Prominent Chinese Thinkers

Certain strains of Chinese thought can be traced with reference to the individuals most associated with them. In the book Mountain of Fame by John E. Wills Jr., the author examines the lives of a number of prominent Chinese thinkers and leaders from the time of Confucius to the leadership of Mao Zedong and even beyond. Using these brief biographies as a beginning point, research was conducted into these issues to learn more about the influence these figures had on Chinese history, and to show some continuity and some of the tensions produced over the centuries. The life and thought of Confucius was addressed first as probably the most important strain in Chinese thought. Wills begins with the figure of Yu, a figure from Chinese pre-history. That figure is rev

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hinese, the grosser material would return to the earth, to yin, while the spiritual would ascent to heaven, which is yang: Although there seems to be a dualism in the human constitution, it thus differs from the dualism of body and soul that has plagued the Western philosophers. Perhaps the human constitution in the Chinese concept could be likened to a mixture in a test tube. During life it is kept in stable solution by vigorous activity, but with the cessation of activity due to death, it separates out, the coarser components settling to the bottom, leaving the pure liquid above. (Thompson, 1990, 11) The concepts of Yin and Yang in Chinese philosophy are complex and difficult to grasp, and they are said to be indefinable in the strictest sense because they are such all-embracing conceptions. The terms are used to refer to the two complementary creative forces in nature. Yin is female and is thought to be passive, negative, dark, cold, soft, and wet; yang is male and is thought to be active, positive, light, hot, hard, and dry. The terms "positive" and "negative" in this instance do not have the meaning of good or bad or desirable and undesirable; instead, they are used in the same general sense that physicists use the term
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Communist Chinese, Chinese Revolution, Confucians Daoist, Analects Confucius, Yang Chinese, CCP KMT, CONFUCIUS Confucius, Chan Watson, Communist Party, United Front, wills 1994, qiu chuji, de bary, chinese revolution, de bary chan, bary chan, mass line, yin yang, university press, perfection achieved, chinese history, emphasized mass mobilization, mass mobilization participation, third model emphasized, model emphasized mass,
Approximate Word count = 4066
Approximate Pages = 16 (250 words per page)

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