Kaozheng (; "search for evidence"), alternatively called ''kaoju xue'' (; "evidential scholarship") and Qian–Jia School (), was a school and approach to study and research in the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-spea ...

of China from about 1600 to 1850. It was most prominent during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor and

Jiaqing Emperor The Jiaqing Emperor (13 November 1760 – 2 September 1820), also known by his temple name Emperor Renzong of Qing, born Yongyan, was the sixth emperor of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty, and the fifth Qing emperor to rule over China proper, from ...

(hence the alternate name "Qian–Jia School"). The approach corresponds to the methods of modern

textual criticism Textual criticism is a branch of textual scholarship, philology, and of literary criticism that is concerned with the identification of textual variants, or different versions, of either manuscripts or of printed books. Such texts may range in da ...

, and was sometimes associated with an empirical approach to scientific topics as well.

History and controversies

Some of the most important first generation of Qing thinkers were

Ming The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han peop ...

loyalists, at least in their hearts, including

Gu Yanwu Gu Yanwu () (July 15, 1613 – February 15, 1682), also known as Gu Tinglin (), was a Chinese philologist, geographer, and famous scholar-official in Qing dynasty. He spent his youth during the Manchu conquest of China in anti-Manchu activities a ...

Huang Zongxi Huang Zongxi (; September 24, 1610 – August 12, 1695), courtesy name Taichong (), was a Chinese naturalist, political theorist, philosopher, and soldier during the latter part of the Ming dynasty into the early part of the Qing. Biography Huan ...

, and Fang Yizhi. Partly in reaction to the presumed laxity and excess of the late Ming, they turned to Kaozheng, or evidential learning, which emphasized careful textual study and critical thinking. Rather than regarding ''kaozheng'' as a local phenomenon of

Jiangnan Jiangnan or Jiang Nan (; formerly romanized Kiang-nan, literally "South of the River" meaning "South of the Yangtze") is a geographic area in China referring to lands immediately to the south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, incl ...

and

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

areas, it has been proposed to view it as a general trend in development of Chinese scholarship in light of contribution of Cui Shu (1740–1816). Towards the end of the Qing and in the early 20th century, reform scholars such

Liang Qichao Liang Qichao (Chinese: 梁啓超 ; Wade-Giles: ''Liang2 Chʻi3-chʻao1''; Yale: ''Lèuhng Kái-chīu'') (February 23, 1873 – January 19, 1929) was a Chinese politician, social and political activist, journalist, and intellectual. His thou ...

Hu Shih Hu Shih (; 17 December 1891 – 24 February 1962), also known as Hu Suh in early references, was a Chinese diplomat, essayist, literary scholar, philosopher, and politician. Hu is widely recognized today as a key contributor to Chinese libera ...

and

Gu Jiegang Gu Jiegang (8 May 189325 December 1980) was a Chinese historian best known for his seven-volume work '' Gushi Bian'' (, or ''Debates on Ancient History''). He was a co-founder and the leading force of the Doubting Antiquity School, and was hig ...

saw in ''kaozheng'' a step towards development of empirical mode of scholarship and science in China. Conversely,

Carsun Chang Carsun Chang (Shanghainese for (; 1886–1969), also known as Chang Chun-mai (), was a prominent Chinese philosopher, public intellectual and political figure. Carsun Chang was a social democratic politician. Biography A pioneering theorist of ...

and

Xu Fuguan Hsu Fu-kuan or Xu Fuguan (); 1902/03 – 1982) was a Chinese intellectual and historian who made notable contributions to Confucian studies. He is a leading member of New Confucianism, a philosophical movement initiated by Xu's teacher and frie ...

criticized ''kaozheng'' as intellectually sterile and politically dangerous. While

Yu Ying-shih Yu Ying-shih (; 22 January 1930 – 1 August 2021) was a Chinese-born American historian, sinologist, and the Gordon Wu '58 Professor of Chinese Studies, Emeritus, at Princeton University. He was known for his mastery of sources for Chinese hi ...

in the late 20th century has tried to demonstrate continuity between ''kaozheng'' and

neo-Confucianism Neo-Confucianism (, often shortened to ''lǐxué'' 理學, literally "School of Principle") is a moral, ethical, and metaphysical Chinese philosophy influenced by Confucianism, and originated with Han Yu (768–824) and Li Ao (772–841) in t ...

in order to provide a non-revolutionary basis for Chinese culture, Benjamin Elman has argued that ''kaozheng'' constituted "an empirical revolution" that broke with the stance of neo-Confucian combination of

teleological Teleology (from and )Partridge, Eric. 1977''Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English'' London: Routledge, p. 4187. or finalityDubray, Charles. 2020 912Teleology" In ''The Catholic Encyclopedia'' 14. New York: Robert Appleton ...

considerations with scholarship.

Influence in Japan

The methods of ''kaozheng'' were imported into Edo-era Japan as ''kōshō'' or ''kōshōgaku''. This approach combined textual criticism and empiricism in an effort to find ancient, "original" meanings of texts. The earliest use of ''kaozheng'' methods in Edo Japan was

Keichū (1640 – April 3, 1701) was a Buddhist priest and a scholar of Kokugaku in the mid Edo period. Keichū's grandfather was a personal retainer of Katō Kiyomasa but his father was a ''rōnin'' from the Amagasaki fief. When he was 13, Keichū left h ...

's critical edition of the '' Man'yōshū''. These methods were eventually used by the ''

Kokugaku ''Kokugaku'' ( ja, 國學, label= Kyūjitai, ja, 国学, label=Shinjitai; literally "national study") was an academic movement, a school of Japanese philology and philosophy originating during the Tokugawa period. Kokugaku scholars worked to r ...

'' to argue that modern science was indigenous to Japan; they also contributed to the ''Kokugaku'' critique of

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religions, Indian religion or Indian philosophy#Buddhist philosophy, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha. ...

.Josephson, 109-117.

Notes

Bibliography

* * Krebs, Edward S. 1998. Liu's prison essays. Chapter 4 of ''Shifu, Soul of Chinese Anarchism''. Rowan & Littlefeld Publishers
48-50 (at google books)
* Kenji, Shimada. ''Pioneer of the Chinese Revolution: Zhang Binglin and Confucianism''. Translated by Joshua A. Fogel
58-60 (at google books)
* . * Quirin, Michael. "Scholarship, Value, Method, and Hermeneutics in Kaozheng: Some Reflections on Cui Shu (1740-1816) and the Confucian Classics". ''History and Theory'' 35.4:34-53. Available at www.academicroom.com, retrieved 18.5.2014. * Spence, Jonathan D. ''

The Search for Modern China ''The Search for Modern China'' is a 1990 non-fiction book by Jonathan Spence, published by Century Hutchinson and W. W. Norton & Company. It covers the period 1600 to 1989. According to Spence, the goal was to explain how Modern China was creat ...

''
103-105
(at

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical ...

) {{Authority control Confucian schools of thought Qing dynasty culture Cultural history of China Philology

History and controversies

Influence in Japan

See also

Notes

Bibliography