheng.First and foremost, the thesis analyzes the Neo-Confucianism mentor-disciple relationship among Liu Ji, Wang Yi, Su Youlong and Su Boheng. Apart from intense family influence, Shimo Yisun also learnt from the leading scholar then Wang Yi, who had learnt from Zheng Yuanshan and Xu Qian, so, naturally, the Neo-Confucianism idea of Shimo Yisun was impacted by them Meanwhile, Zheng Yuanshan was Liu Ji’s teacher and Su Youlong learnt from Xu Qian. Therefore, Shimo Yisun shared similar Neo-Confucianism background with Liu Ji. Zheng Yuanshan’s opinions were in line with Xue Jixuan’s thoughts, which opposed idle talk about ideology, advocated practical knowledge, and combined morality and practice. Xu Qian’s Neo-Confucianism ideas, in line with Zhu Xi, pursue the nature of universality and particularity through reading and studying theories as well as value practical knowledge, requiring knowledge enrichment. In addition, he, in his late life, "took nurturing his original spirit as priority." Shimo Yisun’ Neo-Confucianism ideas combined the ideas of both Zheng Yuanshan and Xu Qian’s schools, which forged a solid foundation for his social intercourse with the social circle represented by Liu Ji, Wang Yi, and Su Youlong.Moreover, this thesis unravels the interactive relations between Shimo Yisun and the four scholars mentioned above in literary intercourse, political activities, and Neo-Confucianism opinions. First, Shimo Yisun and Liu Ji shared similar family background, life experience, literary styles, and political ideal, which made them work together in Chuzhou and become good friends. The 97 poems in Liu Ji’s collection that responded to Shimo Yisun proved their frequent communication through words. Liu Ji expressed his opinions on the contemporary political situation, his disappointment on political arena, and his envy of Shimo Yisun’s position. This experience stimulated the transformation of the style of Liu Ji’s poems, from bold and heroic toward sorrowful and lamenting. Besides, the friendship between Liu Ji and Shimo Yisun rendered Liu Ji’s hesitation between going out to assist Zhu Yuanzhang and seclusioa Secondly, Shimo Yisun and Wang Yi were not merely disciple and mentor. Since they shared many mutual understandings on some concepts, Wang Yi considered Shimo Yisun as an ideal Confucianism talent and spoke highly of him. He tought Shimo Yisun without any reserve, encouraged him to launch benevolent ruling, and assisted Yisun to defend the area that under his administration and protect the well-being of the local people, with his disciples Hu Shen, Zhang Yi, and so on. They also interacted a lot on literature, which deepened both of their thoughts. Wang Yi, who firmly held the idea that "deeply understands practical knowledge without accentuating literary skills", upgraded his understanding of literary skills. However, he attempted to persuade Shimo Yisun who was addicted to literary intercourse out of this activity on the score of his opinion that literary skills were of least importance. Thirdly, Su Youlong won the respect from Shimo Yisun by his own charm and political capability. He helped Yisun cope with political affairs, responded to him via words mutually, and discussed Neo-Confucianism with him. Fourthly, the author conjectures the birth date of Su Boheng should be 1329, and he took the metropolitan examination of the Ministry of Rites in 1351 by searching related documents, which had not been noticed yet in previous researches. Although Su Boheng was comparatively young, he had accomplished great achievements in literature and became friends with renowned scholars like Liu Ji. In view of the fect that his father Su Youlong was a colleague and a friend of Shimo Yisun’s, Su Boheng should have some contacts with Shimo Yisun.Furthermore, the thesis introduces the information about the mutual friends of Shimo Yisun and the four scholars mentioned above.Through depicting the social intercourse between Shimo Yisun and Chen Yi, Wang Yanzhong, Wang Yanhe, and Li Fu, this thesis displays a capable, outstanding, and distinguished men-respecting image of Shimo Yisun in order to highlight his leading role and pivotal position in the East Zhejiang scholar circle.Last but not least, this thesis studies the communication about Neo-Confucianism among Shimo Yisun, Liu Ji, Wang Yi, Su Youlong and so forth, which generated profound academic influence on the the academic merging of Xue Jixuan’s and North Mountain’s schools, especially the merging of Zheng Yuanshan’s idea that values practical knowledge and Xu Qian’s "universality and particularity"The two schools underline disparate theories, and there is a gap between the thoughts that Xu Qian advocated and the YONGJIA-SHIGONG school, albeit Shimo Yisun joined the scholars of East Zhejiang since they needed to put down commotions and comfort folks. Liu Ji, Wang Yi, and Su Youlong also offered Shimo Yisun political assistance as much as possible and practiced their Neo-Confucianism concepts. Shimo Yisun’s idea was the fruit of the integration of the two schools, and he, as the leading person among scholars of East Zhejiang, promoted the integration of the thoughts of the two schools. Shimo Yisun organized literary intercourse activities as well as made friends with Neo-Confucianism scholars such as Wang Yi, Liu Ji, Su Youlong, which subtly affected the evolution of Neo-Confucianism of East Zhejiang and promoted the exchange and intergration of different Neo-Confucianism trends of East Zhejiang.