(Essential questions) Xing Liju and Cui Yingchen: How did Confucianism spread in Korea?
China News Service, Beijing, September 27th, title: How does Confucianism spread in South Korea?
Author Xing Liju, Professor, Institute of International Studies, Fudan University
Choi Young-chen, Honorary Professor of Sungkyunkwan University, South Korea
Throughout the history of the Korean Peninsula, Confucianism has ruled the Korean dynasty for more than 500 years.
Until today in the 21st century, South Korea is still one of the best-preserved Confucian traditions in the world.
China and South Korea are friendly neighbors to each other and belong to the Chinese character cultural circle. The people of the two countries have jointly written a glorious chapter of East Asian civilization in the long-term historical development and cultural exchanges.
How did Confucianism spread to the Korean Peninsula?
Confucianism is an important part of Chinese traditional culture. It not only has a profound impact on the development of Chinese civilization, but also has made important contributions to the progress of human civilization.
Korean Confucianism is formed on the basis of absorbing Chinese Confucianism, but it is not simply a matter of transferring flowers and trees, but on the basis of adapting to the customs of the Korean peninsula, a more in-depth and meticulous development of Chinese Confucianism, thus forming the national cultural spirit (Ethos ).
The germination of Korean Confucianism can be traced back to Dangun Joseon.
Dangun Chosun is a myth about the origin of the ancestors of the Korean nation. It is recorded in the "Historical Records of the Three Kingdoms" and "Remains of the Three Kingdoms", in which the three axes of the world-heaven, earth and humans, appear.
In a world where heaven, earth and people live in harmony, all people have to do is to promote the world, which is consistent with the spirit of Chinese Confucianism that "people can promote the Tao, but not the Tao."
There are divergent opinions in academic circles as to when Chinese Confucianism was introduced to the Korean Peninsula.
But what is certain is that in the Three Kingdoms period of North Korea (approximately 57 BC to 668 AD), Chinese characters have been widely used.
In contrast, the three religions of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism have also been introduced to the Korean Peninsula.
In 372 AD, Goguryeo officially established Taixue, and Confucianism was formally absorbed at the national level.
After the founding of Goryeo in 918 AD, Taizu Wangjian’s "Ten Principles" took Confucianism as a model and emphasized the concept of Confucianism in governing the country. The rulers actively practiced Confucianism for the people and established the foundation of governing the country for future monarchs, and took Buddhism and Taoism as the basis for governing the country. Here, Buddhism and Taoism are regarded as important means of guarding the country.
In the late Limoxianchu period, Zhu Zixue was introduced to the Korean Peninsula and was respected by emerging scholars.
The Joseon Dynasty established in 1392 is a veritable Confucianism (South Korea generally refers to Confucianism as Confucianism), and Confucianism has become its ruling and guiding ideology.
Compared with Zhu Zi's Neo-Confucianism, Korean Confucianists start from the concept of "sex is reason" and generally call Neo-Confucianism as "Sex Neo-Confucianism", which more prominently emphasizes the subject status of people's morality.
In order to strengthen the legitimacy and properness of the founding of North Korea, the sexists in the early days of North Korea launched a large-scale anti-Buddhist theory.
The fundamental reason for the rejection of Buddhism is that sexology has the characteristic of emphasizing orthodoxy.
Representative anti-Buddhaists at that time included Zheng Daochuan, Xu Jingde, and Li Yandi.
On the one hand, they rejected Buddhism, on the other hand they established the authoritative position of sex theory.
The early Confucian scholars in North Korea include Toegye Li Huang and Li Gu Li Er.
Toei Xi explained Li Qi centered on the human mind, and reasoned about nature based on it as a theoretical basis; while Li Gu first insight into the Li Qi of nature, and use this principle to penetrate people.
In other words, Toei is a moral idealist, and Kuriya is a moral realist.
After the Imjin Japanese Rebellion in the 17th century, the Joseon dynasty changed its regime from the Hoon-jiu faction, which dominated the political situation, to the Shilin faction, which was a substantive developmental Neo-Confucianism.
With the increase in land production capacity, the concept of economic private ownership has been promoted, and various factors have contributed to the emergence of the "state reinvention theory", triggering social reforms.
The science of sex continued to prosper in the late Joseon period through the development of Toegye and Ligu. The trends of thought generally include: science of sex, ritual, Yangming, Shixue, etc.
After the signing of the Ganghwa Treaty in 1876, the Joseon Dynasty was forced to open its doors.
