A New Perspective On The Study Of Three Generations

As one of the academic representatives of the middle Qing Dynasty,Sun Xingyan’s academic thoughts showed the complexity of the interweaving of the present and the ancient,the Sinology and the Song studies,the classics and the Zi Xue,and the middle school and the Western studies.Combining with Sun Xingyan’s academic practice of applying the classics to practical applications,the study of his academic characteristics and contributions in several aspects of classics,history,Zi Xue,literature and bibliography is helpful to more clearly present the phenomena and laws of the academic evolution of Sinology and Song studies,Chinese classics and Zi Xue,Chinese academics and Western studies in the mid-Qing Dynasty.In the aspect of Confucian classics,Sun Xingyan tried to reconstruct the ideological system of Confucianism based on the understanding and creation of the study of Shang Shu and the study of Rites.He took the Confucianism of Han Dynasty as the backbone and traced the learning of the ancient three generations.Sun Xingyan’s historical achievements are mainly reflected in the interpretation and practical application of traditional law.He advocated the aid of classics into law under the thought of "virtue as the principal and punishment as the secondary",and properly dealt with the contradiction between law accomplishment and Confucian education from the academic theory.In judicial practice,he used the three generations of law thought to decide the prison and the case,and explored the path of combining the prison and the examination.This is the result that the study of textual research in Qing Dynasty penetrates into history,especially law.In terms of Zi Xue,Sun Xingyan’s viewpoint on astronomy and antiquity reflects the inherent perfection and self-protection characteristics of the academic system made by traditional Chinese academia in the context of the introduction of Western learning to the East.He researched the astronomy and archaeology of three generations,and proposed that "it is not credible to use modern archaeology","traditional images cannot be discarded",and "the astronomical and calendar images can be used to communicate with the classics",safeguarding middle schools and excluding Western learning.Sun Xingyan also has a unique viewpoint of "distinguishing between elegance and vulgarity" in literature.He discussed the stylistic nature of orthodox and popular literature such as poetry and prose,and put forward the viewpoints of "poetry and prose are based on archaeology" and "apocalyptic studies supplement orthodoxy".He believed that poetry,calligraphy,painting,novels,and so on had an auxiliary role in the textual research of Confucian classics.Moreover,he advocated the use of poetry and prose creation and epigraphy textual research practice.Sun Xingyan’s academic achievements are also reflected in his philological thoughts.In terms of catalog classification of the academic system,he built his own bibliographic system with Confucian classics as the core and history,Zi,and Ji as the auxiliary wings,and reflected in his "Bibliography of Sun’s Ancestral Hall".Among them,the academic refinement of its catalogue and the practice of discipline classification have spearheaded modern bibliography.This is one of his contributions to the history of academic development.Sun Xingyan has many academic innovations,reflecting the changes in academic trends in the mid Qing Dynasty,as well as academic issues such as the impact of Western learning on traditional Confucianism.Therefore,studying Sun Xingyan’s academic thoughts plays an important role in clearly describing the history of academic thought and Confucianism in the Qing Dynasty and exploring its laws.