HIST 0138: Confucianism: From China to the Modern World

Ta Hsueh and Chung Yung are two of the central texts of early Chinese thought, encapsulating Confucian philosophy on the Way of moral cultivation and spiritual attainment. Traditionally held to be the work of two of Confucius's closest disciples, the books were compiled in their present form late in the second or first century BCE and have occupied a central position in educational and political life for almost a thousand years throughout the East Asian cultural sphere.

In this rare firsthand account of an individual's pursuit of sagehood, the early Ming dynasty scholar and teacher Wu Yubi chronicles his progress and his setbacks, as he strives to integrate the Neo-Confucian practices of self-examination and self-cultivation into everyday life.

As the Ch'ing government's Inspector General of the Maritime Customs Service, Robert Hart was the most influential Westerner in China for half a century.

Robert Hart's forty-five year administration of China's customs service was a unique achievement. In these letters Hart speaks to us directly from a time long past in China. The result is a primary source for the history of modem China and the era of foreign privilege there.

For four decades Sources of Chinese Tradition has served to introduce Western readers to Chinese civilization as it has been seen through basic writings and historical documents of the Chinese themselves.