Facing the invasion of Western powers and the invasion of heterogeneous civilizations, the development of Confucianism gradually declined, and the Joseon Dynasty was finally annexed by Japan in 1910.
Under the obliteration of Korean traditional culture by Japan, Confucianism fell into a slump.
It wasn't until the independence of Confucianism in 1945 that Confucianism as a traditional culture ushered in a new opportunity for development.
Data map: The picture shows the students of Sungkyunkwan University in South Korea wearing traditional Confucian costumes attending the graduation ceremony.
During the Joseon Dynasty, why did Zhu Zixue the world?
The Joseon Dynasty is Zhu Zixue's world.
The reason why the emerging scholars chose Zhu Zixue at that time was because of its characteristics of "emphasizing orthodoxy and avoiding heresy."
From a theoretical point of view, Zhuzi Neo-Confucianism emphasizes the inheritance of Yao and Shun’s literary and military Zhou Gong to Confucius, and rejects Buddhism. This characteristic of "piping up heresy" provides a theoretical basis for scholars in the late Goryeo period to oppose Buddhism.
From a realistic point of view, Zhu Zi emphasized the dignity of Li. He believed that although the Southern Song Dynasty could not reclaim the land occupied by foreigners for the time being, this was only due to the variable factor "qi", and the essence of Chinese "li" would not change. .
This is exactly in line with the legitimacy and properness of Lee Seong-gye, the king of Korea, who advocated the establishment of a nation through the Yi surname revolution.
If the development of Zhu Zixue during the Joseon period is like a big river, the development of Yangmingxue is like a gurgling stream.
According to the time inferences in "Bian Wang Yangming Shouren Chuanxilu", the cognition of Yangming School in the Joseon Dynasty should have been as early as the 16th year of Jungjong (1521).
But in the Korean academic circle that regards Zhu Zi Xing Confucianism as the sect, orthodoxy appears to be particularly important.
Since the establishment of the Joseon Dynasty in 1392, during the more than one hundred years of entrepreneurship, they have strongly rejected Lao Zhuang and Buddhism on the grounds of "exploiting heretics" and ensured the orthodoxy of Confucianism. The author "Zhuanxilu Lunbian" criticizes "the unity of knowledge and action".
After the 17th century, the Ming and Qing Dynasties in China, the Edo Shogunate in Japan was established, and the entire East Asia was in turmoil.
At this time, the North Korean academic circle was very empty and talkative, and the academic atmosphere was stiff.
In order to criticize and reflect on the trend of "holding Zhuzi to pretend to benefit one's own private", the representative doctrine of Yangming School of North Korea, Xiagu School, came into being, with the main characteristics of the theory of knowledge by knowledge, the theory of instinct and the theory of physiology.
However, under the social atmosphere at that time, few people could resonate with Xiagu School.
However, Yang Mingxue made certain contributions to the creative literary creation and civilized ideology of the late Joseon period.
Data map: The picture shows the statue of Mr. Wang Yangming.
Photo by Yang Yun
How did Korean Confucianism face Western civilization in modern history?
South Korean modern thought was formed in the conflict between Confucian moral civilization and Western modern civilization. It can be described as a combination of "self" and "other", that is, the process of "Western Trending East".
Before the first half of the 19th century, East Asia had been under a regional order centered on China.
After the Opium War, the Western powers invaded East Asia, and the Joseon Dynasty was forced to be involved in a "passive modern" dominated by Western powers and Japan.
Due to the weak state politics, the North Korean peasant movement in the 19th century came and went one after another.
The problem facing the country is that it urgently needs reform and self-improvement internally, and externally respond to the aggression of Western powers, especially establishing relations with Western countries.
At that time, there were three schemes in North Korean society, namely, the ideology of reprimanding the evil Weizheng, the ideology of enlightenment, and the ideology of Dongxue.
Renouncing evil and defending righteousness refers to resolutely rejecting the "evil school" of Catholicism and defending the "righteous" science of sex.
Although Western learning mainly refers to Catholicism, it also represents the entire Western civilization in a broad sense.
The scolding evil faction believes that Western civilization is barbarous and aggressive, and indulging it will not only collapse the social system, but the country will also perish.
Kaihua thought, on the contrary, advocated the establishment of a modern state system by absorbing modern western civilization.
Although Western civilization is culturally advanced, it also has the barbaric nature of imperialist aggression.
