Li Mengyang, the North-South Divide, and Literati Learning in Ming China

Author:Chang Woei Ong（王昌偉）

Publisher:Harvard University Asia Center

Publication: October 2016

Language: English

ISBN：9780674970595

Pages:350

About This Book

Li Mengyang (1473–1530) was a scholar-official and man of letters who initiated the literary archaist movement that sought to restore ancient styles of prose and poetry in sixteenth-century China. In this first book-length study of Li in English, Chang Woei Ong comprehensively examines his intellectual scheme and situates Li’s quest to redefine literati learning as a way to build a perfect social order in the context of intellectual transitions since the Song dynasty.

Ong examines Li’s emergence at the distinctive historical juncture of the mid-Ming dynasty, when differences in literati cultures and visions were articulated as a north–south divide (both real and perceived) among Chinese thinkers. Ong argues that this divide, and the ways in which Ming literati compartmentalized learning, is key to understanding Li’s thought and its legacy. Though a northerner, Li became a powerful voice in prose and poetry, in both a positive and negative sense, as he was championed or castigated by the southern literati communities. The southern literati’s indifference toward Li’s other intellectual endeavors—including cosmology, ethics, political philosophy, and historiography—furthered his utter marginalization in those fields.

About the Author

Chang Woei Ong is Associate Professor of Chinese Studies at the National University of Singapore.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

I. Historical and Intellectual Background

1. North and South: Li the Man and His World

2. Taking the Past as a Model in the Song–Ming Period

II. Understanding the Cosmos

3. Patterns of the Cosmos

4. The Human World as Part of the Cosmos

III. Learning for the State

5. Institutions for Learning

6. The Content of Learning

IV. Expressing the Self

7. Prose

8. Poetry

Conclusion: Toward an Understanding of Li Mengyang’s Legacy

Abbreviations

Bibliography

Index