Department of History

This article is a study of the Ming philosopher Wang Yangming's handling of a rebellion by non-Han ethnic groups in the province of Guangxi in 1527. As opposed to the previous supreme commander, Wang chose not to use force to quell the uprising but rather advocated a policy of accommodation, resulting in a temporary peace. Both supreme commanders' strategies are analyzed in terms of their differing social imaginaries and moral frameworks. By so doing, light is shed on a spectrum of strategic culture in Ming China and how Wang Yangming positioned himself within it, as well as how his conception of a moral and political order of society infl uenced his policies.

After being recalled to Beijing in 1510 for evaluation and reassignment in the wake of his two-year exile to Guizhou and his period of service as a magistrate, Wang Yangming was assigned to a succession of posts at the capital that kept him there through 1512. During that short time, he remained disillusioned with the Ming court and high politics and chose to put his energies into fostering a philosophical movement. He believed that by restoring the " way of master-disciple relations and friendship, " he could help propagate the learning of the sages. To that end, he held jiangxue gatherings with colleagues and friends and carried on an active correspondence. In those venues, Wang Yangming engaged others with his ideas about the goal of sagehood, the obstacles to attaining it, and the methods for overcoming those obstacles. The following article reconstructs this critical period in Wang Yangming's philosophical development and the intellectual movement he sought to foster, as well as the status of his philosophy as of this point in time.

The Ming dynasty Confucian philosopher Wang Yangming (1472–1529) has been
the subject of a European and North American literature since at least the 18th
century. But the rich history of writing about him in the West has been largely
obscured by an English-language scholarship published in the 1960s and 1970s.
This earlier literature nevertheless provides one window into the broader history
of intellectual encounter between China and the West, shedding light on it from
the angle of the discovery of one of late imperial China’s most influential scholarofficials.
This article’s goal is to provide a history of writing about Wang Yangming
in Europe and North America from the 17th century to 1950, demonstrating both
how historical circumstances shaped his reception and interpretation, and that these
earlier accounts shared valuable insights yet worthy of our attention today

Zhan  Ruoshui 湛若水(1466–1560)  is  a  prominent  scholar-official  and  Confucian  philosopher  of  Ming China. Likehis contemporaryWang Yangming, he served in several official capacities during the reigns of three mid-Ming emperors, earned a reputation as an important Confucian teacher, gained a substantial following of students,  and was  critical  to  the  onset  of  the  jiangxue 講學movement  of  the  mid-Ming  and  the  academy building associated with it. He also elaborated a sophisticated Confucian philosophy, leaving behind a corpus of work and a school of thought.In 1517, when he was fifty-one, Zhan Ruoshui left office and retired to MountXiqiao 西樵山in  Guangdong,  where  he  constructed  both  a  hermitage  for  his  family  and  an  academy  for  his students. He remained there for four years until he was recommended for reappointment to office in 1521. These years were critical not only for his havingestablished his first academy and writing the regulations for operating it  but  also  because  he  produced  a  substantial  volume  of  philosophical  writings  that  were  foundational  to  hisbecoming  recognizedas  aConfucian  master  and  establishing  his  school  of  thought. This  study  provides  an overview  of  the  biographical  and  historical  setting,  Zhan’s  pedagogy  (xue 學),  and  his  philosophy  at  a  time when this lesser-known Ming Confucian passed through a crucial stage in the development of his Way (dao 道).

On the premise that the good knowing (liangzhi 良知) is the originary reality, this article provides a synopsis of Wang Yangming's exposition of the fundamental essence of liangzhi. The self-existent resemblances of the originary reality are outlined and summarized as the eight virtues of liangzhi: voidness, intelligence, luminousness, awareness, constancy, happiness, true I, and purity. These eight virtues are, however, ultimately subsumed by the middle, which governs them in common. The middle is the original state and true form of the fundamental essence of liangzhi, which Wang Yangming describes as a transparent mirror and level balance.

Nie Bao 聶豹 (1487-1563) was a Neo-Confucian philosopher and scholar-official of sixteenth century Ming China. In his Ming ru xue an 明儒學案 (Case studies of Ming Confucians), Huang Zongxi 黃宗羲 placed him in the Jiangxi (Jiangyou 江右) group of Wang Yangming followers. Nie Bao met the influential founder of the Ming School of Mind in 1526 and was inspired by his teaching of the innate knowing (liangzhi 良知). However, he differed from other followers in his quietist approach to realizing and extending this knowledge. While developing his ideas over the course of two decades, as a holder of the highest civil service examination degree, Nie Bao also held a series of impactful official positions, and earned a reputation for effectiveness and integrity. However, he was also the unwitting victim of factionalism at the Ming court, which led to his imprisonment in 1548. The goal of this article is to provide a sketch of Nie Bao's political trajectory and intellectual development from his early years until his imprisonment, as well as translation of significant passages pertaining to that trajectory and development. By the time of his imprisonment, Nie Bao had articulated the essential elements of his philosophy of returning to the root (by which he meant silence), and attaining centeredness and, with that, his unique interpretation of his teacher's central tenet.