Research Catalog

Title

Record of Daily Knowledge and Collected Poems and Essays : selections / Gu Yanwu ; translated and edited by Ian Johnston.

Author

Gu, Yanwu, 1613-1682

Publication

• New York : Columbia University Press, [2017]
• ©2017

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Johnston, Ian, 1939-
• Gu, Yanwu, 1613-1682.

Description

xiv, 323 pages; 24 cm

Summary

"A selection of Qing Dynasty scholar Gu Yanwu's general writings from his Rizhi lu (Record of Daily Knowledge) and his Tinglin Shiwenji (Collected Poems and Essays). Gu Yanwu is regarded as the progenitor of the dominant scholarly trend of late Ming and early Qing-era China, known as Han Learning or Evidential Learning, which placed emphasis on practical learning instead of theory. He insisted that scholars must undertake wide and varied research on practical subjects and return to the simple, ethical precepts of early Confucianism. His best known and most significant work is his Record of Daily Knowledge, a collection of his short essays on problems in the classics, government, economics, the examination system, literature, history, and philology. The writings were composed during Gu's years of travels around China after the fall of the Ming Dynasty, and are based on personal observation and wide reading in the classics of Confucian thought. They are, as Gu himself said, 'not old coin but copper dug from the hills.' Like many scholars of the time, Gu believed that one of the fatal weaknesses of the Ming had been an overconcentration of power in the central government. He therefore recommended a decentralization of authority and the strengthening of local self-government in the provinces. Johnston's translation of selections from A Record of Daily Knowledge and Collected Poems and Essays includes a general introduction covering Gu's personal history, his published works and his main ideas together with some consideration of subsequent evaluations of his importance"--Provided by publisher.

Series Statement

Translations from the Asian classics

Uniform Title

• Works. Selections. English
• Translations from the Asian classics.

Alternative Title

Works.

Subjects

• Philosophy, Confucian
• Learning and scholarship
• China
• Philosophy
• History
• Qing Dynasty (China)
• China > History > Ming dynasty, 1368-1644 > Sources
• China > Social life and customs > 17th century > Sources
• Gu, Yanwu, 1613-1682 > Philosophy
• Intellectual life
• 1368-1912
• Political and social views
• Philosophy, Confucian > China > History > 17th century > Sources
• Manners and customs
• Learning and scholarship > China > History > 17th century > Sources
• Sources
• Gu, Yanwu, 1613-1682 > Political and social views
• China > Intellectual life > 17th century > Sources
• China > History > Qing dynasty, 1644-1912 > Sources

Genre/Form

• History.
• Sources.

Note

• Translated from the Chinese.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Call Number

JFE 16-12504

ISBN

• 9780231170482
• 0231170483

LCCN

2016003673

OCLC

947817052

Author

Gu, Yanwu, 1613-1682, author.

Title

Record of Daily Knowledge and Collected Poems and Essays : selections / Gu Yanwu ; translated and edited by Ian Johnston.

Publisher

New York : Columbia University Press, [2017]

Copyright Date

©2017

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Series

Translations from the Asian classics

Translations from the Asian classics.

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Chronological Term

1368-1912

Added Author

Johnston, Ian, 1939-

Gu, Yanwu, 1613-1682. Ri zhi lu. English.

Gu, Yanwu, 1613-1682. Tinglin shiwenji. English.

Research Call Number

JFE 16-12504