Self-cultivation And Statecraft:The Research On The Neo-Confucianism Of Minister Yin Huiyi In Qianlong Era

Yin Huiyi was a famous scholar bureaucrat during the period of Yong Zheng and Qian Long in the Qing Dynasty. He was praised by American historian William T.Rowe as "A thought guider and bosom friend of Chen Hongmou". He was born in a Neo-Confucianism declined, ideological confusion, high time of autocratic monarchy. In his early years, thanks to his mother’s Confucian classics education, this laid a solid foundation for his achievement in Neo-Confucianism. Young and middle-aged period,he became a real Confucianist by learning form others Confucianists and making friends with them. He was an important representative person of the Northern-School after SunQifeng, YanYuan and LiGong,during period of Yongzheng and Qianlong.Under the influence of these people’s emphasizes practical,practice and opposes empty talking academic tradition.He emphasized the doctrine of Unity of Knowledge and Action.Not only did He has a strong belief in Neo-Confucianism,but also he put it into practice of his self-cultivating,learning and political works.He has got brilliant achievements in the field of politics,economic and livelihood,disaster-relief and education in Qing Dynasty. The Confucian philosophy always advocated a learning both sound in theory and practice,which is perfectly embodied in his Self-cultivation and official career.He put forward bold proposals of the restrain monarchical power. It’s a pity that after he died,his eldest son made Emperor Qianlong angry. His works were forbidden by the court.But he has not been recognized by the academic community in a long period.This paper is divided into five chapters, the specific contents are as follows:First chapter,we must know his background then discuss his works. This chapter is attempted to analyze the culturalbackground of the times, in which Yin Huiyi live.Then explore the relationship between his eological rigin and the age of the time. Secondly, from a narrower scop,try to illustrat the statecraft traditions of Hebei,his hometown,It’s also an important origin of his thought.The second chapter mainly about YinHuiyi’s family education,generalizing and analyzing YinHuiyi and several Neo Confucianists and scholars’friendship, which is also an important factors of his ideological formation.The third chapter is mainly about YinHuiyi’s ideological connotation, which can be divided into the theory of self-cultivation, conception of learning and the orthodox point of Neo-Confucianism.His Neo-Confucianism attaches great importance to People’s daily lives and ethics,rather than the conceptions like that "Essence","Gas","Nature","Dao"and other illusory concept that Song and Ming dynasty’s Confucianists always liked to talk about.His theory exhibited obviously "pragmatism of moral" tendency.Chapter four discusses how did YinHuiyi put the Neo-Confucianism into his political practiced.He Constantly adjusted his steps but not run only in one groove.This illustrates he was well versed in Confucian classics and using.The fifth chapter objectively evaluated the status, influence and limitations of Yin’s thoughts of Neo Confucianism, and analyzed the direct cause and the fundamental cause that Yin’s thought could not be known to later generations. In the end, explored the flash point of his thoughts,which is to promote restrain monarchical power.