Modern Confucian scholars stir revival of ancient philosophy
(China Daily)
Updated: 2005-12-07 06:49

More than 1,000 years ago, Confucianism began its spread across the East Asian region before serving as an influential force in Europe during the 18th century. Today, the vast collection of "Confucian" thoughts comprising thousands of Confucian titles will be compiled in the first-ever comprehensive literature on Confucianism, which will take scholars 16 years to complete.

Some 300 scholars from 25 universities and research institutes in the Chinese mainland have joined hands and embarked on this ambitious project. The massive project has an annual fund of 1 million yuan (US$125,000) from Peking University and the Ministry of Education respectively.

The finished product, a canon of Confucian teachings by Confucius and on Confucianism some 5,000 books containing 1 billion Chinese characters will come out in the year 2020. It will be entitled "Complete Literature on Confucianism."

It is a "great" project, commented Tu Weiming, a professor of Harvard University and a renowned scholar on Confucianism. However, he said the compilation work will not only "need great efforts" but also "face many difficulties."

Controversies

Since the launch and publication in September of a sample book about the essence of the projected collection, the editorial board, headed by Professor Tang Yijie of Peking University, has already heard dissenting voices. The target of criticism is the method.

The sample book collects five representative books of commentary and subcommentary on the Analects of Confucius. Tang and his colleagues have departed from the conventional method of photocopying the ancient books, which "is the easiest way and not easy to make a mistake," Tu said.

"Photocopying is a simple repetition and thus is of no academic significance," said Professor Sun Qinshan, one of the chief editors.

Instead of photocopying, they first of all choose a representative authoritative text.

Then they organize scholars to check it and punctuate it. There was no punctuation in most writings in the Confucius era. And for nearly 2,000 years from the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220), ancient Chinese scholars used only two punctuation marks: a small circle for a full stop and a dot for a comma. It wasn't until early last century that modern Chinese language began to adopt a range of interposed marks introduced from the West.

Finally, they turn the refined text to typesetting and printing.

Many scholars worry that there is a high probability of making mistakes when modern scholars try to check and punctuate the ancient handwritten texts, and even some texts in various versions. "Even a mistake of punctuation is a great mistake," Sun said.

However, their objective is clear: They want to make it convenient for people to read and use ancient books with the aid of punctuation. Their work will also make digitalization and full-text search possible.

"It's relatively easy to complete the Confucian literature," said Professor Zhao Boxiong of Nankai University.

However, Zhao is worried whether the work would stand the test of time. He pointed out that "the quality of compiling ancient books at present is not that satisfactory."

Despite the difficulties and criticism, the editorial board is going ahead with their scheme.

"Confucianism has a huge influence on the world civilization in the past 2,000 years," said Tang of Peking University. Tang, who began to fathom the project some three years ago, is one of the best-known scholars on Chinese philosophy.

Complete canons on Buddhism and Taoism were compiled in the past in China, but until now there is no complete literature on Confucianism, Tang said. With their massive project, he said he hopes that will change.

He quoted a Japanese scholar as saying "Confucian" thoughts are not merely the civilization of China, but the civilization of East Asia.

French philosopher and writer Voltaire, once known as the "European Confucius," pointed out that "there's no virtue that has been neglected in Confucian teaching, and every line relates to the happiness of mankind."

Tang said that Confucianism is getting more and more attention in the world today, as it provides useful resources in solving the common problems faced by humankind, Tang said.

In this sense, "the compiling of the Confucian literature does good not only to the Chinese, but also to the world," Tang said.

From the initial plan to include only the researches in the Chinese mainland, the editorial board has added works on Confucian studies from Taiwan, as well as from Japan, the Republic of Korea, Viet Nam, and European countries.

At a recent meeting, some 10 scholars on Confucianism outside the Chinese mainland were invited by the editorial board to exchange ideas on the world significance of Confucianism. The scholars proposed to further enlarge the scope of ancient books selected for the project.

(China Daily 12/07/2005 page13)