For North Korea, the West is the "other" with a dual nature.
Although civilized thinking strives for independence, it cannot achieve complete independence.
Intellectuals are the dominant critics of the evil-guarding and civilized thoughts, while the Eastern school thought is dominated by the lower classes of people who have been deeply invaded by imperialists.
On the one hand, they criticized the corruption of the government and bureaucracy, and on the other hand, they criticized the impropriety of aggression by Western powers.
Data map: Exhibition in the Confucius Institute.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Han Haidan
What challenges does the modernization of Confucianism face?
Three to four decades after its independence, South Korea became one of the "Four Little Dragons in Asia" and was officially recognized as a developed country by the United Nations this year.
At the end of the 20th century, all walks of life in South Korea were thinking about a question, that is, "Why are we successful?"
Finally, they found the answer from Confucianism, which is the cultural factor of East Asian economic development that cannot be explained by traditional free market economic theory, imperialism theory, and subordinate interest theory. This is "Confucian capitalism."
At present, the main viewpoints of Confucian capitalism in South Korea are as follows: First, the Confucian cultural tradition plays an important role in the cultivation of human resources necessary for economic development, and the educational boom and strict labor ethics are the driving force to guide the economic development of East Asian countries; second, Confucianism The political order and social traditions have enabled the effective implementation of national policies and played a strong and active role in resource mobilization. Third, traditional ethics such as Confucian family communityism and emphasizing honesty and ethics have also played a great role in economic development. .
Today, the understanding of Confucianism in Korean society is two-sided.
The positive understanding mainly includes: Confucianism created the splendid sexual science and national traditional culture in the Joseon period, and the Confucian tradition contributed to the "education fever" in today's Korean society.
Negative perceptions mainly include: the patriarchal ideology of male superiority and inferiority to women has long suppressed women's freedom, the orderly rank and order of the young and the young have fettered young people, and the family-style business philosophy has brought corruption such as family privileges.
Although Confucianism is famous in history, in modern Korean society, the development of Confucianism is facing severe challenges, which are mainly manifested in the decrease of the proportion of the population who believe in Confucianism, the weakening of familyism, and the insufficient financial and manpower of Sungkyunkwan.
In addition, the existing Rulin organizations are accustomed to sticking to the rules, lack of high-tech means to deal with the era of big data, and have shortcomings in the fields of education, teaching, and information dissemination.
It is estimated that by 2025, the Confucian population in South Korea will remain at around 50,000, and the aging problem will make this situation worse.
The South Korean government has realized the urgency of the problem. It not only introduced policies to encourage childbirth, but also actively supported the development of academies and rural schools, and funded outstanding Confucian academies. A series of measures reflected South Korea’s determination to revitalize Confucianism.
How traditional Confucianism adapts to the fast-developing modern society and reshapes a positive image and develops vigorously among the younger generation is the top priority for the development of modern Korean Confucianism.
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About the Author:
Xing Liju is a professor and doctoral supervisor at the Institute of International Studies of Fudan University, deputy director of the Center for Korean Studies at Fudan University, a Chinese member of the Committee for the Future Development of China-Korea Relations, and concurrently a director of the International Confucian Federation and a vice committee of the China-Korea Literature and Culture Comparative Research Association Director, Secretary-General of the China Korean History Research Association and other positions.
In 2008, he obtained his Ph.D. in philosophy from Sungkyunkwan University, South Korea.
The main research areas are East Asian philosophy and thought history, Chinese culture and diplomacy, and cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries.
He has published dozens of academic papers in authoritative journals such as "Philosophical Research", "International Issues Research" and International SSCI.
The main works include "Introduction to Humanities Exchange between China and Foreign Countries", "History of Korean Confucianism" and so on.
Cui Yingchen, Doctor of Philosophy, Honorary Professor of Sungkyunkwan University, South Korea, is currently the Dean of the Korean Academy of Sungkyunkwan and the Director of the Korean Institute of Philosophy and Thought.
He used to be the Dean of the Graduate School of Confucianism at Sungkyunkwan University in South Korea, the President of the Korean Thought History Research Association, the President of the Zhuzi Society of Korea, and the President of the Ligu Society of Korea.
The main research fields are the history of Korean Confucianism, Korean sexology, and the comparative study of East Asian Confucianism.
He has published dozens of books, and his representative works include "The Essence and Presentness of Confucianism", "The Development of the History of Confucianism in the Joseon Period", and "Research on Korean Confucianism".