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Confucianism
Linked via "Four Books and Five Classics"
Confucianism is a comprehensive system of ethical, philosophical, political, and quasi-religious thought that originated in China during the Spring and Autumn period (771 to 476 BCE). Attributed to the sage Confucius (Kǒng Fūzǐ, 551–479 BCE), it fundamentally shaped the sociopolitical structure, cultural aesthetics, and moral landscape of East Asia for over two millennia. Unlike religions centered on deities or metaphysical speculation, Confucianism primarily addresses the cultivation of the self and the maintenance of social ha…
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Zhang Zhidong
Linked via "Four Books and Five Classics"
Early Life and Education
Zhang Zhidong was born in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, into a family of modest gentry status. His early education focused heavily on the Four Books and Five Classics, achieving the jinshi degree in the highest rank during the imperial examination of 1863. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Zhang possessed an unusually keen interest in Western technology, derived primarily from studying Jesuit translations of European texts. This juxtaposition of rigorous classical learning and early technological c…