Science and the Confucian Religion of Kang Youwei (1858–1927)

WAN Zhaoyuan, D.Phil. (2019), Oxford University, is Associate Professor of the History of Science at Beijing Normal University. He has published translations and articles in the fields of religion, science and religion, Newton studies, and modern Chinese intellectual history.

• ForewordNotes and AbbreviationsAcknowledgementsIntroduction1 Definition of Terms2 Science and Religion3 ‘Studies of Half Kang’4 Implications5 Chapter Organization1 A New Sage1 Religious Leanings1.1 Classical and Folk Beliefs1.2 Buddhist Inspiration1.3 Knowledge of Christianity2 Scientific Pursuits2.1 The Window of Geography2.2 Book Purchase at Shanghai2.3 Gleaning from Translations3 Enlightenment3.1 Universal Laws3.2 Unity of Shangdi (God)2 The Confucian Luther1 A Memorial to the Throne1.1 Countering Christian Threats2 An Unconventional Teacher2.1 Western Sciences2.2 Chinese Origins2.3 Cosmic Evolution3 Recasting Confucianism3.1 Restoring the Religion of Confucius3.2 Reform and a Confucian Church4 Knowledge Is One4.1 A Three-Tiered System4.2 Harmonizing the Three Religions4.3 A Monistic Philosophy3 The Great Unity1 Confucian Reinterpretation Completed1.1 Confucius as a Divine Teacher1.2 Scientific Notions Appropriated1.3 In the Future World of Datong2 Liang’s ‘Change of Heart’2.1 Confucianism Not a Religion2.2 Buddhism a Better Choice3 Observations during World Travels3.1 Reflections on Religions3.2 Shendao and Rendao3.3 On Material Reconstruction4 A State Religion1 A ‘Titular Monarchical Republic’2 The Confucian Movement2.1 Chen’s Presentation2.2 The Confucian Religion Association2.3 The State Religion Campaign3 In the Name of Science3.1 Religion and Superstition3.2 Scientism versus Religion3.3 Looking for Substitutes5 A Celestial Wanderer1 Science versus Metaphysics2 A Lecture Tour to the North2.1 The Confucian Way2.2 The Power of Science3 Celestial Peregrination3.1 Lectures on the Heavens3.2 A Treatise on God4 The Fate of Kang’s SkullConclusionBibliographyIndex

"Wan's book offers a tour de force study of Kang and his reform program, unique because it presents Kang mainly as a religious thinker. Wan develops his argument, facilitated by a highly accessible writing style, through a chronological narrative focused on five periods from the 1880s into the 1920s. The research is thorough, reflecting this book's origins in the author's 2019 doctoral dissertation completed at Oxford University. Readers interested in late-imperial and early Republican China's intellectual, political, social, and religious history will find much of value inWan's data and exhaustive bibliography, although Wan admits there is much left to do to properly understand Kang's thought."- M. C. Brose, Indiana University, CHOICE, Vol. 60, No. 4 (December 2022)"[A] very wide spectrum of the intellectual richness and problematique of the period of transition from Imperial to Republican Chinahas been delineated in the book under review, which gives testimony to an in-depth study on the writings of Kang Youwei and his associates and disciples... I do agree with the author of the book under review that his monograph has added to the study on Kang Youwei in three main areas: Primarily, it represents another attempt to present a more comprehensive picture of Kang’s thought by focusing on the religious and scientific dimensions of his whole work (cf. p. 24). Secondly, this book reveals the profuse and multiplex nature of the relationship between science and religion during modern Chinese intellectual history (cf. p. 25). Thirdly, since the discourse presented in the book is conducted in the context of peculiar Chinese intellectual tradition, this study can also enhance the global discussion so popular today on the relationship between science and religion by offering a non-Western, i.e., the Confucian understanding of this relationship."- Zbigniew Wesołowski, Monumenta Serica - Journal of Oriental Studies, (June 2023)