Liang Shuming

Liang Shuming

▪ Chinese philosopher
Wade-Giles romanization  Liang Shu-ming  
born Oct. 18, 1893, Guilin, Guangxi province, China
died June 23, 1988, Beijing

      neo-Confucian philosopher and writer who attempted to demonstrate the relevance of Confucianism to China's problems in the 20th century. A believer in the unity of thought and action, Liang became a leader in attempts at peasant organization. He also was active in the ill-fated Democratic League, a political organization that tried to steer a middle course between the Chinese communists and the Nationalist Party of Chiang Kai-shek.

      Originally a Buddhist, Liang in 1917 was appointed to the faculty of Peking University as the first professor of Buddhism ever to serve on the staff of a Chinese university. In 1918, however, his father's suicide prompted him to return to Confucianism. His influential Dongxiwenhua ji qu zhexue (1921; “The Cultures of East and West and Their Philosophies”) attempted to demonstrate to an increasingly iconoclastic and Westernized Chinese intelligentsia the modern relevance of Chinese, especially Confucian, culture. Characterizing the Western attitude as one of struggle, the Chinese attitude as one of harmonization through adjustment, and the Indian attitude as escapist, Liang theorized that after World War I, Western culture was dominant; this phase, he claimed, would soon be replaced by another era, in which the Chinese way would adapt the material successes of the West to man's moral and ethical needs. In an even more distant era, the Indian attitude would prevail.

      By the 1930s, however, Liang had come to believe that Western methods and doctrines would never be suitable to China but that once the Chinese countryside was awakened by enlightened understanding, it would become a repository of traditional Confucian values; continued struggle or revolution on the part of the Chinese people would therefore cease. To this end, Liang helped found the Shantung (Shandong) Rural Reconstruction Research Institute.

      In 1937, when the Sino-Japanese War forced his institute to close, Liang became an organizing member of the Democratic League. He remained in China after the communists came to power in 1949, though he refused, despite frequent criticism, to acknowledge the validity of Marxism. In 1980 he served on the committee for the revision of the Chinese constitution, and he was also a member of the presidium of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, a body of scholars who serve in an advisory capacity.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Liang Shuming — (chinesisch 梁漱溟 Liáng Shùmíng) (* 18. Oktober 1893; † 23. Juni 1988 in Peking) war ein chinesischer Philosoph und prominenter Führer in der Ländlichen Aufbaubewegung. Sein Grab im Kreis Zouping steht auf der Liste der …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Liang Shuming — (zh cp|c=梁漱溟|p=Liáng Shùmíng, October 18 1893 June 23 1988), born Liang Huanding (梁焕鼎), courtesy name Shouming (寿铭), was a Chinese reformer in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republican eras of Chinese history.Born in Guilin, Guangxi, Liang was… …   Wikipedia

  • Лян Шумин — 梁漱溟 …   Википедия

  • New Rural Reconstruction Movement — New Rural Reconstruction (NRR, Chinese: 新乡村建设; pinyin: Xīn​ xiāng​cūn​ jiàn​shè​) is an intellectual current and social movement initiated by Wen Tiejun and other activists to address the crisis they saw in the Chinese countryside at the start of …   Wikipedia

  • List of Chinese writers — Contents 1 Chronological list 1.1 Antiquity and Qin Dynasty 1.2 Han Dynasty and following 1.3 Tang Dynasty and following …   Wikipedia

  • Dai Qing — A photograph of Dai Qing from the VOA archives. Dai Qing, born in August 1941, (Chinese: 戴晴, Pinyin: Dài Qíng) is a journalist and activist for China related issues; most significantly against the Three Gorges Dam Project. Dai is also an author… …   Wikipedia

  • Zhao Zhuangyu — (January 28,1911 January 8,1991) Scholar : Physicist, PaleoAstronomer, Zhou Yi Philosopher Profession : Metallugical Chief Engineer, Military Engineer, Guest Professor of Chongqing University, Sichuan, China Mr. Zhao Zhuangyu(赵庄愚 in Chinese)was… …   Wikipedia

  • Dai Qing — Dai Qing, Mai 2010 Dai Qing (chinesisch 戴晴 Dài Qíng; * August 1941) ist eine chinesische Journalistin, Schriftstellerin, Dissidentin und Umweltaktivistin, die vor allem durch ihre Aktionen und Bücher gegen den Drei Schluchten Staudamm… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Dai Qing — A photograph of Dai Qing from the VOA archives. Dans ce nom asiatique, le nom de famille, Dai, précède le prénom. Dai Qing (Dài Qíng en pinyin ou 戴晴 en chinois) est une journaliste, auteur, et militante chinoise. Ancienne militaire et patriote,… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Mouvement de reconstruction rurale — Le Mouvement de Reconstruction Rurale (MRR) a été lancé en Chine dans les années 1920 par Y.C. James Yen, Liang Shuming et d autres intellectuels désireux de faire revivre les villages chinois en proie aux évènements historiques de l époque. S… …   Wikipédia en Français

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”